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.