#MagpieMonday - it's car boot sale season again!

I am celebrating the first carboot sale I have attended this year with a sneaky little Magpie Monday post.

Car boot sales are possibly the only party where 'fashionably late' basically means 'you missed all the best stuff' although it can also mean that people are happy to part with what is left for much less just so they don't have to take it home again!

For the first time I gave Roo his own money to spend, with the warning that he could spend his £2 on anything he wanted but that included cake or ice cream - no extra sweeties from mummy or Nonny today! Fair play to him he purchased a jigsaw for 10p, a book for his Thomas the Tank Engine collection (yes, a budding collector already!) for 20p and Jolly Phonics work book for 10p. 50p went on a strawberry cupcake, leaving him with £1.10 to spend. Then he spotted the ice cream van...

"Mummy, can I have an ice cream?"  "If you want, but it has to come out of your money."  "Ok, I will have a look at these tables first - ooo look can I have this colouring set?"  "If that's what you want. But you won't be able to have an ice cream too..."  "ok"

And that was it. Not a flicker as we walked back past the ice cream van. Not even an attempt to persuade Nonny to by him one.   I was very proud of him!

Anyway - most of the booters were packing up as we strolled around but I did manage to get a couple of bargains...

First up is this adorable little milk jug from the iconic 40's and 50's Wood's Ware 'Beryl' range. I have seen this for sale in pristeen condition for as much as £12. On ebay they fetch around a fiver. This one has a little tiny chip on it which probably renders it nearly worthless but at 50p I am not going to grumble! I will be looking our for other pieces though as I LOVE the colour and the cute curviness of it.

My second bargain of the day was this lovely little carousel tin - it's not especially old (the best before date for the toffees it once contained was May 2005) and it is pretty beaten up but the colours are just fabulous and becasue of it's state it actually looks a lot older than it is. Which is kinda cool.

So how much? 10p. Ten whole pence. I couldn't possibly not have it :-)

I have to keep this post short and sweet as I am supposed to be sorting out my conservatory to make room for a most wonderful find that any self-respecting Magpie would be proud of. It is heading my way very soon so I must get cracking!

Go and have a look at what all my fellow magpies have been gathering this week on Missie Lizzie's blog, Me and My Shadow .

Magpie Monday - Clearing out the cellar

It's been a while since my last Magpie Monday post but I have had a bumper crop of finds this week so I thought it would be nice to share.

On Saturday we went over to the Shambles in Newent - it was a bit sad as after our three year lease ended last September we decided to close the motorbike shop and concentrate on the original premises in Coleford. The cellar beneath the shop had accrued all sorts of junk and needed clearing and the landlord had given us some grace as it was a lot of work but it was time to take the bull by the horns and finish the job . . .

But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining, and we uncovered some little gems leftover from the building's previous incarnation as a 'Museum of Victorian Life' hiding underneath the junk just begging for some love!

Check out this beauty!  It needs a damn good clean, maybe a coat of paint (i'm thinking white or maybe pale green) and a new top but it would have been skipped had I not grabbed it! I have no idea how old it is - I know a lot of the 'Victoriana' in the museum was made for the museum and 'aged' - but quite frankly I don't care! I love all the little details and I can't wait to turn it into the conversation piece it deserves to be.

   I also found a wooden curtain pole with lovely ornate finials and these giant brass curtain rings. One of the finials and the pole itself were split so I rescued the other finial to add to my collection of 'interesting wooden things' (yes, really) 

I really don't know what to do with the curtain rings - they could make a very impressive bangle stack!

Also I came across a number of bevelled mirrors. Unfortunately most of them were cracked or badly chipped but I did manage to salvage this one. (Please ignore me/yucky conservatory roof - ooo look, cute kitten! )  It's quite large and I haven't decided where it's actually going to go. I suspect it may be too heavy for our rubbish plasterboard internal walls which narrows possible hanging places down a bit. I'll let you know on that one.

But that's not all. My local hospice charity shop turned a couple of absolute bargains this week.

A lovely grey wool skirt off the £1 rail. Not for wearing but lots of gorgeous pure wool fabric to play with. I am thinking lavender hearts and birds with prety pastel ribbon and mother of pearl button trim (keep an eye on my Folksy shop if you like the sound of that!)  Maybe a bag and purse and, if there is enough a hat for the Little Man.

opaque white vase/bowl/goblet/Holy Grail type thingy

This was 25p. That's right. 25p. It had to come home with me. I have no idea what it's actual purpose is but I'm absolutely sure it will get used as a prop in my product photos . . .

 (if anyone actually does know what it's true purpose is, please tell)

linking up with Missie Lizzie's Magpie Monday

#MagpieMonday - Crafty things and Iconic Crockery

It's been a long time since I did a Magpie Monday post! Last week me and the LM had to go into town to do some banking.
As we have been doing a lot of clearing out lately we took a bag of things to donate and took some time to amble around our three charity shops in town...





Look what I found....

A bag full of dinky white wooden curtain rings. I have used larger wooden curtain rings in my craft projects before. These mini ones are very sweet and just begging to be repurposed! I have a great project to share with you at a later date.  Plus they only cost £1.50 for a bag of 40!!!

I love this vintage (1977) pattern book. Norweave orginated, as you might expect, in Norway and is a form of counted tapestry worked on canvas with wool and was very popular in the 70's and early 80's. This book is filled with adaptations of traditional designs (although, to be fair I think they are more 70's retro glamour than traditional Norwegian folk design!)in beautiful bright colours. I haven't done any tapestry work for a while and I really like a couple of the designs in this book  So I will be on the look out for some suitable tapestry canvas and wools for stitching! Might be a nice winter evening project.

love the vibrant colours of this cushion!

 I also found this lovely set of red wooden 4mm double pointed needles for 65p - they are longer length ones so are perfect for knitting cosy hats in the round.  Another winter project!

And finally, my most interesting item. I found this plate for £1.00 in our local Hospice shop. I loved the colours and pattern. I knew it was pretty old - I guessed mid-60's - and couldn't wait to get it home and do a little research!
Turns out it's an early pattern from Kathie Winkle for Broadhurst. "Tyne" was one of her first designs for Broadhurst c.1961. Unlike some of her more collectible designs I didn't manage to find that many examples around the internet so I guess it's not one of her most popular! Clearly influenced by Art Deco styling these items had the basic black pattern stamped on before the colours (in this case lovely pale blue and lemon) were added by hand.



One website warned

As Kathie Winkle is made more notable for being one of the first in-house designers to receive credit on the back stamp, it is important to beware of imitations

But further research discovered that Broadhurst did not introduce her name on the back until c.1964, after 'Tyne' was first released.  So I could have a genuine early piece from an iconic 60's designer or just a copy.


Either way I love it!




Have you found any great bargains or hidden gems in your local charity shops lately? Why not link up with the lovely Lizzie at Me and My Shadow and her Magpie Monday linky?

Silent Sunday explained...

Thank for all your lovely comments on yesterday's Silent Sunday post
So now, for all of you who enquired I will expand a little...
The OH has a shop in the market town of Newent, Gloucestershire. It's quite a large space with high street frontage that stretches back into the courtyard of the Old Shambles Village, a former museum of Victoriana now being redeveloped into a 'retail village' dedicated to small local business and particularly arts, crafts and gifts. He has created a unit at the back of the shop that opens onto the Shambles courtyard and there are also two units upstairs that would make perfect shops/studios for the right person...
The whole complex is a mish mash of original 'old' buildings and newer 'vintage styled' additions built using reclaimed  original features to create an authentic look. One of the upstairs units used to be a part of the main 'on the high street' house but at some point in the past it has been blocked off from the rest. A vintage conservatory has been tacked on to the back of this space to create a really nice, airy room that would make a fabulous interiors or antiques/curiosity shop...

 I suspect that, whilst the panels are all original they may not have all been together and have, rather, been collected and added to the conservatory as replacement glass panes. Thay are not in the best condition as I am sure any stained glass worker could tell you (yes, DiomoGlass, I am looking at you!!!) but they are a very pretty and unexpected find, hidden away where they are not even visable from ground level.
A proper 'Magpie' find I think you'll agree...

ps - if you know anyone who may be interested in renting this space please message me :)

#MagpieMonday - My FREE Kitchen

Haven't done a Magpie Monday post for a few weeks but this week I became the ultimate magpie and managed to pick up a whole new look for my kitchen - FOR FREE!!!!
I came home from shopping the other day to see a couple of cupboard doors lying on my neighbours lawn.
I knew she had the same original fitted kitchen in her house as I had in mine except hers was a nice pale beech effect whilst mine was a dingy silver grey. I have hated it ever since we first moved in.
The cupboards themselves are sound and sturdy so there was no justification to replace the whole lot (even if we could have afforded to). The hinge on the corner cupboard broke off about 2 years ago and that door has been propped up against the gap ever since (I know, I know - I don't know how I put up with that for so long either!)  I even began painting over them but as ever it was a spur of the moment thing that I started but never finished...
So I wasted no time knocking on her door - well sometimes you have got to take the bull by the horns and I am not proud...
'So are you getting a new kitchen then?'
'Yes' says neighbour, with a grin.
'What are you going to do with the old one? If you're just going to get rid of it would you mind if I nabbed the doors?'  Not a problem, says my (lovely) neighbour. She even tells me to add the old ones to her pile of rubbish and she'll get rid of them for me!

Now there were a couple of snags - the main one being that her kitchen is the mirror image of mine - this means that I had to swap all the hinges around and now all my cupboards open on the opposite side to previously which is going to take a little getting used to. The only one I couldn't do this with was the the narrow wall cupboard in the corner so I had to put the door on upside down with the handle at the top. As this is used as the medicine cupboard it's not the end of the world  - there's no way the Little Man will be able to reach it to open it - even I have to stand on tiptoes!

The little panel that goes under the sink needs the brackets refitted - the holes are just a few millimeters out and  the panel that sits under the cooker is missing coz next door had a free standing cooker not a fitted one - but that's nothing a bit of cream gloss can't sort out.

I think you'll agree the finished result is a massive improvement!

And yes, I did it all myself!!

Now all I need to do is paint over the 'sunny' yellow (what was I thinking?) with a nice country cream and source some new flooring from somewhere. Then maybe, as I have saved so much on the kitchen I might add a few new accessories - from the charity shops of course.

#MagpieMonday Lickle duckie...

Already on the look out for a bargain...



Car boot sales. Well what can I say - One man's trash is another man's..er..trash also. Really not a huge amount of treasure to be found at our local - and very popular - car boot sale yesterday. The glorious weather brought the punters out in droves and I bet the ice-cream man made a killing!

I did manage to pick up a couple of bargains though. £3 for a car booster seat for the little man who is rapidly out growing his infant car seat and a couple of nice plants for the garden.

And then there was this little chappy - nestled in amongst some random plates and jars...

Looking a little forlorn and unloved - although judging by the state of him he had been well loved at some point. His paint is chipped but he is smooth to touch from years of little hands pushing him across the floor.  He is obviously old (they haven't made toys like this for a long time) but there are no clues to it's history. Riley wanted him. I wanted him. The owner was happy to part with him. And the price? I hear you say.... 30p.  Yup, you read that right. 30p!!!   That was pocket money when I was a kid, you can't even buy a packet of jelly tots for that now!

Riley's happy. I'm happy. And I think Lickle Duckie is happy too :)

Why not hop along to Liz's blog and check out all the other treasures found this week...

Magpie Monday - Nice Jug :)

I found this lovely jug in the Newent Association for the Disabled charity shop in Newent, Glos, and just had o share it with you. It cost me a whole £1! (Yes, I am feeling a bit smug...) The glaze is a bit crackled but there are no chips or cracks in the jug itself.

I love the clean simple lines of this gorgeous jug and I can't wait to fill it with some homemade lemonade in the summer although I reckon it would look fab filled with flowers from the garden too.

Click on the button below to check out some other lovely finds...



Reuse, reclaim, recycle...