The V&A Museum of Childhood and the BUST Craftacular

On Sunday I headed to Bethnal Green - all the way over in East London - for another nice day out (I'm trying hard to catch up on days off I've missed earlier this autumn!)

I spent the morning wandering round the V & A Museum of Childhood. I've popped into this museum for a quick look round on my way to other things in the area but never really had a proper look round before. It's a very fun museum.

 

There are galleries about kids toys, with examples from the 1600s right through to the present day (the ones from the era in which I was a kid = a total nostalgia fest), and about the history of childhood.

As you'd expect / hope from a from a childhood-themed museum there are lots of interactive things for kids to get involved with throughout the museum (games to play, clothes to dress up in, etc) - personally, I loved the displays where you put in 20p and make trains go round tracks, or wooden waves start flowing, so much fun (top tip: take some change with you if you visit!).

 

I enjoyed the current War Games exhibition, especially the board games used to smuggle maps to prisoners of war and to spread the message of wartime propaganda to children.

My favourite bit of the museum though has to be the dollshouses. So delightful! There is apparently going to be a dollhouse-focused exhibition (called "Small Stories") at the museum from December next year, I must try and remember to check it out.

I had some yummy lunch in the museum's cafe and then walked round the corner to York Hall to the BUST Christmas Craftacular. The Craftacular is another one of those craft fairs that I've meant to go to for years but have always been too busy to attend, so I was pleased to be able to go check it out - especially as I had the lovely Laura of The Mason Bee to keep me company.

 

There were some lovely things on sale! Here are a few stalls that caught my eye...

Felt cuteness from Pygmy Cloud (aren't those mountain cushions just fab?).

 

Cool bike brooches & necklaces from Daniel Darby Jewellery.

Charming prints and cards and gifts by illustrator Hanna Melin:

 

Yummy ceramics from Me Me Me.

 

Gorgeous wooden birds by Anna Wiscombe. I hardly ever wear necklaces but I am quite tempted by those lovely wooden ones.

 

Much awesomeness, as always, from Ladybird Likes (that necklace with the row of kittens! eep!)

Plus lots of lovely things by Hazel Nicholls. It was very nice to meet Hazel after years of admiring her work :)

Overall though I have to admit that I wasn't bowled over by BUST in the same was I was by Renegade last month. Possibly because there were so many of the same sellers at both events (25 or so, I think?) and fewer stalls at BUST, so there wasn't nearly as much new awesomeness to discover.

It was however very nice to say hello to a couple of sellers whom I didn't get to chat to at Renegade as they were too busy then... and I was very happy to see Scout Editions selling their wares again - I treated myself to their set of awesome bird postcards I'd fallen in love with at Renegade:

I also bought a couple of cards from Hazel Nicholls and one from Hanna Melin.

As I've mentioned before, I am trying hard not to buy too much "stuff" at the moment (since I've been gripped by the decluttering bug) and I'm also trying to send more post to my friends... so I am buying a lot of nice stationery :)

Talking of which, I also treated myself to a pack of V&A Christmas cards from the Museum of Childhood's shop.

So lovely. I really must get the rest of my Christmas cards written and in the post!