So i have turned to photoshop for a main layout. Haven't in ages. Illustrator is usually much easier.

The brief was 'Vintage, A Stamp of the logo, Stay away from conventional e-commerce sites'

well.. It's unconventional alright

I like it, although my neck tends to bend to the left a little, like your header.. I'd straighten that..

Love the header personally.. I don't love the images in-between the content and header. It doesn't work for me, maybe a tad smaller or done differently just looks out of place. The content's background looks very cheesy compared to the rest of the site... not a huge fan of that. I'd go (if going for a paper look) to a computer paper style, or old dirty parchment over the legal paper you have now.

All in-all that makes a nice template, I'd say use it but with a few tweaks to it.

That is one rockin' design!!!! WAY TO GO! Love how you are thinking and being creative!
I have to make a couple of suggestions that just might make it better!

Pull those polaroid photos up a bit and make some of them go under the paper just a fraction. Keep them tipsy turvy but just move them all up a bit so they are attached the the paper.

I think I'd also "try" putting the Shop Online in gray on the paper below. That would allow you to bring the content paper up higher causing less scrolling. The pink font is a little light. I know why you chose it, but in this case, you might want to use the tan from the header instead. It's a bit darker and will be more legible. Keep the pink for underlines, bullets!

The business name Home and Glory could use a little bit more boldness.. not much.. just a bit so it's not quite as washed out. I really think it's important for that to stand out just a bit more than it is now since it's your branding.

I love where this is going....

I think it's fabulous! I would agree with Linda's suggestions about closing the gaps up a bit, but other than that it's beautiful

Cheers guys. I'm not overly keen on the pictures but my original idea was to put a photostrip such as what you get from a photobooth. But i think this way is much clearer for the customer. I'll definitely try some of your ideas. The idea is that when one of the pictures are clicked the store part will have the same style as the bottom of the page. The pink is fairly light. And that will be brought up.

I think it's important to keep the pink due to the branding. And her logo was requested to be more faded. I think it helps with the whole letter effect. But will see some other effects.

I think it looks great. Agree 100% with everything Linda said.

Everything looks great except the sidebar. It just looks funny to me: maybe it's because everything else on the site is kind of slanted while the sidebar is just dead straight.

Really like your design! Very well done!

The only two complaints I have:
1. the "Shop Online" text.
2. the "paper" with the main page content.
All other elements on the page have a slight drop shadow and look like they are above the background, those two elements are flat...

Just gave me a good idea. Post it notes! Will be able to give the straight sides i need for customers to feel like it's a professional layout for for e-commerce and i can do the Top 10 and New Events better.

I like it, however I do have 2 small quibbles. Add a little more contrast on the pink and grey in the content area.

Change the main nav font to something a little less sharp.

I think it's an excellent design.

I agree that the polaroids look a little funny.
Have you thought about maybe using a film strip? I know that in reality these are negatives but that can obviously that doesn't need to happen here.

You could also fade them a bit and make them light up when you rollover. Like you're holding a light behind them.

I think that would save you a bit of space as well because you'd have less angles against each other pushing them down.

I also agree with Linda and think the Shop Online needs to go on the paper.

The Post It Notes idea is good. Especially if one of them has a coffee stain like the paper up the top.

Good job anyway!