Smells Bells

The good old British weather meant that the Sunday boot sales were rained off yesterday here :o(  So i thought I'd share a boot sale buy from my laptop free week.

I have a thing for floral ceramics, the more twee the more I love it! One such item is the humble pomander. Ive been seeing them pop up on blogs around blogland for some time and while I own a few I never really thought about them. Kat did a lovely post showing her pomander finds on her window which looked lovely.  So when I spied some at a boot sale I thought I'd take the opportunity to re home a couple.

Now there is one more thing I should confess before I start the show and tell and that is when faced with a choice of items I like, I am terrible at choosing just one....

This pomander started the ball rolling:

Very cute, but I also liked these:

 And I wanted to own the french one of the lad wooing his lady with a flute ;o)

 Blue and white is always a good combo:

 ...and what about the egg and pepper shaped ones:

 ...and yet more floral:

 The seller was selling all of her late grandmas collection and she didn't like them herself.  The price was 70p each but I couldn't just choose a couple so decided to take the lot, all 25 of them!

Now I must admit the seller wasn't the best at maths and so when I offered £4 for the lot she accepted straight away and bagged them up...not realising that she had sold me them at 16p each :o)

Looks like I've got a new collection in the house! Now what to do with them all?

My blogging and commenting might be a bit sporadic this week as I'm gearing up for Finley's first birthday on Thursday and the pirate party on Saturday. Better don my rubber gloves and pinny for the house cleaning marathon all ready for the influx of family and friends, anyone want to help? *wink*  At least I now own enough pomanders to mask any dodgy smells that dare enter my door!

Scarlett x 

Linking to: magpie-monday , flea-market-finds

Antique Fair Ahoy

I used to avoid going to 'Antique and Collectors' fairs as with a bit of boot sale mentality I always thought these fairs would be way over my budget and I would lust after items which would hurt my purse.  Since blogging my eyes have been opened to the world of 'The Vintage Fair'. Although I have never found one near me i did find a week day collectable fair a couple of weeks ago which I decided to check out.

 

I came home with a bag of goodies! So here is some of my buys:

 Vintage Jacob's biscuit tin - £2. Ideal for storing some crafty supplies :o)

 I loved the design on this vintage box and was surprised when I looked inside...

...to find the original unused stationary set :o)  I do love a good set of writing paper. This cost a whopping £3 ;o)

I spied a box on the end of one stall, not very exciting from the outside:

but being a nosey mare I had to have a peak inside:

 Only a 1940's Icilma face powder and face cream gift set! In pristine condition. I really cant believe this was never used!  The inside of the lid has this fabulous winter scene illustration:

 I'm a sucker for vintage cosmetics and packaging so this was a dream find and for £3 what a bargain!

Now if you're not familiar with Icilma then this will explain the magic:

Image from http://vintagescans.blogspot.com/

Now for a bit of pretty pink.  I saw this pink metal case on the stall furthest from the door and homed in on it straight away:

 Not overly exciting from the outside but its whats inside that counts:

Only a 1930s vanity case with original enamel lid bottles and a packet of spare stoppers!  Its is also in amazing condition and looks it was not used either. I'm also loving the little side compartments:

I adore this little case and would have paid more than the £10 the stall holder asked for it. She did later let slip that she had it priced at £30 on her previous sale but as this one was slow she let me have it cheap - ta very much :o)

So I have been converted and will definitely be visiting an antique/collectors fair if there is another one in my area.

Ta ta for now

Scarlett x

Linking to: thrilling-thursday, vintage-thingies-thursday, thrifty-thursday

Swap-tastic

There was a fabulous swap organised by Lakota especially for us thrifty chicks.The task was to choose our swapping partner a max of 5 items, one of which had to be sourced from a charity shop/boot sale/jumble, one item handmade and one item to be jewellery.  This was my first ever swap so was looking forward to a bit of guilt free shopping :o)

My lovely partner was Jewel from pretty little jewels.  So I was very excited when my swap parcel arrived, I couldn't wait to start opening up my little packages :

First out of the wrapping was this beauty:

You all know I love a Stratton compact and this one is so lovely, and an ideal addition to my compact collection.

Next out the tissue was this pretty rose print side plate by Royal Vale.

Both so lovely so was excited to see what was in the remaining little tissue package:

This fabulous handmade scrabble ring by Jewel (I've been seeing these on blogs so chuffed I'm now the owner of one) and a pretty necklace with matching earrings.  Ideal for when I'm glamming it up.

Now I bet you all thought from the first picture that I also received a tin of choc truffles.....oh no I got something way better....

Homemade Oat and Apple cookies!!!  Jewel was very naughty sending these as we both agreed no edibles as I'm on a diet and Jewel is being good in the lead up to her wedding. She did add a little tag to say I could share these and just have one myself...no chance, I gave hubby one and kept the rest for me! hehe :o)  They were scrumptious and survived in perfect condition through the post system.

What a treat! Thank you Jewel for all the lovely goodies and a thank you to Lakota for arranging the fabulous swap.  I've now got the swap bug...

Mwah

Scarlett x

Booty anyone?

It threatened rain yesterday morning but even that wouldn't have kept me away from going to the boot sale. It did however keep the sellers away from the booty instead, the turn out was pretty poor.  Nevertheless I still found some vintage treasures to bring home.

So lets begin...

 Little cut glass decanter, ideal for storing hand wash in my bathroom - £1.

 Two vintage blackbird pie funnels - £1

 Large glass decanter...

 ...now storing bubble bath.  Would you believe that I saw this same one on a stall and they wanted £10 for it - no chance. I walked along a couple of stalls and spied this one, the stall holder said that I could have it for 10p!!!  Bargain of the day :o)

 You know I'm partial to a bit of wicker so couldn't resist this little beauty...

...to store wine in.  Bought from a rather charming little old lady for the grand sum of £1.

East of India wooden hearts - 50p

I then spotted something which I would never have thought I'd find at a boot sale:

 Only a tube of 1950s Immac hair removing cream!

 The lady who was selling this found it in her grandmothers bathroom cabinet and was surprised anyone would want to buy it. I love the packaging and loved the price  - 50p! Although I'm sure if i used it now it would burn my skin off ;o)

That was all my booty buys from yesterday but I did stop off at the supermarket and buy a magazine I haven't bought before:

Totally seduced by the 'Vintage Issue' cover and  oh my I'm not disappointed - its a fabulous issue with loads of yummy 50s interior design ideas and a whole section on vintage shops. Have any of you read this issue yet?

Now that time of the week for:

Witnessed at a Boot Sale

Man picks up a large glass vase from a stall
Man: "How much mate?"
Stallholder: "£12"
Man: "£12??"
Stallholder: "Yes £12, I was asking £15 for it earlier, it bought it in Paris"
Man:"So what you wanting me to cover your airfare then!"
Stallholder in stunned silence and man stomps off.

Elderly couple selling Durex play stimulation gels *shudder*

A fabulous gay couple trying to flog about 10 male mannequin body forms with rather large 'bulges'. While chuckling to myself the tallest of the two comments with a wink "If only honey hey".

Happy Monday All

Scarlett x

Linking to : Flea Market Finds

Elvis has entered the building....

Hello my lovelies - I'm back in action! Yee Haa!  I collected my laptop today from a very smiley chatty young man who sent me off with my repaired laptop and a wink for good measure - nice :o)

So let the blog catch up begin...

While I was on my break I received a little surprise parcel in the post from the gorgeous Madison, she had spotted something at the boot sale that she thought I would like. It came wrapped up in some lovely Cath Kidston paper (which unfortunately I lost the photo of with the tech problems) but inside was this gem:

Only an Elvis Russian doll!  She was worried that I would think it was tat - no chance I blooming love it!  Check out her post about this find Here. I have however had to rescue big Elvis from the jaws of my little man but Elvis was unharmed, little man however promptly had a tantrum (how dare i remove an object from his clutches). They now have pride of place out of reach of little hands.  Thank you so much Madison I love them :o)

I also managed of course to get myself to the charity shops and here is a couple of my finds:

Box full to the brim of sewing pattern, some really vintage others a bit more 80's chic - £2 for the whole lot :o)

Carnival house numbers (lucky I live at a number 28 hey!) - £1 each.

I spied a little Brixham Pottery bird vase...

 Now I do like a Blue Tit...

..but I also like the Great Tit, there is only one way to decide.....Buy a vase with both! This was £1.45 well spent.

I was having a rummage through a shelf of tat at the charity shop and found a little box

I opened it up...

...and found this lovely vintage faux pearl necklace

Its a beauty and for £2 was in my bag and out of the shop before you could say "How Much?"

Now its been long overdue for this little feature:

Overheard in a Charity Shop:

While perusing the clothing rails nearest to the till I saw a lady bring a floral summer dress to the till:

Customer: "Do you know this dress has one strap held on my a safety pin?"
CS: "Oh that's easily fixed just have to put a couple of stitches on there "
Customer: "But you are asking £6 for it!  I think that's a bit rich for a dress with a broken strap"
CS worker then looks at the dress label "Yes dear but this one is a Monsoon"
Customer: "Yes but it has a broken strap"
CS: "I know dear but it is a Monsoon dress"
Customer: "I think that's a bit cheeky asking that much for a damaged item"
CS: "I think its a bit cheeky you questioning a charity"
Customer left the dress and promptly left the shop, the cs worker then hung the dress complete with safety pin back on the dress rail...

Have a fabulous weekend all.

Scarlett x

Glass-tastic

In my pre-baby years I used to make dichroic glass jewellery. I bought a glass kiln and had grand ideas of being able to make a living making jewellery and thus being able to quit the job I was in at the time which I hated.  I taught myself the firing techniques and after a couple of weeks was quite comfortable using the kiln.  I also gained a few buyers for my pendants which was a bonus.

Fast forward 2 years, a new job, a new house and a baby....the kiln is now looking forlorn in my mothers garage.  I feel guilty that its not fulfilling its glass fusing potential :o(  I have however made a promise that when we decide to move to a bigger house I will have that kiln in its own space and fired up.

So what got me thinking about this, well its this old desk top pc again with its files of photos I had forgotten about.  One such file is a couple pictures of my creations I took for a website. So here's a little section of my abstract pendants:

Not the greatest of photos, and as dichroic glass changes colour as it moves they are quite tricky to take a decent snap of. But hey its a little something to show you all ;o)

Happy Tuesday All!

Scarlett x

p.s - laptop update, should be back in the store at the end of the week (fingers firmly crossed!)

In the immortal words of Simple Minds....

...."Don't you forget about me..." *wink*

Hello all my lovelies! My goodness I'm missing blogging and missing you all!  Still no news on the laptop repair but I'm going to put my size 6 peep toe shoe up their butts today, hopefully with the desired result of getting my computer back.

So how are you all?  I have been checking in on your blogs through the wonders of mobile internet, I'm sure Vodafone are going to be wondering whats gone on now my usage has gone through the roof!

I'm currently using my mums old desk top PC to type this. One bonus though is that had my laptop not have broke I wouldn't have found the photos stored on this computer.  A whole bundle of these are from my hen night....oh yes ladies I was put through the 'fancy-dress-getting-handcuffed-to-randoms-drunken-night-out' shame by my friends. Due to my absence I therefore think its is only right to share my hen night shame by showing you all a drunken picture...

I'm a classy chick hey? bahahaha! Of course Minnie Mouse has never better ;o) There are plenty more of these which Ive been cringing through- eek! Now I want to know what you lovelies got up to if you had a hen night.....don't be shy ;o)

Hoping to be back in full blogging mode soon!

Scarlett x

P.s Jewel, I havent forgotten you and I'm getting your swap goodies together to post this week :o)