A Christmas Bazaar at The White Horse, Harborne

Well, it has been mega busy here at Minimum Mouse HQ over the last few weeks, what with the Christmas rush (but hey, we aren't complaining!). Despite this, we managed to drag ourselves off to A Christmas Bazaar at the White Horse Pub, in Harborne, Birmingham on Monday. We were pleased to be invited to take part, especially when we saw how many other talented artists and craftspeople there were there. Here are a few shots of our little selection of jewellery-

I was exhibiting next to Jaggy from Citrus, a very talented beauty therapist with a lovely selection of wares. She even did my nails!
The nails were done using Minx, a new technique from the USA where a transfer is applied to your nails using a heat lamp. She had loads of designs to choose from, but I just adored the retro look of these flowers!
Here is some of the art that was on show, by Lewes Herriot and Shelli Graham (who organised the event).
And some very cool jewellery by Ruth Herriot.
Here is the event in full swing (I'm sitting by my jewellery), come the evening it got very busy with lots of people enjoying the free mulled wine and mince pies!


All in all, a fun day out. Now we are back to the grindstone for another week, and then we'll get our well deserved Christmas break!

Birmingham Vintage Fair, 21st November 2009

I know it's been a while folks, and I'm sorry. Here at Minimum Mouse HQ we have been so busy of late that no one has found the time to keep the blog updated! Boo! But here we are with a little news about what we were up to at the weekend. Those lovely people at The Vintage Fair have taken the very wise decision to start up a new fair in Birmingham! So, on Saturday, the vintage fair rolled into the Custard Factory for the very first time, and we were there to show our wares and generally have a good old day out. As you can see, our mannequins Sylvia and her gentleman friend were well turned out for the occasion (the glorious 1950's dress caused many 'oohs' and 'aahs' from admiring lady folk), and we had brought a ton of stunning vintage, including these fine Christmas jumpers-
The jewellery proved very popular and I actually ran out of many designs (note to self: take more jewellery!).
We also met a load of lovely folks, and had a stall next to Pop My Cherry, who sell THE most amazingly patterned tights!
And, in case we got a bit peckish, there were the most stunning (and tasty) cupcakes from The Tea Boutique to keep us happy.
It's fair to say a grand day out was had by all. And it was lovely to meet so many vintage loving people!

Introducing... our new mousie!

How adorable?! We're chuffed with the new addition to our Minimum Mouse family - THE minimum mouse! Designed by superbly talented Midlands artist i heart joan, this little lovely is super cute, in the colours of our website, and the design in the body of the mouse is made up of drawings of our jewellery. Check out i heart joan for more fabulous illustration.

On another note, the sun is out so we're off to a car boot sale - here's hoping for lots of vintage buttons and delightful knick-knacks! Have fun in the sun guys x

Buttons, business and Bluestone bliss!

Since I have last blogged I have been a busy little bee - car boot sale season is now upon us and this is of great excitement to me! Car boots are where I find some of my most fantastic materials, including these darling buttons, which I have been fashioning into bracelets and earrings, hopefully with necklaces to follow. I just love vintage buttons, you never quite know what you will find. I am in love with coral pink and mint green at the moment, so I created these dangly earrings which allow you to channel your inner Pat Butcher!

Trashy gold buttons are another of my loves, here I've woven them together with gold wire and attached them to a chain for a trash-tastic bracelet.

This is my favourite button creation so far!

On another note, I have just returned from weekend of partying and pampering in Pembrokeshire. We stayed at Bluestone, which really was a little piece of heaven - you can check it out at http://www.bluestonewales.com/

Above is a picture of my best girls, Sarah, Meryl, Sian, Jenny and Cara (I'm the one in the bottom middle with the glasses, and yes I think I did come off worst in this piece of 'art' from Van Gogh's Workshop!), we have been the best of friends since school, and now that I don't live in Aberystwyth anymore I don't get to see them half as much as I should, so, after a long slog of organising and coordinating, we managed to meet up and catch up, and get this masterpiece between rides at Oakwood Park. Roll on the next one!

Finally, I got down to business with an interview at Trespass Magazine, about the trials and tribulations of bring a young businessperson, which you can read at

http://www.trespassmag.com/?p=3072

Until next time, friends!

M xx

Shop Update- Get ready for a summer of fabulous dresses!

What could be better than a pretty summer dress? As far as I'm concerned, the dress is the uncrowned queen of vintage, dresses just aren't what they once were! Whatever your taste or style, there is a vintage dress out there for you. In fact, since I started dealing in vintage I have really come to realise how much of what's on the high street is recycled - whenever I see a cute dress in Topshop or New Look or wherever else for that matter, I think to myself 'hmm, we had something like that in recently' - it rather takes the fun out of shopping, but it does make you think. We have made a big effort over the last few months to get together a big selection of vintage dresses to cover the summer months, from pretty sun dresses just made for picnics in the country, through to full on prom gowns for any of you attending a special event. And what's more, at a time when we are all trying to save a few pennies, they will be at prices that the high street will struggle to contend with! Here are some of our current picks...

I love the tropical print of this 1980's halterneck dress, it makes me want to go to Hawaii and drink cocktails (well, drink cocktails at least!)

This original 1960's party dress is sugar sweet and as bright as a button!

A fab 1970's casual dress in soft jersey, ideal for shopping, mooching around uni or sunning yourself in a beer garden somewhere!

And then we ramp up the glam factor with this slinky sequined dress -simply amazing!

There will be more where those came from very soon, so keep your eyes peeled! xx

Shop Update- Vintage Menswear

Well, biased we may be, but we think nothing looks cooler than a man who likes to rock a bit of vintage. I'm not sure why, but vintage clothing gives a man a cool, laid back look, and suggests that he has something to talk about, some stories to tell, and doesn't just follow the crowd. Either that, or he's trying to create that image! So, with that in mind we have been fleshing out our menswear selection, and have a whole load of vintage men's hotness in the eBay shop this very week! Here are some of our top picks...

This is one of many gorgeous western shirts that we have, including brands like Wrangler and Lee, and all original 1970's vintage - very Dukes of Hazzard!

An ideal cover up for the spring and summer, grab yourselves one of our cotton Harrington jackets like this one, for a cool mod look.

And for the ravers, kitsch lovers and kings of colour, we have a whole load of fantastic 1980's sportswear, like this Nike Air t shirt, and this Adidas sweatshirt.

All of our auctions are starting super low, so despite the credit crunch there is no excuse to look your best!

Have a look at http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Minimum-Mouse

A Visit to the Fairground Heritage Centre in Devon

This weekend we were down in the lovely county of Devon for James's dad's birthday bash, where much food was eaten and wine consumed! So, the next day we nursed our hangovers by visiting the Fairground Heritage Centre, a truly fascinating place! If you were anything like me as a child, you most probably couldn't contain your excitement when the fair rolled into town, and this place brought back all of those memories.

In Aberystwyth, where I grew up, the fair arrived in November, so going to the fair equalled putting on tights under your trousers and two jumpers to keep warm, the lights of all the rides dazzling us in the winter night and the smell of candy floss and fried onions tempting our tummies at every turn! The Fairground Heritage Centre captured the atmosphere of that and much more, acting as an archive of fairground rides, signs and games dating back to Victorian times. The intricate detail of some of the older pieces was amazing, such as thic cheeky cigar toting cat-

And the toothy grins of the carousel horses made us all giggle-

This lovely Fench organ was a bit of a gem too-

All very inspiring stuff! At the moment we only have this fairground theme piece in our collection -

But we're sure to add some more soon! If you'd like to take a visit to this fairground-tastic little place, you'll find the info here - http://www.dinglesteam.co.uk/

Shop Update- Shiny new rings & things!

If you are on a diet you may not want to look at these images, as they are almost sure to give you a craving for cake! Combining our love of all things miniature and edible, we have come up with some super cute new pieces... We have slice of cake rings in a selection of colours (or should that be flavours?!), and each one sits on a real china plate!

For a touch of ladylike chic, we have Pearls & Chocolates, a long string of pearls which you can double up, with a girly ribbon and chocolate charm.

These are 'Nice Cup Of Tea And A Slice Of Cake', in either vanilla with a lilac ribbon or chocolate with a red ribbon, with a real miniature cup and saucer and cake made from polymer clay.

The classic convenience meal, the Egg & Beans Ring really hits the spot.

And for all you groovy music loving ladies, get retro with our miniature record rings (we only have a few of these as the charms are vintage and hard to track down!).

They'll be in the shop in the next couple of days, so watch this space!

Our First Ever Craft Fair at RAF Cosford

So, this Sunday saw us get up at an ungodly hour to travel to RAF Cosford, in Shropshire. Why on earth would we want to that? Well, don't worry I'm not about to confess some tragic passion for vintage aeroplanes or anything... it was the venue of a Spring Craft Fair, and an interesting venue at that! We pitched up at a little after 8am to discover that we would actually be setting up in a hangar among the planes (they are museum pieces, by the way, otherwise we really would be getting in the way!) It was a nice opportunity for me to show off our new food themed rings, fittingly displayed on a cake tray. They certainly raised a few laughs!

Here is me (waving) and my sister Elise who had been roped in to help out.

We had lots of new pieces in for the event, which will be popping up on the website very soon...

This is Mr Mouse, ready to serve!

And one of the many, many planes we saw on the day!

Hussein Chalayan at the Design Museum, London

So, as a little post Christmas treat we headed off to London for a couple of days, to catch the last of the sales and a little bit of culture. We admired priceless gems at the Natural History Museum, checked out some cute bubble cars at the Science Museum and had a nice stroll along the South Bank, which brought us to the fabulous Design Museum, a little place which is often overlooked since London has so many great attraction on offer. We went for Hussein Chalayan exhibition, the first exhibition by this maverick designer, an ambitious retrospective of his collections since graduating from Central St Martins in 1993. We were not dissapointed. Turkish born Chalayan has a taste for the seemingly impossible, creating outfits from everything ranging from LED lights as you can see above, through to aeroplane parts! He also creates some very original short films which elaborate on the themes in his clothing, which were on show as part of the exhibition.

While you might not see too many of his pieces in the celebrity magazines, I was surprised at the softness of some of his work, such as this amazing pink dress made from thousands of layers of tulle bunched up to give an amazing architectural effect.

My favourite piece was this utterly bonkers coffee table dress, quite useful if you suddenly fancy a little picnic while out and about, and a true feat of design.