The Olivetti Valentine Typewriter: Op-Shop Show-Off, Jan 7th, 2014

Little Red Hen: Op-Shop Show-Off: Tuesday November 27th, 2013

It had to be mine. It must be Scandinavian or Italian, do you think?

Rangiora tip shop, 50c.



Late, and brief this week. Apologies. Fin is waking approximately hourly at night and we are zombies, though he seems as sprightly as ever, if not more so!

Serendipity-do-dah :Op-Shop Show-Off:Tuesday 29th October, 2013

So there I was, minding my own business, reading blogs on my phone, supervising the two napping children in the back of the car. Terry was outside, pillaging the Rangiora tip shop, when I came across a (nother) mouthwatering recipe on Petite Kitchen. Whilst resolving to try out the Ginger and Coconut Muesli recipe ASAP, I was also salivating over the cute muesli storage jar in the pretty pictures. So when Terry came back I popped in quickly myself on the of-chance of scoring one. Serendipity do-dah, serendipity day, my oh my what a beautiful day.

3 French parfait preserving jars; 2 L, 1.5L, 0.75 L. Seals intact, plus extra seals. $6.

The muesli is very much deserving of it's fancy jar; it tastes light and christmassy, especially with dried cranberries.








*The muesli in the open jar though is a tweaked, no nuts Nigella concoction

Bottled-Up: Op-Shop Show-Off: Oct 1st, 2013.

We went to swap a New World mini missing from our collection today, amongst other keep-the-kids-entertained school holiday larks. As we drove home I spotted the long forgotten Save the Children op-shop in Kaiapoi and wistfully asked Claud if we could go in. Probably sensing a buy-me-stuff opportunity she agreed with alacrity. I was taken with this lady as soon as I set foot in the door, whilst Claud took to a pair of ex-Burger King bambi deely-boppers. Fin cooed and gurgled, charming the elderly shop assistants who swarmed him.

Isn't she a funny old thing! She has appeal similar to that of a kokeshi; just a suggestion of an ear and a nose and no mouth, rendering her somewhat inscrutable. Her rather mod-darlek dress appealed too, and then I registered that she was a bottle, slip-cast, and somehow fathomed that she poured through her eyes-which thrilled me! Of course when I inspected her properly I saw the head is in fact the lid and the body the bottle, separated by a cork. Only slightly deflated, I gave it a good sniff but there was no lingering smell to give me a clue as to it's original bottled purpose.

So here she is, in her virgin, just found, un-marked and unresearched state. I would love to hear your theories as to where she is from, what she is for etc. before I set forth to try to identify her...


Or, of course, you could just show-off in the usual fashion!

A Snip? : Op-Shop Show-Off: September 24th, 2013

I've seen these variously described as bonsai tree pruners, needlework scissors, vintage twine snippers and as "... ideal for all kinds of historic re-enactment scenarios". However, despite their ye olde look these Spear brand scissors are modern, cheap and of the Made in China variety. I almost baulked at the price tag ($5, Salvation Army) but was won over by their handsome looks, lineage notwithstanding; and their utility-they are very sharp. I, I shall call them present string snips.



What would you use them for?

A Little Give and a Little Take: Op-Shop Show-Off: August 13th, 2013

It's uncanny how having a baby, and then another one can shrink your house. The play corner, craft desk, high chair, recliner, play mat, hammock and a hundred thousand toys leave a once spacious room with just a few feet spare in the centre. The spare rooms no longer spare. Never minimalists, we were a High-Stuff-Household even pre-children, with heirloom belongings, a dozen hobbies between us (crafts of various kinds, kayaking, snowboarding, mountain biking, furniture renovation, studio pottery collecting et al) not to mention we both like to play in op-shops. Terry, he likes to find a thing, an old thing and find out all about it. He has an extensive find-out-about-an-old-thing library (mostly op-shopped). Me, I have my list (needs), but I'm not opposed to occasionally being seduced by something random I clap my eyes on (pretties) either.

We are pretty restrained on the whole on the buying stuff front though, truly,  and my distaste for clutter ying tends to balance out Terry's hoarding yang.  Yet somehow, despite regular yinging out, trying to organise the spare room into a new baby's eventual bedroom; and moving completely out and then back in after earthquake repairs has brought a lot of stuff to the surface in the manner of a shaken jar of muesli. And it ain't all raisins.

I found a definition of hoarding lately that I'm using as a touch stone to resolving our "is this life's messy clutter or unhealthy hoarding?" confusion. The definition says essentially that if stuff impedes your activities of daily living it is hoard. Can't step foot in the garage? Hoard. Can't see the bed in the front bedroom? Hoard. Can't hang Terry's shirts in his wardrobe? Hoard. Can't fit your excess soup in the deep freeze? Hoard. Can't find anywhere to put down your craft project out of reach of kids? Hoard.

Or, according to Terry, "we need a bigger house!".


My urge, nay my desperate freakin' need to seriously downsize our household contents has coincided perfectly with the Down To Earth De-clutter-a-thon, so without further ado, here is the tally for this week:-

• Three carrier bags full of hoard to the op-shop. I was heartened that none of it had originally come from an op-shop: my 'need or absolute must-have' op-shopping policy works, even if i do have occasional bouts of restraint remorse. Most were gifts of little utility or, ahem, taste. Hoarded because it didn't feel right to give away gifts I took a deep breath and just let them go. It felt good. I need to brave making suggestions for gifts when they are in the offing (not my style at all). Whilst I was there I picked up the above ombre silk scarf, $4. Naughty, hand-slap!
• Gave away 3 huge bags of black peaches from the deep freeze as we won't have time to make jam before the next ones are grown and picked.
• Gave away 2 litres of frozen expressed breast milk to a needy mama and babe via Eats on Feets.
• Sold a set of plan drawers (which held a yet to be dealt with hoard of paintings and prints) on Trademe.
• The ones that got away. Two very stained too-small t-shirts of Claud's which Terry dug out of the bin for his rag-bag(s).
• I also signed up for The Travelling Stationary Box and am going to have the mother of all stationary de-stashes this week (two drawers, a desk and random boxes so far!). 

I'd love to know if anything is off-limits in the de-stash at your place? Gifts aside, I really struggle with the children's toys in that since they are not technically mine I feel it's not my place to get rid of them...what do you think?

p.s. How many bags of rags do you think is too many?!

the ultima op-shop find. Op-Shop Show-Off; May 14th, 2013.

I have mentioned before my husbands op-shopping prowess. he's totally on form at the moment and found these classy glasses in his lunch hour yesterday. 5 hand blown iitalia (Finland) Ultima Thule glasses, designed by Tapio Wirkkala, according to my 70's decorative arts book. 50c each. so cool ice is not necessary!
apparently these come in different sizes but this is the only size i've ever come across-we have a singleton i found eons ago. terry is overjoyed at this significant addition to his drinks cabinet collection.

hurraa! (Finish for 'cheers'), and hurrah too!!!

are you an Op-Shop Show-Off? 

or more modest about your superior second hand shopping abilities? 

do you like to linky?

it’s charitable, green, cheap, exciting, fun, nostalgia inducing, potentially lucrative and often just plain necessary. whatever your reason for second hand shopping we’d love it if you joined us on Tuesdays here at blackbirdhasspoken.blogspot.com for Op-Shop Show-Off, a linky open to all, all week, to link up a blog post about any aspect of your second-hand shopping life. tell us your op-shopping philosophy, or divulge your secret hunting techniques. let us know about your wants, or skite (English translation= “show-off “) about your amazing finds. review the best op-shopping spots in your town, or request or give information on your fascinating finds, you’ll always be talking to an appreciative audience here.

 How to link up?

1. post your second hand shopping related blog post.

2. link to Op-Shop Show-Off in your blog post, so your blog readers can come over and peruse or post in the linky too.

 3. scroll to the bottom of my latest Tuesday Op-Shop Show-Off post and click on the linky tool, then follow the three easy steps.

 4. don't forget to leave me a comment to let me know you linked up.

 5. have a look at some of the other linkers posts/blogs, they're all people after your own heart!

 6. grab the Op-Shop Show-Off Button from my sidebar to decorate yours (paste the code into a HTML gadget under the 'add a gadget' part of the layout section in blogger and save).

Rostrand bowls: Op-Shop Show-Off April 9th, 2013

I just love the fresh and cheerful 50's aesthetic of the hand coloured designs on these bowls. Terry wants to claim them as snack dishes for his sometime in the future drinks cabinet (he's been collecting retro bar gear since long before i met him, but still no drinks cabinet...actually we're in no rush now we have an inquisitive 3 year old and an understudy), and i might let him. as long as he promises to always have a ready supply strawberries to accompany my pimms, once i get off this breastfeeding gig circa 2016-17!



are you an Op-Shop Show-Off? 

or more modest about your superior second hand shopping abilities? 

do you like to linky?

it’s charitable, green, cheap, exciting, fun, nostalgia inducing, potentially lucrative and often just plain necessary. whatever your reason for second hand shopping we’d love it if you joined us on Tuesdays here at blackbirdhasspoken.blogspot.com for Op-Shop Show-Off, a linky open to all, all week, to link up a blog post about any aspect of your second-hand shopping life. tell us your op-shopping philosophy, or divulge your secret hunting techniques. let us know about your wants, or skite (English translation= “show-off “) about your amazing finds. review the best op-shopping spots in your town, or request or give information on your fascinating finds, you’ll always be talking to an appreciative audience here.

 How to link up?
1. post your second hand shopping related blog post.

2. link to Op-Shop Show-Off in your blog post, so your blog readers can come over and peruse or post in the linky too.

 3. scroll to the bottom of my latest Tuesday Op-Shop Show-Off post and click on the linky tool, then follow the three easy steps.

 4. don't forget to leave me a comment to let me know you linked up.

 5. have a look at some of the other linkers posts/blogs, they're all people after your own heart!

 6. grab the Op-Shop Show-Off Button from my sidebar to decorate yours (paste the code into a HTML gadget under the 'add a gadget' part of the layout section in blogger and save).

an easter op-shop show off; 26th March, 2013

i found these two Tolo toys separately at op-shops over the past few weeks, both immaculate, both rabbity and therefore cute, if slightly early developmentally easter presents for the boy baby Findlay. i don't like his chances of fending off Claudine who is rabbit-mad, bigger and currently slightly regressed in her choice of toy play. she though has her sights set on a dora-and-diego easter special dvd and has asked princess ballerina to have a word with the easter bunny (they're cousins you know) on her behalf, so no op-shopped gift for her this time around. i'm also having a go at this easter bunny russian doll cross stitch-i won the pattern from cupcakecutie. not a chance it will be completed by eater, but ah-well, it's bunnys all year round around here anyway!

what are your easter plans? any easter specific baking, crafting or outings?
we're off to the Cheviot Domain for an autumnal easter egg hunt in the leaf litter and a stroll among the english woodlands there on easter sunday, weather permitting, and i shall cook up a batch of bonfire toffee at some stage too. but mainly i'll be catching up on sleep, precious sleep!

and, what kind of chocolate egg are you hoping for?
I'm a loyal cadburys creme egg girl myself-best eaten sun warmed and gloopy in my opinion!



here's what we did in our prior easter hols

easter 2011

easter 2012

yes, two years blogging. crikey!



are you an Op-Shop Show-Off? or more modest about your superior second hand shopping abilities? 

do you like to linky?

it’s charitable, green, cheap, exciting, fun, nostalgia inducing, potentially lucrative and often just plain necessary. whatever your reason for second hand shopping we’d love it if you joined us on Tuesdays here at blackbirdhasspoken.blogspot.com for Op-Shop Show-Off, a linky open to all, all week, to link up a blog post about any aspect of your second-hand shopping life. tell us your op-shopping philosophy, or divulge your secret hunting techniques. let us know about your wants, or skite (English translation= “show-off “) about your amazing finds. review the best op-shopping spots in your town, or request or give information on your fascinating finds, you’ll always be talking to an appreciative audience here.

 How to link up?
1. post your second hand shopping related blog post.

2. link to Op-Shop Show-Off in your blog post, so your blog readers can come over and peruse or post in the linky too.

 3. scroll to the bottom of my latest Tuesday Op-Shop Show-Off post and click on the linky tool, then follow the three easy steps.

 4. don't forget to leave me a comment to let me know you linked up.

 5. have a look at some of the other linkers posts/blogs, they're all people after your own heart!

 6. grab the Op-Shop Show-Off Button from my sidebar to decorate yours (paste the code into a HTML gadget under the 'add a gadget' part of the layout section in blogger and save).

are you an Op-Shop Show-Off?

this sweet festive, rorstrand of sweden porcelain cup-or-sugar-bowl, and a trio of deer (i know nothing of  nana-nick-nacks, beswick maybe?) complete my christmas mantel this year, alongside clauds homemade advent calender and a sleeping elf. 
i'd dearly love a greened up up mantel but that soon to be replaced icky mustard wall paper makes green look bleurg so white was the only way. i'm looking to replace the mustard with a grey. it's very hard to find a grey that doesn't look either blue or purple or too light or too dark for this sunny room. but once it's done the white cup will join these other thrifted "whiteys" up there (from left: 'made in china': Arabia, Finland: Thomas, Germany) currently doing service in the craft room.

are you an op-shop show-off? or more modest about your superior thrifting abilities and luck? either way not everyone appreciates your skill, dedication or indeed finds. but we do here, and i'd be thrilled if you linked up and showed-off your second hand finds, new or old, here. (we'll be here every tuesday in the new year).

to link up just click on the blue click here message and follow the 3 simple steps to link up your blog post, and leave me a comment to let me know your here!
then if your keen grab the Op-Shop Show-Off Button from my sidebar to decorate yours (paste the code into a HTML gadget under the 'add a gadget' part of the layout section in blogger and save)

play along with us

play along with us