Lauren's Wishlist: Mint & Lemon

I know it's getting old but I still can't quite drag away from all things lemon and mint. So, instead of purchasing anything else, I've decided my bank account will love me a whole lot more, if I put together a mini dream wishlist of a few of my favourite items!

The funny thing is, usually when is comes to creating wishlists, I'm terrible. Ask me what I would like for my birthday or as a Christmas gift a couple of weeks before and I cannot think of a thing. Anything that does pop into my head, I talk myself out of just as quickly. I'm also terrible at receiving gifts, I'm told I say thank you way too much at the best of times. 

That said, if just so happens that someone fancies sending any of these marvels my way, I'm not going to complain too much...

1. Vintage Telephone

2. Record Player

3. Mint Green Calls, iPhone Case

4. Nailpolish, Chanel

5. Vile Bodies, Evelyn Waugh

6. 1950s Vintage Tea Set

7. Books V. Cigarettes, George Orwell

8. A shiny new, Nissan Figaro

Pretty, please! 

Much love, 

Lauren xx

After Dinner Dance Party // Andy Crofts' Rope Mix

Roll up, roll up... we have some wondrous musical marvels to share with you today, with a selection of numbers chosen by Andy Crofts of UK band The Moons. The Rope mixes are, a host of playlists inspired by a love of the Hitchcock film of the same name, loaded with an unhinged array of dark delights to excite the minds of a listener with a penchant for the weird & wonderful.


Notably, the concept of the playlist itself, eerily mirrors the prolonged, suspenseful shots used by Hitchcock to draw the audience into an abyss of double meanings and a vortex of timbre.


With each individual mix devoted to exploring a different musical point of view, from the R&B driven Worlds of Wonder, to the blissful echoes of Late Night Smoke Rings, begging the listener to turn off their mind, relax and float down stream. A lovely modern day homage to the wonders of mid-century pirate radio... without the adverts!


It's seldom that we get to hear music choices from a plethora of our favourite artists, all under one roof. However, in his Circus on Mars, Andy has rounded up tracks from musical friends to bring you the ultimate, guest playlist!

★ROPE SPECIAL★ "Circus On Mars" by Andy Crofts (Rope) on Mixcloud

As well as choices from Andy Crofts, this playlist features additional great guest choices from the likes of James Buckley, The Horrors, Paul Weller, The Coral, Richard Hawley, Miles Kane, The Charlatans, The Stone Roses, Ocean Colour Scene and The Sundowners! Click on the playlist for the full track listing.

To keep up to date with The Moons, click here.

Enjoy!
Much Love,
L&R xx

Tremendous Tips for Braving Spring Flea-Markets!

As the Spring season draws in, there is nothing better than getting up early on a Sunday morning and going for a meander around a flea market. One of the must-do's on the agenda of Lola & James' Berlin adventure was getting to one of the hugely popular flea markets that were littered around the City. After checking out a few online first, they opted for the Arkonaplatz market, located in the Mitte district, advertised as a haven for fans of Sixties & Seventies. Nom. 


The problem is, with the warmer weather also comes the larger crowd and the competition to bag yourself exquisite antiques and beautiful bargains heats up! At this time of year you need a plan as well as a good eye and it's also easy to feel overwhelmed by the vast array of knick-knacks on offer. So today we are sharing our top tips, that will hopefully help you have a successful trip around the flea-markets and as girls that love shopping, we like to think we know a thing or two... 







1. Arrive early - we're starting with an obvious one, it goes without saying. Not only are you putting yourself in the same privileged position as the rest of the savvy, flea-market frequenters to bag the bargains first, but it's also wise to be careful of item hoppers - a self-penned term ;)! That is, vendors browsing around the market early on, buying items and selling it on their own stall later in the day at an increased price! Apparently, it happens a lot more frequently than you think and sometimes items can jump from several stalls throughout the day and the price multiply each time!

2. Take cash - another obvious tip but in a day and age where we rely on carrying around our cash cards, it's so, so easy to forget to cash out for occasions like this and it would be simply tragic (we're not even being dramatic, tragic!) to miss out on something that you love, purely because you didn't have the cash on you!

3. Have an initial browse - As we mentioned earlier, it's really easy to be overwhelmed by the fast pace  and bumble of people crammed into compact markets not to mention the thousands upon thousands of items on offer.... just where do you start? We found that the best thing to do was to have an initial browse up and down all the aisles to get a feel for what sort of things were on offer before heading back to take a closer look at the things which caught our eye! Remember, most flea markets are open all day (9am-5pm) so take your time :) 



4. Make a wish list - it's so much easier to find something you'll love for years to come if it's something that will have a place in your home. Make a wishlist beforehand, even if you divert from the list for a couple of impromptu bought items, it keeps a sense of focus when browsing amongst the variety of knick-knacks available... it's easy to get carried away with no-so-practical purchases when it's all sittin' pretty! 



5. Buy old - Resist the urge to buy something new. At the Arkonaplatz market, vendors had also set up darling stalls full of home-made and vintage looking jewellery (Egyptian inspired beetle jewels & cameo necklaces, gah!) as lovely as they looked, it seems a shame to browse around a flea market, only to come home with something brand new that you could search out online. Keep to the old and the antique and then you'll truely feel like you've found a treasure!



6. Colour vision - Seems silly but it does work...use colour to scan out items from your favourite eras. Colour pops of bright orange kept catching my attention and pulling me towards wonderful stands full of 60s and 70s delights!


7. Do your research - This really does help! If you have access to internet on your phone, use it! This way you have a much greater idea of how much an item is really worth before you pay or barter... you could even show the vendor the prices that you've found to see if this will encourage them to knock off a little more dollar! James fell in love with a beautiful sounding harmonica from the 50s on one of the stalls, the vendor was adament that the price offered was a bargain... a quick browse on ebay soon uncovered that you could get them a little cheaper online! There's nothing worse than feeling fooled by a confident seller! 



8. Stay friendly & polite - although it might not aid your quest for lustrous bargains too much, remember that the majority of items on offer are probably from private collections or the seller's own possessions. Be respectful of sentimental value and use this to your advantage to find out as much information as you can about the items - it's always lovely to have a bit of backstory! 





9. Take a tape measure - At Twee Towers, practicality is not always our forte... remember we bought our sofa without even considering the shape or size of the living room before moving in... luckily it fitted! For bulkier, house hold items, being able to measure will be a useful tool and will save you tediously lugging around a chest of drawers only to find it's too big to fit anywhere!





10. Look past the wear and tear - we all get suckered in by pretty, visual merchandising and artistic set ups but some of the best antique junk looks just like it sounds... junk! We stumbled across a stall that at first glance looked like boxes upon boxes of recycled metal, on closer inspection they housed the most charming, ornate brass door knobs that would make an amazing feature on wooden drawers and dressers... and sooo much cheaper than you would pay elsewhere! At Twee Towers we live by the mantra that almost everything can be fixed, scrubbed up and upcycled!



11. A bonus tip - enjoy yourself! How often do you get to spend a day drifting around troves of vintage and antique treasure? Buying is much more interesting when you have to work to find your goods! 



We hope you enjoyed today's tips... happy shopping :)
Much love, L&R xx

A Vintage Twee Party: Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of our Vintage Twee Party! Yesterday, we shared our inspiration for taking a nostalgic amble back through our favourite Twee Tower moments, to pull together the ultimate Twee Party, after reading the charming Vintage Tea Party book by Angel Adoree! After guiding you through our tips for the perfect twee set up and some retro styling advice, we now move on to our favourite bit, the treats and tipples! 


After a trip to France last summer, Rhi brought home lots of lovely Rose & Violet flavoured goodies, including syrups, sugars and liqueurs and we set straight to work concocting yummy cocktails to celebrate her return! An absolute must on our Twee Towers drink menu... floral cocktails!


Our delicious Rose Martinis went down a storm, adorned with dried rose buds... one must always pay attention to the finer details of a twee soiree! 

Parma Violet tini's! Absolutely divine. As with all Twee Towers cocktails, we prescribe to the dash of this and splash of that methodology! We think we used martini, vodka, violet syrup and violet liqueur to taste. You could always add lemonade to make this into more of a punch! 


Speaking of punch, here is our take on the summer classic Pimms Cocktail! All the traditional ingredients of a pimms, with our own little twist!



For a more subdued event, we are obsessed with Twinings Lavander Earl Grey or Rose Flavoured Tea! So much so, that we may have had a teeny, twee troubles-esque meltdown when our local supermarket stopped stocking it... for months, and months, argh! 


The menu from our Royal Wedding Celebration (as mentioned in Part 1) featured traditional English Afternoon Tea fayre including miniature cakes, crumpets, cucumber sandwiches, strawberries & cream and Twee Towers staple Champagne! 


Earlier this week, we were discovering the joys of making our own preserves. We started out with the delectable Strawberry & Rose curd! Serve on scones or spread between sponge layers on a cake! Tie with co-ordinating ribbons and these become a lovely part of your set-up too!


Seriously Twee cake, Lavender & Love... with a starring role from the aforementioned Lavender Tea, this was our take on Gizzi Erskine's Earl Grey Chocolate cake and tasted simply fabulous. 


Perhaps our most delicious creation yet, the truly scrummy Violet & Chocolate Cupcakes! In true Twee style, we even created our Silent Movie to take you through the recipe... 


For ingredients click here. 

Hope you have enjoyed partying with us, we'd love to see your own Twee Parties soon! In case you missed it... Vintage Twee Party Part 1.
Much love, L&R xx

A Vintage Twee Party Part I

When we spotted that one of our friends and best customers Kelly had purchased this decadent delight of a book, we knew we had to have it, and the lovely person that Kelly is, she went and picked up the last copy for us! The Vintage Tea Party Book is a complete guide to hosting a perfect tea party, for the glamourous gal, written by Angel Adoree, well known Vintage Clad Gal and founder of the Vintage Patisserie.
One was totally enthralled flicking through the pages of this beautiful book where every page hosts something pretty and inspiring, every page extracted a rapturous gasp of excitement (and of recognition, one of the lovely models is a local lady!). Angel and her stunning crew take you on a captivating guided tour from the design, tastes and styles to elevate your party into the full vintage experience.
This brought us back to previous afternoon teas held here in Twee Towers where we pulled our resources of rescued antiques and every pretty prop we could lay our hands on to throw visually delightful soirees... Paying tribute to the attention to detail of eras gone by one never scrimped on the lavish layouts... Even if it was just the two of us dining! And thus, we were inspired to create our own mini guide on the Vintage Twee Party using recipes and photos of parties past from the Twee Towers archives. So as Angel would say 'Lets all raise our teacups' for the She Dressed in Black Vintage Twee Party! 



For Afternoon Tea parties, we often set up in the studio, as the light in there is lovely. We gather furniture from about the house (Peacock Chair from the hall, basket seat from Rhi's room) and mix and match our soft furnishings for an eclectic look.
Don't be afraid to be ostentatious with your twee party props, you want to create that atmosphere of a vibrant and kitsch affair.  The set up above was in celebration of The Royal Wedding, one can reveal that this was our FIRST day in Twee Towers and the rest of the house was barely unpacked, you can pull together a party like this in any circumstance!


Crucial to any Twee Party, flowers, and lots of them! The lavish bunch above features a mix of prearranged bouquets, break them up and play about till you have a unique feature for your event. Use small vases with little sprays of flowers to dot around your set up. We love the look of flowers in jugs, gives a lovely homely, rustic touch.


Mixing up your crockery really amplifies the twee, car boot and hand-me-down dishes, really accentuate the vintage vibe. Source pretty fabrics for place settings, this table cloth was a vintage skirt, and the napkins are offcut scraps we had lying around the studio, tied with delicate antique lace. It would not be a Vintage Twee party without doilies!



For more formal events, we absolutely adore these Alice inspired party picks. They're on our wish list for our next party! 




Play with unlikely objects around your home to create an individual look that is personal to you, with not a lot of table space (remember most of our things were still in boxes!) and a vast collection of vintage luggage between us, we created a stack here to balance a picnic basket of fruit upon.


Drink station - we used similar arrangements for Lauren's Birthday Breakfast, with the added bonus of a place to set out our drinks. Designing your own menu adds a personal touch to the event, displayed here in a frame. More recycled fabric table cloths and flowers, of course.

For truly Great Brit charm, no tea party would be complete without swathes of bunting and garlands. Follow our tutorial for Heart Shaped Bunting to add this sweet detail to your party. 


Once you're set up, the next step is to get glammed up! Usually 60s girls at heart, we roped in our slightly more polished and classicly sophisticated chum Carla to come model some iconic do's and WW2-chic. We had no idea where to start, fortunately just in the nick of time we spotted this tutorial over at A Beautiful Mess which assisted in our Victory over the Rolls. 






Isn't she a peach? First up we tried a half up-half down approach with two victory rolls atop Carla's head. With slightly waved hair, we loved how it looked a little more modern and a bit more wearable for those just dipping their toe in the early 20th Century styles.





Next we rolled it all up, finishing the do with a few more rolls round the back. Fab for a more demure look, and practical for hosts busying about the kitchen!




For a more traditional 50s housewife-esque look add a headscarf, with a bow to the side to finish off your do. Voila, take off your pinny, you're ready to attend a Vintage Twee Party!
Stop by tomorrow for Part 2, where we will be showing Twee Treats & Tipples to serve at your Ultimate Vintage Twee Party.
Much love,R&L xx