a paper doll to call my own

paper dolls via The Paper Collector

Since childhood I have had a fascination for paper dolls. When my mum would take me along to the supermarket I would linger in the magazine aisle, poring over the paper doll books- usually featuring Barbie or maybe Jem and the Rockers- and wish that I could take one home to press out all the little outfits, and prop the doll up on her little paper stand. Aren't you jealous of Kathy and Karen and their fantastic little paper dresses? I am so tempted to print these out right now and start snipping!

recent vintage finds

Behold a selection of my semi-recent op-shopping bounty! Op-shopping aint what it used to be, but that just makes the bargains I do find all the sweeter.

what a beautiful day for a picnic

images via ebay, etsy, antique helper and vintage life network

"what a beautiful day for a picnic,
what a picnical day for a lark!
we will frolic all day
in the happiest way,
and we won't get back home until dark!"
(mickey mouse's picnic, 1950)

one of my favourite little golden books as a child was 'mickey mouse's picnic'. since hearing about minnie and mickey's carefully prepared picnic, which from memory involved pink lemonade and a chocolate cake (with a knife taped to the bottom), i have been rather fixated on the preparation of the perfect picnic. but it is only recently that i have become fascinated by vintage picnic cases. my attention was drawn to these kinds of sets a while back when my friend opened a totally unassuming suitcase left given to her by her grandfather, to reveal brightly colour melamine cups, plates, bowls, spoons, salt and pepper shakers and little containers all neatly stacked inside. what a lovely surprise! my fingers are crossed that one day i'll open a case at the op-shop to reveal just such a treasure.

cabinet of curiosities

all images via the new york times except 'musei wormiani historia' depicting ole worm's seventeenth century cabinet of curiosities, via wikipedia

this article in the new york times profiles "the new antiquarians"- young brooklynites whose decorating style involves "exhuming the accouterments of the turn-of-the-19th-century leisure class". this aesthetic seems to incorporate some of the interior trends i've been loving in the work of stylists like sibella court and nicole page for a while, such as museological displays of shells, botanical prints and scientific specimens mixed with antique luggage, and the eclectic ephemera associated with romantic travels to distant locales. this style, which centres on the cluttered display of disparate objects, appeals to my bowerbird mindset- no longer must i hide my junk in the name of minimalism! but the new antiquarians seem to take it a step further, reveling in moody interiors that can be more than a little macabre. i'm not sure i fancy sharing my living room with a taxidermied sheep or wall-mounted cow skull, but i'm very keen to acquire the victorian bell jar (though i'll pass on the taxidermied birds and rodent inside); the collection of hats and the wonderful shadow box, with each nook housing a tiny treasure.