dearie me

Hey guys. Long time no post... What can i say, I'm a slacker. Good news: Just got a new macbook, which is making posting a lot more pleasurable :) Thought it might be a good time to update this old thang with my new opshop finds...

I was a bit sad today, as I had been watching this baby on ebay and unfortunately it went for a bit too much for me to bid! Great though, don't you think? It's an ashtray, but i was going to use it for brooches or candy... mmm candy.

But some things i found today make up for the loss (as well as some more things i'm watching on ebay! Oh ebay, why must you be so addictive... and pretty... and oh my, my money has all but gone).

Here is part of my ever growing golden book collection, as well as a neat old book i splurged on a while ago (Creatures of the Night) with the most beautiful plates inside. Also there is my Observers Pocket series book of Wild Animals which has darling photos and some wonderfully... interesting? penguins that my mum bought me.

Inside "wild animals".

As you may have realised, i'm kind of obsessed with bambi. So I picked this book up, even though i already had the Friends of the forest golden book version- perhaps to use for craft. But it turns out it's a different cover to my older one, so that was a bonus.

Then I was absolutely elated when I found this set in a Save the Children i hadn't even realised was just around the corner from my house!

Eeek! So adorable... It's made in Japan, and i've been looking for some Japanese deer style merch for a while, especially since I saw the adorable box in this cute cute photo by one of my artistic heros Beci Orpin.

I know cameos like this are everywhere at the moment, and i know that it's highly unlikely to be very old, but it was still only $2, which beats paying $12 on Ebay. Also, check out the cute detail on the deer :)

I found three of these beautiful cherry-blossom and swallow plates about a month ago and had to buy them... i've since been raiding the local chinese grocery stores for bowls and plates with a similar theme. I thought these little dessert bowls were a cute match.

Hahaha. This was $1. I'm pretty sure i've explained that I like kitsch stuff before, because I think that as long as you recognise how ugly it is, it becomes fun. But the things that I buy still have to have character. This screamed character at me from behind the cheap dainty lady statues at my local salvos. It isn't marked, but i'm pretty sure it's an ashtray... if you know anything about it, please let me know!

I've been collecting penguin books, and this is todays hoard. My mum gave me these lovely (hehe) bookends that she made before i was born. That's skill, ma!

Now, these photos are poor quality, but i found these quite large cat prints today and knew they must be mine... everyone I love hates me for it, but I can't help my addiction for all things mass-produced and hideously kitsch! Plus, i thought these really did have character. I immediately thought of Jeff Koons when I saw them, so I was willing to pay $4 for the pair.

Last but not least, my cute donkey tea-towel from Ebay... You might recognise it from an old Frankie mag, where I think there was a similar one in somebody's kitsch tea-towel collection.

Ah Frankie.

Ah Kitsch.

Ah donkeys.

I love it all.

xxjen

collecting...

Pip over at Meet me at Mikes does the loveliest things...
This is part of her Words and Pictures theme...

This is one of my many collections...





This is my faaaavourite (new!) bambi book. It's a big golden book from 1949. So cute!







More posts to come, just need to find the time to post them!
hope everyone had a lovely easter.
xxxxx

Thrifting through the week!

Alright! So i finally got my slack ass around to posting my opshop finds from the last few weeks :)
They excite me... in a sexual way. No but... in a nonsexual yet awesome way. cough. i shall continue. I may or may not be delerious from too much work... never you mind that.

This is a long post, so hold onto your hat(s?).

Let's start with the hot dresses i picked up: please not that although the walls in my house are quite alluring, these dresses look much better on a living person. :D

This one has a surprisingly cool neckline when on... and i bought it from the dearest old lady in the church opshop :)

This dress was a little more expensive but it looks like sex with my giant brown belt and matching raybans (not real, if i could afford raybans i probably wouldn't thrift my own vintagewear!).

This dress is amaaaazingly awesome in the way that the neck material falls annnd it's super flattering aaaand it just looks funky- but unfortunately my wide, ready to bear children hips, make it a bit too snug on me :(

Pretty lil anchor buttons! Seriously, i think i would marry this dress if it was legal. Maybe i should look into that...

This very retro dress looks a lot better when pulled in at the waist :P

I couldn't resist the thick fabric and cute buttons on this one- but it looks a lot bigger than it is so i'll be selling this one on i think...

Sweet but a bit of rockabilly kickass.

Oooooh i found these amazing dr martins that will fit my 4 yr old sister! they are so adorable, i can't wait to give them to her.

More stuff-

My luffly work friend bought be these s&p shakers for valentines day so i was overjoyed when i found the following item- for a dollar! yay.

More homewares- I thrifted these vintage cannisters from the local flea markets:

The sweet horses were a couple of bucks each from a salvos :)

I've had my eye out for a pyrex jug like this for a while so i was pretty happy when i found this one for 50c. I love the retro cannisters and tuppaware too- but the clear winners are the corn cob picks shaped like corn- it's just pure class.

Tehe, i'm pretty obsessed with anything bambi, so this biscuit barrel was a nice surprise. It's not as cute as the one i bought on ebay (below), but it was a lot cheaper!

Does ebay count? :P I bought this willow tin on ebay- along with some cake baking tins- too match the larger one i found at an opshop last year. Joy.

This aristocats game from the 70's made me pretty happy- but it wasn't complete... this may be a good thing though as it encouraged me to use the pieces it did contain to make adorable brooches...

As game pieces...
And below, berlioz as a brooch.

Mass book attack! I got two more cheapo bambi books for my collection, as well as some vintage golden books and nursery rhymes, and a kitsch book on saints.

Terrible last photo, but you get the idea- terrible kitsch art and a retro looking flying swallow.

All in all it was a good few weeks :)

I forgot to take photos of some of the ridiculous vinyls i bought so i'll do another post for those... as well as my mystery item which deserves it's own post, because i'm too tired now to do it justice!

oh and i just remembered, i also bought a vintage game of operation! very cheap, and i know it's from the 70's because the doctor on the front is smoking! Hehehe. Evil doctors.

LOVE and sorry about this extremely delayed, drawn out post!

xxxxxx

nicenesses

I found something nice...

Pretty artwork by Kate Wilson...

Pure happiness :) Look at her nicenessness at her flickr or blog.

I found this image on Weheartit.com but couldn't find a link for it... but I'm still going to post it because it's quite stunning...

Some happy ebay finds this week...

ah, delicously kitsch.

xx

Deer my valentine,

Happy Valentines day! Resist the urge to buy hallmark cards!

I got a lovely Frankie cookbook, Afternoon Tea.

I can't wait to get baking, but this weekend will be all about house cleaning, carselling, carbuying and hopefully some drawing.

Have a great weekend, and if you get a chance, check out Ems amazing new tattoo that I'm ever so jealous of.

xxx

...Deer me.

Hinson & Company

Deer heads make me queesy- I mean, as awesome as a mounted deer head might look in the prefectly decked out vintage room, the fact stands that it would mean the death of one of my favourite animals. And then the stuffing of one of my favourite animals. As much as i love Rowdy from scrubs, it seems a little too morbid.

That's why when i found one of these sweet things, i was more than thrilled.

He now sits above our faux fireplace, occasionally making noises and casting these wicked symetrical shadows.

I love him so much - he's made me look into other forms of deer headressery- and there are some amazing interpretations of the real thing out there, whether that be in interior design, art or fashion.

I found these images particularly inspiring.

TamarMogenforff's beautiful hand sewn deer head, among her other gorgeous creations.

Beautifully papered, resin deer head by Rubyslounge at Etsy.

The use of the mounted deerhead trophy in contemporary art- as seen in Juztapoz.




Similiar to the plywood version that i own, i love the way this plastidermy piece by scienceandsons slots together to become 3d.

This photo of Natasha Khan from Bat for Lashes posing with antlers is very beautiful and inspirational.

Similiarly, I find this quirky design from Benjamin Cho very endearing in terms of the contrast between the models and the deer's head. Also, it reminds me of bjork, and she makes me happy.

Finally, this remarkable piece, Travelling Through the Dark(2006), by Sörine Anderson, which rendered me speechless.

All of these images make me want to research the symbology behind deer heads, in particular antlers, so that i can use the imagery in my own work.

I couldn't leave out this print, by probably my favourite artist, Kiki Smith.