It's fabric day!

Hooray Hooray, it's fabric day!! Well, it is in my house anyway, thanks to the fabulous Modflowers - we have done a lovely birthday fabric swap, and I collected her parcel today (silly me was out when the postman came)...

She wrapped it so beautifully, and look what treasures I found when I opened the box of wonder...

Wowzers!! I am a a very happy fabric addict today, I can tell you.  I love that mini bunting so much, it's hanging in my kitchen doorway right now looking gorgeous.  

I'm hoping we can make fabric day an annual tradition, I'm sure by her next birthday I'll have squirrelled away a good few treats to share.  Thanks again Modflowers, it's all beautiful! If you haven't seen her blog, please pop over to have a look at it - she makes lovely things with all those gorgeous fabrics, and sells them in her Etsy shop, so you can get yourself a bit of Modflowers deliciousness too!

Rachel x

can I go out to play?

Yes I can, and I did!!  Thanks to my lovely Mum, who looked after my kids yesterday so that I could go to Paper Village, our local (very - it's just over the road from my house!) craft shop, which runs fantastic courses and workshops.  

I've already done a Lino Printing workshop last year, run by local printmaker and blogger Mel Wickham, and this time I fancied an even more immediate form of printmaking - rubber stamp cutting.  This workshop was run by London based Rubber Stamp artist Stephen Fowler, and it was great fun having a chance to get messy and play with sharp craft knives and ink. 

Here are a few photos of the results (and the mess!)...

So much fun!  If you're in Bristol I can totally recommend Paper Village, it's a great shop and it's courses and workshops are run by proper working artists and craftspeople with loads of knowledge and experience, but with a very relaxed and playful atmosphere that really encourages creativity.  I will definitely be cutting more stamps and doing more printing at home, apparently you can get pads of ink that can be stamped directly onto fabric - oh joy!

Hope you've been enjoying the lovely sunshine, thank you to everyone who has sent me a birthday message, and to all you lovely people who read my blog - you're great!

Rachel x

this week I've...

...not had much time for blogging!  So here are a few photos of what we've been getting up to over the last 7 days...

sending parcels (here's one just opened by Hazel)...

 

a magical woodland picnic in the heart of the city ...

 

kissing tigers...

cutting squares for a quilt (totally failing to fight the urge for rainbow order!)...

 

 eating dinner outside...

 

 receiving exciting Finnish birthday gifts...

 

baking cookies...

It's been a wonderful but busy week - I have also enjoyed our local open house arts trail (which deserves a post all of its own), danced and drank cocktails to celebrate a friend's 40th, spent time with friends, sat in the sun at the park, got the paddling pool out, sourced vintage loveliness for one friend's home and another's wedding...and of course that's just the good stuff, there was plenty if day-to-day tedium and tantrums to fill up any spare moments!

After all that I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend.  Hope you've had a lovely week and that you have a happy sunny weekend! 

Rachel x

buttons and ribbons and trims, oh my!

How are you doing? I'm having a crazy busy week, all lovely stuff but I do wish the world had a pause button sometimes!  Thought I'd share some more pictures from my time in Manchester last weekend, these are from a gorgeous Haberdashery stall at a market we visited...

 

 

 

As I'm sure you can imagine, I was a very happy chicken browsing among all that lovely colour and texture!  In fact there was so much to choose from that I didn't have a clue where to start, and just bought a rainbow of zips for cushion covers, and a lovely set of (rainbow again!) heart-topped pins.  

Have you been anywhere recently that made you feel excited or inspired or just glad to be alive? I'd love to hear about it! 

Happy Friday, I hope you have a great weekend.

Rachel x

and the winner is.....drum roll please!

Oh wow, here we are...I had no idea that when I said I'd do a giveaway when I had 50 followers, I'd end up with 70 a week or so later! You people must really love vintage fabrics, which is good because I have got some seriously gorgeous goodies to share with the lucky winner! 

I'm not really tech savvy enough to install random number generator thingys on my blog, so earlier today I selected some suitably vintagey paper to write the names on...

can you believe this is wrapping paper?! Love it!

   and then chose a lovely tin to put the names in...

 

and then the names went in (might have looked more impressive if I'd written bigger, 

but I didn't want to use up all that lovely paper!

and...drum roll please....these are the NAMES(!) that came out...

well you didn't think I could stop at just one did you?!

That's Hazel of hazeyfantazey.blogspot.co.uk, Jules of curtainsforthewindow.blogspot.co.uk, and Caroline of carolinescrapsofus.blogspot.co.uk (that's just the order they came out of the tin) - all lovely gorgeous crafty women who I hope will be very happy to receive a rainbow selection of 60s and 70s cotton to play with! So congratulations you 3!

I'll be popping over to your blogs later to let you know, in case you haven't checked in here today - and if you all email me at rainbowvintagehome@googlemail.com with your address I'll send your prizes later this week. Tomorrow will be spent selecting and cutting up all that lovely fabric and wrapping your parcels - yippee what fun!  

And if you didn't win, sorry! I had trouble stopping myself from pulling more names out, but if I gave my whole stash away now then I wouldn't have anything to give away next time (and I'd be really sad to not be surrounded by all these piles of lovely fabric!).

Thanks to everyone who has joined me, liked my facebook page, and/or shared news of my blog and giveaway on their blog...it has been a busy week over here in my rainbow vintage home, but a very happy one.

Loads of love to you all, you're great!

Rachel x

my weekend in pictures

Well what a busy weekend, taking 2 crazy boys on the train for 3 hours each way on my own - constant vigilance was needed to stave off toddler tantrums, but we all survived the journey (partly thanks to GOLD Moshi Monsters!)...

and once we got there, lots of fun was had by all, running through willow tunnels in the park...

visiting a cousin with a climbing frame and an imagination to match M's...

 

dressing as Ancient Egyptians at the museum...

taking a rare quiet moment to enjoy the house we were staying in...

 

having a ride at the fair...

 

wondering at a quirky street name (can I call it a street name?)...

 

and finally, coming home tired but happy to have caught up with lovely family.

And now here we are, Tuesday has arrived and I have lots to catch up on, most importantly announcing the winner(s?!) of my giveaway....watch this space, that deserves a post all of its own.

Hope you all had great weekends too, but with maybe a bit more sleep and a few less toddler freak outs than mine! 

Rachel x

spreading the love!

Wow I am feeling the blog love today, 63 followers!!! You're all totally scrummy for spending a bit of your precious time reading my musings and leaving lovely comments.  And I've been discovering some wonderful stuff as a result of popping over to your blogs to say hello - sorry if i haven't done that on your blog (if you have one), I've been having a busy week in the real world as well as the virtual one. 

I'm getting ready for a long weekend away visiting family - I'm taking the boys on a 3 hour train journey on my own tomorrow, and as R is quite prone to tantrums at the mo I feel like I need to do a lot of preparation!  But now that the toys, books and snacks are packed, I have a moment to share these 2 wonderful blogs, which have really inspired me this week....

Aren't these softies fabulous?

I love them, they're so quirky...but the best thing about them is, you can't buy them.  These are just a few examples of toys made by crafters all over the world - they call themselves The Toy Society, and they perform Random Acts of Craft - making toys and  leaving them in random places to be found by whoever comes along...

 

The blog for this amazing, generous, love-spreading project is here, please go and check it out, if only for the fuzzy feeling it will give you!  I am struggling to find time for sewing at the moment, but this has definitely made it onto my 'want to do' list.  It's just a lovely thing to do!

The other blog that has really touched my heart I discovered earlier today; my lovely friend Lou over at littlegreenshed has a new stockist (very exciting!) - the lovely looking shop/craft space Tenderfoot in Bristol (my gorgeous home town).  This is turning into a long story, but I think it's nice for you to explore all the links in the chain for yourself if you want to!

While checking out the tenderfoot blog, I read about the beautiful blog Lazy Crafternoons,  where Bristol boy Chris is co-ordinating an amazing 52 weeks, 52 crafts project.  Basically Chris and other guest makers are exploring a different craft every week of 2012, sharing tutorials and inspiration, and the results of their hard work and creativity are auctioned online in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

He has made some amazing things already, including this beautiful patchwork picnic bag ...

and these lovely seed paper gift tags...

What can I say?  Gorgeous things, and the fact that all the proceeds of Chris's hard work is going to charity is humbling and truly inspiring.  Please go and have a look, and spread the word about this wonderful project!

Well I've got a bit of a crazy day tomorrow, and then I'll be relaxing with lovely family for the weekend and I'll be back with you next week.  Don't forget about my  Vintage Fabric Rainbow Giveaway, you've still got plenty of time to enter before the Monday evening closing date.  And my first blog-related job when I get home will be putting all your names in a very pretty tin and choosing the winner!!  Very excited about that, I hope you are too.  

Welcome again if you're a new friend, I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Rachel x

a lucky find....and a goodbye

Hello lovelies, I hope the sunshine has visited you today, it's been lovely here, hooray!

I love the style of illustrations from the 60s and 70s, and since having my own kids I have really enjoyed rediscovering picture books from my own childhood, and finding new gems from past and present.  I have built up quite a collection of special books which will still be on my shelves long after my kids have left home!

The other day I was out for a rare child free potter round the shops, and while browsing one of my many local charity (sorry I just can't get used to calling them thrift!) shops, I came upon a pile of school reading books from the 70s; a lot of them were nothing special, but I'm glad I looked through them all because my goodness there were some treats hiding in there....

 

Aren't they lovely?  Each book has lots of different stories with different styles of illustration, and none of the illustrators are properly credited, there's just a list of names at the beginning of each book.  M has been struggling with his reading - partly because the books they give him at school are boring - but he's enjoying working his way through these stories, and when he's finished with them I think I'll be cutting them up and framing my favourite pictures.

While writing this I found out that Maurice Sendak has died at the age of 83, so goodbye and thanks to him. Where The Wild Things Are is one of my all time favourite books.  RIP Maurice, you were a totally unique and precious talent who brought a bit of wildness and joy into millions of childrens lives. 

Hope you've had a lovely, happy, colourful day.

Rachel x

50th Follower giveaway!

Hi, I have been having a busy week so took a bit of time out of blog world - well, I've been checking in with people and replying to comments but haven't felt inspired to post anything new.  

Meanwhile new lovely people have been finding my little blog (welcome!) and joining me for the journey, and here I am at 49 followers - which may not seem that many in the great scheme of blog type things but it feels significant and very heartwarming to me, so thanks!

I mentioned a while ago (when I went through my little winning streak) that I would do a giveaway when I got to 50 followers, so here we are:

Whoever clicks that 'follow' button next will get a little something pretty, and anyone who follows me can leave me a little comment below to get your name into...what shall I use? A lovely 60s jar? Or a gorgeous 70s pillowcase?  I haven't decided yet!  Whatever I use, if your name is chosen, you will win a rainbow of stunning, colourful, bold 60s and 70s fabric, including pieces of some of these...

 

Feel free to share news of these treats over on your own blog for an extra chance to win, and you can have another chance if you 'like' my Rainbow Vintage Home facebook page. 

Update!: Doh, you can tell I haven't done a giveaway before huh? Got to bed last night and realised I'd forgotten 2 important little details - 

1. The closing date for entries is Monday 14th May, and I will choose a winner on Tuesday 15th.

2. You must leave a comment on this blog to enter; and please let me know if you are entitled to 1, 2 or 3 chances (1 for following my blog, 2 for sharing on your own blog or liking the facebook page, 3 for doing all 3).

Next time I have a giveaway (100 followers here I come!) I will plan it a bit better and not write the post late at night.  Also I was feeling very sad about the news that MCA (Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys) has died, so that's my excuse for being a tad forgetful about little things like closing dates. RIP MCA, 47 is way too young. x

Hope you have a lovely weekend people, it's not raining here, I'm very excited about the prospect of actually getting my boys out of the house!

Rachel x