In reply to 'chaotic'... and my Thrifty Body Oil...

 In reply to 'chaotic' - helllo!!!

Well, any quality branded running gear will wick away sweat and attempt to get you warm simultaneously.

I am no expert, you understand - but my top tips are:

 - don't run in the cold unless you regularly run / workout anyway coz you might not be fit enough or have muscles that are prepared for the exertion and then you'll hurt yourself.

 - wear layers. I wear my Nike running tights for all year then i might add some 3/4 joggers over the top.

I wear my thin base layer (Helly Hansen) then layer up anything on top. I care not a fig if i look ridiculous.

 - i only run shorter circuits (that pass my car) in the cold so i can dump a layer back at the car if i need to

 - i only do runs of a few miles Max in cold weather, never set off into the countryside on a long one in the cold.

 - Wear a thin hat or a headband with ear covers and some gloves, running and thicker ones. Your hands will DIE running in cold weather.

so that is that :) or just go walking! totally exhilerating!

 Here is another top tip for cold weather.... walking, running, or sitting about:

Rubbing body oil into your skin will help maintain muscle warmth. The friction of rubbing helps stimulate the nerves and the blood circulation... the addition of oil will keep a layer on top of your skin and under your clothing adding a layer of warmth... like rubbing yourself in Whale Fat, like some cultures do.

So... i saw this amazing Clarins Body Oil that smelled DIVINE and was to cost me £36.00 for a tub.

Then i thought "hold your horses crazy lady - you can make a body oil just as good"

So, i went to the Health Store and bought: some Almond Oil (you can even get cheaper oil than this it doesn't matter) and i bought 3 essential oils that i know i love the smell of and that i knew would blend well together - Jasmine, Lav and Orange. cost approx £30.00

I played about filling half an old bottle with oil and then adding drops of essential oils till i had a combination that seemed good.

Voila.... i have been luxuriating in it ever since.

I rub this all over me before i get dressed for running and i rub it all over me at night too.

Then i made a room fragrance: using water / gin / essential oils from the same batch.

AWESOME

i now have 3 bottles of expensive essential oils that will last me for ages.

so, hey, there is a post fullest of Top Tips :)

Hey - just a quickie!

I love colour. I love to surround myself by it. Colour makes me feel happy and positive and alive.

I don't do 'matching sets' and i don't do 'dull'

I am not funny or quirky or 'like being different'... do what makes you happy people!

This stool is a typical example of what i love to do in my home.

The stool was found at the back of a Thrift Shop. (I forgot to get a photo of it before i sprayed the wood part Hot Pink) It was a wooden stand with a yellow top. I liked the yellow top actually but i have a need for pattern and a great stash of fabrics.

I lightly sanded off the legs and frame before spraying the whole thing with a Gloss Spray Paint. I didn't bother using Primer on it first at the paint looked like it would adhere well without it - and i do love to cut corners (impatience)

The Top has fantastic little bars that easily allowed you to remove it from the base.

So then, i found a square of Cath Kidston fabric in the boldest design and stretched it over the top. I borrowed my dads staple gun to keep it all in place and really pulled it tight to get a good stretch and fit.

With the fabric added it was now a really tight fit into the painted frame so i used a soft mallet to whack it back into position and then turn the bars underneath to keep it in place.

Stool = £8.00

                                       Spray Paint = £1.00 - (from a large 400ml can costing £6.00)

                                 Fabric = £2.00 - (from a £12.00 per metre piece)

               Staples = £2.00 (at a guess?)

The photo doesn't do this justice but i was really chuffed with how it turned out.

Colour + Craft + Thrift = Love my Life xxx

Sometimes people let you down...

My LittleFish and I were disappointed that someone we were expecting for dinner - didn't bother to come.

That level of disappointment can be hard to stomach. The joy, anticipation, preparation, looking forward to... 'gone' in that briefest moment when you realise 'it's just us'.

But HEY! it isn't 'just us'. it IS US!! so what do the Fishes do in this situation? why we get Mamma's favourite tea cups out and make tea.  

I'm not that great with words, but it sorted of lifted us straight out of that melancholic tinge. All of a sudden the slow mouthed dinner was transformed into something teetering between ceremony and party! In that teacup moment, i swear, our downturned faces slipped into smiles and everything seemed just that touch brighter.

Resourceful Mamma found 2 halves of a Milky Way, tucked away in the back of a "party paraphenalia" box and Joy! they were still in their UseBy date...

We had forgotten to open the parcel left outside the back door (in our haste to make dinner for the special guest that never came) so we sat with our tea and sickly sweet confectionary and opened the parcel....

The spontaneity of enjoyment and sugar was enough to make us feel like a Circus had fallen out of the packet. It was little vintage tins but it felt like clowns juggling on a tightrope, pulling gargoyle faces...

The special guest didn't seem so special any more. LittleFish was happy and replete. MammaFish felt suitably sustained, like the sky wasn't 'always cloudy' and all those grey day feelings would eventually give way to some sunshine.

It was just tea cups. It was just tea in pretty cups, sat on matching saucers. It could have been the world on a plate, for that's how we felt in our moment.

How to dress a suitcase...

So... as we were leaving the Charity Shop, eagle-eyed Sister (who doesn't really 'do' thrift n rummage) spotted this ancient Antler suitcase under a clothes rail, no price on it.
"Don't pay more than a fiver" i mouthed quietly...

We left having paid £5.00 for the coat, £2.00 for the dress and £1.50 for the case. Great finds. I wish the case were mine, but... i got the pink coat (from previous posts) and she did really 'find' the case. Had we still been 8yrs old i would have "persuaded" her to part with case... but she got wise to big sisters ways some years ago...

Looking pretty with that scraf tied to it's handle.

Suitcases make me feel sad PLAY

And, a friend found this old cotton apron which was handmade by her Gran. She thought "i know who'll wear that"... she was right! I've barely had it off me since it was gifted. So cute and it has totally inspired me to make another one for me - and one for the SmallFish too.

But it isn't all old and thrifty...

New Tan Boots: sort of cowboy meets riding boot meets slouchy 80's????

Don't go hating on me just coz i got great new boots. I'd want them too if they weren't mine.

A girls got to cheer herself up when the weather is blue.
And that is, basically, how to dress a suitcase...

My Vintage Vice...

....my house was MINGING this morning, minging i say (minging = nasty, messy, horrid for all our foreign readers) so i *knew* what had to be done:
"Come along darling. Mummy wants to go the 'Antiques Cellar', buy stuff she does not need and drink coffee" ...and avoid anything that is boring or necessary at home.
Wanna play vintage rummage with us?

First, i saw this - uhhhhh, how nice are these? Haberdashery drawers... maybe 7ft tall? i wanted them (naturally) but, at £1,200 they are out of my price range. Especially as i narrowly missed a set of these on ebay for £200. This is a lovely wooden filing cabinet with mega deep drawers, maybe 4ft tall.
These, i might be coming back for... as i look around my art room / studio (whatever it is) i realise i could fill 5 of these in the blink of an eye.

This tea set was sooo prettily laid out. Especially for MrsB... there was an amazing pink Bakerlite telephone at this stand too... but i wasn't "strictly speaking" given absolute "permission" per se, to be photographing any part of the shop.... so i was on thin ice already (tee heee)

I love this little unit in the Cellar - all mish mash / bish bosh / throw it together style with handmade kilts and vintage nighties.

The 'Antiques Cellar' is a large basement in a car park full of different Units belong to different sellers, so you never know what you'll find...

SmallFish playing 'desks'... i do like that desk but it is really similar to the one i found at the local Tip for £4..... i think that one is about £304.00.... so i did better me thinks.

The cafe is cold and twee with nasty table cloths, but it's a fair cup of coffee and a good sandwich when you need one.

She is such a good girl coming with Mamma.

Sorry, did someone say we are supposed to be "Home Educating"SmallFish? Lessons for today: self-restraint, budgeting and ummm,,, history. Oh, and we saw that really cute labra-doodle Puppy.... that is practically a lesson in genetics by itself.

I bought a set of Cake Forks.

...the answer is "yes" - do i need to repeat the question?

I bought this wooden Trug, it was big and a bargain.

....the answer is "several" - do you really need to hear that question?

and i bought a stool for my kitchen. I'll save that just to tantalise you :) i might spray paint it pink so maybe i'll do a little "before and after" post - you know how i lurve to perform for you.

So.... it is a fully fledged V I C E.

I get a feeling in me.... i know what it is.... it starts in my mouth as it gets dry and then i can't sit still. I know i will not rest until i have been for a Vintage Rummage. I'm so glad you don't hate me for it. x

Weekend Thrift-a-rama....

A typically English afternoon - bar one thing... it was sunny!! So, off to the local "Bric-a-Brac" sale in Dodford.
Cute Summer dress = check
Sunnies = check
Rogue Trader style 4x4 truck = check Super sweet vintage style bag = check
SmallFish...... = check... but WAIT a minute!!

Somebody wasn't too keen on a trip out thrifty hunting... "What's up PongoFish?"

"Mama, you forgot my purse and now i can't buy anything"....

Run back inside for the Little Hello Kitty purse = check!

She soon cheered up as we entered the Village Green - they had a full on BAND playing!! Cool! and oh so English. It was dreamy :)

So dreamy, i did forget to photograph all my purchases for you to share.... Herbs, a rug, some books, .... SmallFish's plastic turtle and 'Tigger' Cocktail stirrer....

Tea from a true Utility Wear 'Village Hall' cup and saucer (i wanted a second cup but they didn't sell their tea by the pot, mores the pity)

Dreamy dreamy cake... Victoria Sponge with real strawberries. OH be still my fluttering heart... this cake will make it to the Food Blog sometime, it was delicious.

The Plant Stall with Parasol - this thrift sale spilled out of the Village Hall, over the Village Green and away up the winding village road.

I sat in the sunshine, enjoying the band and swatting the wasps off my cake with this *new* old book (all about English gramar and punctuation - i could do with the tuition)

Oh English-ness, i did enjoy a warm slice of your pomp and circumstance this weekend. Thankyou for your eccentricity and love of Tea, Cake and thriftiness x x x

Thrifted yumminess...

1. A Flowery curtain - found at the Charity Shop, still in it's packet, "who'd want that?" i heard one of the Dears saying to her friend... "I'd want that" i said and gently retrieved it from the oddments bin. SUPER for my Summery kitchen... 2. What to do with a dear old teapot once it has been replaced by my latest find?... why, grow plants in them of course! I love this teapot (but i loved it's replacement even more) so now it houses a sort of Gerbera plant...

3. DON'T get me started on ebay again.... THIS is one of those long painful / feedback issues / lots of heated discussions with seller / threaten to go round her house and grafitti her door, sort of stories.

It matters not now my friends because i have it and I am OH SO happy :)

It was covered in darkest mahogony varnish - nw stripped down.

It did have 3 wobbly legs so it was a little sewing bureau thing ( i was expecting 4 sturdy legs when it was on it's way, hence the long story)

ANYWAYs (deep breath) i took the legs off and now it sits proudly on my 'packing table' and it houses all my packaging stickers / customs forms for the internet shops.

Very cool! And all the nicer for the hard work i went through to get it xxx

Cafe Sunday...

aaahh - a rare treat!
Sunday Coffee out with my Sister. Lucky us, to get an hour or two to sit and chat and Sunday browse... We went to Olney ***waves at Olney readers*** ("Local Craft Matters" is out now guys, go grab your free copy!)

That is my Little Sister, totally dreaming and worrying about what to do with her life.

And below, why tis me! Oh, I am wearing that Beret again... it isn't cosmetically sealed to my head, promise! It was raining and i need a haircut... why do i have an odd gurning grin on my face???

Olney, Rose Courtyard - it has a great little Craft and Art gallery and also a brilliant Craft / Paper / Stamping shop L.B.Crafts... it was raining when we sat in but the sky did brighten for a while on Sunday...

I managed to grab the Fruit and Veg Men in the Market Place just as they were packing up for the day. I filled a big bag with oranges / lemons/ limes and grapefruits for about £3 and then went home to 'Juice' them, mmmmm x

And my Sis holding up theeee cutset little Spring Cotton Skirt that i bagged in the Charity Shop for £2.50. What a find!? it is so sweet.

Cafe Sundays my friends... it's what the rest of the week was made for! x

Sewing Box

Ssshhhhh... ManFish hasn't yet noticed the 'new' arrival....
Thrifted a few days ago.
Of course i could live without one but it was 'there' in the Antiques Cellar and it asked to come home with me.... It came with Oddments that the ticket insisted were "Victorian"....! Like the Sewing Box itself.... i think not. Which is how i haggled them down in price (lesson #1 never pay full price for anything)

I have intent for it though - it wasn't purchased 'on a whim'. I wanted a carry box that had all my silks in and some buttons / scissors etc... that i can plop in front of me when I am shattered and i want to sit and watch 'Waterloo Road' on a wednesday night. Also easily transportable if i am off to my mums for weekend.... (who needs clean pants? there is only room in my car for one overnight bag, and this is now it)

Threads came with it - i haven't yet re-packed it with my treasures...

And may i sneakily introduce this *new* cushion too? I photographed the Sewing Box in front of it as it looks especially scrumptious...

I CONFESS... i was literally leaving John Lewis the other day, i was 'almost' out of the door... and it was sat there, on a shelf - alone! My sister said to me "you can't live without that now can you?" and i replied "Now i have seen that it exists -no, i cannot live without it"

It was in my car and on it's way home within about 10 minutes of my first spying it.

OOooops, consumer guilt x