The Magic Cave

I couldn't believe my eyes when I found this little Santa for $6 in the glass cabinet at the front of a local op shop. He is like new and he is from the MAGIC CAVE John Martins era!

Father Christmas in action.

This Father Christmas toy was originally purchased at John Martins Magic Cave for $1.35 (still has the price on it!). So glad I found him.

John Martins was an iconic department store in Adelaide, South Australia that opened in in 1866 and closed in 1998.  John Martins would  hold the famous Adelaide Christmas Pageant every Christmas (starting in 1933). It still runs to this day but it is now the Credit Union Christmas Pageant. Once Father Christmas has appeared in the pageant he would set up in the Magic Cave at John Martins (or Johnnies as it was known). When we were kids we would visit the 'Magic Cave' and have a ride on Nipper and Nimble the huge rocking horses that  featured in the pageant, get a pic with the big man and wander around the Magic Cave checking out the crazy mirrors and animated Christmas scenes.   The Magic Cave is now located at David Jones  but hasn't really changed a lot from when I was young. This year Little Miss enjoyed her first ride on Nipper the smaller of the two horses.  Christmas starts in Adelaide once the Christmas Pageant has been.

Little Miss on Nipper.

John Martins Christmas Pageant 1966
This old footage is fantastic (apart from some politically incorrect costumes in there).

Nellie the mechanical elephant

 Source

My favourite (and many others favourite) in the pageant is Nellie the elephant. Best known for breaking down in the early days. She is powered by a vintage car engine. Her story below is quite interesting and worth having a look (don't worry it's short).

Nellie in action.

Wishing everyone in blog land a safe and happy Christmas! x

Thanks A Treasured Past!

Just a quick thank you to Tam from A Treasured Past.  We received a big parcel of goodies the other day which included my giveaway win and some other treasures. Check it out!

 Tam makes these gorgeous vintage stamp pendants. I chose the Wren, he is so cute. Here is her Facebook page. Have a look, there are some beautiful things to see.

  I can't wait for some quiet time with a cup of tea to have a read of my giveaway win!

Thank you Tam for the vintage decorations. They remind me of  'The Christmas Tree' which was a function that was held every Christmas Eve in our small town. It was held on the local oval at night and the Church would put on a nativity scene and Father Christmas would visit and give every child a present (that their parents had provided so there was a lot of variety in the size/price range of presents, hee hee). There would always be a huge real pine Christmas tree on the oval, the biggest I had ever seen. We would all drink raspberry soft drink in glass bottles. I remember dreaming of the day I might get to be the angel next to Father Christmas as he had one on each side of him every year. Mum later told me that I was asked but I had said no which would be likely since I was so shy.
When we would get home at night we would hope that maybe the 'real' Father Christmas had already visited us because it was dark. I always wondered why Mum and Dad were so certain that he hadn't been yet. I would go to bed and hear the sleigh bells - I swear! Did anyone else use to imagine they could hear the bells? :)

 

 A cute little book too! There was a little 'party in a box' as well but the kids already had gotten into it. :)

There was even more in the box! Some gifts for the kids, they were so excited!

Thanks Tam for it all, so generous. xxx

My little quilt.

Wow it's been a long time sine I was here. I have not been op shopping or to garage sales much at all which is a bit depressing. Little Miss touches can't keep her hands to herself in shops these days, I guess that's what it's like when you are two and a half. I am hanging out to get to some garage sales but the kids don't really enjoy it and Mr M is busy working on the extension. It is summer coming up though so I will have to try. No way am I missing a whole gs season! So jealous of you all and your finds. :)

Thought I would show you what I have done with some of my vintage sheets. Well...actually I can't take credit as my Mum made this. She had a small procedure and had some time to kill while recovering. In the past she has made my son, daughter and sister one so finally it was my turn. It still needs to be washed to fluff it up a bit but I love it!

I have just seen Tam's giveaway over at A Treasured Past (click here) and if I post this on my blog I get three chances to win. Couldn't go past that! I LOVE giveaways. It's a gorgeous blog too so check it out.

Hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend!

Vintage van pics!

Hey!

Took some more photos of my groovy caravan yesterday. The curtains are in pretty good condition apart from one that is slightly torn.  I am hoping they will all make it through the wash because I would like to keep them. I am not sure how much to change on the inside of the van because I like to keep things original. I think the fake slate floor will have to go and we will likely do a bit of filling in dents and painting the outside. Do I paint the cupboards or leave them? Mr M wants to get underneath and check it's all sound before we use it. Also check the gas lines or take it somewhere to do this. New foam for the beds of course, seems they lost their vinyl covers over the years. I am not sure if I should change the outside stripe colour or not, I think a 70s aqua blue would be cute but it wouldn't be original then. I figure we could take a photo of the colour it is now so if we did want to change it we could always go back. Hmm. What do you think?

I know that a lot of vintage lovers/sellers use these old vans to sell/transport goods for sale but we are going to holiday in it! I hate tents, but I love caravaning (hmm, spell check doesn't like 'caravaning' - lol). It brings back memories of being a kid, so many happy times (apart from when I got lost for an hour in the dark at a caravan park at 4yo, everyone was looking for me - had a had sense of direction even back then!).  It would be nice to make some happy memories for our children (but not like the holiday where I had a tooth ache and had a filling done while my brother had a boil in his ear). This is probably not the best time to take on another project (in the middle of the extension) but if you don't do these things they will never happen will they.

  Mel, (Bungalow Bliss) you are right I will be using my vintage sheets in here without a doubt. I also gave some sheets to my Mum recently as she needed a project while she was recovering from a procedure (will show you soon what she came up with, it's really cool).

 

When we pulled the foam bed out on the right we noticed there had been a small water leak but luckily it had been fixed before any major damage was done. It has been through two storms since we got it home and no leaks thank goodness. Will be sorting out shelter for it very soon.

                                          Hmm. This curtain looks upside down?! Strange.


Well there you go. The kids have loved playing in it as we have had some nice sunny days recently so it has been getting an air with the door and windows open. Can't wait to book in a short break away. :)

Have a great weekend.

Sherry

PS Has anyone got any suggestions for a name for the van?

My new baby!

Ahhh! I am so excited! I bought a vintage caravan!!

 1970 Franklin

Too cold to get out and about today, eek!

Hello to you lovely people! Today I decided to stay home for a change and loved it! The fact that it is about 9 degrees outside probably helped my decision (brrr). I think I should stay home more often. The house is actually getting tidy, fancy that. Washing done. I even had time to make an apple crumble to keep Mr M happy. Now I have a cuppa next to me and am relaxing.

Master M started school this term. My little boy is growing up. I must admit it it a lot easier at home with just my little girl and it's nice to get some one on one time with her but I do miss him (but not the fighting - lol).

Here are some more pics of my recent finds. I have found more since but they are still on the camera so will come later.

The fact that I don't need anymore Pyrex mixing bowls, and the fact that I don't use them often (because I don't want to ruin them with an electric beater), didn't stop me from buying more. But hey, I don't have any (plain) green ones like this so I guess it's OK.

I have always loved this pattern and this is my first piece to own. Please ignore the clone stamping in the pic, I was trying to get hide the price tag and did a quick and shoddy job. I would love a set of the matching mixing bowls. My Mum has a set but I think I would be fighting my sister for them and she has bigger muscles than me. :)

My sister and I went op shopping in Murray Bridge again recently and found one of the stores had 50% off  EVERYTHING! I picked up this Royal Doulton plate for $4! I love it's simplicity and this green is one of favourite colours.  It's in brilliant condition too!

At the same store I picked up this teapot but I can't read the back stamp. It is made in England though. Will be a seller eventually.

Some more vintage fabric (right) and sheets (left). Actually for my next post I will show you something funky that my Mum made for me out of my new (never used) vintage sheets. I LOVE it!

Have a great week!

Some of the things I found...more to come!

Howdy all. I have really been slack with my blogging lately. I think part of the problem is that when I put together an entry I tend to spend an hour or so on it. It seems these days that I don't have as much spare time. However Master M has started school this term and yes I miss him but just having Little Miss at home is soooo much easier! I work two days a week but the other three I am enjoying spending time with her (and the fact that she sleeps for two hours in the afternoon-lol). Yes I should be doing house work but I wanted to show you a couple of my recent finds. It has been a LONG time since I have been thrifting. To cut the time it takes for me to do my posts I have made it a short one and am hoping blog more often but with smaller posts so will put the rest of my finds up soon.

Some funky sheets and pillow cases.

Vintage Clover Pyrex mixing bowl (largest one)

Funky vintage apron

Vintage shoes. Very small...a bit granny but cute!

Another cute apron.

That's all folks! More to come.

Linking in with Her Library Adventures - Flea Market Finds