Matters of Lavender.

A couple of weeks ago I was chatting to a customer at Broadway Market about my teacup candles, and she asked me why I used French organic lavender essential oil. I replied, 'Because French lavender is the finest, highest quality lavender oil around.'

I am very proud of the quality of my ingredients, and the above answer usually satisfies the most difficult customer, so I was surprised when she was not impressed.

'What about British lavender, Norfolk lavender?' she questioned.

'Ooh, I'll look into that...' I replied, a little saddened and shamed that I had no idea of its existence, and wanting to end the conversation as soon as possible.

Hmmmm, I thought. It would be lovely to stock British Lavender oil....

So now I do! Sadly it is not organic (sorry fields and animals), but I think it is very important to support British farmers and produce and so Norfolk lavender will be a permanent fixture in my candles.

I will have lots of royal tea cup candles at all the fairs that I will be part of up to Christmas:

Sat 26th November: Broadway Market

Sun 27th November: BUST Christmas Craftacular, York Hall, Bethnal Green

Sat 3rd December: Broadway Market

Sun 4th December: Lovely Merchants, Camden

Sat 10th December: Broadway Market

Sat 17th December: Broadway Market

Sat 24th December *CHRISTMAS EVE*: Broadway Market

Have a look at my wonderful candles here.

A Feast For Your Eyes...New Products!

Have a look at my shop and you will see new products! Both are available here or at any of my Christmas market days.

Festive Frolics.

BUST Craftacular / York Hall / Bethnal Green / 27th November / 12-6pm

I cannot harp on about how marvellous these BUST Craftaculars are. Featuring live DJ's, a fabulous cafe, DIY workshops and a vendor line up that I am extremely proud to be part of. There is always such a fantastic lively atmosphere, and best of all, I can pick up a copy of BUST magazine.

Lovely Merchants / Victoria Pub / Camden / 4th December / 12-5

I'm very looking forward to being part of the first Lovely Merchants Fair, intimately placed in the Victoria pub in Camden, it promises to be a joyous and sophisticated festive affair, with goods ranging from delicious treats, to my fine stationery. I do hope they have mulled wine ready for me.

*Fair Dates*

This is a highly organised and informative post for me, but just so you know exactly where to find me up until Christmas for all your stationery needs, here is the current calendar:

Christmas Fair Calendar 2011:

Sat 5th November: Broadway Market

Sat 12th November: Broadway Market

Sat 19th November: Broadway Market

Sat 26th November: Broadway Market

Sun 27th November: BUST Christmas Craftacular, York Hall, Bethnal Green

Sat 3rd December: Broadway Market

Sun 4th December: Lovely Merchants, Camden

Sat 10th December: Broadway Market

Sat 17th December: Broadway Market

Sat 24th December *CHRISTMAS EVE*: Broadway Market

How exciting! I will have lots of marvellous Christmas treats this year for you all too. Hope to see you all there.

In the meantime, please enjoy this image of the cats. I think it's my favourite.

Pies, Manners and the Naughty Chair.

Yesterday saw the grand private view of MIEN Magazine's Charm School, as it opens for two weeks of masterclasses and joyously old fashioned events such as letter writing and recipe swapping. With a King's Ginger in one hand and a scrumptious Simple Pie in another, the space was merrily bustling, with one or two guests committing social faux-pas and being sent to the naughty chair to read the 'A-Z of Modern Manners', (including the Mistress of Manners herself when she shockingly offered me -a vegetarian- a pork pie *gasp*)...the whole atmosphere of the Charm School is relaxed, beautifully nostalgic, and has a wonderful sense of humour about the whole concept.

Classes are running every lunchtime and evening, with a few spaces left....for a wonderful alternative evening out have a look at the schedule.

And the lesson I learnt from the Mistress of Manners?

You can never be too charming.

Charmed, I'm Sure...

Well, I am very pleased to announce that I will be giving a little stationery workshop on Thursday 15th September, as part of MIEN Magazine's 'Charm School', popping up in Exmouth Market as of next week.

'Improve your posture, make your own stationery, learn how to mix the perfect martini, discover the benefits of escaping to the countryside, exchange recipes, and more…

Enrich your body and mind with after-school activities for grown-ups, hosted by MIEN Magazine’s Mistress of Manners and a dedicated team of specialists.'

I for one am finding it tricky to decide which of their tempting workshops to squeeze into the next fortnight. Fear not, you can find the schedule here.

To purchase advance tickets for my class on making your own stationery, which includes tea and a treat, click here.

Culture. Etiquette. Style. I am counting down the days....

Renegade Handmade.

Sound the trumpets! Renegade Handmade Fair is coming to London......finally! I will be there with all your stationery needs and new products. Huzzah!

Blog & Buy's Pix & Mix.

My trusty stationery will be available this month from Blog & Buy's online marketplace. If you haven't already checked out their website, you must, it is a wondrous source of information about all things design and handmade. I especially find the interviews and London shopping guides very interesting indeed.....

Anyway, here is my online stall!

State Of Craft.

The time has come! Captain Bert has finally made it to print. Here he is, majestically sitting on the front cover of this marvellous new book, in which I explain how to make him. (And lots of other lovely people explain how to make their snazzy things...)

Available for pre-order here.

Found and treasured.

So here is a small selection of my finds from my treasure hunt holiday. The above shelf was found for £1 at a car boot sale, previously a drawer that I painted white to store useful things in my studio. The flying ducks were my most expensive but treasured item from the Toot As in Foot stall at Old Spitalfields at £14. I also found many a Kilner jar on my travels, I went a bit crazy and bought five, but they were a cheeky £2.50 each which is a steal. And sadly I now refuse to drink out of anything but my set of six Charles and Diana glasses, which I found for £10 in Hunkydory-24.

I found many other random treasures, an A4 Victorian book paper press, many, many ceramic and enamel bowls for my kitchen, and of course about twenty Royal Coronation mugs ready to make candles.

I thought I would show you bits of my studio with all the flimflammery I've collected. Below shows some of my favourite souvenirs from artists I love such as Lizzie Stewart, Lucy Jane Batchelor, Helen Friel and Jessie Chorley.

The bottom picture shows my tiny shrine to the Royals where I keep the mugs I've clumsily smashed but still love and have made into candles. And of course a picture of my dream dog, the Pembroke Corgi.....

Props for Rokit.

Last week I made a couple of props for The Science of Style's feature windows in Rokit's Covent Garden vintage store. If you look closely there is a birdcage and a giant gingerbread man hiding in there. I have bought many an item of clothing from trusty old Rokit, so I am chuffed to have been involved- I especially like that my website is printed on the window.....Huzzah.

Vintage Adventures and Other Tales of Margate.

One of my favouritest favourite things to do, is wander around car boot sales and peruse junk and vintage shops. I could do it all day and forever, treasure hunting my way to a house full of wonderful things. So when I moved to London a year ago, I was very excited to have such easy access to wonderful vintage shops. (All time favourites: Old Spitalfields market on a Thursday, Rospo, and The Shop, Vintage Heaven).

However, these wonderful things come at a price, a very fair price might I add, for such marvellous shops, but not the prices that I long to discover again from squirrelling in charity shops and car boot fairs and house clearance shops. London, I'm afraid in my opinion, you fail in this department.

Thus, the idea was born, to take a week off work, borrow a car, and scour the South for vintage treasures. I'm pretty sure we must have averaged fifteen shops a day...we were on a mission to kit our houses out with lovely things, at a very low cost. Lymington served us well, and Brockenhurst surprised us with Pineapple Retro, a fabulous charity shop in Milford on Sea, Highcliffe had many many charity shops and Pokesdown blew us away with an amazing number of vintage clothing shops.

The real surprise however, was our final trip to Margate. It had everything we could have ever dreamed of. Some of the very finest vintage shops I have ever come across at very reasonable prices. Incredibly low prices at the British Heart Foundation furniture shop, we were almost crying that we didn't have a van with us. There were so, so many great vintage/junk/antique shops but the best were Showtime Retro Furniture, Junk Deluxe, Hunkydory-24, and the very best charity shop EVER on Market Street in between Madam Popoff and 20th Century Frocks. I shall be revisiting Margate frequently just to visit these shops, they were that good.

I picked up some absolute steals that I shall cherish forever, filled my car boot to the brim of secondhand/vintage homewares and came back with change from £50. When most things are under £1, my money went a very long way. We finished our trip with an ice cream sundae at the art deco Morelli's Icecream Parlour and returned, very cramped back to London.

Hooray for other peoples things, and hooray for all the lovely shop owners who we chatted to and helped us along the way!

All Aboard!

Featuring vikings and pirates, this summer's Anorak magazine is a hearty beast. It's packed full of beautiful illustrations and fun activities as usual, and I even did a drawing to illustrate one of Essie Jain's lovely songs.

A lovely feature in Oh Comely.

This month Oh Comely magazine has arrived in its sixth edition, and I am lucky enough to have a lovely little interview in it. For the more curious and creative of us, the charming magazine boasts that it is to,

'Inspire people to be creative, talk to their neighbours and explore new things, rather than buy stuff or lose weight.'

With fantastic articles on how to make a cardboard camera, stunning photography and a lovely little visit to the the delicious couple from Hope and Greenwood, I think Oh Comely should be a definite feature on your coffee table.

Available from all of these places and most WH Smiths.

1940's Stationers for Secret Cinema February 2011

Back in February I was asked to set up a 1940's Stationers as part of the vintage market that was created for Secret Cinema's viewing of the Red Shoes at Tobacco Docks. Here is my little shop that I had for two weeks....

I have heard tales that SS April in the tunnels of underground Waterloo station was sublime. Book your tickets for a spectacular night of surprises here, and to read my full post on the wondrous event itself here.

Royal Letter Card for Souvenirs and the Suchlike.

Hooray! Finally after all the excitement of the Royal Wedding, I have created a piece of my own Royal memorabilia, vintage style.

Based on old fashioned 'souvenir cards' for our seaside holidays, it is a little illustrated booklet that you can write on the reverse and fold into its own envelope; a little piece of London to tell of your city adventures.

Available in my little shop, here.

A Very Royal Window Display.

I have created a jolly window installation for Beautiful Interiors in Walthamstow. It sells lovely vintage furniture as well as many a handmade treat from lots of London artists and designers. If you dont have your bunting for your Royal Wedding Street Party, this is where to get it.

A Trip to Amsterdam.

1953 Retro and Chic

Boekenmarkt

Someone's strange house full of dolls

The Darling Boutique and Cafe

Fairytale Gypsy Village

Ahhhh, Amsterdam, you were not what I expected. I thought I would see ladies of the night and 'lads on tour' and general red light hideousness. Yes, I did see all of the afore mentioned, but luckily they are confined to only a small area. The rest of Amsterdam is dream of beautiful cobbled streets with canals, lined with little boutiques and design stores and bizarre little shops. It was a delight.

Day one was spent wandering the Negen Straatjes (The Nine Streets), a grid of independent shops and bars. We stumbled across 'The Darling', a very sweet clothing boutique with a little upstairs cafe serving tea and cupcakes. The walls were adorned with teacup lampshades and hyacinths and beautiful vintage furniture.

We visited the Postzegelmarkt, a market for medals, coins and stamps, where I picked up many early stamps of the Queen. The streets nearby were lovely to explore, especially Rosmarijnsteeg which was full of antique book and stamp shops. We also made it to Antiekmarkt De Looier which was an indoor antiques market full of interesting bits. The Otherist was quite a sweet little shop full of curiosities, and Kitsch Kitchen made us smile with its garish colours and plastic tat.

After accidentally exploring a gypsy village, Day Two was spent wandering Waterlooplein Flea Market, in my opinion the best of the bunch and Boekenmarkt, a little alleyway of books, maps and prints. We found 1953, easily the best of the vintage shops were stumbled across and we feasted on sumptuous chocolates at Puccini Bomboni.

Other lovely activities worth a mention across the rest of the trip included the best hot chocolate at De tart van m'n tante, an outrageously camp cake shop which had a 'Kate and Will' cake exhibition followed by lots of relaxing in the Sarphatipark.

A marvellous trip.

Darling

1953

The Glasses Museum

So long, farewell, adieu....

Just a little note to let anyone curious know that I am off to far away places here and there for the next few weeks, please email hoorayfor (@) alicegabb.com for any desperate enquiries as I will be flitting back and forth to London.

Normal service will resume after Easter. I hope you all have a lovely break and are all as jolly as Elizabeth and Margaret up there. I'm so excited about the Royal Wedding!

Back at Broadway.

After too many projects and general kerfuffle and mischief, I am back at Broadway Market, every Saturday 9am-5pm. I still don't have a set stall so just to keep you on your toes, I move around weekly....here I am playing Market Trader.

If you still haven't visited Broadway, you are missing out sir, located between Regents Canal and London fields, it makes for a grand day out.

Dress sharp mind, these Hackney residents have a fine eye for fashion.

(Well....some more than others....)

See where it is here, and read what TimeOut have to say about Broadway here.