Total washout

 Yesterday was awful in the end! We spend the morning huddling in the cafe with a cup of tea, praying that the rain would stop and we could do something. It didn't happen though :(
 In the end we went into Havant and said hello to OH in his shop, and then had a bargain hunt around the local shops. Most of them were closing early due to no customers and bad weather so we found lots of lovely reductions. I picked up;

6 mini Pain au Chocolats - 45p in Waitrose. Waitrose make the best pastries and these mini ones are just right for DD's breakfast.(and mine lol)
Tomato and Mozzarella Wrap - 65p in Waitrose. Again these are soooo tasty but I would never pay £2.80ish for one.
2x British strawberry punnets - 25p each. They were marked up as £2.25 but were originally buy one get one free at £4. So a tasty double discount and a punnet each for a tiny price.
Belgian chocolate cookies - 99p Waitrose. A little nummy treat for OH who is something of a connoisseur of biscuits lol

After our success in Waitrose we decided to head on over to Mr. T and see what he was giving away as well.

2x Finest pasta meals - Originally these were £3.?? each!!! Reduced down to 85p which I think it much more reasonable and certainly a little bit of luxury for me and OH's dinner.
Chicken Pops- £1 these were for DD's dinner as she doesn't always like spaghetti, and it couldn't treat us and not treat her!
Kingsmill 50/50 loaf - 45p cause we needed a loaf, and they don't seem to last more than a few days in our house.

 So it wasn't a complete waste of a day after all :) This morning we have got up and feasted on two mini pastries each with our cuppa (milk for DD. My plans for the day are to make a den with DD in the kitchen for Finding Fun, to finish our homeschool letter task for this week and decide on something nummy to make for lunch.

x x x

Car Boot sale 2

 So today was our second car boot in 2 days. I'm feeling the burn this afternoon I can assure you, but it has cleared out so much junk and made us just over £100 all together. This morning was overcast with a very cold wind so DD spend most her time in the car with one or the other of us pretending to drive, and waving to random people passing by.

 As the morning went on it got quite busy but as you can see the sky remained very heavy.

 Peppa Pig toy - £1

 Not many bargains to be found this morning but we did manage to snaffle this Peppa pig learning toy, it makes all kinds of noises on each of the different modes and DD was enthralled for hours with it

2 Jodi Picoult book - £1 each  Penguin book - 50p

The Picoult books are to put away for our holiday, I love her easy to read style and they will be perfect for the beach and long lazy evenings. The penguin book is part of the That's not my ..... series. We have several in the series already and DD really enjoys them.

TellyTubby toy - 10p Peppa Pig figures - 25p each

 And finally 3 little toys for the little sweetie. She spotted Po all by herself on one of our many walks around the other stalls. The Peppa's were spotted by Daddy and you can imagine just how well they have gone down with DD. They are the perfect size for throwing in her backpack for days out, clever daddy.

 My plans for the afternoon are to have a nap, finished the last few bits on the cross stitch from yesterday and start planning my entry for The summer of colour 2012. Tomorrow we are having a Jubilee trip out with nanny and grandad to the beach and then building a den for Finding Fun.
Busy busy busy.
x x x

Car boot goodies

                                                      Notebook - £1.50   Xstich kit - 10p

Well, after a misty and murky start the day has turned out to be lovely for a car boot sale. By selling odds and ends including DD old clothes and toys we made just over £70 towards our holiday spending pennys. We tried to reign ourselves in and not bring home more than we took by buying everything and I think we have done it well.
 I picked up a new notebook for jotting down all my blogging ideas, and a lovely little cross stitch kit which kept me pretty occupied on our stall. I might take one in my handbag to future sales as it was perfect to pick up and put down,

 3 DVD'S - £1 each

We have been looking out for Stuart Little after DD loved it on Sky Movies the other day so find the first two films was pretty good. The Chip n Dale set is more for OH and me, it's a bit of nostalgia from our childhoods that we can share with DD.

 2x Peppa Pig play sets - £2 each.

Since the second we gave them to her DD hasn't stopped kissing, hugging and playing with them. I can't believe how pristine they are, when the woman who was selling said they'd been constantly played with by her twins.

Peppa Pig dress - 50p  Lola trousers - 50p

 And last but not least a few new additions to DD's wardrobe. Both are sized 2-3yrs so will be useful for a fair while. They are in the washing machine already and with this gorgeous weather I wouldn't be surprised if DD is wearing one of them tomorrow.
 We had so much fun today that we might be doing it all again tomorrow. If the weather is nice we will try our luck at another car boot sale as we have plenty left to sell, if not we will have a lovely lie in. Fingers crossed we can get out there and make some more pennys for the seaside.

x x x

Car boot goodies for May

 Firstly I will show you a freebie, almost brand new Timberland boots! My mum picked them up for me the other day and passed them on. A quick peek on the website tells me that someone probably paid around £120 for these and then barely used them.

 Kung Fu Panda stuffy - 50p  Charlie and Lola book - 50p

 DD and I have been watching Kung Fu Panda 2 a lot lately thanks to Sky on demand so I was quite pleased to find this panda toy. He was lovingly cuddled and carried for the duration of the car boot sale.
 The book will be added to our C&L collection. We have 3 books now all thrifted from boot sales and charity shops. I'm always keeping my eyes open for more as they can be pretty expensive to find new.

 Peppa Pig stuffy - 20p Number game - 20p

Peppa pig is DD new love, we are planning to get her a DVD when we next food shop. At the moment she watches episodes on YouTube but they are only 5 minutes long and your constantly having to put on the next one.
 The number game will be a great educational tool to use with our home school lessons.

P

 Arsenal shirt - £1  I'm the boss PJ's - 50p   Peppa pig top - £1

Football shirts in big sizes are our nighties of choice for DD. They are perfect for this hot sticky weather as they are breathable, light and also wash in a jiffy. The PJ's will be put away for the cooler weather as they are quite thick Cotton. The Peppa pig shirt will be worn to death!

 3 cross stitch card kits - £1

 A little something to keep me entertained at nap time and in the evenings. I deliberately went for Xmas designs as I have plans to craft a lot of gifts this year. As I am getting bigger and bigger now (27 weeks yikes) and moving less and less I have plenty of sitting time to fill with useful things.

Selection of Blu Ray movies and DVD's - up to £2 each

We love our movies in TFHMH. So a car boot sale is a great opportunity to pick them up cheap. Once we have watched them we decided if we want to keep them a while and watch them again or put them in our shop for resale. Most of them end up in the shop for sale making it a money neutral hobby.

 I hope you enjoyed looking at what we brought yesterday. I would also like to say a big Hello to my two newest likers!!! and to all of the 189 people who have looked at my blog in the past 2 days. Your all making me feel really popular and motivated.

 x x x

Yesterday evenings doings.

While I was entertaining DD and crocheting flower squares to use up my stash and make a nice blanket....

..

OH was digging this wonderful wooden headboard out of our communal bin shed, cleaning it off, giving it a polish and attaching it to our bed. We've needed a headboard for a long long time, and the ones we've been looking at in the charity shops/furniture stores have been around £20 so that's a nice amount saved for a rainy day!!!
 Isn't he a clever chappy? I am so blessed to have him in my life, he's wonderful.
x x x

P.S It's nearly time for my 100th post giveaway to one of my lovely daily readers and followers. I'm getting excited.
x

Merry Christmas for the bump

 Taggie book £1

 I know it's only April but already my thoughts are turning towards Christmas. With our baby due to arrive late August/Early September getting organised for Christmas is a high priority. So I am starting my present stockpile today with this little Taggie book. I picked it up for a meagre £1 in my favourite charity shop, I almost squealed when I spotted the Taggie label. I have been able to find it here on Amazon. It seems that I have nabbed myself a nice bargain.
 I'm putting it aside for bump as s/he will be about 4/5 months when the festivities take place, and this soft light cloth book is just perfect for cuddling, stroking, tugging and chewing. 

 In other news I have finished knitting the arms for my pom pon project and have almost finished the back panel. Hopefully I can reveal my experiments results on Friday or Saturday and get  pattern written up for anyone who is interested.

 x x x x

Shopping bargain in April

  

 3 Retro (?) wooden puzzles 50p each.

Oh dear, I haven't been a very good blogger have I? Will you forgive me if I post about my latest charity shop bargains? 

 First I discovered these wonderful wooden puzzles, I say I discovered them, it was actually DD. My DD can spot something remotely duck shaped from a mile away. Behind the duck puzzle were the sheep and polar bear puzzles at the same price. I'm not sure how old they are but they needed a hefty clean when I got them home. The style of the animals is making me think late 70's perhaps. Anyone recognise them?

  Gorgeous sequin sundress with matching bolero and hat. Ages 3-4. £1.50

 Next up this wonderful dress for DD.  It is so light and summery, I'm putting it to one side to take on holiday with us soon. At only £1.50 I'm not worried if it doesn't survive the sand and beach based abuse holiday clothes can get. I'm tempted to take a snap of DD wearing it before we go.

 10 balls of Rico Pom pon in spearmint - £10.99   New Cath Kidston catalogue.

 And finally a sneaky peek in HobbyCraft led me to a bargain pack of wool. I'd been eyeing this wool up at a show I went to in London recently. Sadly they only had pinks and blues left and I wanted a neutral colour so I could make a little something for impending arrival. At £1.10 a ball this wool is better than the show price I saw of £1.25 and miles better than the £3 a ball the local wool shop is charging. I've almost finished my current knitting project (a dress for DD) so expect a post about my spearmint coloured creations soon.
  And after all this shopping I was delighted to find the new Cath Kidston catalogue waiting on my doormat. It will be the perfect read while I'm soaking in the bath this evening.

 Have you found any bargains lately?
x x x

Bargains galore

Good evening lovely readers. I made a fabulous discovery yesterday. A wonderful scheme called Healthy Planet one of their schemes is Books for free all the books above were from our first visit. The top two are OH's, the Fairy Tales are to read to DD, and the bottom two are all mine mine mine. I'm hoping to try a few things from each of them shortly so watch this space.

2x Cath Kidston tissues £1 - Book for DD 40p -
2X Key rings £2.00 - Vintage pillowcases - 50p

This is my charity shop haul from today. One of the key rings and tissues are for someone for Xmas and will be put away. The book is for DD, and the vintage pillowcases have an undecided fate for now. I hardly ever see vintage pillowcases so these were a wonderful find.

This is my current project, can you believe this chair was in the communal bin shed? I think its beautiful and under the scuffs and dinks I could see some potential shining through. So I brought it indoors..........

... gave it a good sand papering. It took me about an hour but I found it really therapeutic. And then..........
... gave it two coats of Wickes Petal. It not the biggest of painting projects, so I used a tester pot and even after two coats I still have a healthy blob left for touch ups.
My job tomorrow is to give it a light sand down to even out the paint and then a coat of varnish.
Then I can move onto making a nice cushion to finish it off. I promise to keep you posted :)
x x x

Busy busy busy

All this horrible weather we've been having was keeping DD (and us) far to cooped up. And we all know that there is nothing quite as bad as a bored cooped up (almost) 2 year old. So we splashed out on a trip our local soft play centre. At £4 a time it's only an occasional treat but on this visit we were given a loyalty card. Every 5th visit is now free making it now an average of £3 a visit. I can these this being a firm favorite this winter as the general consensus it that this year its going to be a bad one.

DD and Mummy (me) playing in the ball pit. At first she wouldn't go near the ball pit bit but once mummy climbed in and should her it was safe and actually pretty fun we couldn't get her out.
My first 2 crocheted winter hats for Japan. I'm currently working on a handful of winter knits to send to a friend in Japan to distribute through their church to those in need.Sadly as its now old news japan and its suffering has been forgotten about by many people.
And finally a little bit of nap time crafting. Take one 2012 diary (£1 on local market) and one bag of foam stickers (ELC) and stick on gems (poundland). And hey presto.........
....one much improved diary for my handbag next year. No way could I stare at the that horrible puppy all winter.

DD approves. She loves trying to pick off the foam shapes and pushing the gems like buttons while singing "beep beep beep". I think I will have to reattach several of them next year but who cares if she's happy.

What have you all been making lately?
x x x

Sunday treats

Look what my wonderful OH picked up for me. A beautiful little olive bush. I'm hoping that I can keep this little guy happy in a pot for the moment and pop him outside when we finally get a home with a garden. What a wonderful addition to our self sufficiency plans for the future :)
And even better he was 80% off. I think I love him even more.
x x x x