Charity Shop Treasure

I found myself with a little free time on Saturday morning and decided to indulge in a little saunter round some of the local charity shops (Op shops, Thrift stores, Goodwill). I was after some light reading for my upcoming holiday and of course I am always on the look out for a bargain!

I was happy to find these two vintage Agatha Christie novels, a little heavy for my holidays but I do enjoy her works and have been reading them on and off since I was a teenager. In the past 6 months I have been seeking out her books whenever I pop into a charity shop, they are, however, becoming rather thin on the ground so it is always a bit of a thrill to find one.  I really enjoy the age and life shown on the books from the fading on the covers to the pencilled notes by one of the previous owners.

My holiday reading has been provided thanks to another Agatha, Agatha Raisin written by M C Beaton. The character is a PR guru who retires to a sleepy Cotswold village and ends up turning detective, it is written with a lovely lighthearted touch.  I enjoyed the Sky TV's version of a "The Quiche of Death" that was shown a couple of Christmases ago and am really looking forward to the new series which starts 7th June.  We visited the Castle Combe village last year and they were in the process of filming there so I have been eagerly waiting for it to be shown.  Without giving anything away I can reveal that at least one episode will feature a garden centre and a gnome!

A small haul for my sewing and vintage haberdashery collection. A nice piece of what appears to be a wool based fabric that I think will be big enough to make a straight skirt from, however, I think I may need to venture into the unknown territory of lining a garment, but as the fabric was only £2.95 it gives me the confidence to have a go without worrying about cost.

I picked up the little card of lace with a thought towards possibly using it to wrap a jam jar and pop in a tealight, if you are a regular reader of this blog you will know that I love decorating jam jars! or that I could thread a thin ribbon through the holes and use it as a trim on something.  I did not however, look at the front of it untl I had it at home and realised that I had brought a small piece of social history.  It is a sample card from a Nottingham based lace company, the pattern is trademarked in 1968 and the sample is date stamped to 1982.  The Birkin family were one of the great lace making families of Nottingham, sadly this industry as with many in the area is no longer active and the Guy Birkin company no longer exists.

The final purchase of the day was this pack of stencils, I thought they could be used on one of my many blackboard paint projects,  I hadn't realised there were quite so many until I it home and unpacked it, not bad for a pound,

I love buying in charity shops, it keeps things out of landfill and gives them another life, it raises funds for the charity and you never know exactly what you will find.

I seek out Agatha Christie books, what do you look for when you visit charity shops?

Winter whites

I have been visiting quite a few charity shops over the last week, but with my magpie tendencies this can sometimes lead to impulse purchases and they in turn can feed my imagination.  So when these classic white bone china tea cups and saucers caught my eye for just £2.99 I couldn't get my purse out fast enough!  it is only when I got them home and examined them that I realised that the cups and saucers are not from the same set, all the cups are from one set and all the saucers are from another! well they are a jolly good match and I love them.

I was thinking of popping a budding hyacinth bulb in each one, but when I went to Lidl this week they had little pots of tete a tete daffodils on special offer for just 50p a pot. Being a bit of a tight wad I thought that I could buy just one and put a single bulb in each cup but when I got it home and stood the pot inside the tea cup I knew that I would have to return for two more.

Inspired by this post from Vibek Design I wanted to create a display on my mantle piece that is predominantly white, although a bit of green was need for balance in the end. I went on a treasure hunt around my house in search of suitable bits and bobs, piled them on the dining table then tried to make a bit of sense out of them, who knew how many shades of white, off white and cream there are!

Not a freebie this time but at a total cost of £4.49 it won't break the bank.  I am pleased with the outcome and you can expect to see the tea cups in some future posts. I will get some shots of the daffs as they progress and put them on Instagram I am classicmini66 if you want follow.


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It was another chance to use the bleached pine cones I talked about here, it is a very simple process to do but it does require a little time for the bleach to take effect.

You can probably tell from the photos that I am still moving things around in different spaces and combinations and I will continue to have a look for a few other bits to go on there, I am thinking that playing cards might fit in somehow,but that is one to ponder for later.

I think that the black and white postcard was tried in almost every place and seemed to work nicely wherever it was placed. I have had it for a couple of years, it was brought in the sale from Paperchase because I loved the skirt.

Have you used any household pots to put flowers in or have you had any inspiring bargain buy ? I would love to know all about them, please leave a comment to let us know or a link to your blog if you are a fellow blogger.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend