[just the way] i like to shop

Tuesday was a day well spent. 

It started with a quick trip to my local charity shop Scope, as I'd seen a dress in there last week and was silly enough to walk away from it. 

Lucky, though, it was still there.

It's not usualy something I'd go for, but it really called out to me and for £5, you can't go wrong. 

I had an Etsy order to ship out to the States I was quite happy about - the first chain maile necklace I'd put online sold, so watch this space for more very soon.  For now, though, I still have bicycle chain bracelets, chain maile earrings & my charity bees for sale...

I enjoyed the nice 4 or so mile walk down to Spitlefields and met up with my good friend Penny; then spent the day wandering Old Spitlefields market & reminiscing in the vintage shops along Brick Lane.

I got some great buys...

First up, was these cool carved characters:

Hand crafted animal pens!

Ace.  There were so many others too... Turtles, lions, wolves, sharks, birds...

 Then I came across the stall of Conquer clothing.

Original (and ethical) illustrated vests, tees, sweatshirts, hoodies and artwork.

So refreshing.
Actually some unique illustration out there which makes a change. 
Fell in love.
Although my vest has quite an optimistic feel to it, a lot of the designs had a real dark side to them. 

I like.

The third amazing find was a stall full of the most beautiful handmade, semi-precious stone jewellery I have possibly ever seen:

 (My own chain maile necklace is sneaking in this photo - and the charity shop dress I'd picked up that morning...)

This fabulous woman was making these beauts using gold wire & stones to create rings, which she sells with a chain, so you can choose to wear it on your finger, or round your neck.

I found it so hard to pull myself away.
So I came away with this white quartz necklace and this turquoise, rose & lilac stone ring ~

Here's mine & Penny's new rings...
  She was such a wonderful person too; unfortunately she didn't have a website, but go find her in Old Spitlefields Market or Portobello. Now.

The green beaded ring I got for Penny as part of her birthday present (this Friday 13th) from Trade charity shop on Holloway Road.  {Love that shop}

She also got a token pair of hand knitted socks this year, too ~

~ and she loved them, hurrah!

Fairtrade Fortnight + Vivienne Westwood Appreciation

Fairtrade fortnight has started today!

One of the cutest shops I've found was a few years ago in Harrogate... A little fairtrade shop being run by a darling elderly lady in the archway of an old church.  The curved, rustic walls were climbing with handmade jewellery, finger puppets, bags and all sorts.  I'm still so in love with this hand crafted bangle I got myself:

Another fave 'ethical buy' of mine is this t-shirt dress I got last year from People Tree.  Fairtrade, organic cotton and very, very cool...

 It was exclusively designed by Vivienne Westwood -

with some of her wise words on it to boot:

On the subject of the great Dame herself; this artical on her in last week's Metro (20th Feb) put a smile on my face:

 'We are so conformist, nobody is thinking.  We are all sucking up stuff, we have been trained to be consumers and we are all consuming far too much.'

Couldn't agree more with her!

Maybe buying a few less 'unnecessaries' and spending a smidge of that extra money on fairtrade products could make such a difference. 

We're talking food & clothes here - who doesn't like buying either of those?

It's all about consumer power!

How about buying some 'moral coffee' (as a good friend of mine likes to call it...), get some fairtrade bananas in the fruit bowl, go treat yourself to a nice big bar of chocolate (made from tasty fairtrade cocoa) and have a little clicky on the link I've posted below.

Without wanting to like I'm getting into a rant I shall end here and go make myself a nice cup of afternoon tea.  Fairtrade tea - of course...

CHECK OUT MORE ABOUT TAKING A STEP TOWARDS FAIRTRADE

Recycled Newspaper Bunting

Spring cleaning already? Kind of want to get rid of all those old magazines but can't seem to say goodbye? How about some recycled bunting to brighten up your garden this spring!

It can provide you with a few additional activities in case of boredom:

Even the cats like it...
I made this from one copy of an old Evening Standard I had lying around and a ball of unwanted garden string, which I chain stitched as a joining string for the triangles.

If you enoyed this then please visit www.laurabaxendale.co.uk for more reycled creations!

Green Is The New Black

I've just finished reading 'Green is the New Black' by Tamsin Blanchard and it is an absolutely fantastic book!

It was published in 2007 but is still super relevant and has so many good tips and crafty projects to do; I really recommend getting yourself a copy to read. It has loads of info on where and how to shop ethically; what companies to choose, how to challenge other companies and a directory of shops & websites.

I managed to get mine for only £3.99 on sale in Oxfam!

See here for some more info:

www.greenisthenewblack.typepad.com