-and along came the shop!

Lily Maud's retail presence came via Kay's Eclectic Vintage (KEV) via a Pop-up shop in the High Street Arcade in Cardiff one Christmas a number of years ago (probably 5!).

KEV was invited to join by the lovely ladies (who Bryn calls 'The Dreadfuls'!) from Joie de Vivre and had a great time in the upstairs gallery.  It was amazing how many people came to Cardiff for a shopping weekend and Bryn met so many people from all parts of the UK and beyond.

By it's very name, the pop-up shop had limited life, but The Dreadfuls managed to lease a shop in the Royal Arcade in Cardiff and KEV joined them, leasing the small first floor.

Precious things in cardboard boxes arrive in the Royal Arcade Shop







Cardboard boxes arrived first, closely followed by larger items to be used for display - you can just see the edge of a 1930s dressing table in the top left hand corner of the picture above.

Here you can see the dressing table without its mirror and, if you compare this picture with the one above, you will get an idea of how small a space Bryn had! 

Yet more 'stuff' to be organised!

Surprisingly, Bryn didn't take too long to sort out her vintage lovelies :

A beautiful up-cycled vintage dresser :

The same dresser :

now with vintage china and some Victorian/Edwardian jelly moulds in the bottom right hand corner.







Then the 1930s dressing table dressed with vintage items :

note the mess at the side still to be sorted!

And here's the 1930's wardrobe which goes with the dressing table, along with a shelf, just being sorted! Bryn's still has this wardrobe if anyone is interested!






Of course it did all become a quite cosy vintage shop and Bryn loved working there for three days each week for just over two years.

Hello Dear Visitors and Welcome

Hello Dear Visitors and a very warm welcome to Lily Maud's blog!

I thought it was about time I began this blog, aimed at telling you a little more about my alter ego - Bryn - who looks after my shop, adds my lovely items to it and puts pictures of them all over my pages on Facebook and Twitter.

Of course, I realise you don't want to know what she does with her time when she is not looking after my website, so this will tell you more about how it all came about, the lovelies you will find and their history if it is known, especially when new items appear.  So, here goes:

Bryn was born in Cardiff to my daughter which makes Bryn my grand-daughter.  Sadly, Bryn and I didn't ever meet as she was born some years after I had passed away, but she knows a lot about me from her mother.  

Bryn has a daughter who began a business making and selling extra special candles, wax melts, candles in cups etc.  It was a mainly web based business at first but then the business expanded into a small shop and Bryn and her daughter also became involved in the up-and-coming craft market scene in the west country and Wales.  

A craft fair stall

Bryn's talented daughter was ahead of her time - everyone you meet these days knows someone who makes candles, puts candles in cups, does wax melts and bath melts etc., all from soya wax and natural products. As one of the first, it was hard for Bryn's daughter to make ends meet and she had to stop making candles and get herself a job which paid real money! However, I can report that she has a lovely job which she enjoys and where she can use her creative side, though she still hankers to get back to her candles!

Bryn could often be seen around the craft markets and fairs in South Wales, singing the praises of her daughter's handiwork and meeting many lovely, talented people, some of whom had old/vintage items mixed in with their crafts and this began a train of thought which led Bryn to re-awakening her old passion for vintage things - linens and china in particular!

So began a new phase in Bryn's life as a vintage trader, running her fledgling business called 'Kay's Eclectic Vintage', selling at Vintage Fairs in South Wales and Bath and sourcing items from Vintage shows, Vintage Markets etc. Kay's Eclectic Vintage became a little more permanent over one Christmas as a 'pop-up' shop within a shop in Cardiff and then traded on the first floor of a shop in Cardiff's Royal Arcade for almost two years, leaving in February 2012.

A corner of the shop not long after opening.

That's the first part of Bryn's vintage story - the next blog will continue towards Lily Maud's Vintage:

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