Collectable Cards

Hey I'm back! Did you miss me?
I honestly must say I don't have a lot to show for my absence! I do not know where the time goes.
I am back at home in Coventry now after a week of travelling and working around Gloucester/Cheltenham and Oxfordshire with my boyfriend.

Anyway I got home on Wednesday and whilst I was searching for some important documents to do with my university loan I came across some cute collectables that belong to my parents!

I'm sure you have all seen the collectable cigarette cards in some form or other, my aunt for example has a lovely collection of wild flowers framed in her dining room.

I found one book of cigarette cards also full of wild flower cards which after some googling I found out they are from around 1937!! The book is actually in the best condition out of all the ones my parents have. I know they must have bought it somewhere because neither of them have ever smoked and they are not that old haha.
anyway, here are some photos


I think these are so pretty! The artists are wonderful, I would like a collection framed if I had my own home :)

The rest of the books and cards are all Brooke Bond so they were colelcted from tea, some of these were definitley my Dads as he has put his name on the books. Not all the cards are collected either, it would be nice if I could find the ones he was missing.
Sadly these are not in such nice condition





cute VW Beetle :)


I love hot air balloons I would love to have a ride in one some day.

This next one is my favourite because it shows different fashions through the ages. It is also a full collection.


the 1920s ones are beautiful



Lastly,


:)
cute aren't they! I'm going to have a little search on ebay see if I can get some more.
byeeee xx

Lobsters

I was looking at the Lulu Guiness website the other day as she has just celebrated 20years of her handbag business. I really want one of her lip clutch bags they are wonderful :P

I noticed whilst browsing that she had made some bags with lobster patterns on them. This instantly reminded me of Dahli's lobster telephone and his collaborations with Elsa Schiaparelli.


(bags by Lulu Guiness)


Dali's Lobster Telephone

One of schiaparelli and Dali's collaborations.

I then read the interview with Lulu on her website http://www.luluguinness.com/lulu_guinness_interview.php

and found that Elsa Schiaparelli was one of Lulu's influences. It all made sense now.

Elsa Shiaparelli (1890 - 1973)

Schiaparelli was at the height of her career during the inter war years, unfortunately her style was not as popular after WW2 which left room for designerslike Dior to take over with new styles Dior's style was very fitted with cinched waists and took full advantage of the end of the war by using more fabrics which had been on shortage previously.(note the longer skirt)


Shiaparelli's work was greatly influenced by the surrealist movement having met Man Ray and Duchamp and then collaborated with Salvador Dali and Alberto Giacometti.
Shiaparelli's outfits were worn by the likes of Mae West, Joan Crawford and Daisy Fellowes (heiress to the Singer sewing machine company). Elsa used crazy prints of banal objects and introduced visible colourful zips to clothing. One of her dresses even had visible rib cage and spine applique.
Marlene Dietrich (German Actress)

I love the tailored suit jackets with the padded shoulders and intricate embroidery.
By 1932 Shiaparelli was employing 400 people including some of the best tailors around which made her wacky designs a reality.
and the detailing of the red jackets sleeve


I really love the shape of the pockets on the front as well.



Another designer working at the same time was Coco Chanel. The boigraphical (is that a word) of her life is coming out soon starring Audrey Tautou as Coco. I would really like to see the film as the trailer looks wonderful! Chanel managed to survive the changes after the war and as you know the brand is still around today.
here is the trailor:



I think they should make a film about Elsa as well.
that is all for now :)
bye x

English Garden Party

So I was browsing the internet today and I've found some pretty wonderful items that would be great for an Alice in Wonderland style tea party.

I will get this confession out the way now.....I do not like tea. My housemates(in fact most people)think I am crazy because of this, but I can't help it I have never EVER like tea. However I do love the scones and crumpets and other delicious cakes that come with a tea party so I will happily just sit with an ice cold lemonade :)

Anyway: first up is this beautiful kitschy tray from Urban Outfitters

I really want this tray! I can imagine a cute madhatter teapot and cups on it :)

Cupcakes are very 'in' at the moment and ive seen so many kitchen bits all with the fairy cake theme you wouldnt believe!
These are the kind of objects I mean:
cookie jar - urban outfitters
- tea towels debenhams.

Ive seen cheaper versions (but just as cute) in Dunhelm Mill and Matalan. So dont worry about the prices of these items!

I was looking through Katy Perry's blog http://katyperryblog.tumblr.com/
and she mentions http://www.fredflare.com I instantly fell in love with all the cute nicnacs and novelty items especially these cups and saucers


You cant have a tea party without checking out the queen of the English country home Cath Kidson.

http://www.cathkidston.co.uk/

there is a rather nice teapot along with tea cosey etc and also table cloths in the lovely prints.
It is a bit pricey but I love all the prints and patterns she uses on products its very kitsch and that appeals to me :)




If you would like some older pieces of crockery then i suggest antiques fairs and shops, they are best.
I also typed 'cake stands' into ebay and got some lovely results so have fun hunting :)

As for cakes hot cross buns and scones are my favourite with butter or jam and clotted cream yum yum!
It may be nice to serve up small sandwiches as well.

Newport to Cardiff. Cardiff to Penarth. and back again!

So Saturday was a busy day!
Basically me and some of my friends off my university course had been planning to visit a few places as soon as our workload had finished and because everything was fairly close we decided to just do it all in one massive day of fun and culture!

The weather was so hot and sunny you would not believe! It was perfect :)

I met Sam and Alexa at the train station in Newport where we hopped on a train to Cardiff. The journey takes about 15 minutes which is great because if you have ever visited Newport you will know it is quite lacking in the shopping and culture department.

When we arrived the first thing on our agenda was the Diane Arbus exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff. Diane Arbus was born in 1923 and commited suicide in 1971 she was an ingenius photographer but sadly a very troubled lady. The types of people Arbus photographed has led to her work being the subject for controversial debate. The main question is did Arbus take advantage of her subjects?
Arbus photographed people with disabilities, circus acts, nudists, transvestites and just generally people she found to be interesting. I do not believe she was anything but sympathetic to her subjects and I think she often had a connection to them. If you have not seen the film Fur starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr then I suggest you do, it isnt accurate, in fact it is a fictional story about Diane Arbus' life, but I think it tried to capture her mindset and feelings, it is also beautifully filmed with some great 1950s costumes and sets.
I think in this film Nicole looks especially beautiful, i think the dark brown hair suits her wonderfully!



Arbus' image 'Identical Twins' sold for $478,400 at auction it is in the top 10 most expensive photographs in the world. It also happens to be one of my favourite photographs by her along with 'Boy with toy hand grenade'.
I will be honest she is not on my list of favourite photographers but her work was so profound for the 1960s and 70s because many of the people she photographed were from the edges of society they would have been considered 'freaks'. You really should go see it (especially if you are studying photography like me!)

the twins are quite creepy they remind me of the Shining!
I was also suprised to see some landscapes in the collection Diane Arbus is never really associated with landscape photography so it was a nice surprise! The exhibition is on until the 31st August so if you get chance you should have a look. There are also some Monets on loan to the museum right now including Water Lilies, it was beautiful.


On the way to Jacobs Antiques (also in Cardiff) we stopped off at the Disney store, one of my favourite places haha. I really want a Sleeping Beauty towel.
There were two reasons for going to Jacobs Antiques. The first being the obvious and the second being the 2nd year Documentary Photography course at my University was displaying its work from the last semester. The work was really good but a lot of it seemed more Photographic Art than documentary (Photographic Art is the course i take).
Then to the antiques! There was a lot of memorabilia which excited my friend Sam as he loves sci fi especially Doctor Who (check the tardis outside the shop)
this is me and Sam.
There wasn't a huge amount of vintage clothing which was disappointing but they did have an amazing collection of cameras which we stood looking at and swooning over for ages.
there was large format, medium format, twin lens, mini spy cameras, all shapes sizes and colours!


There was a lot of taxidermy on all different stalls, I am fascinated by it, I wouldnt necessarily have any in my house but I think they are kinda cool all the same. (sorry vegetarians and animal rights activists)

This is me and an angry fox, this was made in like 1926 apparently. Foxes are my favourite animals but I forget they can be really vicious and rightly so! If I was being hunted and stuffed to be mounted on a wall I too would be a little angry.

Any idea what this animal was?

Another photograph of the antiques. I like the bowler hat. and there were some nice tea sets too :)


Jacobs antiques is right by Cardiff Central Station so we got on another train to continue our day of culture.

This is Alexa and me on the train.

Penarth was a popular holiday resort during the Victorian times. It has a lovely pier where we got some yummy icecreams and sat in the sun.



We had a quick look in the Ffotogallery because Sarah Pickering's work 'Holding Fire' was there. Sarah Pickering had given a lecture at our university earlier this year so it was nice to see her work in its intended form rather than on a powerpoint slideshow :P
I do like her current work about explosions but it was her black and white images of burnt out buildings which caught my attention. Pickering took these whilst on residency with the fire services.


We stood and looked at the books on sale at the gallery for a bit because i love love LOVE art books :)

Then on to Forever Vinatge!!! This store was mentioned in an article about South Wales vintage scene on http://www.queensofvintage.com/
Its right by the Penarth train station and me and Alexa could have spent all day in there!!
The amount of wonderful hats and bags you would not believe!
Clothing wise I wasn't overly impressed, there didnt seem to be anything I liked much. But they had beaded bags from the 1920s right through, and velvet hats from the 1940s up to the 1980s! There were lots of beautiful brooches ahhhhh it was heaven! Sam got a bit fed up I think because we went round the tiny shop about 10 times picking up new things! hehe
We didnt buy anything despite the cheap prices because we are currently poor students at the end of term with no loans coming in until the end of September. I'm not holding my breath for a new job over summer because of the credit crunch people are being let go from jobs not hired! :(

The sun was still scorching and there wasn't much of a breeze even by the sea so we deciced to make our way back to Newport to finish off the day with the University's Graduate show opening night. We got ourselves some cheap wine - yuck! and had a look at the work we need to be making and improving on next year.
EEP! scary stuff, to think this time next year I will be finished university and having to make my own way in the world! After todays trip I'm definitley thinking a Museum/gallery curator would be a good job for me.

anyway hope you enjoyed the post, I went to bed at 11.30 so nearly a full 12 hour day! I fell fast asleep.
I will definitley be returning to Penarth soon, I will probably drag my boyfriend along.

byeee x

p.s all the photographs taken on the day out were by Alexa Osowski

Old Photographs

I scanned some old images in today, they are lovely.
Obviously I love photography especially vernacular pictures or 'snapshots'. I think everyone has likes looking back on old photographs.

The first picture is of my great great grandmother who was a maid in a stately home of some kind, I need to talk to my mother again because I forgot what she told me about each photograph.



This image is a portrait of my maternal grandmother (who i sadly never met) and her best friend.
I love their hair, I wish she could have taught me or my mum how to do our hair like this.



thats all for now :) x

Disney Night

So last night we had a disney film fest! we started a bit late so we only ended up watching 3 films but it was great!

First up was Pocahontas. I remember seeing it at the cinema in 1995, I loved it then and I still love it now. The way her hair is always moving is fantastic! I also like the comedy brought along by Meeko the racoon and flit the hummingbird.
The scenery is stunning, the detial is amazing, I would probably say it reminded me most of the forest scenes from Sleeping Beauty because of the square styalized trees and the turquoisey hues.
I'm sure everyone who has seen it will tell you their favourite song is 'Colours of the Wind' and I agree, a real good Disney sing-a-long. I also really like 'Just around the riverbend'.
The version I watched had a new song too, added in the bit when John Smith is tied up in the tent and Pocahontas visits him, its sort of a ballad and although its not terrible, I'd prefer it wasnt there. A bit like 'Morning Report' in The Lion King (absolutley no need for that song its rubbish!)


At this point we had a snack break of pizza, doritos and lemonades :)

Then we watched The Rescuers, another wonderful film, but now Ive seen it when I'm older the storyline is really quite sinister! I also noticed how shoddy the animation is in regards to cleaning it up. A lot of the characters change colour during the film and have bits such as the white of their eyes not filled in at all, which kinda bugged me. Also the sketched lines are quite visible on some scenes. I still really enjoyed it though. Miss Bianca is wonderful! A real lady (mouse) and I'd love to wear her little outfits!


Lastly we watched the Incredibles, it really is a funny movie! If I had a super power I would definitley want elasticity! How fun would that be?! Edna Mode is a hilarious character!
I personally prefer 2D animation to CGI, and I'm picky about which 3D films I like but this one is a winner hands down.


We are planning another Disney night soon its great fun on the cheap!

xx