My collection of Religionalia seems to be growing lately... I'm not sure why I like it so much because I'm not very religious (despite attending Catholic schools for almost twelve years!) Perhaps its kitschiness appeals to me, that and the feelings of nostalgia they seem to evoke when I look at them...
I've scattered examples throughout my blog but today I thought I'd show you some more of them. I think you either like this stuff or hate it (like my husband!) Have a look and see what you think...

 I bought these from a local swap meet but I think they originally come from an old Sunday School. My plan was to hang one above each of my daughters beds but they refused to let me, so now they sit covered in dust in our shed! A great shame I think.

Here are a few pictures that I haven't shown you yet...I seem to have lots of these and I remember having similar ones in my bedroom when I was a child.

Look at Mary's beautifully serene face.

 Apologies for the glare - they are all covered in some kind of plastic which doesn't photograph too well (or at least not with my camera!)

These next two are my pride and joy...they are kitschy with a capital K and extremely OTT! I love them and even my husband thinks these are o.k. because they are just so wrong they are almost right!

And look at the back...

 This hung above Dora and Pasquale's bed for sixty four years. Real treasure. It also says Ricordo di Egiolio -please tell me if you know what it means.

This is from Dora and Pasquale's home too

Another beautiful Mary AND she lights up...

See.

I nearly bought some more of these on the weekend...Oh how I wish I had...

All of this religion has reminded me of when I was seven. My brother and sisters and I went to a fancy dress party... my brother went dressed-up as a policeman, one sister a ballerina, the other a Hawaiian girl and I went as the SINGING NUN! What was I thinking? Apparently it was all MY idea too, but I'm not sure if I believe my Mum about that! The Flying Nun would have been way cooler! I'm going to see if I can find a pic to show you. Hilarious!

Well that's enough religion for one day. God bless and here's the tea towel

Greetings from Darwin.

Isn't it wonderful! They must have a lot of b.b.q's there!



I went to the Belmont swap meet yesterday, it was a very quick trip as I only had 25 minutes to spare between dropping one daughter off at the airport and picking the other up from a sleep-over. Not necessarily a bad thing though as this swap meet is not as good as it once was (too much rubbish imported from Asia these days) which is a shame because I used to find some real treasure there. On occasion I still do like...

I was thrilled to find this tablecloth and paid only two dollars fifty for it. It's special and not just for obvious reasons but also because this wonderful stadium (where I went to Little Athletics for years and where my school athletic carnivals were also held!) has been demolished.

Here it is in 1962 in all it's modernist glory and here it is in a terrible state of disrepair before it was demolished

Perry Lakes Stadium

Sadly it is now a residential site so to me the little old tablecloth is definetely treasure!

Note:the pics of Perry lakes Stadium are from a great Perth architecture blog http://perthsbest.wordpress.com/

As far as tablecloths are concerned I also bought this

and this

Then as I was racing around I spotted  this

Look inside

And here it is all laid out neatly

Amongst all this prettiness, at the very bottom I found this

Real treasure!

(or maybe not...)

Can I be boring and show you the label inside the old beauty case? It's just so lovely

From the same lady I also bought...



And

The little birds are inside old Fowlers preserving jars. Not really my style but for two dollars how could I leave them behind?

Lastly, here's today's tea towel

Wallpaper " paper, usually with printed decorative patterns in colour, for pasting on and covering the walls or ceilings of rooms, hallways etc."

That's what the dictionary says, but wallpaper is oh so much more than that! Have a look at these...

This is the wallpaper in the t.v. room at my house. It has a lovely copper thread running through it which you can't see in the photos.
It's by Harlequin and called Virtue. It was very tricky to hang though...

Here's some more retro loveliness:

Retro tulips found at Belmont swap meet.

 Sweet vintage wallpaper bought from Elvins in Osborne Park. The ONLY place to buy wallpaper if you live in Perth!

It's quite literally a museum for wallpaper! Plus current wallpaper too. For my daughter's bedroom.

Now for something a bit different...

Very old wallpaper lining a cupboard built in the depression.

This one reminds me of old,worn lino. Francesca Floral Tea by Ralph Lauren. From sample book found at swap meet.

An old roll I bought at a garage sale. Shabby but still lovely.

Flowers...

Rhododendrons and Lilies. Zoffany.

Samphire. Zoffany.



Sussex Gardens Floral. Ralph Lauren.

Fern. Zoffany.

A touch of the Orient...

Oriental Garden. Oriental Trellis. Zoffany.

Loud and Noisy...

Selsby. Cole and Son.

Acanthus. Cole and Son.

Dorothy. Cole and Son. This is much nicer in the flesh-grey rather than purple and a more mustardy yellow. I love the name.

Casimir. Cole and Son.

Cheyne Walk. Cole and Son.

Phew! Are you all wallpapered out? Which one is your favourite? Or didn't you like any of them? I have taken most of the photos from discarded sample books that I was lucky to find at swap meets.

One more photo of a chest of drawers in my daughter's room wallpapered with scraps of paper...