Sania Pell

bootylicious

June 3, 2011  in vintage finds

The last car boot sale was fabulous. I was there at 7.30am on the dot – an early start for a Sunday! At this time people are still setting up but the regular sellers know that keen buyers start early so there is always lots to see.  So the early bird found lots of interesting bits and bobs, some of which are useful(ish) and some not at all! I bought a few pieces for an up and coming project that I’ll tell you more about in due course.

These are just old balls! The white one is a well used polo ball, no longer round from all the knocks. I think the wooden ones are just from vintage games like skittles but I just loved the simplicity of the shape with the natural materials and tones. The three placed together work really well and no longer look like sports/game balls but take on a kind of 1950s’ sculptural feel.

This game of “Muggings” was £1.00, I’m sure I’ll use the numbers it in a project somewhere.

The little night light holder on the right is from around 1890 and very sweet and the old box of matches have a lovely graphic quality. They’re sitting on an old note book with beautiful writing, someone’s little diary dated July 1939. These pages are from a little holiday they took “…a perfect blue sky, not a sign of a cloud!”

I bought this immaculate and beautiful vintage box of starched collars too. I’m not sure what I will use them for yet, but they are just great to have.

A vintage pair of scissors, I love their sculptural shape and sharpened they could be practical too, and another old fabric tape measures. And yes… more keys! I admit I may have a key problem, I just can’t stop buying them. I think it’s the fact they had a purpose once and now you don’t know what lost treasures they could unlock.

I just loved this old disco dance champion medal, who could resist? Now where did I put my dancing shoes…

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gift idea: wrapped candle with vintage matches

May 18, 2011  in diy craft projects, homemade, vintage finds

Flea markets and car boot sales aren’t just great places to pick up things for yourself and your home, they can be great for gifts for friends and family too.

I found these vintage matchboxes recently and they gave me the idea for a sweet little gift for a friend.

I had an unused candle in a glass that was in the back of a cupboard and thought it would be perfect. I looked in my fabric off-cut stash and found a piece of natural coloured linen with a pink floral motif, that picked up on the colours and subject of the illustration on the matchbox I had chosen. I used double-sided tape around the glass to hold it in place. If you use a candle that already has a label on, try scraping it off first or a little white spirit can help remove stubborn glue. (even though they’re old, please remember to take the usual safety precautions with matches and candles though!)

I then found some lilac cotton string that I had and tied it around the glass in a bow. I then wrapped the candle along with the match box in some matching, dusky coloured tissue paper and popped it in a similar coloured gift bag. It’s all very simple to do and makes a sweet little gift that looks pretty, is unique and costs next to nothing!

If you don’t have an old candle, you can pick up basic candles in glass very reasonably in a lot of general high street stores. I know John Lewis do some similar or stock up on your next trip to Ikea (I have bags of their tealights stashed in cupboards!).

When I came across these vintage matchboxes with fab floral illustrations last month, I loved them and at fifty pence each I knew they were worth buying. When I see something at a boot fair like this I usually end up buying it as you never know when you may find something like it again.

It’s perfect as I now have the basis for another three different gifts for friends! Hopefully I’ve shown that for very little you can create a personal, unique gift that your friend will love because you made it just for them.

Would it make you happy to receive something like this from a friend?

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car boot booty

May 18, 2011  in vintage finds

I’ve always been a fan of objects with history that have been well used and well loved, I think it gives them character and soul. I love antique fairs and junk shops and always stop in if I pass a jumble sale sign outside a village hall. Above all though, I LOVE car boot sales and for the last year I’ve been posting photos of my car boot booty every month on my Homemade Home Facebook page.

Here is a selection of my favourite recent secondhand finds, all bought for just a few pounds and even pence in some cases. Have a look on Facebook for more images.

You can always find all sorts of things that can be upcycled and given a new lease of life, or just displayed in an interesting way. And the great thing is that it’s unlikely anyone else will have something quite the same in their home and you won’t see them on every high street shop shelf.

I am usually on the look out for things to incorporate into projects, re-vamp, use as props in photo shoots or just to display. Things like old board games and playing cards, wooden boxes, signs, buttons, fabrics, tools, vintage toys, keys, paintings and embroideries. Anything that catches my eye.

For anyone outside the UK, a car boot (or ‘trunk’ in the US I think) sale is like a giant flea market or swap meet, usually in a field or school playground, where people drive in and sell their old unwanted things from the back of their cars at cheap prices.

I am very lucky as my local one is brilliant and gets antique dealers selling old stock as well as householders. I think I’m addicted – I must be to jump out of bed at 6am on a Sunday morning to get there before the crowds start to arrive!

I will be posting photos of my vintage finds each month and later on today I’ll share a little idea for a gift that was inspired by a flea market find, so do pop back.

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