Old Lady Hobbies

I have blogged about my old lady hobbies before now, such as my Jam making.  Well I thought I'd tell you about some more ;-) and some great Vintage finds!

Yesterday I met up with an old school friend of mine.  Nikki Strange, has been a friend of mine for quite a few years now, and we posses a great deal of embarrassing photos of each other in our awkward teenage phase haha.  I will spare you the horror of those!  Like me she graduated at the wrong time economically and found herself setting up as a freelance print designer, instead of chasing the jobs in a hopeless jobs market.  Since setting up her design studio she has done very well for herself indeed winning a heap of competitions and getting her printed silk scarf designs sold in prestigious London shops.  Her market is slightly different to mine (she's not as "Vintage" as me ;-)) but it's worth you looking at her website as you may know someone who likes that sort of thing, and she is very talented!  www.nikkistrange.co.uk

Anyhoo we met up yesterday for a good catch up and gossip which was lovely and on our walkabouts we popped into the charity shop in my Village.  Now my village is highly populated by old people.  This is great because a) it's quiet at night time in my neighbourhood so I can get my much needed zzzzzzzz's and b) they tend to pop their cloggs quite regularly.  This means their families have huge clear outs and send off their loved ones old possessions to the charity shop!  Some of the properties around where I live are very very posh so occasionally some well to do ladies possessions are in said charity shop.  The shop itself is run by some lovely ladies who are all volunteers and I think the proceeds goes to a local hospital or hospice.  Lovely they may be, but Vintage savvy they are not.  I am careful not to tell you which charity shop it is as if they caught onto the fact that they could charge A LOT more for the "Vintage" clothing, then I would have to pay more ;-).  So this charity shop has not become victim to the Vintage craze and is still really really well priced; some charity shops are charging way over the odds these days.  On the rare occasion you can pick up some real jems, and a few jems I did pick up yesterday!!!

My new bag and jacket :-)

The first and by far the best jem I have discovered recently is this lovely little faux fur jacket.

This little beauty was..........................................................................................................£6.50!!!!!!!!!



The lining is such a gorgeous shade of peach satin!

Now I don't know much about vintage 'labels' but I know a bargain when I see one, and I can generally tell whether something is genuine Vintage and when it is mass produced tatt.  So I was really chuffed with this!!!  And it was just my size, so I had to get it as it would have been criminal not to.  I did feel slightly guilty at only paying £6.50, but my next purchase was slightly overpriced I thought so they balanced each other out.

This little beauty is a brown leather handbag.  It was £10 which I thought was a little steep, it's like the prices were the wrong way around.

It is like the bag has never been used!  It is absolutely pristine inside which either means, the lady was very wealthy and had so many bags she hardly used it or she was very very careful with her possessions.

Again I have little knowledge of labels but it is nice to know that this bag is British made, just like my garments :-)

And so to conclude this blog post I must say that I did feel extremely guilty about only paying a combined total of £16.50 for these two beautiful items.  I payed £40 in a charity shop in Bournemouth for a similarly pristine Vintage handbag a few months ago and I dread to think how much these items would cost in trendy parts of London.  Even faux fur jackets similar in high street shops that are brand new are £60/£70!  But to justify not paying over the odds for these two items I can tell you that this particular shop I frequent regularly.  I buy old jigsaw puzzles that I do in my spare time to unwind (my old lady hobby) and when I have finished them I break them up and donate them back to the very same shop so they can sell it on again.  So it makes me feel a little less guilty as I do contribute a lot to them :-)

If anyone has any info about the above items labels, origins, date ect.... I would love to know more about them so drop me a comment!

Betty xxx



Valentines Delights

Yesssssss it is that time of year folks.  The time when loved up people get all cutsy and cuddly and PDA's become a regular sight.  The smell of roses is in the air and love is all around us...................YUK!!  I particularly hate this time of year because I have not received one single Valentines Day card or present.  It's a crying shame I know :-(.  Not even from my beloved Frank (my doggie).  But as a small business owner, it would be silly not to promote my goodies for a fun filled Valentines night.

The Nell robe is perfect for such an occasion because a) it is red the Universal colour of Valentines Day and b) it is very alluring.  Everyone knows that when a man sees the colour red it automatically says to him "sex".  The Nell robe has a sheer red lace panel around the midriff that carefully reveals a slight hint of the wonders beneath it.  You can go 'showgirl', like Miss Banbury Cross above, and wear nothing underneath; or wear a slip or cute lingerie set and stockings underneath so you can slowly peel off the layers.  Either way your man is going to thank you for wearing this: 

And gentlemen, want to know what women really want?  *HINT* it's the Nell Robe!!  Your lady is sure to thank you...........twice......and once again in the morning ;-).

And finally for the single independent women out there, I feel you sister *snaps*.  We all deserve to feel loved on Valentines Day.  Why not throw a pyjama party for you and all your single lady friends, like the one that is suggested on this wonderful blog by Tattybojangles: 

http://www.vintagehenhouse.co.uk/index.php/ideasandinspiration/97-pajama-party

A great way to block out the lovey doveyness of Valentines Day and concentrate on loving number 1 - yourself!  Treating yourself to a present (who needs an excuse!) like this:

There is no reason why all ladies, single or with someone, shouldn't have a great 14th February.  Remember to order sooner rather than later as Valentines Day is creeping up on us very quickly, and I would hate for you to be disappointed.  And don't delay with the Nell Robe, I only have ONE left in Small so get to it post haste!  Also worth mentioning that snow is due in the UK and we clearly can't expect our postmen to work in those conditions (note my sarcasm), so order extra early for the 14th so it hopefully arrives on time!!

Betty xxx

P.S.  Feel free to send me cards and presents for Valentines Day in sympathy for me never ever receiving one.  I wear the Jean Paul Gaultier au de Parfum 'Classique', have a penchant for cashmere sweaters in size XS or S, and would not say no to a pair of Louboutin Shoes size UK6 ;-).  E-mail me for my postal address ;-) info@bettybluesloungerie.com

ZOMG Bloggers Bash (and #wwmoob extravaganza)

Well I can't believe it has been nearly a month since I last blogged!  Very slack of me!  I have been head down designing and sourcing fabrics, trims and lovely things to make into gorgeous loungerie for you.  In a rare day off last Monday I attended the Rockalily Lipstick Bloggers Event, hosted by the fabulous Ree Ree Rockette.  (I say I had the day off but really I was working!)

Called ZOMG Bloggers Bash, it was the launch of a brand new shade of Rockalily lippy, ZOMG, in collaboration with the beauty blogger The London Lipgloss.  Ree Ree also runs #wwmoob which I have mentioned before on my blog I am a part of.  Us moobs (as I like to call us teehee) were invited along to help add interesting and fun things for the bloggers to do.  So I packed up my sample garments in a HUGE case and my mobile clothing rail and trekked it up to the venue.

I was a little rubbish and forgot my camera, and only remembered to use the camera on my phone once I'd had a few bevvies.  So I have limited usable pictures, but here is a little picture of the fabulous host doing her thang.

And my slightly tipsily taken photographs of some of the fabulous moobs.




@RuffMutts, @Littlemissbhats and a slightly bemused @TigzRiceStudios

Luckily Ellen, of Little Miss B Hats, was on hand with her camera and took some slightly better and less tipsy photographs, capturing the fun atmosphere and some of the activities on offer.


A nice shot of all of my wares - which I totally ruined by poking my head into the photo haha



Some lovely bloggers trying on wigs as well as the Nell Robe and Bridgette Babydoll

 Special shout out goes to the lady in the Bridgette Babydoll, no one else was brave enough to pop on (wimps!).

A selection of the wonderful creations from Little Miss B Hats

As well as my loungerie and Ellen's hats and fascinaters, there were also wigs to try on from Wonderland Wigs, and the multi talented Kelly of Heyday Honey was on hand to fix people's hair and make-up in a pin up style.  To top all this off Tigzy of Tigz Rice Studios had her pop up studio set up to capture everyone in their pin up glory!  Her blog and the photos from the night can be seen here.  Ellen and I challenged ourselves to get someone to wear one of my outfits, one of her hats and a wig all at the same time but we failed!  But as you can see from Tigz's pictures there were some that had a combo of my outfit and Ellen's hat or a wig and my outfit.  Maybe all three would have been too OTT ;-).  Anyway other notable moobs that were there are Pip Jolley (jewellery designer) who was on door duty with Alexis of Ruff Mutts.  I managed to bully Alexis into having her photo taken in the Nell Robe.

The Nell robe looks a little loose as someone was wearing the one that was Alexis' size.  Alexis is cool because she likes doggies and has made it her business!

I have Kelly to thanks for brushing out my curls for me, the girl is a genius with hair and make up!  Tigz gave us both tips and hints on how to pose properly and she also took the below picture of me which I have to say is the best photo anyone has ever taken of me.  Thanks Tigz!!!  You rock!!

I am wearing a pretty little fascinater by Little Miss B Hats (and ridiculously high heels!)

Other moob members on hand to help out with the evening and there just for general moral support for the lovely Ree Ree were the girls from The Historical Sauces, Helen of Empress Magazine, Rubyyy Jones the very entertaining Burlesquer......ermmm sorry if I missed anyone!

As well as us moob girlies (aren't we all a versatile and talented bunch!) there were some non moobs doing crafty bits and bobs.  I had a go at decorating a cake with the ladies at Temptation's Creations.  I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't the best of the night teehee.


I was going more for taste rather than looks

There was also a table of card making which I didn't manage to frequent as I was busy helping people in and out of the Nell Robe - she was very popular.

All in all it was a great night that ended with two Burlesque performances and bloggers bingo in which I gave away a pink Marilyn Headscarf.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and the launch of the new Rockalily Lipstick was a great success - a sign of just a smidgen of the success that Rockalily is sure to have in the next few years.  Thanks Ree Ree for having me!

Betty xxx