Something Old, Something New...

I'm afraid I may have misled you a little with my title today, for the subject of this post is not going to be weddings.  It's actually going to centre around my recent acquisitions, some of the spanking brand new variety and some of the pre-loved, thrifty variety!

But before I go any further, I must show you these wonderfully colourful and uplifting little numbers that I got just the other day.  An ebay find...

Aren't they yummy!  I've put them on the craft room window sill for maximum light catching, colourful cheeriness.  Something to take my mind of our dreadful English weather.  My first something old!

You see, I have two very different sides to my spending personality.  Which, when I think about it can be easily traced back to my Grandmothers, or as we have it in my family, Nannies.  One of my Nannies, we shall call her 'Nana Spendalot', does just that.  Her greatest joy and pleasure is from shopping and buying things.  Her special weakness is for clothes.  She has brought many, many clothes.  But, it must be said, many go straight back to be refunded, exchanged, re-tried and exchanged again.  One assumes it keeps her happy.  However, the essence of the thing is, if she wanted something, she brought it. 

Which brings me to my first something new.  New shoes!

I must admit, the orange was a bit of a departure and even now I'm not sure how many things I have in my wardrobe that will work.  But, I do love them to pieces, I will wear them a lot and I do have several things that will work and jeans go with everything, right?

Back to the tale of two Nanas...

My other Nan, who we shall call 'Nana Thrifty' is, as you may well imagine, just the opposite.  I think that war time rationing and shortages made a great impression on her and how she lives her life.  She throws nothing away (including stale cake), wears her clothes until they are practically thread bare and then will still make them into something else or at the very least cut them up the use as cleaning cloths.  To this day it is very difficult to get her to buy anything new, despite being living on a reasonably comfortable pension.  Of course, with this attitude she is very much the modern girl again now-a-days, a paragon of recycling, up-cycling, thrift and waste-not, want-not thinking.

A good time for my next something old, I think...

A fantastic find from my local antique and vintage shop.  I got this the same day I got the shoes.  I must have been in an orange mood.

Well, I think you begin to see how these two influences may have effected me.  I see things, beautiful things, I crave them, I want to spend, spend.  Yet, my thrifty side battles against this, it's hates waste, it hates to throw things out that could be useful and it loves the character of the old and careworn. 

I am learning to marry these two forces, I hope I am anyway.  I try to be careful with my 'new' finds.  I want value and I want it to be needed or beautiful.  Something I think I will treasure for a long time, or that I really need.  Like these cute dotty bowls...

I've been looking for shallow breakfast bowls for the longest time.  They seem to be out of fashion at the moment, most places favour the steep sides type.  These were a snip at £1.98 from Homebase and will be used every day.  Loved, needed and good value, that's three for three!

I'm trying to look for more ways to re-use, re-invent or renovate what I have and don't like into something I do like.  Or, instead of buying something new and expensive, why not buy something old and take the time to make it unique, special and something I'll love for a long time?  With that in mind, I've been having a close look at my house and wardrobe.  I'm making plans to cut, stitch, paint, adapt, renew and generally thrift my little socks off.

Here's two of my projects, an excellent charity shop find, for a barginous £4...

and a even more barginous freebie from my Nana Spendalot, who reckons she no longer has any use for this footstool...

I reckon I'll use her plenty though, especially once she's been dressed all nice.

I invested in some new fabrics and trims for wardrobe re-vamping

and also some vintage bits and bobs

A very heart warming addition to the crafty shelves I feel.

And, to honour both of my Nana's I have something that combines old and new perfectly.  A very old fashionedy, but very newly made by me, tea cozy.

Of course, this does mean I should probably start making tea in my teapot and not in my cup!  Well, I love it and it's pretty even if I don't technically need it.  Two out of three's not too bad...

I shall go now as my Little Miss has requested I make her some leg warmers (after marching around the house in my arm warmers, which fit her perfectly) and she asks for things so infrequently, so who am I to deny such a request?

I'll leave you with one last photo, a sneak peak of my latest completed project.  I'm hoping for a camera friendly day tomorrow for some glorious 'look what I made' shots to show next time...

S x