Make do & Mend

Well after a busy month or so I'm back and hope to post more regularly. The website is up and running and I've had so much lovely feedback from you all. Lots of you have put your orders in for Christmas too which is so exciting, it seems word is getting around about my handmade business.

As well as up-cycling for Heart Vintage I am a huge lover of up-cycling for my home too. I rent my little Victorian terrace in Leicester, its full to the brim with charity shop finds and car boot bargains. I like to 'make do & mend' with everything and anything that catches my eye.

my first 'make do' post is about......vintage hankies

vintage hankie bunting via Kolorize

A bundle of these lovelies was given to me last month, each one very different but very pretty, I'm looking forward to up-cycling these beauties. I love the idea of pretty floral bunting, this idea would be great in Summer outside in my yarden.

up-cycled patchwork table runner via Dottie Angel

I have a collection of crochet bits and embroidered tablecloths....mixed with my floral hankies would make a stunning patchwork tablecloth.

up-cycled patchwork curtain via Dottie Angel

or maybe a a patchwork curtain, The morning sunlight highlighting each individual pretty pattern would look beautiful. I think these would make a lovely new old edition to my bathroom. 

I hope this feature will be the first of many, as I share my inspirations I will also share my 'makes' as and when I finish them. Do you up-cycle? I'd love to see your 'makes' too.

Flying Birds

Last month I did a little giveaway over on my Facebook & Instagram page. Sara the lucky winner received her special post this morning "Today is a great post day in my house! Please head over to Lisa's Instagram and then over to her sparkly new website. Her plates and pretty things are Da'Bomb  and maybe you could have a great post day in your house too." I reckon Sara was delighted with her gift, she got them straight up on her wall and sent me this lovely photo, they look right at home! The flying swallows were designed for my recent photoshoot, my take on the iconic flying ducks of the 1950s. Many of you have been asking about these, so I've decided to add a few sets to my shop just in time for Christmas and don't forget personal messages can be added onto the reverse at no extra cost.

Heart Vintage has a website!

So I launched my shop, started a blog and attended some amazing events so far with Heart Vintage. It made sense the next step would be to have a website. Using Blogger for my blog I thought it would be fairly easy for me to use a basic template to launch a website. The templates are very 'bloggy' looking so I needed to alter this to make be more like a website homepage. CSS & HTML codes sorted this little issue out....I never even knew what these were a few months back. Although at times I got a little frustrated, being a graphic designer I knew how I wanted it to look I just needed the programme to do what I wanted. I'm really happy with the result, the photos from my photoshoot look perfect against the clean layout and simple fonts. I've also added some customer testimonials, such lovely words, I can't quite believe they're talking about my product, it makes all the hard work worth while. In the future I'm hoping to add lots of vintage home & fashion inspiration and 'mend & make do' page. The website will go live later this week, yay!! www.heartvintage.co.uk

Te-Amo Vintage Fair

Last weekend Heart Vintage joined a bunch of lovely traders at Regent College, Leicester for Te-Amo Vintage Fair. The sunny weather a perfect location set the scene for the fair, just outside the city centre a stones throw away from De Montfort Hall. I had a lovely day and it gave me chance to try out a couple of new products, including my jam jar candles. My new stall layout was complimented too, everyone loved the photos from my vintage photo shoot.

I'm looking forward to attending more fairs next year, including a wedding fair in the spring. But for the rest of this year I'll be concentrating on designing.....including a range of vintage clocks, adding new designs to my greeting cards and plate ranges and also launching my website....busy little bee.