all you need is love

happy belated valentine's day!

i know many people dislike this holiday and, to be frank, so do i. it's really not very fun if you're single, but i actually had a very good day yesterday - thanks to helping out on my friend emily's jewellery stall at a vintage fair!

unfortunately, due to being rather busy, i didn't get any photos of the various other stalls, but the website is here if you want to have a look for yourself.

however, i did get a photo of our stall from behind.

i actually had an unbelievably awesome time, even though i was working for about 6 and a half hours straight!

it's a lovely community atmosphere at these fairs, & the whole crew were really nice.

this is basically what i want to do with my life (which is a fairly exciting yet daunting prospect!) so it was good to get some experience & a feel of how these things work. emily says she'll try & organise something where i can see how she makes her jewellery - and they are far more professional than my efforts - which i am really rather looking forward to.

i did get a little chance to skulk off & do some perusing of the stalls on my own when it had quietened down.

the cupcake emily bought me, so that we could have more change.

rather sweet isn't it? both in appearance & taste.

there was a fantastic stall where they had craft supplies and bits & bobs for next to nothing. i bought these pendants for 50p each, the pineapple because it actually made me laugh out loud at the stall (yes, i know. i am a very embarrassing child).

the same stall also had a pile of old (i'm presuming) family photos which were actually kind of amazing, & only 10p to 60p each.

the left one i thought was cool because i originally thought the woman was holding a monkey, but it turns out it's a fox fur stole! the other one i just thought was captivating, the smiles on the people's faces, the woman's flower brooch, the fact that they appear to be on a work outing of some kind on a boat - i'm guessing this because of the sea & the fact the man is clinging onto a handrail, and because they both have nametags & are wearing blazers.

i realise the photos are a bit tricky to see because they're so small, i do apologise.

it may seem a bit weird for me to have bought somebody's old photographs, but i do just find them fascinating, so much more so than GCSE history ever seemed.

i'm quite curious about this kind of photography too, they are beautifully done & i love the kind of soft-focus/faded feel black & white or sepia photographs have to them.

these ones are cute too, landscapes but with some lovely smiley people in the foreground.

this stall also had some old french fashion magazines which i really wanted to buy, but they were like £10 each and this just seemed a tad steep to me =/

these badges were £1.50 each, which at first seemed quite cheap to me but then i realised i had just spent £6 on badges!

they are pretty sweet though, i especially love the mmmmm one.

i'm not really a scarf-wearer, but these beauties were 2 for £5 which i thought was a fabulous bargain.

now i need some ideas for how to wear them, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated (:

the stall i bought these from gets all their vintage from europe, and this lovely blue scarf has the most wonderful drawings of french landmarks printed on to it - the eiffel tower, the louvre, notre dame, scare coeur, arc de triomphe, moulin rouge, opera & la madeleine. it also has the sweetest little fleur de lis pattern.

the second scarf has a more muted pattern, and for some reason makes me think it's from russia, or at least has that kind of inspiration. i think this is because of the drawings of opulent necklaces & perfume bottles it has.

the girl at the scarf stall gave me this pretty little bag to carry them in for free.

and i discovered when i got home that the bag had these badges hidden inside, i love little surprises like this!

i'm not sure if i'll keep these or not, i have a friend who plays the saxophone so i may give them to her as a mini present, who knows?

there was a record stall too where i bought hunky dory by david bowie - weirdly the exact one which emily's boyfriend had sold to the stall earlier! that led us to talk about music, which has to be one of my favourite things to do ever, and he gave me full moon fever by tom petty as a gift for helping out. i listened to both albums today, and they are so so good! i'd never heard any tom petty songs before, but i recognised free fallin' from a john mayer cover i've heard.

emily also gave me this cute locket necklace as a thank you for helping out, my friend kate also bought the same one earlier so we may look like twins!

now i need something to go inside it, best get the thinking cap on.

my apologies for the lengthy & rather photo-laden post today, but i felt i should put everything on!

i hope you've all had a nice valentines day weekend (or chinese new year) regardless of how you spent it.

love love (: