bells and baubles

A few years ago about a week after christmas we were at a garage sale in our neighbourhood where a family was selling off a departed mother's entire lifetime of hoarded chintzy domestic chattels. There were hand made gingham aprons and 1950s towels and sheets and concrete chicken garden ornaments.... We loved it.

One of the things we bought was a cardboard box of chrissy decorations which we didn't bother to open and forgot about until the following christmas. These are some of the treasures we found when we finally opened the box.

have fete

I've never really been one for cake decorating but i did recently buy a cheap plastic piping set for the girls to ice biscuits with now and then and they love it. So when i saw this completely unused 1970s stainless steel and canvas decorating kit at a friend's kids' school fete for two dollars i was inspired. Think of the biscuits! Think of the cakes! Think of the piped mashed potato!

If i can bring myself to pull it all out of its sensational box.

uk goods

Well here we are back from our travelling adventures in England and Spain and i can happily report that i sampled op shops from Plymouth to Birmingham. Not that i really wanted to pick up extra baggage but with the girls constantly buying themselves more toys with money the rellies were giving them i knew this cool red vinyl suitcase for one pound would be invaluable. And it was. The hat was a pound too!





And this little woven sewing box was something i just fell in love with.

come in sit down

I haven't been op shopping or garage saleing for a long time now, i think it's dawning on me that i don't need any more stuff no matter how cheap it is. But as i haven't updated this site for ages and had a hankering to i'm posting my sofas - of which we have three! yes i know it's ridiculous we've got three full lounge suites squeezed into the house. We really don't need that much seating but i don't want to get rid of any of them. One was free from a friend, one was bought at an auction and the other was bought from second hand shop.

off me trolley

My mum found this shopping trolley for me at a garage sale (it's in the genes but she's better at it than i am). It's great for filling up with fruit at the market but stangely enough, considering its age, when i first got it the lid section didn't fit over the body bit so i had to take it off, cut it up and remodel it with my own red vinyl. Turned out pretty good i thought.

bowls

Here is some of my collection of op shop bowls. I'm a sucker for them, especially when they only set me back for between 50 cents and three or four bucks.

jug and mug

I really like this 60s plastic drinks set but i almost didn't buy it because at $10 it seemed exhorbitant! In hindsight, though, $2 per item seems a very reasonable price for the amount of joy it gives me.