Thrifty Finds

It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to get out and scour the local second hand shops for treasure.  With everywhere being so busy in the pre-Christmas madness I neither had the time or inclination.  And thanks to an unexpected bill for the last couple of weeks I've been scraping by on a few pounds a week.  But on Saturday I had an unexpected windfall arrive in the mail so I decided to treat myself to an hours shopping time.  Armed with a £10 note I went out for a wander to see what treasure I could unearth.

One of the advantages of living in the centre of town is that you don't have to carve out a whole morning of free time for a shopping trip.  I literally step out of my front door on to a High Street and have 4 charity shops within a five minute walk.(The picture above was taken this time last year, we haven't had any snow yet this winter, and shows a couple of the cute little shops that can be found on my doorstep)

Anyway I'm waffling a bit let's get to the nitty gritty.....what did I find?  First up this ball of yarn for £1.  I don't really need any more yarn but I love the colour (this would have been perfect for my ochre hat if only I'd not started and finished it!) and figured I might be able to use it as part of my hat challenge at some point.

Next in to my shopping bag went this 'as new' cookbook.  Hardback, and I have to admit to having a bit of a soft spot for our Jamie.  And at the bargain price of £1 I couldn't let this stay on the shelf.

I also managed to pick up a couple of other items for the kitchen.  A lovely cheesecake dish, cheesecake is my all time favourite.  The dish looks to be in a similar style to the soup bowls I collected a while ago that reminded me of my childhood.  And a small wooden pestle and mortar which was just too cute to leave on the shelf. £3.50 spent

Next up a gorgeous decorative plate.  A woodland theme.  Hand painted in Portugal it says on the back, perhaps it was a holiday souvenir that someone grew tired off.  Lucky for me

It's now found a home pride of place on my little dresser. £2 paid

And last but no means least an original art work.  I swear my heart positively skipped a beat when I saw this on the shelf.

Seriously how pretty is this little snow scene?  I almost passed out when I saw it had a price tag of only £1.50.  To think of all of the hours that must have gone in to the painting of this.  It hasn't been hung yet but I think it'll likely find a home in my hallway or bedroom haven't quite made up my mind.

All this and I came home with £1 in my pocket.  Now that's what I call a happy hour at the shops :)