Upon a hill across a blue lake

Bare feet against soft moss, magnificent mountains as far as the eye can see, a light breeze to keep the midgies at bay, that is all it takes to please me. 

I really love injecting a little bit of drama and movement into my pictures because I prefer photos that are a bit quirky. I call my favoured posing style 'Jazz Hands' as it often involves some sort of flailing of the arms and hands.

I was given this magnificent book from the early 1900 by my former boss at The Lamb and Flag in Covent Garden. It contains a collection of  The Sketch, which was a society magazine with regular features on royalty and the aristocracy, theatre, cinema and art studies. It was in print from 1893 to 1959.

I love spending a few hours just flicking through its pages, being wowed by the fabulous theatrical get-ups and picking up posing pointers from ladies that had the old Jazz Hands posing nailed.

I have been a very busy bee of late, since my last post I have become auntie again and bagged a wee freelance gig selling scuba gear on eBay.

The Commonwealth Games have rolled into town and  little old me is taking part, and before you ask...No, I am not racing against Usain Bolt.

I am a member of  The Aquatic Field of Play Intervention Team and I will be doing a couple of shifts at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre here in Glasgow next week.

So, you may be wondering what I will be asked to do if called upon, well, well...

If someone gets into the pool, who should not be there, and the police and security can't persuade them to get out then The Aquatic Field of Play Intervention Team steps in and forcibly removes the person(s) from the water. I really hope that we won't have to step in mainly because it would interrupt the games and ruin the vibe for competitors and spectators alike.

Sunday was spent in Ballachulish painting mum's living room and doing various little jobs around the house , then we fired back down the road on Monday briefly stopping off in Glen Coe for an impromptu photo session. I always like to bring a wee bag of clobber, accessories and wigs just in case an ideal opportunity presents itself and on Monday it did.

 As it is peak-season now we had an audience of bemused tourists and surprised looking walkers for most of our photo session.

This spot is just next to the main road and cars and trucks are passing all the time but you would never have guessed it from looking at these photographs. Mark is pretty good at cropping out roads, pesky power lines and walkers sporting day-glo.

The frock has been in my collection for well over five years. I haven't worn it before and to be honest when I bought it this was exactly the kind of thing I had in mind for it. I wanted to capture its beauty in some nice pics before letting it go again. I have quite a few frocks with a theatrical vibe and I can't think of a more stunning backdrop for them than the beautiful Highlands.

Look, no Jazz Hands!

 Last year we shot a stunning red velvet frock by Quad and a spectacular bronze coloured extravaganza by Priscilla in the Glen.

This frock is labelled 'California - The Look You Love' and here I am sporting it with a long black wig bought on eBay and a belly-dancing coin belt worn as a headdress that I picked up from a car boot sale in London.

The picture editing frills were added with PicMonkey.

I hope you are all doing grand folks.
I'll leave you with the banging tune that was blasting through the car speakers as we drove through the Glen, Yeehaw!

Loads of love,

Jennie

xxx

Tearing down the coastline in the blazing sunshine

Last Sunday Mark and I loaded the car up with camping and snorkeling gear and headed out for a wee adventure. 

We followed the Firth of Clyde coastline to the south of Irvine (where we spent a lovely day on the beach last month) and made several little stops on the way.

We frolicked around in Troon, photographed swooping gulls in Ayr and stopped off to explore lovely Dunure.

Gulls take to the air in Ayr.

Jennie almost takes to the air in Ayr.
I was jumping around like a super excited kid all day.

Dunure was really lovely.
Set in a breathtakingly beautiful part of the coastline, its got a cracking castle ruin that you can have a wee wander around for free.

The weather was awesome too, which is always a big bonus.

There were some beautiful pigeons making their home in the doocot next to the castle ruin.

After chilling in the glorious sunshine with flask of coffee we made tracks in search of somewhere to pitch our tent for the night. Although we bought the tent two years ago this was its first time out of the bag.

A bit further along the coast we found the Culzean Castle Campsite.
At just £15.95 per night we both agreed that the stunning views across the Firth of Clyde to the islands of Arran and the Mull of Kintyre was worth that alone.

After the tent was up we headed down to the shoreline to watch the sunset armed with a couple of bottles of  ale. We had hoped for a quick evening dip but the tide was out so we had to settle for a paddle instead.

Thankfully the midgies weren't too bad and we were treated to a spectacular sunset in the company of herons and oyster catchers.

 We "cooked" our dinner (tinned veggie soup) on our Trangia camping stove and then crawled into our sleeping bags after an absolute cracker of a day.

I woke up at 4am bright as a button and considered making a cheeky crop-circle in the field in front but settled for a nice cup of tea and a bit of cloud spotting instead.

After breakfast and a lovely warm shower, we packed up the tent and headed back up the coast to Dunure to do some snorkeling.

The tide was coming back in and it was slightly colder in the water than the day before but we still managed to stay in for about half an hour. 

The kelp was amazing, huge clusters of long swaying tendrils with lots of crabs and little fish hiding among them.

We chilled on the beach for a bit and then headed back home.

A lovely 24 hour getaway :)
I am chuffed to bits that all of this AWESOMENESS can be found almost on my doorstep.

This was the soundtrack as we tore around the coastline in Cato...

Hope you are all doing grand peeps and that the sun is shining where you are.

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

PS. You can have a wee peek at the pics above plus some more of the trip over on Flickr.

Frocktasia has got wheels!

Last Monday Mark and I bought our first ever car, an 11 year old Vauxhall Astra that we named Cato after Cato Wong in the Pink Panther movies.

It's an old banger that will see its life out with us going to dive sites and markets. 

Hopefully with a bit of luck and TLC it will serve us well for a year or two.

Yesterday we took Cato for a spin along the beautiful Firth of Clyde coastline and when the sun decided to make an unexpected appearance we stopped off for a little picnic on Irvine Beach.

We sat on the beach watching adult gulls dive bombing  for fish and baby gulls perfecting their flying skills.

Unlike when we went to Largs back in January the gulls on Irvine Beach were totally uninterested in sharing our lunch, they were just surfing around in the sea breeze, having fun.

Besides gulls, we only shared the beach with a handful of dog walkers and a dude with a metal detector.

Next time we go I'm definitely bringing my swimming costume. I'm Swedish so I am used to water temperatures akin to an ice plunge pool, it's good for you.

During lunch we talked about one of the things on our bucket list, namely sand boarding in Egypt. 

Many moons ago Mark was a professional snowboard instructor so surfing on sand should be easy enough for him. However despite me growing up with regular winter sports days at school, I never quite found my ski legs. I was more into ice hockey & curling.

To tick the sand boarding off the bucket list would require a pocket full of pennies but you can always find fun stuff to do for free or on the cheap while you save up for the big amazing adventures.

Free fun is the name of the game and the gulls are masters at it.

I'm on a mission to have as much free fun this summer as I possibly can.

We didn't have any money when we were kids and we still managed to have more fun than you can shake a stick at, so it can be done! 

Tigger jumping off the dunes = free fun

What I wore: 60s psychedelic maxi dress, 60s suede waistcoat, 70s suede jacket, suede pixie boots, African mask necklace, retro sunnies & Hello The Mushroom tote bag. This is a fave combo of mine.

We enjoyed a lovely few hours on Irvine Beach and we will definitely visit again soon.

If you are in Glasgow you can get there by car in about 45 minutes, the train will take about 40 minutes from Central Station and costs £8 for an off-peak day return.

I have been playing rather a lot these past few weeks and because of this my selling endeavors have suffered somewhat. 

So today I will mostly be found glued to the computer, listing fabulous frocks in my Etsy store.

A huge big THANK YOU to Panty Buns, Vix, Connie, Underemployed Is the New Organic, Kathy, Becky & Curtise for commenting on my last blog offering and of course to all you lovelies who have taken the time to leave a comment on any of my previous posts too.

Hope you are all feeling happy & healthy.

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

The Pigs Might Fly Post

Hello again :)

At the beginning of every month I think to myself...

"This month I will start blogging again!"

but so far this year it has all kind of fallen by the wayside.

Stocking my Etsy shop & just generally trying to get into the swing of running Frocktasia as a proper business has been an all consuming pursuit for the past wee while. A painfully slow crawl up a very steep learning curve but I believe things are finally starting to slot into place & even make a bit of sense.

Frocktasia had a fabulous outing at Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair at Glasgow Student Union last month and it was by far the busiest market we've ever done. We will definitely attend every Judy's here in Glasgow from now on and hopefully (once we get a car) branch out to the one they do in Edinburgh too. The next one in Glasgow is held at Wasps Artists' Studios on the 17th of May the day before Mark and I are off to Loch Long with Aquatron to do our final day of the Rescue Diver Course and hopefully bag our certificates.

Mark is working at Aquatron Dive Centre now; what started as a Dive Master Internship turned into full-time employment and he couldn't be more thrilled if he tried. 

The move to Glasgow has been a marvelous thing for both of us so far, long may it continue :)

Our wee pitch at Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair last month. A wheel came off one of our bags en route to the venue so we were pretty flustered by the time we got there. We had some jolly nice stall neighbours on the day though, Scott and Ross from Breaking Pop Vintage.

Last Sunday we were back at Sloans for another lovely day at Little Birds Market :)

Vintage scarves & ties have turned out to be a big hit with our market and fair customers.

One thing I really miss about London is its awesome car boot sales and markets. I'm running a bit low on scarves at the moment so I thought I'd check out the local car boot sale but it was pretty dreadful in comparison to the ones that I used to frequent down south. Maybe it will get better once the fair-weather sellers come out in force, if not I'll just have to jump on the bus and go for a cheeky wee boot sale buying weekend in London.

 There is an absolute glut of charity shops here in Glasgow but I'm yet to find a real treasure trove.

My shopping lust soon fades when all I'm faced with is rails upon rails of second hand F&F, George & Atmosphere.

Don't get me wrong it is not like I'm running out of stock or anything, I have a storage unit full of fabulous threads to "shop" from for the foreseeable future :)

I made these necklaces to give away to our market customers last Sunday as 'Rock Up Early Rewards'.

To this months Little Birds Market I wore a fabulous 70s frock by Susan Small and a pair of suede pixie boots that my awesome mum-in-law gave me when I went up for a flying visit last weekend.

This was lovely Palma's Blithe Spirit Vintage Jewellery stall at Little Birds, I loved those fabulous cut-outs...

Palma has a well stocked Etsy store where you can peruse and shop her spectacular collection of vintage jewellery.

That pretty much wraps it up for this time and if my past track record is anything to go by my next blog post will happen after I've done Judy's at Wasps Artists' Studio, my Rescue Diver Course and my first ever proper dive in Scottish waters but who knows I might surprise you all and blog more frequently from now on?!

....and then again pigs might fly ;)

Here I am diving (and looking freaky) in Wraysbury lake last year, hopefully the water in Loch Long has slightly better visibility.

Until next time folks, enjoy!
Jennie

xXx

Like a bat out of hell another month goes by

I can't believe it is March already, time is speeding past like Jay Kay in a Koeningsegg One:1.

At least it is speeding towards lighter and warmer times.

Today I've been busy adding more stock to the Frocktasia etsy shop. My target is two hundred items before the end of the month, so I've got a few days of hardcore work still ahead of me. I'm trying to coordinate my online selling activities in with my market outings, so any stock that is featured in a market preview and doesn't sell on the day can go straight onto etsy. So I'm having plenty of photo session with Barbara before the markets and then getting stuck into editing, taking measurement, writing descriptions and finally bringing it all together into a listing after. Online selling is a whole heap of work but it is also were you reach the largest number of potential customers, so it simply has to be done.

I would love to be able to survive on doing markets alone but it's just not feasible, especially since I don't have my own transport & even if I did, I'd have to learn how to drive it first.

Speaking of markets, last Sunday we were back at the fabulous Little Birds Market at Sloans...

Frocktasia's stall at Little Birds Market.

Mark and I absolutely adore this market. It is very easy for us to get to in the morning, (just a five minute walk to the station then a twenty minute train ride and another five minute walk) when you are weighed down like a Himalayan Sherpa, stuff like that really matters. Sloans is situated slap bang in the middle of Glasgow and the Little Birds team headed by the very lovely Vicki work their tail-ends off to get people through the doors. We had some fabulous customers on Sunday. My heart always skips a beat when someone comes back from the powder room with a smile on their face, hands over the garment and goes " Can I have that please"...I love it!

We had Curtise's identical frock twin on our rail on the day , it didn't sell so it will be joining the other frocks over in my etsy shop.

We shared The Snug room with the lovely Palma and her fabulous Blithe Spirit Jewellery again...

A couple of weeks ago we were at another market called Granny Would Be Proud and there we were delighted to meet the gorgeous Jenni of Retro Rainbow Vintage, a fellow vintage lover and trader based near Glasgow. Jenni started selling vintage online when she fell pregnant five years ago and haven't looked back since. She runs a very successful eBay store and does the rounds on the Glasgow market and fair scene. On Saturday we are both doing Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair held at Glasgow University Union and Jenni, being the very experienced & professional seller she is, has already posted her preview folder on the events page. I on the other hand have only half-arsed sorted my stock out. I'm sure I'll get up to speed at some point in the hopefully not too distant future. At the moment it pretty much nonstop GO GO GO! 

Jenni and her rail vintage fabulousness. On the day she was wearing the most exquisite blouse by Gunne Sax, she has an expert eye for a stunning vintage garment this girl.

I fell in love with these fab dolls by Oscar Cat Creations...

This was me on Sunday morning en route to Little Birds wearing the same old dress that I wore to our first ever Dandy Lion Market a year ago.

I'm looking very anemic, bring on the spring sun!

Leslie is doing a special Mother Appeal fundraising edition of The Dandy in partnership with Oxfam on the 22nd of March, so if you happen to be in London that day do pop along,  I can highly recommend a visit. 

Tomorrow Mark and I are heading up to the storage unit to pick up some fresh threads for Judy's on Saturday and then I'll be flat out prepping for the event, I am so looking forward to it.

Hope you are all doing grand folks.

I'll love you and leave you with the amazingly talented Meat Loaf...

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

Sláinte

As it is Burns Night we were going to have veggie haggis , neeps and tatties for tea but when I went to turn the light on in the kitchen the blasted striplight blew. I didn't fancy cooking by candle light so instead we traipsed off to the pub to have our din-dins. I've really started enjoying going to pubs again. In London you'd get very little change back on a tenner for two pints but at our local watering hole a pint of ale is a mere one pound fifty. Complete and utter pie-eyedness is well achievable for less than a twenty spot. I think Rabbie Burns would have approved.

Faux-fur trim PVC coat (local discount fashion shop)
Fluffy snood (99p Stores)
70s crepe and lace blouse (market)
90s Harris Tweed tartan shorts (market)
Plain & lace layered tights (charity shop & Aldi)
Doc Marten boots (car boot sale)

Last Thursday Mark and I spent three hours at the storage unit picking out an array of fabulous garments that will be gracing our rail at the Little Birds Market on Sunday the 9th of February. 

I also designed a new logo for Frocktasia and ordered some new business cards from Vistaprint.

We are both getting very excited about our launch into the Glasgow vintage market scene. I'll definitely do a "sneaky-peek post" as per usual but it won't be until a few days before the market. 

I've also started selling on Asos Marketplace. So far I've only added a few items and it's all stuff that I already had photos and descriptions for. As a wardrobe shop you are allowed to add up to a hundred items for free and Asos only take a 5% commission on sold items. I was just getting a bit fed up with eBay and fancied trying something different, we'll see how it goes.

It's been a busy and productive week. I'm feeling very upbeat and excited about the future. Life is good!

On our way back home from the pub we stopped off at Aldi's to stock up on some more drinkies. At a bargain £1.35 a pop...I don't mind if I do, thank you very much!

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend.

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx