Instagram faves

Its time again for me to share my latest favourite people to follow on instagram. I don't think I will ever run out of amazing people to showcase as the instagram community just keeps growing with more and more amazingly talented people!

Jose Villa is a Californian Wedding photographer who captures beautiful images of amazing weddings.  You can visit his website here

Kristin Rogers is a professional photographer and takes these gorgeous pictures of her amazing kids, family and home.  You can visit her website here

Ri_bon runs a shop in Kyoto, Japan (home of the Geisha) called Sleeping forest selling all things Alice in wonderland.  You can visit the Sleepng forest facebook page here

Paperfashion is Katie Rogers, a fashion illustrator living in cambridge, massachusetts.  Where fashion meets paper!  You can visit her website here

Libertys is my favourite London store and always worth a visit!  These "insider" photos are amazing.  You can visit the Libertys website here

Lobster and swan create beautifully styled photos from the East Sussex coast.  Their BLOG is definately one to follow

You can see my last Instagram posts here, here & here

★ It's PRETTY Old ★

With my LOVE of all things vintage I have decided to do a regular feature called "It's PRETTY Old" showcasing the vintage "treasures" I have recently bought.

I don't think a week goes by without me buying something, even if it is just a 50p book.

Here goes...

Sunday 5th May

Advintageous fair, Scarborough Spa

5 x penguin paperback books

Ship in a bottle (Tom)

 & Paper moon postcard (1907)

Pretty floral Handkerchief

Lots of lovely FREE leaflets

Please take a look at my It's PRETTY Old shop where I sell my vintage treasures.

★ Advintageous fair ★

One of my favourite things to do, like EVER is looking around local charity shops, car boot sales and auction houses trying to find little vintage treasures.  It is rare that I will walk out of one of these places empty handed!  

I recently visited The AdVintageous fair in Scarborough, it was packed full of stalls selling everything from vintage clothes, jewellery and bags to old photos, books and suitcases!  I was in heaven! 

Here area few of my pictures taken at the fair...

Lots of colourful, patterned vintage dresses!

Lovely battered old suitcases

Mickey Ramsbottom & the Alka Seltzers

I couldn't resist the penguin books and bought five!

The next Advintageous fair is at Bridlington Spa Sunday 26th May, it's well worth a visit! 

★ Rankidoodle Loves STARS ★

Here is my new "Rankidoodle Loves" feature, this week: STARS...

I love stars...

All images can be found here

★ ETSY FRIDAY ★

Theater Clouds is a beautiful shop on Etsy. Elly Mackay creates magical little worlds out of paper and photographs them. They are gorgeous, dreamy images, please take a look...

Elly also has a book full of her beautiful images, you can buy it here

You can visit Ellys website here and read her Etsy interview here where she talks about what inspires her and her creative process

Please also watch this great video showing Elly at work in her studio...

Wedding Fayre at Ambassador Spa Hotel

Sooo, here are some pictures from the wedding fayre in at the Ambassador Spa Hotel in Scarborough yesterday, thanks so much if you came along!  It was great fun and I met lots of lovely Brides to be!

My Rankidoodle weddings stall

Closer look

Teacup candle display

Cake toppers

Table plan

suitcase with cards and table confetti

stationery

free booklet full of "hints & tips"

Business cards

Wedding Fayre

Am busy preparing for my first Wedding Fayre at The Ambassador Spa Hotel in Scarborough, Pop in if you're in town!  Here are a few piccys of my makeshift stall (on the kitchen table)...

Scarboroughs shop windows

I am a little obsessed with beautiful window displays, shop fronts and signage.  If they have a vintage or kitsch look then all the better.  Here are some local shops I have snapped recently while out n about...

Mrs lofthouses secondhand book emporium is on Queen street, Scarborough (near boyes) sells vintage and newer books.  It has the feel of an old fashioned booksellers and you could be in there for hours.

 

This was a nice old sign I spotted in Bridlingtons Old Town (although it had gone last time I visited).  If you have never visited The Old Town in Bridlington, it is well worth a visit if you like antique shops, vintage stores and galleries.

 

Homebird House is a fairly new shop in Scarborough, It is on St. Helens Square (opposite the market) and well worth a visit.  It sells everything from cards and gifts to clothes, lighting and even furniture.  See my article about Homebird House here.

Francis Tea rooms is like stepping back to the 1930s, a quaint little place on South Street, Scarborough (behind the esplanade)  It has wood pannelled private booths, old china tea cups and embroidered tablecloths, see my article about it here

Ha ha!  This joke shop is a tacky, kitsch paradise!  Like the signage though.  Selling fancy dress, tacky souvenirs and "adult" toys (int' window!)  It is on the corner as you take the long walk down to the beach in Scarborough.

This was a lovely antique shop near Maltons Market Square, unfortunately it was closed so just managed to snap this photo, LOVE the cushions!

Poppy Joans is a lovely gift shop slightly off the beaten track on Gladstone Road, Scarborough.  The window displays always look beautiful and it sells an array of gifts for the home, yourself & kiddiwinks!

Arosa is a lovely old fashioned handmade chocolate shop on Ramshill Road, Scarborough (parade of shops if coming from filey) It's like going back in time, but great chocolates!

The Shepherd Purse is my favourite shop in Whitby, the window displays always look amazing! Basically a combined deli and clothes shop that sells a great range of items.  If you're looking for organic bath salts, a cinnamon stick, some local cheese or a floaty summer dress, this is the place to come.  It also boasts a B&B too.

Bjorn clogs in Scarborough (opposite Boyes).  They have been a manufacturer and retailer of handmade Swedish style clogs for nearly 30 years.  I remember buying my kickers from there back int' day!

CANVAS COMPETITION

I held a canvas competition for the year 9 textiles pupils of Walkden High School in Salford, Manchester for the third year running.  I showcased my University Textiles work, images and samples of my greetings cards from Hallmark cards, images from my Art designer job and also my latest freelance and "Rankidoodle" work.

The pupils had to design and create a canvas which included a word, a pattern, a stitch and an object.  The winners would then receive their design printed on to a canvas to keep (3rd - 20x20cm, 2nd - 30x30cm & 1st - 40x40cm)

Me and Miss Quinlan (textiles teacher) met up recently to judge the competition.  There were some really great entries, lots of ideas were really "on trend" with great imagery and good use of colour...

So here goes...

I chose Jayes' NEW YORK canvas for third place because it has a good composition and use of space, I also like how the picture overlaps the wording and it has lots of neat stitching...

Jaye Rowlett

I chose Jasmines' canvas as second place because I thought it had a really lovely soft colour palette, the imagery is well printed and stitched and the fairground/circus theme is bang on trend!...

Jasmine Christie

...And now for the winner! *drum roll...

I chose Francescas' canvas as the winning one because it was so different to all the others.  She had really thought "outside the box" by making all the butterflies look like they are floating off the canvas!  Also the composition is great with the butterflies forming a heart and the colours are bright and summery!

Well done to the three winners and to all the pupils who took part, it was hard to pick from so many great entries.

You can see the winners from the previous years here.