More about Enid Blyton...

A while ago, I wrote about Enid Blyton, from the point of view of the film, 'Enid' starring Helena Bonham-Carter.

To Read That Post Click Here

Just a little bit more news on that subject.

The first Enid Blyton exhibition, since she died on 28th November 1968 aged 71, is about to open at the National Children's Literature Centre in Newcastle, England.

Odd that it's taken so long when you consider that she was the best selling author of the 20th Century!

As I write this it seems a little surprising that someone that has impacted my life so much died the year before I was born! 

As a child I adored her books. My favourites including,

Noddy,

The Folk of the Faraway Tree and the Wishing Chair.

The Naughty Amelia Jane's 

The Mr Pinkwhistle's

and many more!

According to The Guardian newspaper, 

"During a 50-year career, Blyton rattled off an astonishing 700-plus books, as well as 4,500 stories. "

Picture taken from the Guardian newspaper

She did her own accounts and kept a very interesting diary.

In 1931 she writes: "Did story for my Page [the welcome page she wrote for each edition of her magazine]. Went for long walk with Nurse. Rested till tea. Knitted till bed." The next day, Seven Stories adds as a postscript, Blyton gave birth to daughter Gillian.

"Worked all day," she wrote on 2 September 1939. "Germany invaded Poland today so I suppose we shall be at war tonight."

The timing of the exhibition does seem appropriate, considering there was a 13% rise in her sales between 2011 and 2013. 

My children, who are now 18 and 14 certainly read them when they were younger. In fact, I saved many of my childhood books for them to read and now they are waiting for the next generation of our family to arrive.  After all, who would want to live in a world that had forgotten Enid Blyton's stories? Not me!

During a 50 year career, she wrote around 700 books and 4500 stories!

Picture sold by Vintage Vic

CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF ENID'S BOOKS, CARE OF THE ENID BLYTON SOCIETY

BY CLICKING HERE YOU CAN READ THE GUARDIAN ARTICLE ABOUT THE ENID BLYTON EXHIBITION IN NEWCASTLE.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE ENID BLYTON SOCIETY

I am always on the look out for an affordable vintage Enid Blyton book, both to sell on or to keep in my own book collection. However, I often come across copies that are faded or battered. They may have been scribbled, drawn or written on inside and this gave me the idea of adding some to my shop, as ready to frame pictures. So, if the cover is ok, I use it to turn into art. I have just started making the Blyton ready to frame pictures and have only 2 for sale at the moment, but I will be adding many more as time goes by, as I find them.

This picture, 'Happy Hours' is for sale now!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

This picture 'Fireside' is for sale now!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

If you see the exhibition, let me know if it was good!

Back soon,

Vicki x

Bake Vintage Vic's Super Easy, Never Fail Meringues...

Recipe and picture taken from Sainsbury's magazine.

***

One of the things that I love, and yet  so far, have not talked about here on my blog is cooking and baking.

Baking in particular.

Being self taught, still with many things to learn, I am very keen to find new recipes to try.

This has opened the flood gates and now I have a wonderful and ever growing collection of cook books!

Many years ago, my Grandmother used to make the most lovely meringues I had ever tasted.

She cooked them in her airing cupboard, over a period of days!

Sadly, she did not leave her recipe written down and in any case, I do not have an airing cupboard!

Then I discovered a step by step recipe for meringues in a Sainsbury's magazine.

The writer claimed that they would be 

"Smooth and glossy on the outside, gooey and chewy on the inside - patisserie-style meringues, nothing less than heavenly."

I decided to take the challenge and see for myself if their claims were true.

That was a while ago and I have used this recipe many times since then.

Every time without fail, they have lived up to their claims. People have even asked me if I bought them in a posh bakery...Really they are that good and so easy to make.

One time recently, whilst making these meringues, I was chatting with my son and only too late realised I had failed to add the last egg white and had made the mixture with only 5 and not 6 egg whites. I was cross with myself and assumed I had ruined the whole batch. However, when they came out of the oven they were fine. A little sweeter and slightly heavier than usual, my family still devoured them and asked for more. Their only complaint? That I had not made as many as usual!

So here we go. Follow these 6 easy steps and you will see for yourself!

1. Preheat the oven to 120C, (248F, Gas mark Half) or for a fan oven 100C, (212F,  Gas mark Quarter)

Then in a grease-free bowl separate the whites from the yolks of 6 medium-size eggs. (Separate each into a small bowl first, so that if the yolk breaks, it does not ruin all of the whites.) 

2. Using an electric hand mixer beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

3. Slowly add 330g caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue whisking until all sugar is combined and the mixture is thick and glossy.

4. Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Fix in place on the tray by placing a small blob of meringue in each corner under the paper.

5. Using a large metal spoon, drop about 6 large blobs of mixture on the paper, on each tray. (This depends what size you wish them to be.)

6. Bake for 2 hours, then turn the oven off and leave in the oven for a further hour. Once cooled, the meringues will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

That's it...couldn't be easier! Let me know how you get on!

Back soon,

Vicki x

Huge De-Clutter Sale at Vintage Vic's! Vintage Greetings Cards at Low Prices!

Great news for those who love vintage ephemera!

Here at Vintage Vic's, I have decided to have a huge de-clutter of vintage greetings cards.

Cards of all shapes and sizes and from all kinds of occasions are being included. 

These little lovelies have so many uses!

You can collect them,

scrapbook with them,

craft with them,

place them in frames and gaze at them every day!!

Well, you can do as you wish with them, once they are yours!!

They are being placed on Ebay, at really low start prices and I shall be adding to them almost everyday.

What's there now is just the tip of the iceberg!

If you know people who, like me love all things vintage, then please let them know, so they can get a lovely bargain!

I POST WORLDWIDE!

HURRY, 'COS I'M TELLING EVERYONE!

Just click on the link below, to have a browse...

(Don't forget, more being added most days, so pop back soon.)

CLICK HERE TO BROWSE VINTAGE VIC'S HUGE VINTAGE CARD SALE!

Want To Start Including Vintage in Your Home? Here's How...

Ready to frame picture for sale with Vintage Vic. Vintage vase is mine, all mine! Bought for one pound at a boot fair. It's from Harrods. Bargain!

***

There is no denying that vintage has become hugely in demand recently and it's not hard to see why!

It is so much more satisfying to have a home with unique touches that you won't find in everyone's houses. I avoid going to high street chain stores for anything I can, whenever I can!

There is just something about a well loved and kept item that gives a warm feeling, that I struggle to feel for many brand new items.

I adore these vintage soldier egg cups. Some I kept and some I have sold. I once saw one in a display in Cath Kidston's.

I'm always looking for more!

***

So, where to begin!

There are so many lovely ways to introduce vintage style into your home easily and relatively cheaply.

Vintage China, such as lovely cups, plates bowls etc.

Vintage table cloths.

Vintage vases.

Vintage pictures or new pictures, displayed in a fabulous vintage frame.

Vintage ornaments.

Vintage books, displayed on a shelf. Cook books in the kitchen, story books in your children's room. Any kind of books, anywhere you like!

The list is endless.

For sale in Vintage Vic's shop.

***

Right, that's what, now how do you find these fabulous items? Vintage shopping has never been easier.

Obviously there are boot fairs, flea markets, charity shops, thrift stores, garage sales, junk stores...

You will find these in your local area. Check the local papers, shop notice boards etc.

Then you can find a huge choice of wonderful old stuff on-line.

Check out Ebay. Just type the word vintage before the item you are looking for in the search engine.

There are other fantastic online sites too. Have you heard of Etsy?

Picture taken from http://chairaffairrentals.com

Etsy is like Ebay, but it only allows people to sell vintage or handmade items. It is a worldwide market place, so you can browse all kinds of lovely things from many countries. Just don't forget to factor in shipping costs.

click here for Pretty Nostalgic's website

There are lots of fun magazines on the market, to give you more to think about.

I love Pretty Nostalgic,

Vintage & Homemade Living

and Vintage Life.

They can be a bit costly, but some, particularly Pretty Nostalgic, are more like books really.

There are many websites, online shops and blogs all dedicated to vintage style living, including mine!

CLICK HERE TO BROWSE VINTAGE VIC'S SHOP

So don't be shy, dive in and have a rummage!

Back soon,

Vicki x

Local Aid Record 'Tears In Heaven' in Aid of Dementia UK

Previously, in this blog I mentioned that my son Mitchell, who is a singer/song writer has recorded with the wonderful Local Aid. This is a group of very talented musicians, who come together to record songs to raise money and awareness for various charities. They are organised by James Vince, who you see talking at the beginning of the video.

This time they are singing in aid of Denentia UK. The download is free, but they ask that you consider making a donation to the charity in appreciation.

My Mitch, with James Vince who organises these charity recordings.

On a personal note, you can see my son Mitch (18) toward the end of the video. Wearing a suit, white shirt, black tie and glasses, he sings, "'cos I know I don't belong, here in heaven."  I am a proud Mum!!

Please click on the picture above to watch and hear 'Tears In Heaven' by Local Aid.

DEMENTIA UK

Please click on DEMENTIA UK above to view their page or make a donation.

Thank you!

Back soon,

Vicki x

The Re-Launch of Vintage Vic's Blog!

I must confess, I gave up on my blog for a while there, so you have not heard from me for quite some time!

<3

Blogging is great, when you feel you are moving in the right direction, but I was not!

:-(

I was putting in a huge amount of effort, and seemed to be getting nowhere. That said, I am still proud of the posts I have written so far and hope you will have a little browse when you have a free moment.

The problem I had was no feed back. People visiting my page, but not subscribing. 29,000 page views and only 14 subscribers! 

Hardly anybody commenting, though some of my posts, eg The Scar Project, should have been quite thought provoking.

There are many blogs that I admire and you can visit some of them by finding my 'blogroll' on the left hand side of this page.

My favourite is ...

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VISIT HAPPY LOVES ROSIE'S FANTASTIC BLOG

Visiting those pages has inspired me to try again!

So here we go...The re-launch of Vintage Vic's blog.

I have started by re-designing my page, to make in bright,cheery and hopefully welcoming.

Please leave me a comment, saying what kind of things you enjoy reading in some of your favourite blogs, and I would love you to consider following this one, which you can do, by clicking on the link to the left of this page.

With any luck, this time my efforts will be more succesful!

Back soon,

Vicki x

A Sewing Machine and Dinner!!

Here in Vintage Vic World, time has just flown since my last blog post! We are already in February and I have been slacking! So, let's catch up. 

February is a busy month for me. For a start, it is my birthday on the 13th. I am trying not to think too much about turning 44! Where does the time go? Anyway, I am in good company. Other birthdays this month include,

Duff McKagan (Guns n Roses, Velvet Revolver)  49 on 5th

Axl Rose (Guns n Roses)  51 on 6th

Vince Neil  (Motley Crue)  51 on 8th

Billie Joe Armstrong  (Green Day)  40 on 17th

As I am a big Rock music fan, I am happy to share February with all of the above AND they almost all have the decency to be older than me!

I share my actual birthday, 13th with,

Robbie Williams, who, at 38, does not show me the same consideration!

Anyway, hubby asked what I wanted as a gift and I decided to ask for a sewing machine. Now, this may sound innocent  enough, but I can't sew. Never have been able to, never wanted to before. However, recently, I have been thinking it might be nice to try and now the deed is done! It is sitting in a corner, mocking me, as we speak! It is only the 7th today, so it is not officially mine yet.

I suddenly feel terrified of the thing. I had a flick through my Beginner's Sewing book, but I suspect that it is written in code! I didn't understand a word. Oh well, I'll let you know how I get on!

www.vintagevic.etsy.com

The day after my birthday is Valentine's day. This will mean cards and perhaps some flowers, who knows, but we are not big on Valentine's, probably because it is so close to my birthday. At the moment though, Hubby is insisting we go out for dinner, to celebrate the 2 special days together. Does he not know we are in times of austerity? Dinner and a sewing machine! I wonder if it's too late to get a refund on that machine?

Happy New Year To You All!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you nothing but the very best in 2013!

I have made a few resolutions, wonder how long it will take to break them!

I'd love to hear about yours.

VV x