I took a casual stroll through the most fantastic country market today not far from where I stay. It's an open air market and has the most amazing atmosphere. The vendors are friendly and it just had that cozy, hearty feel about it...a country feel.
I loved every second of it!
Even though I wasn't really there to buy anything in particular, it was so lovely to walk through the stalls and see what wares they had. Ok fine, I was prematurely Christmas browsing! I have a theory about Christmas. If you leave it to the last minute, you're stark raving mad. Pull Stop The End. In previous years I've started in February and squirrelled away gifts for family and friends throughout the year. It's quite fantastical (yes it's a word!) what a stash you can develop if you buy things whenever you find something cool that they might like. Unfortunately I wasn't that forward thinking this year though, so I'm only starting now. So I'm only slightly mad.
Oh boy did I find cool things!
How gorgeous are these hand painted birds? I spoke to the artist and these works of art take anywhere from between 5 and 10 hours to complete. The level of intricacy is just spectacular.
I also found some lovely laser cut goodies. The man who sells these is local and he designs each of them using his design knowledge with vectors. He networks with local shops in the area to do collaborations.
Look at those lamps! Oi vey, aren't they just droolischious?
How about a game of Tic Tac Toe for some festive fun?
I actually loved these candles so much that I bought one for myself.
I then saw this stand that made me SQEEEEE with delight like a little child.
This lady is a fashion designer who has decided to bring love and joy to the kids this year in unicorn form. I think these designs are just too cute. She sits there at her stall sewing things by hand to finish them off while there are lulls in between crowds and her stitches look as good as any sewing machine! I was well impressed.
Of course, I also found some things that I personally would love to buy...this little butterfly bag with it's purples and blues, yes please and of course THE DRESS!
I can so see myself wearing that on a summer day with a wide brimmed straw hat! One day my pretty! One day soon.
Then there was greenery that caught my eye and I had to admire these bonsai. I've always liked the look of them but never really liked the cruel ways that they are stunted so I've never been able to commit to buying one - I'd probably unbind it's roots and forget to trim it meticulously and before you know it, it'll just be a big darn tree...and that would actually probably make me extremely happy.
So that was my browsing session and some of the cool goodies that I found along the way. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
But seriously - how freaking cool are those unicorns?!
All images were taken by me and belong to me
