tri monthly catch up!!

Yes, I know I've not posted again for ages, my poor readers I am terribly sorry, life just gets in the way and trying to keep up with facebook, instagram, twitter, shop, life, mum duties, fair organising, looking after pets, home and garden, blah blah takes so much time my poor blog gets left out.
I have been busy working at my shop since my shop partner dropped out, I nearly closed down but things have picked up and for the moment I'm staying open, its pretty hard work being there and away from the family as I miss them loads but on the upside I have a sewing room so I can create whilst I'm there, I'm currently working on a new range of Dotty Wear, I can't wait for it to be finished so I can share it.

I'm also busy organising another vintage and handmade fair for June, I have a smaller outdoors/indoors one at Catforth village hall on June 2nd and the large venue of the winter gardens on June 29th - 30th.

I have other ideas and things in the pipeline too but sometimes it all seems to much, some days I would love to potter around the gardens, read a book or just watch romantic films without the constant guilt feeling that I should be doing something else, being self employed is blumming hard work sometimes, theres ever really a day off as such until your rather rich but then the bigger you become the more demands are put on you. Any way I'm so grateful for all the opportunities given to me and I do love having so many things to do, I'm not moaning about it just expressing myself. Have you got any tips for me to time manage more effectively?

Can I share this too, I have just read a blog post on Galleries, studios, theatre and it is so apt, I could of written it myself! do you know I could of written this myself, its so wonderful that she shared these thoughts because she is right we do fake it a lot, I think if more of us opened up then less of us would feel like we have to pretend. x

Do you know Dotty has a shop?

Did you know I have an handmade and vintage shop in Blackpool?, its called Penny Lane.

You can find it at 28b King street, just around the corner from the Syndicate nightclub, 2 doors away from Junes fabrics (for the locals).
Its an eclectic mix of old and new, handmade, upcycled, vintage, retro, mod, boho, hippy, indian, kitsch and much more.

I sell clothes, furniture, natural bath and beauty products, handmade toys and gifts, accessories, artisan foods, records, vintage electricals and lots of unusual one off pieces.

Everything in my shop is for sale except the rails, Im open to swaps, offers and showcasing talent. Just pop in and have a chat.

I run a stitch and bitch class on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 12-4, its free of charge and includes free tea and coffee.

I will be having a heritage collection coming soon in time for summer where the clothes will be all 'Made in Britain', I think this is important to support our countries makers and designers.

I also have a naturals range including soap, bath bombs, fluoride free toothpaste, natracare natural sanitary towels and soy candles. There will be many more products being added to the range over the next few weeks too.

I also am pleased to say I stock Old Fatty Jones chutneys, jams and preserves. In the coming weeks I will also be stocking fine herbal teas.

I also have a vintage tearoom serving tea and coffee, I have rice milk too for non dairy drinkers and clipper decaff tea and coffee.

I am open tues-sat 11.30 - 4.30. I would love it if you came and said hello, please share with your friends too, there is nothing else like my shop in Blackpool and I would love your support.

Photos by Edwin Firminger hair and make up by Hazel Tyler location and clothes Penny Lane

reflections

 Happy new year, a little late I know, but if you follow my blog you will realise I haven't posted since September, my how time has flown by, Ive been so busy doing all sorts of things I have let my blog fall asleep, but its a new year, new schedule, a more proactive me?, well maybe we'll have to see. Some things form last year that I have missed out on here include going to London on a coach trip with my youngest, we had the best time, its the first time I have been away with just one child, it was so nice to connect and have that one to one time. We whizzed around London in 3 hours and then stayed over in a lovely hotel, watching movies in bed, we then went to legoland, he loved it but it was hot and rather busy, the queues are crazy long.

 We enjoyed a few days of sun last year, the weather has changed so much here in UK, the summers are not long and hot anymore, we barely have sun for a whole week so on the days when it was sunny I spent them in the garden growing veg, going to the beach with our new puppy who is now 1.

 I had lots of success organising big fairs at the winter gardens, I did 3 last year, in June, October and December, I had over 140 stalls of handmade and vintage goodness, full entertainment over the weekends and a vintage tearooms, I ended up with holey socks from walking around so much and learnt a lot and fast, I learnt how to deal with people more and tried to show tolerance (which is hard sometimes) to others who can't follow direction well. I also made some new friends and realised how wonderful the crafting community is, its like a massive family reunion every time I do a fair now. There are some really talented people out there waiting to be discovered.

 I also attended a few fairs as a stallholder and went on some days out with my lovely friend Colette Halstead who fuses glass, she uses real leaves you know. We always have a real laugh and a good old chinwag when we get together which is not very often as we are always both so busy with work but you know those friends who you might not see for a week, a month or even years and then when your back together it seems like you saw them yesterday well that's what our relationship is like so its all good.

I opened a collective shop with people I had met through the crafting world and an old friend, it was a craft and vintage clothing shop, unfortunately I felt rather used as some of the others couldn't put any time into running it and there was clashes in personality and ideas of running a business so I left. A week later they all left the building too and as it was a friend of mine who was letting the building I got in touch to see if I could still rent it. I contacted a lady whom I had met and got on wit straight away, who had the same ideas as me, we took over the shop, gave it a makeover, renamed it Penny Lane and filled it with vintage/retro/collectibles/mod wear and much more, we also have a tearoom at the back of the shop filled with vintage tea sets and crafting things. I really enjoy going to work there, each day we get to meet interesting people and have a lovely time sourcing things.
Doing so much last year was wonderful but did give me the guilt's, I realised homeschooling/working/being a housewife is hard to juggle. I spend an awful lot of time on the computer organising things, dealing with emails etc. I find it hard to squeeze in sewing/knitting/reading/children/date nights etc so when I heard the other day about a facebook friend had come up with a phenomenal idea of breaking everything down into hour slots I thought this is it, the way forward, I started today, it works, it actually blummin' works, I got more done today than I have done in a long time, the things I would of put of till last minute I managed to do because knowing you have a deadline and just an hour to get things done make you move your ass and not mess around.
I'm going to implement it into home school too and spending time with the boys, I know you may think that's cold and clinical and I should always have time for my children especially as we choose to home educate, but this is the real world, as much as I would love to be that mum I was years ago when they were little its not possible to do that, have a life and a job even if I am self employed. So if this works for us then brilliant, at least I wont get the guilt's.

Some low lights of last year was my father in law died of cancer and my mum died just before Christmas. Its a funny feeling having no parents (my dad died 8 years ago), even though I have been an adult since I was 18 (when I had my first son and moved out) I feel a little bit lost now, like I have to grow up, I'm an orphan. Its funny how I'm ok most of the time and then I see or hear something and I cry. I can be anywhere, at home, at work, out shopping, on the bus and it happens, I try and stop myself from reaching the point of tears but I cant. I know it gets easier, it did with my dad but things will never be the same again.

So onto this year and our dreams coming true, we have a plan, a big plan, one that involves changing our lives forever, we are going to get together and get a big sheet of paper and write down our plan, with dates - now that's the scary bit because what if we get to those dates and nothings changed or we haven't reached our target? I know I'm not meant to think that way, I'm meant to be positive and know and feel we will reach our targets but...
So after we have done this one evening in front of the fire with tea and cake I will reveal our plans to you.

I hope you had a good 2012, wishing you a very happy new year, tell me some of your highlights of last year x
* all photos are of our trip to Legoland and London

my next big thing!

I have taken the plunge and gone and book one of Blackpool's greatest landmarks The winter gardens for a summer vintage and handmade craft fair!!

its going to be a two day spectacular of crafts, vintage, entertainment and music with craft workshops, a vintage tearoom and lots of handmade goodness.


There will be over a 100 stalls selling the northwest's finest gifts, clothes, toys, accessories, food, art, cards, homewares and much ...more. We are lucky enough to have two performances on the sunday from the very lovely burlesque performer Kitty Koko and I am so hounered to annouce that the amazing Kirsty Almeida will be performing too - how amazing is that.
We shall be having various bands performing over the weekend on the stage and tea and cakes served on vintage china all in the beautiful art deco surroundings of the Pavilion theatre at the Winter Gardens situated in the middle of Blackpool town centre 23rd June 10am - 5pm and 24th June 2012 10pm - 4pm Free entry.

Stalls are still available but going fast £25 for one day or £45 for the full weekend. We can set up from 8am and as it is a secure locked area you can leave your stalls set up overnight if you are doing a full weekend. You will get a table and 2 chairs with extra space around you if you want to bring rails, furniture etc, please let me know in advance of any requirements you have regarding this so I can accommodate you.

There are people coming from all over, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Cumbria, Yorkshire to name a few so if you want to have a stall but don't drive just get in touch Im trying to organise a lift share.

Any questions please feel free to ask, I know this is going to be an awesome event and can't wait to see you there. If you can will you share this link with your friends and followers, if you share it leave me a comment in the comment box on here or send me a message on facebook (Dotty D Lightful) with a link to where you have shared it and you will be entered into a prize draw to win some lovely handmade goodies x
https://www.facebook.com/events/274062292649467/

A new frontier....in craft fairs

My new venture, organising and partaking in craft shows in Blackpool and surrounding Lancashire areas, for too long I have attended craft fairs where the venue hasn't been right or the other stall holders didn't make much of an effort, they wasn't advertised properly or something else where it became a shambles, it rely frustrated me that all the time and effort I put it had been wasted so chatting to my friend we came up with the idea of doing it ourselves, we are handpicking stallholders to make it a wonderful fair, there will be a mix of retro, vintage and handmade, from patchwork quilts to lovely owl cushions, we are also having a vintage teashop area, complete with fine china and embroidered tablecloths, please could you pop over to my blog for it and see what you think, I'm hoping to share stall holders web pages and blogs, have guest posts and mini interviews, thanks for taking the time to look x

http://craftyvintage.blogspot.com/

High on a hill stood a lonely goat herd......

I adore Julie Andrews, love Mary Poppins and the Sound of Music, have both soundtracks on vinyl and bore my kids to death singing songs from both movies. So imagine my delight when I came across this video on another blog , it combines both Julie Andrews and the all time classic the Muppet's!! yippee, guess what I will be enduring my boys to when they come in from playing soldiers in the garden!

All things gorgeous

I just love anything for my kitchen at the moment and usually buy things just to put on the dresser and look at, but this juicer i could actually look at and use woo hoo! These come from another site i dream over quite a lot, check out the rugs they are divine.

oh my i love this egg cup, what a lovely way to brighten up boiled eggs! At £4.19 its a little treat to put a smile on my face - note to any family reading i want one please!

Look at the fab cushions i found today when i was having a tea break - ok really i was just being a bit lazy whilst the boys played outside at a great game called capture the flag with the neighbours children, this is the second day they have played it, i joined in yesterday and its great fun although im sure some of them cheat!

this Clarissa the cat cushion made by jane claire is available from a great website called not on the high street where you can find unusual items for your home, this one is £54.95 which is a bit too much for me to pay but i can dream or try and make something similar.

I adore this one even more, just look at the gingham!! Woodland floral is by the same designer and so cute.

moved from here

moved from my other blog you can see my other posts on there i have kept it online.
Just click on the title to go see