I got some lovely gifts this Christmas, and was so delighted by the thought that had gone into them all, these are my very favourites...
(It’s no secret books are always the way to my heart)
I finally have The Carrie Diaries, one I’ve been lusting after all year, and I also got Jacqueline Wilson’s latest The Longest Whale Song. Because I am forever enchanted by her storytelling.
I also recieved a beautiful children’s classic in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
A favourite of mine, Kirstie’s Homemade Home book to go alongside the series, filled with every craft a girl could want for.
From fiction to cookery, I have three new cookbooks, which is always going to make me a happy girl, lets be honest.
I am probably the last girly to jump on the Hummingbird bandwagon, I also was given a Sweet Treats book of delights.
My little infatuation with Sophie Dahl has been filled with her novel and cookbook...
Gifts from my Mum always have a tale behind them...
The thing I love about my Mum is that she knows my style exactly. She knows what I like and what I don’t. And the above is a perfect example of it.
It’s a lovely hand/arm warmer, complete with inside pockets for money, phone etc. This screams out for use at 2011 car boots and antique fairs.
She also sneakily managed to get me this Royal Doulton Christmas plate, from 1977. I say sneakily because I was with her the day we first saw it in the Charity Shop window. I was amazed by its pristine condition and thrilled with its original packaging but I had no money on me. My Mum went back the very next, and got it for me.
The Mr got me one of these...a Harajuku perfume from the Wicked Style range, and I said I wasn’t going to collect these ones! She is so cute...
♥
The Thrift Book Live well and spend less
You may know of my knack of finding bargain books in Poundland, well this one pretty much sums the whole thing up perfectly.
I simply nipped in for a nosy at the Christmas decorations and came out with another wonderful book. Yes. Another one.
I knew instantly I was going to buy this book, in fact I didn’t even read the blurb on the back nor did I flick through any of the pages. This book was at the till before I knew it.
The title was all I needed, and the adorable cover was an instant hit too.
I am by far impressed, many of tips I may have already come across, but there are plenty I haven’t. I do love hearing other people’s perspectives on the matter too, so this is rather great. Sewing, baking, thrifting, just a few of my favourite things.
The layout and illustrations are also very pretty too.
The rrp on this book is £14.99.
I don’t think I could have found a more suitable way to spend my modest pound coin.
As much as I spend my life tracking down second-hand treasures, I am not a girl who completely is devoted to nostalgia.
I have somewhat a guilty pleasure in the name of Ikea. Yes you heard me right, Ikea.
The shop and catalogue get me so excited, it’s probably because we don’t have one locally, so when we do go it’s always a bit of a treat.
In my mind I hate the idea of a flat pack home, but like many things it’s not all as it seems. Behind the big bold yellow brand name, there are believe me hidden treasures.
For example, these cushions that have lasted me for nearly 5years. And I still love them as much as I did when I first bought them. I got them both for less than £10 and they never fail to brighten up a room. I know the embroidery is completely after my own heart.
Just browsing through these catalogues gives me enough inspiration, particularly the way they cleverly store things. I am obsessed with storage; I like things being neat but also like them being nice to look at.
Please can I have a bookshelf like this one?
Or a sink like this pretty please?
These star shaped fairy lights were £2, and are battery powered; they’ve sneakily snuck themselves into the living room for over the Christmas period, but will probably find a more permanent home in my craft room.
I also love the bargain corner. Well the name says it all. We picked up some *mystery* items recently and I am spilling with excitement. More will be disclosed on a later date.
So apart from wanting to dive into the catalogue literally, I must say I am smitten with Ikea.
I found this unusual treasure on eBay a few weeks ago. In one of those hopeless searches where you don’t really know what you are looking for, until you have found it.
The cover swayed me almost instantly, I was completely intrigued. It was first published in 1955 and it seems to have belonged to a few people along the way, I noticed inside it has different prices written in pencil.
As soon as it arrived, I was smitten, the cover is stunning and the book has a beautiful layout. I particularly love the quirky illustrations and notes, referring to the Queen of Hearts.
There are a few unusual recipes, and a few I think I’m going to give a go. I must admit this is as much a nostalgia item for me to enjoy, as it is a practical item for me to use.
The thing you never know with eBay is whether you are actually going to win the said item, it was listed at 25p to start, but I knew it would realistically sell for more. In the end I managed to get it for £2.20 (plus £1 for the postage)
Not bad considering it is not your everyday cookbook.
♥
I write a lot of thoughts, but often keep them to myself, but this was on my mind today...
[From my beloved scrapbook]
I didn’t have a boyfriend until I was 19. If I could go back now and tell myself: It’s okay, you don’t need a boyfriend to be cool, and he will come when the time is ready. Then believe me I would scream it from the rooftops.
I fell into such a confused place when I was a teenager, a place that will always probably be the unhappiest in my life. Yet I can admit to myself now, if I had thought about things in a different light, maybe it could have been different for me.
At school it was apparent that the ‘popular’ girls had boyfriends, usually older than them. I never really saw those girls as the same person as me, they were pretty, clever and had ‘in my eyes’ everything. So I guess I was used to being the one who didn’t have a boyfriend.
The time it hurt me most was right at the end of Year 11, when Prom was announced. Not one boy suggested or asked me to be their date. (Do I blame them? No because they probably already had dates with their then girlfriends)
Needless to say I never got a Prom night.
At college, things changed. It wasn’t a petty playground anymore; it was a lot more of a grown up environment.
I admittedly was dressed to kill (in the worst sort of way) for the first three weeks of college I wore nothing but black and swung around my artificially coloured red and black hair. It wasn’t the best first impression; I can look back and say that now. I might as well have turned up with a ‘keep away’ sign around my neck.
Appearance can be one thing. But peer pressure is another.
I wasn’t bullied for not having a boyfriend, but what I found to be much worse, I was left out.
I saw it all around me constantly boy and girl hand in hand, it got to the point where I once counted the amount of people in my Sociology class (instead of learning about erm...Social relationships) who ‘had’ a boyfriend and would always put myself at the bottom of the pile when it came to attractiveness. Now for a 17 year old girl, this was a huge strain on my shoulders.
Things declined dramatically when I then went onto my second college. Now it was an environment of ‘typical girly girls’ who constantly wanted to talk about their boyfriends. From an outside point of view you could say I was jealous. Of course I was.
They would arrive on Monday morning with all these tales of romance and candle-lit dinners. When all I had to show for my weekend was the X-Factor and a trip to Tesco with my Mum.
I hated every single minute of being in that class, purely because I let it get to me.
Friendships tend to be a difficult path to go down too. When you are so close to someone so much so you think that they will always be in your life, it can give you a shock when they meet a boy and you don’t see them again for the rest of the summer. I have lost friendships because of this. Lets face it it’s always going to get a little ‘bitchy’ when it comes to two girls chasing the same boy. Its funny how one boy can ruin a whole friendship that you thought was built on trust and loyalty. But again you live and learn.
If I had known I would meet the love of my life in the February after leaving college, then all this could have been a little more bearable. Unfortunately no one has a crystal ball, and all those fears and anxiety I had about turning into Bridget Jones, as daft as it sounds were real. And I lived through it.
If this post has any significance at all, I hope it just reassures you. The one thing I wanted for so many years I couldn’t have, yet when I wasn’t looking for it, it arrived.
x
Almost as charming and enticing as a cake, here we have (part of) my ridiculous collection of junk taking over a recently acquired vintage glass cake stand. When I say junk, I mean broken bits and lost pieces. Nothing remotely is in order, and a lot of it has almost morphed together, I am one those people who regretfully lets chains get tangled up and take a lifetime to unravel.
I have always clung onto anything remotely nostalgic, purely because I can’t find it in my heart to part with it.
I think there’s something quite alluring about a box full of charms. I have always wondered what I could do with all of these bits and pieces.
I have too many books. When I said 'the bookshelf is full… no more'. I didn’t really stick to that. So you might be wondering where I keep all my books…the bookshelf downstairs in our living room is the home of all my grown up books (well technically speaking).
As for my children’s books that’s a whole other story, which starts right here...
I have had this bookshelf in my life for as long as I can remember, it has homed many of my endless collections from my childhood to my teenage years.
Here it is seen with a cringe worthy me (and Barbie) at six-years old.
So realising I now have too many children’s books to be able to stack up and look elegant, I decided to invest in a bookshelf for my craft room.
Invest obviously for me means re-use. So once again this bookshelf is back in my life. Which is kind of reminiscent, as it’s something that has always been in my family.
Despite the arctic conditions, I have given it a little make-over in my favourite duck egg blue to match my pound chair. I was in two minds about it, because of it being such a loved item, but I honestly think it’s given it a whole new life.
Before:
During:
After:
Here it is filled with all my delights; I've added a few of my second hand treasures, and keepsakes along with all my favourite children's books.
I now have a place to home my ever growing Beatrix Potter collection, and wonderfully old Ladybird books. I didn’t want to clutter it up with too much stuff, so I have kept it fairly simple, leaving plenty of room for new treasures.
This is a Celia Birtwell photo wallet with all my favourite childhood snaps in.
You might be able to spot some of my favourite Disney classics on here.
You might think I’m a little too old for Peter Rabbit & co, but this is me, I love illustrations and I love delving into another world. Hopefully one day I will be able to pass this collection on to someone else ♥
Its funny how buying something second-hand almost certainly guarantee’s you a tale behind the piece (one that you will probably never know) but still it’s quite lovely to know it has a history of some kind.
I’ve been rummaging through my drawers; in hope of actually clearing out a few things, but instead of course just uncovered a few things I had forgotten about.
All of these items came from the same place:
The flea market.
If the word ‘flea’ doesn’t scare you off, I’m sure you could be a little freaked out by the place being populated by older overweight men who are trying to haggle down a bargain or two.
But fear not, the beauty of a flea market is that it is often literally ‘tat’
Unlike a charity shop, where everything is cautiously inspected and checked by staff before it goes onto the shop floor, the flea market tends to sell straight from the box that was taken from a house clearance that very morning.
This porcelain face was one of my favourite 20p finds. That was until my brother half scared me to death and informed me it reminded him of the serial killer on an American television show (The infamous Carver from Nip/Tuck) but there’s something so glamorous about the startling red lipstick. This is one I will be hanging back up on the wall.
This Spell Book was one of my favourite finds as a teenager. I was the typical moody, borderline gothic, angry and frustrated soul we once all were, and what could cheer me up more than an old spell book. Belonging to a witch maybe?
I have always felt a sense of mystery towards this book, it’s probably not as old as you think, but it has certainly had some use, and that’s what attracted me. The cover is very worn and tattered, it’s of felt material.
The spells themselves are pretty harmless, and the pictures to go alongside are very quirky. I think I will always find something endearing about this book.
And finally a few key chains. The rainbow one was an instant hit, I loved the colours and art deco style of it. However the cat one is a little mysterious again. For one I did not actually purchase this. It was tucked inside the pocket of a 20p handbag I bought from the flea market.
It was an interesting find, because alongside a few used tissues, and crumpled papers, was this key ring almost abandoned. (I do find it a little strange when somebody who has chucked something away hasn’t checked inside the bag before hand)
I love cats, and it’s no secret I love a bit of kitsch. I don’t quite know if the cat is supposed to look unhappy, I just don’t know!
I am writing this thinking maybe, just maybe there’s one of you out there who can relate to me. Dear hope there is. Please be brave and speak up...
Well for as long as I can remember. I have the most peculiar habit of needing a certain said item, so much so I go to the most extreme lengths to get hold of it. And if by some very unfortunate circumstance I cannot get hold of it, which does happen from time to time. It still remains etched in my mind.
My first recollection of this is a Loop NYC boom box bag I got in a January sale, a good 6years ago. It was reduced to £10 in the House of Fraser, I purchased it in pink, but my Mum had bought me the same one in black, so we swapped and she returned the pink one, thinking black would be more versatile. Little than a week later I was regretting it. And I would often see people with this bag, and think is that the bag I gave up?
Well this story has a happy ending. I finally tracked this bag down on eBay some years later and can safely say it is the bag I always wanted. Do I use it? No, but my fifteen year old self loved this bag. Will I ever part with it? As crazy and stupid as it sounds, probably not.
Similarly I also retracked this Minnie Mouse H&M bag down after it had sold out in store. It was a children’s bag but that didn’t matter, nowadays it can be found hanging in my craft room stuffed with fabrics. So truth be told eBay can save the day.
[Image via Google]
The same situation can also arise due to no fault of ones own. For example I was in a Charity shop some years ago. Browsing the front display of bric a brac, little did I know a pair of original floral Dr Martens in my size (not that would have deterred me) were sitting at the bottom of the shop. By the time I arrived towards the counter I saw a woman with them in her hand, looking very pleased with herself paying a mere £5.99 (I painfully watched and sulked for at least two weeks after). I could have DIED. And still to this day, believe this would have been one of my greatest finds.
I may also add that any sort of charity shop, boot sale, thrifted experience can be a very competitive field. As more than likely only one item exists in that specific location and you are not the only person who may accidentally stumble across it. So be warned, get your claws out!
