A thrifters tale

Happy Sunday to you all.

It is time for my promised post about my thrifty adventures while on holiday in Cornwall. This post will be a little picture heavy, I hope that's ok!

Being, as so many of you are too, totally addicted to vintage china collecting, I make it my mission to visit every charity shop or flea market that I come across. This is especially fun when in a different town, or in my case, county.

I was lucky to be staying in a cottage just outside of a small town that had two charity shops, both of which were shops that were unique to Cornwall so offered something new to the ones you usually find. It didn't take long for me to find a way to pay them a visit and the visit paid off...

So that was that, if I didn't make it into another shop, I wouldn't mind, I had these new additions. But, no surprise, it wasn't long before I started looking up Boot sales and markets in Cornwall.

On the second weekend of the holiday we went off without the parents to visit some flea markets that I had found. It was not my lucky day, both markets were shockingly small and mostly a waste of time and petrol! I did console myself with this set from one of the markets though..

I had been looking for new (old) dinner plates so i wasn't going to leave these behind. 
After leaving the second tiny market empty handed (we're talking three stalls here) we spent some time walking around the town and stumbled upon an Oxfam shop where my disappointment was further quelled by another lovely find.

This is going to be a fruit bowl.

To make up for the disastrous flea market hunt I tried to find some boot sales to visit the following day. I found one that sounded great and a smaller back up sale a little further out. Great, I thought. Readers, it seems that something was against me because it turns out there were no boot sales, both of them non existent, just empty fields. Cue major annoyance and a mini tantrum as we headed home empty handed.

But all was not lost, the boot sale Gods were not totally against me and I spotted a sign for a Sunday boot sale in the town we were staying near. Cue a quick mood change.

So, we headed to the boot sale on Sunday morning full of hope. I saw cars, I saw boots. My luck was changing. It was soon very obvious that this was quite possibly the smallest boot sale I had ever seen with only 5 sellers. But that did not discourage me, oh no. Five sellers is better than none at all! I came away with some real treasures having only spent £2!

 Pastel green shades are my absolute favourite and I was very pleased to be able to inject this colour into my collection. And for the total price of £1, I wasn't going to resist. I also managed to find two big jars for £1 showing that when it comes to boot sales, it is not always about size.

My tale does not end there though folks. On a rather miserable Monday last week I decided to make another trip to the local town to look around the two lovely charity shops again..just in case. One of the shops, excellently named 'Sweet Charity' was having a china sale with a table full of china at unbelievable prices. I had a good rummage through the piles of plates, bowls and side plates and found myself a little three piece treat..

I found a beautifully shaped rose print plate, a powder blue side plate in a similar shape and a lovely rose print side plate to finish off. Care to guess how much this trio set me back...20p..that's right...20 pence. Didn't I pick a good day to pop back into the shop?

Needless to say, I am rather thrilled with my china finds and my collection is now full to the brim. It is definitely time for a bigger dresser!

It wasn't all about china though, I found a few other treasures to. Like a set of three vintage cake forks and then there was these little beauties..

So, thank you Cornwall. Thank you for these treasures but not for your rubbish markets and boot sales!

With love,

Lexie



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Sweet Disposition

Happy Sunday petals.

I am facing a three day week this week, not too shabby at all!

I have also had a wonderful weekend...a really, really wonderful, heart warming weekend.

I took a little trip to my beloved Cheltenham, my home from home. Cheltenham was my university town and lived there for five very formative years of my life, it is a town filled with some of the most wonderful memories of happy times, adventures, laughter and joy and every time I go back I feel a little lighter, a little happier inside.  It brings me such comfort that it always feels like I never even left, despite the two years that have passed.

My reason for returning to Cheltenham was, as it always is, to see my lovely friend L who recently celebrated her birthday. I was also very lucky to get to see my other friend S, a wonderful bonus and surprise. We 'ladies what lunched' and we (window) shopped until we dropped in the glorious sunshine (hello sunshine, don't be a stranger) and paid a mandatory visit to Cheltenham's charity shops. Cheltenham has loads of great charity shops in a small vicinity so how could I pass up the opportunity?

We lunched in my favourite tea shop- the well walk tea room, it really is an authentic, quirky, tea room. Not polished, not at all chainy. Just perfect.

I didn't have a successful charity shop haul, I have been looking for pretty dinner plates, but there were none. I did however, find some other pretties (of course).

Two pyrex bowls at just 50p each and a pair of floral pillow cases for 75p each.

I also found some beautiful, floral print tea towels in Primark of all places. Primark scares me, I try to avoid it because it is always so busy and I just don't understand some of the fashions on sale there. But, their home department has caught the floral, Cath Kidston style bug and I couldn't ignore these tea towels. I am always on the look out for pretty tea towels and these ones fit the bill quite nicely.

We finished off the day with a meal at a great turkish restaurant called 'Grille', who knew turkish food was so delicious!!!

So, it was really the most wonderful day, I can't describe how happy I felt and it's funny because I have been thinking recently about how quickly time is passing. You see, in complete contrast to yesterday, today is a very sad one year anniversary for me and my family and I just cannot begin to understand how a year has passed without me even realising! It has made me think that I need to spend more time doing the little things that make me feel great and try not to worry about the big stuff. I don't think that life should only be defined by the big things so I will continue to persue the little things that bring me true joy. Whether it be silly little teacups, days out, my beautiful friends, my new camera, counting down to my holiday or cuddles with my cat...

So tell me, what little things give you joy?

Before I go, let me remind you that I am having a first blog birthday giveaway. Thank you for the lovely comments that you have been leaving. It means a lot to have such lovely people reading and joining in. There is a week left to enter if you haven't already so get to it..oh and tell your friends too!

Until next time sweethearts,

Lexie

x


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Ode to mismatched china..

Oh my Gosh you guys, I'm giddier than a school girl today!

First of all Happy Easter sweet peas, I hope you're having a fabulous bank holiday weekend! I am banned from any chocolate or hot cross bun type substance so not feeling very Easter like. Second of all, I need to tell you the story of my weekend so far.

I popped on over to Wales yesterday to see my mummy who has been poorly of late. One of my mums most favourite things is boot sale-ing so off we went to one of mum's local Saturday Sales. "I'll just keep an eye out for some china" I thought, I didn't have much more than pennies in my purse and it wasn't a very big boot sale at all. Well, I was in for a shock readers because looky what I found..

Most of these beauties came from the very first stall I visited. Being so used to London prices where anything remotely 'Vintage' or 'shabby chic' is marked up beyond all reason, I expected these to be pretty pricey..I was wrong readers, I was wrong.

Austen likes them too. (The cake stand was an Ebay bargain and arrived in the post
yesterday so it also needs some attention)

The yellow tea set consists of 2 matching trios and a matching jug, it cost me £1. The mini tea cup and saucer cost me 50p and the two gorgeous pastel yellow plates were 10p each...TEN PENCE! And the other two jugs were 50p each. Now that's my kind of pricing.

 Later I found a stall selling dozens and dozens of mismatched plates, there were rows and rows of them all over the floor. I spied the pretty rose bud plates instantly and started counting my change...I ended up getting these five plates for £2! I'd be lucky to get one for that price anywhere else!

So, that's a total boot sale spend of £4.70.....what a steal!  It turns out that if you ever need bargain china pieces, head to my beloved homeland of Wales!! Now do you understand my giddiness? Well it doesn't end there...

Later, back at the house surrounded by my new treasures, my step dad casually says to me "I have a box full of old china you can have"...do you think I hesitated? The box content was mostly a no no but look what treasures I managed to unearth amongst the rejects..

All this and a 6 piece tea cup set as well.


Now this all works out quite well for me, as you can imagine, I don't have room for all these treasures but..I decided a little while ago to do a boot sale in a few weeks time, I have boxes of clothes and accessories in my loft that need to get gone so a boot sale (and some charity shop donating) seemed the best way. But, I don't just want to sell clothes and second hand nick nacks at my boot sale, oh no! I want to sell some of my handmade bits and I want to sell some of my extra mismatched china pieces. I have it all envisioned, I know how I will set it all up and what props I will use to make a truly inviting (and profitable) stall...and now I have even more mismatched china to sell to the deserving public. It will be impossible for me to part with some of these pieces but most of it will be going to someone else's loving home, although I did take plenty of pictures..

These plates are all definitely staying with me...look at those
gorgeous pastel yellow ones! 

So between the boot sale bargains, lovely freebies, the arrival of various ebay bargain china that I also brought to sell on and the fact that i don't have to go to work tomorrow, it has been a lovely, china filled, weekend . Although, the best bit by far was the mummy cuddles. Giddiness overdrive!



Lots of giddy love and china tea cups to you all,

Lexie

x



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Reasons why I'm happy

It's the weekend again, I do love the weekend! And it's the end of January...where did that month go? It'll be spring in no time folks!

I have been rather excited about today for reasons that I would like to bore you with, so indulge me if you will!

After I put together my little craft room last weekend I decided  that I was missing something, something that I knew would change the room all together and make it near to perfect! So, off I toddled to Ebay to find this thing, this wondrous missing piece to the craft room puzzle! Would you believe, I found it very quickly. After days of watching the ticking countdown, waiting and pining over the item picture, the time came to bid. I bid on it and I only went and won it!! And thank goodness that I did,  I'm not sure how I would have dealt with the loss if the auction had ended in any other way.

So today, after four days of waiting (in)patiently it was time to collect it, and now its mine, all mine!!!

My very own dresser top, all dressed in my craft goodies and doing a wonderful job at storing them all! I love it! 

I added my own touch by decorating the small cabinets with some Cath Kidston wrapping paper that I snapped up in the January sale..I knew it would come in handy one day!

The dresser top is large and sturdy and it's very old too, it's actually authentically shabby! Now, we all know how much I hate shabby furniture so living with it is going to be hard work, as you can imagine!! I have been toying with the idea of painting it but I like the white and I don't want it to lose the its shabby charm! One thing I do know is that it needs some fairy lights around it, don't you think?

This wasn't the only little gem from my day. On the way home from collecting the dresser top we passed a rather charming little curiosity shop in East Sheen called 'Memories of Mortlake'. 

I simply had to go in and take a look, would you have forgiven me if I hadn't? It is run by the sweetest German lady who just looks like she belongs in a shop like this, so happy surrounded by treasures! And it really was full to the brim with treasure, so much so in fact that it was virtually impossible to pick one thing to look at! But I did manage to pick out one thing, my first vintage suitcase and at a bargain price too! I am so thrilled to finally have one of my own! My Granny has promised one that she has in her loft but as she lives in France I will have to wait a while to be able to claim it...so this little beauty will keep me going until then! Here he is full of fabric..

So, today has been a very successful day indeed and that, my friends, is why I am happy (among various other not so shallow things)

Happy weekend!

With love,

Lexie

I see a project...

One thing I can guarantee about my working day is that I will have to walk past my two local thrift stores in the morning on my way to the tube. This is both good and bad in equal measures and has upon occasion caused great heartache. 

While passing the windows is always a delight, there are times when I see something at a great price that I simply must have but can't because the shop is closed and I need to get to work...inevitably, these items will be gone by the evening and certainly by the time the weekend finally arrives.

Worse still, are the occasions when people have left their unwanted belongings at the doors of the shop ready for it to be sold to whichever thrifty soul feels the need to take it home. This is not usually a problem, unless someone has left something that I simply must have...then comes the horrid realisation that I don't have the time to take it back home before going to work..and even worse- that it will be probably be priced at an amount far greater than I can afford and even if I could..it'll most likely be gone before I can even withdraw the cash. It hurts! 

It has only happened a few times- the last time it was a beautiful chair, left sitting outside the shop..I don't recall the specifics of it, just that it was wonderful and I wanted it. But naturally, it spent all of two days in the shop window before being sold to someone who didn't have to be at work all day every day.

Well, it happened again last Monday when I spotted a tatty old, unwanted chest leaning against the shop door at something past 7 in the morning. I so almost stopped in my tracks and dragged it all the way back home but I absolutely could not! I pined and pouted all the way to the tube. My mum had one almost identical and it brought back so many wonderful memories that I knew I needed it in my life.

The next day I spotted it in the shop and there, I hoped, it would stay until Saturday when I could get my hands on it. Well, you know what? Today, as I wondered around the shop, I found it...tucked away in a little corner looking sorry for itself and now, after paying a very small price, it is mine...and here it is..

It's a little worse for ware from being stored somewhere damp, the handles had rotted and needed removing and it needs a good clean. I plan to paint the brown parts but leave the wood as it is because I love the effect of the worn wood..wonderfully shabby.

Slightly perplexing though, the chest is locked shut and there is something clunky inside...should I be worried? I'll keep you posted on how this one turns out.

This wasn't the only project that I picked up today, stay tuned for item number two.

Always time for thrifting

I have one final treat to share from my time in Dorset.....(I get a bit melancholic and day dreamy every time I say that word now..sigh). Once again, while in Lyme Regis I found and Antiques and craft centre right on the sea front! I persuaded the family to let me wonder around it in case there were some treasures inside...and treasures there were.

There is always time to find mismatched plates for my collection!

A cake plate and an odd saucer that I found in a bargain box for just 50p.

Two more odd saucers from the bargain box.

Beautiful hankies for 50p each. They're so delicate and lovely. I may make some
bunting with them!

A better look at the gorgeous embroidery detail.

I could have spent hours in this shop and still not see everything it held but I sensed the parents and sibling were not too keen on waiting for me. 

With love,

Lexie

Outlets and bargains

I have been away visiting wonderful people this weekend in between catching up with many chores and preparing for my pending holiday (Less than a week to go people). While out and about I was lucky enough to pay a visit to one of my most favourite shops on this earth...the Laura Ashley outlet store in Taplow, Buckinghamshire! It is a wondrous place full of treasures and treats and ridiculous prices and if you're really smart you can walk away with some real bargains.

I have only been twice in my life and the last time I left with a whole lot of Laura Ashley fabric for about £5.00 total (and I'm talking metres of the stuff) a roll of wallpaper that was a little bit battered at the edges..perfect for crafting! And some sample paints at about £1 a pot. So this time I knew exactly what to aim for at this place of wonders!

Unfortunately, this time around there was much less in the way of fabric remnants, offcuts and end of roll bargains but I did manage to grab a huge single curtain in the most sumptuous parisian chic fabric for £5!! and a metre of the lovliest cottage rose print fabric for £7 (much less than retail price). I also picked up some more sample pots ready for my next project idea which I hope to sell on Etsy very soon!

We took a quick detour to Ikea which also has a sale on and I picked up some of their bargainous wooden paintable photo frames..also for my next project :).

I thought I would share an image of the beautiful fabrics just for you...I love them!

The pale coloured fabric with the burgundy/pink floral swirls is the curtain, it's almsost too good to cut into pieces but I keep thinking of all the wonderful things I could make with it and it really is a huge pieces of fabric. The country rose burgundy fabric is just wonderful!!

I urge you sweet followers living in the UK, if you adore Laura Ashley, you must seek out this outlet because it's something quite close to heaven decorated in Laura Ashley prints!!!

Have a lovely Sunday,

Lexie

Rustic pretties

I do love ebay- the only place that cash strapped crafting types can buy supplies at minimal cost! Thanks to ebay I was finally able to get my hands on some lovely, rustic jars. I have a real thing for mason jars- in fact I am planning a whole post on the possibilities for mason jar upcycling and believe me, they are endless!

Apparently, we Brits don't have mason jars over here...we have kilner jars instead but they are practically the exact same thing. I don't know what I'm going to do with mine yet- apart from the ribbon jar. That one was pretty much earmarked the moment I saw them! If you are a lover of shabby things then the next time you're thrifting or flea marketing and you see some of these treasures you must not miss out.

Thrifty Bliss..

Every now and again I make time to hunt through some charity shops for some thrifty finds. Since moving to London I haven't been able to do it so often (My choice of thrift shops is pretty dismal) but I still venture out every once in a while. This sunny Saturday was one of those days and as usual I found some little pieces of wonderful to brighten my home and my weekend.

Mismatched plates are my go-to thrift store item, I always find
at least one and they are always very pretty.
These little beauties are my newest addition.

Tins are another little love of mine, although thankfully I don't have many!
This one is my favourite colour, it's spotty and it says cute things
about happiness so it needed to come home with me.

This pink spotty plate is supposed to be part of one of those cute
vintage inspired cake stands but sadly the middle metal pole is missing.
This, and the smaller top plate were sitting all sad and unwanted on the shelf,
practically useless because of the silly holes in the middle of each plate where
the pole should be. I considered the pair, decided that I had no use for
holey platesno matter how spotty and walked away. Then I remembered my mothers old mantra
from my childhood. If it's no use in the house, use it in the garden! So I have, and they are
just perfect for my little garden!

And thats it for this thrifty adventure, nothing too spectacular but perfect nonetheless!