What has happened to Fanantique?!!

I am sure that many of you may be wondering, 'What has happened to Fanantique? Where has it gone?'
Well, unfortunately the answer is a little sad and quite unbelievable. You may or may not know that as of late November last year we had to leave our cute little shop in Bay Street due to storm damage.
We had a significant amount of water come in from the roof and damage our shop and stock. What you also might not know is that the water damage had happened on several occasions- soaking into the floor and ceiling and making the building quite unsafe. There is also a whole lot more to the story that I would love to share, but I am currently dealing with insurance and have enlisted the help of a lawyer to deal with a most disagreeable landlord. It is probably not appropriate to divulge too much just yet, but look forward to telling the whole ugly story once everything is resolved. (A simple drive past our old location will help paint a picture of what is happening!!)
With most of our stock being ruined right before the Christmas period, the chance of relocating and re-opening another store was simply not viable.  Further to that, you may have read or heard about the frightening time we were having with my fiancé, Gabor, being critically injured and in intensive care after a 17m fall while rock climbing. As you can imagine, this was another factor that made re-opening just not possible.
Until things are resolved we will not know for sure what is to become of 'Fanantique'.
But, the good news is:
Firstly Gabor is doing extremely well and continues to surprise everyone with his recovery.

Secondly, Fanantique will continue to operate.

For now, Fanantique will continue to operate as an online store and we will be expanding it and reworking it continually. I am also in the process of setting up an Etsy shop and from time to time will list larger items on Ebay. I am also taking part in some Markets here and there.  (I will update via our mailing list- sign up at www.fanantique.com.au)
Once we get insurance claims settled, we are planning on having a "garage sale" style of sale.

As for me, I have started to focus more on my illustration work in the meantime and look forward to sharing more of that here on the blog. I hope you don't mind but you will see this blog undergo some changes in the coming months. Initially, I began this blog to compliment the store and share some ideas but after the events of the last few months, I have decided that this will be a place for me to share a little more and  things will be a bit more personal. It will still embrace the Fanantique feel, because that is very much a part of me- but it will probably become a little more random but a lot more interesting.
If you have been reading the blog for a while you might remember that I have a wedding coming up, thankfully that is still happening despite everything! (all be it with a few changes to the plans!) It has been a welcome distraction as I am undertaking quite a lot of the work involved in organizing a wedding, from designing the invitations, the dress and accessories to possibly even having a go at a cake! (All with a little help from Pinterest) I look forward to sharing some wedding 'work in progress' images with you soon!

Anyway, I am looking forward to an exciting year filled with possibility and change, I look forward to us getting to know each other better!

Garden Party

As you may have seen in previous posts, I have recently become engaged. Due to that fact that the wedding is still a fair way off and that it well be held far away in Hungary, my parents decided that it would be nice to have an engagement party. This way they could invite family that would not be able to make it to the wedding. We wanted to keep it very casual so decided to hold it in my parent's backyard. (This was a nerve racking decision considering the weather in Melbourne!). We were very lucky that the day turned out to be lovely!  In line with the informal feel that I wanted to create, I chose a theme of bright, 'happy' colors and polka dots.

I tracked down some cute polka dotted paper lanterns and strung them in the trees and onto our sun umbrellas. (Paper lanterns from pinkfrosting.com)

 

I was thrilled to find this fun croquet set- it not only looked cute but gave our guests some fun!

(surprisingly, I found this set at Rebel sports for under $50!)

 Patsy the dog, sports a pink polka-dot bow for the occasion!

A little cheesy, but my Mum planted this love heart with our initials (E and G) in the lead up to the party.

 

Flowers were arranged in vintage teapots, we then placed the teapots around on various tables.

We decorated inside the house too, in case the weather took an unexpected turn!

I wanted to include something Hungarian as a nod to my fiance's (Gabor) heritage. I bought bottles of this delicious Hungarian liqueur. The yummy flavours include, sour cherry, walnut and pear and honey.

Valentine's Day Boutique

As you know, Valentine's Day is coming up soon, so I have given the shop a bit of a romantic theme.
Here are a few current snaps of the store .... Oh and Happy Champagne Friday!
(today I am drinking a simple glass of Champagne, but I will have some recipes for Valentine's Day themed cocktails coming soon!)

Weddings, Parties, Anything

As you may have known, I recently became engaged and since then have just been loving looking at and discovering some amazing wedding blogs, magazines and other sources of inspiration. Admittedly, I had always looked at this sort of thing anyway, not because I am a tragic 'Muriel' type longing to get married, but because there are so many great ideas for decorating and design, not just suitable for a wedding but wonderful for any occasion or even for no occasion all.
Firstly, I must say that there are also many awful wedding mags and sites out there too .... I even came across a site that was selling replica dresses modeled off the one worn in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (seriously)

As my partner and I are opting for a small, simple wedding in a small village in Hungary (yes really),
I will not be able to use very many of my grand ideas , (which is fine I just enjoy the creative process).
Another 'problem' of the small wedding abroad is that not many family friends and relatives will be able to attend. Instead of the big wedding, we have decided to have an engagement party so that the family and friends that can not travel to the wedding can celebrate with us. To keep it casual we are planning a garden party (held in my parent's garden).
The event is coming up soon, and hopefully I will get some nice photos to post. In the meantime, here are some lovely images that inspired the theme of our event and a mention of some great sites, worth a look not just for Wedding stuff...but all sorts of inspiration for any kind of party and everyday life too.

These beautiful images below are from thesweetestoccasion.com. I love the combination of soft pastel colored flowers and vintage bottles. I like the idea of the look being simple with a random feel to it.
(I don't usually like anything to neat or ordered when it comes to flowers)

Pictured below: paper lanterns suspended in trees. I love this idea for an elegant alternative to balloons.
Lanterns are more 'grown up' than balloons and suspended from trees create a fun, whimsical mood. I found these polka dot paper lanterns at pinkfrosting.com.au. I ordered some of these in various colors and used them as a starting point for the theme that will tie the event together. I created invitations to match and there will also be other decorations to compliment along with some color coordinated food!

If you are planning an event, you can't go past Martha Stewart. The magazines are usually brilliant. (I highly recommend the 'Martha Stewart Living' Halloween and Christmas editions ) but most of what  appears in the mags end up on her website anyway, marthastewart.com. Her creative team are amazing
and there are some fantastic ideas on this site. Of course she has a "Martha Stewart Weddings" section too. These invitations shown below are from the site and caught my eye because they match my theme.

This amazing piece below is a gorgeous 'save the date' card that I found on a cute blog called 'Little Winter Bride' there are some gorgeous ideas here. The author has a penchant for vintage style and again many of the ideas shown here do not necessarily have to be employed for a wedding.

Not that I am ready to start thinking about the dress and all that yet, but how gorgeous is this 1950's style wedding shown below??!!!! The bride and all the bridesmaids are wearing original vintage dresses (modified a little to fit). These gorgeous pictures are from a lovely site , called Polka Dot bride. (www.polkadotbride.com)
It is lovely because the weddings featured all have a unique twist, but still hold onto some tradition (ie they still look like weddings)

The image below is from a site that I admit I am now addicted to. "Offbeatbride.com' has some incredible photos of real weddings on it (no white pouffy dresses here!). As the name suggests this is a site for alternative weddings, there are many that are really out there, but there are some that are classic with a unique twist. There are heaps of great ideas here, from decorating to graphic design and food, so many of these ideas would be great for all sorts of occasions.

 

Below is a rough illustration that I did while working on the invitation for our party. I featured the croquet mallet as we are planning on having yard games for our guests. We just need to keep our fingers crossed for some nice weather! Below that is the design that I ended up going with. I ended up going with a simple watercolor printed onto one side of a postcard with the event details on the reverse. Sent in a sunshine yellow envelope, it created a light happy feel.

Halloween at Fanantique!

 

It's almost the time of year again to celebrate Halloween! (how cute is the vintage Halloween image?!)

I think that it's a little disappointing that here in Melbourne we don't really make a big fuss over it. It always falls too close to Melbourne Cup that we are all a bit distracted . Also, Halloween in Spring doesn't quite have the same ambiance as Halloween in Autumn or 'Fall' with the misty nights and colored leaves and of course pumpkins in season! However, I have noticed that as each year goes by , Halloween does become a little bigger here. Last year at least four houses in my street put up some kind of decoration and we even had 'trick or treaters'!

I have always had a love of all things gothic (especially Transylvanians, but that's a story for another day) so naturally I adore Halloween. I love that a few doors down from the store we have a Party Shop. I love to pop in to check out their latest props. They have some great things that I couldn't resist.

I even found a gory severed ear that came along to a bohemian themed party with me, as Van Gogh's ear of course. (it was a hit) This year I have found some great pieces to compliment the vintage style Halloween decorations that we have in store.

 

I love these foam bones and skulls that I found, for something spooky yet tasteful, they look great in  interestingly shaped glass vessels.

Some of the vintage style ornaments we have here in store: A 'Spooky cat' treats bucket and jack-o-lantern sequined box.

Another thing that I always look forward to at this time of year is Martha Stewart's Fall issue of her 'Living' magazine.(I adore Martha) Each year the Halloween edition of the magazine is fabulous. Admittedly , her website very generously gives you a heap of great images and ideas...(if you haven't seen it you must click here click on' holidays'-'Halloween') but it's always nice to have these images, ideas, recipes etc in print.

Here are a few images from Martha Stewart's Halloween to give you some idea why I love it so much.... enjoy xx