Swimming in the 1920s

When I hear the word 'trophy' I usually think of tacky gold figurines or the wooden plaques I used to receive for participation in netball as a youngin'. This one is a little different though as it's a vintage swimming trophy that was awarded to my Great Gran during a carnival in the 1920s. Instead of a miniature metallic-clad figure standing upon a podium, she received this box of six embroidered handkerchiefs made in Switzerland. The embroidery is so colourful and delicate and the hankies have not faded at all over all these years.

Inside the box there were some old newspaper articles about her swimming and tennis achievements, including this photo taken at Glenelg which made the front page of the local newspaper in 1925. My Great Gran is the lady in the middle :) I think it's safe to say I didn't inherit any of her sporting abilities (hence the participation trophies for netball haha). There was also a tiny cutout from the paper on the day she was born - her birthday would have been yesterday!

I also wanted to welcome new readers that have stumbled across my wea blog. Please feel welcome to share any of your favorite thrifty finds or just say hello. I love hearing from people who read my blog so don't be shy :) Tomorrow is the first day of my new job. I'm a little bit nervous (no longer a student!) but hopefully everything will go smoothly :)

Paper dolls and handkerchiefs

I went to visit my Gran the other day and she gave me some old treasures that she'd had tucked away in the cupboard. At first I thought this was a paper doll wearing a dress made out of the same material, but upon closer inspection I realised the dress has actually been fashioned out of a handkerchief! According to my Gran and the message on the back, this was made as a Christmas gift for my Great Aunty Ruth by her friend Lucy in 1964. It is amazingly detailed and must have taken a long time to make. I'm so glad Gran kept it all this time as it's just the sort of thing I love. I'll share my other treasures soon :)

Life is one big happy picnic

Just a quick post to share some of my recent finds. First up is this glass trinket box with yellow and silver embroidered flowers on the lid. According to the price sticker on the bottom this was meant to belong to a set of 3 but was left sitting on its lonesome on the shelf. I rescued it for $3.99 and it currently resides on my beside table happily housing some bobby pins and hair clips :)

Next is this little cat trinket that I bought for $1 much to my mum's delight- "It's a cat and a mouse with their arms around each other reading a book and they're not meant to be friends!" (I think she was a bit overwhelmed by its cute factor haha).

And finally, my favourite find (also a dollar) which is this old "Smarty Pants" notepad by Paula Presents. Each page of the notepad has the same little character in different settings with cute sayings. I've shared a couple of my favourites below and the rest can be found here :)