Cutest Video Ever!

Hi everyone,

Had a lovely day today spent visiting family who live in a really beautiful part of the countryside. It is really remote and quiet and full of wildlife. We sat in the garden and had lunch while watching all the birds have theirs from the bird table. England is still beautifully sunny and it was just such a lovely day catching up with family who I haven't seen in a while.

I found this video tonight which I just had to share.....it is the cutest thing ever!!
Hope this makes you smile

The Dorothy Days  Xx

Chelsea Flower Show

Hi everyone,
Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. This week has been the Chelsea flower show and what beautiful weather for it ! I couldn't make it myself unfortunatly, did anyone manage to ?  Instead I thought I would share some items from Etsy which remind me of the flower show!

Via

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Via

Via

 

Via

Via

Via

The Dorothy Days X

Feature Friday- Laura from Vintage Plus Crafts

Hello everyone.

Hasn't the last few days just been beautiful ?! Everyone seems so much more relaxed and friendly now the sun in shining! To my followers from outside the U.K, what has the weather been like where you are from? Can't believe it is the end of the week already, this week seems to have gone by so quickly. I am really looking forwards to the weekend a on Saturday I am having a BBQ with my friends. There is nothing like BBQ cooked food and this shall be our first BBQ of the summer so I am rather excited.

I am also excited because on Sunday I am going to a vintage fair. I have a stall there so shall be selling lots of lovely vintage items. I have been busy the last few weeks and have lots of new teacups (some have gone up on my Etsy site), some beautiful vintage jewellery and lots of other vintage treasures. Some will be going to the vintage fair and some I have put aside for my Etsy store so be expecting some more treasures to be uploaded soon. Vintage fairs are always so much fun and you meet such a range of people. Last time I went I had a 7 year old who was really interested in vintage items buy a vintage necklace from me which was from the 1950's and the same day had an elderly woman buy a tea set from me as it was one she had when she was younger. There is such a mix of people and its lovely chatting to customers. Lets hope the sunshine stays as it will be lovely if the sun is shining when I do the fair.


Today is Friday which means it is Feature Friday! Last week was a great success. It was lovely featuring Shannon and a massive thank you to everyone who visited her shop and left lovely comments. They really made me smile and I am sure they brought a smile to Shannon's face too.

This week I am featuring Laura from ......

Laura is from Minnesota in the United States and sells a mixture of handmade and handcrafted items as well as vintage hence the name of her shop! Laura says "I love all kinds of vintage items" and she certainly has some beautiful items in her shop. She says that her favourite kind of vintage items are items from the 1970's, hand embroidered linens and aprons.

Here are some of my favourite vintage items in her shop:

 I love this vintage cross stitch sampler from the 1980's. It would be beautiful for a child's nursery or to give as a gift to a friend who is having a baby or has a young child. I always think it is so nice to give a handmade gift as you know that nobody else would have given them the same.

This Vintage tea towel is really fun and reminds me of the summer.

Laura also is a crafter and loves to do hand embroidery. She makes dish/ tea towels, hoop art and samplers. This is a skill she has had since a child and ,now a grandmother, she hopes to pass this skill onto her granddaughter.

Here are some hand embroidered dish towels which Laura has made with different farm yard animals and the days of the week. The country girl in me loves these! They would definitely brighten up washing the dishes!!

Please take a look at Laura's shop she has some wonderful items and her hand embroidery is amazing.

The Dorothy Days

Dorothy Days Item of the Week

Hi everyone :),

Thought I would share with you all my item of the week for this week. This week my favourite item in my shop is this beautiful violet tea set / teacup trio

It comes with a beautiful tea cup, saucer and cake plate which would be perfect for afternoon tea especially in this beautiful weather we have been having recently! The set is made from English bone china and has gilt edges which make it really delicate and elegant.

The Techniques:
1) Gilding is the method of applying gold to an object, in this case the rim of the tea cup, saucer and cake plate. This has the effect of sparkling slightly in the light and really makes this an elegant piece.

2) The set is made from bone china Bone china is a difficult type of china to work in and is labour intensive but the results mean that the china has a beautiful translucence and whiteness and is also stronger and more chip resistant than other forms of porcelain china. The technique was developed in England first by Thomas Frye in 1748 and then perfected by Josiah Spode between 1789- 93. Up until the end of the 20th century was almost exclusively an English technique. It is a lovely material to drink out of and the tea cups made in this china also look wonderful as display pieces.

The motif is violets/ viola and the purple flowers are really striking and dainty at the same time which matches the dainty material. I love this color purple, I think it is one of my favourite colours.

Hope that you have enjoyed this blog post and learnt a little bit about this little tea cup. You can find it here in my shop.

The Dorothy Days (Vintage and Handmade from England) X

Daily Etsy Contest

Hi everyone,
I hope you are enjoying the glorious sunshine! It is so beautiful today and feels like summer has finally arrived!  I thought I would share with you today a website I found which is called Daily Etsy Contest. It is really good fun and also a great way to gain exposure if you are an Etsy sellers. The idea is that you submit your shop and the contest randomly chooses you for a day (you can also try and submit to a category instead). The day will have a theme such as blue items or items between $4-5 and then one item from your shop will be selected. People then vote for their favourite items from the items which come up at random. It gets rather addictive going through a voting but is really good fun!

Here is an example of what it will look like. You click your favourite and then it will show you how many votes that item has got, at the end of day there shall be winning item.

I entered my earrings and they did rather well :) and I also had my gift tags entered for me which was a lovely surprise. I have also entered myself into another one of their categories so hopefully shall get featured on that one. It is a lovely way to discover new shops on Etsy and gain some exposure for my things too.

The Dorothy Days

New Listings!!!

Hi everyone,

I have been really busy recently and am so excited to say that I have some new items for my shop! I always get really excited when I have anything new for my shop.

This vintage tea cup set is so pretty. It has a beautiful English rose design and gilt edges. Would be perfect for afternoon tea!

Click here to view this tea cup in my store

 Intricate vintage flower brooch would look great on a summer dress.

Click here to see this beautiful vintage brooch in my shop

The Dorothy Days Xx

The Dorothy Days features....Shannon from Swiemann

Hi everyone,
It's feature Friday! For those who don't know feature Friday is when I scour Etsy to find the best shops and sellers and feature my favourites on here each week.

This week I am featuring Shannon and her fabulously vintage shop,  Swiemann.

Shannon in a 23 year old from Florida. She works as a computer programmers and has just gradauted from her masters degree in Information Systems (a massive well done!!).

Although she loves what she does the analytical nature of her work means that she craves a creative outlet and for Shannon this is her vintage shop. She has been running her Etsy shop since 2011 and sells a beautiful range of vintage clothing.

Shannon runs the shop single handedly, she purchases, researches, lists, measures and photographs all of her own stock as well as modelling for all of her own photographs!

She says that she loves selling on Etsy and that she "wouldn't trade in the friendships and connections I make through etsy for anything!"

Here are some of my favourite items from her beautiful shop:

I love this electric blue prom dress. It has just the perfect amount of sequins and the combination of a tight bodice and a loose floating skirt mean it is really flattering. Shannon says "the blue sequin prom dress is absolutely show stopping" and she is right, you really would turn heads wearing this. Click here to view it

A lovely 1980's gold and green dress Click here to view

I love this 70's bikini with bright floral patterns and high waisted bottoms. Shannon says The retro swimsuit screams "I'm fabulous and I know it!!" Click here to view

Please take a look at her shop, she has some lovely items in it and ships worldwide.

Hope you have all enjoyed the feature.

Have a great weekend.

The Dorothy Days X

(Vintage and Handmade from England)

Summer Sunshine- Best of Etsy

Well the beautiful summer weather is finally here! Blue skies and brilliant sunshine. It is absolutely beautiful. The blossom has also been flowering near where I live. It smells amazing and looks so delicate and pretty too.

Here is my 'Best of Etsy' collection for this week inspired by the sunshine and bright summer colours....enjoy!

Via Beautiful sunshine art print

Via how amazing are these wine glasses!?

How about these earrings to go with your summer outfits

Stand out with these beautiful shoes

Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine and massive thank you to all my new followers this week.

The Dorothy Days Xx

My first blog feature- With Natalia from Uncommonplace

Hi everyone,
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend and to those of you who are reading from the U.S.A, happy mothers day!  Here in the U.K we have had a beautifully sunny weekend and it is starting to really feel like summer. There is a huge amount of tulips which have sprung up just outside where I live and look absolutely beautiful. I went out with my camera to capture them and loved them so much it has become my new facebook background. Please click here to take a look.

As you know, I normally feature other Etsy sellers on my blog but this week I thought I would mix things up and interview Natalia from one of my favourite blogs to read, uncommon place.
Natalia is a 22 year old blogger from Idaho. Her blog is lovely to read and I especially enjoy the wedding features she does every wednesday.
Here is our interview:

What was the inspiration behind uncommonplace?
I have been blogging off and on for the last few years and Uncommonplace is actually my third blog. However, I was never content with the direction the other ones were going in and was never very inspired to write. Finally, I decided to start fresh and knew that eventually I wanted to start my own business as well. So I searched for a name that would accomodate both well, since they would be very connected. I also have always wanted just to share life and everything that inspires me. Uncommonplace encompasses all of that and will hopefully grow to bigger and better things.

Where do you see yourself and your blog in a few years time?
Honestly, I have no idea. And that is what makes it so exciting! I hope that my blog will not only give me a way of connecting with like-minded people, but also will be an inspiration to others wishing to follow their dreams. I would love for my Etsy shop (opening early next month) to still be going and thriving. Also, I am slowly trying to get my foot in the door to become an interior decorator and event planner, something that I have always had an interest in, and would love to be doing that full time! In my personal life, I have been married for two years, so I am hoping that within the next few years, we might decide to have children and enrich our lives in that way. :)

What do you hope that your readers will take away from reading your blog ?
I really just want my readers to be inspired. Not necessarily by me, I'm nothing spectacular. But mainly by the things I share. If no one is benefitting from your blog, then what is the point of even writing?

I see that you have been working on some things for your Etsy store, can you give us any more hints to what might be in store when you launch your shop?
Yes! I am so excited about this! It has been a long time coming and is finally becoming a reality. Because I do want to become an interior decorator and event planner, I thought that wedding and home accessories would be a fun and appropriate thing to sell in my shop. I have a few basic designs sketched out and have been working hard to make them a reality. I will be featuring bride and groom chair banners, word buntings, embroidery hoop art, throw pillows, and other similar things. Most will be either embroidered or will feature applique, because those things are just so fun!

How do you get yourself in the mood for creating? and in a creative mindset?
This is actually one of my biggest challenges! With a busy schedule, when I have free time, I find myself wanting to catch up on television shows or something like that. One of my biggest motivations to create is feedback from others. This may sound very self-centered, but when someone leaves a positive comment on my blog, it really inspires me to write better content. Or when someone I know tells me that they are excited for my Etsy shop to open, it forces me to be more dedicated to it. A few other things that really put me in a creative mindset are listening to music, looking up some inspiration on Pinterest or other blogs, and mixing and matching fabrics to come up with new ideas.

What do you feel your greatest skill is ?
At least on my blog, I feel that my greatest "skill" (if you can even call it that) is just being real. I don't claim to be an expert in anything. I am a self-taught sewer and embroiderer and am definitely still learning when it comes to blogging and business ownership. I just want to come along side people and encourage them in the amazing ways that I have been encouraged and share life in the process.

If you could have one super power what would it be ?

I have no idea if this qualifies as a super power or not, but I would love to have super-productivity! Haha! I am such a terrible procrastinator and never get as much done as I want/need to. So if I could be ridiculously quick and efficient, I would probably be in a much better place. :)

Please be sure to take a look at Natalia's blog.It is really enjoyable to read and her new shop when it is launched is going to be great.
Hope you enjoyed this feature and thank you all for the lovely comments which have been left on my blog this week, I have really enjoyed reading them.

The Dorothy Days Xxx

Some nonsense for today....

Hello everyone,

For those of you who don't know, today would have been Edward Lear's 200th birthday! Lear was an English author, poet, illustator and artist who was born in London in the 1812. He is most famous for his book of nonsense so I thought I would commemorate the day by sharing with you some nonsense from the book of nonsense!!

They are rather weird and wonderful but I hope these make you smile....they made me :) .....

There was an Old Man of Peru,
Who watched his wife making a stew;
But once by mistake,
In a stove she did bake,
That unfortunate Man of Peru

There was a Young Lady of Portugal,
Whose ideas were excessively nautical:
She climbed up a tree,
To examine the sea,
But declared she would never leave Portugal.

The was a Young Lady of Bute,
Who played on a silver-gilt flute;
She played several jigs,
To her uncle's white pigs,
That amusing Young Lady of Bute.

The Dorothy Days 

Vintage and Handmade from England X