Having a party with my cousin

Hi!!

Last weekend I was staying with my cousin, who was celebrating her 46th birthday. We are like sisters, being the same age, (OK, OK, you are two weeks younger M.) and sharing the same interests, crafting, collecting almost everything with a slight preference of dolls, tea-sets and dinner-services everything cheap and bought at the flea market, yes we particularly like bargains of any kind!!
As it was her birthday I brought some presents; I made her a personalized banner as well (as I did for my own birthday). Made from cardboard, vintage wallpaper, old magazines and old music paper, it hides all kind of personal information about my cousin.



First of all she has always been a very good dolls mother and now a real life mother of 4, so this flag speaks for itself:



Every little flag had some ribbons attached and at the end of some ribbons some clues about M. That very little doll (8 mm) is actually a button.




My cousin is a cat lover. Only the dutch viewers can see a hidden message; my cousin is a beautician. There are some old advertisements in the background, one is an advertisement for removal of superfluous hair.



Here a picture of the happy M. herself complete with crown (brooch) and wings. The little telephone at the end of the ribbon is referring to those endless phone calls we are making.



The one with 46 speaks for itself, 26 (October 26th) is her birthday. She used to be a girl with 2 of those braids as the silhouette-girl. I don't know any one who is better with needle and threat and the sewing machine as she is. She taught herself at the age of 12-13 (could be earlier as well), so I attached some little scissors, a button and some threat at the the end of the ribbons of this little flag.


The day after her birthday we went into Belgium to a flea-market and we both did some amazing finds;



Some vintage ribbons at bargain prices, an old box filled with crochet needles. The knit-needle on card to knit around, (do you know what I mean?) was actually a gift from Mrs. H. We bumped into her on the flea market, as I told you she is always looking for bargains too.

Some stuff to use...old kitchen towels (found by my aunt and she gave them to me as a belated birthday present). An old jug, some french white and blue breakfast- and dinner plates.


A complete tea service. Here you can only see the teapot, but there's a sugar bowl, a milk jug, 12 saucers and 11 cups all with these little violets and all without any damage. Now all I need are some plates with violets...



This is a true amazing find; vintage paper doilies in all sizes, yes!! Ooooh they will come in handy crafting for the holidays I guess. And again, when you compare these treasures with the paper doilies they make nowadays the difference is huge...I guess that's why I like vintage and antiques. There is nothing like the real thing...



And some books filled with pictures for my paper crafts. The best find is a french illustrated Larousse 'petit' encyclopedia, about 2000 pages with so much information, beautiful illustrations...ah what a find! It's so beautiful.



Lots of old cards and family pictures, enough to reconstruct my past...



In my studio I have all kind of glass jars to keep my buttons and ribbons and little things assorted. This one is new, but as I bought it at the flea market I only had to pay 3 euros, instead of 12 or 19,95 euros in those so called 'gift shops'.
In the jar are some glittery figures on sticks. I guess they can be used on top of a cake. I only have 3's, 1's and 6's, so I have to wait a few years to use a pair of them. In 2009 my son will be 13 and my daughter 16. I have to wait until 2022 till my 61st birthday. I wonder if I still can remember where I have put them, then, mmmm perhaps I don't remember having them at all!



These will make my Christmas dinner, don't you think? It's silver-plated and very baroque, suits me fine!!



I have bought a few of those hairpin cards. These are so awesome. Every girl in the sixties was wearing these kind of pins to keep her braids or pigtails neat. True nostalgia! The artwork on these German cards is fabulous. 12 x 2 pins illustrated with flowers of the 12 months of the year. I'm going to resell these cards at eBay or at 'Marktplaats' the dutch auction site.





Last but not least some soaps. I always like those Avon soaps, these were still in their original package with some nice artwork on the box. Unlike most of my old slippers these still smell very good, but I'm not sure whether to use them or not, they are so nice...
It was such a nice weekend, I'm still enjoying it.
Have a nice weekend too...Love LiLi