Projects a go go

Sun is shining which means I can get outside and start doing up the items I've bought to make over. I have also acquired a couple more items this week in need of some TLC. The first was found in the Charity Shop window:

Boat shelving units - ideal for my little boys Pirate/Nautical Nursery. These are going to be painted blue and white. I sanded them yesterday so they will be painted shortly (fingers crossed). They cost £5.99 for the pair which I think was pretty cheap :o)

I also went to the tip with my recycling and came home with these two sorry looking chairs (also used in the above photo):

They only wanted £2 for each chair so of course I couldn't pass that up.  One has already been sanded ready for painting and the other is still looking rather sad in the shed.  Now just need to decide what colour to paint them - any ideas? I'm thinking maybe a Teal or peacock blue?

On the way home I popped into Homebase to get some paint to use on the boat shelves and would you believe that I even found that on the bargain shelves:

The Dulux cream/white one is hand mixed and was reduced down from £32.99 to £10.00 - the person it was mixed for obviously changed my mind - I'd like to thank them :o) The Fired Earth was reduced from £16.73 to £8.35 and was the baby blue colour I was after.  Thank you Mr Homebase.

Do you remember my Suit stand or as my bloggy friends from across the water call it a Valet:

Well finally got that shabby chic staple 'white paint' on it and its now ready to be fully accessorised for my bedroom:

I've started adding my vintage necklaces to it but I'm sure once I'm finished you probably wont be able to see the stand  *wink*.

So Scarlett does furniture tweaking as well as hanging around charity shops and car boot sales - who'd have thought it!  Although by the time I've painted all these new bits I'll probably be sick of it and will not want to paint another item for a while.

If you haven't checked out my giveaway click here or the button on the side bar :o)

Scarlett x

Linking to thrifty-thursdays , transformation thursday , thrilling-thursday and thrifty-thursday

100 Follower Giveaway

The day has come to do my first giveaway in honour of all you lovelies that read and comment on my blog, I'm actually shocked that my little shopaholic/thrifting/tat buying piece of cyberspace has gained this many followers, I'm pleased to say that I've made some fabulous bloggy friends and I hope to make many more (if you put up with my humour and rambles).  OK enough of the gushing speech, I'm sure you all want to know whats up for grabs :o)

In honour of Elvis (there has be a serious lack of the king on here which needs to be amended), I've named each prize bundle after one of his tunes.

Prize Bundle 1 -  The Wonder of You:

Consists of a cupcake printed Tea cup and saucer, cupcake pencil case and of course a cupcake rubber (eraser for my friends across the pond).  Its aptly named the wonder of you as cupcakes are the only thing I can bake and my husband looks in wonder every time I manage to make a batch (very rare occurrence you see) lol . And my regular followers know my love of tea cups :o)

Prize Bundle 2: Return to Sender

Included is: Vintage postcard (hence return to sender), Yellow vintage beaded necklace, vintage inspired sparkly hair slides and embroidered mirror in organza bag. 

Prize Bundle 3 - Moody Blue:

This lot includes 2 Melamine little dishes printed with Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec french poster art, flower brooch,  polka dot Accessorize coin purse and a little bag of vintage buttons to get crafty with. Why Moody Blue - well i think Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec's art work is quite moody and there is some blue in the brooch - weak link? maybe lol.

So the Rules:
1) Got to be a follower
2) Post a comment to enter yourself into the draw, say which lot you would like to win and hey for a bit of fun also say what one item you'd love to find on a shopping trip  (not compulsory).
3) For an extra entry add this give-away to your blog and comment to let me know you done it so I can get another name in the hat for you.

Easy Peesy, names will be drawn from a vintage hat on the 10th April (by hubby so will be completely fair, i cant trust my 8 month old to not eat the names) and the winners announced soon after.  Good luck my lovelies.  If I get technical I may even be able to make a button for the give-away but don't hold you breath.

Scarlett x

Boot Sale Part 2 :o)

As promised my lovelies I'm posting the second half of my mammoth boot sale haul.  Thanks for all your lovely comments on the last post and to answer the question where I put it all, well we have a lot of in built storage in the house :o) I'm also replacing all the modern boring kitchen stuff with my vintage finds as I love that mismatched look.  I'm trying to clear as I go along via La Bay which funds my shopping habits lol.

So lets take a look at the new additions.  Well it seems that some one is sending me a sign, first the froggy murder print, then the wind in the willows hamper and now:

Yup old school Wind in the Willows book.  Love it, has a slight bit of water damage to the top of the dust cover but the book and illustrations are perfect. Looking forward to reading this to my son.  Plus it was only 50p :o)

On the subject of old books I bought this lot:

Basically bought the books because they look "pretty" in a true shabby chic way. I'm not going to pretend I have literary prowess - just like the covers *wink*  I'm also a sentimental fool and the 'little men book' has this inside:

A February birthday girl in 1950. I also got this fabulous kids book by Mr Jungle book (and Nobel Prize winner) himself:

This little gem was published in 1948.  Amazing its still in such great condition.  All these books cost me 20p each *grin*.

The next item I bought caused a massive argument between the stall holders. I saw this vintage trinket jar (with mirrored lid) and perfume bottles (complete with stoppers -eeeee!):

I went in for the grab before anyone else spied them and asked the young guy on the stall how much for the set, he said £2. Well I tried to keep cool but inside I was squealing.  His mother then called him to the front on the van and they started having a heated discussion while pointing at the set. I had my £2 coin in my hot little hand just wanting to pay and run but was looking like I wasn't getting these for £2.  The guy then came back and said "my mother wants a lot more for them but as I've said £2 you can have them for that". Well the coin was in his hand like lightening and I was busy stuffing these into one of the pillow cases (aka swag bag) I bought.  The mother then came strutting over and I was like 'run run run' so I grabbed my bags and as I was darting off I heard the young guy say "well that will teach you for selling my stuff too cheap, now we're even"  eek! I wouldn't want to be in their house that evening sheesh!

But I don't feel so guilty now every time I look at them - hehehe (yup my ruthless side has shown its face) at at least meany momma can be safe in the knowledge they've gone to a good home.

I also got 5 jars which are now storing my buttons, I've only photographed 3:

They were 10p each :o)
Now what you've all be waiting for ....

Witnessed At A Boot Sale

I see so many crazy and amusing things at the booty that it would be rude not to share.

The boot sale I go to has its regulars (me being one of them) but the most noticed of us is a lady who rides a mobility scooter complete with African Grey Parrot. I kid you not the parrot hangs onto her keys and takes the whole boot sale in his stride.  I was behind her on a tricky narrow bit full of people and the parrot said "A bit of a Squeeze" and she didn't pat an eyelid just replied "yes it is" - me and the lady beside me were open mouthed in amazement - clever little bird!  I wonder if  knows how to haggle - who's going to say no to a parrot wanting a bit of chintz for a knock down price.

The second happening which amused me greatly was an eastern European lady looking at a box of breast pads:
Lady- "have they been opened?"
Stall holder - "no they are brand new"
Lady -  "oh I'll leave them then"

The last thing that made me chuckle was a grown man sniffing a handbag - getting a proper eyes closed lung full of sweaty plastic. I think he was using the guise that he was checking for leather but I think that bag just made his day...

Well done to those that got to the end of this post lol.  I've also seen today that I've reached that magic 100 followers, thank you all and I am in awe that you all read my blog!  I'm off to sort out a giveaway so watch this space as will announce it in a few days.

Scarlett x

Linking to : nifty-thrifty-tuesdays , twice-owned-tuesday and junkin-finds-friday

Boot Sale Buys

Yesterdays Boot Sale was amazing, it was so full they had to stop letting sellers in as there was no room. The other plus is that it starts at 11am so no early starts to get the goodies.  There was so many people however that I didn't get a good look at all the stalls but I've seen some on the stall holders week in week out so I know if they have the kind of items I want to look at.  So lets get started on my finds.

First off a set of 4 Cherry B vintage glasses:

I've seen these go for upwards of £10 on ebay so pleased to bag a set of 4 for £1. 

Still on the theme of glasses:

They have a gilt edge and I'm guessing that they are 1950's but i could be wrong, i couldn't find anything like them on my google search. I found the set of 5 in a grubby box under the stall and I got them for £2.  I didn't even haggle as thought that was a fab price.

Next up retro orange juice jug:

Yes another Jug but I've wanted one of these vintage glass juice jugs for ages!  Just need to open a  B&B now with all my jugs, Pyrex and bedspreads. I got this from a collectors stall so I was expecting him to put a hefty price on it but I got it for £1 - result!

Next purchase was this vintage apron:

                                              

I especially like 'A cock Bird on Gorse' and i must admit the Yellow Hammer male is indeed a handsome bird , haha they just don't make them like they used to *wink*. Cost me 30p, cant argue with that.

I also bought the next three items from the same stall:

Vintage mirror compact.

Pack of two self sticking boarders - will find something crafty to do with these:

A Royal Doulton milk jug:

And guess what - they were all 30p each too.  I'm not sure the stall holder was completely with it or was handling stolen goods as the doulton jug alone is worth loads more.  It was a pay and run moment. :o)

Painted apple basket with foldable handle - £1. I dont know how I ever lived without an apple basket before lol.

Cath K-esque double duvet cover and two pillow cases - £2.

Two union Jack scarfs - ideal for the royal wedding :o)  Bargain for 50p each and the silk one will make an ideal head scarf for my land girl look.

Well thats enough bargains (or tat depending on your likes lol) but I did buy more...oh yes... but I'm sure you all need a break from the computer screen after this post so I'll add them to my next post, and I'll be adding the new feature 'Witnessed at a Boots Sale' - exciting huh!  Dont get eye strain now ;o)

Happy Monday All

Scarlett x

Linking to thrift-share-monday , debbie-debbiedoos Newbie party and magpie-monday

Mr Maturity

Had a fab sunny day out at Marwell Zoo yesterday, seems everyone else had the same idea and the queues to get in were huge.  I left my husband with my camera for a bit to take some pictures of the animals and my son but when I plugged the camera into the computer the only photo he took was:

He's still chuckling now. Yes I live with Mr Maturity. I think he'll still be like this when he's 80!

Hey ho, I'm off to the late start Boot Sale - wish me bargain hunting luck.

Scarlett x

Pyrex and Glass

I was going to name the post Scarlett loves Pot but those not reading the post may mistake what I'm about lol.  

When I was young I collected two things: rubbers (or erasers to clarify for those dirty minds among us lol) and tins. I used to go to the boot sales with my dad loaded with my weekly pocket money and I would buy old tins. I've always loved items I can put stuff in, or hide treasures from my big brother.  My tin collection was massive and took up all the shelves in my bedroom.  When I turned into a teenager, in the quest to get "cool" all my tins were given to the charity shop. I wish I'd had the foresight to have kept those tins as I'm sure I would have had some really quite valuable ones now - always the way hey.

So from my previous buys you've probably seen my love of pots, tins, baskets and pretty much anything I can put  my tat treasure in. No surprise then on my buys from yesterdays charity shop visits:

First off is an Italian glass trinket dish:

Reduced from £1.99 to 99p - the previous date on the sticker was 3rd December 2010 so its taken them a while to reduce it!

Another trinket pot:

This is hand cross-stitched and came with a little card inside:

I'll be having to thank Patricia A. Gale for her handy work.  Bet she would be annoyed to know it was sold on in a charity shop for £1.49 :o)

A little glass Avon jar which came complete in its original packaging:

The box is dated 1988 and has probably been hidden away with the shoulder pads and ra ra skirts.  Its a very sweet jar though and of course will be filled with odds and sods soon enough. This was also on the sale shelf for 50p.

The next buy was a Cath Kidston print-a-likey by Whittards:

The lid doesn't fit the cup very well so i think the tea pot that matched must have got broken and they then thought they would be inventive and use the lid on the mug. It was £1 so i had to take this little odd ball home.

The last buy of the day was found right at the back of the shelf:

A Chelsea flower print Pyrex casserole dish! You know i love Pyrex and this little vintage gem was 70p - sorry for the crap picture (even the green coding sticker still on it lol).

Have a fabulous weekend my lovelies

Scarlett x

Linking up to the fabulous: a la carte - junkin-finds-friday



Happy St Patrick's Day

I decided to have a house cleaning day yesterday (yes it bores me to hell but needs must).  My day however was brightened by a knock on the front door, I opened it to find a dread-locked guy wearing a charity tabard type vest and a clip board. He asked me if I gave to charity....hahaha - I considered going all diva and giving him my blog address but in the end I just smiled and said "yes I do, would you like to see my charity tea cup collection", well the poor fella looked like I has just tried to lure him to his doom , "err ok thanks for your time" and ran off down the path. He he - if ever in doubt act crazy!  Made me smile for the day.

Would like to wish everyone a Happy St Patrick's Day

I will be celebrating with the Irish Half of my family :o)

Scarlett x