Treasure hunting - latest finds...

A selection of my latest treasure...

I was so thrilled to score the 1950s plastic beach bag, it will now be repurposed and used in the office as a small magazine rack. Yellow is my favourite colour so these beads will get a lot of use come summer. Found the bag from a guy who does house-clearances and the beads came from a charity shop. 

I have been on the lookout for a tin with handles for a while, a rare sight in my experience. I picked this up from one of the stalls in the market square off Columbia road. This will be my new seed tin. From the same stall I picked up the little cardigan, I love the colour combo. The little tin has the cutest illustrations of woodland animal friends so will make a great addition to my little man's room. 

Technically I did not find this delightful recipe tin, it would be so hard to come by in the UK. This was another item I have been searching for. Recipe tins seem to be much more popular in the USA, and with the shipping costs I have been reluctant to have one shipped from Etsy. I have come across a few in the UK but they lack the 'kitschness' and colours. I love the colours on this one and the smaller size. I will repurpose this as my new business card holder for the office. My dear friend Amy brought this back from a trip to the US for me - I just love it.

The Sanderson curtains was a stomach-butterflies find, they were hidden on a rail in a charity shop, all 8ft x 8ft of them! Mint condition. I love the warming colours. They will be made into new cushions for the sofa. 

Pretty Plates! I need these, like a hole-in-the-head but you know, I just can not resist a pretty plate. I got 6 of these beauties to add to my burgeoning crockery cupboard. 

So that's a selection of the loot from the last couple of months - roll on car boot season. I have not forgotten my treasure-hunting blog post for Kent, the weather has just made it near impossible to get any decent photos. I will be posting though very soon and I will do a separate post for each town I like to visit since, if I covered all in one go, it would be a mammoth post. 

Treasure hunting resumes..

With all the bad weather I have been starved of carboot sale goodness. This weekend was no different but we did have the Seaside Brocante and a couple of yard sales so I got some action. Managed to get this little lot, which I am very happy with.

We need more 'yard' and garage sales in the UK, such a great idea, I am seriously tempted to do one myself.

1. Pretty trays
2. Sewing box, tin and jelly mould
3. Inside the sewing box - in need of a little makeover
4. Little bowls, display box, cute little girl picture and my favourite find; Madeleine baking mould, can't wait to make some now!
5. Beautiful sea-themed vintage books


I am really excited by the display box, it's for a project I have been thinking about for Christmas. I will post it here nearer the time.

Fair weather booter...

So the weather has been so very pants for the last few weeks, that decent car-booting has been difficult. I've stuck to charity shop crawling and I've been on a couple of serious Ebay benders.


My latest addiction is vintage kids books. I loved books when I was young, particularly ones with bright colourful illustrations. I've started to collect the Garden Gang books by Jayne Fisher. Jayne Fisher was only 9 when she wrote the books. They are cute stories but the illustrations make you squeal with pleasure. I have 8 books so far. They are available on Ebay but I am quite a strict collector, I have set myself constraints. The books can only come from a charity shop or car boot and I must not pay more than a £1 a book. I love the challenge and the moment when you find one you haven't got is like a drug!! highly addictive. 

I only cheated once and that was because the incredibly rare annual to the series Meet the Garden Gang was on Ebay and it was in mint condition. This book is one of my most prized possessions. Just look at the amazing comic style illustrations...