What can you buy for £1

It seems a lot of the sellers at the boot sale today thought  £1 would be a good amount when I asked the price of their items.  Take a look at some of the fantastic bargains I picked up.


Simply stunning heavy turquoise blue glass goblets.  No idea of age, but totally too die for £1 each.  My jaw hit the floor and bounced back with the beautiful bone china tureen/serving dish its immaculate and looks as if its never been used.  No makers mark and just £1 !  I got it along with the two plates in front and a pretty Royal Albert milk jug (forgot to photograph)  all three items for the grand total of £1.70p!  As I walked away I heard the chap who sold me the items remark to his Friend "its amazing the crap some people will buy " !!! 



I've said before one of the things I miss most about our lifestyle cutbacks has been the lack of flowers.  I used to spend about £50 a month on them in our previous life and miss them so much.  The last few weeks I have been really lucky to have been given some beautiful ones from a friend's garden and then to have also picked some up from Sainsbury's on offer.  Imagine my delight when I saw huge bunches of beautiful roses being sold at the boot sale today for the princely sum of £2.50 !  I had to have some and don't they look gorgeous.  Sitting pretty below them are another of my all time favourites, I am always on the lookout for vintage glass Christmas decorations.  How pretty are the colours, several have marks and stains but I think it just adds to their beauty.   The tray full just £1 and another box full of white glass tree toppers and dangly ones for £2.



How about this pic and me reflected 50 times in all my glory!



I couldn't believe my luck when I asked the price of this white wicker basket.  These days all wicker seems to have silly price tags.  This beauty with a cotton liner too for £1 !  Woop!  I think the girl realised her mistake as soon as she said it.  Too Late, here's your £1, thank you very much ....



I also found some amazing Table linen, 2 bone china tea sets, an unworn silk blouse, a set of vintage coloured liqueur glasses, a vintage wooden folding measuring tape, a vintage wooden thomas the tank engine puzzle and 2 complete sets of 1950's serving and dessert spoons.  What a bumper morning and total spend was £25 ! 

Take a moment to pop over and see what the other members of MagpieMonday found this week, also linking up to Apron Thrifted Girl


Glass - Magpie Monday

When I go looking for my thrifting bargains, I don't normally look at glass. I may occasionally buy a piece but because I find it difficult to find out information about age, make etc due to lack of markings I tend to not to buy much of it.

That all changed this week when most of the items I found screamed "buy me" "buy me".  Sadly, I can give you no information on them except to say some of them appear to be Vintage.  But one thing they all have in common is I love every single piece.



This beautiful bowl is really heavy glass, pretty pale pink and clear flowers adorn it.  I imagine it is meant to be a fruit bowl.  So gorgeous, very Lalique in style.  I paid £2 for it .



Another bowl and again most probably a fruit bowl and this one I think maybe approx 1930's very deco in style and extremely heavy.  I love the Square cut design to the top, its immaculate condition and cost me 50p !  I don't know why, but my favourite charity shop has lots of lovely glass bowls they always sell for 50p !  Very odd, but I am not complaining.



I love the etched design on this bottle and the fact that it has its original glass stopper.  It was filthy dirty and in a box with lots of rubbish ontop of it, but it washed up a treat.  I paid £1 for it.  Make a beautiful luxury bath salts container (not that I would dare to have glass in my bathroom )  .



How hard is it to take photo's of glass!  Especially when you bring a mirror into the mix .



This lovely candle stick did have a mark conveniently placed on a label on the front - Etain Veritable which I understand is French and always has these lovely Pewter flower designs on the front.  Gorgeous, heavy glass.  I can never have enough candlesticks and this one for £1.



Yesterday at the boot sale blue glass seemed to jump out at me.  The two bottles on the Left are "bitters" bottles.  One a fish.  I adore the gorgeous turquoise colour.  The smaller one was 10p and the larger one 50p.  The pretty pale blue glass vase is extremely heavy and another steal for £1, I love its little feet.

Finally, it always pays to look in any boxes you might find.  I saw this pretty blue box sitting on a table amongst lots of bits and bobs and although it was really grimy I was drawn to it. 



When I opened it up, this was inside ....



Now I am certain its not gold and precious stones, but oh! soooo pretty and gorgeous pastel shabby chic colours.  I love it !



That's my lot for this week.  Please make sure you pop over to MagpieMonday  and take a look at all the other wonderful Thrifted treasure found this week.


Chair Obsession ?


Ever since the success of the chair makeover Here  My hubby and I seem to keep finding "must have" chairs to renovate.  The four dark wood ones above we found last weekend at the boot sale and are really excited about their gorgeous shape and potential. 

We have already started rubbing down the three on the right and have some gorgeous paint and ideas for transforming them.  This time we are going for some colour and distressing similar to these below from the beautiful blog that is Miss Mustard Seed





Earlier this week Hubby won two cane chairs on Ebay from a local seller.  We went to their rather imposing and beautiful Georgian home last night to collect them.  The house was a vintage lovers dream.  I would dearly have loved to look over the whole house ! Here are our latest acquisitions.



So what do you think, can you ever have too many lovely chairs or do we need to sell some on ? 

A new venture

This weekend if you have been on twitter you may have noticed that yet again I had a rant about Ebay and posted about it HERE  I think it could quiet possibly be the straw that broke the camel's back.  Anyway, not someone to stay down for long, I have always been a fighter and have dragged myself  and my family back from the much more serious stuff in the past.  I was galvanised by this latest attack to put into action a dream that I have had for sometime.  I have set up my facebook page HERE  and intend to turn my love of vintage and thrifting into a money making concern if I can.  I have already booked a Vintage Fair for July and together with a friend I am embarking on another venture renting out Vintage Tea Service's for Shabby Chic/Vintage weddings or Tea Parties.

This means that I can now shop at boot sales and charity shops to my hearts content, safe in the knowledge that my items will at some point move onto another beloved home.   I have always loved the philosophy of Rachel Ashwell,  the creator of shabby chic when she said that most of the items that she found at yard sales etc she loved for a while and then passed them on. 

Here are some of this weeks finds as part of Liz's MagpieMonday post  as those who read my blog regularly will know I always manage for the most part to find great value bargains and today was no exception but because of my new ventures unfortunately I will no longer be able to tell you just how great a bargain they were.  Hope this won't prevent you from enjoying them with me and the excitement that goes along with securing a fantastic piece.



Various pieces of vintage Linen tea towels, napkins and runners, some cotton and some linen every piece a total work of hand embroidered art and a total bargain.  Along with the basket that was full of photo frames. Don't be afraid to ask if these are for sale, the lady was only too happy to tip out the frames and sell me the basket for 20p !  Woop!



Gorgeous Milk Jug cover, used a lot "in the pre-convenience days" to keep the flies of milk or food . This pretty crocheted one has lovely glass weighted balls on the ends and a tie top.  I love it and bought it along with some of the linen above and the lamp shades below from a lady who had THE most gorgeous stall, with many, many pieces I could have bought, including some French Monogrammed linen sheets that I have been coveting forever ! but can't find at the right price, unfortunately hers were out of my price range too.  Big sigh, I will just have to keep searching but what about this for an amazing coincidence, I gave her one of my cards so that we could keep in touch and she said her name was ........ KAREN JONES !! How spooky is that ! 



Totally perfect and too die for pale blue and cream Laura Ashley (silk?)  lamp shades for £3 each, exactly what I was looking for for my bedside lamps.  I can't tell you how thrilled I was to spot these. LOVE ! LOVE! LOVE! and no, these will most certainly not be moving on anytime soon.



Really pretty Glass Luminarc plates. These are quite modern but absolutely lovely, very fine and delicate you can almost see through them. Not plates I will be serving the boys with. 



Here is my tale of woe, doesn't happen often, but I spotted two of these gorgeous glass paraffin lamps and dashed over to the stall, the lady was besieged by buyers all haggling.  I asked the price of the two lamps again silly money for the quality and the style, so snapped them up.  I paid and was putting them into my bag when some great oaf pushed me from behind reaching across me to get at something and I heard a horrible cracking sound ! Booo! one of the top sections of one of the lamps had smashed !  Hubby assures me we will be able to find a replacement but I was gutted.  Still here is the surviving one. 



I had a few more lovely finds but will catch up with these later in the week.  Please pop over and see what everybody else found this week at .Magpie Monday

Boot Sale Bounty - Magpie Monday

We were up bright and early to go to the boot sale this week, as hubby only has 2 weekends off shift per month now we have to make the most of our weekends.  Arriving at 6.30 with a light smattering of rain I wasn't hopeful.  Not many stalls but loads of people on the hunt for bargains.  As a seller I hate it when people all lunge at your table as you are setting up, so I tend to hang back when I am there as a buyer.  No killer instinct !  This didn't stop us from getting some great bargains today though.

First up this fab chair for £5, we are almost at the end of our renovations on the house and hubby is building a bookcase/computer desk in the corner of the living room where we can house the family computer.  I wanted a chair that would be comfy but also fit in with the style of the room.  This chair will get a few coats of paint and a nice seat pad and hopefully will work well at the desk.



Next up two storm lamps.  The lady had them half full of sand with the most awful brown candles in them.  She wanted £5 for the pair, its always a good ploy to hesitate and not say anything for a moment or two.  I'll take £4 she said.  I told her actually I didn't want the candles or the sand and could I have them for £3, ok !  Deal done.  Nice wash in hot soapy water once home and some nice white candles and they are transformed !





I love candles and am always on the lookout for them.  This pack of six 12 inch Mayfair candles had the original price tag of 46p on them.  I paid £1  ! That's inflation for you.



I love to find books that are a bit different, I came across these four in immaculate condition and with beautiful covers and quirky titles.  I haven't heard of the author Edward Monkton (I know where have I been)  they are fab books and I got all four for £1.50.





Just along from this lady was a chap selling lots of selvage bits and pieces including this mirror he only wanted £2 for it!  It would have originally been attached to a dressing table.  We of course snapped it up.  Just need a bit of a clean and new fixings on the back and it will make a lovely addition to the top of our stairs.




Trying really hard not to buy anymore china I'm afraid I couldn't resist when I saw these. I seem to have accidentally started a collection of buttermilk coloured china.  Its the most beautiful soft yellow and amazingly all the pieces I have match perfectly.  The cups and saucers and milk jug are JB Honeyglaze ware and are in immaculate condition and a steal at £4. 
The large Jug was 50p and is Alfred Meaking and the gorgeous Tureen was £10 but I couldn't walk away from it, its sooooo gorgeous I keep looking at it. 









Next up a great find by my hubby these lovely Pewter Salt and Pepper pots made by Viners, again a steal for 50p !





and finally, because I can never resist a beautiful glass (and am always breaking them) three really heavy cut glass tumblers for 20p each.



So there you go, quite a collection this week and total spend of just over £27 !  I am really pleased.  Don't forget to pop over the MagpieMonday to see what the other girls have been upto this weekend.

Wooden Beauty

Beautiful old wooden shoe trees, purchased for 20p each yesterday.






Red, White and Blue, It was a right Royal Do !


You would have to have been from another planet not know about the Royal Wedding on Friday.  It was a glorious example of Britain at its best and I cried and laughed my way through it.  I gasped when I caught sight of the dress (Grace Kelly couldn't have done it better ).  I cried when Jerusalem was sung (forever in my mind the anthem of England), I cried for the loss of Princess Diana and how proud I am sure she would have been of her wonderful son.  I laughed at Prince William's expressions, both to his wife and his brother. 

A truly wonderful day to celebrate a marriage between two people who are so obviously in love.



This week's MagpieMonday post is a red, white and blue tribute to being British and  actually how proud I am to be English, regardless of all the problems our country faces at this time, we are still a pretty cool nation and we certainly rock when it comes to putting on a celebration.

Its also picnic season and not for me the shop bough sandwiches in a carrier back.  I love the romance of real china and pretty accessories.  I found most of these items last week during my trip to the charity shops in the neighbouring town of Topsham.



A pretty alternative to a picnic hamper or backpack.  This red, white an blue flower patchwork satchel has a plastic wipeable pockets inside making it ideal to carry food items.  It cost me £1 and is immaculate and looks unused.



In the same shop I found the gorgeous hand embroidered linen bread roll holder, again in immaculate unused condition and a steal at 50p !



Further along, I came across 4 double handled soup bowls with matching saucers (white of course) for £2, no marks, I think they are probably a recent vintage. They would be ideal for desserts on a picnic or if you are really posh how about a Gazpacho !  The large blue and white bowls are Beacon Hill by Hostess Tableware of staffordshire again quite new but really pretty and at 10p each I couldn't resist snapping the two of them up.  The small blue bowls I found with a collection of cups and saucers a while back in my regular charity shop, again 10p each. I bought the whole lot for the princely sum of about £1.20 !



I couldn't pay tribute to the royal wedding without showing you the guardsman I found a few weeks ago in my regular charity shop.  He is wooden and comes apart (child's puzzle thingy)  Doesn't he look smart !  He cost me £1 and guards the toys in the twins bedroom.  He cost £1.

How gorgeous is my Union Jack butterfly ?  I purchased this card off etsy along with several others about a year ago and made them into pictures using cheap frames from The Range.  All machine embroidered on dupone silk, far too nice to give as cards.   



My tribute to Will and Kate may you have a long and happy marriage.  

Please take a moment to pop over and see the other entries in this weeks MagpieMonday and I am also taking part in ApronThriftGirl