a Fisher Price wagger

Meet Little Snoopy, a wooden pull-along doggy made by the American company Fisher-Price. He is from the 1960's.

He must have been much loved and played with by his previous owner, and it's showing in lots of wear & tear. His red string is missing, the paper is worn off some parts of the wooden body...but in my eyes wear&tear makes a vintage toy quite high ranking, as long as all the main bits and main features are there. It means that it lived a very happy life in its prime and made his little owners very happy. That is more valued by me than 'mint in the box'.

My brother used to have a later edition from the 1980's with red wheels. He loved his wag-along Snoopy and took him out whenever he could pulling him around town, with its wagging springy tail and wobble-along wheels. Many people stopped and made adoring comments - my brother looked super cute followed by this toy pet.

The memory of it always makes me smile and that's why I had to adopt battered old Snoop for €5.

Also, I love his perfect doggy shape, his sweet face and adoring eyes.

snail child memories

I heard that snails are the new owl in the craft world.

I think they are very cute and likeable creatures (except when they are after my greens in the garden). I have many fond memories about snails from the time when I was small. Actually, the more I think about pretty spiralled shells and sensitive eye stalks the more stories spring to mind.

Me as Helix Pomatia - read the story below

I used to like when they crawled around in the summer months after a downpour. Those nice big ones, the type you can eat though I don't like eating them. Then those small stripy ones, gluing themselves high up along tall-stemmed grasses, making something of a new species in flowers - I used to pick these 'snail flowers' into bunches as a kid.

via Tölgyesi Kata

One year my dad made a really cool snail costume for me to wear at nursery for the February winter-chasing festival we call Farsang. I was so chuffed. He made it out of big pieces of card and spelled out the word 'Edible' on the back of the shell in blue electrical tape.

When it was time to change into our costumes, I insisted on undressing to my underwear because, as I explained to the nursery nurses, snails don't wear anything except their houses on their back.

Cacao snails - recipe here on Csilla's blog!

And oh, the cacao snails of elevenses from the village bakery! I liked them best cut in half - having two halves somehow hightened the deliciousness for my childish palate.

During the summer hols, when not watching one of my favourite Hungarian cartoons like the one about the pond skater, I would be roaming around the meadow or the orchard making up stories in my head, playing, wearing my red leather wood-sole clogs.

One of those summer days, struck by a stroke of genius, I plucked a few snails out of the flowerbeds and planted them on top of the clogs, then walked around proudly in my new 'snail fashion shoes', adjusting the critters when they were about to crawl off... happy carefree days!

How about you? Do you have any snailsy stories?

my lucky number 4

The other day I got a little package in the post from Elina at Veterok. I won one of her miniature book necklaces from her blog giveaway! I was entry number 4 and the magic machine spat my name out as the winner. I always knew that my lucky number was 4 yet so far it never won me anything. Until this time - and just how lucky I've got!

This little book came beautifully wrapped in a cyan blue envelope, and was tied into brown paper with blue twine. Thanks so much Elina, it was such a thrill to find this in my mailbox!

The miniature book itself is a little handmade masterpiece. Everything is perfect about it: the folding of the leather corners, the small but perfectly defined spine, the traditionally bound pages with perfect little stitches and perfectly cut edges. I don't even know how that's possible on such a small scale...! Being a book-lover, my first instinct was to open it and sniff - it smelt like a real new book, of tanned leather and clean pages!

I adore how the golden gilt of the falling stars twinkle against the textured indigo of the leather. I even love the blue-black waxed cord - most of my favourite necklaces are waxed cord except for a couple of silver chains. I think it was meant to be mine!

Elina is a Finnish artist and bookbinder. To see her stuff check out her shop and her website, and follow her blog to see what she's up to next

hoops & stickers

I've been hankering after some embroidery frames lately. I used to have one but passed it on due to not using it much at the time.

Today I found a big bunch of them in one of the local junk shops. There were all sizes, shapes and colours, and reduced to half price! Even though I wanted to have all of them, I restrained myself and picked just two oval shaped ones in green and blue. They cost me €1.50 each.

I also picked up a couple of packs of vintage jam jar stickers. I liked their retro colours and their style which reminded me of my grandma's larder, childhood summers and bottles of raspberry cordial. There's a pack with fruit (cooking apple, redcurrents and cloudberries) and one with veggies (cauliflower, beans and peas). Aren't they great? They cost €0.80.

<edit 13/01/2013 I discovered that these stickers have been designed by Nanny Still who was an important Finnish glass designer from the 50's to the 80's. I think I'll grab the other sticker designs when I see them next time!>