As Clear as Crystal

Well I finally managed to tear myself away from planning and daydreaming about our move for five minutes and visited a brocante fair last weekend in spite of suffering from yet another rather nasty cold.    

We went to a market in Cognac and it was their Foire aux huitres which is an annual oyster fair that is held alongside a flea market.  We arrived rather late in the day, due to my cold, but still managed to find some lovely sparkly things in preparation for the Christmas holidays (I know it's only October but people do like to be prepared).

Lovely local oysters

The first thing I found was a particularly unusual piece that I thought would be wonderful for a party.  What gathering would be complete without an absinthe fountain? Or if, like me, you're a whiskey drinker what could be more convenient... or should that be more dangerously tempting?

A very quirky truc - see more pictures on my Etsy shop 

I love finding unusual trucs and I think this one is absolutely gorgeous and even more importantly it's all in perfect working order.

The second sparkly find was this WMF silver plated and cut crystal cocktail shaker.  It was pretty mucky when I discovered it but after a good old clean it revealed it's true beauty and I was really pleased with the results of my labour.

See my Etsy site to view more pictures of this elegant shaker

We did find numerous other trucs but seemed to keep finding things for ourselves rather than stock for my Etsy shop including a vintage leather satchel originally destined for my shop but found to be very useful when lugging around papers regarding the house we are buying, a lovely lantern light for the entrance hall of our future home (never even considered for the shop for a second) and this beautiful boxed set of six lead crystal Cognac glasses and decanter that Spike understandably fell in love with.

The occasional bribe keeps my brocante buddy, Spike, happy
as he accompanies me around the flea market circuit!

Having reviewed my post I have realised with slight embarrassment that it does look like I view the Christmas holidays as an excuse for a good old booze up (it is after all the English way!) but I was also thinking (honestly) that the holidays are a wonderful excuse to push the boat out a bit, welcome friends and family to your home and make it come alive and sparkle over the darkest days of the year.