Magpie Monday - Chillies

It's been ages since I joined in with Magpie Monday at the Me and My Shadow blog but I really wanted to share this particular find that has been brightening up my kitchen and making me smile since I parted with the £2.50 to make it mine.

My daughter's boyfriend volunteers at the local Relate charity shop and I often pop in to say hello when I happen to be passing. The shop sells mostly furniture (which was massively useful when I held a big family party and found myself with a shortage of chairs) but does also have a few books and odds and ends.

On one particular visit, a colourful string of chilli peppers immediately caught my eye. On closer examination, I found that they were ceramic rather than plastic and I knew I had to have them. I love chillies from a culinary point of view and find them aesthetically pleasing in shape and colour. My daughter, who was with me at the time, shook her head in disbelief that I was considering buying such a piece of nonsense and the chap who took my money actually laughed at my purchase. He wasn't laughing so much that he didn't try to sell me a second string (candidate for charity shop salesman of the week!!) but this one was chillies in autumnal colours and held no appeal to me whatsoever.

It was a little dusty but it washed up beautifully and I love it!

Oh, and here's one I knitted earlier!

Magpie Monday - Inca Plates

During an unsuccessful scour of the local charity shops with my girls for jewellery for their music video (which they ended up buying from Primark on a miserly budget) I chanced upon a couple of plates in the 3 for  £1 box. I bought a side plate (always useful) to make up the three and took my purchases home.

Taylor modelling all the 'non charity shop' jewellery

My two new plates are Barker Brothers Royal Tudor Ware in the Inca design. I love them and I have used them so many times this week - for sandwich platters when we were expecting hungry family to descend on us for lunch, for holding the sausages and burgers prior to cooking on our many barbecues to make the most of the good weather, as a cake plate for the three year old's hedgehog birthday cake.... I honestly don't know how I would have managed without them. I am grateful to the hand of fate that united us for the bargain price of 33 (and a third) pence each!

Magpie Monday - Rummage Sale

My grown up girls have a plan to make a music video for the original song that they recorded recently. Liberty has taken on the role of artistic director and her vision included a very specific look for the wardrobe. To keep the production costs within a a tight budget, her plan was to buy all the clothes from charity shops. However, five complete outfits, even at charity shop prices, was going to add up.

I was really pleased, whilst queueing up to pay for my shopping in Morrison's, to see a  poster advertising a Rummage Sale. I made a note of the details and let the girls know. None of them had ever been to a rummage sale before but they were totally on board with the idea.

We set off early with a bag of pound coins, a whole lot of hope and that little bit of nervous excitement born of never knowing quite what you're going to find.

The Gods of Thrift were smiling. No sooner had Liberty said "We need an earthy coloured hat/jacket/skirt for so and so..." something entirely suitable would magically surface from the sea of jumble and practically leap into her hands. This happened with uncanny regularity. It wasn't a very busy sale so the ladies on the seller's side of the trellis tables had time to chat and take an interest in the girls' project. They came up with some helpful (and some not so helpful!!) suggestions for items that might fit Liberty's remit.

I helped out a little bit. I found a perfect dress that will be integral to the story telling part of the video and felt oddly smug about my contribution. Mostly I let them get on with it, fed them money when they ran out, offered the odd thumbs up and words of encouragement and had a good old rummage for myself.

My top finds were a brand new Early Learning Centre bug viewer (50p)..

... a dressing up hat,  and a pile of books that I will do a separate post about.

The excitement over the haul of goodies that my girls managed to secure did somewhat eclipse my purchases. Most of the clothes were a long way from their usual style  which I think makes it all the more remarkable that they managed to create a co-ordinated look. They obviously have an eye for quality, unwittingly having purchased some Fenn Wright Manson labelled items, and everything was beautifully clean and in great condition.

This is them modelling their five complete outfits.

We had such a lot of fun and I am now really looking forward to the next stage of their video production (whatever that might be!)

Magpie Monday - Knitting

My Knitting Pattern Radar did not fail me last week as I browsed the Charity Shops. I was so pleased to spot this Jean Greenhowe book of Knitted Toys.

I know my mum has a small mountain of wool oddments left over from the equally mountainous collection of jumpers and cardies she has made for her grandchildren. I thought this would be an ideal way of using up some of those oddments and putting a big smile on the faces of the grandchildren who would benefit from something a bit different from the usual offering from their lovely nana.

The book was unpriced. I would happily have paid £2 for it so it seemed like a fantastic bargain when the cashier asked for only £1.

I have to confess that the scarecrow featured on the front cover did not appeal to me greatly. However, flicking through my latest acquisition over a cup of coffee back home uncovered a treasure trove of inspirational ideas within the covers.

This collection of "Witty Knits" has some fabulous little Hallowe'en characters that would make perfect decorations for that time of year when the veil between worlds is thin...

... and my Christmas tree will be jollier with the addition of some of these festive cuties.

I am not an accomplished knitter like my mum but I'm not afraid to have a go and I know the basics of casting on and off, simple plain and pearl stitch and increasing and decreasing. Looking at the patterns, I felt confident that some of them would be well within my ability.

I gave my mum the book and she was predictably delighted. I also mentioned that  I would love to have a go at some of the simpler designs myself under her watchful guidance.  The next time she visits, she has promised to bring wool, needles and the patience to help me if I get in a pickle (which I undoubtedly will). I can't wait to get started.

I have told my mum that she absolutely has to make this toy as a tribute to the days my dad served as a Coldstream Guard.

Spot the difference!

Magpie Monday - Two of My Favourite Things

I've found some fabulous things in Charity Shops over the years, however, the pleasure of seeking them out tends to be greater than the pleasure of actual ownership. Often, prized items will be absorbed into the general blur of homelife and their origins all but forgotten. There are, of course, always exceptions to the rule. Some purchases refuse to fade into the background. This post is to acknowledge two such items.

The first item is a child's book. It cost me 49p and I bought it with several others that looked as though they had been donated by the same person. They were all in excellent condition and I knew my daughter would make good use of them.

Little did I know that this particular book would capture the imagination of my daughter in the way that it has. The book is called 'You Choose' by Nick Sharratt and Pippa Goodhart. Each page is packed with detailed illustrations from which the reader is invited to choose such things as places to visit, homes to live in, modes of transport, food, clothes, pets, careers, leisure activities, even which bed to sleep in.

Working through this book has become an important part of my daughter's bedtime routine. Her vocabulary has improved dramatically as we talk together about her choices and it has offered some great insights into the world of her imagination.

Her favourite page gives the opportunity to choose friends and family from a portrait gallery. She loves to find the images that correspond most closely to the important people in her life and has an uncanny knack of picking good likenesses. The image she chose for mummy and daddy made me smile. I love that she sees me as youthful and glamorous.

However, if I am to feel quietly smug about that, I can't ignore that sometimes she picks this one for me too.

We all have bad days!

My second item is another one I bought for my daughter. I think the reason that this one refuses to sit quietly with other similar items is because I came so close to not buying it.

I had recently been on a visit to my mum's where I bought a lot of china at the amazing price of 5 items for £1. When I later found a child's plate in my local Oxfam for 99p, it seemed expensive. I let the experience of my earlier purchases cloud my judgment.

I have to remind myself that each charity shop purchase has to be judged on its own merit. Trying to assess value and worth against the asking price in the limited time you have to make the decision to buy or not to buy can be tricky. I am very glad that I threw caution to the wind and parted with my 99p to become the owner of this lovely La Chaise Longue china plate.

I absolutely adore it and can't believe I ever hesitated.

Magpie Monday - Why I Love Charity Shopping

It was a beautiful day today so I thought a walk into town to browse the charity shops would be a nice way to spend and hour and take my mind off my achey legs after a fairly extreme session at the gym this weekend (one of the trainers targeted my daughter and I because we obviously looked as though we were being totally ineffective - I was actually struggling to get my foot into the pedal strap of the exercise bike which wasn't really showcasing my dedication to fitness)

The thing I  love most about Charity Shopping is you just never know what you're going to find.

I always look out for knitting books for my mum and my daughter Taylor has made a list of all the Stephen King books not already in our collection in the hope of picking them up. We also have another project on the boil at the moment.

Since the family band recorded their original song, they have been thinking of ideas for a music video to accompany it. Liberty has drawn up a story board of her vision and has the idea of buying all the props from charity shops to keep the production costs to a very limited budget. I was delighted that the idea to do this was inspired by Ivy's birthday party.

I didn't find any knitting books, or Stephen King books but I did find a Business text book for Taylor and a book of the Scripts from Ricky Gervais' comedy masterpiece, The Office, which I will enjoy flicking through before passing on to Media Student and wannabe Script Writer, Ivy. I also found a little book of brainteasers that always go down well with my girls and three lovely books for my little ones.

I couldn't resist this simple, pink china bowl that I think will look lovely on a shelf in my little girl's room, maybe to keep her hairbands in...

...and finally, an item that I think will fit in with Liberty's wardrobe vision for her music video, (which I maybe ought to have arranged neater for the photograph!)

All of this set me back the trifling sum of £2.97.

Pleasurable, productive, surprising, inexpensive - these are just some of the reasons Why I Love Charity Shopping.

Magpie Monday - A Good Deed

I've had an unproductive week charity shop wise. I did walk into town for a browse but with a pushchair and a nearly three year old who has an uncanny knack for finding the donated plastic monstrosities that play maddeningly untuneful melodies, setting them off then wanting to take them home, my expedition was doomed to failure. We ended up buying Greggs pies instead.

However, there is still a Magpie Monday story to be told.

On our walk into town, we stopped to chat to an elderly couple. They asked us if we would like a sit and ride toy that they were trying to get rid of. The husband admitted it was just a bit of rubbish really. They had put it out for the dustbin men but doubted they would take it with all the rules about refuse collection and recycling. We said that if it was still there when we got back from our walk we would take it home with us. It felt more like doing a good deed than anything else. My husband was due a trip to our local dump. It would be no trouble for him to pop it in with our rubbish and dispose of it.

By the time we had finished our shopping, my little girl was getting very tired (even after fortification from a Greggs Cheese and Onion Slice). She was holding her arms out for a carry which is not all that easy when you have a pushchair to push at the same time. Luckily, we were not far from the dustbin with the sit and ride placed hopefully next to it. We could see that the bin men had left it.

After a quick inspection to see that it wasn't dangerous or about to self destruct, I popped my flagging little one onto the generous seat. It was very dirty, what must have been once vibrant colours had faded and there were a few bits missing. None of this bothered my daughter. She found a renewed burst of energy as her little legs worked hard to propel herself along the pavement towards home.

The sit and ride had a handle that made it easy for a parent to push and steer. Unfortunately, this was one of the bits that was missing!

Somehow, we made it home despite her steering herself into fences and walls. She loved it.

Since then, she has whizzed around our deck on it whenever we have let her outside to play.

It is still dirty. I kept meaning to clean it but wasn't sure whether it should stay or go. My husband made his trip to the dump yesterday.

The sit and ride stayed.

Magpie Monday - A Tale of Two Plates

This week has been more about donating to the charity shops rather than buying from them.

Spring cleaning fever has hit. I have sorted out clothes and games and books - all in excellent condition - all  ready to find new homes.

I did make one small purchase from Oxfam. Not a bargain find but worthy of a mention - my Red Nose ready for Comic Relief on March 18th.

For my contribution this week I will tell you A Tale of Two Plates.

Amongst the purchases of china I made for Ivy's party was a Weatherby Hanley Gilded Duck decorative plate. I'm not really a 'decorative plate' sort of person. This one just sort of slipped into my basket because I thought it might have some comedy value. To my eyes it was pretty hideous but it did only cost 20p. I had a quick check on ebay to see if it was worth a small fortune - you never know - but with a starting price of £2.99 for one in better condition it didn't seem likely to be the equivalent of a lottery win. I didn't use it at the party and if my dad fails to fall in love with it and give it a good home (he's the only person I know that might) then it will probably go back to the charity shop to continue its journey.

There is another decorative plate, equally hideous and almost certainly without value that I refuse to part with.

The man who was to become my husband was living in Switzerland when we first got together. We managed our long distance relationship with regular budget flights on Easy Jet, phone calls and MSN.

Every night we would talk on MSN, sometimes with the addition of webcam. Our conversations were often romantic and dreamy, sometimes more lustful and urgent, other times practical - planning for our future together.

It was on one such night when we were in planning mode that he sent me details of a house for sale. The house had been occupied by an elderly couple who had moved into sheltered accommodation as they could no longer cope. It was a house desperately in need of modernisation. It needed a new kitchen, new bathroom and redecoration from top to bottom. It would be a massive undertaking if we were to go ahead and buy it but it was well within budget and offered loads of space and the benefit of a big garden. It had huge potential for us as a family home.

The living room walls and ceiling had all been covered with swirling Artex and had very old fashioned window dressings with wooden pelmets painted to match the walls. Atop one of these pelmets, which ran the entire width of the room, was  a plate shelf, proudly displaying a comprehensive collection of decorative and commemorative plates. Quite why the estate agent felt that this was enough of a selling point to photograph and include in the specs was beyond me but it caught the imagination of my eldest daughter and I.

I was in my bedroom on my computer, my daughter was in her bedroom on her laptop, my husband-to-be was in his small Swiss apartment on his laptop. The three of us, through the magic of the internet, engaged in a conversation that saw us all getting very excited about the possibility of this as our future home.

We joked about having to start a decorative plate collection if we were to live there.  Spurred on by my daughter, the joke went as far as placing a bid on an 'ending soon' ebay auction.

It was a stressful time we were going through. A messy and unpleasant separation from my girls' father and the inevitability of having to move had left us all a little ragged. The light relief of a bogus ebay bid went some way towards relieving the stress if only for a few moments.

Minutes ticked by. The auction was coming to an end. I started to get a bit panicky. I didn't really want the bloody plate!!

Then something strange happened.

I am a great believer in fate and letting the Gods decide. The seriousness of my situation hit me. I was leaving the security of a home I loved to live with a man that seemed perfect but can you ever really be sure. Was I gambling with my children's happiness?

I decided that if I won the plate it was a sign that everything was going to be fine, we'd buy this shabby, wreck of a house and turn it into a home.

I won.

We bought our house and have lived here happily for 5 years now. The swirling Artex is gone along with the plate shelf pelmet. My decorative plate hangs in my utility room to remind me that, with a bit of faith, things do have a habit of working out.

I don't remember how much I actually paid for the plate but it was in the region of a couple of pounds.

It was the greatest bargain ever.

For a couple of pounds I bought hope, optimism and a happy ending.

Magpie Monday - Dinner Party

Last Wednesday, I went to visit my mum in Wrexham for a spot of lunch and an afternoon of shopping. As well as buying myself some pick 'n' mix underwear from La Senza with a voucher that has been gathering dust at the bottom of my handbag for too long, some bigger shoes for my little girl (including some light up trainers that she chose herself because there was a buy one get one half price deal on) and some of the fabulous Comic Relief merchandise available at TK Maxx, we did the grand tour of the charity shops.

It wasn't easy. We had two pushchairs to manouevre through tiny shops stuffed full of grabable items and two babies getting a bit fed up.

Mum was great. She found a book about fairies for 10p that kept my little girl amused and with a couple of packets of chocolate buttons in her pocket to administer when appropriate, we bought ourselves more browsing time than we would otherwise have been allowed.

I actually made all my purchases in just one shop. I was looking for tableware for my special dinner party for Ivy and this particular shop had a sign in the window saying "All Bric-a-Brac 25p an item or five for £1". I entered the shop full of hope and was not disappointed.

The first thing I saw was a set of six Royal Victoria Rose Bouquet dinner plates. I loved the colour and the rose design reminded me of my nan who died a couple of years ago and is still greatly missed. They were a bit grubby but otherwise in excellent condition. I put them straight in my basket.

There were piles and piles of odd china. I rummaged through selecting anything I liked look of. I ended up with 15 items (including a pretty little tea cup and saucer for my mum). If I had had unlimited time and carrying capacity, I would have bought more but the chocolate buttons were running out and the bottom of the buggy can only hold so much. I paid my £3 and left happy.

Back home I filled my sink up with hot soapy water and gave everything a good clean. The Rose Bouquet set washed up beautifully. Just out of curiosity, I had a quick look on ebay to see how much they would sell for. I found a set of six priced at £20 and a Royal Doulton Sumatra dinner plate (another of my finds) selling for £6.99. It isn't the sort of profit I could retire on but it did make my bargains quantifiable. By far the most important thing is that I loved what I bought and it was getting me excited about the dinner party.

Guest of honour and Birthday Girl, Ivy, arrived home on Friday night and on Saturday morning after a leisurely breakfast of pancakes dripping with lemon juice and liberally sprinkled with sugar, we set off on our charity shop challenge.

It was wet and miserable but our moods made up for that. I was on the lookout for some interesting glasses and a couple more small plates to complete my table setting. Ivy's challenge was to stamp her personal style sense on every guest by dressing or accessorising them with charity shop finds within a £20 budget. Sister Taylor came along to help and between them they did an amazing job.

Ivy's skirt, Addy's dress, dad's funky trousers

Taylor's dress and hat

Also purchased were a clip on bow tie to be worn by sister Liberty, bangles for Charis who was actually at a friend's sleepover so with us in spirit only, dinosaur trousers for the baby boy and a top for me. What you can't see in the picture of dad is that beneath his white shirt he was wearing a skin tight, lycra cycling shirt. Not a pretty sight as it clung to every inch of beer belly but Ivy couldn't resist a bit of parent abuse! All this and still within budget.

I didn't find any glasses that were particularly interesting but I did find a set of six unusual pottery drink receptacles - neither goblets or beakers but somewhere in between. At £1.99 for the set I thought they'd do nicely.

 

I used my own cutlery but everything else was a charity shop bargain, including the coasters (that had a very Karma Sutra-esque design) and the glass tea light holder.

My large glass bowl looked great filled with sweets that went down well during a hilarious (cider fueled) after dinner game of Family Fortunes (a last minute impulse buy in the final charity shop we visited before heading home).

It was a fabulous party, full of fun and laughter. 

Some of the things we bought will no doubt find their way back to the charity shop but most have found new permanent homes and will be enjoyed many times over.

Magpie Monday - Getting a Head Start

Part of my plan for my daughter's 20th birthday dinner party involves buying 2nd hand tableware from our local charity shops. It occurred to me that doing this all in one go was going to be difficult, if only for the sheer weight of the items I intend to purchase. For this reason, I decided to try and make life a little easier for myself and get a head start.

I had a lovely afternoon foraging through the china and brought several pieces. I never quite settled on a colour scheme so after consultation with the birthday girl we have decided on a 'rainbow' theme. This is very in keeping with her personality and does mean I can get away with just about any mix and match combination.

So far I have been particularly pleased with this heavy glass bowl.

I think it must have been used for floating candles because there was a dullness to the interior with limescale deposits from the water but it cleaned up a treat. I can imagine filling it with Ivy's favourite sweets for her birthday (did I mention that she is a big kid at heart!) At £1.50 it was cheaper than a plastic one.

My next bargain shouldn't be included in a Magpie Monday post because I bought them new from Wilkinsons. However, at 25p for two glass champagne flutes I can't resist giving them a mention. They were Valentines Day merchandise reduced to clear from £3.50 to £1.75 to £1 to 50p and finally to 25p. It was definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time. I bought three sets of two at 25p each. A total  of six champagne flutes for 75p! Certainly enough for a rainbow toast to Ivy.

My mum has told me that her local charity shop sells china for 20p an item so provided everyone is fit and well (I have one daughter off school today with a cold and a snotty, grumpy baby boy) I am planning on a visit. Lunch with my mum and a leisurely explore of the Charity shops of Wrexham sounds like a lovely way to spend a day.

Magpie Monday - A Plan for Ivy's Birthday

I bought two really nice men's casual shirts from the charity shop this week for £1 each but that is not the subject for my Magpie Monday post. Instead, I am writing about a plan I have.

I have always admired my daughter Ivy's quirky sense of style. That's her posing in the middle of this family photo taken on Brighton beach in 2008.

Ivy is going to be 20 years old next month. She is not a one for big parties. No doubt she will celebrate in ways that I will turn a maternal blind eye to with her friends at University, but when she's home, her birthday will be marked with a family dinner with all her favourite food.

To make this party a bit more personal and a fun, I have a plan.

I saw an old friend a while back and she explained that her teenage daughter was at a party. The format of the party was that a bunch of girls were let loose in Primark with a £10 budget. Their mission was to put together a complete outfit that would later be modelled with fashion show flourish and the clothes themselves could be taken home as an elaborate 'party bag'.

I have decided to modify this idea for Ivy. I will let her loose in the local charity shops with a budget (yet to be decided!) Her mission is to stamp her style on ALL the dinner guests with an outfit or accessory chosen by her.  I expect she will enlist her sisters to help. I might extend the theme by having all the table ware as charity shop finds too. This means that I get to go with her on the forage and won't miss out. It could be a lot of fun and will certainly provide interesting photo opportunities as well as supporting the good work that the charity jobs do.

As a bonus, it will certainly provide me with good material for a future Magpie Monday!

Magpie Monday - Clothes

I don't often buy clothes from Charity shops but just occasionally I pick up something perfect at a bargain price. 

My sister was having a horror themed party for her 13th wedding anniversary and everyone was invited to attend in horror fancy dress. My daughter Taylor needed a bit of help with her costume as as she was feeling particularly uninspired. When I found a  plain white cotton nightgown during a browse around the local charity shops I knew I had the solution to her problem. With her long black hair draped over her face, a little black makeup smudged around her eyes and wearing the cotton nightgown, she looked brilliant as the scary girl from The Ring.

The following month I wore the same cotton nightgown to give birth to my lovely little boy. It was a really hot day in June and the nightgown helped me to feel cool and comfortable during my labour.

It washed up beautifully.

I donated it back to the charity shop recently to continue its journey with another owner.

It does make me wonder about the stories behind all the items for sale at the charity shops and is one of the reasons why I enjoy visiting them and giving my support.