Deck the halls

Hello everyone! I hope your preparations are coming along for Christmas. Only two weeks to go now so not long at all. One of the things I love most about Christmas are the decorations so I thought I'd share some pictures of our trees (yes, plural haha) and other bits and bobs we have around the magic cave house.

Each year we rotate through different themes for our Christmas tree. This year's was decorated with all the ornaments that we've accumulated over the years, including some from my Gran and Mum when she was a little girl. It's my favourite tree with lots of memories attached to each decoration :)

We have lots of old decorations hanging on our tree including a few of the apples pictured above, kitties with candy canes, snowmen, angels, little wooden people... you name it!

Mum's quite proud of this mini pink Christmas tree that she rescued from the opshop and decorated for the lounge room.

I found this old Kruger advent calendar from West Germany in an op shop recently for 20c. There are little pictures under each of the windows. I have to confess that I love chocolate advent calendars and still get one every year haha.

Lastly, here is a mini plastic Christmas tree that belonged to my Grandad, pictured with an old reindeer ornament that was found in the free box at an op shop. At the risk of looking like a crazy Christmas lady, I've taken a few more photos of our decorations which can be found here. What are some of your favourite Christmas decorations? If you have any photos feel free to share the links :)

Spring is in the air

Hello, remember me? It's ok if you don't. Since my last post I've had a hair cut and a bit of colour, got some new clothes, shoes, skincare and had a leg wax, so I wouldn't blame you if you didn't recognise me. I'm practically a new woman. I submitted a year of my life my thesis last week and start a three month field placement tomorrow, so thought I'd pop in while I have a bit of a breather!

I found these flowery items awhile ago and it seemed appropriate to share them with all the nice Spring weather we've been having lately :) Apart from the days where it's been raining with gale force winds of course but anyway...

The first is this sweet framed drawing of some wildflowers. I love the shabby frame which is now hanging all pretty-looking on the wall above my desk :)

Continuing the theme of wildflowers is this Australian Wildflower Diary that I picked up for $2.50 at Vinnies. I really liked the illustrations inside for each month that are accompanied by a poem for the different seasons. Plus underneath the dust jacket, the book is a mustard colour that I'm kind of addicted to at the moment.

That's about it from me for now. Hope you're all enjoying the lovey (or not so lovely) weather wherever you are and I shall check back soon with some more finds :)

Agatha Christie

Lately I've been really into reading old Agatha Christie murder-mystery novels. I used to love reading Nancy Drew books when I was a kid and always fancied being a mystery-busting detective. At primary school in year 2 my friend and I created a 'Pet Detective' agency and charged $1 to find people's missing pets. Business was slow and it never really got off the ground :|

I've started collecting Agatha Christie books from op shops, ebay, etsy and second hand book stores. This is just a small selection from what has already turned into a rather large stack. I found a whole lot of cheap paperbacks at the Salvos for $2 each, but the ones I really want to collect are the old hardbacks with interesting dust jackets like the two above. I would love to have a whole shelf of my bookcase filled with a hodgepodge of vintage Agathas :)

I'd love to hear some recommendations for other old school detective novels and mysteries. None of this fancy forensic stuff, just good ol' whodunnits :)

Penny for your thoughts

I found this little piggy bank for $1 the other day at the op shop. It's one of those old ones that you have to break with a hammer to get your pennies out because it doesn't have a stopper on the bottom.

Upon first inspection it's just a cute little pig with some sweet pink roses on his back. And then...

BAM! Evil pig! Pig could karate chop you with those eyelashes! No robber's gonna pinch my pennies, hah! Despite his crazy eyes I still found this little piggy strangely appealing. Besides, I don't think he's really evil. Just misunderstood.

Winners are grinners

I can finally announce the winners of my thrifty giveaway, albeit a week and a half late sorry about that! Selected using the highly complex and reliable method of names-in-a-tin, the winners are...

Congratulations to Nat of Dear Little House and nessQ :) One of these pretty little packages will be making its way to you very shortly. In the meantime I'm off to take some pictures of my recent finds while the sun is shining. It's a nice change from the gloomy weather we've been having that's for sure. Hope you all have a lovely day :)

Giveaway time :)

It is finally time to hold my elusive giveaway as a belated celebration of reaching triple figures. Mostly it's a thankyou to everyone who has read my blog and continues to come back despite the often long time between posts. I really appreciate all your lovely comments and being able to share a snippet of my hobby with you :)

I have two little packs of thrifty treasures to giveaway. The first contains a tapestry clutch that you may remember I picked up at a vintage party I went to not long ago, as well as a sheer vintage handkerchief made of flocking-type material embossed with velvet flowers, and finally a lovely brown compact mirror with silver detailing.

The second pack contains a small, gold, vintage-style clutch with a lace edged silk handkerchief and a cute heart shaped ring from the 70s that I picked up on etsy. The ring is a little big for me and I would estimate it to be a size medium.

To enter, just leave a comment telling me how you follow my blog and which prize pack would be your first and second preference. I love reading new and interesting blogs, so if you feel like spreading the love perhaps share one of your favourites :)

The giveaway will be open for two weeks, ending on the 16th of July at 6pm AEST (or there about; I never was any good with timezones). Don't forget to leave a way for me to contact you! If you don't feel comfortable leaving your email for all to see, you can always email me and let me know the name you used to comment :)

Show us yer clickers!

I found these old party favours in box when mum did a bit of a cleanout. They're made out of tin and are most likely from the 50s. The beetles and indian man are clickers that have a metal tab on the back and make a delightful KER-CLICK KER-CLICK KER-CLICK noise when pressed and the other two are whistles :) I wonder whose idea it was to include these in the lolly bags of party-going children who are already high on sugar?

Continuing with the party theme I found these sweet old packets of Medallion party invitations at the op shop. I haven't opened them yet but according to the back of each packet one side has "Dear____ Will you come to my party on..." with date, time place etc. and the other side is for the invitee to circle their attendance :)

Day two vintage fashion fair

Hi everyone :) Thought it was about time I shared what I found during round two at the vintage fashion fair. As well as the dress in my previous post, I got these floral clip-on earrings from the same stall that the little umbrella brooch came from. I haven't worn them yet but they look really cute and colourful sitting on my shelf with my other jewellery.

The next couple items are a bit sentimental because I bought them with some money my Grandad gave me before he passed away and that I'd been saving for something special. My Grandad was a smoker his whole life and while I know this is a terrible habit, it's something I'll always remember about him so I bought this Glomesh cigarette lighter as a little keepsake.

He used to play footy when he was younger so I bought a tiny football boot charm that I'm going to polish up and attach to my Mum's old charm bracelet that she gave to me. I think it will be nice to carry around something that reminds me of Grandad and I'm going to try and wear it more often. The last thing I bought was a pair of beautiful old marcasite and pearl clam shell earrings. I thought they looked like something that would have been around during Grandad's era and that they would just be something special to keep and remind me of him.

So that concludes my purchases at the vintage fair. I had so much fun rummaging around at all the stalls and couldn't think of a better place to spend my birthday money or to pick up a few special treasures.

Hope you all have a lovely week :) I'm going to spend a couple days relaxing since I submitted the literature review for my thesis on Monday and had a presentation today.

Exciting news!

Hi everyone, I've got some exciting news to share! I've been selected as one of 25 finalists in a vintage fashion competition. I had to submit a photo of myself in a vintage outfit and decided to enter wearing a dress that I bought during my second day at the vintage fashion fair. Some of the other finalists are also bloggers and vintage store owners so I'm definitely up against some strong competition.

edit: Thanks so much for all your votes everyone. Unfortunately I didn't win but better luck next time :)

I just loved the cut and fit of this dress when I tried it on, not to mention the beautiful bright floral pattern. The owner of the stall where I bought the dress has a shop in Gleneg called Liebe Fashion Gallery and I can't wait to go and check out what other goodies they have. I got the bag and shoes from an op shop for a friend's 50s themed 21st last year - too bad I didn't have the dress then because it would've been perfect! The bag is so cute and looks like a mini suitcase :)

Day one vintage fashion fair

Hello everyone, this is a bit of a belated post but nevertheless I hope you all had a nice Easter :) If you're anything like me you're still revelling in the joys of leftover hot cross buns with real butter, yum! Over the Easter loooong weekend I travelled with a lovely friend to The Way We Wear vintage fashion fair held at the Burnside Ballroom to spend my Birthday money. The fairs are held in states across Australia and I believe the Gold Coast is up next so check the dates on the website. I highly recommend going if you can make it to one! This was the first vintage fair I'd been too and it was so much fun; Glomesh heaven I tell you!! There were two delightful levels full of vintage clothing, jewellery, homewares and other bits and bobs. Here's a picture I took from the upstairs level...

There was just so much great stuff to look at - I think I was having heart palpitations. You have to do at least a couple rounds to really have a good look at everything. All the stallholders were so friendly. One lady had a stall full of old and quirky buttons and was telling me how she sources them mostly from overseas. She had some really cute ones shaped like Jatz biscuits - I didn't buy them but wish I had taken a picture!

Now I know you're probably thinking that I must've gone slightly nuts with buying up Glomesh but I'm proud to say that I only bought a couple things that I'd be unlikely to come across in an op shop and didn't buy any handbags. I did, however, see a white Glomesh satchel that I'd bought in an op shop for $4 being sold for $75 so was a bit chuffed about that (although no one had bought it so perhaps is was priced a bit high). Anywho enough chat and on to the purchases!

My first purchase was a cute little umbrella brooch made of tin or something similar. The lady at that stall had lots of lovely brooches and jewellery set out as well as some small vintage handbags and sewing supplies. At the next stall I got a bit of a shock opening a trinket box with a cameo on top to find a lock of plaited hair inside (!) but quickly got over it in my excitement at finding this Glomesh sunglasses case. I didn't even know such a thing existed and snapped that up without hesitation. The cigarette case (to keep my imaginary cigarettes in), on the other hand, I went back to about three times before buying but am glad I did because I've been looking for one to add to my collection and this was in really good nick with the Glomesh sticker still attached inside.

My final purchase for the day was this beautiful lilac beaded chiffon dress. It was made by an old Sydney label called En-Ka Fashions and must be quite old because the sizing is labelled as XSSW and is marked as No. 15. The stallholder offered for me to try it on in the bathroom, which I found a lot of stallholders were happy for fair-goers to do. The dress was $90 and he must have seen me hesitating when I came back because he offered to knock $20 off the price to which I replied "yesplzilltakeit!". The colour and beading is just so lovely and I can't wait to wear it :)

So that concludes day one of the vintage fair. I didn't realise it when I bought the ticket, but a couple of the stallholders let us know that they could be used for multiple entries to the fair over the weekend. I cheekily asked my friend if I could have her ticket so I could come back with my Mum on Monday, which we did, so stay tuned for round two :)

Vintage party

Thought it was about time I did a post on the vintage party I went to a few weeks ago. The party was run by a lovely lady called Rene who went to a lot of effort hanging clothing up on portable racks with nice wooden coat hangers and had a table spread with bags, purses and jewellery. I thought it might be a bit expensive and I was surprised at how reasonable to pricing was with dresses ranging from $20 to $60 and bags from $20 to $40 for a burgundy Glomesh handbag (which I resisted the urge to buy!). It was so much fun getting to rummage through and try on all the clothing and I was sad that there wasn't more that fit me because some of the dresses were so nice! I did however buy a small tapestry clutch and a sheer polka dot dress which I'm going to have the sleeves taken in on because they're a wea bit floaty on me.

That was the last party Rene will be doing for awhile but I definitely recommend you check out her online store In Love Again Vintage on facebook or catch her at the North Adelaide Vintage & Fashion Fair held on the second and fourth Sunday of every month :)

Also wanted to share with you our attempt at Raspberry and Coconut Slice. Looks a bit brown here but it tasted good! I think it's better served in a bowl with ice cream though; not really what I'd call a slice. We made some muffins as well and cookies using ninjabread cutters but they turned out more like weirdly proportioned sumo men, oops!

Have a lovely Easter everyone :) I'll be spending tomorrow with my friend at a vintage fair, can't wait!

Old fashioned letters

Besides op shopping and old things I also love stationary and was really excited to combine these loves in the form of vintage stationary! This first set is from Avon and contains 15 'delicate daisies gift notes' that you write on and fold into sealed envelopes. It also came with a scented talc sachet inscribed with a sweet message "This special perfumed talc sachet gives your gift notes the delightful fragrance of Delicate Daisies" and is meant to be left unopened in the folder.

I also found two wonderful Peanuts letter sets from 1958 (same year as the mug in my previous post!). One of them shows Snoopy dressed as an artist painting "Have a nice day!" on his canvas, and the other has him following a trail of butterflies :)

I can't wait to use these :) I don't often get the chance to write snail mail but I'm sure I'll think of something. I'm still keeping my eye out for some goodies to give away in celebration of reaching triple figures and have collected a couple things so far but for now they remain a secret ;)

Dreaming of Snoopy

I found this 1958 Snoopy 'Sweet Treat Dreams' mug for 50c while rummaging at the dingy little op shop I sometimes refer to. It's made by Anchor Hocking Fire King from an ovenproof material similar to Pyrex (handy if I ever feel the urge to bake a mug-sized cake?). I did some research when I got home and found that these mugs are a bit of a collectors item and are especially popular in Japan. This one sells for around $25 on eBay while others like the Red Baron mug sell for upwards of $150 and even more than $400 for the rare orange version - how crazy is that! There's a matching bowl for this mug that I would love to find.

I should really stop referring to that op shop as the 'Dingy One' because I've found some great stuff there including more Snoopy-themed items that I'll be sharing in my next post! If you look closely at the photo you can see our pet flamingo statue in the background, keeping a watchful eye on our backyard :)

Celebrations

Oops, I didn't realise how quickly the time has gone since my last post! The 'vintage party' I talked about as happening in a few weeks is actually this Friday and I'm really excited to see how that goes. A couple weeks ago it was my Birthday and I spent a lovely time celebrating that milestone with separate family and friends gatherings and a nice lunch in between with my Mum, Dad and boyfriend. I was so spoilt by the thoughtfulness of everyone's gifts. I received a beautiful pearl ring from Mum and Dad and a fancy new watch from my boyfriend to replace Mickey who finally died after multiple battery changes. Gran and Grandpa gave me a beautiful key pendant which I had picked out myself and absolutely love. I wore it with a pale blue 1950s day dress to my family birthday gathering (cue awkward posing)...

Dress: Etsy | Shoes: Sportsgirl

In amongst all the shiny new gifts, I also received some wonderfully old things including this gold (!) Glomesh bag from Mum & Dad to add to my favourite collection.

Gran gave me this small Park Lane purse that belonged to my great grandmother. The original warranty certificate states the date of purchase as Christmas Eve 1973. The purse has been kept brand new in its box all this time and had a couple lucky 2 cent pieces inside. Also in the box was a small card that reads "INSPECTED BY No. 5" - how curious! I wonder who "No. 5" is? Sounds a bit sci-fi to me!

In other news, my followers have reached triple figures! (Sounds so weird saying 'followers' haha). I'm hoping to celebrate with a giveaway in the near future so I'm keeping my eyes peeled for something nice. I was thinking perhaps a nice vintage bag or scarf but who knows!

If I knew you were coming I'd've baked a cake

I found these colourful old ramekins for $1 at a dingy little op shop I frequent. There were about ten there but these were the best of the bunch. Plus I didn't really need ten ramekins - what would I do with that many? (Here I demonstrate that I can actually exercise a little self control and common sense when op shopping haha). I thought these would be cute filled with little snacks like smarties and lollies rather than for baking in.

Speaking of baking, a couple of my friends and I are going to a 'vintage party' in a few weeks time and we're planning to spend the day '50s housewife style making baked goods to take. I haven't done much baking before so I will have to be taught the ways. I'll have to take some photos for my Dad or he won't believe me haha. The party is like the ones for Tupperware but with vintage clothing which I'll take over storage containers any day! I don't know if I'm more excited about that or the baking!

A rainbow of glasses

How wonderful are these retro drinking glasses that I found for 50c each?! I love the rainbow of geometric patterns and can't stop looking at them -it's kind of distracting really! They're just the right size too :) Thought I would keep this post short and sweet but I do have more 'vintage' homewares to share with you in my next post so keep your eyes peeled.

Nutrimetics calling

I found this cute beauty case a while ago in my favourite op shop. It's from Nutri-Metics and must be fairly old as the modern brand is no longer spelled with a hyphen. It has snap buttons on the inside so the whole case unfolds to reveal a mirror and little plastic pockets to hold products.

This case is a more recent find and is larger than the beauty case. I imagine a Nutrimetics lady would have used this to cart around her products door to door. It's currently sitting empty on my shelf as I'm kind of stumped as to what to store in it. What would you use it for? Some of you are probably thinking this has turned into another of my 'collections' BUT (!) my rule is that two's company and three's a collection. Although if I sit them together on my shelf I'm sure one day they will undoubtedly spawn and become a collection...