Of A Happy Purchase

This lovely lady expresses the feelings of joy I'm experiencing at the moment, thanks to my recent purchase (finally!) of a new camera. At the moment, Rose Dancer is adorning my bedroom wall, as she's the Miss April for my current calendar. This year I decided to go for the Erte calendar by Flame Tree Publishing. I adore Erte's designs, and this one from 1984 shows that he lost none of his talent over the course of his long life (Erte, or Romain de Tirtoff, lived from 1892 to 1990. The pseudonym came from the French pronunciation of his initials). I've been enjoying turning over the page each month to be greeted by another beautiful figure, and a quick glance down the Erte page at Flame Tree shows me that I might just have found a good place to buy my Christmas cards this year (it never hurts to be prepared!):

The only problem would be choosing which design to pick (and these are only a few of the ones on offer!), but at only £4.99 for a pack of twelve (plus postage), I might not be forced to stick at just one...

I am beyond excited to have a camera in my hot little hands once again, and can't wait to get out there and start using it. In fact, I think it will be having its very first outing this evening, as I'm off to London later to spend an evening with friends and particularly to catch up with one friend who is back in the UK on a flying visit from a six month work placement in Athens. My latest purchase is very well timed! I love having pictorial reminders of events -- large and small -- in my life, and although I've enjoyed a bit of retro chic with the odd disposable camera over the past few months, I have really missed having my digital camera constantly at my side. I'm looking forward to once again being able to express myself and share my experiences through photos here on my blog too. For (to quote Sir W in his 1601 essay 'Of Trappes for Fame'), sometimes

'my picture can doe this, better than I'.

Of Crumpet & Skirt

Perhaps it's the whole pole dancing thing that's drawn me to the wonderful range at Crumpet & Skirt (is that not the most amazing company name?). I've only just come across them, but already I absolutely adore all of the products for sale in their online shop, and I think it's only a matter of time before some of their pin-up beauties wing their way towards my letter box. So far, you can choose between mugs, cards, wrapping paper, and even a tea towel, all decorated with saucy images of glamorous pin-up girls from the 1940s and '50s. All the girls are named after the film stars that the company's creator -- Elizabeth Pinnock -- thinks they most resemble, from Marilyn Monroe through to Veronica Lake.

I'm sad that I didn't discover the site in time for Christmas, as I'd have loved to have sent this coquettish Santa's Little Helper through the post:

Santa Baby Greetings Card, £1.50

Perhaps I'll make the most of the post-Christmas sale and take advantage of the fact that a pack of five is now only £6. After all, there's nothing like being well prepared. In the meantime, of course, I could always go for the non-festive version:

Rita Greetings Card, £2.49

Although I'm awfully tempted by this blonde beauty with her slinky long black gloves -- always a glamourous accessory for any girl, but this lady takes things to a whole new level:

Veronica Greetings Card, £2.49

It's so hard to decide between the various vintage lovelies that to stop my head from exploding with the effort, I might just be forced to go for this set of four designs:

Greeting Cards Set, £10

The lovely Veronica is also available decorating a tea towel, and this Tease Maid would be a great way to turn up the heat in the kitchen:

Veronica Tea Towel, £6.49

Just in case you're looking for something to dry with that towel, you could do a lot worse than this cheeky little Peek-A-Boo mug, which I loved on sight. Its pure white exterior looks extremely innocent, but I'd love to see the look on your guest's face when they finish their tea and find the naughty little surprise awaiting them at the bottom:

Sophia Peek-A-Boo Mug, £7.49

And don't worry, I'm not completely selfish -- as well as lusting after all of these for myself, I also think they'd make really fun gifts. After all, I need an excuse to buy some of this divine wrapping paper, don't I?

Pin-Up Wrapping Paper (4 sheets), £8

If only I could tie bows so neatly!

I'm certain that fun-loving Sir W would have been charmed to receive a card with one of these lovely ladies decorating the front. In his 1600 essay 'Of Resolution', he describes

'the strange alterations of men vpon slight occasions, at the receit of a letter, yea, before the reading'.

If the post contained one of Crumpet & Skirt's cards, I think it would be easy enough to understand why no reading would be necessary!

Of Being Tempted

I recently came across the delicious site that is Fey Handmade, with all its wonderful goodies. How could I not be entranced by a company with a range called 'November in Paris'? At the moment I must admit that it is only really the nearly $20 international shipping charge which is putting me off succumbing to temptation. (Any lucky people in the US get shipping for FREE!) These are just a few of my lust-after pieces:

Peacock Earrings, $28

I love peacocks on accessories, and indeed some of my favourite stationery is this set of note cards which I picked up on that trip to Florence I mentioned yesterday. I bought them at a wonderful shop called Il Papiro, along with a couple of other beautiful things:

I always like a good cup of tea, and when it's in a pretty teacup I find it tastes all the better, so of course this tea towel immediately appealed:

Teacup Tea Towel, $11

On the subject of Tea (something I really must blog about properly one of these days, it occurs to me), I'd also like to try these scrumptious sounding soaps:

Jasmine Tea Soap, $6

Rooibos Tea Soap, $6

Redbush tea was a favourite of mine long before I discovered Mma Ramotswe (although I'm pleased to sip in such illustrious company), and the delicate fragrance of jasmine always manages to soothe and refresh.

I love both cameos and horses, so this necklace is a perfect combination:

Horse and Foal Necklace, $32

Perhaps it's a good thing I'm not eligible for free shipping -- the most recent installment of my AHRC grant might be disappearing rather quickly! Although, as it is, it does come to the point when, if one buys enough, the shipping cost suddenly appears really rather reasonable... Perhaps I should just give up and accept the inevitable for, as Sir W rather wryly pointed out in his essay 'Of Judgment' (1601),

'All are tempted, many yeeld, few hould out'.

And where pretty things are concerned, I must admit that I somehow generally find myself in the latter category!

Of Etsy Goodness

Our flight isn't until 9.20 tonight (meaning we arrive in Rhodes at the ungodly hour of 3.20am - and then have the hour's drive to Lindos from the airport. The joy...), so I thought I would take a quick break from preparations to share my excitement over my first Etsy purchases. Etsy is a wonderful treasure trove of beautiful and unusual handcrafted and vintage items, on sale by talented people across the world (both of my buys came from the States, for example). If you aren't already familiar with it, I highly recommend a browse, although I warn you to have both time and credit card to hand, as it is all to easy to spend an afternoon getting tempted!

I have been thinking for some time about ordering some address labels, as I send a lot of cards and have always rather hankered after a pretty little label to call my own. Thus I was thrilled to find Nicole at Nature's Corridor, with her wonderful collection of labels, business cards, and other Good Things. Unfortunately, the Nature's Corridor shop has just closed, as Nicole moves across the pond to join us here in the UK, and according to her blog, she won't be re-opening for six months or a year. So I'm even more glad now that I bought these lovely labels when I did:

I couldn't choose between the two designs, so...! Well, it's always good to have variety...

On a wave of delight after finding my perfect address labels, I also invested in a wonderful set of 20 cards from Jen at MimiMuseDesigns. The cards are stunning and great value for money. I really recommend the box sets, where you can choose which designs you'd like included, and have them sent to you prettily wrapped up in ribbon. They'd make a delicious Christmas present. These are a couple of my favourites:

My Etsy experiences so far have been great - with amazing products and friendly sellers, and I think I'll definitely be doing a lot of my Christmas shopping on the site this year!

For now, however, I must dash. I arrive back in the UK a week on Thursday, but may not get the chance to blog properly again until I'm settled back in Oxford after the weekend. Until then, as I travel to a different part of the globe once more, I leave you with one of my favourite quotations from Sir W's Essayes, in which he stresses the difference between manuscript and print in the period (a fascinating subject) through this wonderful comparison. This is in fact the opening sentence to the first essay of the first part of the Essayes (from 1600), 'Of Resolution':

'The Worlde is a booke, the words and actions of men Commentaries vpon that volume: The former lyke manuscriptes priuate: the latter common; lyke things printed.'