Oppie finds

Want to see what I got op shopping with Charlotte recently?

Charlotte found the set of orange pyrex bowls. She already had some some in several colours including orange so decided not to get them. Lucky for me! I do love them! I thought I might use the sheet to make a summer dress with some contrasting trim. And I got a couple of books. I bought Heidi and The Railway Children for Charlotte, cos we have them I love them. An Origami book for Tassy's collection, and two vintage red fabric hardcover books for craft projects which I've finished now so I will share them here soon!

I'm linking to Flea Market Finds - check it out if you want to see what other op shoppers scored this week!

Handmade gifts

I love making gifts. I feel a bit weird making gifts for people who aren't crafty... I think that instead of appreciating the thought, planning, seeking out of supplies and crafting time (as well as money) that's gone into the gift, that instead they will think I'm cheap. So I only really make gifts for people who I think will appreciate them.

Like my dear friend Lea who had a birthday recently.

I bought an unframed tapestry at an oppie recently. I loved the rose design and knew exactly who would love it and thought I might turn it into a cushion. It had obviously been stitched without a frame and was really warped (bummer - forgot to photograph it then!). The square was warped into a diamond shape. But I thought I could rescue it. I soaked it in water for a day or two, then stretched it out in a frame for about a week. Then ironed it to help hold the square shape. I made it into this cushion, backing it with some vintage sheeting. And I love it.

We suffered two wardrobe malfuctions when we were away on holidays in January. The strap broke on one of my dresses, and Tassy put a hole in her leggings. I thought a sewing kit would have been handy! So then and there I started thinking about making one for Lea's upcoming road trip. I thought about what would be handy to have in a tiny sewing kit, and then made up a little pouch to hold the goodies. I remember Lea told me once she loved this floral fabric.

It has pockets for the scissors and tape measure.

Do you like giving handmade gifts to crafty friends and family? How about those who aren't crafty - do you give them handmade gifts too?

Oppie finds

I had a very quick nip into an oppie with Moira this week. A tiny one I haven't been to before. I love finding new oppies!

I got some little smoked juice glasses. There you go mum and dad, I now have plenty of tiny glasses for your nip worth of OJ when you come to stay. No more drinking from little dessert bowls! You just have to look in the right cupboard.

I love this tiny jug. I think it's the perfect size for maple syrup.

Another paper tablecloth. I really love them for present wrapping. And they have such a great unusual texture.

And The Diary of Anne Frank. I'm looking forward to reading that. I don't think I've read it before but I've seen a film adaptation a long time ago. I read Corrie Ten Boom's book as a teenager - I'm expecting this will be similar. What do you think?

I'm linking up to Her Library Adventures Flea Market Finds again.

Mum's purchases

Here's a pic of the vintage goodness mum picked up at Tharwa Antiques & Collectibles. Might be a bit hard to see so I'll tell you what you're looking at...

lots of embroidered doilies - some are torn or stained and she has crafty plans for those! Hopefully I'll be able to share the completed projects on my blog!
some pretty plates
spools of cotton
sheet music for crafting
a knitting pattern
buttons

Here's a close up of the knitting pattern.

Well I remembered this photo of my dad. Check it out! He's even standing the same as the boy on the pattern cover.

Tharwa goodies

I mentioned that we went to Tharwa Antiques and Collectibles when my parents were here recently. As well as antiques and collectibles they had lots of op shoppy type things. Mum is going to send me pics of her purchases so I'll blog them later. Here are some things I bought there.

A Popular Penguins book and a huge folded map of Munich.

Some red candles and tapers.

A children's book with beautiful illustrations.

Some tiny knitted clothes which are a good size for Blythe. Mum thinks these would have been made in the 50s or 60s. And a very old Blythe sized coat. I love these and Tassy was pretty stoked with them too. :)

I got lots of haberdashery too - heaps of spools of cotton, bias tape (which I forgot to photograph before I added them to my sewing supplies) and these self cover buttons. Love the old packaging.

And some corks for Tassy's crafting (French no less).

I got these children's books recently at Tiny's Green Shed. Bunnikins has two pop-ups on every page (I love pop-ups!) and about half the pop-ups were torn or folded. I've now fixed them all!

And Mum gave me our old family dictionary which had finally fallen away from the cover. I always loved how this dictionary had the cut-outs in the pages so you could easily find the letter you're after.

I'm linking to Flea Market Finds on Her Library Adventures. Check out more cool oppie finds!

Altering an oppie find

I bought a white crochet cushion for $2 at the op shop a few months ago with the intention of dying it. Here's the pic from my original blog post.

It hasn't taken me THIS long to dye it, but it HAS taken me this long to blog it! I love this colour. And I know it's not the best job of dying you'll ever see, but I love it. Do you want to see?

Op Shopping

I got a little excited when I saw a tapestry at the Oppie this week. Not just any old tapestry, but a DEER tapestry. I thought "Will I? Won't I?"... then when I saw the $7 price tag (that's a bargain at my Oppie) and thought about customising the frame I thought "DEFINITELY!"

So here's what I bought. I LOVE deer, and it's such a gorgeous design. The bold colour variations seem a bit "colour by numbers" to me. And the deer are petit point! Oh my goodness. I have done a tiny bit of petit point cross stich and it's so tedious and tricky! I can't imagine that petit point tapestry is much easier! This crafter must have had a lot of patience.

I was going to remove the tapestry before painting the frame but it was professionally framed and when I removed the backing paper I realised the tapestry was stapled to the frame. Meh. That would be too tricky. So I very carefully painted the frame with the tapestry still in place. It actually wasn't that hard! I used some cardstock the cover the tapestry and pushed it down when painting the edge of the frame next to the tapestry. I'm SO stoked with the end result. And Dave doesn't hate it! He doesn't like it, but he doesn't hate it. I'm not sure where to put it yet.

I'm linking to Her Library Adventures - check it out to see what other great op shop finds have been had!

Op Shop finds

Mum, Charlotte, Tasmyn and I did a bit of Op Shopping in Wollongong after Christmas. I found some beautiful plates for 50c each!!! So much cheaper than Canberra.

This plate has quite high sides, it's almost like a bowl. And so pretty.

And Charlotte found this Holly Hobbie sheet for me recently. I LOVE it - soooooo happy! I will use it as a sheet on Tassy's bed - I don't want to cut it up! At least not for a while. :)

I'm linking up to Her Library Adventures - check out more bloggers' great op shops finds in this post!

Ice Ice Baby

Check out one of Dave's Christmas presents!

HA HA HA HA

He's often going on about what a cool song this was. It's tongue in cheek of course, but it comes up SO often you wouldn't believe it. At Tassy's school concert in December the Year 6s did a megamix of song and dance through the years (it was my favourite routine - that and the WHOLE school dancing to this crazy song with the film clip playing on the big screen). They started in the fifties, worked through to the eighties where there were lots of our childhood favourites, mostly completely daggy. We were making cheeky remarks to each other throughout the routine. Then this song came on and Dave turned to me and said "But this song is timeless!". I was internally jumping up and down with excitement about having found the single in an Op Shop months before!

Can you believe it was released 22 years ago?

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Op Shopping

I had a lovely day Op Shopping with Moira during the week. We spent about an hour and a half in the first shop! We whipped thru the second and spent a long time in the third. We got some great things!

There's some sheet music for crafting, some bias binding, some woodgrain print wallpaper, a very cool fruit print paper tablecloth that I'll use for present wrapping, dress patterns for present wrapping, a dress and two summer tops.

Plus this beautiful tree ornament.

A big roll of paper table cloth - the ladies cheered cos they were happy to be rid of it LOL. I'll use it for present wrapping.

These beautiful little glass bowls - they're the perfect size for a little bit of ice cream.

Moira found a panel of gorgeous vintage Christmas prints and gave me half (THANKS MOI!). Aren't they fab! I will make a cushion from one or two - and maybe some hoop art from another one. Any other ideas??

And a pile of books for my already enormous piles.

Of Mice and Men - cos it's a classic I've never read AND I love the Popular Penguins
If You Could See Me Now - cos it's by the same author as PS I Love You (which haven't read but I loved the movie)
Rebecca - loved the movie but never read the book!
The Emerald Forest - again loved the movie as a teenager and this book was written after the movie
The Twits - Roald Dahl book for Tassy, which she read in a flash
Wuthering Heights - oops, turns out I already have a copy of this
Great Expectations - yep - I love classics
Death of a Salesman - another classic - a play this time
Cold Mountain - well Mum loved the movie and I didn't, but I'm going to give the book a try

I'm linking to Her Library Adventures Flea Market Finds today - check it out to see other cool Op Shop finds!

Opping along

I took a quick trip to an Op Shop in my short lunch break from work on Thursday and found a few goodies!

I gasped when I saw these! They are practically exactly the same as figurines Alicia and I were given when we were very little, only these are smaller. Aren't they the sweetest!

I don't know where Alicia's is (I'm sure she doesn't have it - maybe Mum has it - Mum?) but I still have mine and it sits on Tassy's special shelf. Here she is with her smaller siblings! Amazing hey!

I bought these glasses about a year ago and I really love them - mostly because of the shape - they feel so nice in your hand.

I've been keeping an eye out for some the same - no luck yet, but I did find these which go with them really well. So we now have five cute glasses we can use for our juice in the mornings. :)

And I got this dress which I'll show you on Wednesday. :)

I'm linking up with Sophie's Flea Markets Finds - you can check out lots of cute op shop finds there!