New Etsy shop update - lots of faded antique French treasures and vintage dolls.

I've been working hard today to update my Etsy shop with some lovely old finds all from my own collection.  There are a lot of antique French finds but also some of my 1960s dolls that I started collecting about 10 years ago. Unfortunately I don't have anywhere to display them so have decided to sell them on for someone else to enjoy.  I will post a link to all the items so if you see anything that takes your fancy then just click the link and it will take you straight to that item.

Fabulous 1960s Twiggy Big Eyed Pose doll.  These dolls were made in Japan in the 1960s to display the fashion of the time.  They are wonderful, quirky dolls and I always dreamed of opening a shop one day and using them in my window display.  These are rare dolls especially in this condition and style.

1960s Twiggy Big Eyed Pose Fashion Doll

1960s Twiggy Big Eyed Fashion Pose doll 'Jill'

1960s Twiggy Big Eyed Fashion Pose Doll

1960s Twiggy Big Eyed Fashion Pose Doll

Now for my French fancies!

Gorgeous Antique French Sedan Chair Display Vitrine. Perfect for your Mignonette doll displays.

Antique French Jewellery Box with original key.

Antique vintage cloth mannequin hat wig stand.  Great patina and display.

Lovely old French Globe de Mariee Wedding display cushion

Antique Portrait

Antique French Mirrored Art Deco Powder box

Vintage Child's Ballet Frothy Tutu

And finally.........

Vintage cloth hat wig stand mannequin for Milliner

So there you have it, a few more treasures for you to peruse.  I'm hoping to add more next week as I am downsizing my collections (reluctantly I might add!) as we have recently decorated and there isn't room for them all to be displayed in the manner they deserve.

Hope you see something you like, FadedVintageRose :)

It's only taken us 10 years to finish decorating!

Over the past year we have slowly been decorating our flat, making the most of our limited space and finding room for all my treasures.  I have been collecting for years in the vain hope that one day I'll own a country pile. This hasn't happened yet (I still live in hope that it will) so rather than waiting and storing we thought we should actually put my collections on display.

First thing I had to do was find the wallpaper. This took about 5 years to find exactly what I wanted! I wanted something that wasn't too modern or dominating and something that looked as though it had been there for years. I came across this wallpaper on eBay and it cost $15 per roll. When I bought it the exchange rate was really high so it was a real bargain even with shipping from the states.  We finally got to hang all my pictures and I love this wall so much. Nothing has been measured or organised so it's completely higgedly piggedly, just the way I like it.

My collection of fabric boxes finally have a place to go.

And a shelf I've had for 10 years finally got put up so I could display some favourite treasures.

The missing piece to the bedroom was some extra storage. I finally found THE cupboard and it fits perfectly. It's also like a tardis so we can fit loads in it although I've been allocated only a certain amount of shelves and I CANNOT start spilling over to the others!

It has taken us ages to get it right but I'm so glad we took our time as it is exactly as I envisaged it. I love spending time in there just looking at everything as it feels like there's always something new to see and every piece has been lovingly searched for over the years. I feel a real sense of achievement when I walk in there :)

Vintage French Clown Skittles

I've just added these gorgeous vintage French wooden skittles to my Etsy shop. They are so bright and cheerful and not scary like most clowns!!

They are in played with condition but still make a great display piece and they've obviously been well loved.

They even come in their original box which is unusual. 

A great set of skittles  for the vintage toy collector.

FadedVintageRose 

I have officially opened my new Etsy shop!

Two years ago I set up an Etsy shop. Two years later I've finally stocked my shop! Unfortunately Faded Rose Vintage had already been taken so on Etsy I am known as FadedVintageRose. I have listed some of my Roldan and Klumpe dolls

and will be adding lots of French faded treasures over the next few weeks so be sure to check back often.

FadedVintageRose

The story of a Jiffy bag addiction.

I have a strange addiction to collecting jiffy bags and cardboard boxes.  Every time I get something in the post I keep the packaging.........just in case.  The fact I don't send anything in the post so don't actually need 100 used jiffy bags or 50 large cardboard boxes doesn't come into it. I also like to collect tissues and ALWAYS have one about my person.  I don't like the tissues you get in handy pocket sized packets as they're too smooth so I always seem to have varying sizes of loose tissues in my bag, in my pockets, up my sleeve, shoved under my bra strap.  It's a habit Mark hates but I just can't stop!  Anyway to help with the jiffy and box addiction I decided to go cold turkey and throw away ALL the bags and boxes in one go. Mark had to lend a hand otherwise I would have kept my favourite ones and been back to square one.  Whilst sorting the bags out I came across an envelope which contained 5 old French prints that I bought ages ago and completely forgot about so not only do I have more room and no longer have to climb a mountain of jiffy bags to get into bed but I found some forgotten prints that I love and am looking forward to framing and hanging. A win win situation although the tissue situation is still very much the same :)

The Vintage Bazaar, this Saturday, 8th March!

The Vintage Bazaar is this Saturday 8th March at Devizes Corn Exchange.  Doors open at 9.30am and it promises to be a cracker full to the brim of beautiful, eclectic vintage, collectibles, antiques, fabrics.  Just about everything you could wish for in a vintage fair.

 As you may have realised I like this fair, I like it a lot!  This will be my third time standing here and I can't wait.  The atmosphere with the other stallholders is just so friendly and once the public come in, it takes it to another level which is fun and exhilarating.  I love chatting to people about my wares and I find Devizes is just the place to do that. people are genuinely interested in the history of the pieces and that makes selling even more of a pleasure.  I am taking slightly different stock with me this time as I have gone back to my roots and managed to find some beautiful french, faded pieces that will hopefully go down well.

What every girl needs, a pretty fan box to store her fan when she's not using it to communicate with her intended!  Over the centuries women have communicated in a 'secret' sign language using their fans to allow a potential suitor to know if they are taken or available for some flirtations. There are a whole lot of different moves that would be used but the one I would find most useful as its a word that I use quite often at home is letting the fan rest on the left cheek. This means that the answer is NO!

An amazing French writing bureau to store your love letters.  I've never seen anything like this, so unusual and a real collectors piece.

Still on the faded fabric theme, beautiful antique fabric drawers to store your handkerchiefs, gloves, lace and veils.

More fabric drawers, a letter rack, old boxes

This will be hard to part with. An old sedan chair to display jewellery or an old doll.  Rare and unusual.

Finally showstopping pieces in the form of Globe de Mariee.  These were cushions used by a french couple to display their wedding bouquet, tiara etc.  The couple would commission the piece and all the different elements such as the bird or mirrors, flowers were symbols that meant something to them.  Very interesting and a real talking point.  I would love to have seen inside the houses of the people who would have had one of these!

This is just a small array of the items I will be taking with me on Saturday.  If you would like to see who else will be having a stall then just click here.

If you can make it then please do come and say hello :)

Cinderella called, she wants her slipper back!

Just before Christmas I went for a little mooch round a local antiques shop.  I didn't find very much until my eyes were drawn to a dusty old windowsill out the back of the shop and there it was, Cinderella's shoe!

Sitting all alone on that windowsill was the most beautiful and delicate silk shoe.  Apparently the owners of the shop own a rag yard in France and this was found in a cupboard.  I'm not sure how old it is.  They thought it was 18th century but I don't know enough to confirm this.  All I know is that I would barely be able to fit a toe in it!

It is quite long and very slender and looks to me as though a very well to do lady would have worn it.  It's in a very fragile state now but the fact it's survived is wonderful.

Finds like this are terribly romantic for me as it let's your imagination run riot.  Who would have worn it? When would they have worn it? Why is there only one?

Such a lovely find kept safe under a dome now where it waits for the Prince to come and return it to his Cinderella :)

PARIS FLEA MARKET STYLE book review and GIVEAWAY!!

Claudia Strasser is an author, furniture designer, interior designer and lover of all things the Paris Flea Markets have to offer.

She started her career in 1993 when she opened a boutique in New York and today she travels to Paris several times a year taking small groups shopping and sharing resources. I have recently been lucky enough to receive a copy of Claudia's new book, Paris Flea Market Style and in even better news, I am offering a copy to one lucky reader of my blog!

If you haven't heard of Claudia then do check out her beautiful blog and website.  She has such exquisite style and years of experience decorating with flea market finds.  I often refer to it and drool.  It is what I aspire my home to look like and one day I'll get there!

Claudia's first book, The Paris Apartment, Romantic Decor on a Flea Market Budget was published in 1998 and was one of the first books I bought when I start collecting seriously.

 It still remains one of my favourite books today and if I have a quiet moment, I like to sit down and absorb all the wonderful rooms decorated with flea market finds and wonder at Claudia's ability to decorate with such finesse and attention to detail.  One of the things in the book I loved most was this photo of a doll.

It is supposed to be Josephine Baker and I LOVED it!  I wanted one and I was going to stop at nothing until I found it.  Well in the end nothing dramatic happened, I just kept looking on eBay until quite by chance I came by one.

 How wonderful not to mention lucky was this find!?  I have never seen one since and I love her pouty lips and fluttery eyelashes, not quite the same but close enough for me!

So back to the present day and Claudia's new book, Paris Flea Market Style.  Its been a long time coming but well worth the wait.  This time Claudia guides us through the mazes of the Paris flea markets and gives hints and tips on how to navigate the markets, what you'll find, how to negotiate prices and also how to get your new items shipped back home.

Claudia has taken all the photos in the book and manages to bring to life the Paris markets with her words and photography and you get a real sense of what they are about.  She finds beauty in the smallest detail and her love and passion of the markets shines through.

Old door hardware

Old mirrors

Old hotel letterbox

Claudia tells you how you could use these old treasures today.  For example the old hotel letterbox could be used as an organiser for an office or kitchen.  This is what I love about this book, it covers so many bases.  Not only is it showing you how to navigate the markets but also gives you ideas on how to re purpose your finds to fit in with modern day living.

Old French love? letters

As Claudia says, the Paris flea markets provide an insight into times gone by and if you love history then the markets offer unique insights into how people lived in a bygone era.  Today its so easy to press delete and erase photos and words but the old letters and photos in the Paris markets allow us a portal into lives gone by.  Who wouldn't like to go back to a time when your beloved sent you a love letter written in the most beautiful script instead of an impersonal text of today.  Claudia brings the romance of the markets alive with her photography, writing and passion for all the things the markets have to offer.

Antique chairs

She takes us on a journey round the markets showing us what we are likely to find including any type of chair you want to imagine...............

Antique pictures

Antique miniatures

.............Old pictures................

Old French linen

.............Old linens, textiles, lace and trims..................

Beautiful old silk lampshades

................Old lights and shades.

There is a separate section for each object making the book easy to dip in and out of.  There are also sections on collectibles, outdoors, architectural elements and hardware.  In fact anything you might find is in this book!

Would I recommend this book?  ABSOLUTELY!  It is well written, informative, personal and the photography is excellent.  As I've already said the passion and love of these markets that Claudia has, shines through making it an enjoyable journey for the reader.  You get sucked into the journey and it leaves you wanting more.  I just want to be absorbed by the markets and all the beautiful objets so if anyone out there feels the urgent need to pay for me to go to Paris to scour the flea markets and also give me an unlimited budget then please do get in touch, I will do my very best to fulfill that need ;)

Now how do you go about WINNING one of these signed beauties?  Well all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post and I will put all the names into a hat and ask my glamorous assistant to pick one at random, its that easy!  There is only one book available and you have to be in it to win it so make sure you leave your comment by 7pm TUESDAY 21st MAY.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!