Rummaging

Firstly, A big thank you to all my new followers and people who have left me positive comments, big hugs!

A recurring theme with my blog apart from my lack of grammar and spelling is my love of a good rummage (as my Nan called it) and a good bargain. It comes from a long line of women who had to make do and mend when money was tight. I find it hard to throw things away and now send any unwanted items to charity or to be recycled.

Many charities have specialised shops for furniture and these are little Aladdin's caves of styles gone by and the ever present change in trends.

 baby items

A lovely vintage wooden cot and dressing table (they had the tri-fold mirror) mixes with a futon

and an Ikea daybed...

A four poster! in the background you can just make out a formica table and kitchen chairs...

textiles

loads of lampshades and cushions all waiting to be up-cycled or used just as they are.

This particular charity shop arranges when it can, its furniture in room displays so you can see everything as it would look in your home. It also has an area of bric-a-brac and accessories. 

Have a look near you, you may just find what your looking for at a fraction of the price! 

What did I buy? My mirror, frameless with chain…£8 bargain!

Bank Holiday

To start our bank holiday weekend we had a birthday at thrifty towers, Bob's another year old and none the wiser, but I love him so...

Unfortunately he had to drive to Bristol on Saturday for work, by the time he returned the rain had stopped play so we didn't bother to do much during the day, we did however do the pub thing with friends in the evening, a late night was had by all. I fear i'm getting too old for that malarky, it took us ages to recover, soooo out of practice!

A cuppa and a toasted tea cake and a little light bargain hunting helped with the recovery process...

This little lady was on the 50p stall? I couldn't leave her behind could I?

Bob chose this, Donald's a chalkware lamp, his rifle is broken but I can live with that...

By the Monday evening and we we're chilled out and ready for the week ahead, 

for me, that's two weeks off work,  I'm d-mob happy! Bob's off next week so we're doing a few days out, Ardingly being the top of our list!

Cute Camper

A week or so ago we went to a small bike shop called PedalPushers (great name) to get some tyres for my vintage push bike. On the way we passed a handmade sale being held in pub (what's not to love). After ordering the tyres we went to find the pub sale, now this sale was down a road we couldn't seem to get to it by car , so we went by foot with our trusty wits as navigation and we stumbled on this really cute road...

 just enough to get a car down and lined by trees.

How fantastic is this camper, the chap working on it and was only to happy for me to take her picture, I love the interior wallpaper and exterior colour!

The sale was very small and a little hard to get any descent photos. But on the way

back we did purchase one thing!

A little light craft

Last year I went to a lovely wedding , two good friends tied the knot with a lovely reception at RIBA (Royal institute of British Architects) building in Portland Square in central London, a beautiful day was had by all.

The theme was green and white, a team of us went pom pom crazy and I emptied the local area of vintage and pressed glass vases to decorate the small outside terrace. 

 I can't really believe a whole year's gone by, to celebrate the passing it's traditional to give paper.

An afternoon of sticking and glueing later and I'd made a small token of a handmade gift, a cracker complete with moto, snap, gift and confetti!

You can find easy tutorials to make crackers on the net or just wing it like I did! I used three loo rolls (romantic) removing the end two when the cracker was rolled up, double sided tape, paper (various types) ribbon and a paper pricker thingy to help when pulling the cracker apart!

I finished off my cracker with a paper fan yoyo, vintage button and ribbon.

A card was also made from vintage material, a stamp, a little stitching with a transfer to finish.

and my moto… you both pulled a cracker!

Thrifty Tuesday

Tuesday is my favourite day for having a rummage at the thrift shops. Today I went to my best one, the good old Salvation Army…

yummy pyrex, I left this…great restraint needed

knitting needles, zips and other craft items

These are my purchases...

A Gaytime Assortment biscuit tin, this must be from the 70's with it's the ubiquitous brown, orange and snazzy doily pattern!

and this sweet embroidered napkin

I got this for my Niece…

and left behind a small wooden painted shelf which I think I'll have to go back a get, hope it's still there!

Weekend starts here...

The weekend always starts on a Friday night…

After all the excitement of the Olympic opening ceremony I had a lazy breakfast with my Mum in a local garden centre, she had the bacon sarnie and I just had a coffee. Afterwords we had a mooch around the flowers, I love agapanthus but I just can't keep them alive!  

The sun was still out in the afternoon, I painted my toes and popped some sandals on, my cat wasn't impressed with my nails or the hot weather and spends most of his time lying in the shade of the garden or under our bed.

Sunday bought the rain so Bob and I cooked lunch, mine being veggie with plenty of mint sauce! A little telly and a bit of crafting, I'm hooked on making these little friendship bracelets, I used to make them in my teens as their quick and easy to do, this ones for Bob. 

And before you know it, the weekends over *boo!

Things I like about summer 1

Some things only are made better with a healthy dollop of sunshine!

alfresco snacks...

yummy berries...

deck chair stripes...

power for my solar lights...

even my cooking looks edible!

These are mint pea and chickpea burgers with tzatziki (sans breadcrumbs)

from the Waitrose recipe everyday menus

You will need

400g Chick peas, drained

300g Marrowfat peas, drained

2tsp mint sauce

200g tub of Tzatziki (although you only need 2tbsp for recipe)

1 egg beaten

50g breadcrumbs

2 tbsp vegetable oil

the method couldn't be easier

chuck chickpeas, marrowfat peas and mint sauce with the tzatziki into a food processor and whizz into a coarse paste and season. Scoop out and mould into burger shapes (as above)

DIp burgers into the beaten egg followed by the breadcrumbs

Heat oil in a large frying pan and gently fry for approx 3 mins each side until golden

Serve with remaining tzatziki and a pitter and a nice fresh side salad.

This only took about 30mins to do so doesn't eat into those all important leisure hours!