Better late than never

My eyes lit up this morning when the postman delivered a parcel I have been waiting for, a little something I could have actually done with many years ago when I first started out on my vintage loving lifestyle. 

Inside was this gem of a book:

Vintage Hairstyling by Lauren Rennells

 I had heard great things about this book on the vintage grapevine and decided to take the plunge and order it. It is not one of the cheapest book purchases but oh my it is worth every penny.

When I first started my love affair with the 1940s and 1950s I found the most daunting task was getting the perfect hairstyle to fit the era.  Clothing and make-up came relatively easy but trying to get those darn victory rolls...lets just say the air was blue and the hair brush thrown on many an occasion.   I developed a love/hate relationship with my heated rollers but I refused to be beaten and I soon managed to knock up a couple of victory rolls in less time than it took to get the rollers in!   If only wish someone had written this book back then, it would have saved many a hair tantrum

Promising start to finish instructions for hairstyles from the 1930's to the 1960's with detailed photos , a breakdown of techniques used in the past and a modern equivalent to get the same style PLUS tips on hair accessories, make-up and nails - this book really does not disappoint.   Along with victory rolls there is pin curls, the happy Pompadour (as per front cover) and one of my favourites:

The Snood Style - just beautiful :o)

Along with step by step instructions there is also the tricks of the trade.  If you have also looked into victory roll styling then you would have heard of ' hair rats' or 'rat fillers'. These are used to make the rolling process a bit easier for hair that is not long enough/ thick enough to give a full roll. Nowadays you can buy foam rats or mesh rats but back in the day ladies used to save their own hair they brushed out for just this method.  I am now hankering after owning a rat filler pot for my dressing table:

  Can you imagine the look of disgust from my husband when he happens to come across a pot of my old hair on the dressing table! *wink*

 But in all seriousness if you are wanting a book on vintage hairstyling then I have to say that this is the book.

And remember its all about the preperation:


Trying to be sassy with my curlers in...



... laughing and hoping no one knocks at the door ;o)

And as vintage hairstyles are one of my favourite things I'm linking up to favourite thing-on friday over at Mimi and Tilly :o)

Hope you all have a fabulous bank holiday weekend!

Scarlett x

Who lives in a house like this...

I went to visit my aunt last week and took my little man.  My aunt always has some treat for him when we visit.  This occasion the treat was extra special and secretly was more of a treat for me!

It turned out that her elderly neighbour had given her some toys from the loft as all their grandchildren were grown up and she wanted to give these bits to someone who could use them.  All the toys were girly so my aunt gave them to my niece but my aunt thought Finley would like this one:

Oh yes only a 1969 Fisher price 'Play Family House'!  Now being born in 1980 but having very thrifty parents I had a secondhand one of these when I was little and I loved it! 

So lets go through the keyhole...

Working door bell as standard and large windows to let in plenty of light.

Vintage interior design.

 The master bedroom having plenty room for a double and single bed, vintage fluff on the double bed a nice added touch.

 Fantastic original features in the lounge include the open fire place. No child safe fireguards for baby in 1969 family place house.

And plenty room out the back for a landscape garden or even an extension.

Isn't it a beaut!  The previous occupiers have decided to vacate the property as they are fed up of being chewed by my son ;o) 

So hands up who else had one of these?

Scarlett x

I laugh in the face of rain...

Stormy skies yesterday morning but I wasn't going to be deterred from my Sunday boot sale. I was actually surprised with the turn out - the stalls were nearly to the top of the field which is normally only seen on bank holiday weekends and during the freak heat waves. 

It was however a case of quantity over quality and I am being a bit choosy recently in my buys as I am trying to declutter to get our house ready to put up for sale. Looking around me at the moment that may be a few years  months yet ;o)

So here is the couple of bits I did bring home:

Floral vintage tin  - 50p

 Vintage musical vanity jar.  The seller tried to tell me this was a keepsake jar so I agreed to humour him but with a removable liner I'm almost certain this little beauty is for powder.

Let me know if I'm wrong. 

But for £1 who cares just as long as its pretty :o)

And now for a couple of bits I really didn't need....more pomanders!! 

Royal wedding pomander for our lizzie and phil ;o)

These reminded me of floral cupcake so they were hard to resist.

But they are so pretty and I have managed to refill and re-use/re home my last lot so these will be given a new lease of life too and at 20p it would have been rude to have left them on the stall.

And last but certainly not least....

A bit of Elvis! This Magazine was £1 and full of some beautiful pictures of the king :o)

Now its that time for:

Witnessed at a Boot Sale:

Supermarket shopping trolley for sale with price tag of £5.

Two ladies laughing and mocking a jewellery box in the shape of a satin bed on a stall. The poor seller looked embarrassed but tried to laugh along with them.

Man: "How much for the tin whistle mate?"

Seller: "£1 for that, never got round to giving it a go"

Man: " Is it quite loud?"

Seller: "Yeah I think so"

Man: "Good I'll buy it for my grand kids to piss my daughter in law off, miserable cow"

An Elderly Chinese couple sat in two chairs behind a stall. In broken English the elderly man asked "how much" to which the seller replied  "Sorry they are not for sale, they are what we bought to sit on", this went way over the elderly mans head and they both remained sitting in the chairs (maybe in silent protest...).

Hope you all are having a fabulous Monday. Roll on the bank hol weekend!!

Scarlett x

Linking to: magpie-monday and flea-market-finds

Charity Shopping

It's my work free day so it is only right I used it to trawl the charity shops.  I made sure my little boy was suitable fed and watered to avoid tantrums mid clothes rail. The stock looked a little "weathered" and the calls from the back room to "make sure you are chucking a lot out" obviously means they had finally realised that no one wants that 4 year old bottle of bubble bath or indeed the ugly figurine of a tramp sitting on a park bench.

Dispite routing through a lot of crap oddments I did come home with a couple of bits. So here they are:

 Retro Juice jug and 6 glass

In fabulous condition and at a lovely price of £3 the set.

Vintage tea towels (quite a rare find in my local charity shop)

 Marked up at 50p each.

I couldn't come home without a little bit of china:

 'Sunbuff' Grays Pottery hand painted jug.  From a quick internet search probably dates from the 30s/40s. The price..£1. I also spied the matching sandwich plate on the shelf below:

 The plate was also £1. I love this design so am hoping who ever donated these might donate a few more bits (wishful thinking).

The last buy of the day was for the little man's nursery:

 Three little lighthouses - ideal to fit on those boat shelves I revamped.  I have seen these at my local boot sale week in and week out on the same stall marked up at £4 each - no chance. I picked these up for £1 the three.  Maybe the stallholder gave up and donated them instead :o)

Overheard in a charity shop

Voice from the stock room: "Mary you are going to have to pop to Asda for some more air freshener, you know that guy comes in on a Friday afternoon".

 (I think most of us at sometime have had the misfortune of a nasal encounter of that guy in the charity shop).

Have a fabulous weekend all. I've seen the weather forecast for my area on Sunday and looks to be a washout...better find an indoor car boot sale!  I will also have a catch up on all your lovely blogs, getting into the work/nursery/home life routine is still a bit in the air so still trying to squeeze in some quality laptop time.

Big Love

Scarlett x

Scarlett x

Taking you back to the old school

The boot sale on Sunday was rubbish, not so much vintage as just plain old tat.  Apart from a couple of items of clothing for the little man I only came away with one item.  This one item however has brightened up my life (and book case)

Ladies let me introduce you to....

'Legend of the Cabbage Patch Kids' by Xavier Roberts. What a gem and the icing on the cake is that it is signed on the front by Mr Cabbage patch himself dated 1984 :o).

If you are an 80s child like myself then I'm sure you will have encountered one of these "interesting" looking dolls at some time or another, or like my cousin having been bought one for Christmas and being amazed that there is a signature on its butt cheek!

This book according to the blurb is the "Rags to riches tale of Xavier Roberts and his wonderful fantasy world of the cabbage patch kids". It would therefore be rude of me not to share a little bit of Xavier's empire.

In a nut shell Xavier Roberts was an art student who made cloth dolls (called little people) to sell at craft shows. He offered these not 'for sale' but to be adopted for a fee of $60.  There was a huge interest in these doll so looking to expand on his idea, Xavier decided to use his own birth certificate and make a mock up certificates for the dolls and started buying clothes from yard sales to dress them up.  People loved them, Xavier soon gave up his day job and started hand making these little people on a full time basis.

Business was booming, and having outgrown his office Xavier decided to buy and convert and old medical clinic into Babyland General Hospital:

The facility was presented as a birthing, nursery, and adoption center for premium Cabbage Patch Kids. 

  Now the best bit....how they are born:

The cabbage patch babies were "birthed" every hour during office hours. The Licensed Patch Nurses were employed to assist 'the Magic Crystal Tree' in producing each baby. So if you want to remain cabbage patch doll free then steer clear of the charms of the 'Magic Crystal Tree' ;o)

So Mother Cabbage is seduced by the magic crystal tree and is now in labor, the intercom system alerts the nurse who rushes to be at hand during the labour. The nurse however cant not assist alone, oh no, help is gratefully received by the pink and blue bunnybees that pollinate the babies with crystals, determining if the newborn is a boy or girl. These fabulous little bunnybees can be seen below along with a fresh newborn :

Now sometimes Mother Cabbage needs a bit of extra help during labour.  The nurse monitors mother cabbage on how much the leaves are dilated and injects with "Imagicillin," which is, I quote, an "experimental but highly recommended" drug:

The newborns are then wrapped up and taken to the maternity facility to be cared for by the lovely (and not in the least bit scary) nurses wearing dust masks:

The babies are then put up for adoption. Specially trained adoption agents handle the administration of the "adoption oath"  which is a very serious and sensitive commitment:

And then you have your own little cabbage patch kid to love and nurture - just look at the pride on the face of this nurse seeing little miss cabbage patch taking her first steps:

*wipes sentimental tear from eye*  Who could resist, even Xavier adopted a couple of cabbage patch children:

How beautiful.  So there we have it ladies, the wonderful world of the cabbage patch kid.  I hope this book has touched your heart  as much as it has mine... *clears lump in throat*

Mwahaha!

Happy Monday All

Scarlett x

Treats

I've treated myself this week to:

 A Large old-school style sweet jar...

 Ideal for storing my vintage wooden cotton reels

 Another little friend for my pie funnels...

 ...found in the charity shop for 75p.

A little bit of steam-punk style..

 with this 3 dial framed wall clock which I spotted in the TK Maxx clearance sale

Its missing its hands but this is easily fixed and as it was reduced from £45 to 70p I couldn't resist it :o) New hands have already been ordered so it will soon be back to fulfilling its time telling destiny. (apologies for the photos being sideways!)

I also won a fabulous Giveaway hosted by Kat . I received this beautifully made brooch by Alison Moore:

 I'm thrilled to bits with it so a huge thank you to Kat for hosting such a lovely giveaway and thank you to Alison Moore for making such a gorgeous brooch :o)

A big cyber hug to all my blog friends and followers who are in areas affected by this rioting madness - stay safe.

Also a huge thank you for all the good luck comments on my last post - I'm now back in the world of work, and have survived my first days back :o)

Big Love

Scarlett x

That time again

Wow where did last week go?  I think someone has pressed the fast forward button on my life as its time is just whizzing by recently.

So it came to my favourite morning of the week - the Sunday boot sale. Even with threatened rain the sellers are buyers were out in force, there was handbags at dawn over some choice Monsoon and Per Una clothing and there was plenty of bitching to be heard about those dreadful people who who have the cheek to haggle *hangs head in shame*

So less chat more pictures, here are my finds today:

Stratton compact, its been too long since I've found an addition to the collection - £1 :o)

 Vintage vanity case...

....still with original tags!  Love it.  It looks orange in the pics but is actually a hot red colour, just up my street and would you believe that the seller only wanted 50p for it! Can I hear an AMEN!

Brand new Benefit make-up bag - 50p

Cath Kidston Royal Wedding tote - brand new with its tags...50p :o))

And I finally found something I've been after for ages:

 Bell jars/dome jars/cloches - call them what you want but I've been hankering after a couple of these bad boys for ages. My wait paid off and I found myself 2 vintage beauties! I now need to find myself some Victorian curiosities to display in them, but until then Bambi will have to do:

I had been eyeing up a bell jar in Laura Ashley but didn't want to pay the big bucks, so I  couldn't believe my luck at getting these for £2 each :o)

Hows about a little:

Witnessed at a Boot Sale

First off my pet hate which is the tombola stall where by the owner of  tat attaches a raffle ticket to each crappy item and you have to pay £1 to try and win the tat you didn't even want - not surprising these stall are never very busy. Today however the 'raffle' stall has been replaced by a 'Lucky Dip' stall whereby the crap was wrapped in tissue paper and for 50p some 'lucky ducky' can get something they never knew they wanted!

A woman asking a stallholder how big the rug was she was selling. The seller advised she thought it was over 5ft in length as that was how tall she was. The seller then unrolled the rug and proceeded to lie across it to demonstrate the length....hmmm might have been easier to just hold it up maybe?

Buyer: "How much for the frame love?"

Seller: "I'm looking for £10 for it"

Buyer: "A tenner!?! Its from Ikea though"

Seller "yeah I know but its brand new"

Buyer: "I could buy it there and have a gut full of meatballs for less than that!"

The frame unsurprisingly remained unsold.


Scarlett x

P.s I start back at work on Tuesday, eek! I'm nervous as hell! So my commenting might be a bit behind this week but i will be catching up on all your blogs. Also a huge hello to my newer followers :o)

Linking to flea-market-finds