Op-shop finds of the week

A bright, warm day after snow and southerlies was very welcome, and perfect for the annual Rangiora's Kids Market. The stalls are kid run, with the kids practicing practical maths with real money; marketing etc, whilst getting hard cash for the toys they've outgrown. No doubt the thrifty in the kid fraternity will have been practicing their bargining skills too!

                                                              I loved some of the signage

And it wasn't just toys either...

This future-Nigella made cupcakes decorated with chunks of your fave chocolate, (malteesers, mmm).

 So yum in fact they were sold out by the time I made my way round the heaving market for a second helping...

So I had a Brit-kids bun, decorated with English lollies-nom!

So what did I get?

Well, I'll briefly digress here to ask, have you seen this?

Lookie here for the details (it's sooo worth a detour!)

Anyway, totally inspired I went to the market on a mission. A mission to find a dolls house, to 'do-up', as a mini version of our place.

I wasn't disappointed...

                                        Pretty similar I think, excepting the extra floor of course
                                       (a bungalow dolls house just wouldn't be right would it?!)

I felt so sorry for the little boy selling it, who's granny volunteered him to carry it to my car (Claud had conked out in the backpack). He blushed all the way (think it was the boy-carrying-doll-house thing), and it was such a long way and so heavy he had to keep having a rest, poor boy!

Still on the subject of the wonderful Mousehouse blog from whence the ultimate dolls house inspiration came, here is the prize I won there last week...

                                                              How perfect for me is that!

                                                     Thanks Megan, for the prize and inspiration x



                                   Want to show off your op-shop bargin to fellow thrifters worldwide? Go here :0)

Friday French Favorites

Une, deux, trois, quatre, cenq (?), sixe, cept, huit...alors!

There is a new arrival in the collection!!!!

A new Eiffel Tower to join the gang!

This one is a hand-finished crystal perfume bottle, for a perfume called Blue de France by Bernard Lalande, bottle designed by P.F Dinand.

It was only sold at a single outlet in terminal 2 at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, during the 1980's.

(Found in a Rangiora op-shop by my clever, handsome hubby this week)

 It actually looks beautiful in real-life. My crap quick-snap has made it look a bit like a cruet pot!

If it's French and you love it, join us here x

Snow day, hurray!

I heard it was going to snow, so we rushed out to get the necessary provisions...

A tobbogan and waterproof gear for Claud, and birdseed. Oh, and chocolate.

It was so lovely falling asleep knowing snow was falling thickly, after reading about snowflakes in The Snow Tourist, by Charlie English

And waking to this. Unsurprisingly, "snow" is new word-of-the-day.

Hubby got the day off work, town was quiet apart from a couple of steaming cafes where we defrosted.

(Now there is the answer to the mess of baby-led weaning, baby-waders!)

The only downside is the meltdown when we try to get her to come indoors.

Think she may be a winter-lover like her mama!

Op-shop finds of the week

Hello, hello everyone. Busy week here, but managed to squeeze in a quick oppy visit. Perect timing as it was stuffed to the brim with new stock from which I selected...

A bit of kiwi-kitsch

A bead-eyed Maori dolly. From the fifties I think.

                                                                       Nostalgia trip!

 I  was transported by the list, still inside, of all the other fuzzy felts you could get.

I remember pouring over when I was little, it in the weeks leading up to Christmas, every year, to make a decision about which one I wanted.

The carousel was T.H.E  B.E.S.T.

Such a far cry from wii and all the stuff that makes a modern childhood, although I have bought some felt and intend to add a snowboarder!

  

Rarely a week goes by without a vintage kids book.

Clauds really into her nana's chooks, can say "chook" and impersonates one quite cutely. 

She went bananas over this book.

I can't wait to see her face when we get her a couple of bantams in Spring!

                                                                        and finally

A picture frame for the hubby who despairs of the price of picture framing, especially for more traditional paintings.

No back but otherwise immaculate. 

A dollar well spent.

Happy hunting folks, see you here next week x

Opshopping finds of the week

                                                       
                                               Oh what an op-shopping week I've had!

I've found nothing of value, great rarity or special significance, but all my finds this week have made me happy as can be!

For instance...
                                                       
                                                           Two 1970's welsh wool purses.

 Lined with a flesh coloured faux-suede which smells beautifully of parma-violets!

                            A very large curtain, in William Morris & Co, Golden Lily Minor (Sandersons)

Destined to re-covering the seats of 8 Arts and Crafts era dining chairs  for our period dining room

(if I don't find some willow pattern William Morris fabric in the meantime).

I wonder if mentioning on my blog that the hubby has been meaning to get round to doing up those chairs for about 8 years might galvanise him into action? I suspect it might. Heh.

An old panama hat.

It's got the nicest 1920's shape to it. Perfect for my newly (very short-yikes!) bobbed hair.

A pretty basket.

I have a large collection of baskets. I might show you one day.

This in NZ made as it has a Rimu (native timber) base. Someone wove a really long strip and then coiled it round to form a basket, and added some raffia flowers. Lovely, ahhhh!

                                                                  Nesting teak trays.

A bit of wax and they'll be great.

Have ordered tea and crumpets in bed for the morning!

She should have gotten it by now, so from last week or the week before, here is the cool tin I found for my tin-swapee Alexa...

A faux cross-stitch tin!!!

It said on the back that this is a copy of the 1912 original tin, from the USA.

I so want to find the original tin now.

Hope all the other op-shoppers have had my luck this week...lets go see here

Clauds week

Wednesday is Playcentre morning

Playcentre is a New Zeland institution; a nursery school where the parents can stay and play with their kids the whole time!

What better than a little bonfire and toasting marshmellows on a cold, windy day

Surprise, surprise, she loved them!

Friday saw a visit from Rona and wee Livvy-loo

Claud said "whona" over and over and over and over again until they got here.

Excited is an understatement!

Claud roared a loud "MIOAW" when we were down the oppy this week...

I think we can safely class this tin as her very first 'find'!!!

She kisses it and tries to feed it her sammies-bless!

Lots of other firsts this week too.

Her first multi-word sentence, "bye-bye Terry"

And, her first 'fluffy'

Welcome after a frosty morning spent visiting goats, cows, dogs and miniture ponies at Little River. Nom!

A Bastille Day yay!

As a mad francophile I'm waving the tricoloure today to celebrate Bastille day! Inspired by Mousehouse, here's some of my fave Frenchie things...

           My valentines card this year.We honeymooned in France, what a lovely reminder of a great time x

Decoration in Claudines bedroom, made from a repro vintage Paris tourists map.

Not made by me I hasten to add, but I might have a go at making one, doesn't look that hard does it...

Hubbys friend has an antique store in a little country town just north of here called Cheviot (White Cat Emporium). He and his French girlfriend have an endless summer living between New Zealand and France, and when in France they collect to restock the store. Go there its wonderful. Contrary to the usual form, it's run by gruff old country blokes in cow pood gumboots who sit outside smoking fags talking about livestock! 

This 1920's paper and fabric creation came to me, via them, from Burgandy. It houses my stationary.

I collect these, here's their story

And, best till last...

Claudine

Not French of course, but with a French name, after the naughty-but-nice little French girl in Claudine at St Claires by Enid Blyton (not the naughty-naughty Claudine by Collette!)

with...

 her book at bedtime this week, a vintage copy of Madeline, full of the most beautiful colour washed pictures of Parisian scenes.

Opshop find of the week

Me and the baba have been sick all week and didn't make it to an op-shop...

Until I perked up a bit yesterday and took off for a quick look at the 'charity barn'...

Cheap and works beautifully; my learn-to-sew ambitions have no barriers now :0) 

Sharing the oppyshoppy love at Sophie Isobels

Brave blogging breastfeeding mum needs your help

As a full term breastfeeding mum and La Leche leader in training, this brave, breastfeeding, blogging chicks story broke my heart.  http://breastfeedingwithcancer.blogspot.com/

She will be on Close Up at 7pm tonight.

If your in New Zealand and have any breastmilk to spare for her son, it's easy, just fill out a form on this Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/mobileprotection#!/pages/Boob-2-Babe/183414221716143

Having a go at craftiness

Retro-cutesy hair slides.

As my part of NZ has nothing but orrid cerise pink hair paraphanalia for kids, neccesity was the mother of invention here and led me to DIY. I bought those cheapo plain white metal slides from the chemists, glued the ribbon to one end, wound the ribbon round the outer part of the metal slide (fiddly, argh!) then glued the end down and glued on a bow. The only way to keep it in her hair would be to glue it in too!

Peg and washi tape fridge magnets.

On the left are the 'professionally' produced ones, on the right my copies. Easy-peasy as long as the long edge of the tape to be trimmed is on the part of the peg with no metal bit so you can get a nice neat line, just chop up the crappy thin advertising magnets you get given everywhere and glue onto the back.

We got Claud a mini table and chairs this week since she refused to be highchaired any longer, and on the very day they arrived I saw this sweet bloggy inspiration. 

Here's my take...

How beautifully fresh and crisp this fabric, from an op-shopped sheet, is. I was surprised how quick and easy it was to run up these cushions (slightly mishapen) and table cloth.

The rest of the fabric awaits further inspiration.

Made for a handmade/op-shop swop, doily bunting. I saw this on a blog somewhere I forgot and winged it from there. I think it looks rather fab. Hubby thinks it looks like a madam's knickers on a clothes line!

I'm thinking starched, white and kept whole for 'snowflake' bunting at Christmastime.

Thee tier cake stand

Step 1-Collect three beautiful, opshopped plates of various vintages, here with gold edges and a pale blue colour theme.
Step 2-Buy the linky doodads from trademe
Step 3-Drill with a masonry bit and water as per the instructions.
Step 4-Break two out of three plates.
Step 5-Sob, then break remaining plate over hubbys head. Heh!

We will have to suffice with a figure-friendly single decker until I russle up some replacement plates and we figure out what went wrong?!!  Perhaps too much pressure on them as they took ages to drill through or maybe we just need to get a diamond tip drill bit instead?

Let me know if you know or I'll just have to re-google it!

I had hoped to finish my butterflies-in-a-box-frame but I've taken to my bed today after an exhausting week looking after Claud with gastroenteritis, which I've now caught, and a fierce cough. Urgh.

Mantelpiece Monday

Our period dining room mantelpiece, or as my mum reminded me, in Yorkshire lingo, our 'chimneypiece'.

In keeping with donkeys years of tradition ours is topped with a mantelclock, in front of which Claudine does her "tick-tock" song and dance every time it chimes. Every 15 minutes and she hasn't tired of it yet. (She also performs it when I get the kitchen scales out, bless!)

The flowery thing is a candlestick designed by a kiwi called Stephan Rondel.

The pewter do-dad is Arts and Crafts, possibly made for Liberty.

The mantelclock is French Art Deco, made from marbles and possibly Onyx? In addition to the time it measures earthquake intensity as every earthquake over 5.0 stops or starts it.

I love its tick, it makes me feel sleepy and timeless.

Want to see more or show yours?

Go here

op-shop finds of the week

Working retro clock, made in Japan, love the colour. 60's?

Some beaut doilies, been looking for a lot of white-as-snow ones to store away ready to starch up for a Christmas craft project. Nothing like planning ahead aye?!

Found an absolutely beautiful tin, to house the op-shopped/handmade gifts for my Thrifty Tin Swop partner Alexa, but I won't show you that until I know she's recieved it in case she ventures over here...

Found something good at your oppy/thrift store/charity shop alately?

Show us your stuff here