The new business Vintage Cat is ticking along nicely and therefore I have decided to retire Lilyesque at Christmas.  There is 50% off at www.lilyesque.com using AB2013 at checkout until Christmas and then Lilyesque will be no more :( 
I have been looking to build my own website for Vintage Cat instead of using Freewebstore as I think I will get more control but I have no complaints about them as regards Lilyesque. 
I am now in the process of finding a website builder/designer to do one for me I have a logo that my daughter designed for me. 
As this is a new business the cost will probably be quite a shock when I weigh it up against what I have made so far but I have started to use ebay for the first time and I must say I am having quite a good experience.  It's really easy to put separate items up for sale and you can watch how many views and watchers you have on  each item.  After my success with these individual items I am now considering opening an ebay shop which will also give me a chance to sell the Lilyesque products that I will still have.
I am using Twitter with my Vintage Cat brand and am gaining followers by the day @vintagecatuk.

Ok TTFN and speak to you soon
x x x

Not so Shabby for Mandy.

Time certainly does fly when you're having fun..... and I am having fun at the moment with my new found hobby/job.  The housework is most definitely taking a back seat to the up cycling of furniture I am now obsessed with, but not to worry there's only two of us how bad can it get? (I won't tell you about the maggots in the recycling bin) eeewwww!!!!

I have discovered 2 fantastic places to buy my furniture from one is called "Bygone Times" in Chorley www.bygonetimes.co.uk and the other is an international aid shop at the top of our street which is way too close to home and my garage now looks looks like a vintage shop.

I am also addicted to buying paint and wax and I get quite excited now about trips to B & Q so I can look at the different coloured paints and waxes and don't get me started on paintbrushes.  I have discovered Harris paintbrushes and they seem to be doing the job at the moment. Its fortunate that they are on offer at Asda at the moment :)

I sold my first item of Shabby Chic furniture this week on www.ebay.co.uk and am feeling very pleased with myself, it was a lovely dressing table with a mirror and chair.

 

 

The cat wasn't part of the deal... :)

Hopefully it's gone to a good home.  I have put most of my thing on ebay as I am running out of storage room and I have 3 dressers that are waiting to be given my special treatment.

Anyway when we move part of the criteria is a workshop that I can store and work on my furniture in.  Part of the big plan is to set up a website under my new name of VINTAGE CAT which will showcase my products but that costs money and so far I have only sold 1 thing ... baby steps.

 

So TTFN and see you back here soon x

 

 



 

Vintage Calling

Once again I apologise for not blogging sooner.... no excuses at all.
I seem to have found my calling in life and it all started with an old table I found in a shed.  I decided to give it a Shabby Chic look so off I went to Homebase and bought myself some Farrow & Ball White paint and some sand paper. 
After much sanding I finally got it to the state I wanted it.
Then I painted it, I gave it a few coats and sanded the areas where there could have been wear and tear to give it a Vintage look then slapped some wax on and was very pleased with the result.

Before

 

 

And After....

So with my new found skill I have gone from strength to strength and am in the process of setting up another website called "Vintage Cat", which will include the furniture that I am working on at the moment plus the Lilyesque Jewellery and my husband will be doing a section on Iconic Memorabilia and Americana, so its all very exciting. Watch this space!!
We were lucky enough to get ticket to see Eddie Izaard in Manchester on the Force Majeure Tour last Friday.  We have been huge fans for a very long time and he definitely didn't disappoint, he was hilarious.  He does a whole 20mins on dressage and at one point I was crying with laughter.
We went to Waxy O'Connors for something to eat first and was not impressed with a) the service (slow even though there was hardly anyone in the place)and b) the food, the burger tasted as though it had been cooked earlier and then warmed up, so will not be going there again.  Which is a shame because we were frequent visitors to the Waxy's in Dubai when we lived there and the service and food were fantastic.
@thesummats , +Summats Summats new single is now available on iTunes and is called Nothing Changes the video is being edited at the moment and will follow shortly on YouTube. check it out I think its the first time the four members have worked together on the same song and the two girls are awesome on backing vocals.

TTFN

Mandy@lilyesque.com

Cakes and Muffins

I had a lovely surprise on Tuesday 5th March, my youngest daughter who lives down south turned up unexpectedly to surprise me for Mothers Day.  How exciting (said in an Australian accent).  So much of the week was spent catching up with her and just chilling out.
I did find an excellent recipe for cupcakes from James Martin the UK chef but I did mine with cream cheese frosting...yummy.  My next mission is to find a tried and tested recipe for muffins.  If you have a recipe that you use please let me know at +AmandaBagley  mandy@lilyesque.com

Anyway the cupcake recipe is as follows: 

175 g butter, softened
175 g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp buttermilk
4 eggs
175 g self-raising flour.

 

1. For the cupcake mixture: Preheat the oven 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Beat together the butter and sugar and vanilla for about 3 minutes then add the buttermilk and mix.

2. If using an electric stand mixer, leave it on as you add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well until all combined. Gently but lightly fold in the flour with a spatula.

3. Divide between 12 paper cases in a muffin tin, filling the cases about two thirds full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, then leave to cool in the cake tin.

They were delicious.

And now down to business.....

I have a special offer for all you readers of my blog.  For a limited time only I have a free pair of earrings to give away on the next orders that I receive, these earrings won't last long and the offer is only until the stock lasts.  So come on what are you waiting for.

Ok, the handbags were a great success for Mothers Day and I know were some very happy mums on Sunday morning, so well done to you all who went for something other than flowers and chocolates.  For all you kids who forgot... tut tut and lets just see what happens on your birthday..... ;)

This is a Kaytie Wu bag I now stock at £29.99 at www.lilyesque.com

 

 

And this is a great everyday bag at £24.99.... www.lilyesque.com

 

 





 



 

Don't for get I would love a good muffin recipe and if they're anything like +Starbucks Coffee Muffins that would be totes amazeballs.

TTFN

 

Mandy @ lilyesque . com

 

Killer Gig

Firstly let me start off by saying a massive Hello to everyone in USA, my blog has reached you and that's fantastic :)

My husband and I (how about that for perfect grammar) went to watch +The Killers on the 11th February, the gig was re-scheduled from October 2012 due to Brandon Flowers having a sore throat.  Let me tell you it was well and truly worth the wait, they were awesome, the did all their hits plus many off the new album.  The show was fantastic and they do love their lights and pyrotechnics .... brilliant!!  So thank you to The Killers for a great show and also for doing a rendition of Oasis's 'Don't look back in anger' which was great.
A much better review can be found here...http://thesummats.blogspot.co.uk/, thanks to my other half +Summats Summats 

Now for Lilyesque business, I am currently waiting for a delivery of beautiful handbags that I am very excited about I think they will make stunning Mothers Day presents here in the UK on the 10th March, so make sure you spread the word but get yours first because they will sell out pretty fast I'm sure. Here's a sneak peak for you to tempt you.....

That's just 2 of the many that are coming soon!!!!! Watch this space.

In addition to my blog last month regarding the Customer Service at Curry's, I would like to let you know of a fantastic customer experience I have just had with Nikon. 
On Christmas day I knocked my Nikon D5000 DSLR camera off the coffee table, on examination I discovered that the shutter was getting stuck and so only half of the picture was being taken ( which was ok for pictures of me as I'm only 5'2'') :) So I emailed Nikon after hearing that Jessops was going out of business and asked if they could help.  They emailed me back and pointed me in the direction of their form on their website for repairs.  I filled the form in and they replied back with an instruction letter and a postage label for me to send my camera to them whilst they had a look.  They have kept me informed every step of the way to let me know they had received it, and then to inform me of the quote to fix it, which I paid online last night and they emailed me straight back to let me know the payment had been received.  Now I am waiting for them to tell me when they have dispatched it back to me. 
This is one of the best experiences of customer service online and I will not hesitate to use them again (not too soon I hope) in the future and to also recommend them to anyone who needs a quote for a repair to their camera.  The whole thing has taken less than 2 weeks. 
I might also add that I bought my camera in Australia in 2009 so it most definitely wasn't still under warranty.  They are excellent and I am very pleased with the service that they have provided.  Website is http://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/ - fantastic!!

www.lilyesque.com - Don't forget use BO2013 at the checkout for 25% off until Feb 14th

Beautiful Shabby Chic photo frame, something different for Valentine's Day, measures 6x4 in or 10x15 cms. lilyesque.com

25% off

Use BL2013 at checkout for 25% off just in time for Valentine's Day. You're welcome x

Customer Service....

I decided that since my daughter was moving into her own place that I would let her have my old laptop and I would treat myself to a new one.  So last Saturday off I went with my husband to our local Curry's, I had already been online and picked the one I wanted so no wasting time with searching in the shop...... or so I thought....ha! how wrong I was.  We had a quick look at where the laptop was in the shop and off we went to the counter to get an assistant.  The manager assigned a young man to help us and I kid you not, you would think that we had just interrupted his lunch hour, his face looked like what can only be described as a smacked arse.  We told him which one we wanted only to be told that it wasn't available in blue, not a problem I'll have it in red.  In the next 30 minutes he tried to sell us Microsoft Office (which we already had) tried to give us a tutorial in Windows 8, which is fine but we did tell him that my husband's job is in IT so we will be fine to which he decided to quiz us on how to turn off Windows 8.... we were getting very annoyed at this point so my husband just asked him to get us the laptop to which he tried to sell us some insurance for a monthly payment and informed us that we could cancel in anytime we wanted, oh yeah I'm sure it will be that easy...just tried to cancel Sky and that was a nightmare.  We finally got the manager involved who then wasted another 10 minutes of our time by telling us stories of people who cant shut down windows 8 and then another story about a guy who unpacked a dryer only to decide he didn't want it..........I JUST WANT TO PAY FOR MY LAPTOP!!!!
Forty minutes after entering the shop we finally left with the laptop..... I will say one thing though the assistant took payment for it and said at the till '' I'm not even going to mention the extra warranty'', so at least he had a sense of humour.  Anyway the moral of this story is no wonder everyone does most of their shopping online it just takes all the hassle out of customer service and target sales.   Rant over.