Proud to be in Totnes!!

As shown (for a second!) on this week's episode of BBC Countryfile. They were comparing Totnes with Yeovil and said that we were fortunate that our supermarkets (Morrisons and Co-op) were within the town and not on an out of town site drawing business away from the High Street.
Not sure that I would ever have put fortunate and supermarket in the same feature myself but I can see what they mean.
Have a look for yourself by clicking for the link to BBC i Player

NM2 pics at last!

(Thanks to Liz for this view of the hall.)

Many thanks to Sal for saving the day and sending her flicker pics of the second Nostalgic Mix Fair! My camera had a nasty encounter on the day with some water .. say no more!

We'll be there!

THIS'N'THAT WILL BE SELLING AT THIS WEEKEND'S VINTAGE AND HANDMADE FAIR IN CHIPPING SODBURY. IT'S THE ORIGINAL V & H ... AN INSPIRATION TO ALL!! ...AND WELL WORTH THE TRIP ... GO ON HAVE A DAY OUT!!

Red Letter Day!!

Well, what a weekend! The Nostalgic Mix Fair (no photos yet I'm afraid) was just lovely. The hall was packed with nostalgic and handmade delights, so many prosepective buyers poured in ... it was busy for most of the day.

Take a look at salssnippets blog for a great write up. Thanks Sal! Tell Mr Snippets (who was our bouncer)that a google search for bouncer uniforms brings up an Ebay section with 213 items of doorman uniforms!!

To my delight Saturday's edition of Western Morning News did a big feature on the fair and now .... my happiness is complete ...

Red letter day ... the blog now has one hundred followers so I'll be sorting my first giveaway upon our return from a week in Cornwall It's hard to slow down my mind (so many ideas) but my feet have given up so it's feet up reading books for a couple of days and then some walking :)

Cats with opposable thumbs!! Have you seen this? .

Click on the title to view youtube video! It's a must see!!

More Tea Vicar!

Sneak preview! This time the catering at the Nostalgic Mix Fair will be organised by Avril (lovely lady and longstanding This'n'that customer) who trades as "More tea please vicar". There will be soup and rolls as well as typically English tea party items ... coffee too. See you there XX

Nostalgic Mix - Guys' Stuff

As heralded this week in Sal's blog (www.salssnippets.blogspot.com) ...... a first for us ..........GUYS' STUFF .........courtesy of my beloved Mr Fixit!! Never let it be said that the fellas get left out.

There will be tools, books, toys, maps, gadgets and ....................stuff on Saturday 26th March at the second Totnes Nostalgic Mix Fair.

OK, so I know that a prolonged period of mourning will follow once certain items sell but as we all know, the secret is that once we have sold something, then, oh bliss, oh joy we get to buy more:)

Weekend of the Nostalgic Mix Fair

If you are making a weekend of it and staying in Totnes when visiting the Nostalgic Mix Fair on March 26th, why not go along to the South Devon Railway's special weekend event on the Sunday?
www.southdevonrailway.co.uk

Heading for a century!!

Soon after opening This'n'That I discovered the joys of the 'Vistaprint' online printing services and have never looked back. I've lost count of how many different business cards, tags and giveaway postcard designs have been created in those years.

Some have been reprinted again and again whilst others were one batch wonders!

I've been trying to set aside a few spares from each batch since I began blogging with the intention of using them as part of a giveaway. Apologies to those of you who may recall my plan to do that last Spring.

However, this time I am resolute ... once I get to 100 followers (almost there) .. I will sort out a giveaway which will include some of these cards.

I realise that I may be wrong in flattering myself that folks want them but I seem to get regular customers in the shop asking for whichever is the latest or sometimes requesting 'back issues' to fill their collections.

Maybe I should be planning a folder like those partwork magazines where you had to collect all 96 editions to get a free file?! Somehow I don't think I'll reach such heady numbers:)

The picture above (used for the Nostalgic Mix 2 invitation cards) is from an early 1950's bus timetable which I scanned and changed the colours from red, white and blue to my favourite turquoise.

Time for a 'virtual visit' to This'n'That!

Now that Christmas is over lots more vintage stock creeping back in and most of the remaining 'gift' lines are reduced, though I wouldn't actually call it a sale!

Enid Blyton continues to be a favourite! We have the usual stock of her books, school posters and some Enid Blyton Magazines and school reading books.


Wonderful old girls' annuals for 'old girls' like me!


Also, old annuals and books for 'old boys' like Mr Fixit!


I'll be off searching for more early Penguin and Puffin books. They sold well and I'm in need of 'top-up' stock. The shop also sells the Penguin and Puffin book cover postcards at 50p each or just £14.99 for a box of 100 .... great value!


When buying old books in quantity I often find some with missing pages, scribble or just too ragged to sell. We save these and have then made into novelty bunting to sell.


I'm still having to limit the vintage book shelves. Otherwise, This'n'That would rapidly become a bookshop and lines like the 'gardener gifts' would be squezeed out.


We try to maintain collections of sailing, gardening and cricket books too so I'm off hunting for stock to keep the shelves topped up through the summer.


I recently bought a lovelt collection of music, The artwork on the covers is just great!


Rosey Reed's shell and driftwood pieces bring a bit of the coast into the shop. She lives in Somerset and collects all of her own driftwood and beachcombings.


The old pine dresser gets regularly replenished. Vintage jelly moulds have become increasingly popular since recipe books featuring great jellies (with alcohol) for grown ups!! .... a little hint ... the vegetarian jellies just don't work that well. They turn out and then ... GLOOP ....its all collapsed!!


So pleased when I was able to add a collection of 'herry B' glasses alongside our usual Babycham glasses. We've even got 'Pony' and 'Britvic' too.



The little blue armchair is a pipe stand.

The contents of the shelves in the back of the shop chop and change regularly and are always worth browsing through. I try to keep breakables high up and then parents with little children can relax a bit:)