Treats for me this week

Well my lovelies its time to share my finds from last week.

First I need to thank the wonderful Loo for sending me this awesome sugar skull felt brooch:

Its a beaut! I'm a total nut for sugar skulls.  It also came wrapped in a red hair scarf, which has also had an outing.  Thanks Loo, love them!

I found this vintage fruit bowl and dessert dishes at the boot sale:

They were a bargain for £1.50 the set and had come from the sellers late grandmother.

And yes I'm guilty of buying another one of these bad boys (number 4!):

Who'd have thought I'd find two Fortnum and Mason hampers in the last two weeks! This was haggled down to £4, the seller was a hard nut to crack ;o)

Bird tile coasters - £2.00 from the charity shop.

Now you know I love my kitsch-tastic deer, check out these two beauties:

Not one but TWO Hornsea Fauna deer double vases!  I've wanted some of these for ages but every time any come into the charity shops near me they put a stupid price tag on them. So I was excited to see them at the boot sale, they were however on a 'collectors' stall so I knew I wasn't going to get lucky with a cheap as chips price. I got my haggle hat on again and managed to sweet talk these down to £3 each.

Now its that time of the week for....

Witnessed at a Boot Sale

While queueing to get into the boot sale (yup we have to queue before 11am) the middle aged woman in front of me opened her purse to get her 50p entrance fee and out flew a tube of Canesten thrush cream.  Picking it up from the floor I heard her say to her mate "Ooh that reminds me to get another tube of this, I'll be 'aving to nip to the loo for a scratch".

A rusty old racing bicycle marked up at £200 - i don't know about you but I always carry £200 to the boot sale...

And my favourite stall of the day was a couple who had packed up all their crap into baskets and tried palming them off as "Hampers" for £8 a pop.  It will not surprise you that their stall was still full when I left.

That's all from me folks, will be doing my rounds catching up with you all so make sure you have the kettle on and a slice of cake waiting for me :o)

Big Love

Linking to nifty-thrifty-tuesday

Back to the booty

After a couple of weeks without my boot sale fix I was starting to get twitchy so it was only right that I headed off to the boot sale this morning.  I don't think I was alone in this thought as every man and his dog turned up today, it was bedlam!

Now I'm trying to be a bit more 'selective' in what I'm bringing home as I need to begin the declutterthon so we can get out house on the market, i cant say its been easy but today I was very restrained and only purchased a couple of bits:

Large silver plated candle sticks. I'm been after some of these for a while as I love big church candles and these are the perfect size for them. I bagged them for £2 the pair.

 1960's First Aid tin. This comes complete with all its original unopened contents:

I love the '1963 shops, office and railway first aid instructions' in the lid too.  Obviously there weren't many accidents where this tin was kept!  All mine for £1.

Vintage glass sweet jar - 50p

Vintage vanity jar and candle sticks - £2 the set.

Needle craft trinket jar - 20p. This was such good value that I bought the lot:

Now to get my cross stitch mojo on and make some cute chrimbo gifts with these :o)

So that's my buys, what about a little:

Witnessed at a Boot Sale:

The booty I go to is not too far from an army town so there is a large Gurkha population which visit the boot sale. The Gurkha's are amazing at haggling, i should be taking notes from them as they get things for crazy prices. Today however one family took it a bit far by pulling out a blanket and setting up a stall at the end of a row of all the items they had just bought! Not only making a profit they also got away with not paying for a pitch!

I was also informed today that a Fisher Price castle was "Vintage" as it was from 1992, lol! I may be a year older tomorrow but now feeling positively ancient! ;o)

A Polish couple inspecting a king size bedspread. They decided to unravel it and stretch it out...they did this across the whole front of the sellers stall and then proceeded to have a heated conversation with bedspread stretched out. While they conversed no one could get a look at the stall and I could see the seller getting redder and redder as people kept walking by!  The couple then decided they didn't want the bedspread after all.

Hope you have all had a fabulous weekend, my chickadees :o)

Big Love

The toys are back in town

I'm a nostalgic 80s child.  If I see a toy from my childhood when I'm a thrifting then I find it very difficult not to take it home. Since having my son I find that he is a great excuse for buying these toys of my youth (even if they are way over his age group or toys which I hubby would cringe at him playing with).

The extra bonus of being "a grown up" is that I can now buy the items my parents refused buy.  One such toy I really wanted thanks to the advertisers was 'Rub-a-Dub Doggie'.  My mum refused to buy it for me, however my wait for this toy was over this weekend when I saw his cheeky face in a box at the boot sale:

Now he doesn't look like much but check out this 80's TV advert for this bath time buddy:

I thought this was amazing when I was was a nipper. I must admit nostalgia has got in the way and in reality he is just a plastic dog with a lever on the back which you move to shake his head - a pretty rubbish toy but nearly 30 years on my son loves him in the bath. Well worth the £1 I paid for the trip down memory lane and the sight of a 15 month old squealing with laughter in the tub.

While we are talking 80s toys hows about every budding designers dream toy:

Fashion wheel!  I used to adore this (yes mum and dad gave in to my demands on this one).  So hands up who also had one of these?

There was nothing better than rubbing the black crayon over the selected outfit creations and then colouring it in while trying to keep between the lines.

I would lose hours playing with this toy, just the cutting with the blunt safety sissors was time consuming enough.  My original fashion wheel was donated to a school fete when my love affair with it ended.  It was therefore only right to buy this boxes fashion wheel for £1 when I saw it at the booty...and yes its just as great as I remember.

Did you ever want a toy as a child that your parents would buy?

Big love to you all, and i'll be taking a trip round all your beautiful blogs

This week I bought....

Hello my lovelies, Sorry I havent been around much in blogland this week, life has got in the way and its been a busy week.  So for my favourite thing on Friday this week it will have to be car booting!  If you been following me for a while you know my love of the car boots for providing me with the treasures and tack that I adore.  Here is a couple of my buys from the booty last Sunday and I'll start with my favourite:

 I found these tack-tastic plastic flowers in amongst a table full of crap at the boot sale. I was even more excited when i spotted the plug attached to them. Yes ladies these plastic blooms light up...

Hehe I blooming adore them! Hubby hates them which makes me

love them all the more ;o)  My plastic fantastic flowers cost me £1 and the pink spotty jug was on the reduced shelf in Sainsburys reduced to £2.66.

 Brand new cross stitch kits - £1 each.

 Faux fur collar - 50p.

 Wool - £1 (I have bought myself a knitting loom which I will have to show you all in another post).

I did buy a few more booty bits but I haven't photographed them yet so hows about a couple of charity shop buys?

 We we driving through Kingston yesterday and I spied some charity shops. Never one to turn away from exploring new charity shop turf, I asked hubby to pull over so I could run into Oxfam.  Now I didnt have time to have a proper rummage but I did pick up two items:

Cookie Cutters (thanks to Lakota and her cookie cutter collection, I felt the urge to join in the biscuit making revolution).  These are a cute little set of Christmas, Easter, Halloween and valentines day metal cutters. I now just need to find a fool proof cookie recipe.  These cost £2.99 - thanks Oxfam.

I have also been getting into the festive mood. Very unlike me as I normally wait till after my birthday this month to start preparing but this year I have already started the crimbo shopping and so when I saw baubles I thought hell yes, going to have me some of those:

Having visited Waterford Crystal on my last visit to Ireland I knew how expensive these bad boys would be to buy.  So seeing these Waterford glass "12 days of Christmas limited edition holiday heirloom collection" baubles (try saying that after a couple of crimbo tipples), brand new in box for £4.99 I treated myself. I will however have to hang these towards the top of the tree to stop little hands pulling on them ;o)

So its bonfire weekend this weekend, what are you all doing for it?  We have a Mayors Fireworks display here but they have put the prices up so much that I think we might have to give it a miss and maybe gatecrash some ones firework party (or stand in my mums garden to watch them as she is right next to the park!).

What ever you are up to this weekend make sure you have a fabulous time.

Big Love

Linking to the fabulous mimi and tilly

Weekend buys

I had a great bargain hunting weekend with a jumble sale, boot sale and a tour round the charity shops, bliss!  I have however spent so much time out shopping that I haven't got around to taking pics of new new buys so thought I would share my boot sale buys from last weekend.

Enough chat, lets take a peek:

 Hand stitched lace work vintage vanity jar - 50p

 Floral table runner £1

 Vintage Windermere hair curlers complete in original box. If you want to take a peek inside:

there is only a couple left but still looks fab with all my vintage products on the bathroom shelf - £1 from an antique stall.

 Another hand stitched vintage vanity jar - this one still with powder inside (I have since cleaned it) - 50p

 Now I cant resist some kitsch big eyed deers and here is a couple of teenie ones - 20p each.

And while on kitsch hows about a 1950s donkey wearing a bow tie!  I seem to have collected a lot of animals with bow ties on. This cheeky chappy was 50p.

 Vintage handbag. I adore the deco styling to the clasp and its so dainty (which does not match me when I use it!)

 Found this in a box of crap under a table, the gold hooped girl running the stall turned her nose up at it and in turn I got it for a bargain price of 50p :o)).

How cute is this birdy bangle?  Not vintage but is got some charm, could resist for 30p.

And finally another little ornament, one in which I already own from my own childhood:

A 1956 Wade whimsies of Peg from 'Lady and The Tramp'.  I have a set of these which were given to me by my Nan so was thrilled to find another Peg at the booty.  Plus the seller only wanted 50p for her - eeeeee!!  Bargain! Guess what I saw in the charity shop window with this weekend.....

There's Peg with a £25 price tag - eek!  She is not alone either, all the whimsies in the window were marked at £25, crazy bananas!

Just time for a snippet of:

Witnessed at a Boot Sale

Lots of terrible parenting displays this weekend which were noted after hearing one stall holder scream at her 6/7 year old son to "F**K off for half an hour would you, I'm trying to sell my shit here"

Also seeing a girl of about 6 being left to man the car boot stall while her mum and boyfriend went to "get a burger, have a sit down and a fag".  I was hoping that the girl sold all their stuff for peanuts!

And finally a argument breaking out over a second hand pushchair, first lady didn't fancy paying £25 for it so was having 'a think', in the mean time another couple walk by and plonked their tot in the pushchair and start pushing it about.  They agreed to pay the £25 by which time lady 1 decided she wanted to have it.  She kicked up a stink saying she had seen in first, the couple saying they have got it as their child was in the buggy, and she was too late.  Bank notes were thrust towards the bemused seller with cries of "I had it first".  In the end the tot reigned champion and the seller took the couples money and they quickly bolted off with their son in his new chariot. Lady 1 continued to rant....

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and here's to a great week :o)

Big Love

Weekly round up

I'm a bit late with my weekend buys this week, although to be honest the boot sales were pretty rubbish, I'm hoping its not going to be a trend until boot sale season next year.  I did nip into a jumble sale on Saturday which was lacking on the vintage but I did come away with one little gem that no self respecting princess would be without....

 A musical carriage jewellery box! Isn't she fabulous?  There is a winder on the base and she plays Für Elise when you take off the lid

It even has working wheels, my son has had a bit of fun pushing it around the floor (before mum found out).  So what does a princess pay for her carriage these days?  Well 50p of course :o)

Although the booty was a bit lacking, I did pick up a couple of bits:

A 1950s Wonder ABC book which has the cutest illustrations:

 Would be ideal for framing but can I bring myself to take a book apart?

 I'm not sure I could so its staying intact for the time being. It was a bargain at 50p.

 Cant resist a bit of Elvis for 50p.

Large vintage crinoline lady hand embroidered table cloth - 50p.

Blue and white stripe Cornish table wear. I picked up two egg cups, a salt & pepper shaker and a sugar shaker from the same seller for £1 the lot! Cheap as chips. 

I cant leave this post without our weekly feature:

Witnessed at a boot sale

Two women walking along talking about their toddlers:
Lady 1 "He really is so well behaved, always sleeps through and is quite happy to play on his own"
Lady 2 "Yes Emma is the same, she is such a happy little girl, hardly ever complains, although she really did cry when I hit her with the broom"

Stall with a large cardboard sign saying "all reasonable offers accepted" but when one man offered 50p for a book his offer was refused.

And finally my main chuckle of the morning was seeing a large painting of a naked lady set up mid-stall. I smiled knowing that a few of the gentlemen there would appreciate seeing it on a Sunday morning. It was only when I looked up from the picture I discovered the woman in the painting was actually behind the stall! Got to hand it to her, I wouldn't have the balls to sell a butt naked picture of myself in a car park at 10 am on a Sunday morning!

That's all folks, hope you are all having a fabulous week.

Sunday Finds

Hello again my lovelies. How was every one's weekend?  Mine was a bit of a mixed bag. I had high expectations of bargain successes when I saw another jumble advertised in the paper for Saturday. I turned up (along with about 30 other people) to find that the hall was closed up and not a peep of jumble anywhere.  I did think it was a bit off doing this as a couple of frail ladies with walking frames had set out from their homes and walked all the way to the hall expecting a bit of bargain hunting and a cup of tea, they looked as disappointed as I did.

So it was up to the boot sale today to make up for Saturday. The sun was out and so were the cars of sellers but alas it was the same old rubbish from the last few weeks.  I only picked up a few bits so thought I'd show you them in with my buys from last week too.

So here's the booty:

 Stratton compact complete with original compact pouch - £2. The seller also had this compact:

 which she gave for for free when I said I collected them - bonus!

 I found this rather unusual loose powder compact in a pile of junk on a stall. It still has original powder inside so needs a bit of a clean up but it was 30p!! One of the cheapest I've found (except for the free one above).

Now for something that always finds me...

 ...vintage playing cards! I cant seem to stop buying them, my reasoning is that I will do something crafty with them in the future.

Look how great these vintage cars cards are. 

 I also found this vintage 'Counties of England' game. The pack seems to be all the southern counties and my nearest town in the pack being Reading.

And while showing card games - hows about happy families flower style!  Full of beautiful illustrations, however not sure the males in my household will be queueing up to play it.  All the card packs were 50p each and not all from the same seller, so the cards are certainly following me.

I rarely find smellies at my local boot sales, if i do they tend to be half used and crusty round the edges, but this little set was brand spanking new:

 Ideal travel size for throwing in a bag for a weekend away and at 50p it would have been rude not to buy this little set.

Now for a bit of glass:

 Lovely large glass bonbon dish.  Was covered in muck when I picked it out of the box but its cleaned up a treat.  Most impressed with this one and ideal for the Christmas sweet treats (yes I did just mention the 'C' word!).

While we are on the theme of edibles, hows about this vintage styled cheese dish:

I don't eat cheese myself (cant stand the taste of it) but live with a household of cheese eaters so this will be used over the festive buffet season.

Now a rockabilly girl loves her jeans and a belt is the finishing touch so I love this:

 Dragonfly belt buckle.  A complete bargain at 50p.

I also have an eye for the pretty little things:

 Vintage engraved pill pot.  I love the detail around the edge and on the base:

I found it on a rather antique looking stall which looked expensive so I was very surprised when they said they wanted 50p for it.

And for a bit of fun, I cant resist novelty plasters. Yes I am the person who will have a hello kitty plaster on her finger after a paper cut.  So I love these cowboy plasters:

 Yee haa! And yes they really are Texas size ;o).  The seller bought them back from America on her last holiday but never got round to using them. I know this to be a fact as when I got home and pulled the plasters out looking for the free cowboy toy....

....I found $6 in the bottom of the tin!  If you are interested the free toy was a miniature cowboy hat that had "choking hazard" written all over it ;o)

So that two weeks of boot sale finds, how about a bit of:

Witnessed at a Boot Sale

A stall full of manky soft toys all of which had their own cardboard label around their neck with their name on. As much as I felt sorry for Harold the balding orange monkey, and Randolf the felt tip pen marked horse, I was not going to pay £1 to put them out of their misery.

A stall full of Playboy merchandise manned by a rather orange 40 year old wearing a pink velor tracksuit with 'BABE' printed across her arse. I hate to say it but her stall was one of the most popular there.

Woman smoking a cigarette picks up a pair of shoes from a stall:

Buyer: "How much for these shoes"

Seller :"Fifty, they are new and come with their box"

Buyer: "50p?"

Seller: "err no £50, they are designer"

Buyer :"Who makes them then, the bloody queen?"

Seller: "No, they are by Irregular Choice"

Buyer: "Should be called "Bloody rip off choice!"

That's enough from me for today, well done if you got all the way to the end of this massive post!

Big love to you all

P.S If you haven't checked out my giveaway, there is still time to enter HERE.

Linking to flea-market-finds