Has anyone else noticed that the 1980s is everywhere at the moment? Perhaps I’m biased because I was born in 1984, but this is the year I truly to believe to be the zenith of the decade. Just take a look at the some of the top films released in that year or the top…
Category: Charity Shop Finds
Don’t Count Your Vintage Slides…
I bought some vintage slides and projectors yesterday and it reminded me of a funny story from a few weeks ago. I’d found a box full of old slide boxes in a charity shop, labelled with things like ‘Miami 1977’ ‘Botswana, 1978’ ‘Chicago, 1974’. There were loads of them – for 50p each. I was…
Charity Shop Finds in September
So far… I’ve decided to step up my game on the retro and vintage front. Before the kids were born, I spent a lot of finding vintage items, researching and writing about them. I could spend hours looking at pictures of old signatures, photographing glass, scanning in old magazine illustrations… Then baby number one came…
Margaret Tarrant Illustrations
Today’s very quick pit stop at a charity shop yielded a few interesting vintage children’s books: We’d been to the Reddish Vale farm with my friend Emma and her girls; I spotted the Salvation Army shop on our way back so quickly found somewhere to park and persuaded the kids to come for a look….
To Frame or not to Frame?
A retro Dominos game…. Nowt to do with the (frankly overrated) pizza takeaway but the good old-fashioned game of Dominoes. Except this one is spelt Dominos so I want to say it like, “Vaminos!” Cute, aren’t they? It’s like everything i look for in one go: retro toy, cool illustrations and a game I can…
Charity Shop Finds: Vintage Enid Blyton Books
As mentioned in my last post, we had a really good look round the charity shops in Colwyn Bay last weekend. Amongst other things, I found some vintage Enid Blyton books of my preferred era and style… These are all published by Dean books and are actually from the ’70s and ’80s. I’d got it…
Have A Nice Day…
I love a bit of random graffiti. I’m often in awe of other people: how their minds work, the pictures they can create or the witty remarks they come up with. You know those lists on Buzzfeed and the like? ‘100 Greatest Tweets to Make You Piss Yourself Laughing’ and so on? I love those….
Ladybird Picture Word Book
Last weekend, we had a look around the charity shops of Ashton-Under-Lyne. It’s one of our favourite towns for chazzer hunting as not only does it have lots of charity shops to look round but it also has a couple of fantastic veggie cafes to visit: the incomparable Lily’s Vegetarian Indian Cafe and a new one…
Chazzers, Hats and Children…
A good rummage around the charity shops has long been one of our favourite ways to spend a Saturday afternoon, particularly on a soggy, miserable day. With two kids in tow now – oh yes, we had another. There is a legitimately good reason why I’ve hardly been around for the last two years. So,…
Fish, Wallpaper and Plates
Is it me or is it getting more and more difficult to find good items in charity shops nowadays? Yesterday, we went up to the Emmaus charity warehouse in Mossley (near to Staley Vegas…) and we also stopped in at the YMCA in Ashton. The Emmaus did have some interesting bits and bobs in it,…
Kitsch Deer Barometer
I imagine when the designers thought this one up their thought processes went a little like this: “Hmmm, everyone wants a dead deer’s head hanging from their wall nowadays. But what about the vegetarians? Perhaps they want to share in this experience too! And what about the people who want a barometer on their wall…
Vintage Illustrations: Pleasant Fieldmouse’s Halloween Party
It’s a spectacularly rainy day here in Devon, so we decided to take a trip to Totnes. Unfortunately, the pickings were fairly slim in the town’s charity shops. However, we did find this little gem and after some deliberation (and yummy veggie food at the Willow cafe), I decided to buy it: I got thoroughly…
Little Owl Ski 