Other days I KNOW that there is something in there waiting for me and I have to go in and rummage around. Yesterday was kind of one of those days but with a difference. I’d been in this store the day before and walked away from a lovely old mirror. Once home, remorse that I had left it behind set in so I decided to go back the next day and see if it was still there. Luckily it was!

Score!

….but seeing as I was already in the shop it wasn’t going to hurt if I just had another little look around would it?

So glad I did!

Because these little vintage beauties were waiting for me. Stacked in a basket full of plastic fantastic Fisher Price toys!

So beautifully kept, in a plastic sleeve with some cardboard to keep them straight and safe.

Mostly they’re un-cut and apart from some yellowing sticky tape marks (none of which are really over the illustrations), a little moth or perhaps silver fish predation around the edges are in wonderful condition!

A couple of sheets down I think I found what I had suspected from the moment I picked them up.

A link to Little Golden Books of days gone by.

So much to love about this little find. It feeds my love of dolls, childhood and children books in one little bundle.

Joy!

That was until yesterday when I found this little barely dressed lady at the op shop. Upon holding her Freya declared that she quite liked this dolly. She was ‘one of the nice ones’ apparently. The problem was that she had no clothes (you can’t have everything for your $2 investment) and it’s getting cold around here. No problem I thought. I’ll just go shopping tomorrow and buy her a frock or two…actually that was a problem. Turns out you can’t just buy clothes for these gals ‘down the street’ at the moment.

So with little time and no pattern but I have to admit a tad more enthusiasm than I thought I would ever muster for one of these dolls I have spent an hour dressing her.

She has a little pillow slip dress (with some questionable, didn’t think to embroider before I cut it out…now it won’t fit into a hoop words on it).

And a little frock coat.

 All in all I think she’s in pretty good condition. The only real flaw I can find on her is this little orange stripe in her rosy cheek.

For the time being though…she’s going to have to be shoeless. I think they will take some thinking about!

…and just like that we have a Lalaloopsy doll in the house. Something tells me she won’t be on her own for too long.

There is tinsel in the shops so it must be time to start thinking about Christmas.

Specifically the annual Christmas card fiasco.

So…time to draw up the image.

That takes around about a day.

It takes another day to paint it.

Then…..it takes two months to figure out how we will get it scanned?

What weight and size card to print it on?

How many do we need?

Can we get envelopes to fit?

What colour should the envelopes be?

How can we get them printed without the whole experience being too costly?

…..and so it goes.

Well…the image is drawn and painted in October so surely they will get to their destinations before Christmas eve….surely.

This tiny little nest was waiting for me when I went out to hang the washing on the line this morning.

It had fallen gently down from the jasmine vine and landed on the greenery below.

Perfect in every way.

There’s even some toy stuffing that we left out for nesting material worked into the weave.

It took me a full hour and twenty minutes to work up the courage to open the plastic covering this copy of Australian Homespun Magazine.

Because those little mice perched up high on top of that great little chair are mine.

And so is their Toadstool house, little bed, table and chairs, wee twin bairn tucked up in their bed and of course their red sports car.

I had imagined that Mr Mouse was having a little mid-life crisis. Hence the red sports car.

However….I don’t think this can be true. He appears to be in the passenger seat so perhaps he’s just let Mrs Mouse take it for a spin around the block.

I love how cosy and snug the babies look with their whiskers catching the breeze.

This edition has Mr and Mrs Mouse in their stylish little rambling cloaks.

Along with the hot rod.

 Over the next two editions the furniture, babies and the toadstool itself will be featured.

Excuse my cruddy photography skills.

If you come to Frazzy Dazzles for the quality of the images you probably stopped popping by a loooong time ago!

Two little mice have to live somewhere right?

Although……

Nobody said that they could only have one residence.

There is another one too…..

This is Trinity Beans.

Trinity because it was the only name we could agree on and Beans because she’s just full of them!

She’s a Leo who enjoys sleeping next to someone warm, eating more bbq chicken than should probably be allowed and chewing toes. For preference the boys.

Her aspiration is to see exactly what the feathery chickens are for…and perhaps get close enough for a little taste. Just to compare to the bbq ones.

 At present she’s in danger of losing the use of her legs through being carried around like a baby too much by the boy.

One day he won’t be able to lift her.

I think they should both make the most of it while they can.

She is our new baby.

She is so very loved.

Because really….what’s not to love?!

Welcome to our little family Trinny.
I think it’s going to be a fun ride.

 Don’t the girls look terribly ordered and splendid?

Formation fowl!

Well, not really. Normally they’re a flighty, rag tag trio who sail around the yard.

Peep in the lead, Mrs Merle Pickle in the middle with little Shadow bringing up the rear.

 It was quite wonderful this morning.

Sitting on the cubby house steps drinking tea with the sun starting to warm the garden while the chickens muttered around my feet gathering up their grain.

 Everybody really should keep chickens.

It’s an utterly rewarding and wholesome thing to do…and it’s got nothing to do with eggs.

It’s about the creatures themselves. The company they offer and the uncomplicated little personalities they bring to the yard and family.

They are just lovely.

 Something that has perplexed me for days.

HOW do you transfer script to felt when you can’t hold the felt up to the light and trace a line…because felt isn’t see through?

I mean I can ‘write’ on felt and get the effect that I want but how do I, in words describe to someone else who I did it when they don’t write like I do?

 Many a image was transferred with tracing paper when I was little.

Maybe it would work with felt?

Or was I just going to end up with a whole lot of paper caught in stitches that would then drive me nuts?

 With one rip I was still skeptical about the method. Sure that I was going to end the experiment with tweezers in hand and a heightened sense of frustration.

 And then….like things never end up for me….the stitches were free and all was good.

Now if only cleaning up the state of mess that my workspace finds itself in at the moment.

Maybe I could cover it with tracing paper….will take a lot of tracing paper though.

I’m not sure if I remember how to turn my sewing machine on.

I seem to have been hand sewing for so long now.

Inadvertently I feel like I may be re-inventing what it is that I ‘do’ and narrowing my scope into one direction.

I know it won’t last for long. It never does but for now I’ll keep hand stitching.

I love this little guy. I hope he gets to kiss his bride!