re-purposing thrifted finds

There are two things that I can honestly say really excite me in this life:

1. being able to make something by hand
2. finding great treasures whilst thrifting

To be able to combine the two is even more blissful. So when I found a few things at my local op-shop recently, I knew straight away what I was going to do with each of them. And it's not what you would think.

The total for these three items came to a whopping $4! And I have to say, I love a bargain just as much as the hunt itself.  Let me take you through what I purchased and how I've re-purposed those items into something useful...

Pressed drinking glass, 99c 

There's nothing special here really. They're a dime a dozen (so the saying goes).  And you might be wondering why I only purchased one. The answer is "no, it's not to complete a set".  I have been looking for a toothbrush holder for some time now. I don't like anything I've seen out in the shops, but this little re-purposed gem works well in the bathroom of our new place.

Yellow daisy soap dish, $1.99

Yes, this would make a lovely soap dish. But I don't like soap in cake form. Especially when you have children living with you. And I have a thing about shed hair. Even my own. So cake soap is a no-no in our household. Instead I'm using this little sweet dish to hold my garlic on the kitchen bench. And she looks mighty sweet in her new home.

Embroidered waffle hand towel, 99c

This, I have to say, was my most favourite find of all.  I adore thrifting things which others have hand made, but have somehow found their unloved way into a "random" basket at the op shop. So much time goes into embroidery and cross-stitch, so to just toss it away is rather sad.  But you need to have a vision of how it could be re-used or re-purposed into something a little more spectacular and even a little less nanna.  

So this little 99cent baby has been turned into a beauty case complete with kiss frame. I'm using it to put all my hospital toiletries into for the upcoming arrival of baby no 2. 

I think it's just divine to have something completely one-of-a-kind that no-one else in this world has. Makes you feel a little more special and a little less like you've just purchased something mass produced and over-priced which Mrs Jenkins down the road probably has one of too.

So, go forth my thrity friends. The key here is not to overspend and to think big. You can turn a humble unloved tea towel into a much-loved cushion, a crocheted doily into a panel on a children's dress or in this instance an embroidered hand towel into a toiletries case. Let your imagination run free!

second life: fabric scraps

If you're an avid sewer like myself, you're probably all too familiar with the piles, boxes and bags of fabric scraps that are just "too good to throw out, because you never know when you're going to need the very last 2cm x 5cm scrap of vintage floral fabric".


If this sounds familiar, then read on my friends.  This post is a quick wrap up of some of the best ways to use up those beloved scraps of fabric.  No more hoarding, no more procrastinating, make some room in your craft space and "second-life" your scraps for a worthy outcome which will see your precious scraps being brought out in all their beauty.

framed fabric hoops

scrappy lamp shade

scrap map... too cool!

party garland or bunting

appliqué cushion

kids craft idea: fabric collage

Maybe you have some awesome projects to add to this list?  Feel free to leave a comment with a link for us to check out.  More second life projects here

second life: jars

Finished that jam that you love so much?
Stop!
Don't throw away the jar. I know you were going to put it in the recycling bin and do your bit for the environment, but you can wash it out, peel the label off and make one of these projects with it instead...


Inspiration Jar



homemade cough syrup



store your buttons



pretty garden lights



craft room storage



recipe in a jar... what a lovely gift!


If you're into upcycling things that are otherwise destined for landfill, click here for more Second Life projects and inspiration.

Hope you've found some inspiration!

trash and treasure: sew and sew

I managed to get out to of the office at lunch time on Friday and ducked into my local Salvo's store.  I haven't done an op shop or flea market trip in a while, so it was a real treat to find what I did.  $4.50 later and I walked out with these very valuable treasures (ok, they're really not that valuable, but they are worth their weight in gold to me).


$3.00



50c



50c



50c

To check out some of the other flea market finds, head over to Sophie's!

trash & treasure: camberwell markets and local salvos

Did you have a lovely weekend?  I did.  I went to Camberwell Markets on Sunday.  It was a glorious sunshiny day which was welcomed by all Melbournians with open arms. The people of Melbourne swarmed to the flea market more so than usual.

I picked myself up some bargains.  Yes sirree I did. I love a good Golden Book.  These ones cost a little more than I usually spend on Golden Books, but they were worth it.  I haven't seen most of them before.  $20 for 6 books.

he does look busy, doesn't he?

I wonder if this is a nice way to broach the subject of adoption?

how could I pass up an angry-looking Little Red?

I swear that "dolly" just moved... are you sure that's a dolly?

where can I get a child such as these ones?  I'm not greedy. I only need one. Someone else can keep the other one. But I want the girl.

well, we all gotta start somewhere.  Lookin' is a good place to start.

Then I spotted this crate.  I almost kept walking, but I convinced myself to stop for a lookie.  When the lady told me all she wanted was $1 for the crate, how could I say no? I shall clean her up and use her to display some softies at the next market.

And then today I popped out to the post office on my lunch break and walked passed the local Salvo's store.  How could I resist? I popped in quickly and walked out just as quick with this beauty for only 99c!

I can't believe I found this little gem.  It's a panel of sheer fabric with a pair of ducks and some gorgeous flowers hand embroidered.  It is DIVINE.  I think I'm going to turn it into a cushion.  What do you think?

Did you find yourself some bargains on the weekend?

trash & treasure: vintage magazines

I’ve been meaning to share these amazing magazine covers for a few weeks now.  I picked these up on a recent trip to Daylesford, better known as spa country.  Although every time I go out there I don’t actually get around to indulging in day-spa activities.  Must look into that.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when we walked into a second hand furniture shop and I spotted a mountain of these babies sitting on an old lounge chair.  There would have been at least a hundred there.  And they were having a closing down sale so I got them for $1 each.  Now that I look back on it, I can’t believe that I only bought 5 of them.  But at the time I thought 5 was enough.

I haven’t figured out exactly what I’m going to do with them just yet, but I’m thinking about framing and hanging them up in a collection.  They are so freakin’ awesome and in my opinion displaying them in some plain black frames would be the best way to put them to good use.  What do you think?  Leave me a comment with suggestions if you have any.

I love the horror movie poster looking one with the bold title of "I SAW HER DIE".  But it’s so hard to pick a favourite.  They are all awesome in their own way.  With titles such as Oracle, Glamour and Miracle, how could you not adore them?

Which cover is your favourite?

lovely daylesford weekend & flea market finds

A little belated with this post, but I wanted to share the delights of my weekend.   I had the Daylesford Makers Market on Saturday so I set off from my home at 7:15am with stock packed to the brim of my car - affectionately known as 'Betsie'.

I got to the market, set up my stall and was really happy with how it looked.  I've been slowly adding some various props and decorations over the last few markets.  I think it looked the best it's ever looked.  The 10am opening rolled around quickly and despite being a really slow start with the sales, the day finished up fantastically.  I think the alterations I've been making to the stall and the refined product range have finally made a difference. I couldn't have been happier.

Before the market ended I received a call from my beloved telling me that he and my son were surprising me by driving out to Daylesford and we were all going to stay the night in a quaint little cottage.  Yay.  That meant I didn't have to drive an hour and a half home after packing up my stall following the 5pm market wrap up.  Super excited!

The weekend was freezing, but it was all overshadowed by the enjoyment of Daylesford town and delightful surrounds.  I took photos.  How could I not.  I wanted you to share in my delights of course. 

Here's where we stayed.  Well, it's not actually where we "stayed", but it is a pic of the sign out the front of the property.

Complete with a lake and row boat.  I would rather like to return in the summer when this lake, gardens and picnic area would be best put to use.

We visited the Daylesford (flea) market.  Lots of stuff there.  And by stuff, I mean the bric a brac variety.

The market was followed by lunch at Gourmet Larder. I had the pot pie. Yum!

And this unfortunately was the view from our table.  It's the cabinet containing local and imported cheeses.  And lots of them.  More yum.

Obviously I had to visit one of my fave shops in Daylesford.  The Wombat Hill Antiques store (or "Curios Antiques - it has two signs and they're both different names!) is such a treasure trove of items dying to be discovered.

Here are some of the goodies inside the many rooms that make up the second hand store.

I finally found some gorgeous tea cups and saucers that were to my liking.  Purchased from a little second hand shop of which I don't know the name of.  They had a box of "orphan china" on the floor almost hidden under other things.  I dug through the box for about 10 mins and found the perfect combination of bone china cups and saucers - all missmatched of course!

Did you do anything nice on the weekend?  Did you do any flea market or op shopping?  Do tell

trash & treasure: flea market finds

So I know it's Tuesday and I should have posted this on Sunday, but I've been  attending to other matters.  Such as looking after ten little ones and getting ready for the next round of markets - look in the right hand pane under the title "come say hi" to see where I'm going to be selling my wares.

I wanted to share what I purchased at Camberwell Markets on the weekend.

How cute is this working sink in a cupboard?  And only $10.  What a bargain.  I'm going to use it at the markets to display stock.

I couldn't believe when I picked up this 'Goldy' book for $2.  It was published in Melbourne and has the most darling illustrations.  The butterick pattern from the 60's was well spotted by my beloved.  I'm going to attempt to make the dress.  See how I go with that one.

The book was probably inspired by the brood of baby chicks we babysat over the weekend.  My son's childcare has been doing the egg-to-chick thing over the last week.  He was lucky enough to get to take them all home for the weekend.  And me?  Well, I was lucky enough to clean their poop, change their water 3 times a day, handle them and feed them.  Nothing like having an extra 10 kidlets around for the weekend!

Cheep cheep.

For more Flea Market finds go on over to Sophie's

trash & treasure: op shopping spree

So with my "giveaway day" in full swing (my goodness I'm overwhelmed by all the lovely comments which have been coming in thick and fast - thank you all so much), I thought it was about time to go on a mission to find some delightful yet inexpensive things to upcycle.  So off I went merrily to two nearby op shops and here are the things I found (plus how I plan on using them).

First stop: Salvos, Carlisle Street, St Kilda East
Total spent: $8.95

Well, everybody needs a wooden ampersand, right?  Come one.  She's happily perched on my book shelf, watching over my craft room when I'm not there.

A square of delicious Japanese linen in a navy colour with white patterned symbols.  I think that maybe this was a napkin (due to the size) in its previous life.  I will be turning it into a funky Japanese-themed softie (although I really can't bear to think about cutting into it).

A complete roll of Admit One tickets.  Being an admirer of all types of paper projects, I can't wait to come up with something fun to use these on.  I'm thinking of cover a cigar box in them.  And also using them as stickers to seal packaging for different handmade goodies I sell at markets. 

I could not get a photo that does this little beauty justice.  It's a square embroidered linen tablecloth.  It has a very quaint square embroidery design smack bang in the middle, which will form the front of the cushion I will be fashioning this into.  Complete with matching white lace trim which I picked up today from Darn Cheap Fabrics on Glenhuntly Road and will be sewing around the edges of the pillow.

I also picked up a brand new, in the pack, Birch plastic white buckle - the adjustable kind that you see on straps of fanny packs or coin belts.  He he.  I said fanny.  I love throwing in an American word when it means something completely different in Australian English!

Second Stop: Posh Oppe Shoppe, Cnr Glenhuntly and Grange Roads, Caulfield South

Total spent: $17

It might not look like it here, but this is actually a pleated placemat.  It is so sweet and vintage looking.  This one is destined to become the blouse of an upcoming softie.

 This gorgeous vintage linen napkin has THE sweetest faded flower print across it.  I cannot wait to turn it into a coin purse with a clasp.  The remainder will go into a softie of course!

Ok, so I've been wanting to work with doilies for some time now.  And the Posh Oppe Shoppe is definitely the place to go if you want to stack up on doilies for craft projects (ssh, keep it quiet - I don't want people flocking there and buying the entire supply).  I found a 15 litre tub FULL of assorted doilies.  Like this one.  It is square.  It is cute.  It will get a new life as the face of a cushion.

 And of course I couldn't leave without purchasing a traditional round doily. This one was my most fave because it has a fabric centre - prefect for embroidering on.  If you want. This beauty will also be turned into a cushion, however it will be a round cushion.  And I might even pull the centre in with a cute lace-covered button.  Maybe, just maybe.

At the risk of killing you with "death by doilies" I'm just going to show you just this last one.  It is a rectangular doily, so sadly it didn't fit into the photo too well.  But you get the idea.  Maybe another cushion? Or maybe I'll use this one as part of my market stall display.

I also picked up a 100% wool single size blanket for my best female fury friend, Bella.  It's almost winter and she has destroyed every other blanket and towel we've ever given her.  I didn't take a photo of the blanket because it's not worth the effort.  It's ugly.  And pink.  And really, it's for the dog, so who cares, right?

Hope you have delighted in me sharing my finds.  Maybe, just maybe I'll be posting some tutorials on upcycling some of these materials in the very near future. Stay tuned.