I met a little gnome one day

It's nice when you get happy over the small things in life, and I am delieriously over the moon with this adorable little vintage plastic gnome I found yesterday. He is adorably kitch don't you think? I haven't found a final resting place for him yet, decisions, decisions, decisions....

There's only one way to end this post, and that's with a tiny poem. This was one my favourites when I was little....that and the story about the polar bear cub in the zoo who wouldn't listen to his mother and take a bath. I think my poor mom must have heaved a huge sigh of relief when I finally outgrew hearing them

I met a little gnome one day down where the river flows
I asked him why he was so small and why he did not grow
He slightly smiled and with one eye he looked me through and through and said
I’m just as big for me said he as you are big for you

For some unaccountable reason, I still get a teeny weeny thrill running through me when I read this poem - you have to realise that I seriously believed that this particular gnome lived at the bottom of my garden.

The corners of my home

Inspired by Ashley's gorgeous blog Decor Amor, I've been inspired to do a post on some of the items I've collected around my house. Seeing that I haven't done a post like this for a while, this one is looooong:)

These are some African Violets that I planted in old tin mugs

A favourite painting in a pretty frame and a pink glass antique style perfume bottle that was a gift from my mom

My latest vintage teacup, I found it in my local thrift shop earlier this week

This is a photo of me when I was about three. I turned it into a little collage. It was taken at a cottage my parents used to rent together with another couple at the Vaal River. I have such happy memories of those days - the smell of citronella oil to ward off mosquitoes, looking for fourleaf clovers in the grass, a friend of my mom's with long dark hair embroidering flowers on a pair of jeans, a small thatched cottage with whitewashed walls, a poster of Bob Dylan that I thought was my granny because they had similar hairstyles, a poster of a naked lady covered in psychedelic body paint, the scary excitement of trying to catch crabs with my dad along the river bank....

A thrifted 70's plastic milk jug

A bronze statuette from an African country that I fail to remember. My husband immedietely fell in love with it and we bought it even though it was quite expensive for us at the time. It sits on his desk in our shared study.

Two little vintage plastic toy men

These painted dolls are from a west African country that I fail to remember...hmmm....they're a modern take on traditional carved fertility dolls, it's a family with a mom, dad and a little kid.

I found this book at the same time that I found the vintage teacup. I couldn't resist buying it because it has the most delightful illustrations

A ceramic penholder - this is my little kitch corner. On the one side you can 1950's vintage African curios of scenes painted on wood. They're from Swaziland and are very kitch but I love them.

An ornament in the kitch corner, and looking at this photo I can see that she needs a good wipe down. She must be feeling very neglected.

A corner of one of my bookshelves - these are some of the books that inspire me when I'm doing arty crafty stuff.

A traditional African wooden bowl full of seeds from a coral tree that I collected during a visit to Grahamstown last year. In South Africa we call them lucky beans and as their name suggests they are thought to bring good luck.

And finally, a mobile that hangs in my study/studio. I found it at the big African market at Hartebeespoort dam, about an hour north of Johannesburg.