Quote of the Week - Andy Warhol

Quote of the week this week is for any artists reading this......


"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." 
— Andy Warhol

The Dorothy Days Xxx

Today I have been....

…..eating ridiculous amounts of banoffee pie (it is just so good!), drinking lots of Earl Grey, meeting lovely local Etsy sellers, photographing new items for my shop, shipping orders off to their new homes and trying to work out why I have quite so many jumpers!!

The Dorothy Days

Things I love this week - Industrial style

Hello everyone,

This week I am really loving the industrial look which is really trendy at the moment so I thought I would share with you all a collection of industrial look items.

What do you all think of this trend? Are you a fan? Let me know in the comments section below I would love to hear what you all think.

The Dorothy Days Xx

Jane Austen's ring

Hey everyone :),

I am in a very happy mood this afternoon. There are a few reasons for this.....firstly because the sun is shining and it is a really beautiful day here in Brighton, secondly because I have been sat in the sunshine making lovely jewellery all afternoon for the shop and for my craft fairs and finally.....what has made my day is the news about Jane Austen's ring. 

For those who don't know about the ring or the campaign.....

The ring you see in the photograph below is the absolutely stunning ring which was owned by Jane Austen. It is made from gold and turquoise and is simple but beautiful. It is one of only 3 known pieces of jewellery owned by Jane Austen. The ring has been passed down the Austen family first to Jane's sister Casandra who then gave it to her sister in law Eleanor Austen. It was then passed through the family until it was sold at Sothebys last year.  The ring was sold for just over £150,000 in this auction and the winning bid was Kelly Clarkson from American Idol. It was however seen as such as precious and culturally important piece that it was put on a temporary export ban by our Culture Minister in the hope that enough money could be raised so it could stay in the U.K. The campaign worked really hard to try and raise and funds and  today managed to raise enough money for this to happen so the ring is staying here in Britain. Such incredibly exciting news. I do feel sorry for Kelly Clarkson but am so glad that the ring is staying here for the public to enjoy. It is going to go on display on valentines day...how romantic is that?!

 Photo is not my own and I take no credit for it. Photo credit: PA via the Telegraph

The Dorothy Days X

Roald Dahl quote - Quote of the Week

Today I thought I would share with you all one of the loveliest quotes that I have come across so far and also one of the truest quotes :). 

 “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” 
― Roald Dahl

Hope this quote inspires you all to be extra lovely this week :) !

The Dorothy Days Xx

The Dorothy Days is now on Tumblr!

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much to those of you who have been reading my blog this week. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

This week I have decided to bite the bullet and get a Tumblr account. I have heard good things about Tumblr and so have decided to give it a go and try it out and see if I like it.

You can now find my Tumblr blog here

Please take a little look at my new Tumblr if you have the time :)

I am still very new to it so trying to work it out still but hopefully I will start regularly posting over there soon. I will of course be keeping this blog going too but in addition run the Tumblr.

Best wishes to you all

The Dorothy Days

Brighton Pavilion

Hello everyone,

Ages ago I wrote a little bit about Brighton (where I live) and posted photographs from different locations around the city. I promised that I would do a blog post in the future about some of my favourite places in the city. Today I went out and actually visited one of my favourite places in the city, Brighton Pavilion again as they have a new exhibition called Regency, Colour and Beyond which I wanted to go and see. My trip to the building  jogged my memory about this promise I had given you all so I hope you do enjoy this blog post and if you do I would really appreciate if you could leave a little comment in the comment box below so I know whether to do more of these style posts or not!!

Brighton Pavilion is one of the most amazing buildings that I have seen, it is beautiful and over the top in the most wonderful way! I remember getting off of the bus the first time I came to Brighton and looking up and suddenly seeing this amazing building which looks like it has been transported from another place because of Eastern and particularly Indian and Chinese influences. The building work was done in stages between 1787 and 1823 and was used as a Royal pleasure palace.

Photograph - Steve Slater

 I go past it all the time now but it still does not loose its wow- factor. I always stop and admire it for a while before carrying on into town.

Photo credit - Duncan

In the summer time it is lovely as everyone goes down and sits in the gardens around the Pavilion with friends and there is always musicians playing so it is a really nice place to go and sit.

I didn't actually go into the building until about a month after I moved to Brighton and really didn't know what to expect from the interior. Was it going to be in a similar style to the outside? Was it going to be quite plain in comparison? Was it going to have a traditionally English interior to juxtapose with the exterior? Was it going to be highly decorated? I really wasn't sure.

One thing is for sure, I don't think I ever expected to see what I found when I went through the doors. Highly decorated is somewhat of an understatement!!

Photo credit - Richard Rutter

This is a photograph of the Music Room. Every inch is decorated. It has huge velvet drapes, floral lighting and golden dragons 

Photograph - Richard Rutter

This is another photograph of the Music Room and shows the ceiling which is made up of thousands of gilded tiles.

Photo  Herry Lawford

This is where the Prince Regent would have entertained his guests and held lavish parties.

I do love the dining room and the music room but I think my favourite part of the building is the upstairs rooms. Here they are slightly less over the top but decorated in the most wonderful colours and patterns.

Herry Lawford

This for example is one of the staircases! The staircase itself is bamboo effect and then it has this wonderful pink and blue wall paper with a tree and birds.

Hope you have enjoyed the mini tour of one of my favourite places in Brighton!

The Dorothy Days 

Autumn collection for this week

The Dorothy Days Quote of the Week

My quote of the week for this week is some words of wisdom by Albert Einstein......


“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” 
― Albert Einstein

The Dorothy Days Xx

Art to cheer you up on a gloomy rainy day

Hello everyone,

Today it is raining like mad here in England. I love listening to the rain but the rain today is the kind of rain which is really fine so gets you soaked but doesn't have all the lovely sounds of 'proper' rain. The sky looks miserable and it is really chilly here too. All in all it is a rather gloomy day! So I was thinking of things that I could post on here which would cheer us all up and I thought what better than some beautiful art to share with you all.

I have picked paintings which are all very different but hopefully you will enjoy looking at.

This is a work by Henri Matisse called  View of Notre Dame, 1914. It is an oil on canvas work and is now in the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art)

This is one of my favourite art works. When I first started studying art history I was taken to the National Gallery to see some of the art works. This is one of pieces which really blew me away. It is a million times more beautiful when you see it up close and the colours are amazing. It is a portable altarpiece and was painted in c 1395. The artist is unknown and they also do not know if it is French or English. It is known as the Wilton Diptych. I have to stop myself rambling on here about how amazing this piece as I love it so much! Maybe I will write an art post soon on it :) 

Wheat Field with Cypresses - Vincent Van Gogh - 1889 - National Gallery - London

 Girl with Ball by Roy Litchenstein 1961. This is one of his earliest pop art pieces and is taken from an advert in the New York Times. It is now in the MOMA

Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway which is a painting by  JMW Turner painted in 1844. It is now in the National Gallery in London.

Hope this cheered you up a little on this gloomy Friday afternoon and hope that you are all looking forward to the weekend ahead. Have a great one!

The Dorothy Days X

Outfit inspiration for this week.....

Hey everyone,

Hope you have all been having a wonderful week. I thought I would share another outfit collection that I love with you all this week as I thought I would make this more of a regular feature :).

I LOVE the collection I have picked this week. My favourite item is the rather fabulous cat's eye sun glasses. Very vintage chic!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Quote of the Week - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hello everyone,

Hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. 

This week I thought I would share with you all a quote from Emerson about friends which I really liked.

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson in His Journals

The Dorothy Days Xx

The Dorothy Days - New items in my shop

Happy Friday everyone!

Hope that you have all had a good week. I have been working really hard on my shop and listing lots of new items. I am feeling rather proud of how the shop is looking and how much it has grown recently so I thought I would share with you all some of my favourite new listings.

I am trying to expand the range of vintage items which I have in my shop so recently have been listing some lovely vintage children's books. The books have the most wonderful vintage illustrations and are lovely to read as they are a real reminder of how much the world has changed, technology has moved forwards and how much people's attitudes have changed. It took me ages to list the books as I ended up reading them all as they were fascinating as they give an insight into the era in which they were published. The book above is one of my favourite of the ones which I have recently listed. It is 50 years old and not only does it have lovely illustrations but also is a really sweet book as it is meant to help children feel less nervous about going into hospital. 

 You can view my section of vintage children's books here

This is another one of my new listings - a vintage tea cup and saucer set made from English bone china. This set is so so beautiful, one of the most beautiful I have ever had in my shop and I think it would make such a lovely wedding gift. Click here to view this vintage tea cup

I have also been adding some vintage brooches to my shop including this one which I thought would be perfect for the Autumn because of its lovely brown and amber colours. 

Both vintage and handmade brooches are available to buy here

Hope that you like my new items :)

The Dorothy Days Xx

Vintage Thursday - 1950s Glasses advert

Hello everyone,

Happy Vintage Thursday!! Today I thought I would share with you all an 1950's advert for glasses which I found.

The video has some really amazing glasses but my favourites are the ones at 1.20



Which glasses are you favourite?

The Dorothy Days Xx

This week I am loving.......

The Dorothy Days Xx

Quote of the Week - Audrey Hepburn and Cake !

Hello everyone,

Happy Monday!! I hope that you have a wonderful day and fantastic start to the week.

My quote of the week for this week is by Audrey Hepburn and it made me smile a lot so I hope it starts your week with a smile too!

“Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me.” ― Audrey Hepburn 

The Dorothy Days Xxx

I am back :) !