Oh The Places You'll Go Dr Seuss Keepsake for Emmett

I really love Pinterest - I've been a fan since the beginning. An online scrapbook to remember internet bookmarks in a visual way?! I was first in the queue. One of the earliest things I pinned was this brilliant idea, way before Emmett was even born. Unfortunately, like many Pinterest pins I'm not sure my source is correct (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

The idea is to get each of your child's teachers (i'm starting with Emmett's nursery ladies) to write a little message in the pages of the book. Each year, you add each teacher in secret and then present the book as a surprise when they finish school or graduate. I'm sure keeping it a surprise will be trickier as he gets older, but I'm going to try my best.

Emmett starts school in September. It's bitter sweet as I will miss having him around everyday, but he's so smart and so ready for school it feels right. I know he's going to love it. We were also one of the lucky families that got our first choice school. I'm so excited.

I bought my special edition in a slipcase on ebay. I also found some really nice covering notes other families have produced here. They are still quite a few listed if you'd like to make this part of your family tradition. Have you started one already? I'd love to hear how it's going

No affiliate links - I just thought it was a really lovely idea and wanted to share :-)

Hello There - 20 Facts All About Me

My name is Vic. I'm 34. I'm married to my best friend and we have two little boys, Emmett and Rudie. This is my blog and business Pica Pica Vintage. Here's 20 facts about me. However it is you've found my little corner of the internet, thanks for stopping by!

1) I learnt to crochet 4 years ago when I was pregnant with Emmett and it's one of my favourite ways to relax in the evening

2) I am totally unashamed to say that I love Eastenders. I think Danny Dyer is the best thing to happen in the history of the show #sorrynotsorry

3) I didn't learn to drive until I was 29. I wish I'd learnt earlier. My first car was a vintage Mini. It was stolen and I've never seen it again.

4) The best place I've ever been to was Tokyo. In 2018 me and Alex will have been together longer than we've been apart. We hope to go again to celebrate.

5) I love Dr Pepper and Cherry Coke. I'd happily drink it everyday if it wasn't so bad for me.

6)  In my previous career I owned Pink Kat and then Robot Shop mainly based in Camden. I studied fashion at LCF until I dropped out and started my business.

7) I still love Reeves and Mortimer. We're going to see them live again this month and I can't wait.

8) I collect midcentury furniture and ceramics

9) I've been a Lauren Laverne super fangirl since she was in Kenickie. Her BBC6 Radio show feels like she's playing from my own brain jukebox. I love her.

10) I'm still sad that Mad Men is over

11) I love doing laundry and I'm deadly serious about how the dishwasher should be loaded.

12) I'm at my happiest hosting ridiculously themed dinner parties or cooking for friends

13) I think Tiger and Hema are the two best things to happen to the British high street in ages

14) I hate going to the hairdressers. I wear my hair in a bun everyday.

15) If I was on Mastermind, my specialist subject would be Katharine Hepburn

16) My favourite director is Wes Anderson. My favourite film is The Royal Tenenbaums

17) I'm not competitive, but really like playing board games. I never win

18) I really love stationary. A stationary shop in Tokyo made me cry

19) My favourite band are Beach House

20) I really love lists

Shopping Small - Why we love our customers

Dear Indie Shop Customer,

When you Shop Small, you're not just paying money to a company, you're putting money straight in our actual pocket.

For me, you're paying towards our dinner. You're paying for that car repair that comes from nowhere and I have no idea how we're going to afford it. The relief in the beginning of small business when you hear that email ping on your phone in the supermarket and realise that someone has made an order that will pay for your shopping. Most importantly you're allowing me to have a job that allows me to be here everyday and look after my children at home.

We try hard to add extras to your order that only an indie business can - a hand written note, maybe a flyer or postcard that we've designed ourselves (it hasn't come from our art department because we don't have one) We've packed your order while our babies nap in the next room. We picture that you'll love opening your parcel.

The fact that you've chosen to persevere with our clunky website or slow payment processing - we love you for that and we're more grateful than you realise.

Thank you for every penny you've sent our way,

Lots of love,

A Small Business Owner

Some of my favourite Indie Business'

Lucky Dip Club
Dotty Cuckoo
I Like Cats
Retro Kids

Blue Monday - My methods to beat the January Blues

So today is Blue Monday - apparently statistically the most miserable day of the year. Touch wood, besides the super cold weather we've had no disasters. That said, I have found the start of the year and getting back into the swing of things hard going. I feel this is mainly due to over doing the cheese, chocolate and cherry coke over Christmas...Anyhow - these are my go to ways to get over the January Blues. What are yours?

1) A nice walk out doors. I love winter clothes and often forget how nice it is to put on a big scarf and take Beasley the dog for a walk. We're lucky enough to live near some lovely views. It really blows the cobwebs away.

2) Happy Mail. I love writing and receiving letters or sending a nice surprise in the post to a friend. Another thing I like doing is looking through the worldwide eBay sites and ordering cheap stationary or craft supplies from abroad. It takes so long to arrive I'll have forgotten what I've ordered by the time it arrives! Mail surprises are especially welcome in January as that's when the first dreaded credit card statements arrive after getting a little carried away Christmas shopping (maybe that's just me)

3) Hand sewing. This is my number one go-to relaxing craft. I've posted about it before. I'm in pretty deep on my La Passacaglia quilt. Even if I only manage to get a few paper pieces put together it really does lift my mood.

4) Cleaning. Yup, really. Sometimes getting really stuck in and clearing a pile of laundry or hovering  the whole house and putting everything away. A tidy house makes me so much better. My favourite cleaning music is The Supremes or 1960's doowop.

5) Lists. Sometimes if I feel overwhelmed with business planning, family life or things in the house the best thing for me to do is to break everything down into managable lists. That way I can see a clear picture of everything that needs doing. Even just crossing a couple of things off a list makes me feel so much better.

Fingers crossed your Blue Monday broke the rules and was awesome xxx

All blue toys are currently available in the Shop

Party Baby Bunting

Our littlest, baby Rudie turned 1 last week. We've all been ill so we kept the day low key and just had cake with family.

I like to decorate the mantelpiece in the living room for Birthdays and celebrations so came up with this simple idea for party hat bunting. I don't think it's complicated enough to write a tutorial, but if you're curious I just enlarged four of our favourite pictures onto an A4 sheet and used some scrap booking paper I had leftover from doing the boys baby books to make the party hats. I had some pink and red bakers twine from my recent trip to Fred Aldous which worked perfectly. I think my husband is going to have it up on his desk at work after we take it down. I think it might be a new family Birthday tradition.

My Current Shopping List

1. I love making a gift basket. I'm already getting excited about Halloween, and this little guy is going in Emmett's pumpkin basket this October

2. I love Autumn and winter and being able to wear tights again. Tabio are my absolute favourite. Being 6ft tall can make buying tights a nightmare, but these always fit me perfectly

3. I've recently moved my office into the small bedroom. I'm slowly starting to make it feel more like mine and I've treated myself (haha!) to some nice new postage scales. Obviously you can use it in the kitchen too. It's so small and cute

4. Ryan Adams does Taylor Swift's 1989 . Ryan, covering Taylor, channeling Bruce Springsteen. What's not to like?

5. Spotted Lauren Laverne in one of these. I ordered one straight away, obviously.

Shoes #2

Getting Back To It

So, as it turns out having two children under 3 is quite time consuming.

We have barely scratched the surface on all the home projects I'd hoped to have done, but having two little boys literally undoing any cleaning and tidying throughout the day with the effort of a well oiled tag team, I'm powerless to try and fight it. I can't stop the tide. I'm trying to enjoy this time as best as I can and remind myself to feel lucky everyday that I have a job that allows me to be home with these little tornadoes.

Right, let's try and get back to business.

Holy moly

Well, after a rather long enforced blog hiatus I'm back. The house we were buying took a whole year. A WHOLE YEAR! This was every bit as miserable as it sounds. We're in now though, and I'm just about over my bitterness about it :-)

Baby E is not such a baby anymore. He'll be 2 next month. I'm currently 4 months pregnant with his baby brother or sister. New house, new baby really is true :-)

13 Things For 2013

Source

As a busy self employed new Mum of a baby boy and small dog, a grand goal of 100 Things I'd Like To Do could be both a bit too ambitious and end up being a bit depressing. In attempt to avoid this, I'm proposing a rather more sensible and hopefully more achievable 13 in 2013.

2012 has been amazing, mainly due to the long awaited arrival of our beautiful baby E in May. I'm excited for what 2013 holds.

1) Move House

2) Buy A New Car

3) Set Up New Business

4) Visit Whitstable

5) Make Something For Baby E's First Birthday

6) Bake Macrons

7) Visit Ardingly Antiques Fair

8) Replace Our Record Player

9) Paint A Picture For Our New House

10) Be Brave And Go To A Baby Group

11) Crochet / Quilt A Blanket For The New House

12) Make At least 1 Christmas Present

13) Help Alex Make The Perfect Study

Post Christmas Burn-Out

After our Christmas tour of West London and two Sussex pit-stops it feels so good to be back home. We had a lovely Christmas made all the better by a perfectly behaved little baby and dog.

We were all thoroughly spoilt and feel very lucky to have a family that so want us to come and visit - all that being said, the idea that this time next year we should be in a house big enough to host Christmas ourselves does fill me with glee.

A very worn out puppy dog

I love our Oyster

I'm a complete nerd - I research big purchases heavily before buying, I'm very serious about which colours I like and which I don't and I can't stand bad design. When I found out we were pregnant last Summer, this side of my personality went into overdrive. The biggest expense would be the buggy system.

After a lot of research we settled on an Babystyle Oyster. Firstly, it was one of the only systems that would fit into my vintage Mini. Also, I was going to be seeing whichever buggy we chose A LOT, so I wanted it to look nice. I loved that it had a plain black chassis and from other Mum's comments I found that the black leatherette handle was the most hard wearing. We set on the plum colour pack - my theory that not all boys things have to be blue, and the fact that we could easily and cheaply change the seat colours.

Everything arrived about 2 weeks before baby E did Little did I know that it would be almost another 2 months before we actually took it out for a run (why does no one tell you that it takes so long to get over labour?)


Our first outing - 4 weeks after baby E was born

The Oyster is amazing - firstly, all the extras you get included in the price. I was very pleasantly surprised to find the built in sun shade (hidden under the footrest on the buggy) and the rain covers that came with it. I love that I can have baby E facing me or facing outwards. I love how easy it is to push one handed and how big the basket is for shopping. Also, for a London family it doesn't take up much room on public transport and you can lock the front wheels which makes getting on and off trains and buses so much easier.

But, I found out recently how great their customer service is. When my car was stolen, I had left the chassis of my Oyster inside my car. We were then stuck at home with no buggy and no car. Babystyle UK were amazing - they went above and beyond to quickly put together all the parts we needed and had it sent out next day delivery for an amazingly reasonable price. I'm very quick to complain about bad service, but it's so important to make sure you've said thank you when a business has been amazing :-) Thank you again Babystyle UK

Best Battersea Boy

This November, 4 years ago we made a purchase. This turned out to be one of the best things we've ever spent money on. For the bargain price of £85, we bought a Beasley.

 

We knew the time was right for us to add a dog to our little family. I work from home, and with no colleagues, life can get very lonely. Our first place to look was Battersea Dogs Home. We walked all around the different levels of the shelter, and none of the pups quite fit the bill. We needed a small dog - a dog that didn't molt would be perfect (not sure my shop customers would have been into free dog hairs on my work) Slightly disheartened, we thought we'd have to come back another day.

 

 

Luckily one of the staff informed us that they had a Yorkshire Terrier male cross breed that was just being booked onto the system that day. They were so friendly and helpful. I was unsure - I'd only had girl dogs, growing up. 

 

Just to see what he was like, we went to meet him. He had long straggly fur and was skinny and tiny, but Alex had such a good feeling about him. Completely trusting Alex's instincts, and after filling all the paperwork, "Trevor" came home with us that evening.

 

He was very timid and a real scaredy-cat at first. He quickly grew to trust us, and we quickly grew to love him. We named him Beasley - a name plucked out of the air, but as it turns out it suits him perfectly.

 

 

Beasley is a dream dog - he loves nothing more than just being with us. He sits on our laps, he sits on our shoulders like a parrot dog(!) He loves going out with us in the car. He loves to run around in big circles in the park barking. And best of all, when baby E came along, it turns out that Beasley loves him as much as we do.

 

 

Beasley was a stray, and we hardly know anything about him, but I like to think that he ran away to come and find us. We love him so much and hope for many more years of Beasley being in our lives.

 

 

Wow

I'm surprising myself with the amount that has changed since my last post. I was just snooping around the internet looking to start up yet another blog before remembering this little creation from over a year ago.

For a start, business priorities shifted hugely - the market stall plan was very cute, but way too much like hard work. Mostly it just was one giant flash back to the many years of freezing my butt off at Spitalfields and Camden Lock with my old label Pink Kat. Weekends are too precious and after so many years of slogging my guts out working 100 hour weeks, I'm ready for a big change.

So, Big Change#1: Ditching the market stall / festival trading plan for a purely online vintage toy selling career. A profitable and ultimately more satisfying way of life with a much nicer and happier balance.

Massive Change#2: We now have a new and very exciting addition to the family - little baby E. A very planned for sweet chap that took 2 whole years of willing to finally come into our lives. As a result of this wonderful life-shift, work on the whole has been put on hold. He arrived in May of this year.

Huge Change#3: As if all of this wasn't enough to be getting on with, we have decided to put our lovely little starter flat on the market to find ourselves a much more suitable family size nest.

We're all getting used to these changes - but luckily Beasley has taken very well to becoming a big furry Brother