Charity shop purchases October 2015

Hello there!


I thought I'd share some charity shop purchases I made recently  as I know we all like sharing these!



I only need TWO more books in the Railway Detective series (I think 'Iron Horse' is the only one I lack!) so I was thrilled to find the Silver Locomotive Mystery in the St Lukes Hospice shop.  I also found the 'Five Dead Canaries' in his WW1 series too (I've read one of these), so I look forward to reading more of Edward Marston.





When I went to Barter Books in Alnwick, I bought an amazing book called 'The Moving Toyshop' by Edmund Crispin (I love the fact they have a section called 'Whodunnits' there!) which was a Whodunnit with an Oxford professor, Gervaise Phinn as the 'detective'.  I assumed it was a one-off book so I was chuffed to find two more books (plus the original one) in a charity shop. I decided to buy all three so I'd have them in the same edition- I'll donate my other one!



I saw this jewellery hanger in Oxfam and I thought it was a better way to hang my necklaces- I swapped from my Cork board recently to a 3 hook hanger which isn't great as I don't fancy sifting through my necklaces. It may also not work but at least there are more ways of seperating the necklaces than my current flawed system.



I love wearing leggings with dresses because they don't have the sag factor like tights, slightly more substantial, better for shorter dresses but I don't like the join between shoe/sock and legging, so I've been wearing black leg warmers with my Doc Marten boots a lot over the past couple of weeks, it's really  really cosy, so I saw a pair of Cinderella legwarmers (interesting brand name- would you have chosen Cinderella as your model for leg warmers!??) and picked them up.


 
I've not heard of the brand but I liked this light-weight long-length cardigan made of fine cotton and cashmere blend. So many cardies in shops are made of Viscose or horrid man-made fabrics so it was nice to discover something made mainly of cotton.



I know when you see these, you'll say, "Of course you wouldn't have left the cute brooches behind, Kezzie!", but in all honesty, I was going to leave behing the brooches because I have plenty and sincerely don't need anymore BUT, my orchestra is doing a children's concert in a couple of weeks with one of our main pieces as a narrated version of the Owl and the Pussycat and I just thought how cute these might look on my lapels or dress as I play!  They strongly remind me of jewellery by Les Nereides, a very expensive jewellery brand I saw in Dubrovnik.  They were £1.50 each, so I figured that I hope I wasn't being too naughty!

When I was about 8, a family friend gave me two books in the Lone Pine series by Malcolm Saville. I loved them and really wanted to read more but could not get hold of them at the time.  As an adult, I looked online (thank God for online!) but I found that even online or in Second hand book shops, Lone Pine books are not so easy to get and are quite expensive so it was thrilling to find this one for £1!

Finally, I bought this DVD for school as our Year 2's do some work on 'Where the wild things are' so I thought it might be quite useful for our Year 2 teachers. 


I spent £17 all in all which I honestly, would be better saving towards a house, I realise that BUT I do feel, that if I do buy things regularly from various charity shops, I am donating money to a charity even if I end up redonating the items. That said, I seem to say this regularly, that I probably need to stop looking as I seem to be unable to say no. 


xxx
Have you bought anything in a charity shop recently?

5 brooches part 7

Hello there,

I hope all is well with you!  I am well. The majority of these brooches have been worn over the past 2 weeks as there have been a few days sans brooches

 I wish this photo were better as this brooch has the most beautiful lustre and shine to it. It's one I posted finding in a charity shop around 2 years ago-

 The Scrabble brooches are back- but this time we're saying "SH!"  Someone hilarious at school asked me what my initials were and had I just made a mistake. At which point I said, "No, sh!!!"  pointing at them, which she finally twigged about in the end! I'm wearing it here with the lovely grey scarf that Lisa at Jumble and Jelly sent me. It's a God-send and has been permanently in my handbag or swiftly placed round my neck if I have misjudged the weather!

 Here are the same collar clips from my TARDIS Tuesday post- the two flappers are talking on a cup and string phone like we used to in Science lessons in Primary School!  I wore it here with a charity-shopped Mango blouse and Liberty scarf!

 The chaffinch brooch comes from Cath Kidston a good four years ago at least- they came as a set of 3 or 4- I gave my Mum the robin one as a Christmas present and someone else got the 4th one- I kept this and the Blue tit! It seemed appropriate to team it with my Robin infinity scarf!

Last but not least, here is my DIY DSCH brooch from two weeks ago. A simple brooch which worked well against the mustard cardie from Mistral!

Budgie in the tea pot! A DIY brooch post

Aloha!

Whilst there is a still an amount of shrink plastic in my house, I have found reasons to make brooches or other items - it's funny but it's the drawing and colouring I am loving but with a purpose. I did buy one of those adult colouring books at last but a cheap Poundland one, but it feels like it doesn't have a purpose so I haven't started it yet.

Colouring and drawing brooches feels more purposeful!

 The first brooch was actually made as a present for one of the deputy heads at school. She has a cute budgie who I LOVE to hear about (living vicariously through her with my lack of pets).  She'd mentioned that I should make commissions which of course I looked horrified at (makes it SERIOUS and more of a chore!)  but it did remain in my mind that I'd like to make her a budgie brooch. It was her birthday last week and I went home intending to make her a brooch but it didn't happen, I didn't finish it.  I meant to do it and give it to her late but then she came into school with a beautiful budgie necklace given by a friend (also Shrink plastic I believe!) . I kind of felt at that point, that it would probably be too rubbish. She's a very clever and talented lady and also, I just felt perhaps, that since she's my boss and is very professional about friendships with staff that perhaps giving her a crappy handmade brooch was a bit silly. Anyway, I made it, it's a little smaller than I'd anticipated but I might still give it to her- I don't want it to feel superfluous though as she has the budgie necklace though!

The second brooch I made was this teapot. When making my teacup brooch, I had decided that I would make an accompanying tea pot so I could wear them as a pair but only just got round to the teapot. It's er- an interesting shape!  I'll try pairing the two together soon!

I'm thinking of trying to make a Jack Russell brooch for another colleague who I DO give presents to usually but I'm not so good at dogs or hairy animals!

Have you got any ideas for what might be a quirky, cool brooch or pendant?

xxx

Linking to Creative Mondays with Claire Justine

TARDIS Tuesday- The temporary Caretaker

Image borrowed from http://www.combom.co.uk/2014_09_21_archive.html but original images belong to the BBC.

Hello there!
Greetings on this fine (?) TARDIS Tuesday.
Today, I am returning to my favourite Who assistant, the irrepressible Clara Oswald, to a Series 8 outfit from The Caretaker.

I've already 'cosplayed' (AKA done an outfit!) the other Clara outfit in this episode and I decided to do the other outfit today. I've had all the items for a long time now. The shirt (New Look) and skirt (Topshop) are both charity-shopped, the shoes are Clarks and the Collar clips are from Flapper Doodle. Mine aren't the Ladybird likes moons but since the shape is similar, that's close enough for cricket, eh?

Believe it or not, this is an incredibly comfortable outfit.  I can fit about 5 layers under this shirt so I've enjoyed wearing it on colder days and despite the skirt not being my fit and flare usual, it actually fits ok. It is very thick tapestry material

I have a sewing question. I would like to create some new button holes to be able to wear this shirt done up to the top (it needs two more buttons)- can I do this very easily by sewing? How would I do this please?

So, it's over to you.

Maricel is taking a little hiatus from blogging TARDIS Tuesday for a little while, so I am the temporary Caretaker of it (see what I did there?)  for a little while after this week- so please help me keep the dream alive and link your blue, Clara-esque outfits, TARDIS badges and homages to Tom Baker! She'll be back of course  but please go and help encourage her back by going to say Hi here ! ;-)  because I shall miss my illustrious leader and Who fan girl. It is very nice of her to stop me from pining irretrievably, by allowing me to continue it in the meantime.

I hope all is well with you.
xx

An InLinkz Link-up

Autumn treasures

So, come on then Autumn, show me your finery!
Take me on a journey of discovery, that we may know each other as dear old friends.
Deck yourself in your most dandiest of threads
And serenade and woo me with your beauty.
Dazzle me, hold aloft your greatest finery.
Pave my paths with gold and my walls with the richest of rubies.
Allow me to tread gently upon your veined-dreams.
Offer me the finest delicacies, enjoyed by the richest of your patrons.
And lead me to places with untold, unimaginable intricacy.
Exhibit shapes in myriad forms and the whole spectrum of shades.
Share your tree-dappled light as a lamp to my feet.
May lace-like ferns adorn my routes.
Like palms in far-off lands.
Show me that life still brims within you.
And that you are echoes of friends past, still near, still loved.
Teach me the ways of older beauty.
That you too, may be long-cherished in my heart.

CBC and I went for a forest walk today after a rather long and protracted detour in which we aborted an attempt to visit a nature reserve in the place of my ancestors, Tollesbury.  Instead, we returned to Danbury, a place I posted about walking in, in January.  I tried to look closely at the colours of the season and appreciate that there still is incredible variety, delicate beauty and not all shades of futile decay. Indeed, comparing it to my January walk, I see a great contrast and realise, that whilst Summer is my true love, that there is still much to rejoice in!

It is a joy to be on holiday for another week in which many joyous plans, dear friends and family to see and adventures will ensue!

I hope all is well with you!

xxx

Linking with Claire Justine at Creative Mondays 

AND, for the first time,

Linking with Photo Friday with Jen from Pierced Wanderings

Ladybird likes goodie bag

I first came across Ladybird likes through another blogger.  Then I came across them when I saw Clara Oswald wearing collar-clips a mere week after I'd received some I'd  from Kate Gabrielle's Flapper Doodle shop.  I looked online to see which ones she had  (she had moon ones) and the link sent me to Ladybird likes.  I thought Zoe, who is the lady behind this company,  makes had beautiful, inspired products but since I'd just bought some round collar clips, thought no more of it.

In Totnes, I went into this quirky shop with this lovely lady who was talking to customers about how difficult it was to make money or have a job in Totnes. She was so nice and offered something for free to one of her customers and I thought she was so lovely, that I wanted to support her business, so I bought some of the Ladybird likes Bird collar clips she had stocked.

I followed Ladybird likes blog recently and saw that she was doing some special offer goodie bags on her products- four items for £25 (mystery items).  I thought this was exceedingly good value since most of her pieces start at £12,and I also knew that she'd had some incredibly bad luck with losing a large amount money through a dodgy landlord who owned her studio space so I decided to take the plunge and buy a goodie bag though I was mainly thinking of buying Christmas presents for people! I must confess, I was thinking, "I would like to keep the collar clips!".

She stated on the website that you would receive at least one brooch, one necklace and one set of collarclips.  She also said that if you mentioned any pieces you already had, she wouldn't duplicate them, so I let her know about my collar clips.

 When the parcel arrived, it was just beautiful!  The handwriting with the address was exquisitely pretty, there were jolly stickers with positive messages.  Inside, there was a lovely care package including the lovely 'instagram' postcard and some other little cards AND an adorable pink badge, saying "Love is macaroons and glitter!" (I think I'd also like one that says, "Love is watching Doctor Who for hours and allowing me to eat crisps!").  Each item was packages in a dainty paper bag sealed with spotty washi-tape and little labels saying hello!

But, I'm sure you are brimming with enthusiasm to see what was inside....

Firstly, I was surprised to see there were actually FIVE items!

 Above:
1.  Retro camera necklace- these are made out of wood and incredibly fun.
2.  Butterfly necklace- I think this one is beautiful and I'm also sorely tempted to keep it but I can think of someone who'd like it for Christmas!.
3.  Stylish lady in hat brooch:  She's wearing a hat!!! This one is really cute! Again, I feel like I'd really like to keep it! Bad!!!
4.  White bird brooch- this has a lovely texture and a vintage charm to it.

Finally, the collar clips!

These owls are very sweet and of course make me think of numerous children's stories. I'm really pleased I received these!

So, overall, what did I think?  

Well, for £25 (free P&P), I think that I did exceedingly well considering the total cost of this would be much more usually.  Five items plus The items are very well made, robust and different, so you won't be caught wearing the same Accessorize necklace as someone else and the whole package was really well thought out. Zoe Jade has gone the extra mile to make you feel special when you receive her products.

Janet at Words that can only be your own also  bought one so you could see what she got too.
If you'd like to buy your own, please go to her Etsy page

N.B. I feel a twit saying this, but of course, as it is me, this is not a sponsored post in any way,  but I want to share the love for a brilliant artist and let you know of a great bargain you too could purchase!

Kittiwakes

"I'm sleeping so soundly..."

"Zzzzzzzzzzz!"

"Aha! I sense you human!"

"Ah, you are the nice stroky lady. I shall look up at you through my eye-lashes!"

"And roll around in a adorable manner!"

"Or play Peekaboo with the chair!"

"OOoh, stretch! Hmmm, are any of the other man cats around?"

"What is this?????"

"You know you love stroking me!"

"Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmm, bliss!"

"And what are you looking at?  Never seen a kitty wake before?"

I love little Prince! He's so sweet! It's sad not having my own cat but he's good at making me feel loved!