Did you all have a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend? I enjoyed every bit of it! My sister H and I were up at 5:30AM on Saturday to do a local car boot, now - apparently that wasn't early enough as by the time we got there we were really far back in the queue!
I was rushing around my home the night before looking for stuff to sell and felt a little bittersweet about having given it all to charity or away on Freecycle in the weeks before to make space as we moved home/studio for the millionth time in a couple of years so I ended up with only a small box of bits to sell and a few books. On another note, what's kind of funny is going to my favourite charity shop and picking out things I like only to realise I donated it last week - ugh!.
The day started off absolutely crazy, I was hanging H's clothes on a rail as quickly as they were selling and people were turning boxes of bits upside down before we'd even got them on the table, set-up took twice as long as it should have because people were coming around behind the table where we were and rummaging in boxes we were yet to set out and in the boot.
Definitely not much fun first thing in the morning when all you can think about is where your next cup of tea is coming from but we coped and it eventually calmed down! During the huge rush for a small but very confusing moment I actually thought I'd sold H's coat that she'd been wearing to a customer. Fortunately not though, She'd never have forgiven me!
I did end up keeping stuff from our own stall, I can't be the only person who does this? All of a sudden I got this overwhelming feeling of ownership over stuff I never really needed or wanted.
THAT'S MINE I'M NOT SELLING IT
I want that, can I have that?
I NEEEEED it - gimme that.
When things quietened down a bit I went off in search of a much needed cup of tea. It only took about thirty seconds for me to return with a 3/4 size beginners guitar and rather gross looking vintage leather case to drop off to the car. The disappointed head-shake from H when she caught sight of me said it all but y'know, these things are necessary requirements in my life, besides - if I've just got rid of a load of stuff then I have room to fill the space back up, right?
I'm sure M thinks our bed is giving birth to guitar babies, there's a serious collection going on under there (I can't really play very well either but shhh).
-OK, round two
GO AND FIND TEA. This time I was much better behaved bringing only the tea back but perhaps that was because I had no hands free to rummage? I spied a vintage satchel on the stand opposite us on my way back. I thought the days of finding awesome stuff at car boots were long gone after I found
the last satchel, which has since become my most used bag ever! To begin with I left it as I'd just bought a bag, but after another hour had gone by and it had been staring at me the whole time I couldn't resist so went and got it for a bargain £3. It needs a little TLC but nothing a bit of scrap leather and some thread can't fix. I can even put to use the stitching pony M made for me a couple of years ago!
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| The ugly leather case and pretty vintage satchel, both £3 each! |
Then I had one more look around the stalls nearby us. A house clearance guy had a crate filled with hand embroidered linen, tray cloths, lace and such, I managed to bag the lot plus a tiny vintage liquorice tin all for £5.00
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The vintage Nigroids liquorice lozenges tin,
it goes nicely with my vintage typewriter ribbon tin.
I sense a new collection coming on - Small AND functional! |
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After spending pretty much all the money I made on the small amount of stuff I had for sale I thought that was that. I vowed not to hit another car boot for at least a few weeks and even then, only go when I'm looking for something specific.
Well, that was a very
very short-lived vow because on Bank Holiday Monday I happened to be passing another car boot as everyone was packing up and picked up these cute glazed pottery critters that I had to haggle UP because it made me sad that the maker was selling them so cheap!
I only picked up the hare to begin with, I chatted for a bit then paid and started walking away then the smaller pieces caught my eye, so went back and bought them. Then as I was walking away
again I had to take the big bears too, I didn't think they'd like leaving their cubs y'see.. ahem.. I have no idea what I'll do with them, I think the heart in the bottom right of the photo will become a pendant but the rest.. not a clue! I can't remember what I ended up paying in the end as I spent in three transactions but to give you an idea of
why I haggled up, the sellers wanted around 20p-30p for each piece.
This haul wasn't bad for me, I'm renowned for bringing complete rubbish home from car boots so I like to think I didn't do too bad considering my previous 'treasure' finds. I do regret buying the ugly vintage case which I did try to re-sell on our stall towards the end of the day but evidently no one actually wanted it which didn't surprise me. It does fit my laptop nicely however, so once it's aired a bit it will most likely become the home of that!
Did you visit any car boots over the weekend?
I'll leave you with a beautiful treasury one of my newest journals was featured in which hit the front page of etsy yesterday - super chuffed!
♥
