Käthe Kruse dollhouse dolls

When I started to work as a Fashion Designer for the dolls, at the well known Toys Company Käthe Kruse in 2003 & 2004, one of my first jobs was to dress up little Friedebald, you can see at the left of this picture. (*Argh* I though I would break my fingers, but after all I really like his little outfit!)

He was the second one of a series of dollhouse dolls Käthe Kruse makes exclusively as a present, for the club members of the Käthe Kruse Club: "The Käthe Kruse Family".

These both are small Thumbelinas/Däumlinchen - The one at the left is a tiny Linchen with a blue dress. And look at the cute little strawberry bag! It was a present from Schneewalski who I met at the 1:12 in Soest.

The most of them are replicas of special doll types in a smaller size (They are from 11,5 to 13 cm small). Except the young man in the sailor suit. He shows Max Kruse the youngest son of the seven children of Käthe Kruse & Max Kruse senior.

This is a tiny "Rumpumpel Baby", one of the dolls I would like in the original size, too :) Each of them came in the typical red Käthe Kruse box with a small blanket and a certificate!

If I´m really thruthful I didn't like these dollies at first... poor little things! I didn't like the BIG hands and the porcelain heads, because they are so very, very wrong for Käthe Kruse dolls! But after a while I began to like them :) They are nice to decorate because of the flexible bodies and they are very cute as a doll for a doll. How do you like them?

Have a nice weekend, Nicola

Käthe Kruse Puppenhauspuppen werden von der Firma Käthe Kruse exclusiv für die Mitglieder der Käthe Kruse Familie herausgegeben. Bisher erschienen: Ilsebill 2002/2003, Friedebald 2004/2005, Finerle 2005/2006, Max 2006/2007, Kathl 2007/2008, Linchen 2008/2009, Baby Rosalie 2009/2010 - to be continued!

The Lundby swimmingpool - Das Lundby Schwimmbecken

When I was small I dreamend of a small Lundby Village with all Lundby things I always saw in the shop window of our local toyshop...

I dreamend that my dolls would have a swimming pool (like my best friend Friederike had in her real garden)...

Do you wanna jump into the cool water?! I would like to, but the pool is even to small for one of my feet ;D

It´s just a little childhood dream come true... (by the way, the pool came with the 1975 Gothenburg and was one of the things I watched so often at eb** and I couldn´t afford normaly)

I´m wishing you a sunny summer - maybe with a pool in your (Lundby) garden :) *Nicola

P. S.: One good advice: Never fill water in your vintage Lundby pool like I did! I don´t know if it never was made for filling water in it or if it became leak through the years?! Anyway after the photo shooting there was water everywhere and I had to dry it in the sun. Now it is dry again, but also has some water markings on it :( ... I thought it was a toy *argh*!!!

Tiny & cute things from the fair:

Sabrina & Sabine are very happy with all the toys I brought from the 1:12... I adore the tiny-tiny „The Very Hungry Caterpillar“ /"Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt" book (it was my favorite book when I was small). It´s made like the really book - you can read every page!

The guy on the right isn´t Mr Lundby in cooler clothes - I found him on the fair too and he will live in the 1975 Lundby Gothenburg...

Petra and I planned to swap at the fair and she brought a bag full of treasures with her... aaaand I forgot mine at home! But I had to take Carry and Petra chose some of the furniture I once displayed at Furniture and Antiques. Thanks to the Internet it was no problem :)

Carry is a lovely old Caco doll and I first fell in love with her when I saw her at Petra´s blog! When I was small I always used my Mum´s old Caco dolls as dolls for the Käthe Kruse dolls, because to my mind they look like small K. Kruse dolls!

Perfect - isn´t it?! And because I don´t have a dollshouse in Carry´s size she now lives with all my Käthe Kruse dolls in my dolls showcase.

*Nicola

The Käthe Kruse Thumbelinas are both from 1977 - She´s called Margit & his name is Guido. The rocking chair is from Monchichi also from the 70s. The wooden bed is from my childhood. My parents once brought it along for me when they went for a hike without Andrea & me. The baby is from my childhood too and I think it´s ARI.

1:12 Soest

Yesterday Petra/Oese and me met at the 1:12 fair at Soest...



For me it was the first time I visited a miniature fair and I was absolutely overwhelmed by all the impressions!



There wasn´t nothing you couldn´t get in a small version and I was very glad I´m so focused on Lundby and things in 1:16 or 1:18 scale, because otherwise I could have bought much more than I did... *phew*

So I watched Petra while she decided what stylish chair or daybed she would like to buy at www.hetbehoudenhuis.nl...

was fascinated by all the things some people make, like fimo food or mini porcelain dolls and learned a lot about the miniworld in 1:12, I never could imagine before!

I bought some tiny things which will go for my Lundby houses too I´ll show you in another post...

If you like and take a look at the list of sellers here at the 1:12 page you´ll find some delightful stores and items!

AND it was also great to meet Petra in real life! We knew each other a bit from several phonecalls and had a lot of fun on our first little blogger-meeting!!

Yours, Nicola

Tornados... Earthquake...?!

Very recently I was a "Glückspilz" (lucky mushroom) again ;D
This old Lundby Gothenburg/Göteborg (and the furniture) were on eb** and the seller lived in the same town as me...


So I made a bit and thought: "If I get it for 1.00 €uro I´ll take it..." And the lucky winner was: ME! :) I´ll take the extension as a basement hobby room for the Lundby´s new neighbours. Maybe someone has some garage doors for me?

I don´t know exactly what to do with the "Tornado-House" but it offers some nice opportunities. I always thought it must be fun to renovate an old Lundby house and to decorate it like I want - maybe with some new crazy 70s wallpaper?! I could make the upper storey in one because the wall got lost anyway... So many ideas - we will see...

*Nicola

The Lundby Gothenburg/Göteborg shape in real life

Today I made a cycline tour here at Minden and the surrounding and had my Lundby-glases on :)

I found a lot of Gothenburg-shaped houses during the trip I never noticed before...

I guess they were all build during the 50s and 60s and...

some of them were renovated and modernized since then

I like this one the best because of the small glass bricks and the original look!

Wishing you a nice Whit weekend, yours Nicola

Lundby Göteborg/Gothenburg, 1970 - Part 3.

Third and last part of the Lundgren´s Gothenburg house tour:

Meanwhile Greta did the dishes Konrad layed the table for the afternoon tea at the lovely empire dinigroom...

At this part of the house you can see that someone played with it before. The stylish staircase with the wooden banister was fixed with silicone and the varnish of the doors & frames of the house looks a bit used, too.

Greta: "Honey, why did you forget the cups, we can´t have tea without cups..."

Konrad:"Oh, sorry... (Thinks: Women! You can do what you want something is always wrong...)

The entrance...


and the bathroom - which is nearly the same as in the Gothenburg of the Lundby´s, but with blue tiles and made in one piece. The toilet is hidden behind the wardrobe-piece.

The hallway piece has a little light at the top of the mirror, but Greta & Konrad still need a mirror and light for the bathroom. They also want some paintings for the diningroom and they would like some carpets for both rooms, too.

Credits: All furniture are Lundby (as usual ;D). The lamps and the mirror at the dinigroom are Lundby, too. The little pinguins are from my granny´s treasure chest. The tea service (without cups and plates - poor Konrad!) is from my mum´s doll´s house. The cake is from "fimozauber" and is made from the same recipe like this cake here :). The owl is one of the first tiny gifts they had in the "kinder surprice eggs" in the 7os and was a fleamarket find. The small coathangers are Bodo Hennig. They came with my "new" Gothenburg from 1975 and were perfect for the hallway piece.
Have a nice weekend, yours Nicola