"The Manicure": 
"The Well-Coiffed Lady In Her Ball Gown":
and "The Greek Bathing Beauty"
Aren't they lovely? Have a safe and festive New Year's Eve!
There were so many great pieces in the play kits! I'm such a freak for vintage doll stuff - I wish I had them all!
Hey - good practice with the set you see below for doing the Big Girl dishes when you grow up, right? I remember a time when my oldest sister didn't feel it was fair for the younger two of us to do the dishes together - (one washes, the other dries), while she had to do them by herself! That's understandable - I wouldn't have liked it, either!
I have seen the "hichairs" in antique shops, but they were always too much. SO cute! And I've always wanted that little enamel pot that holds the baby bottles. 
I found this Twins pin, below at a barn sale a few months ago. Again - I knew I liked it and thought it was neat, but that's it. And then later I discovered - you got it - Elzac, again! Hmmm, no wonder it appealed to me when I saw it! I think I paid 50 cents:
But, when I found these next two a couple of weeks ago at a thrift store, together in a bag - I knew exactly what they were - Elzac! I love this rabbit with his little green Lucite ears and tail! His one ear might look chipped - it's not - he is perfect. Score! 
And I haven't yet found an example quite like this little pup, but I'm virtually positive that he is an Elzac, as well. They made all different types of little embellishments and trims for the various styles of pins - his little ears seem to be some real type of fur or hair, and the red hats on the little twins above are leather :
I was SO excited to find those last two. Totally made my day. I love vintage jewelry, and the more unusual or unique, the better.
Besides loving the picture of the 8 inch vintage Betsy dolls in their handmade clothing, I knew that something looked familiar, and I went into my drawer and found this page from McCalls Magazine December 1958 issue:
...which I had only because it happened to be on the reverse side of this page from my stash of Betsy McCall pages that I often display with my decorations for various holidays:
How cool is that?
And now:
I even bought a pair - and in a smaller size than I wore previously, I'm happy to say!
I do love blue jeans - especially comfortable ones!
Each of the two upstairs bedrooms has it's own tree, as well, though you can't see them very well in my pictures!
I even thought I spied Santa and his reindeer "up on the housetop"!
Hope your day was merry!
And two more of my framed ones (I showed you some of these last year, as some of you may recall):
We have a weather vane similar to the one shown on the first page of the story below, atop our garage! (Ours has two horses.)
A Little Golden Book from 1949, with illustrations by Corinne Malvern:
Another LGB, this one with Eloise Wilkin's adorable children, from 1955:
And another , published by Whitman in 1960, with beautiful illustrations by Catherine Barnes:
And, even though this last one isn't a book, I felt I needed to include the sheet music featuring Rosemary Clooney (whom I ADORE) and Gene Autry:
Duh!! White Christmas! I hadn't thought of it, probably only because it's rather a seasonal film (although it's true that I can enjoy it any time of year). Yes - if I were truly pressed to choose - it would indeed be the film I would pick. I've written before on my blog about my love for Bing Crosby - and Danny Kaye. I feel the same way about Rosemary Clooney. All three of them in one movie? Heaven.
I LOVE Irving Berlin's music (and not only his songs in this film!)- truly he was an absolute treasure, one of our greatest and most prolific songwriters.
Thus far, in my search for the sheet music, just three of the song titles have eluded me. Shown in the next two pictures are the ones I have found:
I'm still searching!
On January 3rd of 2007, I was treated to a very special evening out, compliments of my two sisters. My ticket had been a birthday gift from them - and we went to see the musical play at the Community Center Theater in Sacramento. It was fabulous.
But you still can't beat Bing and the gang in the movie- you just can't! "May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white."
and the right side (oh, and some of my vintage hankies lie beneath):
The Holt Howard Santa dish and the napkin holder shown below belonged to my mother-in-law. Last week, I found the salt and pepper shakers and the bell-ringer Santa (not HH), at a thrift store for $5 - I was thrilled- I've been watching them on Ebay for years! Nowadays, the shipping alone would be more than that!
My red hutch in the sunroom - this year I took (nearly) everything out and replaced it all with Christmas, or at least Christmas colors. Some favorites - the little Tasha Tudor mug, Santa mugs, the matching tin and tray, vintage Poinsettia glassware: 
The bottom shelf in the same hutch, with racks of Christmas glassware, shelves lined with vintage linens, more Poinsettia glasses,and some of my green glass:
It took me YEARS, but I finally managed to collect enough of my favorite glasses, the forest green "Open Sleigh" by Anchor Hocking, so that I can place one at every setting for a big Christmas dinner. I collected the Charm pattern and other ruby red and forest green dishes also, which I use with simple white plates, and vintage silver at the Christmas table.
I can't even really remember where I got some of these others - guess I've had them awhile! This one is a semi-sheer fabric, I love the black stars in the background:
Poinsettias, pretty and bright:
And I love the trees, birds, and ornaments on this one, too:
This one is the smallest of the bunch, and it was the first one I ever got:
You know, a couple of them have a little stain or two - I don't mind - so they were used and loved by someone else before me. This last one is the most practical ( and the most used) of all- it belonged to my mother-in-law, as well. Terrycloth- now that's what I call a work apron!
