Field Trip: Portobello Road Market

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Field Trip, Lace, Textiles, Vintage

Tags

antique arcade, antique camera, antique glass buttons, antique lace, antique luggage, antique wedding, bone china, bridal tiara, chelsea, french wax flower, gold bullion, gold costume embellishment, Kensington, london, london market, london outdoor market, milinery, millinery, notting hill, notting hill gate, pastel flats, portobello outdoor market, Portobello Road Market, steamer trunk, tube, UK, underground, vintage camera, vintage lace, vintage luggage, vintage suitcase, wax flower, wedding headband, wedding pearls

Hello Friends!

I’ve been neglecting my blog and I’m so sorry but we took a trip to London and I’m finally just getting caught up with High School Registration for my son, taking our oldest cat to the vet for a potty problem and don’t even get me started about the mail!

Anyways, I’m finally going through my pictures, all 827 of them, and trying to figure out the best way to share them. So let’s start off with the Portobello Market in Notting Hill. We went on a Saturday morning specifically looking for antiques. Let me tell you that there was a lot of looking and not very much buying from me, because the exchange rate between the British Pound and the US dollar is not very good! I did, however, find a couple things that just had to go home with me.

The instructions to find this market were to get off the Underground train at Notting Hill Gate and follow all the people. Um. Yeah. There were hundreds of people all going in different directions at the station so that really wasn’t helpful at all, especially since this was our first day ever riding the tube. Eventually we picked a direction and were so happy to see this Portobello Road sign!

Looks like we found all the people!

Yes, we’re on the right road!

Aren’t these flats pretty? I just adore the pastel colors!

We had to fight through this crowd to get into the shops. Saturday is not a good day to go to the market if you’re claustrophobic, it’s ridiculously crowded both inside and outside the shops. I felt like I was in a bee hive with the people buzzing all around me!

The street is lined with Antique shops full of all sorts of treasures and bric-a-brac. Let’s try this one!

Antique and vintage camera’s are a great start! What else can we find?

The outdoor stall dealers were more willing to make a deal. You wouldn’t believe how much Wedgewood they sell there. I think it was just about in every booth!

Wow, gorgeous! Can I have one of each, please? We’ll take the drum for my husband, Phil.

And then there was this gem of a stall, hidden within one of the indoor antique shops. I finally hit the jackpot! Wait til you see what’s in the next case!

Can you believe this wedding finery? I swooned over these tiaras, headbands, wax flowers and pearls.

I brought home some pretty antique glass buttons, vintage french black and white buttons and some delicate lace.

Some Moon shaped gold bullion-embellished costume decorations.

And more beautiful lace! (Can you hear Mr Bennett from Pride & Predjudice saying “No lace. No lace, Mrs Bennett, I beg you!”) And, there will be more pictures of luscious lace when I share my treasures from the Old Spitalfields Market, I promise!

After fighting the crowds (literally, i was yelled at by some lady for hitting her with my purse. I think maybe it brushed past her, but who could help it in the crowded mess?) we headed for a restaurant to have a quiet lunch. I adored the flowers and the romantic candles in this sweet cafe.

So, that’s what we did on our first day in London. We would have done more but there was a protest in the park and because of that the bus stops were shut down in Notting Hill so we just got on the Underground and headed back to our hotel to regroup.

I’m trying to decide what to share with you next. I went to two other markets (Greenwich and Old Spital Fields), attended a Tottenham Hotspur soccer game, dropped Trevor off at Soccer camp with a dining hall that looked like it came straight out of Harry Potter, toured London in the rain on a hop on, hop off bus, saw the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London, visited Oxford and Bampton Village, spent an afternoon eating scones with real Devonshire Cream and sipping tea at Downton Abbey, went to the Victoria and Albert museum to see the Wedding Dresses exhibit, visited Selfridge’s, rode around in cabs, double decker buses and figured out how to read the Underground maps, visited Cambridge and Greenwich, rode the Emirates Air Line, discovered the charms and helicopter pad of Charingworth Manor, and enjoyed an afternoon with Phil driving on the wrong side of the road (I suppose it’s the correct side in the UK) while sipping copious amounts of cappuccino throughout the Cotswolds and ended that day sipping champagne and enjoying a deluxe afternoon tea in Bath.

Let me know in the comments what you want to hear about next? I’m sure it will be Downton Abbey, but I’ll be saving the best for last!

Cheers!

xo,

Christine Barker

Flea Market: My first booth at Behind the Picket Fence

01 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Field Trip, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Sewing, Soldering, Textiles, Vintage

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

annette schwab, Behind the Picket Fence, burlap, burlap pillow, chenille, christine barker, costa mesa flea market, Deb Kennedy, diy booth, diy garland, Earlene, etsy, etsy shop, fabric garland, fancy pincushion, flea market, fruit picking bag, fruit picking sack, handpainted sign, Kim Kobayashi, orange county flea market, parasol, petticoat, Phil Barker, reproduction baby carriage, rose, scarlet calliope, steamer trunck, steamer trunk, Trevor Benavides, union flag, vintage baby carriage, vintage camera

It’s taken me years to feel brave enough to have my own booth at a flea market. I have a collection of things that I’ve been collecting for years, (plus a couple collections that I’m ready to call it quits with), all with the intention of selling them in my own personal boutique at a flea market. When I heard about the Behind the Picket Fence Marketplace, I just knew I had to give it a try. Well, first I thought about it and changed my mind a bunch of times, but in the end I made the leap and I’m so happy that I finally did it!

Thankfully I had a petit army of people to help me with my state of mind and artfully arranging my booth. Going into this event I was scared as could be, but knowing that my sweet husband and son would be there to help me set up and sell gave me some peace of mind. They were spectacular helpers, setting up the booth, doing the heavy lifting, greeting customers as they stopped by and handing out my business cards. Trevor even had a side business going selling some of the hundreds of burlap coffee bean bags that I had for sale. (If you want some, please just let me know! I have a few left!)

And I’m so thankful for my friend, Deb Kennedy, who’s an extraordinary Writer, Stylist, Designer and Speaker based out of Orange County, CA. When I put out the SOS for help to foof up my booth and give it some decorator savvy, she answered the call. I was petrified that I would set up the booth and it wouldn’t look like the picture that I had in my head. Deb came to the rescue and got right to work, rearranging items, placing them just right and using items in ways that I NEVER would have thought of. Plus, she took all of these beautiful photos!

Left to my own devices I would more than likely just put things out on the table but Deb knew just how to display things so that they would be shown to their best advantage. Like the vintage fruit picking sack, and the dress form, and the shabby chic tea pot with gloves.

I also had a selection of my handmade Union Flag aprons and pillows, burlap pillows, and fancy pincushions available for sale.

I created a variety of decor to give my booth my style so that people would know as soon as they saw it what I was all about. Several people asked if I would sell my fabric garland but I told them I’d have to charge them over $100 since it pretty much took me an entire day and too much fabric to create. I can’t sell it, it’s too pretty!

Burlap and rose decorations.

Petticoats on a parasol.

And, I hand painted a sign with my name to let people know who I was.

And finally, I had a photo booth to take pics of some willing shoppers as they stopped by.

All in all it was a wonderful day! I felt great because I finally conquered my fear of participating in a flea market, I cleared out some of my inventory and I got to spend the day with some wonderful people. It meant so much to me for people that I knew to stop by my booth because it was so nice to see familiar faces and when they gave me compliments about my booth I was over the moon! I think I’m ready for the next challenge now, I’ve got this!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I have some of these items and more listed in my Etsy shop if you are interested in purchasing them.

Also, this is my 125th post so I think that’s a reason to celebrate! I’ll be giving away one of my pin cushions to one lucky person who likes this post and leaves a comment here on the blog. Who wants to win?

xo,

Christine Barker

Paper Crafting: Happy Birthday Card for Zeni!

20 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Cardmaking, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Papercrafting, Scrapbooking, Vintage

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

birthday card, birthday greeting, bottle caps, card making, chalk board, DCWV, DCWV Vintage Collector, doily, Eyes of Blue, fabric covered button, gingham button, greeting card, Happy Birthday, happy birthday card, LOveBug Creations, Lovebug Creations Creative Team, Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon, Panther Pink, paper craft, paper rose, papercrafting, pearl sequin, pink, seam binding, seam binding ribbon, sequin, turquoise, vintage camera, Vintage Collector, vintage typewriter, wood button, Write On, zeni pradel

Hi everyone!

Today is a very special day for the Lovebug Creations Creative Team.

It’s Zeni’s birthday! Write on!

To wish her a happy day we created birthday cards for her and I’m so excited to share mine with you! First, I have to tell you about the Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon. I used Princess Party Pink and Eyes of Blue.

I picked up a DCWV Stack at the craft store a while back and I’ve been waiting to use it. Zeni’s card seemed like the perfect opportunity! The Stack is called Vintage Collector and I am really fond of it because not only does it have images of vintage typewriters, which I collect (really, what don’t I collect?), but it also has pics of vintage cameras. And bottle caps, and inspirational sayings on chalk board and hot air balloons! It’s so cute and I adore the colors.

I tied the Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon into a sweet double bow and surrounded it with some girly accents from my stash. It needed just a little bit of fancy sparkle so I added some pearl-colored sequins. The paper stack came with a nice sentiment coming out of the typewriter but it wasn’t just right so I typed up my own and printed it out on vellum. I know I’m older than some of you but do you remember typing up letters back in the day on a typewriter and using paper so thin it was almost like tissue paper? I think they did that to save on postage when mailing letters overseas. Anyways, I’m such a stickler for random details so I just had to create what I had in my mind.

I’m crazy about how the pink and turquoise ribbon really create a burst of color for this card. I hope Zeni likes it!

Happy Birthday, Zeni, and I hope you celebrate all month long. Please leave a Happy Birthday greeting for Zeni to read and brighten her day! If you want to see the other amazing cards made for her you can see them on the Lovebug Creations Blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

XO,

Christine Barler

PS: It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Did you find out if you were the winner of the Something Wicked This Way Comes Blog Hop? The winner was announced on the Lovebug Creations Blog. Find out if you’ve won!