I picked this up for my Haunted Mansion Themed bedroom
It was sold in the park from 1970 and came with a story book
It features the stretching room and scenes from the ride
Poor Madame Leota doesn’t look too hot
The organist repping it
Hat Box ghost making an appearance
Okay I know this makes me an absolute weirdo, but everyone knew I was an absolute weirdo already, right?
So when we returned from Disneyland Paris in October I took buying Haunted Mansion nicknacks one step further and started turning my bedroom into a whole mini Mansion.
This included Haunted Mansionesque wallpaper curtains, cushions, and lots of a purple and black everything else. I also have filled the room with plants and hung some plants from the ceiling.
My brother surprised me with these for Christmas, framed copies of the stretching portraits from the entrance of the ride, which are absolutely perfect!
Below them I have framed the duelling ghosts from the ballroom scene. I had these framed to my brother for Christmas too, so it was funny, we had both bought each other Haunted Mansion prints!
I also have a stretch of this gorgeous Haunted Mansion shag fabric but I’m not sure what to do with it yet. I might make a scarf or bag with it. I would like to make something to wear with it.
I would like to get some brighter photos of my room too. Any other Haunted Mansion nuts out there? Get in touch! @rudedoodle
Here’s an exclusive, time limited offer Stena Line has shared for my followers! Drive from Belfast to Cairnryan or Cairnryan to Belfast between 8 February – 30 April* and save an amazing up to 30% off!
What’s the deal?
·Up to 30% off Economy, Flexi or Premium motorist fares
·Available on the Belfast to Cairnryan or Cairnryan to Belfast route
·For travel until 30 April*
·Book at least 48 hours in advance of travel
·Book by 13 February
*Travel period excludes 28 March – 8 April inclusive.
Just go to: www.stenaline.co.uk/world offer code: World30
Specsavers had a quirky little ad campaign for Christmas 2017 that ran along the lines of showing a tacky present, like a gnome, a toilet shaped mug, flamingo slippers, or a knitted poodle toilet roll cover like the ad above, and the tag line, ‘Get something more useful this Christmas, like a free eye test’.
Well Smix spotted the ad with the baby blue knitted Poodle in the Bloomfield Specsavers’ store window, and immediately added it to his Santa list.
As the Santa list read 1. laptop, 2. Candyfloss Making Machine and 3. Blue Toilet Roll Poodle, you can see it was quite a high priority item for the elves to find this unusual and rare item, plucked straight from the 1970s by Specsavers’ ad folks, so Santa’s elves must have broken into a cold sweat when Smix’s list dropped down the chimney with that request.
Luckily for the elves, they found Gifts Galore 1962! Who for £3.99 plus £3.00 shipping can make a Toilet Roll holding Poodle in many colours, the colour of your choice in very short notice (turn around for Smix’s Poodle was a couple of days)
Come Christmas morning Smix was delighted! The second generation of Kitsch was passed down.
Let me know if you order a poodle of your own!
It’s the first of February already, and time to start thinking of Valentine’s Day, should you have a loved one. Marks and Spencer have some wonderful sweet treats this year, from the very gorgeous Pink Himalayan Salted Caramels, the more fun gift idea below like like the little jelly Turtle sweets.
There’s also the show stopping gifts like the Large Velvet Box of Chocolates (left).
The Marks and Spencer site has a Chocolate Shop feature in time for Valentine’s with lots of behind the scenes of how they make their finest and single origin bars.
You meet their chocolate makers and can watch videos about their invention process.
Wood chip walls , topiary, vintage hair dryers, Nadia Lee Cohen is a creative genius, I wish she could style all of 2018.
Watch the whole video here-
I dare not speak the words healthy eating, as a blog post about such in January goes down about as well as if I had suggested eating your first born, but I’ll just whisper, the products featured in this post are from the M&S Balanced For You range, which does help if you are on a healthier lifestyle type thingy.
All the new products have the Eat Well sunflower symbol and are packed full of protein, good carbs, veggies, vitamins and a rainbow of delicious ingredients. New recipes include the Soy, honey and lime salmon, chipotle chicken, soy, ginger and lime chicken, tandoori chicken, and coconut and lemongrass chicken. They are extremely convenient for families and couples on the go as they can be quickly microwaved as an alternative to expensive takeaways, but still have the same fresh ingredients that other take home from supermarket microwave meals don’t have.
If pasta is more your thing then there is a new macaroni on the block in the chicken, ham, macaroni and leek, which cooks in the oven. This joins the macaroni and cheese prawn Balanced For You which is one of my personal favourites and if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it (I picked one up when I picked up this batch of goodies).
Remember all the ranges are 3 for £10 mix and match right now, so it’s a good time to try some new dishes and refresh some old favourites. The Veggie range, and Eat Well Range too.
I adore Karen Mabon scarves. I own a few, I’ve framed one & hung it on my wall, and I’ve featured her designs many a time here on the blog because they are just so ‘me’.
This year Karen launched a homeware department in her online store, which saw many of her classic scarf designs translated into beautiful scatter cushions to brighten up any retro living quarters.
As it’s so close to Christmas, some of the designs are sold out, but there are still some available right now to order as gifts.
I have the scarf print of the deep sea fellows!
If you’re feeling especially fancy, there are also 100% silk pyjama shirts, shorts and trousers too. The zodiac print in cheerful yellow is my favourite.
Should you be buying any Karen Mabon gifts for others, there is a gift wrapping service and you have until this Thursday (21st Dec) to order something in time for Christmas delivery.
Before I leave, I just have to note Karen’s three Christmas themed limited edition scarves. Only 25 of each colour of the bauble adorned ‘Deck The Halls’ scarves were made, and the gold is still available for £48. The midnight blue is unfortunately sold out, as is Karen’s Heathrow Airport commissioned ‘Home For Christmas’ design. I still have to blog them though, cause they are so cool!
As heard on BBC Radio 6's Lauren Laverne Show.
Winner of Highly Commended Blog in the Cosmopolitan Magazine Blog Awards 2010
Hop on over to Cosmopolitan to read my guest blogs on all sorts of vintage bits & pieces.
