the best little charity shop in the world

I might not have had a lot of time to blog lately, but I have managed to squeeze in a bit of thrifting time (seriously, I'd have to be unable to move completely to keep away from the charity shops), and had some huuuuge successes in my favourite spot of all time - the Salvation Army shop in Portsmouth.

I've been searching for absolutely aaaaaages for a vintage magazine rack, and when I saw this little beauty for a teeny tiny £4, I snapped it up sharpish. At the moment it's sitting in the corner of our lounge, holding several half-finished crochet projects and a jumper I've started to unravel - definitely a worthwhile buy.

I had a bit of pyrex luck as well - three of these lovely plates for a single English pound - and found the glass jug with orange flowers nestled among a load of dull tumblers. I always tend to umm and ahhh a bit over glassware - I just think unless it's got a really fantastic print on it, it's a bit blah. Plus, there are always sooooo many old Wilkinsons glasses and souvenir shot glasses to sift through before you get to the good stuff.

Yes, that is a chamberpot - basically, an old ceramic lav. I've got grand plans for the Spring (I'm thinking ahead - totally not a Winter person...), which include a marvelous display of flowers and shrubs planted in these little beauties. Look at the flowers! It fits right in with my hippy-natural-eco-self-sufficient style garden perfectly. Can. Not. Wait.

This little darling actually wasn't thrifted, but gifted - my Mother-In-Law gave me this amaaaaazing tailors dummy for absolutely nowt, nil, nada. It came packaged up in a bin bag, and I actually squealed when I unwrapped it (her? Should I name her? I quite like Tallulah...) - paisley is my absolute favourite print, along with retro florals, and any plans I had of dressing her up in my vintage dresses have been completely and utterly scuppered. How could I cover her up?!

Teaming up, as usual, with Missie Lizzie and all of the other magpies over on Magpie Monday. Come along and show us your wares!

strawberry fields

Good Lord, it's been three long weeks since I last had the chance to write a post, mostly because our three-year old has decided that bedtime is, like, soooo last year. Seriously, the little beggar hasn't been going to sleep until gone 9pm every night, which doesn't leave much time for, well, anything. Bah.

A couple of weeks ago, we went off to Petersfield market to buy our fruit and veg (more on that later) and took the scenic route home, through the winding roads and little villages nearby. The kiddos were asleep in the back of the car, the sun poured through the windows, and the radio played quietly in the background. Bliss.

It's times like these that remind me that actually, living where we do is pretty good. We're half an hour from a  superbly clean, sandy beach in one direction, the countryside in another, and surrounded by little shops and markets all over. We're not quite up there with London, but we don't do badly down on the South Coast, and I really and truly couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

Aaaaanyway, as we headed back towards home, we passed a sign that told us a PYO farm was up ahead - never one to miss a food related opportunity, we lurched round the corner and up the hill. The sight that greeted us was spectacular - rolling hills for as far as the eye could see, flanked by an abundence of leafy trees and topped by the deepest blue sky.

Rolling hills and rows of fruit bushes.

Durleigh Marsh Farm, on the Hampshire/ Sussex border, is immense. Fact. The landscape itself is beeeyootiful, and the staff are really friendly and helpful, particularly with fruit picking novices like myself. We ended up with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, and there was a small incident involving a spade and some rhubarb related confusion. Ahem. It was incredibly satisfying to watch our trugs slowly fill up, and to later on sit and munch our way through the haul - you can't get much fresher than 'picked that day' berries. Nom, nom, nom.

They also sold the most beautiful flowers and plants - check out those geraniums.

Strawberries, nom.

Well, if you insist.

Little blueberries for little hands.

It was so hot that I had to scrabble about in the car for something to cover up my bonce. Sunstroke is not a good look.....

Raspberries galore.

The other Scarecrow was wearing a GAP jumper. Enough to frighten anything away.

ship shape studio

I met Emily of Shipshape Studio a year or so ago on Twitter (the same way I've met tonnes of loverly peeps throughout my blogging time), and then bought a card from her at the Shalford Vintage Fair a few months later, waaaay back when she was working under the Handmade by Emily label. Since then, Shipshape Studio has been born, and now they've launched the online store as well. To celebrate, there's an online party that runs from 9am Thursday 9th August (yes, yes, I know it's tomorrow, but it does last for twelve hours...) until 9am the following day. Expect fun things aplenty - see you there!

on plain packaging

When I was sixteen, I smoked my first cigarette. It was one of the most stupid decisions I have ever made (and believe me, there have been plenty), and I went on to smoke off and on for the following ten years. I tried quitting heaps of times, but somehow it always seemed easier to just give in - it wasn't until we were trying to have Benjamin that I actually managed it. There was suddenly something that was much more appealing to me than spending ridiculous amounts of money to stick dried up leaves in my mouth and set fire to them.

I wish I'd never started. Thinking about the amount of money I wasted, the impact I would have had on the environment and the detrimental effect to my own health (even if you quit, you're still at an increased risk of cancer and other smoking related diseases) does my absolute box in, and I just pray that neither of my two ever decide to 'dabble' like I did. Children and young adults are, let's face it, easily influenced, which is why I'm forcefully backing the Plain Packaging campaign, which aims to make cigarette and tobacco packets far less attractive to young people. If locked in place, regulations would mean that all brands are forced to use the same typeface, in the same colour and size - not only would the whole thing be far less eyecatching, but the health warnings could take up a whopping 75% of the pack front. It's hard to ignore the facts when they're staring you straight in the face....

Protect our children. Visit the Plain Packaging Campaign for more information and to pledge your support.

jazzing it up, or 'a lesson on staple guns'

Being a (albeit slightly cautious) feminist, I like to think of myself as equal to the Husband in every way, including DIY and home improvements. I can paint, sand and prise wood off the wall with the best of them, and I'm pretty sure I could put up a shelf (I have this imaginary scenario where I'm wielding a power tool in one hand and cooking dinner with the other...). So when I decided I wanted to give our white IKEA (shhh, I know, I know, but we don't live somewhere where you can find good stuff in skips. All we get round here is rubble and empty beer cans) bookcase a little makeover, I didn't think twice about just getting the staple gun out and cheerfully attaching some fabric to the backboard.

Check out those corner covering skills

We got the fabric from the wonderful Ditto Fabrics on one of our many trips to Brighton - I usually like to buy fabric from charity shops (i.e. old curtains), but this was just too tempting. It's perfect for the conservatory, which is technically the place for the kiddos toys, but also has a great big comfy chair for me to sit and write in. 

I measured and marked the fabric, cut it to size, and even did the corners in the proper way (as opposed to just folding it and stapling like a maniac). But, like they say, pride comes before a fall, and as I tooted a fanfare and summoned Benjamin to see his new bookshelves, I became acutely aware that I'd made a bit of an error.

Yes, craft fans. I had stapled the bloody thing to the floor.

When I tried to lift it up for the big reveal, I was completely baffled as to why it wouldn't move. First comes shock, they say, then comes denial - in bizarro land, in my head, I thought perhaps it was only attached by one staple. The fifteen minutes I spent prizing it off of the laminate told me otherwise.

Luckily, the holes in the flooring are so minute, that I'm pretty sure nobody will notice (put it this way, the horror on the Husbands face when I told him made it pretty clear that he hadn't already seen them), and I did manage to get it up with the fabric undamaged. So did I give up? Did I heck - I got the parcel tape out and stuck it on. Nobody sees the back anyway, right?

I am pretty pleased with it, and when I get an hour or so I'll redo it using the staple gun and the guide (which I actually thought was a guard to protect the user from stapling their fingers.....ahem....), but for now it looks quite effective and anyway, I've got bigger things to craft. 

Have you had any DIY or craft disasters? I have to say, rescuing it made the whole thing that bit more satisfying!

happy thriftiversary

Because we're pretty much the worlds most unimaginative couple when it comes to day trips, for our second anniversary the Husband and I decided to go to.... Brighton. Again. What can I say? It's close by (an hour or so by car), we've discovered a secret, superbly cheap parking spot, we know the best cafes and restaurants, and it's jam packed full of thrifty bargains. What more can you ask for in a day out?

My parents took the children for the day (I say 'day', I missed them so much that we actually left as soon as we'd finished lunch.... fail....), and we just pottered about, taking photos, eating stuff and finding some treasures.

Bacon for the Husband, fruit for me. All round win.

This is what an £85 picnic hamper looks like. 

Haloumi with hummous, peppers and rocket. Nom. Nom. Nom.

Usually when I go to Brighton, it ends up being a full on grab-a-thon, and when we came back from our honeymoon the boot of the car was literally rammed. A retro sewing table got left behind simply because short of strapping it to the roof (which I was quite prepared to do.... the Husband veto'd it though, booo) there was absolutely nowhere to put it. This time, though, I was trying to be restrained, and to buy only things which I had on a list, or really, REALLY wanted.

The Brighton Flea market was full of lovely little bits, and after drooling over the vintage picnic hamper (£85, people, £85. I don't mind telling you that we have less than that in our weekly food budget), I picked up what I think might be a soap dish, and a ceramic coaster.

My favourite, squeal-inducing thrifty wonder-thing came from the Kemptown Trading Post, a sort of miniature Snoopers Paradise that also happens to double as a coffee shop. I've been collecting old cameras since I studied photography at college years and years ago (fourteen to be exact, crikey) and to this day still prefer taking pictures with a manual SLR. I've got a couple of Kodak Instamatics, and a Pentax or two, but always wanted something from the fifties, so I almost did a wee of excitement when I saw this little beauty nestled in the corner:

A quick search on Google revealed that it dates back to 1952, but I couldn't find any instructions on how to use it - I know how to use a manual camera, but the aperture ring has no markings, and the focus doesn't seem to change. I've shoved a film in there anyway, and I think the best approach is to just haphazardly twiddle the knobs (snigger) and hope for the best. Look out for a future post with a load of blurry, over exposed photographs.

As well as cameras, I also collect trays - they don't have to be old, but it helps. I found this stunner in the Trading Post as well, for a measley £5 - apparently it was made in the sixties, but I just love the pattern, and the fact that the main colour is mustard. Mmmm, lovely mustard.

Hooking up with Missie Lizzie and all the other magpies over on Magpie Monday. Show us yer wares!

sunday, thrifty sunday

Last Sunday was one of those days you have where everything just seems to be enjoyable and easy. The kiddos were well behaved and amenable, the sun shone (mostly) and the Gods of thrifting were chucking me cheesy grins left, right and centre.

Petersfield is a little market town, roughly fifteen minutes away from where we live by car - it has a wealth of farmers markets that appear regularly in the square, an abundance of charity shops and a grand selection of old buildings. For the little people there is a pretty nifty park and lake, where you can do something with a boat (they're always moored around somewhere, but I've never actually seen anyone in them...) or feed get surrounded, Hitchcock stylee, by the huge amount of birds. Anything with wings actually scares the bejeezus out of me, which is why I was standing way, waaaay back to take this photo:

It all started off innocently enough, and I'm sure you're probably sitting there thinking, 'oh look, boy and ducks, cuuuuuuute'. But a few ducks turned into a whole lot of ducks, which then moved onto ducks and geese, until the whole thing stepped up a level with the arrival of what I can only call, the WORLDS BIGGEST SWAN. It was literally a beast, roughly about the size of my first-born. Benjamin and the Husband thought it was hilarious, and while I was shoving everything into bags desperately, they were feeding it bread and talking to it.

We've actually never been there on a Sunday, and I was pretty overjoyed to find a brand new farmers market that I'd never seen before (a little Googling turns out that it appears on the first Sunday of every month, if you're interested). I finally managed to get hold of some decent looking tomato plants, and some fresh rhubarb. The vegetable stalls were amazing, full of white carrots, radishes and beetroot, all lined up in a riot of colour. Lush.

Benjamin had a grand time racing around the park, building sandcastles and conquering the climbing frame. That boy is fearless.

Walking round the lake is always a pretty nice experience - the people of Petersfield are a fairly friendly lot, and most will nod and smile, or give you a cheery, 'morning!' I'm a sucker for old fashioned good manners.

On the way back to the car, much to the Husbands dismay, ('why can't we just go places? Why do you have to take pictures of everything? *stops and fumbles with his phone* 'right, I'm joining in now'. *takes photograph of road sign*) I took about a gazillion pictures of some of the nicest buildings, and what I thought was a lovely little stream (the Husband informed me it was more likely some sort of drain).

I'd sell the Husband to live in a cottage like this. Check out those windows!

Pretty pub - nice to see a distinct lack of umbrellas emblazoned with lager logos

And then, like a shining beacon, the Sue Ryder shop appeared round the corner. More to the point - it was open (a charity shop? Open on a Sunday? How have I never heard of this before?), and the rest as they say, is history.

Can I get a drum roll please, for my entry into this weeks Magpie Monday. Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..........

Tsssss!

I actually almost did a wee in my knickers when I saw this, and raced across the shop with an audible gasp of joy. The man behind the till looked almost frightened, and I had to explain that I was an avid pyrex collector - and that at £3 for the jug, and £5 for the bowl, I felt like I had just won the tat lottery. 

Look at it, all pyrex-y and vintage-esque. Lush. 

Hooking up with Missie Lizzie for Magpie Monday - get yer thrifts out for the gals!