This week has been one of those weeks where a comment left on one of my blog posts actually made me squeal with excitement. Literally. It can be so easy at times to write about something that you're really excited about or interested in and then you just get tumbleweed in response. It's a post that you think loads of people will want to say something about, but you click publish and it's met with silence. I had feared that that might be what happened with the post I published about Topsy and Tim's sister Tansy. Having seen how many people happen across this blog after searching on Google ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: We go to the gallery
Tuesday's haven't quite been the same for a few months now. The Ladybird collecting hasn't slowed down here, but there's just not been much time to write about them and share them here. I've really missed Ladybird Tuesday though. I've missed going through my collection and selecting gems to share. There's something rather comforting about Ladybird books - a reminder of a previous time when the world didn't seem quite such the confusing and screwed up place it is right now. Last week's news of Ladybird planning more humorous titles later this year (just in time for Christmas) made me think ... read more
Historic Newspapers Vintage Recipe Books
I'm a complete sucker for all things vintage and that includes the piles of old magazine and newspapers that you sometime find in charity shops and at car boot sales. I think they tell us so much about the time they were written, not just from the news stories and articles, but also from things like the adverts they contain. I was intrigued therefore when Historic Newspapers sent me a couple of their news books which are Recipes and Cookery Ideas from newspapers of decades gone by. The two that I was sent were from the 1940s and 1950s, probably my two favourite decades in history. Have a ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Junior Science – Magnets and Electricity
I'm half revisiting an old title here on Ladybird Tuesday this week. Back in early 2013 I covered Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries which is part of series 621 which was called Junior Science. In the 1980s this series was updated and reissued and the books were juggled around a little bit. Rather than the four original titles (Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries, Light, Mirrors and Lenses, Air, Wind and Flight and Levers, Pulleys and Engines) there were eventually 8 titles in this revamped series: Magnets and Electricity Light Air Simple Mechanics Simple ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Ladybird by Design
Sorry for being a bit late with today's Ladybird Tuesday. A poorly Master C who has suddenly taken to having three hours of naps a day - all on top of me! - means that everything is running somewhat behind schedule here chez C. And apologies for any extra bits in this post - rather than going to bed he's insisting on sitting on my knee and "helping" me with my work! I'm also looking at something a little bit different this week on Ladybird Tuesday. Rather than featuring an old vintage Ladybird book from my collection I'm instead looking at a new book that has just been published dot tie in ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Learning with Mother Book 4
This post on Learning with Mother Book 4 has now moved to Penny Plays and can be read here. ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Learnabout… Coin Collecting
Is it possible for there to be a hobby that makes stamp collecting look sexy? If so then coin collecting probably fits the bill. I kind of understand stamp collecting - all the different pictures, shapes and sizes, plus the old fashioned romantic idea of letters bearing these stamps travelling round the world in the days before email. But, to me, coin collecting just seems somewhat dull in comparison. The Ladybird Coin Collecting book was first published in 1976 and therefore covered British coins up to the then new decimal currency. As well as detailing lots of British coins up to ... read more
Washi Tape decorated Vintage Maps Storage
My mum is about to move house, and as she's downsizing she's spent the last few months having a huge clear out of all the stuff that the family has accumulated over the years. It's fair to say that I think none of us had any idea just how much stuff there was in her house, garages and outbuildings. As part of this my sister and I have been helping where we can by taking a few things off her hands, especially things that we have fond childhood memories of. I've always been a huge fan of maps, vintage ones in particular (and that passion was reawakened by the relevant vintage Ladybird ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 6 – Birthday party, upcycling and vintage sewing patterns
As I feared, time is starting to run away from me somewhat and I'm already starting to wonder what it was we did a couple of days ago. After the excitement on Luton on Monday, Tuesday was intended as a bit of a quieter day at home, punctuated by a lunchtime birthday party for both children at the kind invitation of one of Little Miss C's school friends. The party was held in a Scout hut in a part of St Albans that I'm not at all familiar with (and hence I discovered a fantastic new playground next door too), and as we were still blessed with gorgeous hot weather here it was particularly ... read more
Where Bear? – Sophy Henn
There are some children's books that I love. Ones that I remember fondly from my own childhood and ones that I know my children have loved and that I've enjoyed sharing with them. It's rare though to fall completely and utterly in love with a children's book on first reading, but that's exactly what happened with Where Bear? by new writer and illustrator Sophy Henn. There's an old fashioned simplicity that's just utterly perfect in Where Bear? and the vintage style of the illustrations had me at first thinking that this must be a re-publication of a much-loved old title. The beauty of it ... read more