A bit of Love

Happy Valentine day to you all. Hope those of you who go for the whole day of romance thing have been truly spoiled by your love.

I went for a walk along the Southsea beach and saw this little beach kiosk which is shut for the season but someone has made use of the blackboards outside:

Made me smile.

I think my local charity shop must have caught wind of my love for their crazy window displays and they did a special valentines one for me:

Oh yes a display of Elvis donations! :o)

Hubby also left me a little Valentines gift this morning  - covered by red heart balloons, cheesy yes but made me laugh. My gift was a silver charm for my Pandora bracelet.


And a little overheard conversation this morning in the newsagents -  A man in his early 30s buying a rose and a bottle on wine:
Shop Assistant: Last minute Valentines gift is it?
Man: "Oh no, I booked a fancy hotel for us both in France last weekend"
Shop Assistant "Ooh lovely, was it a nice trip?"
Man: "No, forgot me passport didn't I, we ended up having to spend the weekend in a grotty B&B in Dover"


Finally for those who cant stand the whole Valentines thing :

Source

Big Love to you all

Happy Blogiversary to me!

I'm a few days late with this post, but who cares...its my 1 year blogiversary!

I really cant get over how quickly this year has flown. I started the blog during my maternity leave as a way to occupy myself during nap times  (not to mention as an avoidance of doing housework). I never thought when I started it that anyone would be interested in my ramblings, or that anyone would be as nutty as me about car boot sales and charity shops - well girls you certainly proved me wrong!

 I have made such amazing friends in you all, from those who have been with me since the early days to my newer friends, you really have made blogging such a pleasure.  I would also like to thank you all for inspiring me everyday, be it through your fabulous fashion and styling, your crafty makes, your life stories and observations, beautiful photography or your wise words. Blogland is bloomin' amazing!

Now to celebrate my 1 year blogiversary I will be having a giveaway shortly (now wishing I had bought that box of Tampax and stunt kite from my previous post *wink*).  Keep your eyes peeled :o)

Now I cant leave you without the latest charity shop window display for valentines day, full of all the items you would love to receive from your Valentine:

 Oh yes, it wouldn't be valentines day without a stuffed devil toy, a kinky nurses uniform, bubble bath, aftershave and....

A penis shaped bath bomb! Words fail me..

I hope this has given you all a few ideas for valentines *wink*

Big Love

The lost art of thrifting...

...well it seems to be a lost art for me at the moment. So far In the last two weeks Ive visited 2 boot sales and numerous charity shops and there is not a sausage to be found. Seriously dire situation in my town on the whole vintage front.  I even took it upon myself to visit some out of town chazza shops but my god the prices in there were enough to send anyone running to the nearest Primark just to see something labelled at £1.  I can not see how they could justify selling tatty faux leather handbags for £29.99 and even worse those little plastic tote bags you get free with magazines for £15!

The only thing I have seen which I was strangely drawn to was this old weighing scale:

Marked up at £25.  It was huge, I could easily fit my son on there with room to spare. I did go back in the shop a couple of days later to drop off some donations and the scale has gone - someone obviously liked it as much as i did.

Now never let it be said that there are some things you will never find in a charity shop as I'm sure at one time of another they will find their way through the stock room sorters hands and onto the shelf. In my time i have seen many a funny item including a Battery Operated "back" massager (yes this is what it was labelled up as) - I only wished I had been witness to seeing the silver haired stock room ladies trying to work out what it was for!  Last weeks surprise charity shop item was:

Tampax! The charity shop really is a one stop shop for all.  And I know you are all eyeing up the delightful wooden tea light holder, silver wine rack and stunt kite, what more could you want ;o)

Although there are no booty buys this week, I did get to enjoy the usual delights of the human race. Its been long overdue....

Witnessed at a Boot Sale

A very large woman on a mobility scooter complaining how no one was moving out the way for her to get through, "Its not like i can bloody walk like the rest of these, is it?", so you can imagine my amusement at witnessing this poor woman who cant walk suddenly leap up from the scooter and hot foot it across the tarmac to a stall advertising a 'Fill a bag for £1'.

Male Customer : "How much for the face cream love?"
Stallholder: "£1.50, its a brand new moisturiser which we've not opened".
The man then opens the lid and sticks his little finger in the pot, then puts it back on the stall and walks away.

A young man running a stall talking on his mobile "I really hope she don't go into labour today... I got to sell all this crap so I can get some funds to buy the beers mate, and I promised Barry a game of pool...yeah not got time to get up the hospital, things to do..."

Happy Friday all! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and may there be no snow troubles.

Big Love

Felt Good!

You probably know that I've made a resolution this year to get my crafty arse into gear and make time each week do a little bit of making. I've also decided to up my game and actually learn some new skills. 

So last Saturday I signed myself up to do a morning workshop in felt making!

We were given free reign of the Merino wool basket, choosing which colours we wanted to use. I of course went for the 'Scarlett' red, hot pink and a bit of white:

We laid all our wool out on a bamboo mat and using the 'Wet Felting' technique added water and soap and rolled the whole thing up....

....much rolling later and very sore arm muscles I had made a piece of felt:

So what to make with my piece of handmade felt?...

Voilà!  A handmade felt rose brooch!

I'm quite pleased with the results of my first attempt at the craft, I'm also now totally hooked and am waiting a delivery of some merino wool so I can get making some more! Move over Kirstie Allsopp ;o) 

Have you tried felt making?

Big Love

P.s Ive been trying to leave comments on all your blogs but some blogs its not letting me get into the comments :o( Am going to try and get round it using Google Chrome but if I have missed commenting on your blog its not intentional - love you all xx

Me Again!

Howdy all!  Sorry for my absence in blogland recently. I would love to report that it is due to me having been flown on an impromptu holiday in Hawaii after winning the euro millions but alas I would be lying. It is due to work being revoltingly hectic and having a little boy covered in chicken pox!  Hawaii is sounding amazing to me right now ;o)

So one of my aims this year is to get my craft on - making sure that I find a little time each week to try my hand at making things.

So this week I've made myself two little Kokeshi dolls:

Now I'm very pleased with the results but I must come clean,  this was actually a little craft kit bought for me at Christmas by someone being extremely cheeky...

....the Kokeshi doll kit is actually from the Early Learning Centre aimed at ages 3 plus!! So I've mastered the art of using wool instead of cotton and a huge plastic needle to thread said wool through a large pre cut holes.  I'm going up in the world of crafting *wink*.

A short and sweet post from me today, I will be doing the rounds catching up with you all.

Big Love

I just couldnt help myself...

Do you ever have the urge to do something that you know you shouldn't? Well I was a bit cheeky at my last charity shop visit but it was so much fun...

Whilst perusing the book shelves I saw out of the corner of my eye an immaculately dressed woman in her 60s looking through the non fiction self help titles.  All of a sudden I heard  a sharp intake of breath and then a cut glass accent exclaim "How awful!  Lydia this book is titled 'How to Kill Your Husband!' Who could write such a book honestly? How disgusting".  Well I couldn't help myself, bold as brass I walked over to where she had laid the book, picking it up and announcing "Brilliant, I've been looking for this book for ages". I took the book and sashayed to the till.

I don't even need to say what the ladies faces were like, they will probably be monitoring the local news in my area for any suspicious happenings!

Further to my cheekiness I couldn't help but leave it on the bedside table.  I'm sure hubby wont be wanting me to cook many meals from now on..

I'll be doing the rounds to catch up with you all my lovelies and I need to say a massive thank you for all the beautiful comments on my last post, it was really touching (if only i had you girls with me at school!)

Big Love



P.S The book is actually a novel so no husbands will be harmed in the writing of this post ;o)

Frankly my dear, I dont give a damn

We all have items in our homes that hold memories be they good or bad or a bit of both.  They may have been gifts (to ourselves or received from others) or could have been items once belonging to someone dear to us.


Whilst clearing out my wardrobe I came across one of my memory items - a pair of polka dot shoes....

These shoes have a bitter sweet memory which goes a little something like this...


I was bullied at school for being the 'fat girl'. There were three of us in my year, all girls carrying a little bit of extra weight that lead us to be subjected to hurtful name calling. I was so shy, I wished everyday that I could blend into the background but my extra weight meant that I stood out from the rest of my peers. My school reports each year said that I was "too quiet in class, needed to speak up more and get involved in class discussions", not a chance!


I decided to get involved with the drama scene at my school, a group of 'outsiders' who didn't care what I looked like and excepted me for who I was. I adored acting as it meant I could get away from being the fat girl and pretend for that time that I was someone else. Once on stage I had so much confidence, in my mind people not looking at 'me' they were looking at the character I was playing. Through my drama classes I developed my love affair with costume and vintage styling.


As soon as the door slammed on my secondary school years and I headed to college I realised that I was never going to be one to follow the crowd, if I was going to be noticed for being bigger than the other girls then I was going to be noticed regardless of what I was wearing or who I was hanging out with.  I fully got to embrace my individuality when I arrived at Uni. No one cared if I was wearing an out of shape men's jumper from Oxfam or if I wanted to wear red lippy at 9 am on a Monday morning.  My friends all had indie posters hanging on their dorm walls, I had Elvis. We would hit a nightclub, them in their boob tubes and tiny skirts, me in something random from a charity shop - they liked me for me and for the first time I couldn't give a damn what anyone else thought.

So what about they shoes? Well I bought these Irregular choice shoes in a discount store, there was no way my meagre bank balance could stretch to the full price of these.  The first outing for my new shoes would be my first in head to toe 50s rockabilly styling.  Being quite tall these big heels gave me some serious height. Walking into the pub that evening I can confirm that I turned heads - mainly because the patrons had never seen a big boobed and butted girl dressed like me before. Yes I got loads of comments and digs "Are you in fancy dress?" was asked and continues to be asked when I go for a night out in my town, but you know what I felt amazing. Truly comfortable in my own skin.


From then on there was no going back ;o)  I love these shoes and what they represent.  I still have self conscious moments, I still revert back to the shy girl of my past, I still carry my curves but I also have the ability to say "This is Me".

 This is why blogland is such an amazing place, we all are excepted for who we are, regardless of our backgrounds, what we are into, where we live or what we look like and I have made some wonderful friends in you all.

 I'll finish off with a quote from the fabulous Helen Hartman in her latest blog post, as I think she sums up a little new year thought beautifully, "Be Bold Enough to Be YOURSELF. Embrace the flaws you know you aren’t going to change and let go of the things that have held you back, starting with the resolutions you know you wont be keeping" Check out Helen's blog Here:
 
Have a fabulous New Year all :o)


Big Love