For March babies

 

Three of my friends are having March babies, here are some of the items I have been looking at.

Mid-century pastels

After six months, the kitchen is nearly finished - bar one cut-too-short worktop, oui madame did notice and non, it is not ok - and I have allowed my self a little kitchen-themed browse. Just a little one. For a treasury.

Let it not snow...

... because I don't want to get stuck in the tunnel on the Eurostar tomorrow! A new treasury.

Little pre-Christmas sale!

We're having a little pre-Christmas sale at pink milk vintage! Take 20% off any item with the code PMV10NOEL until December 14th. Last-minute Christmas shopping is easier when its cheaper...

Christmas shipping...

Please note there will be no shipping from Paris from December 17th-30th. If you want your item in time for Christmas, last shipping day to Europe is December 12th, to the rest of the world, December 6th.

Art nouveau Sunday

As per usual, I rocked up to this exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay just a few days before it closed, and an hour and a half before the museum shut its doors. A thoughtful look at art nouveau-influenced design, from the nouveau'style of the early years of the twentieth century, to the surrealists of the 30s and psychedelia of the 70s, via naturalism and Aubrey Beardsley.

Running home from the 7th to the 18th through the Tuileries at dusk

Some gorgeous etsy finds, inspired by Art Nouveau...


The Blue Nouveau scarf, by silk painter Alana Bills, creator of works of art you can wear.
The incredible Mata Hari headdress, from MoonshineBaby, who carries a stunning range of feathered and jewelled headresses and fascinators which evoke the steamy Parisian cabarets of the 1900s.

I am never far away from the wedding section these day, this art-nouveau-inspired sash would work wonderully on a backless, 30s-style wedding dress... see Delphine Manivet's Agapan and weep, vintage contemporary fans.


A very special find from ArchipelagoVintage: a 1900s post card album, with gold leaf to the cover and a classic poppy design. Beautiful.


Sumptuous art nouveau-inspired psychedelia from award-winning illustrator Zoe Hong, who has just opened her etsy shop. Check our her beautiful bubbeheads as well.

Christmas shopping...

Yet to make any actual 'sale' sales ourselves (20%offbothshopsNOEL09inmessagetosellerforrefundpleasethankyou) here are some pieces that have caught our eyes over the past few days... and all of them are pre-Christmas bargains.

We've been following Silversmithy on Twitter for a while, and as suckers for anything chunky, hammered and silver, this ring, $70, was a top pick in her ktsilver shop, with free shipping until December 1st.


A rather fabulous notebook from Mrseliotbooks has already been safely ordered for a lucky list-maker this Christmas. We love these beautiful patchwork graph notebooks too, just $9 with super reasonable shipping and great service.


If this delicate dragonfly wing ring is not under the Christmas tree come December 25th, it will certainly have to be a present for self in the New Year. And we don't even have to choose between the ring, earrings and pendant - by Jessedanger, it comes with free shipping if you buy another item. A very reasonable $35.


Wings, twigs and feathers remind this city girl of home and this hand-pierced feather necklace by Samantharose is a reminder of wide open spaces, with free shipping.


Finally, the party season is upon us and to really turn heads you need elegant accessories, like our knight in shining armour vintage mesh bag, from the 1920s. A very special piece, take 20% off for a vintage bargain at $62.40.

Sale time!

Christmas is coming, seasonal gift buying panic is rising. Why not go a little vintage this year? Whether it's a Christmas gift with a difference or a present to yourself, take a look at our vintage clothes, accessories and homewares. And if you're searching for something special, there is still time for us to source it for you...

Take 20% off all items - including the Sale rail - in the pink milk vintage shop, until December 12th - just use the code NOEL09 in the message to sender and we will refund the difference. And if handmade is top of your Christmas list, you can also use the code on everything in the pink milk shop too.... Feel free to share the code and spread some pre-Christmas love!

Our last shipping dates for Christmas are:
Europe: 12th December
US and Rest of the World: 7th December

Peacock feather and snakeskin finds

I know Kaang has had plenty of exposure on the etsy homepage recently, but this peacock hairclip has wedding-day fabulous written all over it. As do the fuschia and snowy white headbands and the pale mushroom bleached peacock eye clip....


Having a snakeskin moment, and I love the grain on this wallet, from toottootsie.


This has been in our heart list for a while, dirtystory's classic peacock cuff, a gorgeous print for a wearable piece.


You can't do peacock prints without a nod in the direction of Liberty of London and this beautiful Hera Tana Lawn silk-lined clutch by redrubyrose, which takes me back to my haberdashery days...


Finally, work this stunning 1930s recycled snakeskin cuff by English Relics, with black cigarette pants, ballet flats and red, red lips. Featuring an antique buckle, this makes for a striking piece.

Lif as a secretary

... in dove grey and macaroon pink, by pink milk Sarah.

Yart Sale this weekend only!

pinkmilkvintage is taking part in Etsy's Yart Sale, this weekend only! Take a look at the Yart Sale section and take a further 10% off the sale price. Just check out normally and wait for us to refund you the discount.

I like London in the rain...

Maybe strange on a sunny Sunday morning in Paris, but Variety Lab's London in the Rain is stuck in my head, inspiring today's treasury.

Tall grasses

I'm looking for a pair of curtains with a natural motif, to waft though the open lounge window in the summer and give the impression I'm surrounded by tall grasses, or mask the building opposite with a winter skyline of spindly trees.

I found these while looking on etsy. They don't fit my bill, but might fit yours.

Tall grass pillow, by pillowhappy

Reaching for the light, by C'estMoiCitizenMedia

Bird in tall grasses decal, by FreckledHound

As far as the eye can see, by Schugirl

sunny morning find

Pottering on a Saturday morning after coffee, I found an orgnisation which takes old stuff and either sells it or makes it new. This luminous bangle was in the resell area, along with two little sky blue laquer bangles and a red magician's scarf set to appear on pink milk vintage soon...

Christmassy finds

After an evening of mulled wine and present-wrapping, a few Etsy Christmas finds... starting off with something of our own. Perfect for party dresses, Miss Lemon's dress clips:


Another party piece is the beautiful Audrey necklace by luxedeluxe, one of our favourites, who happily, is having a pre-Christmas sale. Lean prices for lean times, this is just $28.

Wrap up warm for your Christmas party in this vintage Princess coat. With the Audrey necklace, red and black have never looked better.

In the last-minute gifts department, newcomer Masquerades and Silhouettes by Joe Thomson has a range of retro canvases, featuring the urban and stylish Nightbus, great for a city loft:


Or jump on the owl trend with a vintage bowl, from Vintageworks. We love his cheeky wink:


Finally, treat someone to a cosy cuddle with a sock monkey from William & Hector, in luxe grey angora.

Kokeshi dollies

It could be all the Murakami she's been reading, but pink milk Sarah has been getting into Japan in a big way recently, traditional Kokeshi dolls, to be more precise, which has resulted in some delightful little felt brooches. During the process, disaster struck the pink milk Athens atelier, in a button explosion all over the floor. I think it would make a nice print...

She has designed three Kokeshi brooches so far, all available on pink milk:

Kokeshi the Mirror Girl

Kokeshi Little Birds

Kokeshi Pearl Girl

I love Little Bird's little bow.

blushing in the sunshine pink bustier top

In a fit of creativity this morning, I customised this top that I would otherwise have got rid of and am very pleased with my handiwork. Trying to clear unecessary clutter, a lot of which is clothing that hasn't been worn for ages, so there may be more where this came from, if I get time.

It looks great with the Pearly Queen necklace, if I do say so myself...

Little Anorak Girl gets her own shop

Little Anorak Girl has her own little shop now on etsy, where all Little Anorak Girl stationery can sit happily together and wait to be bought.

Car-Fag Man the Estate Agent

We are tentatively looking at the Paris property market, which involves dashing round the city on metros and Vélibs poking around other people's flats, sometimes with them in, sometimes not, which I am loving.

The other night we were down to see a place over near Jourdain - I say near, as it's an expensive area, or at least if you belive Car-Fag Man, an estate agent we have seen once before in the area, who uses the traditional hard-sell, charm-the-ladies-to-get-to-the-men approach. I'm not suggesting that all estate agents are of his ilk, we were shown round a delightful flat in the 18th arrondissement (which we are possibly thinking about maybe putting an offer in on next Wednesday evening) by a lady who hummed a little tune all the way there and all the way back and was really lovely and not at all pushy, which completely changed our experience.

But back to Car-Fag Man, so christened, because both he and his vehicle stink so badly of cigarettes that I thought I might be sick there and then. The last flat he showed us frankly wasn't all that, dark and in a rather perculiar area where it seemed that no other people lived, so I didn't really hold out much hope this time. Nevertheless we had a rendez-vous, D and I, so we were planning on getting it over with and getting on with our evening.

Unfortunately, D had a meeting which overran so I went on my own. From the minute I darkened the door of his poky little office populated by people just ike him of varying sizes, he played the faux-galant ('Madame, allow me to take your coat... Madame knows me, that's why I immediately phoned her when this gem of a flat came on the market this morning' - I don't and he didn't, D found it on a website), while I tried to dodge his breath and fixed my eyes on the holes in his shirt to avoid looking at his big, grey, insincere face. Once in his vile car, I concentrated on the road ahead and told him tales of the UK, where his daughter (how he has kids I don't know, maybe he hasn't always been a Car-Fag Man) is studying.

On arrival at our destination - area not bad, not great, but not actively bad - I was immediately greeted with the sight of peeling paint in the staircase and corridor and a smell of dinners, providing that somebody was cooking old turnips and wet cabbage for their delicious evening meal. On opening the door to the flat of our dream, a smell of damp hit me 'because they haven't had the heating on for a while', a decrepit electric heater hangin off one wall, which didn't look as if it had been turned on ever, let alone for a while.

'What's so charming (charming?)about this flat is the size, you have two big rooms which you could do plenty with and if you're like me (I'm not anything like you) you'll like a big bedroom'. I'll give him the size and the potential and the fact it was on a quiet road, although being on the ground floor and slightly below street-level it was beginning to feel a little like a dungeon.

The pièce de resistance however, came with the bathroom, which Car-Fag Man had been saving up until last, so confident he was that I would fall in love with it and put in an offer there and then. 'The bathroom,' he said, looking unacountably pleased with himself, 'is newly-fitted (are you sure?), the toilet is around this corner, a great use of space.' Great use of space I'll give him, the reason being, that the previous owner had made a sort of glassless window in the wall between the bathroom and the 'kitchen', which meant that they shared a large sink enabling one person to have an interesting and no doubt stimulating conversation with the other, one in the bath and one preparing food. Less than a metre apart. The reason the toilet was around the corner in the 'bathroom' was because it was effectively the same room. Ingenious.

The fact that the kitchen was non-existant - some pipes and tiles - paled into insignificance in the face of the toilet-bath-kitchen set-up. Despite my firm 'I'm not really sure about the kitchen' and 'I'll have to explain this to Monsieur' the creep spent the whole drive back to my métro station ('because we can't have you taking the metro all the way on your own') trying to convince me how great it was, before holding out a flabby claw-hand (with long nails, beurk) for me to shake as I got out. I washed my hands immediately I got home and tried to exorcise the whole thing from my mind. Ugh.

I don't want to live near where he works anyway.

NB - I mean fag as in cigarette, in the Brit English sense of the word. Click on the links for Etsy finds.

Strikes strike

For the second time in a month, Paris is preparing to be paralysed by strikes, as transport workers and other civil servants take industrial action in protest to President Sarkozy's proposed special pension regime reforms. Once again, millions of people will struggle to get to work with less than one in ten metros, RERs and buses running, many forced to take a day's leave, in some cases unpaid.


The fact that the strikers have less and less support in France doesn't seem to bother them and it's hard to see how further action would help garner support from the general public, who largely see them as the cossetted teacher's pets of the country, currently able to retire early on a comparatively large pension which dates form the days when train drivers spent long hours shovelling coal and working in conditions which harmed their health and reduced their life expectancy. As part of Sarko's bid to streamline a cumbersome state he is starting with the civil service, which costs the tax payer an inordinate amount of money each year. As tax payers, we are wondering why we should pay for the early, comfortable retirement of the people who are currently unwilling to provide the basic service for which they are paid, clogging the streets with traffic as Parisians desert public transport and take to the road, leaving little room for priority vehicles like the emergency services, not to mention ruining people's dinner plans.

I could go on. I won't, I will show you my strike survival kit from etsy.

When trapped in an overcrowded metro carriage with your head in someone's armpit zoning out with your ipod is a must. Make sure it looks indie-stylish, like this one, from peepbags:



If you find yourself shivering on a suburban platform waiting for a train that is unlikely to come, you will need a warm scarf. Try Suzannie:


Stuck in a traffic jam with three colleagues you barely speak to at the best of times, advertise your shop as you go, with a car banner from ceejay77:


And if like me, you walk to work and are set to spend days on your own in the office while everyone else works from home on the sofa, then make sure you have a plentiful supply of tea, in a lovely mug from magicforestcreations: