Blog Hop with a Difference!

Hi y'all!
Long time no blog hey?! {crickets chirping in the background....} Hello? Are you there? {giggles}.
Sorry I haven't been around the blogosphere much, but here I am with a post for you, lets be happy!

My fantastically crafty sister Yvette has invited me to be part of the Blog Hop with a Difference, and share something crafty with you, as well as answer some questions to share a little more about me and my craftiness! You can read all about her amazing dress making here. Awesome work! And for me, here goes...

What am I working on right now?
Well, I'm always working on Project Life. I started doing it last year and managed to complete a double spread every week for the year, and I'm proud to say I am keeping on top of it this year too!

I just love PL, it's like a visual diary that is so much fun to look back on. Especially with 2 growing boys, just seeing what they were up to 6 months ago, or seeing how much they have grown this year, is amazing! And I document lots of every day stuff that I wouldn't scrap in 12x12 too, so more of our family's everyday moments will be there to look back on in 10 years! Jaimeson LOVES sitting down and looking through it, picking out all his cousins, grandparents, and any train ride or Public Transport ride he finds. LOL!

Another thing I have just started working on is my December Daily album for this year. Yep, I'm already thinking about Christmas!! Aren't you? Before we know it, Christmas will be here and I wont have made my Christmas cards, or made my December Daily album yet, so I thought I'd get a head start now! In August! LOL!
So here is last year's album to whet your appetite and give you an idea of what I'm working on now:

I used a Vintage Christmas Little Golden Book I got from Salvos, as the cover and then made my own different shaped pages for the inside.

It was a very ecclectic mix of pre-printed cards, patterned paper covered shaped pages, clear acrylic pages and even a printed envelope and sequin shaker page.

I made the sequin pocket from a cut-up piece of PL pocket page I had leftover on my desk, and went through my sequin collection to find all the blue, silver & red ones. I love how it turned out!

 To make the shaped pages I used really thin chipboard (this year I've run out of chipboard, so I'm using cereal boxes. Yep! The ultimate recycling!) which I hand cut the edge of, glued my patterned paper to both sides, then sewed around in red thread on my sewing machine. They look fantastic and stand up well inside the album, much better than a single sheet of paper would have.

How long does it take to create a project?
December Daily is a thick project, and you gotta keep on top of printing your pics (I print mine every 4 days or so at a local photo lab.) Check out how thick my 2013 album ended up being! It's so cool!

I made the "foundation pages" of my Dec Daily back in Nov for last year's album (I'm getting in super early this year!), the foundation pages are the patterned paper backgrounds which I then stuck the photos and embellishments to. Once I got the pics printed, it would probably take me half to one hour to finish a daily spread in my Dec Daily album. I try not to overthink my scrapping these days, after all, my time is very limited at the moment (between a 3yo and 9 month old!) and so once I choose embellishments, I just roll with it and stick it all down!

What are my fave things I love to create with at the moment?

Well I love Washi Tape, so that features prominantly in all my scrapbooking, and especially in December Daily cos I have lots of pretty red and green tapes!

And I also use heaps of Journalling spots in both PL and Dec Daily, I can't do without my journalling spots! I like to be able to easily read journalling, and I find journalling spots/stickers/shapes help to make it heaps easier to read the journalling, rather than just writing straight on the PP (Which you can see in day 17 above this one).

How does my creative process work?

Well, I made all the foundation pages first, then put them in a nice order in the album ready to be used when December came around. Once I knew what activities we got up to on which day and I was sorting pics to print, I could shuffle the pages around in order to get a bigger page to stick more pics on, or a smaller page if I only had a single photo. I still didn't like having a clear page opposite another clear page tho, so I would shuffle around a bit more if that looked like it was going to happen! LOL!

How do I keep inspired?
Pinterest, Instagram & blogs all provide awesome inspiration for me! I have a Pinterest board just for December Daily inspiration, you can see it here. You will probably see lots of ideas from that board in my 2014 Dec Daily!! I originally saw the idea for using a vintage Little Golden Book for the cover on Pinterest, and with my love for Op Shopping it seemed like a perfect idea for me! I've already found another one for this year, so I'm going down that route again. YAY!

What is my signature style?
Oh, I don't know! I like the ecclectic look of these different shaped pages in my album. And the same goes for PL. I use a whole mix of designs of pocket pages in my Project Life albums, not just all Design A like most people do. I like to mix and match the page designs to the photos I have, and I don't get bored looking at it because the designs are all different! I guess I am not a uniform, neat, conformist scrapper, just like I'm not a uniform, neat, conformist person. LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you enjoyed reading a little about my December Daily creative process for last year, and I hope to show you another awesome December Daily album for this year later on!
:) C

Op Shop Adventure to the Campbelltown region.

Hi y'all!
I don't know what you like to do on your day off, but around here, we like to go Treasure Hunting! AKA, OP SHOPPING! It has become more than a small outing to see if we can pick up some new favourite pieces, it has become an OBSESSION! We plan far-away drives to pinpoint a number of shops in a particular area and go get 'em!

A recent trip was to the Campbelltown area, where we hadn't been before, and our list included 9 Op Shops. The Pyrex wasn't as abundant as I had hoped it would be {slight frowny face} but I did still get a few treasures, and BEST OF ALL I FOUND FRIENDSHIP PATTERN IN THE WILD!! {chest bump} Can you believe it? No, me neither! {high five!} We were at Salvos at Narellan, and there were shelves and shelves of homewares and I was scouring them, thinking there HAD to be a piece of Pyrex hidden in there somewhere! But I couldn't find any! On my very last scour of all the shelves, I looked deep amongst a selection of crap and rubbish, and there was the tiny little Friendship Fridgie. Oh. My. Gosh!! I carefully extended my arm into the shelf to pic it out from amongst the junk, all the time thinking it was an apparition, and as soon as my hand got near it I expected it to vanish in a puff of smoke. Well, that didn't happen! I grabbed it, and the grin on my face was endless! Then I thought something else might happen, like I might go in to early labour, which would prevent me from getting to the counter to pay for it. LOL!! {giggles}. It was $3 which was a steal too. Bummer it didn't have the lid, and i did search high and low for it. I need to find the Pyrex Lid Graveyard, I've got quite a few missing their lids!
The next best Op Shop out in that area was Lifeline in Campbelltown, where I got the 2 Yellow Flannel Flower casseroles with lids, which I was able to trade via my FB Pyrex group for a Blue Garland Casserole and a small Friendship Casserole. My 2 current favourite patterns! So happy with that! I also found the white Fire King Fridgie with lid there too, normally I wouldn't buy Fire King, but this shape was uber useful I thought. And it's only the second fridgie I've seen in the wild, so I had to get it!
The pink Melamine dinner set I got at Yagoona Salvos on our way back home, it was $20 all up for all those pieces, which was quite a steal! Jaimeson loves to drink "Cup of tea?" from the pink melamine tea cup! It's so cute!
So that has been a recent Op Shopping Adventure for us! I hope you liked hearing about it!
:) C

Vintaging... and a Nap Nap

Hi y'all!
Time for some more Vintage Treasures!
Isn't it funny, the way you need to make a few passes at an Op Shop to see all the treasures? Why is it that on first pass you might see one or two things, but when you go back over it all again, you see more treasures that for some reason you didn't see the first time! Amazing! It's like they hide from you, playing a secret game of hide and seek, and if you're a hardcore player coming back for another pass, they'll spring out at you like "Hello! Here I am!"

That's my number 1 tip for Vintaging: go over the shelves more than once! And my number 2 tip: look up high and get on your knees and look under the shelves. The number of times I've found Pyrex platters underneath the shelves, and that's where Will found one of my most prized dishes- the Pink Flannel Flowers dish! He got on his knees and looked under the shelves and there it was, pushed right to the back (probably hidden by someone who was coming back for it later!). Number 3 tip: look in unexpected places... like look for Pyrex in with the tupperware. I've found gems there. It's like they see colours and presume it's plastic, so in it goes with the Tupperware, when clearly Pyrex is glass! Anyways..... back to the finds!

We were at Salvos at Lidcome and came away with these beauties! On first pass I found the Pyrex Cracker Barrell with AWESOME woodgrain print, it was $2 and in such perfect condition! I also found the orange ramekin $1 and the Fire King doily print ramekin $1, and the glass lid $2 on half price sale. Then on second pass I saw the lobster & veg print Pyrex tiny casserole. I wasn't going to get it, but Will loved it, and it was 50c so Will guilted me into getting it. I do like the Lobster now, after all!
Then I saw the clock. WOW!! And it works! Though it needs winding up every day! Talk about a hard-work friend! But it's soooo retro cool, and it was only $3! What a bargain! Then next to the clocks was something Jaimeson saw, and fell in love with. Cos it's one of his new "sounds". A Nap Nap! Well, the sound is actually for a Crocodile, if you ask him what sound it makes he claps his hands together and says "Nap Nap!" (snap snap!) So cute! And the St George Dragon apparenly makes for a good Nap Nap! Cos he got soooooooo excited when he saw it! His first Op Shop find! He loved it, so we got it for him. It was only 50c {wink!} but it made him sooo happy! LOL! The squirrel mug was only $1 too, and it's my new Work Mug for having my tea at lunch time!

Here is a close up of the awesome woodgrain paint on the Cracker Barrel. Cool hey!
Did you find anything cool this week?
:) C

Some Vintaging!

More treasure hunting!!
These treasures are from our local Church's once-a-month Market. I always make sure I check it out, cos they often have awesome treasures! In fact, I don't think I've ever come back with nothing!

Like the Nally Bread Bin! How awesome is it?! I {heart} it! It wasn't out on the tables, it was still in a box underneath, but I plucked it out and went to find one of the old dears to ask how much. They said "oh, how about $3?" I bargained: "How about I give you $5". See Mum! I gave them more, cos I thought it was worth more! (Mum has been guilting me into paying more for things cos she thinks I get them too cheap!) What a gorgeous vintage piece it is! Currently it's storing ribbons in my craft area {smiles}.
The Bessemer cup, saucer and plate was only $1, so I decided I couldn't leave it behind. Its a cute little cup!
Then there were these beauties....

How awesome are they?! They reminded me of my Nanny and Poppy, cos they had a spanish-style bar in their house, with a big matador painting on velvet, that they had bought on their travels to Spain. Whatever happened to that painting?! So at $1 for the pair of these guys, I had to get them! They are so detailed! I love their perfect little fingers! They were someone's souvenir from travels too, cos they are Made in Spain (not China!)

And then I got PYREX!! I have been quite lucky to find a few Pyrex pieces at the Church Market! These plain nesting mixing bowls were $3 for the pair! {high five!} They are American Pyrex, not Agee too, it's much harder to find American Pyrex around here, so I'm happy with them for sure! Great colours and sizes too!
The Art Deco crystal clip-on earrings I had to buy cos they were just soooo beautiful. Not sure when/if I'm going to wear them though, but I loved them! They were also only $1 a pair. Bargain!!
Have you found any treasures lately?
:) C

Our Western Op Shopping Adventure!

Oh quick quick! Will's sister Marg just took Jai for a walk to the shops, so I have a free 20mins to do a blog post! {clapping hands!} It's the first time she's ever taken him out, or even offered to, so I hope they both survive! {giggles} Better get cracking!
So nearly 2 weeks ago, Will, Jai and I set off out west for another Op Shopping adventure. This time we had Penrith in our sites, and were hoping for some good finds! You might remember this post about the things I left behind, well here are the things that came home with us!
Sorry for the grainy pics, I'm not sure what happened there, and I've put all the stuff away & I don't have the time to get it out again and take more pics. You'll have to squint and enjoy through the grain {wink}.

A pretty good haul! I didn't tally it all up actually, but it was roughly $55 for this lot. A sweet deal!
We had lots of fun cruising around Western Sydney, checking out their Op Shops. We visited 9 shops in all, and the best (for Pyrex) ended up being The Salvos at Penrith, but their prices were high, compared to other Op Shops in my, now rather extensive Op Shop visits! We even visited the 2 nearest to us on our way home, just for a little extra!

I'm pretty sure this Yellow Agee Pyrex Carnival Dish, is one of my favourite dishes in my collection. It's so unique! I haven't seen any pattern like it before, it's gorgeous! It was $8 from Salvos at Penrith, and I nearly squealed and threw myself at the shelf when I spotted it! The blue dish under it was $4.

LOOK! Another "flame" Agee Pyrex dish!! How excited am I about that {jumping up and down on chair}. I don't have this bowl, its one of a set of 3, and I have 2 of the large size orange one, but neither this red middle sized one, or the blue smallest one. It was $8 at Penrith Salvos, and I'm one bowl away from a complete set {cheering in background!}. The green Pyrex nesting bowls were from Salvos at Lidcombe, and cost $1 and $2 respectively. I really don't need to collect more plain coloured Pyrex, but I could cry at how cheap that is! In the end I thought they'd look nice on the Christmas table, cos they're a lovely green. Now to get some red and white lollies to put in them! Or a Red and Green Christmas salad (better think healthily, I'm sure I eat enough junk at Christmas!) The octagonal glass lid is a missing piece for a matching Agee Pyrex casserole dish I have! It's one of the earlist pieces I have, and I was STOKED to find the lid! It was $1 at Vinnies Penrith. The J&J Pyrex plate matches the triangle shaped mini casserole I got in NZ, this plate was $1.50 at the Fusion Church Op Shop in Penrith. The little Boat Shoes are for Jai for summer, $5 at Vinnies St Marys. So cute!

And I even scored some Staffordshire too! It was $3 at the Fusion Op Shop Penrith. {high five!}
Odds and ends I found were a bag of plastic nuts and bolts for Xander for $1, a Viewmaster for $1 (we had the slides as kids and they're still at Mum and Dad's. This way 2 people can look at slides at once and not fight, cos now we have 2 viewmasters! It was $1 at Vinnies Penrith. Peek a Blocks for Jai for $5 per bag- MUM, I got the Train one that I passed up (and regretted) at Epping that time. Yay!! {party hooter going off!} Vintage linens for $6 for the place mats, and $4 for the sheet.
So it was a great day! With lots of awesome finds!
:)C

Wollongong Op Shopping Haul

Hi Y'all!
No, don't have a heart attack , I am posting again! 3rd day in a row! Amazing!! (One day I'll post a whole swathe of Project 365 collages and you'll have to sit through a month of my happenings! Busy busy! Lucky for you that's not today).
I've been on lots of Op Shopping Adventures lately, so it's time to show you some of the Treasures we've found! And I can say "we" cos Willy and Jaimeson have been helping me seek out treasures unknown, we've made it a family affair, and it's been so much fun!
Last week we went on a trip to Wollongong, to call in on Mum and Dad and brighten Mum's spirits, cos she hasn't been well, and also cos it gave us the opportunity to go on a little Op Shopping Safari!
So here is the overall haul:

Not too bad! Though we did visit 7 Op Shops, so we should have done well! LOL!
There is a bit of everything= Pyrex, orange Kelco (cups, saucers and plates for 4 people- $8), vintage linens, the start of Will's new "collection" and some toys for Jai (little people helicopter for $1, LP plane $2.50 and LP Garbage truck (his fave) for $2!). We all got something good!
 Will has been trying to think of something to collect for ages. I pointed out that if he has to "decide" on something to collect, then his heart isn't in it. Why doesn't he wait til he sees something he really likes, and then say "I'm going to collect.... {insert random objects found at Op Shops}"?

Well, after dabbling in paintings (there is only so much wall space) and joking about collecting vintage pencils (honestly!), he came to me at Dapto Vinnies and said "I'm going to collect novelty teapots" ....... {crickets chirping in background}. .................then I reminded him he was a man...............And yet, he prevailed! He wants to collect novelty teapots. Oh. My. Gosh. I'm married to an 80 year old woman. {giggles!} And they are surprisingly hard to find after this inital $4 teapot! I said "Where will you keep them?" He: "well, once I get my collection together, say 3 teapots...." LOL! 3 teapots constitutes a collection in Will's mind? I must have a warehouse of Pyrex then!
So here are some of my finds:

Aren't these starburst dessert glasses just gorgeous?! I love them! $4 for the set at Unanderra Salvos.

 

And remember how I recently found a whole set of the Butterfly Gold Mixing bowls and 2 Butterfly gold casserole dishes? Well now I have a setting for 2 people to match too! HOw cool is that! I did have to fork out about $10 for the 8 pieces, but that's ok.

And then, the icing on the cake was finding my MOST FAVOURITE COLOUR AND PATTERN OF PYREX EVER! The Blue Flame! I have a Blue Flame mug, but all my other "Flame" pattern Agee are in reds or oranges. I was stoked to find this at Wollongong City Salvos for $6! Six dollars! What a bargain. And I had a spare lid to fit it too, so I was muchos happios {doing a Mexican Hat Dance}. I also got this sweet heart print glass jug (not pyrex, but a knock-off) for $5 and the orange swirl casserole (also not pyrex, but I loved the pattern) with lid for $8 at the same Salvos. Actually, the Wollongong City Salvos was our last stop, and the best one of the day! Maybe we should have saved ourselves some time and gone there first, then we wouldn't have needed to go to the others too! LOL! The plain turquoise divided dish was $4 at Dapto Vinnies.

Here is my quick breakdown of the Southern Op Shops:
 1. Wollongong City Salvos- massive Warehouse store, go there.
2. Wollongong Vinnies- smallish store, some good homewares and linens.
3. Unanderra Salvos- big store, lots of homewares. The Pyrex owners in this area like to put them in the dishwasher, very sad.
4. Dapto Vinnies- big store and might get lucky to find a gem.
5. Dapto Uniting Church Op Shop- tiny, few homewares. Lots of linens and lovely old ladies though!
6. Brownsville Anglican Church Op Shops- awesome retro homewares collection, could find a gem here!
7. Dapto Salvos- massive store, empty of homewares, don't bother.

I hope you enjoyed our Adventure!
:) C

Things I left behind..

Yesterday Will, Jai and I went on an Op Shop Hop to Penrith! We hoped there would be lots of oldies out there whose families had passed on their estates to Vinnies. Lol! It didn't really turn out that way!
I'll post a pic of our "treasures" soon, but in the mean time, I was inspired by another blogger, Pyrex Princess, who does a post about "what I left behind!" It's fun to take a pic of things you actually would like but
A.) Don't have room for,
or B.) is ridiculously overpriced for a Charity store,
or C.) Don't want to have to start another collection of,
or D.) can't buy because then you'd have a house full of retro stuff from your childhood and "Hoarders" the TV show will pay you a visit.
(I fall into 3 of those categories regularly. Lol!)
So here is what I left behind at Salvos St Mary's:

How cool is this saucepan with medieval people on it? $5

This super vintage set of 3 cannisters was $15, and only 2 had lids. I love the colour of the lids though!

I just bought this non-marked orange swirl Pyrex casserole dish with lid for $8 from Salvos in Wollongong (which I thought was quite a bit to pay) but here at Salvos St Mary's it was $10! THey were way overpriced with their Pyrex.

Plain poo-brown Agee Pyrex with lid for $10 (way too much for such an ugly colour!)

I've never seen this Agee Pyrex pattern before. Man, they must have made SO MANY patterns! This was $8 with no lid.

6 Crown pyrex ramekins for $12?! I'm used to paying 50c or $1 each, so these stayed behind.

A shaved ice maker that we used to have when I was little! $5, mostly for reason D.) - Hoarders would come a-knocking on my door if I collected everything from my childhood!

These gorgeous brown and orange cannisters were in terrible condition, only $5 though!\

Cherry Pie Plate- $5. Could have bought it cos it made me start singing "Cherry Pie" by Warrant, but I don't need that in my head all day long!

These were from the new Fusion Op Shop in Penrith:

Set of 4 cool triangle patterned glasses- $2 for the set. I {heart} these, but I've run out of glass-storage room, so these had to stay.

Myott Zinnea cup and bowl set- $2. I carried it, but didn't get it cos of reason C.)

Our old family dinner set! $2 for all these pieces!! See reason D.) for not buying!

at thAnd lastly, this Pyrex lid, which I spent half an hour looking for the matching bottom for, at Salvos in Penrith. Let me tell you- it was a PYREX MECCA! But boy did they know their prices. All the Pyrex was really expensive, and this lid didn't have a price so I was determined to find the bottom half. They insisted it was there, but their homewares shelves were stacked 6 bowls deep and was about 8 shelves high and went for at least 5m along one wall. That's a lot of bowls! In the end they asked someone "out the back" who said the lid had come in on it's own and they quoted me the giant price of $4. Since I haven't ever seen a solid colour oval Pyrex bottom this size at any Op Shop in Australia, I figured I was never going to find it's mate, so left it behind. What a waste of time! LOL!

So here is my super short summary of the Western Op Shops:

1. Salvos Penrith- this was Pyrex Mecca, but you pay for it.

2. Fusion Op Shop Penrith- rock bottom prices, but a smallish selection

3. Vinnies Penrith- tiny and crap

4. Salvos Kingswood- big store, could be good for Pyrex if you come at the right time. This was not the right time.

5. Salvos St Marys- lots of Pyrex, but priced high.

6. Vinnies St Marys- Homewares? What Homewares?

:) C

The Great Pyrex Count of August 2012

Hi y'all!
So you've seen my posts on Op Shopping finds, especially my Pyrex finds. Well, its about time I photographed my display for you! And would you also like to know the totals of my collection? Yeah, sure! I found it super interesting too!
Let me give you a quick background on my "space", if you don't already know. Will, Jai and I live at Hotel d'Lam aka: Will's family home. And it's quite full! There is Great Grandma, Grandma, Will's 2 sisters, his brother, Will, Jaimeson and I.Yep, it's a battle for space! Lucky we have a big house with a big double garage, which has never housed a car, but holds my desk, craft stuff and my Pyrex Collection!
First: marvel at.....The Main Collection.

Of course, it's called the Main Collection, cos I ran out of room on the shelves and had to overflow onto the shelves next to it. Yeah, there's no stopping me! I begin to feel I am at "Terminal Capacity", then I just move some of my craft stuff and take up the shelves with more Pyrex! {giving nervous smile!}

You can see some of my Staffordshire Cup collection here too (what another collection?! {Smacking hands against cheeks}).
Then there's the little collection that is sneaking over to the shelves next to the set in the above pic...

Lucky there's only 2 pyrex dishes on here so far!
But then!! (yes, there's more)... There is the shameful overflow.... onto the top of the Dryer. {belly laugh!} Yeah, that's the family dryer. So anyone who wants to use it has to put up with the little chinkling chiming of my cups and dishes humming along with the vibrations!

I really need to do some re-organising to fit this lot onto the main shelves! LOL! {Sigh!} I am so ashamed! LOL!

So the figures... here goes!

Casserole Dishes (no lid): 25
Casserole Dishes (with lid): 23
Bowls: 18
Cups/Mugs: 7
Ramekins: 24
Pie Dishes: 7
Jugs: 3
Percolator: 1
Glass: 1
Saucepan: 1
-------------------------
TOTAL: 110 pieces

YAY {party hooters going off in Background!} I've broken the 100 pieces mark! (Not in the same way that I broke 2 ramekins when I was rearranging the other day, that was a little more final).

What are my favourite patterns?
1.Top pic, lower shelf, RHS:  Agee Pyrex "Flame" pattern (that's not the real name, but the name that I call it and can identify it by!)
2.Top pic, upper shelf. middle: The 3 Agee Pyrex stacked bowls.
3.Top pic, lower shelf, LHS (behind the piggy): Agee Pyrex Atomic pattern, white on Blue.

and of course the American Pyrex Butterprint and Friendship patterns, but everyone likes those.
Which is your fave? Can you pick one from the pics?

:) C

A New Hat.

Hi y'all!
I'm sneakily writing this blog post from Will's brother's computer so as to not wake Jaimeson, who is having a lovely long afternoon sleep after we went to the local pool this morning. The pool wore me out too! I should have taken this opportunity to nap too {giggles}. But I just haven't been posting enough on my blog lately, and you probably thought I'd taken off on some exotic soiree to amazing faraway places. Sadly, only in my mind. LOL!
The only thing is, I have to do the writing here on Vince's computer, then post the pics later from our computer once Jai has woken up. What a complex life I have {tongue in cheek!}
So anyways....

About time I posted some of my recent vintage finds! On our way back from Birkenhead Point last friday, where we bought Lil (my SIL) some gorgeous bedlinen from Sheridan for her engagement party (and I got a new doona cover for Will & I! SCORE!! {high five}), I convinced Will to stop by Lidcombe Salvos. Jai was asleep in the back seat, so I got the instruction to run in and run out in 10mins. Lucky I know this store like the back of my hand cos I managed to score some AWESOME goodies in only 10mins! They've taken to hiding the Pyrex at 2 ends of the Homewares/Bric A Brac section, so you've gotta have your wits about you.

First I spotted the 2 sweeeeeeeeeet Agee Pyrex Friendship pattern ramekins (50c each), and I don't have any of the Friendship ramekins in my collection, though I have a set of 3 of the bowls and 2 of the American Friendship pattern casseroles, so anyway I was chuffed when I spotted them. I don't know what the pattern is called, I just call it the Agee Friendship pattern cos at first it reminded me of the American Pyrex Friendship pattern. Feel free to let me know what it's really called if you know!

And as I bent down to pick them up I nearly died when I spotted the GIANT green Spring Blossom mixing bowl for $4! Count 'em: Four Dollars! That's less than a Filet o' Fish (yep, they're ridiculously expensive considering Will calls them a "nothing burger" cos they disintegrate in your mouth...anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, dying...) I was sooooo thrilled! I mean this bowl is massive. So massive you could wear it as a hat. An awesome, vintage, Pyrex hat.
Exhibit A:

Doesn't it bring out the green of my eyes? LOL!
I only have one other Pyrex mixing bowl in this size, and that was also a recent find, so I was over the moon to get this one {belly bump!} And $4 was a steal.
Also hiding in the background of the main pic is a black and white retro daisy glass for 50c. Can't beat it, and it's going in general circulation (the regular kitchen cupboard) cos I love pretty everyday drinkware.
I hope you've had some luck lately!
Found anything cool?
: )C

Op Shopping With Fliss

Last week I was heading over to Fliss's and she said "Why don't I meet you at Salvos before you come over?" Well, you don't have to ask me twice!

Here are my awesome finds!

My arms were quickly filling as we toodled around with our prams, before we found a little trolley, then I had the awesome task of pushing a trolley and a pram at the same time. Lucky I'm a Mum so am naturally awesome at multi-tasking.
My first awesome score was some Teal Kelco cups and saucers! Oddly, there was 2 cups and 6 saucers. Well, I've got spares now! THey were priced at $8 but because of the weird collection the lady serving gave them to me for $5 {high five!}. I also got the cool crystal tumblers for $1.50 each. They are so heavy! I thought Will could drink his Ginger Beer from them, while I have a wine from my crystal glass. So posh! LOL!

Something about this cup, with the "Portugese Rooster of Luck and Happiness" on it, really spoke to me so I had to have it for 50c! Then when I'm over it, I can just send it back to the Op Shop! LOL!

When I saw this gorgeous little German Wetterhaus I had to have it! Mum and Dad have one that used to belong to my Nanny and Poppy, and Mum tidied it up and even gave the couple a little garden out the front using some of my Dollshouse garden supplies! I think my people need a little garden too. So you know about the Wetterhauses? It's a Weather thing. They have 2 people inside, a lady with a basket and a man with an umbrella, and depending on the humidity (or is it air pressure?) the lady will swing around and be outside, indicating it will be a sunny day, or the man with the umbrella will come out indicating it will be a rainy day. It's so cool! It also has a thermometer on it. They are usually a souvenier from the Black Forest in Germany, and this one has even got the instructions in German on the back! So cool. It was $3.
The Johnson saucer with Humptey on it was $3 too. Mum, did we used to have this one? Fliss and I both recognised it and she thought she might have had it. He's ugly but cool at the same time!
I got the cute little J&J Pyrex dish for $3.50, the awesome retro print mug for 50c, some vintage children's coat hangers and some fun children's books for Jai. Total $24 (that seems to be my magic Op Shop number!) What a great haul!
:) C