Latest buys ....

I've sorted out the stuff to go home with me and did some very quick shots as I unpacked and repacked them  So here's eleven photos to share with you.

 Border Paper
Still a bit wavy from the postage tube as it only arrived today!  I have a couple of these sheets at home but I convinced myself I needed another.  Now, when I work it out again - I don't. Grrrr!  If you look closely you can see they are five different Art Nouveau (Willam Morris) borders which are repeated three times down the paper.  I love them and they will be great with some coordinating wallpaper which I already have and the plain, pale, greenery/yallery painted walls of the Salon and the kitchen.

 Wallpaper
This is such a sweet print - very dainty and on some sturdy paper.  I got it from Nancy's which is my 'just-around-the-corner' dolls-house shop, except that I bought it from Nancy's stall at the Sarasota Show.  I bought more stuff from her stall than any other - how crackpot is that.  This is probably going to end up in the Wentworth bathroom and not the bedroom in LTP as originally planned, so I hope there's enough.

Linoleum 
I just love this one. It also only arrived today.  Not a great photo, but it is a lovely old-fashioned mossy green and yellowy cream kitchen tile colour but made to look like lino which is exactly what I wanted for my bang up to date 1911 kitchen floor.  Lino was the bee's knees and Ellen would definitely have had it. This is not easy to get but I found this at  The Robin's Nest for those of you in the States or those of you who don't mind paying overseas postage. I wonder how many of you remember lino floors..... I do.

Poor photo - sorry - I just rushed them and I never knew what I'd got until I sat down to do this. I have packed the stuff away now and can't bear the prospect of digging it all out again.  Any way, this is the rug to co-ordinate with the wallpapers.  Not mad keen.  I am just hoping it works better in situ (covered in furniture!) as it cost me eight pounds.

I have a pair of these Bespaq chairs.  I managed to snag them for much less than half price on EBay and I am determined to make them work in the Salon even though they are way off the mark for Art Nouveau.  Hey Ho - we'll see.

 Pretty sure these were mad moment buys from Sarasota.  I was grabbed by the $4 price tag for each one as opposed to a rational decision on whether I wanted them or not.  By the time the hat stand is smothered with hats, parasols etc as a display stand in the shop it might be doable.  As for the bird cage complete with bird.... mmmmmmmmmmm?

 You probably need to click on this to enlarge it so you can see what's what.  The sweet little lamp came from another place who came up trumps for me today - Earth and Tree Miniatures and Dollhouses.  Impeccable service, nice products at a good price and fast delivery.  I had several things from them like the plastic for my windows and a couple of glue spreaders which you won't see here as it is boring work stuff.  The wood won't make any sense but it is a bathroom shelf unit DIY kit I got at Sarasota.  I like it because the wood is so thin (and already finished!).  The teeny real copper coal scuttle - nicely aged was a couple of dollars off EBay.  It is small, but bedroom ones were.  Not used much and had to be lugged upstairs.  Similarly with the terrific Warwick Miniature kettle which I got for $3.01 including postage!  This is normally a ten dollar piece. It does have a lid in its bag.  It will look great when I have dirtied it up a little.  There's a couple of doorknobs - don't know how they made it to the picture show? The fly swatter is nicely modelled too - these are usually very clunky or silly expensive.  As for the bag of bottles- I must have had a mini brainstorm as I paid $7.25 for these at the show.  The reasoning was they are all different shapes and sizes (like real life) and I can fill and label as I like.  So maybe OK then?

Another EBay find for a couple of bucks.  I've been looking for a nice mannequin and so far the best price has been $8.50 plus postage.  I decided to try and get one at the next show I go to to avoid the mailing costs.  Meanwhile this came up for a couple of bucks and I like the shape so I thought with a bit of ingenuity I could cover it with the dress I want to make.  If it doesn't work well enough for the shop I'll just throw fabric over it and put it in the loft with the sewing machine.  Either way it will get a life.  My rotary tool which I ordered today should sand the bow off the belt quite nicely!  More about that when it arrives.... and no, it isn't a Dremmel.

 This is another image where the things shown are ten times better in reality.  The perfume bottles are Swarovski beads and are lovely.  Also, they aren't all wonky as they appear here.  I didn't get the tacky wax off them and they are just plonked down.  They are also a reminder of the exquisite work this man does.  Miniatures Limited  He actually makes furniture but nothing I can afford and I was totally fixated on the Rennie Mackintosh pieces - just beautiful, so I bought these as the next best thing.  I haven't a clue what to do with the little stuffed bag of wrapping paper etc - maybe in Wentworth as Granny's birthday gifts have just been wrapped?  I love the little cherub soap dish (a couple of dollars)  It will be great as a display piece in the shop or a zillion other uses.  I wish I'd bought more.

Oooohh eeerr!  A tad out of focus!  Sorry.  This is the pesky little calender I wanted enough to allow it to screw down my LTP to a definitive date.  You might just be able to see it says October 1911.  It is a good deal tinier than this - hence the poor focus I guess - and the detail is lovely. $2.50 didn't hurt too much.

This is mostly a collection of ribbons and straw and stuff which I got at Sarasota to make hats .  The orange feather fell of an Irish piper's hat at a concert we went to!  The big bag of lavender feathers were plucked from a Florida Flamingo Biro from the dollar shop and the bits of 'marble' and other finishes are colour sample cards from Lowes.  We are nothing if not opportunists us one-twelfthers!





So that's it - a trawl through bits and bobs collected over the past couple of months here.  It is unlikely I will be adding to this.... (a) all spent out and (b) how do I get it home?  We have too much stuff for two cases already.  My husband won't go for the ... but it is all so tiny ..... argument any more.