*Postage Increase*

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As I'm sure you are all aware The Royal Mail has increased postage costs as of today.

I'm afraid as it is quite an increase I have unfortunately had to raise the price of postage at Vintage Amethyst too as small parcel prices have been hit hard!

But, don't be alarmed as postage is still low at Vintage Amethyst.

The postage now starts at £3 as all small parcels up to 750g are the same price but this means you can get a good few items for your £3 postage cost ~ which is great news isn't it?

As usual the postage cost at Vintage Amethyst is based upon the weight of your items & you can always keep a check of your postage costs in your shopping basket whilst shopping on the website.

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*Old Fashioned Refreshment Tickets*

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How fab are these

Refreshment Tickets?

They make me think of garden fetes & jumble sales!

These fab old fashion tickets are this weeks

*Product of the Week*

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How fun are these for a wedding favour? Wonderfully old fashioned style tickets.
They are perfect as favours if you are not having an open bar & just want to pay for one drink for your guests at the reception. Set it up with your wedding venue & your guest will be able to exchange the ticket at the bar for a drink ~ a perfect wedding favour & something everyone can use!
So perfect for vintage style, carnival & barn style weddings, your guests will love the idea!
Each ticket says 'Refreshments' & they are a lovely soft pistachio in colour with black writing.
They come in a set of 10 tickets & are only £1 for the set!

Find them *here*

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*Urban Eden*

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Yesterday James & I headed out to Wynard Hall for their Spring Shopping Fayre.

Luckily the weather was nice ~ no rain!!! Hurrah!

We actually had free tickets as our wonderful friends were exhibiting & very kindly gave us some!

We were going to go anyway but hey free tickets, you can't go wrong with that!

Here are few photos of their stall.

Urban Eden Boutique is owned by the lovely Helen & Col.

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And there they are!!!

Doesn't the stall look amazing?

I just love the old shed door painted & hung with pretty bunting don't you?

And what about that tree branch hung with pretties!

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Urban Eden is a wonderful online garden boutique offering a range of new & vintage garden accessories alongside pretty gift ideas for gardeners.

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Oohh look at all the goodies here!

Do pop along to the Urban Eden Boutique *here* & take a peek at the blog *here* too!

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Well done Helen & Col, the stall looked wonderful & I hope you have had a great weekend.

*New Look Packaging*

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If you've shopped with Vintage Amethyst before you will have been aware of the packaging your order arrives in ~ tissue, ribbon & Vintage Amethyst tag but with a change of look for the website last month, an updated complimentary change of look for the packaging was needed too!

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So a new colour of tissue was needed, so it has changed from white to pretty pale duck egg blue & new stickers were ordered ~ see above. James & I designed them & I just love how they look in real life.

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Also instead of grey ribbon, you will now find your orders are wrapped in wonderful blue & white bakers twine ~ I just love this so much, it is sooo cute.

I love it so much in fact that I decided to sell it in the boutique too!

So you can also buy it. It comes along on one of these fab old fashioned luggage tags & you get

10 meters for £1.50. You can find it *here*

It is also available in wonderful red too ~ find that *here*

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New tags were also needed & here are the new look tags with the new colours & logos.

I just think these are so cute too.

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So there you go, I do hope customers are loving the new look packaging as much as I do.

*Word Verification*

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I know some people are having problems with blogs that have the word verification turned on.

I turned it off last week but when it is off I seem to get so much more spam comments being left ~ people advertising their own businesses & rubbish so I'm afraid I have turned it back on again.

I know blogger is good at catching them but some do slip through I've noticed, the ones where they link their 'name' to a website & just leave a random comment generally not associated to the blog post!!!!!

I've tried this before & when it's turned off the spam comments arrive (!!!) so I'm sorry if it is annoying to anyone but I am turning it back on again.

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*Red London Telephone Bag*

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This weeks *Product of the Week* are these rather fab

Red Telephone Bags!

How fab is this bag?
A wonderful bright red eco bag featuring the iconic old British telephone boxes!
So wonderful to celebrate British culture.
Perfect to pop in your bag for shopping. It comes in it's own cute little carry bag which looks like a old telephone box & has a clip to attach to your bag if you wish.
A fab retro feel item!

The bag measures approx. 37cms wide.

They are only £3 each & you can find them *here*

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*Busy weekend & an unexpected opportunity*

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It has been soooo busy at Vintage Amethyst HQ over the last few weeks

that I'm working weekends too!
I had the day off yesterday though as there was an art fair on at our local Arts Centre ~ 'A Right Royal Do' to celebrate the Queens birthday!

It was a fun day, we had a few friends that had stalls so it was lovely to see them there.

We even got a chance to sneak off with one friend & had a glass of red in a lovely wine boutique in town! Oooh afternoon wine, I haven't done that for a long time!!!!
Then we had to rush home in time for another friend (who had been at the art fair doing a cultural talk thing!) to pop by & visit as we hadn't had a chance to catch up with her at the fair.

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Anyhoo today I just had to catch up on orders & James had work to do too so after lunch off we set for the business unit.

Shortly after I got there a lovely lady arrived on our doorstep with an exciting proposal for me.

She had found me online & realised that Vintage Amethyst HQ was literally down the road so when she saw our shutters open she popped on by!
It sounds like so much fun but is only in early day stages so I will let you know near the time what is going on!

So today has been busy & exciting, a perfect work day even if it is a Sunday.

Oh & I even managed to get the front window & door cleaned inbetween rain showers!!!
*Hurrah*

Oh & if you are wondering about the above photo was taken on my iPhone using Instagram as I didn't have the camera with me at the unit!

Hope you are all having a super duper weekend ...

*Vintage Style Mr & Mrs Luggage Tags*

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I have added some lovely vintage style wedding day items to the

boutique recently.

I thought I would show you these fab old fashioned Mr & Mrs luggage labels,

pefect to use as place settings. Just write each guests name on the bottom & either place on their plates or tie around cutlery or glasses.

Also fab for table numbers too!

They are also really sweet to be used as wish tags for guests to write good luck

wishes for the happy couple on, as the back is blank.

They would look great with the vintage style birdcage from the boutique.

They could be posted inside or tied to it.

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One of the Vintage Amethyst followers over on Facebook came up with the great idea of using them as place settings but writing each guests dinner choice on the back too!

The tags are only £1.50 for a set of 10 & so are really economical as place settings especially if you need a large number.

They will look totally fab at any wedding but especially if you are having a vintage style & barn wedding.

Find the tags *here*

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*Shabby Chic Tips*

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Tips on how to create a pretty Shabby Chic interior from Rachel Ashwell

in an article on The Inside Source website.

Take a peek *here*

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*Happy Birthday*

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Today would have been my Mum's birthday.

So happy birthday Mummy.

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This is the portrait of her that my wonderfully talented husband James did as our

Christmas gift to my dad.

I absolutely love it, it looks just like her.

He is such a talented portrait artist & is in high demand & always has so many commissions to do at any one time.

Some of you many remember he was on the BBC art show Imagine a couple of years ago undertaking a portrait commission.

My Mum loved his work & was always a huge supporter of his, I'm sure she would have loved this portrait too ...

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*Wedding Place Settings*

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This weeks *Product of the Week* are these

lovely heart shaped wedding place settings.

They have been *so* popular over the last couple of weeks.

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A set of 6 simple white heart place settings for your wedding tables.
Just pop your name cards in the the heart.
Perfect for each guests name or for table number holders for each table.
A lovely & simple idea for your wedding tables & these hearts look so pretty placed alone or placed on vintage saucers as shown in the photo for all you vintage style wedding lovers.

The heart holders measure 11cms tall each.
They are only £6.50 for the set of 6 & you can find them *here*

They are also available in singles for £1.50 each *here*

& are great for holding photos or pretty postcards.

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*A year has passed*

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Yesterday was a sad day as it was the first anniversary of my Mum passing away.

I can't actually believe it's been a year.

In one way the year seems to have wizzed by at speed & it only seems like a day or so ago that we were together & chatting & laughing away as normal.

Yet in another way it seems as if a lifetime of things have happened since I last saw her.

It's such an odd feeling.

I'm feeling quiet & low at the moment & obviously heart broken too ~ I'm not sure that will ever go away ... but work is hectic & so luckily the boutique is keeping me
occupied & busy.

I had the day off yesterday & we spent it as a family.

It was a nice day.

Luckily as a family we have a new born baby girl to snuggle with & a boisterous 3 year old cheeky boy to keep us all giggling & smiling.

It helps, but nothing takes away the utter heartbreaking sadness I feel.

I miss her ...

*Busy Day*

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Goodness it was a busy day at Vintage Amethyst HQ today!

I had soooo many orders to wrap up it was a little crazy!

A huge stock order arrived today too, so Vintage Amethyst HQ looked a little crazy messy for a while.

But just about everything got done ~ phew!

Thank you to everyone who shopped over the weekend & used the Easter discount

coupon code.

I hope everyone had a really lovely Easter weekend.

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*Happy Easter*

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Happy Easter Cutie Pies.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend.

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*15% Discount ~ This Weekend!*

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To celebrate Easter Weekend you can get

15% discount

when you shop online with

Vintage Amethyst.

Just enter the coupon code Easter15 into your shopping basket before paying to receive the discount.

Offer ends Monday 9th April.

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*Yummy, Scrummy*

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Yummy .... Scrummy

Mini Eggs!

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Have a fabulously weekend everyone

filled with lots of chocolate & fun!

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*Cute Chocolate Egg Mould*

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A few weeks ago I saw these rather cute
Chocolate Egg Moulds in Sainsbury's Easter department.

It was actually the last one so I snaffled it quickly into my basket!

I'm not surprised that they had gone from the shelves as it really is

super super cute with it's mixture of little bunny heads & classic

Easter egg design plus I couldn't believe what an absolute bargain it was
too ~ £1.50!!!!

I haven't actually used it yet as the shop has been *sooo* busy lately but I am so
going to try it out tonight so that we have some cute little mini chocolate eggs for the weekend!

I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Have you bought any cute Easter goodies this year?

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*Easter Decorating ~ Egg Cups*

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How pretty does this little display look from Martha Stewart?

Hollowed-out eggshells make naturally beautiful vases for tiny flower arrangements. Break an egg at the top of its shell, drain the contents, and carefully rinse out the inside. Next, fill the empty shell with room-temperature water and place it in an eggcup for stability. Finally, insert small cuttings of your favorite blossoms (we used lilacs, lily of the valley, and violas). Individually or grouped together in a centerpiece, these tiny arrangements make a wonderful addition to the place settings at your table.

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I love this sweet idea from

Martha Stewart

For an Easter centerpiece, arrange several eggcups of spring flowers on a tray.

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Another wonderful idea from Martha Stewart.

Egg candles!

Everything is reborn in spring -- even Easter eggs, which can be transformed into votives for your table.

Simple eggcups make a lovely base. First, make a hole in the top of each egg with a pin; enlarge the holes, and pour out the yolks.

Clean shells, then dye them with food coloring (follow package directions). Nestle shells in a carton. Cut wire-core wicks to 4 inches long, flatten one end, and fasten in shell with a bit of warm wax. Using a funnel, fill shells with hot wax (tinted with dye pellets).

Let the wax cool. Trim the wicks, and light.

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How about this pretty idea for a table piece? Again from the wonderful

Martha Stewart.

Enliven your next buffet with an arrangement of eggcup bouquets displayed on cake stands. Choose small-budded flowers in similar hues, such as tulips, lily of the valley, paperwhites, and daffodils. Trim the stems so the blossoms will peek over the rims of the eggcups. Place a small round metal floral frog in each eggcup to help shape and weight the arrangements. Fill the cups three-quarters of the way with water, and then add the blooms. Arrange the mini bouquets on and around stands. Water daily for a long-lasting centerpiece.

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*Union Jack Paper Sweetie Bags*

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This weeks *Product of the Week* are these fab
Union Jack Paper Sweetie Bags.

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This is a set of 100 very retro Union Jack sweetie bags.
They are so perfect for wedding sweetie bars or Jubilee Parties!
The set of 100 bags comes along with a vintage style luggage tag with Mr & Mrs on ~ perfect for weddings.

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Just pop lots of lovely sweeties like Marshmallows, Jelly Babies, Flying Saucers, Jelly Beans, White Mice, Gummy Teeth etc into large glass bowls & jars pop on a fab table & let your guests help themselves to all the delicious goodies by filling up one of these wonderful Union Jack Sweetie Bags.
The bags measure 5" x 7".

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They are only £3 for the set of 100.

Find the bags with the Mr & Mrs tags *here*

and the bags without the tag *here*

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*Pretty Garden Dining*

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Happy April everyone!

Well with Spring well & truly underway & the lovely warm & sunny weather we have been having here in the UK lately it is a perfect time to get out in the garden isn't it?

And look at this pretty garden table inspiration from House to Home.

Perfect for a sunny Sunday tea time isn't it?

Dress the garden table with a broderie anglais cloth, colourful tableware and pretty lanterns for this
adorable look.

*Happy Sunday*

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