Car Boot Loot #18

Finally some sun!  It's been so long that I've forgotten what sunshine looks like.

I think the whole of the UK has me to thank for the sun!  Yesterday we all trooped out to buy the Wee Man some wet weather gear.  Not only a windproof, waterproof jacket but also an all in one rain suit thing.  The type that you zip yourself into with just your face and hands showing.  

So because of this timely purchase of wet gear, the sun has decided to spite me and shine it's smug glorious face all over us.  Shouldn't really complain should I.

What the rain did stop us from doing this weekend was go car booting.  They were all closed because the fields were pretty much lakes.  So I don't have much to show this week.  Just some goodies from charity shops.

First up, a beautiful set of Paragon tea plates.  They are the right shade of green and the pink roses are gorgeous.  I do love pink roses.

And another train game for the Wee Man.  He has so many board games they are taking over my house but for £1.50 and it's a train game, I had to buy it.  It'll be a lovely surprise for him when he comes in from school today. 

That was my lot for this week.  Not much to show really.  The rain really has a lot of answer for.

If you liked my Car Boot Loot post have a look see at my other Loot posts.  Just click here.  

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Car Boot Loot #17

Hasn't the weather improved?!  It's so lovely and sunny here I can finally believe that Spring is here.

Yesterday we hottailed it to our favourite car boot sale in a neighbouring town.  It's about a 25 minute drive away but well worth it.  Unfortunately there were not that many sellers there yesterday.  Only a quarter of the usual amount so the pickings were rather slim.

So slim in fact I only got two things for myself.  The Wee Man on the other hand got a huge bag full of books and a game.

First up for me was this cute little ceramic hen.  The seller informed me that is was a gravy seperator.  I thought it was a wee bit too small for gravy but smiled nicely and accepted her 50p offer.  I think in fact it's an egg seperator.   See the little lip on the hen's chest?

Unfortunatley I have no use for an egg seperator as I do not cook with eggs that often because of the Wee Man's allergies so the hen will be for display purposes only.  Love her eyelashes. 

Next up a chequered cake set for all of £1.  It's always a challenge to make exciting and different treats for the Wee Man and I thought this cake set would make a little surprise treat for him.  The seller said it belonged to her Mum so maybe it's vintage, though vintage "Made in Taiwan" is a bit of a stretch.

Reading the instructions I think there is a lot of room for disaster, but I'm willing to give it a go.  Maybe the cake will be more splodge than chequered?  Either way, I'll post some pics of the results once I get round to using it.  The Big Man observed that the cake set will most likely end up in the box of stuff for us to sell at a car boot sale!  Humph!

That was it for me.  I also got a huge pile of books for the Wee Man, a lot of them old Ladybird non-fiction books, for £1.

Also a Mousetrap game which unfortunately had no instructions in the box.  I bought it from a man who had just got a call to say his daughter was in labour with his first grandchild.  I didn't have the heart to keep him back whilst I checked the contents.  He was desperately packing up and I think the buyers felt his desperation because a crowd converged on his stall picking up anything and everything and demanding a price for it.   For the record I was already eyeing up the game when he got the call, so I was not one of the vultures, though to be honest I did have a quick squizz around his stall to make sure there wasn't anything else I wanted.  Am I naughty?

And last but not least a fantastic Egypitan craft set.  My 10 year old niece is obsessed about all things Egyptian.  She can name all the rulers of ancient Egypt, who their parents were, how they got to be ruler and anything else you would care to know about them.  I always keep an eye out for anything Ancient Egypt related for her.  

The box is full to the brim of crafty things.  She's also very arty and crafty.  I can't wait to give it to her.  She will be so excited. 

That's my lot for this week.  We were suppose to go to another car boot sale today but the Wee Man and the Big Man are off riding miniature steam trains instead. 

If you've enjoyed reading my Car Boot Loot post why not have a look at my other Car Boot Loot posts. Just click on the link,  Madison's Car Boot Loot

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Car Boot Loot #15

Well after a rubbish start with the new charity shop, it's finally come good.  Remember I missed out on the lovely F&M picnic hamper?  I've been visiting the charity shop nearly every day after I drop the Wee Man off at school and over the weeks I have come home with some rather fabulous finds.

These are my most recent.

A set of gorgeous mini playing cards.  I bought them to put my handmade flower hair clips on.  I thought the pink birdies on the backs would look lovely.  It wasn't until I got home and had a proper look at them, I realised what a bargain I got.  All the face cards are different and oh so gorgeous.  Instead of Queens there are "Ds" and the Jacks are "Bs".  I'm thinking Duchesses and Barons?  Anyone know? I showed them to the Big Man and he suggested they should be framed since they are so lovely.

I also got a set of vintage "Lexicon" playing cards.  I know they sell on Ebay for a fair bit so I'm toying with the idea of selling them on, however my wannabe crafty mind is going into overdrive thinking of things I could do with them.  A Google search is in the offing.

Of course some more vintage china.  A set of Royal Albert Gossamer tea cups, saucers and tea plates.  I love the colours and the fine marbling detail.  A bit different from my usual vintage flowery desgins but the colours are divine.

 

 That's my lot for this week.  What Loot did you get?  

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Car Boot Loot #14

A very quick post today as the Wee Man has the lurgy.  I was all set for going to a car boot yesterday,the first time this year, then the Wee Man was struck down with lurgy.  I was so excited but needs must and we spent yesterday stuck indoors entertaining a poorly Wee Man.  Sigh!

I was able to get to town last week and did a quick tour of the charity shops.  I found lots of lovelies but only came home with one.  Charity shop prices have gone mental.  I know there's lots of blog posts about charity shop prices so I won't bore you with another one.  Alls I'll say is "BLIMEY!"

Lookey at this gorgeous Royal Albert tea plate.  It makes my heart sing.  I'm going to put some plates on my dining room wall and make a plate display.  All I need to do is get rid of all the Wee Man's "art" first.  Which may be a wee bit tricky.  

And of course I can't go into a charity shop without coming out with a pile of books for the Wee Man.  He's such a book worm.

So the Wee Man did better than I did this week.  Next Sunday will be a wash out also as we'll be visiting family.  So I'll lose another week of car booting.

Will I ever get to a car boot this year?!

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Car Boot Loot #13

Yesterday was the Grand Opening of a charity shop that's a 5 minute walk from my house.  I'd spied a gorgeous F&M picnic hamper in the window and was determined to make it mine.  Unfortunately the woman in front of me in the queue was just a little bit quicker than I was.  Grrr!

The Big Man was not in the slightest bit sympathetic when I told him I'd missed out on the hamper.  I've obviously married an idiot.  He reasoned that I had enough F&M hampers, we don't have room for any more and I'd bought the exact same one from a charity shop a couple of months ago. 

Hm.  Maybe he's not that much of an idiot after all.  But I do love baskets and I especially love Fortnum and Mason ones.  They make me feel posh.

I've bagged a few bargains since my last Car Boot Loot post.  Mostly from charity shops as the car boot season has ended in my town.  There is one in a neighbouring town but the Big Man has been working weekends recently.  Thankfully the show he was working on has ended now so we shall be heading up there next Sunday.  

Here's some of the goodies I got recently.

A beautiful Royal Ascot tea cup trio.

Gorgeous pink Grindley and Johnson Bros bowls.  They go perfectly with the pink tea pot the Big Man gave me.

A Johnsons Bros Rose Cloud platter.  This thing is huge!  It would comfortably fit a Christmas turkey with all it's trimmings.  I'm not sure if pink is a suitable Christmas colour scheme so I'm not too sure what to do with it.  It's currently on top of my dresser looking pretty.  

My utility china collection is getting a wee bit out of hand now.  But the Wee Man has now moved into his new bedroom which means I can now move his toys in there, which means there's more space downstairs for me to have more gorgeous things on display.  Result!

I've got loads more to flaunt but I'll keep them for another day.

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A Handbook for Christmas

Come December, the shops are choc full of guides and handbooks on how to have the best Christmas ever.  How to dress your tree, how to serve a Michelin starred dinner and how to make exceptional presents that will become heirlooms.

Not one to deviate from the bandwagon I found the best Christmas handbook ever published.  Bought for a meagre £1 from a charity shop last week, the book has given me a lot of  lightbulb moments and a few chuckles.

It covers everything you need to have a very merry Christmas for all the family with recipes, decorating ideas, craft ideas and even instructs you on how to take down and store your decorations for next year. 

By far my favourite section in the book is the "Choosing of Presents".  With a handy illustrated guide on which presents to give and not give each member of your family.  For example,  who knew giving Gran a corset for Christmas would elicit this response from her?  

And it is really not a good idea to give Mum toilet paper and a scrubbing brush?

The kids would take exception to receiving a school uniform or writing paper.  And poor baby should definitely not be reminded of his incontinence.

There's also a chapter on how to decorate your tree to a theme with great crafting ideas for ornaments.  There's the Children's tree.

With wool and stick stars.  I remember making these at school.

Sweetie garlands which will no doubt rapidly become an empty sweetie wrapper garland.

And fluffy woolen pom poms.  Did these at school too and hated it.  They are so monotonous to do.

There's also the Victorian tree with gravity defying doves at the top of the tree.

A Soft and Safe Tree for baby with cotton wool garlands and paper chains.

And my favourite tree is the Wildlife tree for your garden.

Who needs gawdy Blackpool lights in your garden when you could have this lovely creation?  It's so simple to make and the little birdies will be kept happy through the Christmas season.

The book also gives some handy tips on how to build with snow.  Who'd have thunk you could use a cardboard box to make snow squares or a wasing up liquid bottle to make towers?  Genius!

All I need now are four trees, two feet of snow and definitely not toilet paper or scrubbing brushes.  

Car Boot Loot #12

Has it really been three months since my last Car Boot Loot post?  Whoa!  Where did the time go?  Needless to say in that time I have snaffled me one or two bargainous lovelies.  I must take some photos of them and post about them.

The car boot season has sadly come to an end in my town.  The Big Man, Wee Man and I have been feeling a great loss to our weekends.  Luckily on a jaunt to a neighbouring town yesterday we drove past a sign for a car boot sale and we followed the signs expectantly.  When we got there most of the sellers had either packed and left or were in the process of packing up to go.

Luckily I was able to snag me some goodies.  I found a great stall selling all manner of vintage china and I pretty much screamed at the seller to stop packing his stuff away.  He did give me a "Let's humour the loon" kinda look and gave me this lot of pretty saucers and tea plates for £2.

My eyes were then drawn to another stall where I found all these gorgeous Minton dishes.  They were stickered 50p each but I got the lot for £1.  I know the little round dishes are pin dishes but I'm not sure what the rectangular dishes are.  Anyone know?  Maybe for jewelery or something?   

And of course you all know of my little addiction and I got this beauty to help feed it.  20p and I got me a fix.

That was my lot from yesterday and now that we've found this new car boot sale, we'll be heading there every Sunday.  Yippee!


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Car Boot Loot #11

It's all gone "Pete Tong".  It's pee'ng it down outside and I had planned on taking pics of all my goodies today.  Tut!  No worries, I have some photos of goodies I haven't shown yet.  Today's Car Boot Loot will not have any vintage china at all.  Shock!  Instead I've got some gorgeous vintage cutlery to show you all.  Woo Hoo!

First up some silverware I bought at a car boot a couple of weeks ago.  Actually it was the day the Big Man's parents left and to celebrate we headed for the local car boot.  :0)

Hidden amongst some toot on a table, I spied this cute little silver plate sugar tongs.  I did my usual humming and hawwing and the lovely lady stall holder gave it me for a meagre 50p.

As I paid for it I also spied another very tarnished piece of silverware and as I picked it up the lady offered it to me for 50p also.  50p for a silver plated cake slice!  Of course I'll take it.  A lot of elbow grease and silver polish has brought it up a treat.  I love the detail on it.

Whilst the Big Man's parents were here we headed into London, to Greenwich.  The Wee Man "drove" us there on the DLR and whilst the boys headed for the Maritime museum, the girls headed to the flea market.  I must admit I had a lovely time with my Mum in Law.  We cooed at some lovelies and discussed some family politics i.e. gossiped.  Whilst at a stall I picked up a strange looking spoon to ask the stall holder what it was. 

Before I could stop her, my Mum in Law did her usual and whipped out her purse and paid the £5 the stall holder was asking for it.  I bit my tongue as I knew my Mum in Law had no use for such a thing and was merely buying it for the sake of buying it.  I knew this gorgeous vintage lovely would spend it's life in a plastic bag at the back of a drawer.  I knew that given some time I could have haggled the price down, but we were having such a lovely time I didn't want to spoil it with my moaning about her shopping habits.  

I'm really glad I did bite my tongue, cos my Mum in Law bought it as a present for me.   

I love the detail on it's handle.

Can you guess what the spoon is used for?   I'll tell you at the end of the post.  Go on, start guessing.  

Next up is a mystery "spoon" that I picked up ages ago at a car boot.  

It's kinda like a spoon shovel thingie.  I have not a clue what it's used for.  Does anyone have any ideas?  

And lastly another present my Mum in Law gave me.  She had a good rummage around in her overflowing cupboards before she came down and brought me loads of goodies.  You'll have to wait a bit longer to see them all but until then, here's a sneaky peek. 

A beautiful set of vintage sliver plated tea spoons.  She was given them over twenty years ago by an old lady she had befriended.  The spoons were the lady's grandmother's, so you can imagine how old they are.  My Mum in Law has a tendency to "pick" up little old ladies who seem to be drawn to her.  She spends every Tuesday afternoon with an old lady who lives round the corner and even though I have never met this lady, she always, always gives the Wee Man cards for his birthday, Christmas and Easter and always with a £10 note in it. A  couple of years ago the lady's brother started sending cards to the Wee Man with money in it too!  Again I have never met or spoken with this man or this lady.  It really is lovely and the Wee Man always, always sends a  handmade thank you card to both of them.

And the last picture...

It wouldn't be the same without some vintage china, would it?  Doesn't the spoon look pretty with the china?  

There will be more details of the vintage china when I get some proper photos taken.  

Oh and the spoon with the holes in it?  It's a spoon used to put sugar on strawberries.  Very ingenious don't you think?

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