The Selina Lake Pretty Pastel Style Book Launch

Friday saw me in Kingston Upon Thames with my friend Julia from Gazehound Vintage.  We had travelled there for the Selina Lake Pretty Pastel Style book Launch.  The launch was being held at Market House in Kingston and after a stress free drive up, we went to the front of the queue and waited.

Market House - Kingston Upon Thames

At this point I should let you know that we were not only first in the queue but also an hour and a half early.  The reason for this is because of the goodie bags!  Now I'm not normally bothered by things like this as goodie bags tend to be just full of bits of paper that I'll never read BUT there were only 20 of these particular goodie bags and we wanted one.  Were they worth it? Absobloominglutely!  Not only was there a Mollie Makes magazine and calender but also Granny Chic cards, pretty pastel straws, The Simple Things Magazine and my favourite, Plasti-Kote paint spray in pretty pastel colours (more on that later).
I'm actually glad we got there early as we were able to take in and see the preparations although I think we may have thrown Selina a little by our promptness.  After seeing us eager beavers downstairs I think she thought she only had a few minutes before the event started until someone told her that no, she still had about an hour to get ready!  We watched as stall holders arrived to set up and watched the helpers get the downstairs and outside ready and what a lovely job they did.

Pretty Pastel Style anyone?!

What a lovely welcome

The Victoria Pendleton Bike

My favorite prop was the Victoria Pendleton Bike donated by Halfords which you could be in with a chance to win.

Time went quickly and at 11am we went up to purchase our Pretty Pastel Style book and receive our goodie bag.  The room looked lovely and I was looking forward to meeting Selina and the stall holders.  Selina signed our books and she was very friendly and down to earth.  I was a bit scared to say anything very much apart from thank you (I know I'm a wuss) but I was aware she had many books to sign, people to see and I wasn't going to say anything she hadn't already heard before so I thanked her, held my book tight and wandered round to chat and meet the stall holders.

The book we'd been waiting for

Books, books and more books

There weren't a huge number of stallholders and that felt right to be honest.  It was intimate, friendly and the book was centre stage as it should be.  It was a really nice touch though to include some vintage and handmade stalls and made the event a joy to be at.  I managed to get round most of them, taking photos and chatting.  It was lovely actually as I had never seen these stallholders before so all there wares were completely new and a joy to see.
An exception to that was Lucy from Love Lane Vintage and her sister, Laura from Wild Willow.  Lucy runs the hugely successful monthly Sussex Country Brocante and co-runs the huge Village-Vintage fair both of which I've had a stall at so I know Lucy.  Not often has the shoe been on the other foot though and it was lovely to see her and Laura's stall.  What a delight it was (and I'm not just saying that, it really was!).  I couldn't stop taking photos so there are a few.  Lucy has also designed a range of garden coats and smocks made from French Linen and these can be ordered from her directly, just follow the love Lane link above.  I'm not normally a fan of smocks just because they don't tend to suit me but when I saw these in the flesh, I could understand why she'd already sold everything on the rail, simply gorgeous!  Soft muted colours and so easy to wear, trimmed with old french fabric.

Love Lane Vintage

Love Lane Vintage

Love Lane Vintage

Love Lane Vintage

The rest of their stall was also beautiful with Laura providing the floral displays.

Love Lane Vintage

Love Lane Vintage

Wild Willow

Love Lane Vintage

The little dolly you can see above is handmade by Simone at Ayres & Grace.  I highly recommend you visit her Facebook page, a very talented lady.

Love Lane Vintage

Wild Willow

After seeing Lucy and Laura, I went to the tea room as I was in desperate need of a cuppa and that was an experience in itself!  Not only was the tea and coffee free but it was so prettily decorated.

Even the stair lift got a make over!

Pastel paper lanterns

Cups in the tea room

Cakey Bakes

Cakey Bakes

Cakey Bakes

The cakes were provided by the very talented Laura at Cakey Bakes.

There was a chance to win that gorgeous Pendleton bike.

Please let it be my name that's pulled out of the suitcase............it wasn't :(

Pretty pastel flowers on the tables.

After a cup of tea I went back to have a look at the other stalls and how spoilt were we.  So many beautiful things handmade by some very talented people under one roof.

Sesame and Lilly

Sesame and Lilly

Sesame and Lilly

Sesame and Lilly

The very talented Lucinda from Sesame and Lilly was there with her beautiful creations.  Sesame and Lilly is a recent find for me and I found that she is in fact my eBay nemesis!  I follow her on Instagram and saw a couple of photos recently that she had put up of items in her eBay watch list.  I had the very same items in mine!  Neither of us won said items but I'm not sure what's going to happen when the time comes and we're bidding against each other.  A lengthy custody battle may ensue :)

Mabel & Bird

Mabel & Bird

Mabel & Bird

Mabel & Bird

 Mabel & Bird were there with their funky designs.  Their collection consists of screen printed textiles, cards and brooches which are all handmade.  I especially liked their huge key keyring, guaranteed never to lose your keys again!

Anna Wiscombe

Anna Wiscombe

Anna Wiscombe

Anna Wiscombe

Anna Wiscombe was there with her handcrafted wooden pieces.  No two are the same and each are lovingly handmade.  I thought them to be very tactile and I especially love the 3 birds above.  A modern day take on the vintage flying ducks.

The Linen Garden

The Linen Garden

The Linen Garden

The Linen Garden

Vicky Trainor from The Linen Garden was there with her collection of antiqued, vintage and handmade supplies for makers and creative souls.  Very pretty, very floral and made me wish I was handy with a needle and thread!

Felt Mountain Designs

Felt Mountain Designs

Felt Mountain Designs

Felt Mountain Designs

Felt Mountain Designs is the brainchild of Stephanie Bertenshaw.  Created and made by her, they make great gifts and her blog is a delight to read too.

Jane Clucas

Jane Clucas

Jane Clucas was there with her colourful vintage fabric purses and she was sharing a stall with Nicky Grace from Vintage Fabric and Gorgeous Things.  Her cards were bright and cheerful and bound to put a smile on anyone's face.

Nicky Grace

Nicky Grace

Finally I met Karina from PlastiKote Spray Paint.  Now this product intrigued me.  basically it is a very easy to use spray paint.  I'm not going to go into loads of detail as Karina very kindly gave me a bag full of things I can use and I will do a blog post to let you know how I get on.  The spray is apparently touch dry after 30 minutes and gives a finer coating for a no drip, no run perfect finish.  I literally can't wait to get spraying and the colours are mouth wateringly pretty with names such as Pistachio, Cameo Pink and Daffodil.  Mark be warned, stay still for long enough and we'll be calling YOU Daffodil!

PlastiKote

PlastiKote

PlastiKote

PlastiKote

After a couple of hours, Julia and I headed off but not before we had a quick scout round the Farmers Market.  We had such a nice morning, easy, relaxed and that's what life should be about.  Doing new things (I'd never been to a book launch before), enjoying yourself with new friends and taking yourself out of your comfort zone, you don't know what you might miss out on if you don't (I would have missed out on that goodie bag!)