There are lots of little bits and bobs (hence the title) knocking around the house that I keep meaning to blog about about, but somehow have never got round to. The last month has been a busy one, to say the least, and although the next few months look to be equally as hectic, I…
Tag: vintage
Potty Parents
The latest batch of Ebay sales came from my parents. Last year, my dad and sister did their own mini German road trip and came back with a few West German Pots of their own. I bought a couple from them, including a gorgeous Italian dish and an amazing Schaffenacker piece. This week, Aidan was…
Homemaking in the 1950s and Now
Are you nostalgic? As a generation, are we harking back to past eras more than any other generation before us? Or this a natural human action: to yearn for something we can never truly have – or replicate? It certainly seems that there are more and more people of my age who look to their ancestors…
Birthday and Bonanzas
Last Friday it was mine and my dad’s birthday, missing out on sharing the happy day with Queen Elizabeth herself. The weekend before, my family came to visit to celebrate. I’m sure I’ve mentioned last year about me and dad sharing our birthday – we no longer share a cake, but it is lovely to…
Woman’s Own 1950s Easter Covers
It seems slightly surreal to be writing about Easter when the weather resembles the depths of Winter. Easter equals Spring, birds chirping, drip drip drop little April showers… not, hide indoors because it’s a blizzard outside. One of the things I love about my Woman’s Own magazines (amongst many) is how the covers vary from month…
Belated Christmas Present Roundup
It’s safe to say this has been on the busiest Christms and New Year holidays ever – or at least it seems like that! We spent much of our time trekking between various family members, located around the country in Stafford, Barnsley and Sedgfield. Much fun was had by all! The quota and quality of…
Merry Christmas from the 1950s!
There are some beautiful covers and images from the 1950s contained within the pages of my vintage Woman’s Own magazines: There are so many gorgeous images in these Christmas specials that I just can’t show them all. I took nearly a hundred pictures! So, I will choose my favourites to wish you all Merry Christmas…
An Early Christmas
Each year we have a (fairly) strict timetable of who, where and when to visit over the Christmas period. We go to my parents the weekend before Christmas, spend the day itself in Glossop by ourselves, some friends come over on Boxing Day; after that, it’s a slow, day-to-day movement over to Barnsley then up…
Little Owl Ski @ Obsessionistas
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be asked by the lovely people at Obsessionistas if they could feature my collection of vintage women’s magazines on their site. The full interview and gallery can be seen at their website here. Obsessionistas is a beautiful website run by Helen and Graham Powell. They feature…
Christmas Wishlist: Vintage Vogue Magazines
My collection of Woman’s Own magazines is quickly becoming one of my most prized possessions. I adore flicking through them, admiring the adverts, drooling over the fashion and wishing I could draw like Aubrey Rix, Joe de Mers or Coby Whitmore. One of the things I love about them is that they are mainly for…
Vintage Christmas Cards
Sir Henry Cole is credited with instigating the first mass-produced Christmas greetings cards in the 1840s. He commissioned a friend of his, John Calcott Horsley, an artist, to produce a thousand handmade cards for Cole to distribute to his friends. The introduction of the penny post helped to further the practice. (Information taken from birthdays.co.uk) Christmas…
Kitsch Deer Barometer
I imagine when the designers thought this one up their thought processes went a little like this: “Hmmm, everyone wants a dead deer’s head hanging from their wall nowadays. But what about the vegetarians? Perhaps they want to share in this experience too! And what about the people who want a barometer on their wall…
Little Owl Ski 