Meet The New Resident At The Corner House

Anyone who knows me well will know how much I have wanted one of these little chaps. I have endlessly watched them on ebay and never felt able to justify the high prices. I knew that one day I would find one when I was least expecting it. That's exactly what happened a few days ago. I was dashing past a second hand shop when out of the corner of my eye through the window I spotted him standing on the counter. I ran in heart racing, thinking he was on the counter because someone was paying for him. Unbelievably he was on the counter because he had just been brought in for sale ! I knew it was my lucky day when the owner agreed to let me have him for a very reasonable price.

Josh isn't too sure what to make of him and has given him a good sniff.

My lovely girl is very fond of him too which is a bit of a surprise as I thought she would probably groan when I walked through the door with him.

This little fella also arrived this week and has moved in to the old W.I. cabinet with some friends.

I have a a few days off now this week and Mr C and I found these pretty Lloyd Loom style shelves today. They are a little dusty and I found the old photo of the couple wedged down the back. There is also a matching chair and linen basket, I am planning on re-covering the chair in some vintage fabric. I will have to decide whether to sell the little shelves or find a space somewhere for them. I already have a similar set in a faded sea green, and I love them.

Mr C and my lovely girl had a day out together in London earlier in the week and Mr C returned with some lovely pieces of Liberty fabric for me. I am not sure how they will be used yet but I love the dark pink roses print.

I am off for a couple of days now with my lovely girl on our usual half term jaunt. So far the week has been dominated by AS mock revision and preparations for the Northampton Vintage Fair in March. We have also found a wonderful new venue in the pretty market town of Olney and have booked another two dates for further fairs. It will be nice to have some time to relax before things get really busy for all of us. I am sure I will be back with some photos of our trip to share.

Happy Valentines Day

I thought I would share a few of my favourite vintage American Valentine cards. I recently bought a large quantity of these but picked a few out to keep myself. Most of them date from the 1920s and 30s and many have ingenious moveable parts. I think these are really sweet and I prefer them to some of the earlier more traditional hearts and flowers cards.

This cheeky chap has to be one of my favourites.

Box Full Of Dollies

Yesterday I was lucky enough to find this whole box of assorted dolls for just a couple of pounds. I had spied a few interesting looking dollies amongst the bags of mainly 50s and 60s costume dolls.

The felt faced costume dolls are quite sweet with lovely painted faces.

This has to be the best find in the bottom of the box, an original Norah Wellings sailor doll with label stitched to his foot. His face is a little damaged but generally he is in excellent condition.

These are a cute pair of vintage pipe cleaner dolls.

This little lady I am guessing was perhaps to be used to stitch to a skirt for a nightdress case or similar. I really don't know though so any suggestions would be welcome.

This is a rather elegant moulded head I guess from the 1920s. Inside it is stamped 'Made In France' so I am guessing it was perhaps intended for a French boudoir doll.

My lovely girl took a few arty close ups for me.

Mr C and I also found this old wooden and brass till. Inside there is writing in the lid from various shop staff including a heart dated Valentines Day 1947 and some names. It has the loveliest 'ding' when you pull the drawer open. This is destined for the door at the Northampton Vintage Fair.

Finally as requested following my previous post here is another picture of my newly painted cupboard , full once again of my vintage books.

Vintage Fair Plans

I have had a busy few weeks finalising plans for the Northampton Vintage Fairs. We have decided to go for it and have booked four dates for the year with another yet to be finalised for the Summer. Mr C is doing a lot of the work for me this time and we have set up a new blog northamptonvintagefair.blogspot.com to keep everyone up to date with developments.We are already fully booked for the first one of the year, and it's great to know that all things vintage are as popular as ever.

The Keep Calm And Carry On sign is rather apt at the moment in the corner house but I am sure things will calm down soon. Mr C bought me this metal sign from Sue and Chris who sadly have had to close their little shop Rags and Roses Vintage. It is destined for my kitchen wall once it has been decorated. They are still selling online though and will be selling at our March fair for the first time. We also bought the lovely E .S Byatt picture from them.

This little chap is the latest addition to my dog collection.

Mr C finally got round to painting the dark pine cupboard in the hall that houses all my vintage children's books. It looks loads better with it's white and green distressed paint job.

This old Minton jar was a recent find, I love the images on the sides and lid.

Yesterday was the Northampton Bicycle Basket Bazaar and after a change to my original plans I decided to brave the cold and pop in to catch up with a few fellow bloggers. Sure enough I managed to catch up with Annie (The Felt Fairy) and her lovely daughter Amy from Blighty Boutique and also Linda from Tabbyroo. All of them will be selling at the March Fair so it was good to catch up.

I found the pretty yellow vase on Linda's stall which matches my green and pink ones.

There seems to be a bit of a yellow theme going on this week, I treated myself to this hand made yellow roses bag last weekend and we found the yellow rose butter dish, needle book and cruet set on Linda's and Amy's stalls.

Belated New Year Wishes

I have been rather absent from blogland this last few weeks but I am now back and with a brand new background. I have had a few technical problems with the blog as well as being generally pretty busy. I thought I would share a few pictures of some of my favourite Christmas pressies. I know it was ages ago now but thought you still might like to see.The little hand painted sign and vintage blue plastic cruet set were from my gorgeous girl along with a gorgeous Yankee candle and a couple of Cath Kidston goodies. I was so pleased because she had found things she knew I would love with no assistance from Dad ! Also she has obviously finally decided to embrace and accept my love of vintage.

This lovely handmade lavender bag was one of the wonderful goodies Debbie gave to me.

The lovely old conker brown gladstone bag and oil painting were pressies for Mr C but I love them too.

Christmas was spoiled a little by my lovely dog Josh being injured. On a walk in the snow on Boxing Day he badly cut his paw on a broken glass bottle someone had thoughtlessly left sticking out of the snow. He was actually very lucky as there has been no permanent damage but the sight of all the blood in the white snow and then all over the kitchen floor was very distressing. After seeing the vet he is ok but it has been constant hard work trying to keep him off it as much as possible and changing dressings.

Mr C and I have managed to find a few new items for our stand at Brackley Antiques Cellar. The yellow frosted jug and glasses and the large Molly Brett picture are two of my favourite finds.

Mr C has also renovated the old stool he bought before Christmas. It was covered in hideous furry fabric and had varnished legs.

He covered the seat in a lovely old Sanderson linen I had been keeping for a project. He painted the legs in a chalky Annie Sloan green paint and overpainted in her chalky white before rubbing back to give a distressed look and finishing with wax.

He is now busily giving my hall cupboard the same treatment and I have lined up my kitchen dresser shelves next !

Happy Christmas

Sorry for not blogging for so long but like for everyone else life has been pretty hectic.

We finally found some time to decorate the house and I made my Cath Kidston paper chains. I used the Cath Kidston christmas gift tags too add a little extra.

We found a beautiful but enormous tree ! I decorated it with lots of different coloured vintage glass baubles as well as old family favourites collected over the years.

Mr C hung the beautiful cupboard he bought me in the hall. He painted the inside a lovely chalky white. I am using it to display my collection of Victorian painted and enameled glass.

Next to it we hung my £2 charity shop mirror. This is a lovely old heavy and ornate mirror. It was in a bit of a sorry state but Mr C has done his best to repair it and painted it the same chalky white.

Yet another cupboard ! Mr C found this at Brackley Antiques Cellar and it fits perfectly in our back room. It isn't really a cupboard but a glazed book case. I think we probably don't need any more cupboards as we are running out of space.

Finally a few more finds, the yellow Golden Dawn coffee pot was found at the local tip recycling shop and the Beryl Woods Ware yellow cups and saucers the same day in a junk shop. I was very pleased as yellow utility ware seems to evade me usually.

I guess this will be my last post before Christmas so have a wonderful time. I am off now to find my wellys and brave the snow.