Happy Easter everyone!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope that you all have an amazing weekend and good luck to everyone going on Easter Egg hunts!

The Dorothy Days X

Dorset Etsy Team Christmas Fair - #DorsetTeam

Sorry to be mentioning CHRISTMAS so early on in the year but exciting news for anyone in Dorset....the Dorset Etsy Team will be returning to Wimborne for their Christmas Fair on Saturday 3rd December at the Wimborne Allendale Centre.

Applications for stallholders are currently OPEN but close on the 1st April.

If you have an Etsy shop and would like to apply to be a seller at the event please find the application form here. The event will feature 70 Dorset Team Etsy sellers under 1 roof!

For more information about the event please see the Christmas Fair Facebook event page 

Please pop the date in your diary. Here is the video from last year's event....

Parisian Chic - Style guide by The Dorothy Days

Still can't believe that this time last week I was in beautiful, sunny Paris. I am missing it lots and hope to be back soon. I thought this week I would do a Parisian themed style feature so here is my style guide for sightseeing in Paris.

Paris Sightseeing; WHAT TO WEAR

Black top with pleated sleeves to stay cool in the heat but is also more stylish than a tank top.

Go bold with print for the skirt (and you could even go bold with colour here too)

Brown bag - don't go tempted to take too big a bag or you will have to lug it around all day. Instead take something which is large enough for everything you need and has flexibility in how you wear it. I love that this one can be turned into a satchel, stylish but also practical and keeps all your things safe if you are travelling on the metro or in crowded areas.

Flats for the day time for when you are seeing the sights, maybe a pair of brown leather sandals  and then dress this outfit up and transform it into an evening outfit with some black platforms and accessories with some bling!

The Dorothy Days - Where to find me on the internet!

Hello everyone,

I have so much to update you all on that I don’t really know where to start!! Tricky getting back into blog writing but I hope it will get easier once I get back into the swing of it again.

I thought today I would update you all on where you can find me on the internet as I am now using a range of social media sites.

Pinterest: http://gb.pinterest.com/thedorothydays/

Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/thedorothydays

Wanelo: http://wanelo.com/store/thedorothydays

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheDorothyDays

Instagram: http://instagram.com/thedorothydays

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedorothydays

Please come and take a look at my different social media sites.

My pinterest page has lots of my own items and I also have a board for local Etsy sellers which is well worth taking a look at, so many inspiring local crafters and artists (I am hoping to feature some of them soon on my blog!)

On Tumblr I post lots of sneak previews of items which are about to go up in my shop and I also reblog beautiful items that I find around the internet so if you like beautiful things please come and have a look!

On Wanelo I have some of my own items and also pretty items that I love

Etsy - This is where my shop is based and where you can find all my vintage and handmade pretties! 

Instagram - If you want to see what I have been up to and behind the scenes photos you can find them here. At the moment I see to be posting lots of photographs of yummy food and tea!! This is the best place to find out what I am up to, new items I am about to list and everyday things that make me smile.

Twitter- I am most active on Twitter and use this a lot :) come and say hello! 

The Dorothy Days X

Last purchasing day for American buyers

I have been working really hard on getting lots of new listings up in my shop that will make great Christmas gifts and stocking fillers. If you purchase more than one item there is a combined shipping discount. Any items purchased today or tonight will be parcelled up tomorrow morning and posted out to you the same day. You can of course continue to purchase after this date if you would like to but purchasing today and tonight will mean you will receive your item by Christmas.

To visit my shop, The Dorothy Days, please click here

Gift Buying Guide:

I have a whole range of floral hair slides in my shop including these lovely vintage looking hair slides/ bobby pins made from fabric. These would make a lovely stocking filler Please click here to see them in my shop

This beautiful print has been really popular and I have sold lots of these in the run up to Christmas as they make wonderful Christmas gifts especially for someone who is hard to buy for or someone who seems to have everything! My prints look fantastic when they are framed and add a very chic vintage feel to a home. To view this French 1880's butterfly print in my shop click here

If stocking fillers are what you are after I have lots of handmade earrings all in different designs from dangly earrings, post/ stud earrings, polymer clay earrings, resin earrings etc.

Please click here to see the different range of earrings I have in my shop. I offer combined shipping discounts if you order more than one pair (the discount will automatically come off at checkout)

If you are looking to make all your gifts look extra special then please take a look at these Merry Christmas tags, I sell them in sets of 10 and they add a rustic/ shabby chic look to your gifts.

Please take a look here

To browse my shop for more vintage and handmade goodies please click here

Happy shopping and thank you so much to everyone supporting my little shop this Christmas.

The Dorothy Days X

Autumn collection for this week

The Dorothy Days - Vintage Advert - Benjamin Moore paints

Hey everyone :),

Hope you have all had a great week. Thank you to everyone who has been tweeting to me and about my shop, I really appreciate it :). Here is another one of my vintage Thursday images. This week I thought I would share with you all another vintage advert as I really enjoy looking at them at the moment. Hope you enjoy it too :)

The advert is from the 1950s and is for Benjamin Moore paints. I love the old car in the advert and it also made me laugh that health and safety would be going crazy about this advert now....none of the children have seatbelts, one child is sat in the boot and all the paint is about to fly out the boot!!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Vintage Thursday- Vintage advert for glasses

Hello everyone :)

I really like vintage medical/ science type stuff like this rather hilarious medical book page I found from the 1920s which I posted in a previous blog post. I am not sure why I like this stuff so much but I just do!! Please tell me I am not the only one ?! This week for my Vintage Thursday post I thought I would post this fabulous advert for Borsch and Rommel's Scientific Opticians which is from 1886.

The glasses which are shown in the advert remind me a lot of my mother's lorgnettes. My mum unfortunately had skin cancer a few years ago and had to have major surgery on her face. This meant for many months she could not wear her glasses. My mother is ....as the saying goes.... is blind as a bat so this meant she could not read anything! This was really frustrating for her but was far too painful to wear normal glasses. A close friend of hers visited and cleverly suggested she buy a pair of lorgnettes instead so she could read. She bought a pair and they worked a treat so this vintage ad really reminds me of the ones which she had. She is now able to wear glasses again and is back wearing some amazing vintage glasses but still keeps her trusty lorgnettes in her handbag! They are even foldable so fold into a small round shape with the lenses on top of each other!

A little random fact for you: The first known use of the word lorgnette was in 1803 and comes from the French word lorgner, which is to take a sidelong look  at and from the Middle French word lorgne which means squinting.

The Dorothy Days

Feature Friday - Hand Stitched with Love

Hello everyone :),

Hope that you have all had a wonderful week. The sun is finally shining HORRAY :) and it has been warm enough to be wearing some summer clothes which is always so exciting. Has been a really great week and looking forwards to the weekend now. I have also managed to blog every day this week which I am proud of, I hope you all have enjoyed the posts I have been putting up and hopefully I can continue to blog a little more frequently. 

This week I have a really exciting Feature Friday lined up for you all. I am super excited to be featuring this shop and it is really nice to be featuring a shop from England on my blog too :). 

This week's featured shop is HandStitchedWithLove which is run by Scholastica Brimley who is from Hertford, England. She sells a range of beautiful hand embroidered cross stitch earrings, cufflinks, rings, pendants and home accessories which are inspired by vintage needlework. 

As you can see from this photograph Scholastica's items are so pretty and delicate and also beautifully photographed. This makes browsing through her shop a really lovely experience. Please click here to take a peak!!

Scholastica opened her Etsy shop after another crafty friend recommended the site to her and she listed her first brooch in early 2012. She says that Etsy has been a great way to meet other crafters who have been really kind and generous to her with help and support in running her shop. Being an Etsy seller myself this is something I too have really gained from being part of Etsy, it is not just a great place to set up a shop and sell but also has a wonderful community. I have learnt so much from others on Etsy and it is fantastic to be able to connect with others all over the world. 

About Scholastica

She says " I owe my strange name (especially for someone who grew up in Hong Kong where many of my teachers struggled to pronounce it) to my parents wanting to give me a name with the same number of letters as my brother's, which is Christopher. I have two beautiful girls, aged 2 and 4, who tend to take over my life somewhat. I work as a pensions actuary 3 days a week, which require me to act very grown-up and business-like :) When I'm not stitching I like knitting and teddy-making, but more commonly I can be found baking or making some paper mache masterpiece with the girls.

Oh and I absolutely can't stitch without chocolates :) and have a habit of making my husband feed me little squares as I work, so that my creations can remain smudge-free :)"

How Scholastica got into embroidery:

Scholastica says "I have always loved embroidery and all forms of hand-stitching/sewing (being completely rubbish with a sewing machine), and I still have the little sheep pin cushion that I made when I was 10! Then in 2011 I got quite ill when I was carrying my second daughter, and I did a lot of cross-stitching to help wind away the long hours of being stuck in bed. It was at the point when we were running out of wall space for my many completed samplers that my husband challenged me to make something "useful" out of my cross-stitching - and I made my first pair of cross-stitch cufflinks :)" 

Vintage Patterns

I was really interested in what Scholastica had to say about being inspired by vintage patterns. She said "I have a great love for vintage cross stitch patterns, especially French ones from the early 1900s. I like them for their simplicity and how the shapes and forms are allowed to take centre stage - this may be my mathematical side talking! One of my favourites is the DMC "Point de Marque" collection - the first of which may have been first published in 1890, but the designs still seem relevant and have such vintage charm. I have been known to spend hours trawling through antique shops and online for old prints!"

Scholastica's favourite item from her shop

"My favourite piece in the shop at the moment is the rabbit brooch - it's a labour of love as for some reason it took a lot longer than expected to get her bottom looking just right! I really like how it has turned out though :)"

I absolutely love her shop especially how all her items are vintage inspired :). Please click this link to have a browse around Hand Stitched With Love and see all the lovely items which Scholastica has for sale :).

Have a great weekend everyone and hope you enjoyed this week's Feature Friday. If you did, please leave a comment in the box below, would be wonderful to hear what your favourite item in Hand Stitched with Love is :) .

The Dorothy Days XXxx

Happy Easter!!!

Photo credit- Ian Britton

Painting of the week- Portrait of Andrea Odoni by Lorenzo Lotto

Hi everyone,

Hope you have had a great week so far and had a wonderful Valentine's day. The painting of the week for this week is this beautiful painting by Lorenzo Lotto, a Venetian artist from the 16th century. 

Portrait of Andrea Odoni by Lorenzo Lotto 1527 Oil on Canvas. Royal Collection Hampton Court

Lorenzo Lotto

Lorenzo Lotto was an Italian painter and draughtsman born in Venice. He was from the same generation as other great artists who were working in Venice such as Titian and Giorgione.

Lotto was quite a traditional artist especially when compared to artists such as Titian and Giorgione. His main output was devotional pieces, altarpieces and portraits such this portrait of Andrea Odoni.

He never received the fame and fortune of artists such as Titian and the Bellini brothers and his style was unique from them. It is only in modern times that his innovations and unique style has been recognised as examples of how Venetian artists were often in dialogue with artists from northern Europe such as Durer who was known for his realism.

Lorenzo's Portraits

Painted a large amount of portraits that were unique in style to that of his contemporaries but also followed on from the refashioning of portraiture during this period with artists such as Titian and Giorgione who worked in Venice as well as Leonardo and Raphael who were working in Florence. His work was different because it focused more on the subject matter and the figure rather than the colours in the painting. Venetian painters were particularly known for their use of colour so Lotto was going against the norm. As with this portrait, his sitters usually look straight out at the viewer as if to confront them and their gaze.Through his portraits, Lorenzo tried to tell the viewer as much about the sitter as possible. He did this through clothing and jewellery, the setting and also a person's physiognomy which is when the a person's character and personality is judged by the way they look and their outward appearance. There was a believe that the outwards appearance of someone reflected their inner personality. 

Andrea Odoni

This portrait is of Andrea Odoni who was a Milanese merchant who came to Venice and spent most of his life living in the city. He was a collector of artistic treasures including sculptures from antiquity and modern bronzes. Some of the sculptures from antiquity which were collected by Odoni can be seen in this portrait showing how Lorenzo used material objects to inform the viewer about Odoni as a person. He has a large beard and soft features which were meant to show his sensitivity which is one way in which an outwards appearance of a person was meant to reflect their inner personality.

Odoni holds a statuette of Diana of Ephesus. This shows the influence of the East on Venetian artists such as Lotto because she was an Eastern deity. Diana has a multitude of breasts so is a figure that has often been associated with fertility and the earth. 

Odoni wears furs and a large coat with puffed satin arms which illustrate his wealth. The sculpture collection is meant to show that Odoni is wealthy, educated and knowledgeable on antiquity (something that was prized in the Renaissance when this painting was painted) 

Hope that you enjoyed the painting of the week for this week.

The Dorothy Days 

Sources:

Grove Art Online and this article by Johnathan Jones

Inspirational quote of the week - Wayne Gretzky

Hello everyone :) ,

Happy Monday!!! Feels very strange here in England as it is so dark and cold and there is a proper wintery chill in the air. I am starting to get really excited about Christmas now. The light have been going up in town ready to be switched on for December and I am crafting like crazy at the moment so I can be prepared for my Christmas craft fairs which are coming up and also have enough stock in my shop for the Christmas rush. My blog has had loads of views from Russia recently so a big hello to all my Russian followers and readers :). I have also had a lot of views in my shop from Russia and so I have decided to try and make it easier for my Russian shoppers and added Russia to the shipping locations at the bottom of some of my items. I am always happy to ship worldwide but not all of my items have all the locations I ship to listed (please contact me for a quote). So far all my earrings now have a shipping price to Russia to make it easier for my Russian shoppers :) hope this helps. I will hopefully add shipping to Russia on all my tea cups as well but please contact me in the meantime for quote :)

 Quote of the week for this week I was really pleased to stumble across and I thought it was a really great and inspiring quote. It is by Wayne Gretzky who was a Canadian ice hockey player and one of the greatest players ever.

His quote is both true for sport and for life in general. I hope this quote inspires you all this week :)

" You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take."

—Wayne Gretzky

The Dorothy Days  Xx

5 things I love about the countryside....

Hi everyone,

I thought I would do another 5 things blog post so this week. I am lucky enough to live in the beautiful English countryside in a really rural location so this week I am doing 5 things I love about the countryside.

1) You can see the stars and they shine really brightly as everything else is dark around and there isn't so much light pollution. Where I live there are no street lights and the nearest town is about 10 miles away so on a clear night the sky looks incredible.

2) Not having shops or entertainment on your doorstep means you have to find your own entertainment which results in a lot of fun and enjoying the landscape around you. I love going down to the beach or going on a walk through the woods with friends. Means there are no distractions and it is perfect for catching up.

3) Local produce! In the garden we have lovely apples and also other types of fruit but just down the road is a farm who sell the most wonderful local produce in one of their outbuildings. They sell local meat, honey, biscuits, fruit and vegetables, amazing jams etc. There is also a lady who has her own chickens and sells their eggs out the front of her house. The eggs are about as free range as you can get!

4) Community spirit. It is wonderful to see how much of a community there is and how willing they are to help each other out. When our lawnmower broke down and the grass in the garden was getting rather long we had a knock on the door and a neighbour offered to cut the grass for us.

5) Living in such a beautiful area makes me smile nearly every day. It is so quiet and peaceful here and although I love to visit the city and make regular trips to London, it is wonderful to return to the countryside. I can't wait for the leaves on the trees to start changing colour and for us to have the log burner in the evenings.

What do you love most about where you live?

The Dorothy Days

5 things MY FOLLOWERS love about Autumn!

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your lovely comment this week :), has been really nice to read them and I have even had people commenting on some of the older blog posts which is lovely to see that even the older ones are still being read and enjoyed!

Last week I posted 5 things I love about Autumn as I am really excited that Autumn is now here! I asked you guys to tell me what your top 5 things you love about Autumn were as well and I had some lovely replies so I thought I would share them with everyone :).

Jayne from handmadecuties said that her top five favourite things about Autumn were...

1) Thanksgiving celebration with family
2) Refreshing rain
3) Turkey and Pumpkin pie
4) Being home with the kids on school break
5) Autumn colors (wish we had seasonal changes here and I could see the leaves change colors)


Jamie from chatterblossom also shared hers with me:



1. Cool and crisp smells in the air
2. The feeling that everyone around me is getting excited about the holidays
3. Feeling like time is slowing down just a bit into a relaxed calm
4. The smell of cinnamon baking
5. Have hot drinks outside in the cold


An anonymous poster also posted saying:
1. Wearing layers and scarves, gloves, hats and boots.
2. Long walks in the countryside
3. Sitting by a log fire
4. Walking through crunchy leaves!
5. Bonfire night

Really interesting to see what other people like about Autumn and their experiences of Autumn from different places around the world and how that differs from my experience of Autumn in England. For example, I have never ever had pumpkin pie ! I am really intrigued about it.....what does it taste like?!

Thanks again to everyone who shared their top 5 :).

The Dorothy Days X

A video on Simone Rocha and her work

Hello everyone,

I hope that you are having a wonderful day today :). What have you all been up to ?
Today I thought I would share with you a wonderful video I found which was produced by the Tate (for those of you outside of the U.K, the Tate galleries are 4 art galleries in the U.K). The video shows the blurring of lines between art and fashion and the work of Simone Rocha. Her work is beautiful and it is well worth a watch.



I hope you enjoyed the video :) .

The Dorothy Days

The Dorothy Days new items

Hi everyone,

I have been busy listing some new items in my shop and I thought I would share some of them with you all :) . A little while back I really focused on adding some more vintage items to my shop so added lots of vintage tea cups. This time I focused on adding some more handmade items so there is a nice mix between the two. I have a new range of earrings and I also have started to make some rings :). I hope that you all like them. So far, the response on Etsy seems positive and they are getting quite a lot of views which I was really thrilled about.

Here are a selection of some of my newly listed items:

Here are my apple earrings which I made last week. They are made out of polymer clay (fimo), as are all of the new range and are very small in size which I think makes them the perfect size for every day wear.

Here is another of my new listing, my handmade grape earrings which I thought were really fun, in fact I kept a pair of these for myself :) !!

These are my orange earrings which I thought were really bright and cheerful :) and almost like those cake decorations which you can get, you know the little slices of lemon and orange which are covered in sugar?

I also made watermelon, dragon fruit, pink grapefruit and lemon earrings :).

I also did a first for The Dorothy Days and added a listing which is a mix and match listing. I made the collage myself and think it came out quite well and I am also quite excited by the idea of it. In the past I have people contact me asking for custom listings (such as a lady who wanted to buy 60 gift tags instead of 10). I love doing custom listings but I also thought by having a mix and match it might be easier for customers as they can do it instantly. With this new listing I am also offering a discount on the item price and the customer shall only have to pay for one lot of shipping so end up saving quite a bit of money :)

So the idea is the customer just lets me know which of these earrings they would like by giving me the letter of the earrings :). You can see the new listing here. What do you all think ?

I have also been busy making some button rings and a rose ring.

Here is one of my new wooden button rings

 

Would love to hear what you all think of my items :) . The shop is the fullest it has ever been which is an amazing feeling :) 

Hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. 

The Dorothy Days X

5 things I love about Autumn The Dorothy Days

Hello everyone,

I am really quite excited this year that it is Autumn so I thought I would share with you 5 things I love about the Autumn. Would love to hear what your top 5 would be as well.

1) Nights spent in with family or friends snuggled up in front of the fireplace. We have a little log burner which gives off amazing heat and is also wonderful to have in the room and watch. I love the sounds that the fire makes and also the different colours. Watching it is rather mesmerising.

via

2) Going to the beach when it is windy. I almost love going to the beach when it is windy as much as I do when it is sunny. It is lovely to walk along the coast in a pair of wellies (Wellington boots). Makes you feel all refreshed :). 

3) Bonfire night!! Such good fun :)

4) Making lots of lovely warming meals for supper. I get really into making soups and casseroles in the Autumn time.

via

5) The leaves in all the different colours, it makes everywhere look so beautiful (it is also rather fun to play in!)

What are your top five things that you love about Autumn ?

The Dorothy Days

Wordless Wednesday- Vegetable Patch

Hope you all are having a great week.

The Dorothy Days

Romantic Florals treasury

Hi everyone,

I have just been included in the most beautiful treasury by Aki called Romantic Florals. It features some really lovely handmade and vintage items from around Etsy and the colours are incredible so i thought I would share with you all. Thanks so much Aki for including me.

'Romantic florals' by oktak

Impatiens- Soft ivory weddi... GarlandsOfGrac... $42.00	Flower Earrings with Purple ... JarosDesigns $27.00	Embroidery Hoop Art. Flouris... merriweatherco... $42.00
Girls White Floral Halter Dr... WiseSewcialTie... $34.00	Vintage 1950s Fabric Panel, ... 5gardenias $10.50	1950's Tea cup Vintage T... TheDorothyDays $16.00
flower greeting card . blank... BranchandOlive $6.50	Lilacs - flower photography ... alekaki $10.00	pressed flower necklace pink... StudioBotanica $50.00
FREE SHIPPING Purple Flowers... lonkoosh $99.00	Field schalle $25.00	Original oil painting botani... Stormscapestud... $58.00
Ring 'Three Flowers' liliumjewelry $179.00	Lavender sachets -- crochet ... namolio $18.00	Black Floral Tea Dress Long ... DiscordVintage $40.00
Japanese Cotton Fabric - Flo... theheydayshop $8.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

 How stunning is that?!

The Dorothy Days