Thrift Store Finds

Completely going against what I said two days ago, yesterday I stopped into my local thrift store to see if I could find some cool pillowcases to make into bags. Well, I didn’t find any pillowcases, but I did come how with a few other things, of course.

I think this sis supposed to be some kind of nibbles station, with little removable dishes and a place in the centre to put napkins or utensils, but that’s not what I am planning to use it for. The women at the counter were admiring it and trying to decide what you would use it for, and I told them I was planning to use it for organising craft stuff and they both were a bit disappointed that they didn’t think of that, lucky for me :) I think my brain just naturally looks at something and thinks “what else could I use that for?”, it’s very handy.

Some vintage children’s books, with great pictures. See that little piggy bank in the top picture? I totally want one just like that! I thought the ABC book would make great artwork for little man’s wall, one day.

And something a bit more modern, to use as leverage to get little princess to be on her best behaviour when we went to visit the house last night. Call it blackmail, bribery, whatever you like, it works and I am not afraid to use it. Luckily, the house was empty, so there was nothing much to touch anyway.

So, how did it go?  House = Awesome, our chances of getting it = who knows. Credit checks and reference checks are involved, both of which should come back fine, I hate thinking that I am being judged on appearances, because that’s really all they have to go on if everything else checks out. There was another family leaving as we arrived and they had 4 kids, so I would think a family with less kids would be preferred, because 2 more kids = a whole lot more wear and tear, right? I don’t know, but I guess now all we can do is wait until a decision has been made, we should find out early next week. Fingers, toes and anything else possible crossed. We have met the only condition of the sale of our house, so as soon as we sign those papers, it’s unconditional, woohoo!!!

Revamped Relics

Someone who follows my blog emailed me a flyer for this great event which is coming up soon, so I thought I would share it, in case any local people see this. It sounds like something I will definitely be keen to get to, possibly lining up at the door on opening day :) (retro fabric-aholic is a pretty accurate description of me, and I love me some up-cycling!)

At my house

This must be the first day I have had to myself for about 10 months. Having both kids in daycare at the same time is great. So what do I do with a day to myself?? Go thrifting of course!!

I had to go into town anyway to take back the wig hubby hired for his costume, so that gave me an excuse to visit the two op shops close to town. These are the goodies I bought home -

More vintage linen and doilies (because I obviously haven’t got enough already, only a whole suitcase full), a little crochet blanket, a retro print metal tray which will make a great magnetic notice board, an oval box which I will decoupage and use for storing some crafty supplies, a few bags of random craft stuff like lace, ribbon etc, some bits of fabric, a couple of cute dolls dresses (although these are more for me than little princess because she prefers her dolls to be naked and takes the clothes off them immediately if I put clothes on them), and a few vintage-ish books, two of which (raggedy anne and the cookie snatcher and Leo the lop) I remember owning as a child, the other one just had really cute pictures.

While we are on the subject of thrifting, here are some things I have found lately that I haven’t posted on here yet.

A pile of pillowcases, mostly vintage.

  More pillowcases, with gorgeous roses.

A lace edged under skirt for little princess, and also for me to copy to make more, because something like that has got to be fairly simple to make, right?

Some fabric/fabric items.

A vintage plastic tray and a bag of buttons.

And this very cool children’s book, great story, great pictures, great concept for a preschooler who loves balloons.

The rest of my day (all 1.5 hours of it before family gets home) will be spent planning some things to make for my swap partners. I can’t believe I have joined three swaps in a week, but they are all so fun I just couldn’t resist. I think the colour swap will be the easiest, but the one I have to send first is for the “here comes the sun” swap, and I have no idea what I am going to make for that. Better get thinking (which means blog surfing until I find something or have a brainwave).

Head over to Lou Lou’s to see what's happening at other houses today.

Unsuccessful Thrifting & Crafting

I want to start with something positive, because the rest of this post is going to be a bit blah. I am absolutely loving this sunny weather, it makes me happy even on the most unhappy days. Will I jinx it if I say it could be an early spring?? Oh how I love spring.

Anyway, I have tried crafting lately, but I am suffering from very uncomfortable back /neck / shoulder pain. I have no idea how or why this started, but it is not getting better, in fact it seems to be getting worse. My body’s natural reaction to pain is nausea, so as well as being in pain, I am nauseated, dizzy and feeling quite queasy today, YUCK!!

But I have a mission, I chose to join the vintage baby swap at the last minute, without a clue what I would send, but with the naive idea that vintage baby stuff would be easy to find. Well, it seems all the thrift stores within a 10 minute walk/bus ride from my house have been cleared of all vintage toys, and all I can find is bins full of soft toys. Vintage children's books have been easy to find, and I have bought home a few, some that I am reluctant to part with, but I’ve made peace with it because I know that they are going to a lovely kiwi mummy blogger.

Of course I have not come home empty handed from my thrift store searches. I just haven’t come home with anything I had actually been looking for. One of my finds I am super happy with, and I can’t wait to find a special spot in my house and a special something to display inside it.

I have been seeing these on other blogs with lovely things displayed in them like cupcakes, birds nests, fruit, little bitty plants…that gives me an idea to use the little bitty blue & white plant pot I found a while ago.

I also came home with a pile of pillowcases to be used for crafty things, except for one which will be used for it’s intended purpose for little princess.

And a pile of vintage linens, doilies, lace, fabric etc.

  A book for me, which is meant for kids, but it has some really basic patterns for crochet and knitting, and I am thinking I should try knitting again. A tea cosy (that's the olive green knitted thing you can kinda see on the left), because even though I don’t actually have a teapot yet, I desperately need a tea cosy. A doll for little princess. A little cross stitch kit that was inside one of the books and I didn’t even realise it until I got home. some round wooden things, I don’t know what they are meant to be, but I am going to stick stuff to them.

And even on the worst of days, when I am feeling blah and tired and grumpy….

I have this little guy to cheer me up with his smiles and giggles. Little man is supposed to be starting daycare next week, it makes me a bit sad, I will miss him. I am still completely undecided if he should even be going to daycare yet, as of yesterday he is 9 months old, but we are noticing some delays in development now. He can not sit up unsupported or crawl, and he has no teeth and is not at all interested in eating any kind of food other than fruit/vege puree. He can, however, laugh enthusiastically at pretty much anything I do, smile hugely whenever he sees me (including if I just turn away from him then turn back again), pivot around on his tummy when I’m not looking so that I find him in a completely different place to where I left him, and he is almost just about sleeping through the night *touch wood*. The daycare dilema is – the staff there are excellent and will know exactly what to do to meet his needs, he needs to start getting social interaction early and he needs to learn to be ok away from me, but on the other hand, I can give him quality one on one time, I have gotten him into a really good routine which will get completely messed up when he starts daycare, and he doesn’t really need to go to daycare yet. I guess it’s worth a try, to see how it goes, and if I decide that it’s not working for him we can put it off until next year. I can’t believe in three months my little man will be ONE. Wow this year is really flying by.

And I think this post has gone on long enough. I’ve just had a couple of parcels from overseas delivered to my door, so I am excited to open them up and see what’s inside.

Thrifty Finds

A lot of this weekend was spent costume planning and shopping. We have an event coming up in a month which has a theme, A night at the Oscars, so we have to either go as a movie character or dress for the red carpet. Well, I don’t own anything remotely  suitable for wearing on the red carpet, and I’ve always been a fan of playing dress-ups, so we had to come up with movie characters we could pull off.We decided on some characters, went through what we already have around the house, then decided a thrift store search was in order to find the rest of what we needed. Of course I can’t visit thrift stores without coming home with things other than what we went for in the first place, so here are some of the things I came home with.

A fantastic black and white crochet blanket. I can’t believe that someone would just get rid of this, it obviously has hours and hours of work put in to it, not to mention a lot of wool! And I paid $6.99 for it, scandalous.

More vintage buttons, all very big. A bag of 36 for $1.49. Little princess called them treasures, which is a very accurate description if you ask me.

  I think this little ironing board is so nifty, it has a hook for hanging in a wardrobe, and little fold out legs so you can put it on the table or something. I also now have a brand new iron, the first iron I have ever owned. Obviously, ironing is not on my usual housework schedule, nor will it be, ever. This is purely for my new sewing addiction, because some things are just easier to sew when you have an iron.

Yummy vintage red leather suitcase, random bag of wool, random bag of doilies, a doily-like collar (I think), wreath, and a sheet to use as backing for my quilt.

Some goodies for little princess. She got some more books but wouldn’t let me take a photo because she was “busy”. I got a few vintage books too, but I think some of them will be sent to Kelly as part of the vintage baby swap.

As well as all this we did find a few items to add to our costumes, and we are still missing a few things. Where on earth will I find an old fashioned straight razor? And I still need to find a corset, and a wig for hubby…..

Want to know who we are going as?

  Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett

Head over to Sophies to see more delicious Flea Market Finds. Also linking up to Thrifty Treasures over at Southern Hospitality.

Thrifty Finds…

Another trip to my local thrift store this week was unavoidable, because I had mail to post, and the post box just happens to be about 5 meters past the thrift store. Who can walk past a thrift store without going in? Certainly not me. And I most definitely can not go into a thrift store and not buy anything. nope. it’s impossible.

It was really hard to get a decent photo of these plates, but in reality they are gorgeous. They have a texture/pattern on them that is very hard to photograph. They will not be eaten off, but will be great for display.

The rest of my finds: A glass apothecary jar probably destined to be a button display or maybe a little moss terrarium like this. A smurfs mug ( just about squealed when I saw it, and I think the lady at the counter was a bit miffed that it was prices so low at $1.00 because she made a point of telling me how valuable those things are now). A tiny little blue & white china plant pot. A few vintage pattern/craft books. An embroidery hoop. A bag of random bits of wool, for making granny squares or other little crochet goodies. A few doilies. And a couple of fairly big bits of fabric.

I also got this great knitted cardigan for little princess, but the buttons on it are hideous. The are slightly tarnished gold tinted metal buttons, yuck! I don’t often see a button I don’t like but these ones have to go. I haven’t decided what I will replace them with yet, I’ll have to go through my stash and see what I can find, or more button shopping may be in order :)

I also have some great funky junk finds, but I haven’t had a chance to take photos yet, because the last couple of days have been all about getting the house clean and tidy and on it’s best behaviour for viewing this weekend by a very promising potential buyer (keep all fingers and toes crossed for us please). I’ve been dying to get onto my sewing machine to get a few things done, but I had to pack it away so my dining table resembles a functional dining table. It’s funny how happy a clean house makes me feel, but I can never keep it clean for long because housework is not even close to the top of my priorities list.

Linking to Sophie’s Flea Market Finds.

Finally Thrifty Friday

It feels like it has been forever since I did any thrifting, and it has been a really long time since I had a visit to Funky junk, so today, even though we have very little money, I decided a trip to my local thrift store was in order. I don’t often go there with both kids, but little princess actually enjoys it, and this is something I want to encourage, because as she gets older I want her to learn the lessons I learnt as a child about money. I grew up as an only child to a single mum, who struggled to make ends meet for most of my childhood, so I learnt the value of money, how to budget, and how to “shop smart”. Every now and then I get the “urge to splurge”, but at least my spending generally happens at thrift stores, where everything is cheap, and at least the money is going to a good cause (sounds like I am justifying it?? maybe I am feeling just a little bit guilty about spend $20 when we don’t really have money to spend). Anyway, here are my findings for today…

A few clothing items for little princess (jeans, skirt, top = $2 total), Blue gingham apron, froggy bath mitt (this was little princesses “toy” of choice), zip up purse (which is currently the perfect size to hold the crochet blanket I am working on for little man), magnetic wildlife book (LP’s book of choice), A very old your home and garden magazine, some vintage heels that fit perfectly so maybe I will wear them, 2 vintage sheets (not matching, but similar colour schemes), and some little bags containing lace and “old doilies for craft work” (that’s what it says on the bags so how could I not buy them!). When you buy those bags of craft stuff, it’s pretty hard to see what's in them, and they put about a million staples in the bag to stop you opening them, but for $1 it’s usually worth it. This is what was inside those four little bags…

There was 5 metres of a creamy lace, just over 5 metres of navy blue lace, some odd amounts of other lace that wasn’t measured, but it seems pretty long, a cushion cover with a bit of damage to the embellishment, some lace edged hankies and different embroidered things. Definitely things I can use if I ever get around to making myself one of those awesome doily quilts/blankets that everyone’s making at the moment, like here, here and here.

And while we are at it, I found this photo of thrift store finds from a couple of weeks ago that I never posted about…

The most amazing red doily which I guess is supposed to be a table runner, turquoise biscuit tin (LOVE the colour and the pictures), another vintage sheet, some cute floral fabric, another bag of random lace and stuff, a bag containing cards of 3 different ribbons in gray/silver still with heaps on them, a black cape for dress ups, a Barbie doll and a vintage Barbie doll dentist chair, and the navy blue hat that I posted about here.

I’ve got quite a collection of vintage sheets now, I should really start doing something with them. I’m a bit scared to cut them up in case I ruin their fabulousness….but I suppose there's plenty more vintage sheets out there if I need more, right?? If you have an idea for what I could make with them, or if you have made something with them, please let me know, I love finding new ideas and ways of using things in my stash.

Linking to:

Flea Market Finds at Her Library Adventures.

Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality.

Pinkilicious thrift store finds

Yesterday we went out in search of teapots, and this is what I came home with: A pink floral vintage single sheet, a pink jug (don’t they just match perfectly), and some bright coloured plastic knitting needles. The knitting needles will be used to make something like these, but using them for the stems instead of dowels, and maybe putting buttons in the middle?? Might have a play around with that later.

Remember this dress??

This was one of the things I completed on Wednesday (before my sewing machine died). I made this dress especially to match her gumboots, because she doesn’t have a lot of outfits that go with them, but she loves wearing them. I think it matches perfectly.

Speaking of sewing machines, I am getting a new one, WOOHOO!! Thanks to my wonderful mummy, I will be getting a Brother LS2160 as an early birthday present. I’ve ordered it online from Spotlight, so I have no idea how long it will take for them to send it, hopefully soon because I am SOOOOOO excited to start sewing again.

Linking up to Flea Market Finds over at Sophie’s gorgeous blog. Also linking to Thrifty Treasures over at Southern Hospitality.

Thrifty Thursday, Latest Creations & My Giveaway Revealed

There will be no Funky Junk for me this week, so instead I have some thrift store finds.

The revolving spice rack will be great when I have a craft room, for keeping jars of buttons or beads within easy access. I found a set of double vintage sheets, that came with 3 pillow cases for some reason. I finally found a decent sized crochet hook, and I got it free! Also free was a bottle, and the scrabble tile, I think the woman just couldn’t be bothered adding amounts that were under $1. Also got a couple of things for the tea party, a couple of little bags full of random bits of lace and ribbon, and a vintage table cloth/runner. There’s a couple of things missing from the photo: underneath all that stuff is a cool vintage suitcase, not in the best condition, but great for holding some craft stuff for my crafting weekend away, also got a huge ziplock bag full of broken bits of jewellery, artificial pearls, beads etc.

These are the only crafty things I have had time to work on this week, with hospital visits and getting ready for the big weekend. My daughter helped me paint the piggies, then I stamped some words and images on them. Some of them are stuck onto pegs, some are on magnets. The two tiles at the bottom got the same treatment, but they will be made into pendants.

And now for the GIVEAWAY!!! I heard about Giveaway Day on Kelly’s blog Reclaiming Me, and I thought, why wait until I have 18 followers when I can do it this way. I had all the stuff already (except the fudge), all I had to do was put it all together, and this is what I got.

The package will include: A set of 4 gift cards and envelopes in a pouch, a mini crayon roll which holds 4 jumbo crayons, a magnetic notepad & matching pen, a little notebooks set which comes with pencils & erasers, a gift card with gumball machine (sentiment reads “wishing you the sweetest day ever”), a vintage pillow case, a necklace with bird design, red glass bead memory wire bracelet, six little pegs (3 yellow ladybug & 3 yellow bird), two small doilies, a packet of chocolate fudge (YUM!! That is if I can resist the urge to eat it!!), and the best part…..

BUTTONS!!!! I don’t know about you, but I LOVE me some buttons!!! I think it’s a pretty common love among crafters, you either have, or dream about having a HUGE collection of every button imaginable. I have a pretty big collection, because I have been collecting buttons FOREVER! I remember when I was a kid, only about 6 or 7, being taken to an op shop and given a couple of dollars to spend and buying jars full of buttons….ah the good old days. Anyway, somehow over the years of moving a trillion times I managed to keep (or hoard) m0st of my buttons, while still adding to the collection. In my fantasy world buttons are the currency, the more beautiful they are the more they are worth. So I am parting with a (relatively) small part of my button collection, in the name of love, because I love my followers, those wonderful people who stop by, see things they like and leave lovely comments. You are worth so much more than 60 beautiful buttons, but that’s all I could bring myself to part with on this occasion. These 60 buttons are in sets, some are only pairs, some are triplets, and there are even a few quadruplets and quintuplets. They are wrapped up securely in a little purse.

So, to be in for a chance to win, all you have to do is be a follower. I’m going to leave this open for international followers too, but if you win and you live outside of NZ, I may not be able to package it all nicely in the basket due to the cost. So if you are already a follower, leave a comment to let me know, and if you become a follower leave a comment. That’s it. I don’t have a facebook page, I don’t do twitter, and as of yet I don’t have anything listed in my felt shop, so I don’t have any other way for you to get extra entries. Maybe if you leave me a super uber nice comment, or tell me about your button fantasies, I will slip in an extra entry for you. Giveaway is open until 20th May. Good luck, may the force be with you.

Wondering why this is the longest post ever and why I’ve jammed a whole weeks worth of stuff into one post??? Because I am going away for the WHOLE WEEKEND, on a child free, girly craft weekend. How lucky am I?!?!?! But I have changed my mind about going so many times these last couple of weeks, because it’s the first time I’ll be away from my little man, and I’m going to miss him like crazy! Of course I will miss the hubby and my daughter as well, but they don’t need me as much as this cutie does. I wish I could smuggle him in, but that would defeat the purpose of a child free weekend. So when I get home on Sunday the house will be a mess, there will be piles of laundry and dishes all over the place and I will have some serious recon to do, so blogging will have to be put off until I can see the floor.

Funky Junk Friday & Some Thrift Store Finds

I didn’t bring a lot home from funky junk last night, but I’m pretty happy with what I found:

Two square fabric prints – those are the things in the background of the photo, I’m pretty sure they have some kind of purpose, but I’m not sure what it is, they are just cute, very “country cottage”.

Four magazines from the 70’s – 3 of them are mon tricot knit & crochet, the other one is fashion maker. They had some good patterns and simple instructions for when I eventually learn to crochet.

A little white basket – cute.

A cream (coloured) milk jug – to add to my fast growing collection of tea set items I really don’t need but can’t help myself.

A little terracotta pot – potential.

A glass candle holder – this is definitely supposed to have some kind of holder with it, but I’m sure I can improvise.

Some more doily things – Another thing I seem to be collecting now.

One of the things I forgot to mention in my last funky junk post is the vast amounts of fabric scraps, sample blocks, off cuts and half finished sewing projects that are at funky junk. I really have to try to stop myself from bringing it all home, because I am bringing home fabric faster than I can use it, and it is piling up. Last night I found some black polar fleece which is probably big enough to make a dress or something for one of the kids. Also a few smaller bits of fabric with cute prints, for smaller projects or possibly one day to make a quilt. And on top of the black polar fleece you can see a few little things like lace scraps which are great for embellishments, bias binding, a set of needles (because I am always loosing mine) and some elastic.

And then there’s the wooden beads (sitting on top) for my daughter to use when she makes pipe cleaner bracelets.

These are some other funky junk finds from a while ago. On the bottom is a couple of vintage aprons, another collection that is growing, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with them because a. I can’t wear them, they make me look frumpy and as much as I would love to have the 50’s housewife look going on, I don’t think I’ll ever have the waistline for aprons, and b. they are too cute as aprons to make them into anything else. They will probably just end up in the dress-up box.

Above that are some pages out of a publication called “Child Education” mostly dated in the 60’s, with some in 1952. I just loved the pictures of birds and flowers, but there are other things like big fold out posters of park scenes and instructions for making things like improvised drama accessories and a railway station model. Lots of vintage goodness.

Then there is a very vintage (1955) Home Chat magazine. The advertisements in there are awesome, I love the really ridiculous things that they advertise like “Freezone – amazing liquid corn remover”, “Germloids – for the effective treatment of haemorrhoids” and “Sorella Foam Bath – for slenderizing”. I mean really, who in there right mind would believe that having a special foam bath could make you lose weight.

Ok, now for some thrift store finds. I had to walk past my local thrift store yesterday on the way to catch the bus, and I could NOT walk past without going in. I am a pathological thrifter. Hello my name is Rhiannon and I’m a thriftoholic.

In the background is a gorgeous silk (?) scarf but the photo doesn’t really show the awesomeness of the blue & black print.

On the left is a piece of cute floral sheer fabric, I haven’t opened it up so I don’t know how big it is, but it feels fairly big.

Some more heart things like the ones here, these ones are pale purple, I guess you’d call it lilac.

A little blue jar, the most expensive thing I bought at $2.50, but I couldn’t resist.

A pottery milk jug, I think. This was a huge bargain at 30c, and the woman at the counter was a bit shocked when she saw that price, I even heard her whispering about it to the woman next to her as I was leaving. She’s just jealous, because she said she has the bowl to match.

A cross stitch that I only bought because I wanted the embroidery hoop that it is mounted in.

Two little swan cross stitches that I only bought because I wanted the wreath things they are mounted in, they look like little nests.

Two little hedgehog figurines – don’t ask why, because I have no answer. I must have stood there holding those in my hand for a good 5 minutes debating whether to get them. They are cute, of course, but that's not why I liked them. I have had in the back of my mind the idea of creating a little moss terrarium, because there is instructions all over the place at the moment to tell you how to make them. So I have been vaguely keeping a look out for any miniature cuteness to live in my someday terrarium, and I thought there hedgehogs might just be cute enough, but are they small enough? Well, even if they are not, I’m sure they will find a home somewhere one day.

And then there is the two hats, to be embellished with some fabric flowers or something, because I am loving hats right now, due to the fact that I am WAY overdue for a haircut and colour so keeping it under a hat is the best look right now.

I will be linking this up to the usual parties, check them out on my sidebar to see other peoples awesome thrifty finds.

Funky Junk Friday

Imagine a huge room, full of objects discarded by people, fabric off cuts, half finished sewing projects, patterns, books, boxes, jars, tins, containers…… And it’s all free. This is the wonder that is “Funky Junk”. This is a place here in Tauranga where people can leave their unwanted “junk” and a place where others can find treasures. So every Thursday night I go to a craft night, which is right across from Funky Junk, and since I started going I have collected some great Junque. This is just like thrifting, only free, which is awesome.

These are some of my recent finds:

3 wooden lamp bases, which have had the wiring etc removed – these will probably be painted, and I have plans to possibly try to make one into the stand for a dress form (decorative).

A bunch of doilies – I just love doilies, one of the reasons I want to learn to crochet is so I can make them myself old-school style.

A metal “thing” which I think is some sort of pot stand – also needs a paint job and a little glass bowl or something to sit in it to hold crafty stuff like buttons (one day when I actually have space to display such things).

A cute little yellow glass bottle – just cause its cute.

Some retro little wooden dipping bowls – I have a set of salad bowls, chip bowls and salad servers to match.

A vintage blue tin with a gorgeous pattern on it – it’s gorgeous, what more do I need to say.

A little ceramic book thing – I want to paint it white, line the bottom with a bit of felt and make it a ring holder.

A metal candlestick – also needs a paint job, I can see the potential in anything.

The blue/green fabric under the lamps is a table runner (I think, at least that's what I plan to use it for), the other retro printed fabrics are placemats or napkins I think.

A cute little hand mirror with a floral design on the back.

A porcelain door knob (I know, that's pretty random) with a really cute floral design.

Little metal tins – there’s only a couple pictured, but I have quite a collection now, they will be altered and given as little gifts at some stage.

A lampshade form – again, potential.

A metal teapot – ummm, yeah, I’m just a bit obsessed with teapots and teacups at the moment, because of the party I am planning. I have found MANY teapots and teacups in funky junk, but they have been put away with the rest of the party stuff.

A whole bunch of wooden placemats – because you can never have too many ;-)

A basket – just because I liked the shape of it.

And more retro printed stuff and some other sewing related bits and pieces.

There’s plenty more where that came from, so I'm gonna try to make it a regular thing – Funky Junk Friday.

Linking up to Sophie's Flea Market Finds and Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures.

Thrifty finds

This last week I tried so hard to be good, I almost managed to resist the urge to go to my local thrift shop, but on Thursday I gave in. I'm quite happy I did, because I found a few great patterns, and some other stuff.
The Floral fabric in the back is a flannel sheet, I just love the colours and the pattern, and one day I would love to include this in a quilt.
On top of that are some heart shaped "things" which I think are some kind of place mat type things, but I plan to use them to make vintage lavender hangers. The book on gift wrapping I couldn't resist, I believe great gift wrapping is just as important as a great gift and I love finding new ideas to try.
I found three patterns, 2 for kids dresses that look fairly simple and 1 for dresses in my size. The adult ones look pretty hideous on the picture, that style would not be flattering on me, but I spent quite some time studying the pattern and I think I have come up with a way to alter it to make it more flattering. Now I just need to get some cheap fabric to do a test run on, because I would hate to ruin gorgeous fabric, and it's quite likely to happen because I've never attempted to make a dress for myself before.
Then there is a few cute things I didn't really need but I could imagine them in my ideal home: A vintage tin with a lovely turquoise bird pattern, a little vintage milk jug and a plastic planter in a kind of Greek style.
Two crafty items, a small wooden embroidery hoop and some iron on backing stuff (I've never used it before but heaps of the things I want to make require it, and I will soon have to buy an iron to go with it).
The last item in the photo is just a cute little book for my little princess, she likes it, and it was only 20c.

For the first time, I am linking up to another blog (I hope I do this right), so to see more thrift store finds for the week go here.

I have been busy all week making party favours for my daughters birthday party in June. We are having a mad hatters tea party for her 3rd birthday, but I will post more about that another time.

Tuesday’s Thrifted Treasures

So, I am pretty happy with what I came home with on Tuesday. I could have got more, because I set myself a budget of $20, but didn’t end up spending that much because my bag was getting too heavy to carry. Let me tell you that shopping with a baby attached to your front, a fairly heavy baby, is not easy and I will not be doing it again in a hurry. I think I’ll stick to using the pram, no matter how hard it can be to manoeuvre around places.

The picture shows my finds from the 3 thrift stores I went to (I missed one because I didn’t want to cross a busy road carrying my little man, and it wasn’t a particularly great thrift shop anyway, mostly just overpriced clothes). Most of the stuff is fairly boring:

* a green gingham cot sheet, I thought the colour was nice, so I’m not sure if it will be used as a sheet.

* some clothes that were really cheap (total $2.50 for 6 items) that will be repurposed into clothing for my daughter probably.

* a pillowcase with a cute pattern also for repurposing.

* a cute toaster cover that my husband thinks is hideous, so it will never be used as a toaster cover in our house, but I’m sure I can find a use for it.

* an embroidery hoop, which may be used for embroidery if I ever get around to trying it, otherwise it will be a frame for fabric wall art.

* a mini wreath, because I saw a tutorial the other day, no idea where, but when I saw this it reminded me, so now I will have to scour the net to find the tut again.

* Some kind of napkin or something with green polka dots, it was 10c and I liked the colour, it looks cute with the sheet, so might have to combine the two somehow….I’m thinking a plushie/softie.

* some MORE placemats, but these are different from all the others, they have square corners!!!! This will make recovering them so much easier! (these were what made my bag so heavy)

* and, the most amazing find, the most perfect and wonderfully retro discovery ever, a Super Stitch. This is a mini hand held sewing machine from the 70’s. I haven’t tried it to make sure it actually works yet, but if it does it will make things a lot easier, because my sewing machine hates me.

* Oh, I almost forgot the magazine. Just an old parenting magazine with some interesting stuff in it, came with a few free reward charts which may be useful one day, it was only 30c, and I can not leave the house without buying a magazine (no seriously, I have a problem, one that takes up lots of space).

Total spent = $14.70

Most expensive item = $5 for the Super Stitch.

So, wow, really long post. Oh well. Still working on altering my coasters and placemats, they are coming along ok, have to have them finished by tomorrow night if I want to sell them this weekend.

A very exciting discovery

I am totally bouncing off my chair, dancing around the room excited about the site I just found!! I had no idea such a thing existed in New Zealand!! America has Etsy, Australia has Madeit, and now I find out we have Felt. I will be looking into listing some stuff on there soon.

Also, I am very excited to be venturing a bit further from home for my thrifting today. I have a parents day to go to at my daughters daycare, so on the way I will be stopping in Greerton, where there are several thrift shops AND a dollar store.

And another thing to be excited about, we vaguely discussed the possibility of driving to Rotorua in the weekend to go to spotlight. I haven't been there since before my little man was born, almost 6 months ago, so I'm excited!!