Christmas fairs in Edinburgh & Glasgow

Looking for somewhere to buy unique, handmade, lovely presents this year? I've put together a wee list of the nicest looking craft & shopping fairs taking place in Edinburgh & Glasgow this month...

EDINBURGH

Noir | Christmas Bookmarket | Judy's | Maker's Markets

Noir! #11 'A Christmas Fair'
8th & 9th December, 11am - 7pm
A weekend of fashion, design, food & an arts market at Summerhall. There will be bespoke stalls, exhibitions, live music performances, toy making workshops, & more! It's worth a visit just to see the building alone - it was the old Vet School & is still packed full of interesting & quirky stuff.

Christmas Bookmarket
6th, 13th & 20th December, 6 - 9pm
The lovely Fruitmarket Gallery run events all year round for artists, designers, publishers and other creative types to sell and present their work at the gallery. They are running three festive events in December (first one is tonight!) which promise lovely gifts & a pop up hot chocolate parlour (hello).

Judy's Very Vintage Christmas Fair
16th December, 12 - 5pm
Britain's biggest vintage fair is setting up shop at the HMV Picturehouse again for a special seasonal event. There will be vintage-inspired gifts and collectibles, gorgeous clothes, carollers, tea & cake & lots of loveliness.

The Makers Markets
8th December - St Andrews
15th December - Portobello
These markets run all year round in five different venues across Scotland. You'll find a mix of artists, crafters and designers from all over Scotland.


GLASGOW

Lighthouse | Granny Would Be Proud | Little Birds | Traditional 

Christmas Markets at the Lighthouse
8th, 15th & 22nd December, 10.30am - 5pm
An art and craft market with 30 artists, designers and makers, including my very talented pals Debbie (designer of beautiful prints) & Claire (tie dye extraordinaire). Visit their stall & say hi!

Granny Would Be Proud
9th, 16th & 23rd December, 12 - 7pm
A small but perfectly formed vintage, design arts and crafts fair, held in the super cool Hillhead Bookclub. They guarantee smiley sellers & affordable gifts & have the best name!

Little Birds Market
9th December, 12 - 5pm
Exhibitors selling everything from homewares, upcycled furniture, jewellery & millnery to baking, vintage clothes, accessories and artwork. Phew! Little Birds markets are based in the Grand Ballroom of Sloans, with 'Mrs Sloans Cake Salon' running all day (amazing).

Traditional Christmas Market
All month, 10am - 8pm (ish)
You need to go to at least one traditional market each year, and Glasgow's sits in St Enoch Square. Eat bratwurst, drink mulled wine, be merry. Hooray!

Lovecrumbs, Edinburgh

Recently I met my friend Lianne for the best kind of lunch - all cake, and nothing sensible. We went to lovecrumbs, an amazing wee cakey cafe just up from Edinburgh's Grassmarket.

The cafe is lovely! It's full of quirky, mis-matched furniture, and feels like you've just stumbled into some brilliant guerrilla cake party. There's an old piano in the corner and little window nooks for curling up and watching the world go by - basically the perfect place to be if you find yourself with a free afternoon & a good book.

The cakes are displayed on old pallets and in a huge wardrobe (which is amazing - surely cake is the next best thing to find in a wardrobe... after Narnia, obv!).

It was hard picking what to go for (check out the gooey chocolate tart in the first photo), but in the end I went for a ridiculously massive slice of chocolate, banana and peanut butter cake and coffee. GOOD LORD. Lianne had an equally huge lemon cake and tea (that came in a thermos, aw).

The cakes were gooooood. Mine was really moist & the combination of chocolate, peanut butter & banana was amazing. Just writing this post is making me hungry, I need to get back!

If you find yourself in Edinburgh, check them out. Lovecrumbs is at 155 West Port (roughly between the Grassmarket & Lothian Road).

Dream handbag wishlist

I thought I'd do something a little big different today, in honour of a little fashion show that's taking place in my hometown today (Chanel in Linlithgow - who would believe it?!).

I'm very much a highstreet girl when it comes to clothes. I am trying to move more into the mindset of quality over quantity, but I find it hard to resist pretty dresses... especially when they are under twenty pounds! But accessories are different. It doesn't matter if you change size or shape - shoes, handbags and sunglasses will always fit.

Generally I try and only blog about things that are affordable (maybe a little splurgey, but nothing too mental),  but as it's "Linlithgow Chanel" day (omg), here's my pick of ridiculously beautiful handbags that are on my wishlist.

Top row

Marc by Marc Jacobs 
A super chic leather cross-body bag. Such a grown up bag, it's lovely. & it's £470.

Mulberry Bayswater 
The dream! Such a classic, wonderful, I-will-keep-you-forever bag. It's (gulp) £795.

Lulu Guinness Envelope Clutch 
I am rubbish with clutches (I always drop them!) but I'd make an effort for this one! Love the lips clasp. It's £275.

Bottom row

Orla Kiely
The foxes! Orla Kiely is a master of beautiful prints, and this is no exception. It's £255.

Vintage Chanel
OF COURSE I had to include Chanel. This one really is a dream, £1,600.

Modula Pippa
A bright bag is a lovely way to add colour to an outfit. This one earns a million bonus points for having LOADS of compartments and pockets. & it's the cheapest on the list at £220.

Disclaimer: This post is written on behalf of Dilemma. All dreamy bags chosen by me.

Nanowrimo winner!

During November I took part in National Novel Writing Month (see my previous posts here). The challenge was to write 50,000 words in one month - giving you (roughly) a first draft of a novel to work on. 

& I did it! (PHEW).

Yay! 

This year I cheated a little bit by using nanowrimo to continue a novel I had already started (I wrote 10,000 words in the summer), which means I now have a first draft of 60,000 words. I'm writing a young adult book, so the word count is sort of about right, but I'm not going to worry about that too much until I'm through a couple more drafts!

Now my next challenge is to KEEP GOING. One of the main reasons I like nanowrimo is that I really like working to targets and deadlines & they provide all sorts of fun word count widgets & graphs. I hated being behind, so I really pushed myself to write - even on days where I was tired, or lazy or just not in the mood. Now that I'm working off my own steam it's a bit harder - it's easier to go "ah, I'll just do it at the weekend", and fall back into lazy habits!

So I think I am going to get a diary or something and tick off each day that I write, giving myself mini deadlines along the way. I am determined to keep writing - even if it's rubbish, I really enjoy it!

November instagram

I'm knackered. What a month! I've been writing furiously for National Novel Writing Month (you can see my final word count in the box on the right of this post!), baked a three-tier wedding cake, blogged almost every second day & still managed to get out of the house a few times. PHEW.

Good thing December will be so chilled.. (er....!).

Instagram username: @eversojuliet

1. Craig & I were invited to a special event at Ikea for being one of their "most loyal" family members. I dread  to think what that actually means (in our defense, we had to furnish a house from scratch & they are good for a bargain!). It was really fun though - we got goody bags filled with really useful Christmas stuff (sellotape, notebooks, discount voucher & chocolate) and went to a couple of Christmassy workshops.

2. Edinburgh's Hogmanay launched this year's programme, which is all themed around luck. This year I am determined to go to the torchlight procession, it looks amazing!

3. Riley only really gets outside at the weekends now, as we keep him in when it's dark, so most weekends I get woken up like this. Look at that grumpy face!

4. I made scones, my favourite food ever. Recipe coming very soon...

5. We stayed up til about 3am watching the US election coverage. I went to bed very nervous & then was so relieved to wake up and hear the news! Well done American pals.

6. My view commuting to work (coming home is pitch black). I love living on the edge of town SO much. I can't wait until the fields are all snowy and lovely.

7. Ingredients for a wedding cake. I used my go to vanilla sponge recipe & Claire recommend her favourite chocolate cake recipe (which, bloody hell, is AMAZING). My lovely pals Jude & Charlotte were getting married & it was the most wonderful day. I wish I could go to a wedding every weekend! I love love.

8. Muzz, Biddy & I at the wedding. I pined some net to my hair & was obsessed with it - wish I could wear it every day! You can see a more detailed/posey photo here.

9.  The nice folks at Motel sent me my first Christmas card! You can get 20% off all year round with the code eversojuliet - keep it in mind if you are on the hunt for a party dress.

10. Rae and I obsessed with moustaches at Tachebooth!

11. At The Stand for Red Raw, the beginner's comedy showcase that runs every Monday. It only costs £2 to get in & it's a mixture of brand new comedians & more experienced ones trying out new material.

12. & finally Riley... snoozing away. I'm a bit jealous of how he spends his days!