#SE23 Christmas Shopping No. 6: Fair Fayre by the Pools, Saturday 15th December

Fair / Fayre - whatever! The one by the pools last weekend was the first Forest Hill Fair as part of the SEE3 Portas Pilot thingamajig.




I have to own up to Fayre ennui at this point. In part due to the fact that I NEED to find presents for the men in my life and also having taken up glass fusing and living with a wood lathe in my spare bedroom, I do not need any more trinkets. Which reminds me, I'm meant to be buying for others! So I wasn't really in the mood when I went fair Fayre shopping on Saturday. But despite the rather empty look from the photo above, there were a few good things of note.




South London Prints do some very cute prints of local sites, including the Horniman and one I especially like of Crystal Palace. If you missed them at the fair, they are sold in Bunka as well as 'Pen & Gravy', the Christmas pop up shop in Kirkdale.




Isa Marie Skincare I had heard of before via twitter. Abandoning my 'buying for men' quest (didn't take much), I bought myself a pot of Body Butter Souffle, which is superb. The girls on the stall (I think Isa Marie is actually Marianne and is on the left!) were also lovely, as were all the stallholders I chatted to, which made for a nice afternoon out and for me made this a pleasant addition to Forest Hill.




Finally, I bumped into a lady who I had met at the jewellery class a few weeks ago who owns a modern retro homewares shop in Stoke Newington but is local to SE23 (who I remembered as camera shy - she is off stage right). The shop is the rather fabulously named, 'Committee of Taste', and some of the smaller stock came to Forest Hill on Saturday. The owner said she had had a good day and was thinking about what to bring next time and was hoping to bring some children's pieces as she had had a good few customers with kids.

For a first run, I think the fair went well. We should expect these fairs to continue as part of the SEE3 project and hopefully the fun arts and crafts items will stay. For me, these were the most interesting to potter around and complement what we have on the High Street.

As for my Christmas shopping however, this wasn't to be. I have since had quite a bit of success on the presents buying front - but posts for these will need to wait till after the 25th if I want to maintain any element of surprise. Suffice to say though - I've done it!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

#SE23 Christmas Shopping No. 5: Jumping Bean

For the last few years, Jumping Bean on Honor Oak Park has been the provider of all my Secret Santa gifts. An easy stop from when I get off the ELL at HOP, I often do go in for a mooch around on my way home - which is one of the things I especially like about this place - it is open at hours that are convenient for me.

With my SE23 shopping challenge hat on, I went in and had a good look round the other Monday after work (open, on a Monday, love it). There is a lot of stock, in a fairly small space, so it does to take your time. I noticed quite a few things for men, which makes some difference to a lot of other gift shops - think cuff links, scarves etc. as well as some nice picture frames. I know they also have a little den of kiddies stuff at the back (due to my allergy to children, I have never been in that bit).

As usual, I saw quite a bit I fancied for myself! Indeed, I wish I had seen this iPad case when I was looking for one a few months back. At £15.99, I think it is a lovely item. I ended up on etsy for mine, which is a shame, because I did look around Forest Hill first.



The other thing I thought was great were these porcelain measuring spoons - not terribly practical, but very cute.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

@FHSoc Jewellery class (Saturday November 24th)

This time last week, I attended a jewellery class organised by the Forest Hill Society. Paul Ravn has been a lecturer and silversmith throughout his career and now owns a jewellery workshop along with his wife Tomoki.

In 3 hours, seven of us had twisted silver wire, soldered, sawn and bashed (probably not the technical term) our way to creating a ring each.



It was lovely to learn something new on a wet Saturday afternoon and meeting other locals. It turns out that the lady opposite me lives on my street! Best of all is taking home something real, so I am looking forward to going back in January to finish the pendant we started and maybe move onto a brooch. I haven't taken the ring off!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad