Birmingham Part 2 (and a half)

Anne Hathaway's cottage.
After we visited Shakespeare's Birthplace we went of to see the home of his sweetheart Anne.

 It is such a beautiful building, again sadly no cameras were permitted so I can't show you any pictures of the inside but there is a lovely little story that one of Anne's relatives used to tell visitors to the cottage in the 1800's about one of the seats. She claimed that Anne and William used to sit on the seat next to the fire when they were courting. She used to carve small pieces of the seat off and sell them!

This window was my favourite feature of the house, the roses climbing up the side add such a romantic feel to it.

The Gardens were wonderful too.

They were based upon a 19th century country garden.

Me posing with a rather serious face.

This grosses me out a bit but I finding fascinating, I've never seen a fly this close up before. My camera is great!

A giant thistle, you can't really tell how big it is in the picture but honestly, it was taller then me!

Again, fascinating but a bit gross.

How cool is this? A giant shoe flower basket!

Sweet pea. 

My favourite flower.

Hope you enjoyed!

Till next time folks,

Laura Lou x

Gibson On The Brain

Just a quick little post to tell you about some little beauties that I found yesterday.

So I was scanning youtube for some nice little vintage hair and makeup tutorials when I came across these beauties.
Gibson Girl hair and makeup tutorial! I tried the makeup one out today and it's really very pretty, perhaps not to everyone's tastes though.

This is the makeup tutorial. This woman also as a blog which I will post the link too, it's all about Gibson Girls and their beauty and fashion secrets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTH1AuWx8JU

And here is the hair. I can't wait to try this out, it looks so pretty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X72_1cOARX8

and finally here is a link to the blog 'The Gibson Girl's guide to glamour'.
http://gibsonglamor.blogspot.co.uk/

Well I hope you all get some use out of these.

Laura Lou x

Ps. My new/old 1950s night dress arrived in the post today. I am in the middle of turning it into and outfit at the moment and once that is complete I shall treat you all you some pictures.

My Little Treasures

We took a little break from cleaning today (it's not a short process) so I had a little free time and decided to use it by writing about all the old things I own... not everyone's idea of a good time but I enjoyed it.

It's not the biggest collection in the world but these are my little treasures and I must say, I do quite love them and I hope you do too, enjoy.


This is a collection of Indian Rupees and British coins I found in my Uncle Normans room after he died, as bad as it sounds... I just had to have them!
They all date from  about 1880(I think?) to 1966. And yes that is my red gingham shirt they are displayed on hehe.

This is one of my favourites as I love queen Victoria

 

 

King George v looking very royal indeed

I think this is some sort of compass box? I really have no idea, it is another from Uncle Normans room I think it's from around 1940 but don't quote me on that!

These beauties are two vintage ink wells that my mother bought me for my 21st birthday, one from 1800 (the silver one) and the glass one was made around 1950ish. the pin is another from Uncle Norman but again I have no idea where he got it :)

I have over 20 antique books but I've pulled out a few of my most loved to show you. this is a little book called Ora's Giant the author is Isabella Blackwood and the book is dated around 1918.
If I recall correctly I picked this little beauty up for about £1.50.

I love finding little messages in books like this.

    

This is Shakespeare's A Comedy Of Errors. I found it in an Oxfam book store in Glasgow back in May, it was a bargain at only £3.

I hope these frayed pages mean it was well read, as it should have been.

 This book is called When Life Is Young by Silas. K. Hocking. It is one of my antique books that I have actually read it is such a sweet and uncomplicated story of love, very endearing.
 I found it in my families hotel and 'borrowed' it but it seems to have made a home for itself on my shelf so there it shall stay.  It is dated 1909.

I would be very pleased if I was awarded this as a prize I must say.

I bought this brooch from a car boot sale last year, i don't think it's any older than 1950 but it's pretty isn't it?

This is another of Uncle Normans finds so again, no clue of the date...sorry :)

Same goes for this one, the one thing they all have in common is they have German writing on them and this one has 'Hanover' written on the back and I think they are military orientated.

 Well I hope you all like my old junk,

Laura Lou x

MCNY Collections Portal

One of my good friends sent this link my way.
http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MNYMN3_4_VForm

It's an exhibition of vintage dresses from 1860 to 1927 and they are stunning! I am particularly enamour of the 1918-19 YWCA Overseas Uniform (I think it would look uber cute with pin curls and red lips... wrong era I know!)
Sorry for, what is possibly, the shortest blog entry ever but there is still an awful lot of  cleaning up to do after the fire. Anyway enjoy the exhibit,
Laura Lou x