Slim Pickings

It was slim pickings at the op shops this week. I went to Salvos on Newcastle Rd, and Lifeline at Jesmond shops. It felt weird going to an op shop in the middle of the shopping centre.

These shorts for R, at Salvos. $2. They have an adjustable waist.

The trusty old crochet coat hanger. These guys are underrated, I love them. The very thing to stop your shirts sliding off the hanger. 50c.

These were at the Lifeline shop at Jesmond. Cute little kids watches, great condition, $4 each. I plan to give the soccer ball one to A for Christmas.

Linking this over to Apron Thrift Girl for her Thrift Share Mondays.

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Birthday goodies

I picked up these items from Salvos and Vinnies. Vinnies at Mayfield have a good selection of toys compared to most other op shops around here. These were for a little boy's 3rd birthday, a friend of R's.

This truck makes a variety of noises and flashes its light when you press down the seat. R's friend is having a lot of fun playing with this guy. Reminds me of Bob the Builder toys.

These stickers are for the bath- they are reusable.
I hope R's friend has fun with these- I had fun looking for them! :-)

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Beautiful bag

Our trip to Salvos on Newcastle Rd was a quick one today as I had Master 3 (R) with me. This time I let him run loose and encouraged him to play in the toy section and choose one to take home. This toy has buttons that when you press them, say the colours in a different language.

That lasted for 10 minutes, then I encouraged him to choose a bag from the bag section. R found a lovely bag that I want, but he's very determined that it is "my bag". :-) He has good taste.

Next I looked through the jewelry stash while R ran laps of the store, chortling every time he passed me "You can't get me mummy!" I found a dragonfly brooch I liked, but the stones set in its eyes were broken and missing. I looked among the jewelry for possible eye stones, and after I told the op shop lady what I was doing she helped me look, and came up with a ring that was perfect. The stones were loosely set and came out with the pressure of a fingernail. So I'll be getting the super glue out later this week.

I'm linking this post to Thrift Share Mondays, over at Apron Thrift Girl.

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Ornament Shelf Makeover

I picked up a little shadowbox/ornament set of shelves from an second-hand store a while back for $4.
I've never tried makeover things before, but I thought I could start simple and apply some spray paint to it. I got some white from the local hardware store and took it outside.

Spraying things evenly did not turn out to be my forte, especially on a windy day. The trouble is, where I live is regularly windy. I decided I liked the look of the wood showing through a bit, and hung it on the wall. Maybe later I'll spruce it up some more. Here it is with my ornaments:

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Tuesday's Treasures

Another good haul at the Mayfield op shops. I hit Salvos and Vinnies. Salvos have a wider range of clothes, but Vinnie's have better prices, and often the ladies there will make a cheap estimate of your stuff rather than sticking to the price tag.

A pair of earrings shaped like leaves. Quirky and cute. :-)

This book was in the 50c trolley, I had no idea what it was when I opened it, and I am so glad I did! It's a history of a children's book museum in Victoria, and in the process of describing it they give details about Australian authors and illustrators, the history of book publishing in Australia and much more. This 50c fella is getting his own post soon.

A stripey shirt for A, he looks good in white and blue.

A plastic serving platter for 20c, and a glass for $1. I have a set of 70s glasses with an assortment of different colours. However they're very delicate and lot have been broken over the years. This glass looks a little like my set, I thought it could keep the unbroken glasses company.

A pretty blue scarf, thinking it will make a nice Christmas gift for a friend.

One great thing about Vinnies, is that they are one of the few op shops that still stock toys (so many op shops these days just have Mcdonalds junk and soft toys, and nothing else). All the little toys get sorted into bags, mostly divided into girls and boys toys. All these toys here were from a bag of girls toys, for only $2. I got it for the wand, A had broken his and wanted a new one. :-)

I saw here some little owl badges made out of ties and buttons. Hence some ties, $1 each from Vinnies. I'm going to give them a go at some point.

A new top for me. Not my most favourite colour, but the style and the sleeves are lovely.

A cardigan for me for $5. 

Some pretty wooden beads for me, from Vinnies, $2.

And lastly, this little cutie. She is a brooch, handmade by somebody. There are little flowers in her plaits. I love her. :-)

Linking this to thrift share at Apron Thrift Girl.

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Clothing Bonanza

Today I visited Salvos at Wallsend, with my discount card clutched in my hot little hand, determined to find some clothes. Salvos have regular visit cards, and every time you purchase, they mark off a square. When you have used all the squares on the card, your next visit entitles you to 50% off any clothing purchases (unless it has the coloured price tag that is on sale for the week). Complicated, I know. 


All the clothing has a variety of coloured price tags, the colour corresponding to the week the item came in to the store. Each week, the display in the shop window lets you know which colour price tag is on sale. For example, a display of green clothing means the clothing with green price tags are on sale this week. 


Here is today's loot:

A shirt for me! The ties give it a bit more shape than can be seen on the coat hanger.

A brooch and a pendant which I may be able to make into a brooch.
I think the pendant is begging for some bling. Maybe I can glue some stones in?

The Rugrats Movie for my rugrats, and two sewing books. I have absolutely zero sewing skills, so I thought the books might help with that.

The Simplicity book has a section on the sewing machine, what the bits are called, etc. I have an old sewing machine that I have yet to learn how to use, so it might come in handy.

This is a page from the dressmaking book. It was published in the 80s, and along with scary clothes, there's some unfortunate sizing names in here. We go from baby, toddler, child, girl, then "Chubby". Ouch.

Some shirts for R. He has hand-me-downs from A, but I wanted some in his colours.

A swimming shirt and Diego shirt for R.

A stripey dress shirt for A, it looks nicer than in the photo. A pair of speedos for A to wear under his swimming shorts.

I was pleased with today's haul, which all together came to $15. Not bad at all. :-)
I'm linking this to Thrift Share Mondays, over at Apron Thrift Girl.

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Pretties and Paperbacks

This week I visited the op shops at Mayfield, on Maitland Road. There is a Salvos, with its own little car park, just before the post office. It no longer has a large bin for donations out the front. It has some large pieces of furniture as well as the usual books, clothes and household items. After going there, park in the side road next to the video store, and there is a Vinnies, and across the road from the video store next to the second hand bookshop, there is a Lifeline, and more a upmarket place that has costumes and retro clothes.

If my friend Ali is reading this stop looking, for your daughter's birthday present is included in these pictures. :-)

I've linked this post over to Apron Thrift Girl, as part of her Thrift Share Mondays.

My first find was a large white tablecloth with a subtle pattern. You can never have too many. This was from Salvos, which had a variety of interesting linens, as well as some cute tea cosies. There was a lovely brown owl one, and I had to remind myself firmly that I don't drink tea and have no use for it. :-)

A brand-new dress with the original shop tags still on, for a little friend of my son's.

This is all for my friend's little girl for her 2nd birthday. I think she'll like carrying around the little handbag and wearing the bracelet.

A pair of earrings for me.

I couldn't resist "Custard and Company". Poems by Ogden Nash, illustrated by Quentin Blake. An irresistable combination. "The Bad Book" is full of silly, naughty, rude poems which would appeal to boys 8-12.

Scrapbooking mags, for $1 each. Maybe they'll inspire me to start again.


My 3 year old son was highly unimpressed at visiting the op shops today. He is tall enough to stretch his feet to the floor and push himself around while strapped into his stroller. When I finally got sick of the screaming and let him out, he ran around hiding in clothes racks and pulling clothes off their hangers. It was certainly an opportunity for developing some patience!

How do keep your kids occupied while op shopping?



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Lifeline Loot

I went with my friend Emma to what I call the op shop strip mall last week, in Wallsend. There are 5 op shops in close proximity on the main street. Wallsend used to be the place to go for op shopping when I was a student. A couple of op shops have closed down since then, but there's still a variety of mostly higher priced merchandise. If I was a size 10-14 I would have bought a lot of clothes, so if you are that size I'd recommend taking a look.

At the very last op shop I found some loot. Lifeline is the most reasonably priced of all the op shops. 

Cushion covers. I'm always on the lookout for these to change up my living room. $2 each. The pattern on the left is flocked, it feels nice. :-) 

A tupperware container for $2. A good size for cakes. There were three identical containers there.

Swimmers for R. I'd been looking for some for a while. $3.

A cute small table cloth, $2.

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Pretty bowls

Here's a few random items I accumulated last week:

The glass bowls were found at Belmont Salvos, for $15 (I know, a little pricey). It is a gorgeous op shop, everything is displayed beautifully, but prices aren't very cheap. These bowls were still in their original box, and looked like they had never been used. An unwanted wedding present, perhaps? I love the grapevine decoration, and the colours. The box was marked "Aderia Glass". I couldn't find much info on Aderia glass online, anyone know anything about it?

This basket is the perfect size to hold R's little board books. And I needed some hooks to hang my peg basket on the clothes line. These items were found at Salvos on Newcastle Rd. $1 for the hooks, $2 for the basket.

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Painting Find

This week I scored a painting at the Salvos on Newcastle Rd. I was one of the first people inside, saw this painting straight away and fell in love with it. It's so peaceful, and I love the autumn colours. Getting it home took some doing, luckily R was at playgroup and not with me. I finally managed to wedge it in the back seat, and couldn't see out the rear window all the way home. It was only $10, for a big framed painting- it's about 1 1/2 metres by 1 metre. It's a print, and the artist's name is Robert Wood, which after some googling discovered that he was a popular American landscape painter. http://www.robertwood.net/biography.html

The painting is dusty and still needs to be cleaned up, but I'm very happy with it. :-)

Close up of the right side.

Close up of the left side.

Holiday Finds 2

This is last of my finds during the school holidays. Books were the main haul this time, and I'm going to show you all the brooch again because I love it so much! :-)

This was my favourite find of the holidays. I think it's silver-plated. The detail is lovely, and I'm not sure why, but it reminds me of The Chronicles of Narnia books. There was a flying horse in the early books. I think the figure is a child, don't you love the little Arabian nights theme pants and shoes? You can see them just sticking out below the horse's wing.

Buttons! I'm always collecting buttons. I thought the red ones might come in handy for decorating Christmas cards and presents.

An assortment of books. I remember reading Z for Zachariah at school. Chrysalis is the sequel to Thunderwith, a book that made me cry every time I read it. My mum used to read The String Family (top right) to me, so I snapped it up to read to my boys when they're a bit older. The Little White Horse is another childhood book, written in 1946. The language is charming and I enjoyed reading it again.
More Milly-Molly-Mandy, I've been reading some of these books to A. And then having to explain what a cottage is, what a thatched roof is, what a penny/tuppence/shilling is, and so on.
Galaxarena (top left) is by Australian children's author Gillian Rubenstein- she wrote Space Demons and Skymaze. Great writer. When I saw Flower Fairies I couldn't pass it up- I have a little collection of miniature versions of them from childhood, but they're falling apart.

Some classic golden books to read to my boys, along with a few others. I love this wooden puzzle, the pictures on the pieces appeal to me. The box and the pieces are still in great condition.

A couple of Nancy Drews (apologies for the bad photo) and a hardback copy of Charlotte's Web- love the illustration on the cover.

The last find. My son A found these- activity books on phonic word families. None of the pages were written on. He had great fun filling it out- I think he was missing school! :-)