Top Hat & Tails

Apologies for being AWOL for so long, juggling is clearly not my strong point!! Anyway this week was Mr Fabulous' Birthday so instead of prettily wrapped gifts I went for a flurry of evening events. 

Last night was a trip to see Top Hat at Norwich Theatre Royal.  We got all dressed up & forgot to take photos .  Not quite the full top hat & tails but we felt rather pleased with our efforts.  Going to the theatre always reminds me of being a little girl & Mummy taking me to the ballet.  I would have my prettiest swishy skirt on & hold my posture as best I could in the hope that someone would notice that I too was a ballerina - if only once a week!! My niece is just the same & loves performing pirouettes for anyone who asks!!

Anyway a very kind gentleman with the most fabulous moustache did complement me on my outfit & said that I looked as though I should have been on the stage too (I don't like to think that he meant sweeping it!!).

So sadly it was the last night in Norwich but it really was worth going to see if you love classic music from the movies, 1930's fashions, wonderful sets & magical choreography.  Anyway the tap dancing was superb and I think Fred & Ginger would have been pleased with Tom & Summer's dancing.  Following in the footsteps of two utter legends must have been super scary.  

Anyway I'm off to purchase the Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers box set... I'm thinking evenings in with log fires, classic movies and possibly a cocktail or two.    

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend xxxx

My Vintage Tea Party

I've seen a few blogs about this wonderful book and two from very stylish ladies Fleur and Gemma who had the delight of attending the launch party. Their blogs cover this book in more detail too so you will see just how lovely it is.

Anyway I heard about this vintage tea party book & snapped one up straight away, immediately copied off an invitation template (from the book) added a date two days later (what was I thinking) and organised my very own vintage tea party.

The book covers all things from venues, decorations, vintage hair styling & make up to loads of inventive recipes. Lemon scones with lavender cream is something I'm keen to try out and the candy striped meringues may well be a feature at the next dinner party!! There are drinky poos ideas too & wild hibiscus champagne and Gunfire (Dark Rum & Breakfast Tea!!) sound incredible. .... temped yet??

Please excuse my poor & lack of photos but my friends arrived on time (a concept I struggle to achieve myself) and Mr F & I were still making sandwiches. Well you can't fault the freshness ha ha!!

The mini trifles and Pimms Jelly were my favourite makes - although using my old glass jelly molds didn't work. Basically they looked like they had jumped from the balcony and splatted on the plate!! What I really wanted was a selection of mismatched glasses for the jelly.

The open cream cheese & cucumber sandwiches idea in the book is fabulous & went down very well - mine were square due to time (lack of) but were popular all the same. Oh and I would always recommend cheese & pineapple on sticks - these went before I could blink!!

I also managed to have an empty plate on the table .... there were so many cakes thanks to Mummy Butterfly that the office has been stuffing their faces for Britain this week!!

Anyway everyone had fun & enjoyed the food & drinks - some even had tea!

The book is lovely and really inspiring, I think there may be a few spin off tea parties - I'll be glad to attend this time - as fun as it was, it's a lot of work.

Thankfully it's a nice relaxing bank holiday weekend for me -Pimms jelly for breakfast anyone??!! Have a wonderful weekend xxx

The Vintage Tea Party Book by Angel Adoree lovely £10.00 on Amazon.

Crafts, Cars, Chaps & Cakes

Last Sunday Mr Fabulous was enjoying a chin wag and a good ole mug of tea with Mr Perfect. Let me tell you that Mr Fabulous (self titled) boyfriend of mine’s ego smashes through the roof when he’s dressed up like the dapper chap he likes to be & Mr Perfect is yours truly’s Pater. Named actually by my Mater, as he can do no wrong (at least that’s what he thinks!!).

Anyway back to a very splendid sunny afternoon in the Norfolk countryside. We all popped along to the Norwich Rugby Club for a charity afternoon tempted by the lure of vintage cars and the best of British… the Spitfire!! The chaps were silent at last, just grins like small boys as the Spitfire spiralled, pirouetted and dropped through the air.. finally disappearing through a perfectly shaped hole in the clouds.

The fellas chuntered on some more, so their lasses sodded off for a coffee.

Anyway this Sunday is the great Burnham Market Craft Fair – the 36^th year indeed. This is possibly Mummy Butterflies & my favorite events. Great weather, lovely people, lots of gorgeous things to try & buy all in a beautiful setting. Saturday 20^th August 10am to 5pm there’s lots for everyone to enjoy.

Last month Mr Fabulous had been a pillar of support for us luck girlies at the Vintage London Festival. Doffing his hat and offering sweet salutations to ladies a plenty. There is no end to the suffering will go to for me… (seriously, his ego was the size of an airship and polished to mirror finish). When he was repeatedly asked by pretty young ladies if they could have their photo taken with him!! Ooh Rather!!!

Anyway I’m rambling as usual. So for anyone feeling that they would like to meet the real Mr Fabulous and you happen to be around North Norfolk on Saturday then please pop along and say whatto ole chap, how the devil are you & toodle pip old stick and so on. Anyway Mr F will be doffing the straw boater this very weekend or if you prefer jewellery of the vintage & up-cycled persuasion then come & see Mummy B & I. We are all dressing for the occasion in different eras.

I'm not photogenic at the best of times... but Elvis on the dashboard is!! Coool and check out his Hula hula lady friend!

Hope you all have a fabulous fun filled weekend xxx

My latest love

OMG I was just watching a bit of telly - unusual anyway but it wasn't even CSI!! I thought I would check out Beyonce (I do heart her after seeing her & the Destiny's Child gals in one of their last gigs many enos ago) anyhoooo she rocked the crowd I sat on my chubby butt supping wine & grinning like a proud mother!! ha ha. I cried wheh she did a cover of Prince's The Beautiful ones - ooooh that song always affected me & in my soppier days - yep I blubbed.

Sooo the point of the blog is the follow on was a gorgeous young gal called Janelle Monae - ok so you all already know her... what can I say, i'm soooo outta touch. She's amazing. Just as soon as I can remember my i-toons password I'll be downloading for Britain!! So for anyone as "totally clueless" as me.. well she does covers of Stevie Wonder, 60's 70's rock toons, kinda Alisha Keys meets Grace Jones & the whole 9 yards in between. It's all very Op Art, struttin' a cool look, & she's Skin - Skunk Anansie kinda beautiful - do things get any better????

Back to reality, with a bump!

Where the obsession began - the Sindy Dressing table!!

Well Vintage London Festival was lots of fun but really hard work. To be honest I'm pooped and I spent most of the weekend cleaning & tidying my very messy house. Mr Fabulous has been laying on the floor in the living room - just because he can. He thinks that he hasn't seen the living room floor for months!! Well it was covered in jewellery, swing tickets....

Here are a few snaps of our little Boudoir stall - dressing table chic we like to think!! Lots of jewellery made with vintage beads, dressing table sets from Art Deco to the seventies, negligees & other bits & bobs.

Paperpoms lovely stall & even lovelier Mummy

I met lots & lots of lovely people including sweetie fellow blogger & vintage lover Charlotte (sorry the photos were too terrible to add!!) who was superbly turned out each day - quite put me to shame. I had the nicest neighbours at my little stall including Juliette Paperpoms who was brilliant fun & super duper helpful. Saturday evening Mr Fabulous popped some champagne & Mummy Butterfly organised a mini party for our favourite people - we had a scream!!

Other highlights were the Chap Olympiad which was hilarious.

Louise & Sophie were our amazing organisers - they were the nicest most helpful kind girlies we could have dreamed for. Thank you sooo much to them.

Check out this duuude, I totally dig his threads!

Anyway I hope you had a great time if you popped along - and if not I hope the weather was as good to you wherever you were xx

London Calling all Vintage Lovers

Well just in case anyone missed me recently; I've been working far too hard on getting ready for Vintage London on Southbank - those who already checked out the website & gasped at the ticket prices (me included) fear not. The Vintage Village area is FREEEEEEE to get into. So if you happen to have a spare couple of hours, be nearish Londinium and loving the vintage the pop along. Loads & loads of fab stalls selling clothes, accessories, furniture...... everything vintage you can think of. There are great food stalls including a pop up tea room which does cream teas & Nicholas Creperie doing the best Breton crepes. Streamline Cocktail bar, Pimms O' Clock tent, the Chap Olympiad for fun.

Working hard eh - not actually a glass of wine in Mummy Butterflies hand though!

Anyway just a wee posting (More photos to follow) as I have to get vintaged up for today's splendor that is the Vintage Festival - and yes, our bit is totally free. Nearest tube is Waterloo.

Hope to see you there xxx Claire

Good Ole British Weather

Well can you guess where I went yesterday?

A typical glance out of the window to torrential rain.... of course, it's Wimbledon!!!

Play was rained off twice meaning we didn't get to see the gorgeous Maria Sharapova, probably best for my ego, plus my friend Al would have been a gibbering wreck!!!

Photos from the Wimbledon Website

I'm not the most sporting person, but it was easy to get drawn into the matches.

We got to see the Tsonga V Dimitrov game which was great.

The serves were up to speeds of 130mph - seriously???? It was incredible.

Of course we did the usual... strawberries & cream, Pimms & Champagne, such is life!!

Today the lurgy has finally caught up with me & I'm in on a Friday night, heating & TV on (I'm at Glasto in spirit - darn the rain but the line up is good enough to make up for it) ... no no, don't feel sorry for me - I have my medicinal bottle of wine & garlic dough balls - garlic's healthy right??

Hope you're avoiding the drizzle xxxx