Surrounded by Beauty

I think I must be one of the last of us to post about this, but on Saturday I was definately surrounded by beauty at the first Vintage and Handmade Fair, and I can confirm that it was just an unforgettable experience.

So many lovely, friendly and talented ladies (and some of their gentlemen), stalls full of beautiful handmade and vintage loveliness, a real treat for the senses.

Jayne and Michele had decorated the hall in traditional union jack bunting which gave it a lovely garden party feel, despite being November!

If you read the same blogs as me you will have seen lots of pictures already, mine didn't turn out too well, but I know that Hen and Sue at Vintage to Victorian have posted pics of all the stalls.

I managed to stuff my stall to overflowing, some things didn't make it out of the boxes, and some things I meant to put out and just clean forgot about!

There was something for everyone - colourful, muted, vintage, recycled, shabby chic, ethereal, cute, quirky - and the quality of everyone's work was outstanding. There are some great photos out there but I can tell you they are no comparison to seeing everything for real, and do not do justice to how beautiful everything was - ten times better than any picture could show. I think the customers were surprised and delighted at what they found.

It was such a busy day, I wish there had been more time for us bloggers to chat and get to know each other, but it was a case of grabbing a few minutes to rush around with one eye on one's own stall to rush back when customer's appeared - which they did - all day long! I think I was in a bit of a daze a lot of the time as well. Fortunately I was next to the tea hatch, where Julia, with Jayne's daughter, did a grand job of keeping everyone refreshed with tea and cakes.

Naturally I did a bit of shopping for myself . This pretty dolly and lovely lilac fabric and flower covered box from Frances at A Little Bit Vintage.

Frances' dolls are exquisite and I had a real hard job deciding which one to buy. Fortunately her stall wasn't too far from mine as I had to nip over several times before deciding which one to get.

I'm really pleased with my choice. (My sister-in-law came along later and bought what was my second choice, for herself, so I can pop round and admire her too!)

Next to Frances was Lynn at Sea Angels where I bought this gorgeous collaged heart and waxed cones - aren't they delightful. Lynn's stall was divine, I wish I'd taken some pics of it.

I bought the little rose tin from Michele, the cute bird from Carol at Katherine's Dream, and the vintage wallpaper snippets from Sue.

And just look at the lovely packaging too (puts my recycled carrier bags and paper to shame!)

My purchases are just a very small cross-section of the goodness on offer. If I hadn't had to stick to a budget, I could have bought from every single stall, they were all stunning.

And as if that wasn't enough, Jayne and Michele had organised a Secret Santa -look at the lovely bag of goodies I got (from Hesta at Green Glamour).

Lavender sachets, a cute egg cosy, badge, sweet toadstool card, lovely mohair wool, all recycled, and in the background a pretty pinny (just right for Mr. Bloom to wear on Christmas day when he cooks the dinner - hee hee!)

There is a small issue I'd like to clear up though - somewhere out in blogland there is a picture of me behind my stall (despite my best efforts to avoid being photographed). I have my head down and my hair has fallen forward making it look like I have a pudding basin haircut. I would just like to state for the record that whilst I may have had such a haircut as a child, I do not now have a pudding basin haircut!

Of course, all this was thanks to the hard work of Jayne and Michele who did a spendid job and I'm glad to say will be putting themselves through it all again next May - an event not to be missed. I'll be there for sure!

p.s. I've switched my comments back on as I don't want to appear arrogant, and actually, it's quite lonely without them. I have rather a lot of demands on my time at the moment and don't log on regularly, so I hope you'll understand if I don't always reply.

Update 26/11 - oh, and how could I have forgotten to say thank you! to everyone who purchased from my stall. I'm not sure how many blogger customers we had but I hope I didn't not acknowledge anyone who bought from me - I was in a dizzy daze at times.