Vintage and an Important Birthday

It's been a while since I shared some of our vintage finds but trust me there have been enough for a few posts. I'll start with just a couple of small but beautiful finds.

I have needed a new tea strainer for a very long time, it was the one item I forgot every time I went shopping, but walking home the other day I spotted this in a charity shop. It didn't actually look like this when I found it lurking at the bottom of a basket, it was so tarnished and appeared quite black. I fell in love with the shape and paid the 50p asking price and hoped we could bring back it's beauty.

My husband managed to get it really very shiny, much brighter than it looks in the photos and we found some marks on the back dating it to the early 1920's. So not only have I finally replaced my broken, modern tea strainer I have managed to do it in vintage style.

Another recent purchase is this little French perfume bottle, it still has an old, faded Parisian label on the bottom. I paid just over a pound for this but it is very pretty and makes me smile when my youngest daughter spends time in front of the dressing table putting on her beads and tiara before squirting the atomiser... she is just too cute.

Next I would like to introduce you to a wonderful lady, who inspires my love of vintage and my thriftiness...my grandmother...who celebrated a very special birthday last month and got a letter from the Queen. Happy 100th Birthday Nan.

A Little Vintage and The Cat Returns!

I haven't done a Magpie Monday post for a while and this is one with a slight difference, I have not had much time for shopping and have just been trying to buy things I really need or like. Firstly I found this tablecloth with lovely Autumnal colours for just 75p, the colours actually remind me of the ones used in some of the Clarice Cliff designs. The only tablecloths we have are the modern plastic ones which are very useful for messy crafts and some given to me by my Grandmother, which are too special for me to introduce to the children just yet, so this will come in useful. I am not sure whether to keep it as a tablecloth or use the fabric for something else but so far my daughter has been using it for picnics with her dolls.

Next is a couple of wooden cotton reels I found, I had to pay 50p for these but I do love the wooden ones and the colours are very pretty.  They are now taking pride of place on the top draw of my sewing basket.

I found this bowl or saucer for 25p, to be honest I really don't know what it is, but I liked the simple lines of it, maybe it was an under saucer for a plant pot?... I bought it for my cat, not for normal cat food but for the special treats he gets like a little tuna or chicken.

This bowl is now back in use after 4 months as my cat sadly went missing at the beginning of June, but I am pleased to announce he is now home, he just strolled right in like nothing was wrong the other day. We are all very surprised and happy to have him safe at home again.

Lastly for today I have a glass lemon squeezer my husband found for me for just 50p, we had an awful modern plastic one which did not work well and I really have no idea where it came from anyway. I love these glass ones, so easy to use and they catch the pips... I now have plenty of little volunteers for lemon squeezing.

This post is for the magpie Monday series hosted by missielizzie.

Bargain Finds

It has been a long time since my last Magpie Monday post so I thought I'd pop in to say Hi and show you some more things. First a granite pestle and mortar, my husband came home the other day with this... not an easy task believe me as he was on his push bike. I had wanted a large one this exact colour for a long time, my old one was white. He found this on his travels for £2.75 in a charity shop and thought he would surprise me.

Next is a bowl that I found in a box of junk at a car boot sale a while ago, it was totally black and gunky but it kind of spoke to me so I paid the 50p asking price and went home to see what was underneath. This is what I found... it is a silver colour (epns) and says 'Celtic pattern' on the base, I think it may be a sugar bowl and it has a blue glass liner. This has been used for all sorts of things over the years and is currently holding crystals.

Kind of a mystery item now, I found this at a jumble sale for 2p not really sure what it is but It may be home made?... it is a gold aged little pot, wooden I think but for the tiny price tag it was definitely worth it.

Looks very vintage... but although it is very battered and doesn't do much but sit on the shelf and gather dust, it has a very important job... 'keeper of the tiny treasures' it holds the tiny things I don't want to lose and the kids love to look at.

Lastly something with a more practical use a display cabinet for 80p, my husband had to modify it slightly. My son collects fossils, mostly teeth but he has a few others, this fish is far to delicate to be played with but it seems a shame to hide it away so the display cabinet is the perfect solution. 

This post will be linked over at missielizzie's blog me and my shadow for the Magpie Monday post.

Charity shop glassware

For todays Magpie Monday post I thought I would show you some of the glassware we have bought from charity shops all of which is in everyday use here. To start with here is my trifle bowl, I love this bowl it is slightly frosted and has a wheat pattern and it says 'France' on the bottom. The photographs do not really do justice to the glassware, it is much prettier in real life and this cost just 10p from an odds and ends box!

Next are these pressed glass ice cream dishes, (that's what we use them for anyway), from the same odds and ends box for 10p each. There were only five of these and we have since broken one of them but they make the children feel very special when eating their ice cream, so worth every penny.

Last item from the odds and ends box today is this shaker, it is about 4 inches high and we tend to use it for sprinkling icing sugar or cocoa powder also 10p.

Something a little more colourful now, this turquoise blue glass bowl was only 35p, I'm not really sure of it's original use but we use it under a plant pot on the hall stand or sometimes to hold a group of candles. It is a very beautiful colour.

I've managed to pick up a few bottles over the years which are used for various things, mostly to hold the small flowers my daughter accidentally picks whilst smelling them! The one on the left says 'kutnow's powder' and is a lovely blue colour, the middle one has 'eiffel tower lemonade' on the front. These were 50p and 25p, the last one was free as it was dug up.

Finally today is this black glass perfume bottle, my husband bought me this for 75p mainly so that we could use the atomizer on another bottle. I have a lovely glass dressing table set but the atomizer on the perfume bottle was missing, so he had the idea of using this one. As yet though I haven't changed it over as this black glass one looks pretty on the bedroom shelf next to the ostrich feather fan.

I seem to have quite a few perfume bottles... That's it for today then this post is for the magpie Monday link up, please feel free to wander over there for more charity shop finds.

More charity shop finds!

My very late entry for magpie Monday has had me smiling today, I have been looking for some pink transfer printed plates for absolutely ages. My daughters (and me, if I'm honest) would love to have 'proper' tea parties in a kind of romantic, bohemian/eclectic style. So we wanted a wide variety of different plates, some flowery and some like the ones below. They cost £1.00 for six plates, what a bargain!   On the back it says they are from the Constable bicentennial series.

This next item I found in a box of photograph frames, and it has my heart all a flutter, it is so romantic.... and very heavy!  It is a solid pewter frame and I'm thinking of either putting in photographs of the children or photographs of my husband and I on our wedding day and standing it on my dressing table. This also only cost £1.00.

Then I found this slightly out of season book also for £1.00 it has 200 Christmas recipes and craft ideas inside, just what we need for seasonal preparations later in the year, plenty of things for the children to try out.

Lastly today, a trivet for 50p, it needs to have a little attention paid to it but a welcome addition to the kitchen for placing hot things on and I really love the shape. So these are my finds today the first two items I'm especially excited about, can't wait to put them to good use.

to visit other magpie Monday posts click the link below.

Charity shop finds

For this weeks magpie Monday charity shop post I thought I'd start with the replica copper ship lanterns we found in a charity shop for £3.99 last week, my husband loved them instantly. They hold tea light candles at the moment which would look quite atmospheric on the patio for outdoor eating on a summer evening but my husband has been wondering whether he can convert them to run off solar power.

Next as my little ones are important too, I thought I would show you a couple of the things that they have found. This train set cost cost us £1.75 it is a fisher price geotrax set, normally very expensive, we took a bit of a chance because we didn't know it worked but luckily after putting it together everything works. There are more parts than you can see in the photograph but they only built a small track today, hours of fun!

We found this wooden doll's cradle for £3.00, it needs a small repair to the rocker at the bottom and a re paint but the work will be worth it and will keep my husband busy. This is so sturdy that my children can sit in it, perfect for my daughter.

I also bought some circular knitting needles, two pairs for 25p bargain price, not really sure how much these cost in the shops nowadays but they can't be as cheap as that!

 this post will be linked as a magpie monday post on the blog me and my shadow by missielizzie.