Selling our wares at St.George's market

For the last couple of months I've been working with a charity called the NOW project who work with adults with learning difficulties, helping them get into employment. We've been doing weekly craft workshops and today we had a go at selling the fruits of our labour at the Friday variety market.

Joanne and trainees Marie and Jacqueline behind our stall.

We made a reasonable profit for the charity and had a great time meeting some of the other traders at St.George's, a covered market which has been trading since 1896. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the 6 O'Clock start.

We're selling button hearts, jewellery, vinage teacup plants and cake stands. If you happen to be in Belfast we'll be there for the next couple of Fridays.

And I'll leave you with a picture of this amazing old lady I spotted at the market. Everything was pink even down to her scarf, earrings, ring and lipstick. Class.

Today's finds

I haven't done a post about my finds in ages but rest assured that my thrifting is unabated. Here are a couple of little beauties I've picked up recently - the Hornsea biscuit jar may horrify anyone who was around in the seventies but to me it's pure retro good ness.

The little Scottish watercolour is unsigned but really quite acomplished I think. I just did a quick count though and I now have 30 framed pictures in our living/dining room alone. Perhaps it's time to start rotating the collection, before I become one of those hoarders you see on TV who can't even get into some of the rooms in their home. 

And this little plant isn't found so much as made. I volunteer one morning a week with an organisation called the NOW project (http://www.nowproject.co.uk/)  and last week we planted these mini cacti and succulents like this one into old teacups that I collected. I just love how the design of this cup echoes the shape of the plant so this one came straight home with me.

If you happen to be from round these parts we'll be down at St George's market in Belfast next Friday morning selling all the goodies we've made over the past few months. We'd love it if you came down to support the charity.

A Christmas Fair

Here are some pictures from the fair Danny and I did at the Black Box on Sunday. It was a big weekend overall what with the model workshop on Saturday, the Lulu Lounge Christmas do on Saturday night and then the fair on Sunday. But it was worth the effort and I even managed to sell three cake stands which I've been lugging back and forth to various fairs, so it was a relief to lighten the load on the way home.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Black Box Bazaar this Sunday.

picture from http://www.irishcomicnews.com/

The Black Market in Belfast has been reborn as the Black Box Bazaar and it's on this Sunday 11th September at, surprise surprise the Black Box.There will be a range of stalls selling crafts, vintage, records, food and all manner of loveliness

And I've just snatched up a last-minute table at it! From me you can expect book trees, record bowls, cake stands, and I expect lots of mulled wine to be involved.

Do say you'll come.

Quirky wedding fair

Yesterday I took part in the Quirky Wedding Fair that took place in the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast. Four of us squeezed our things onto one table - my sister in law Lucy and 'The Lulu Lounge' - her brow and lash salon, Fiona who has a foot parlour in the same place and our friend Gavin who is a make up artist.

I brought down some of my cake stands and the brooch and origami bouquets. It was a really fun day and I had a great time chatting to all the brides to be. Who knows whether I'll get any business out of it, but we had a great time either way.

Below are Fiona and Gavin behind our rather makeshift table display.

Origami bouquets cost £40 and brooch bouquets start at £150. Leave a comment or email me at maevep22@hotmail.com if you'd like to discuss possible commissions.

Quirky wedding fair in Belfast this Sunday

This Sunday there's going to be a wedding fair with a difference in Belfast, organised by Quirky Weddings. It's a walking tour of venues that offer various wedding services and The Lulu Lounge brow and lash salon in Fountain Centre, College Street (which is owned by my amazing sister in law Lucy) will be taking part and offering free cava to boot!

I'll have some of my cake stands, vintage brooch bouquets and other wedding related wares on display, come on down, you're welcome there whether you're getting married or not.

Find out more about the wedding 'pop-crawl' here

Above: The uber stylish Mrs Lucy Mathieson - lash and brow transformer extraordinaire.

Below: some of the wedding bouquets I can make for blushing brides to be.

Lost and Found - The Shop!

So I've just discovered a wonderful program that allows me to add a shop section to this little blog o'mine. I probably shouldn't have made it public until there was more stuff in it but I'm far too impatient to wait any longer.

I'll be adding all the items I've already had on the blog for sale as well as lots of new junk. Why not call by the shop and please let me know if you're having any difficulty viewing or navigating it, as usual I'm learning on the job!

Black Box Book Swap

Some photographs from the book swap and family fun day at the Black Box yesterday. Above and below - vintage whatnots on my stall.

Some of my cake stands and lots of children having fun painting, watching the puppet show and in a drum circle. Lots of noise. Not very many people buying anything. I'd really rather not talk numbers.

Danny and I made up for the disappointment by going to a gig later on with Kieron Goss at the Grand Opera House that my parents had given me tickets for. Kieron's music really didn't float my boat but he has great banter and he had some amazing guests on with him, notably Maura O'Connell, Tom Paxton and Edie reader whose voice totally blew me away and it was worth going just to hear her three songs. The packed audience was fully in the swing of things and we unabashedly sang along to several songs. I love that feeling of solidarity you get when you start singing with a huge bunch of strangers.

Children's book swap tomorrow at the Black Box, Belfast

If you happen to be in or near Belfast tomorrow then you should totally call down to the Black Box in the Cathedral Quarter for the kid's book swap from 12 - 3.

It'll be a brilliant day for families and book lovers so if you have some old books lying around why not bring them down and get some new ones in return. You can feel good about it too as you'll be promoting sustainability and recycling.

I'll also have a craft stall at the event selling some vintage bits and bobs including some kids books and homewares, some of my photography and handmade things including record bowls and cake stands made out of vintage china.

Hope to see some lost and found readers there!

x

Children's book swap at the Black Box

This Saturday the 2nd April marks International Children's Book Day and I'll be doing a craft stall at the Black Box in Belfast. 'Nice to be Nice NI' (look them up on facebook) are organising a children's book swap and family fun day and my stall will have some photography, vintage and crafts for sale.

It should be a really good day, encouraging reusability and raising money for the Simon Community - the Northern Ireland charity for the homeless. Entry is £2 for adults and FREE for children.

And get this; while I was looking out some vintage children's books to bring along to the event, I found a book mark from Children's Book Week 1980!

Recent craft fairs

Around Christmas time I tried my hand at doing a stall at a couple of craft fairs and one photography fair for the first time. With a lot of encouragement (and driving around) from my mum we just about managed to scrape together a profit. I found the poor sales rather dispiriting at first especially after all the organisation involved, but then realised that it'll take some hard work and experimentation to find out what works and what doesn't.

At this fair I plonked myself on the corner of my friend's cupcake stall and just stuck to selling the paperback Christmas trees which ended up working out much better than the fair pictured below where I tried to sell a little bit of everything - vintage, photography and craft.

Hopefully it's onwards and upwards from here - keep an eye out for lost and found at a craft fair near you!