Some Pretties, Bit of Thrift, And a New Year Giveaway!!!

Bit of a long, photo heavy post I'm afraid!

Just thought I would show you some pretty, pretty Christmas gifts the wonderful Hubby P found for me - and of course sent to Father Christmas, all prettily wrapped!

I am such a lucky girl! these little scent bottles are just so lovely.

As you can see, they are so dainty,with delicate glass stoppers which act as 'droppers' to dab the scent behind your shell likes - or where ever really!

The glass is very fine/thin and has a 'collar' of silver over it. We think there is a hallmark, but it is so tiny - hard to read.
But are they not - such a delight?

Another 'wonder' he found me - that I must say I got over excited about - although some people would wonder at me - its a bunch of old metal!?

From the Sygun Museum of Wales - a Collection of Bronze Buckles Dating from the Medieval - Tudor -Georgian Periods.
How amazing is that!



As you can see there is a Certificate of Authenticity with the little lot. Hubby P found them on ebay of all places, the Museum was having a clear out of some stock.

I think they are just amazing, the work that has gone into such tiny buckles - and survived all this time.

What to do with them, I've thought of the usual -unusual features on an embroidered piece, a feature on a purse, on some handcrafted jewelry - they will make a stunning 'something extra' to a piece. Now would you clean them up - or leave them as they are ?

And just because I feel I am such a lucky person to have these nice things, I would like to share some of them with you - my friends.

So leave me a comment perhaps about the buckles (or anything else that has caught your eye but mention you would like to go in the draw) - what would you do, how would you use them ? And I will do a draw in a weeks time,and the winner will receive an original antique buckle and some other vintage-y sewing bits.

Just to start the New Year off to a nice caring, sharing time!

And on to the Thrifty Snippets - how are you all doing? Being thrifty I hope - save those pennies of the special things in life!

This is a bit boring but whilst shopping - thinking Thrifty, I saw Mince reduced to £1.50 a pack. It was British Beef - extra points for buying British/fairly local. Pack was a bit big for me to use in one meal (only two of us eat meat). So I halved the pack of meat, and using the plastic bags that the fruit came in (I gave them a quick wash) re-packed into said bags, and put the mince into the freezer. Not bad 75p/meal.

I did similar with a big container of milk. I buy most of my milk from the local milkman - he delivers every other day to the door and I think we are so lucky to have this service, I know milkmen are a dying breed. So I like to support him, plus the fact that he sells milk in glass returnable bottles. I prefer milk from the glass bottle, the stuff that comes out of the plastic containers always tastes like plastic to me, and I like the fact that the glass can be reused and recycled.

However milk from the milkman is more expensive (not very thrifty!) so I cheat a bit by buying the odd extra bit from the supermarket, I try and use this 'plastic' milk for sauces, custards and the like. So I buy a big (which works out cheaper tha two smaller) container of milk, but I will not use it that quickly, so I decant it into smaller milk containers before it goes in the freezer, this way I don't waste any, I can defrost it bit by bit, as I need it.

You just need a random selection of milk bottles in the cupboard.

I told you this was a bit boring - talking about milk bottles now - for goodness sake!!!


And another Thrifty bit - You thought you had enough with the milk bottles!! haha! - this is a bit more crafty!

Went to feed the rabbits the other day and -' Oh No' - where's my feed scoop? Hubby P had pinched it to use to spread the rock salt on the paths. Not that I could complain, he's mostly doing it for my benefit - I have a habit, as you know of throwing myself on the floor!

So I found myself an empty Fabric Conditioner bottle - you know the sturdy kinda bottles.

Give it a wash out, and cut diagonally across from the base of the handle to the bottom corner of the bottle.

I used a combination of my bread knife and the scissors - the plastic is easy enough to cut. I gave it another wash, and removed the label - just so it looked prettier really.

There you have one scoop - ideal for - well anything really - animal feeds, soap powder, -rock salt! - dry foodstuffs (the plastic is quite clean), my children , when younger use to take them to the beach to play in the sand (no sharp edges -child friendly).

This was a large bottle so it made a large scoop - you can play around with different size/shape bottles. Better to Reuse than Landfill! (some areas may take them to recycle - it depends here you are).

Its a hard job keeping the rabbits comfortable in this cold weather. I have to defrost the drinking bottles everyday - and fill them with warm water, to give them a chance of getting a drink before they freeze again!

I give them lots of fresh veg, at least that has got lots of juice in it to make up for the lack of water if it freezes during the night.

And I fill the hutches with hay, so they can snuggle down and keep warm. Mind you, they seem quite okay, I think its the wet that they find difficult to deal with.

They do have nice thick warm coats!

Anyway I've wittered on for long enough! Remember if you would like to be in the draw for a dainty little buckle leave me a little comment.

xx Take care xx