The Littles, my first doll in the 1980s!

Hello,

Can you remember your childhood dolls and toys? I do! There are some that stay in my mind more than others. Sindy of course is one. No question there. I had one blond doll for awhile until I managed to get my hands on a second doll. I would tuck her into bed every night in her own little dolls bed which rested next to mine such was my devotion. But my very first dolls were actually the Littles. These were dolls and furniture that would made by Mattel in 1981 for a year or two and were absolutely tiny. The scale is about 1:24 (Barbie is 1:6) so very small stuff. My own dolls have long since disappeared and after a search on google I finally figured out the name of these dolls from my memories.

This is the dad, baby and mother. I took these straight out of a box so they are like new. I wonder how many of the baby dolls ended up in the hoover? A lot I am guessing.

Does this bring back memories for anyone? I had lots of the little furniture too, most of it is cast iron so it was built to last. A year or so ago I bought a small lot of the furniture on ebay (nostalgia got to me) and its now all set up in a Sylvanian dolls house by my children in the room where I do all my crafting. It buys me a lot of quiet time!!

Next weekend I have stalls at two craft fairs so I am still busy making lots of new items. As I am new to all this it is hard to work out how much exactly of everything I need so I am aiming for more than I think I need (I think). I've made lots of shabby chic style bunting this week and am now working on some boys cushions (counteracts the girliness of the bunting).

I've closed my etsy shops for a little holiday while I go to the fairs but I'll have plenty more stock and new items to add when they reopen.
Hope the weather is less confusing where you are (rain,sun,rain,sun)

All the best,
Maria

Painting Old Picture Frames

Hello,

I finally got around to cleaning and painting some old pictures frames I had. These were a mix of charity shop finds and old neglected frames I had.

The first thing to do is take them completely apart, remove the back, the glass etc. I wash the glass in a bowl of washing up liquid (carefully) and leave it to air dry.

The two pictures on the left above have repainted frames and the gold on the right was just cleaned. The pic on the left had a pine colour frame which looked very dated and the green one had a very dark blue colour which was gloomy looking. I use washing up liquid and water ( a little bit!) to clean the frames too. Once dry you can paint to your heart's content. I had decided on colours so I bought two small tester colours from a hardward store. I use my own brushes and not the tester ones, a few coats and job is done.

I love this grey colour, its Homebase Sanctuary range, "shadow" colour in matt. Here's a link to some of the "before" pics.    http://www.mariahomedecorations.com/2012/05/charity-shop-finds-vintage-childrens.html
I cleaned up some destined for photos so it doesn't have to be just children's pictures you can do this for.

Hope the sun stays out, have a great day,
Maria

School Holidays, Kilkenny Castle

Hello,

As you may well know the schools are all closed and the children are on holidays. Of course being in Ireland means it rains far too much and kids get bored indoors very easily. I have tried in earnest to explain that "being bored" is part of school holidays and entertaining oneself is not a bad idea. The concept was totally lost.
Yesterday we went to Kilkenny for the day. I love trips to Kilkenny, friendly people, lots of nice shops (you have to go into the sweet shop in Market Cross inside the arch from Monsoon), coffee shops, and really great architecture.

Kilkenny castle is a very impressive building, we've been to the park around it a few times but never inside until this week. Its actually well worth a visit. A family ticket is Euro14 or Euro6 an adult, children under 6 are free. It was restored in the early 1990s so there is plenty of rooms to see.

There was no dragons but plenty of puddles for splashing in!

I did manage to have a quick look in a couple of charity shops and came across the picture of the boy below.

Happy 4th July to you all!
All the best,
Maria