Thrifty Snippets .. Wallpaper On A Shoestring...

Hello there ....

I wasn't going to post tonight ... I thought I had little to share with you ... we've just been working .. a bit 'same old'.

But I had a comment on the last post from Rosieposie asking to see more of my quirky wallpaper/wall covering/decoration.

So I grabbed the camera ... whilst the sausages were cooking ...

 not the best pic's but you too may want a peek at the weird and wacky walls... 

The story goes ... when I was very young I was brought up in a family who thought it was just fine to be yourself .. express yourself .. and of course all the Make Do and Mend ... Thrifty Living .. etc was par for the course.

As I grew older I began to find other people had similar interests and were living lifestyles similar to those of my parents.. 

In those days all information was in print...books and magazines .. my father never lived to see the advent of the World Wide Web .. he would have loved it .. always a man before his time .. a man with an enquiring mind.

So I have a collection of books .. Seymour ... Patrick Rivers ..On Next To Nothing ... many of you will have similar.

In amongst one of these books I read about someone decorating their study with old maps and newspapers ... because its all they had.

We too had very little when we first had the house .. the walls were rough and uneven .. 

What I did have .. from years of thriftiness was a collection of bits of old newspapers (I just loved their aged colour and texture)... vintage wallpaper (the odd roll might come in for present wrapping .. or something) .. old music ... wartime magazines ...and sundry bits and bobs ... I had rather a lot.

Its just the hallway and kitchen I have papered like this ... as you can see ... the hall leads into the sitting room ...who's that then ... having a peek at us? ... he doesn't miss a trick does he!

The ceiling was the most difficult ... the whole process took a long time .. I did it over months really .. as and when the inspiration flowed.

I would search through my stash of materials and rough tear 'patches' .. using watered down pva glue I would paste them onto the wall ... overlapping ... and give a good paste over the whole thing. A bit like the process of papier mache really.

Its nice to take a moment now and then and read some of the little quotes I have amongst the papers ... just a little something to muse over..

The whole thing has an old .. vintagey .. faded look ... its well sealed with the pva .. so its wipe-able ... and its lasted years. Maybe one day I will get tired of it and I will just paint over it .. the walls are so uneven it would be difficult to paper with a modern print...

and anyway ... 

this is more me ...

And back to tea ... what are we having ...

well .. nice fat sausages .. black pudding ... potato cake-y things (yesterdays leftover mash mixed with a little bit of stuffing and a handful of flour .. mixed and patted into cakes)...

 And a couple of our very own eggs ... 

we are getting one egg a day ... the Girls are looking good .. and Rocky is as perky as ever.

Hope wall paper is not too mundane a topic for you ...

hope you have had a good day ..

Has anyone any thrifty decorating tips ... it can be such an expensive thing.

xxx

The Junk That Greets Me Daily....

Hello there ....

just a bit of a random ... kinda off the wall post tonight ...

I've been waiting .. and waiting ... for a break in the rain to get some bright outside pic's of bits and bobs for ebay..

Well as you know ... if you are living in the UK .. there's been no chance of that ... very soggy wet here ...

So I gave up and decided I would have to photograph them in doors ... I had a play about to see what would work .... how could the item be best displayed .. I like to try and give a 'true' picture and description of the item.

I rolled out my 1950's hospital screen.

We have had a few of these ...so handy to screen off areas ... and we often take one to the car boot to use as a display stand .. and hang clothes for sale on it.

As an aside .... I thought the fabric on the screen looked a bit like a pineapple ... my healthy treat this week.

Anyway back to the 'Carry On Matron' screen ... this one has its original blue fabric covering .. I saw the very same ones being used in the 'Call The Midwife' programme ... exciting!

So I rolled out the screen ... Hubby P of course makes some silly comment ....'Ooooo Matron'....

so I quickly wrapped him up it the screen and made some silly suggestions myself ... he fled out of the door pronto ...!

It seems he didn't want to play Doctors and Nurses ... 

shame ...

 but it got him out of the way.

Free to wield the camera now ...

I scanned the hallway ... come dumping ground ... I'm sure most people have them ... its the bit we always hide when taking photos.

I espied some feet ... try and ignore the dust and muck ....

I'm afraid the top of the lady hasn't a head  ... I just pop my hat on top ...

 The mannequin is another unfortunate soul who has come to live with us ... I have draped her nakedness in an old 40's housecoat ... and she looks after my warm car boot coat between outings ...

I know it just looks like I have just thrown it around her ...

and I have ...

Like I said ... no frills today.

 Back to the Hello Matron theme ....

I also have this old bathroom cabinet ... love its 'batteredness' ...is that a word?

and it is filled with all kinds of old medical supplies ... nothing lethal of course...

I just love all the old containers ... 

just look at the Fullers Earth tin .... 

they just don't make anything like it today .. its all horrible plastic.

And the lovely bottles ....

just love it all ....

not that any of it is 'useful' ...

But it makes me smile ...

What daily clutter greets you  ... what makes you smile?

xxx

The Girls Are Getting Their Act Together .... This Weeks Clearance...

Hello there ...

Good news here .... the Girls are getting their act together ... and as a treat they had a few chips for lunch ...
(well we had a treat last night ... we were so tired after a long full day at work we had chips)
... so the Girls had the leftovers .... 

I went to feed them this morning and spied this in their makeshift nesting box.

One very large and misshapen egg.

 

Well ... its a beginning I thought ... you often get very small or misshapen eggs when they start to lay.
As I went to pick it up it cracked in my hand ... very very fine shell.

I quickly dropped it into the empty water dish ... the chickens heads had pricked up at the smell of the fresh egg .. they love fresh raw eggs and if they get a taste of them they will peck and eat their own eggs ... to I took it away quickly.
 But look what was inside the large egg ... another complete egg (as well as the yolk and white) ...what a mix up ... lets hope Mother Nature gets things sorted out and we have one egg at a time .. and one after another.

Hubby P has had a big clearance this week so he was moving stuff all yesterday and today ...

Some of the new bits we have had in ... 

These are rather sweet ... a set of kitchen curtains ... real vintage retro...
and made of a sturdy printed plastic. 

They still had their little hooks attached. 
They seem in good condition ... I shall give them a good soak and a wash in soapy water and see how they come up.
Can't say I have ever seen any others like them ... they are really rather sweet.

And another haul of vintage curtains .... 

Yesterday I went with Hubby P to the clearance place .. just to have a good ol poke about really.
In the attic I went ... up some very rickety stairs ... it was dim and dusty up there and the floor was very iffy ... wonky floorboards with big holes ... It must be said .. I didn't feel very safe at all.

Luckily Hubby P is very good at following directions ...and I pointed at various interesting bundles and he did the fetching and carrying ..
I pulled out the above .. interesting patterns and colours.
I have yet to look at them properly .. and I will wait to see if today Hubby P can find more .. so that I can see if there are pairs of curtains ...
and if the curtains are usable as curtains .. or maybe they will have to be salvaged for their good bits and sold as reclaimed fabric.
It all takes time and work ... washing and sorting ... but I do so love giving these delightful old fabrics a new lease of life.

They must have lain in the attic room a good 40+ years ... 
I wonder what stories they could tell.

The interesting tale of this clearance (there is always an interesting aside) ... as Hubby P was sorting ... he pulled out from a cupboard .. an old haversack type bag and dropped it onto the floor ...later as he went through the papers and bags from the cupboard he found ... in the haversack ... a stash of live WW2 ammunition/bullets.
He informed the police ... can you believe this ...on his way home last night he called at our..
 'Brand Spanking New Ultra Modern ...Cost A Fortune Police Station'

There was no one there ... not a single Bobby .. doors locked and everything. 
'No one manning it tonight '.... he was told ...as he stood outside and rang the police ..
and this is in the main town of the Island ... not some little village.

The best the police could suggest was that they would send someone tonight to pick up the 'Live Ammunition'.

We are still waiting ....

Anyway enough of me .... do you like the curtains? or are these loud retro prints a bit over the top do you think?

xx  

Always Carry A Bit Of Bargain Huntin Money ....

Hello there ....

bit of a dreary damp sort of day ... 

I'm a bit tired of this rain now ... thank you!

We have so much to do outside ... so we donned hats and coats and did it anyway.

We have this awful looking tin shed ... we both agree its an awful thing .. practical ..yes .. keeps everything nice and dry ..but just not pleasing on the eye.

Its where Hubby P keeps/kept the vintage tools he collects .. ready for restoration and then selling on. 

Well we have had a bit of a sort out .. a swap around and the tools can now be stored elsewhere ... so the tin shed can go.

We've even found a friendly farmer who thinks the good dry tin shed is great .. ideal for storing his sheep feed ... and is happy to take it away ... so its a win win situation.

So that was today's job ... well done .... in the rain.

~~~~~

Sunday was a trading day ... it went well.

I had a mooch around the stalls ... not a lot to get excited about ...

but as I was passing the more market type stalls one of the chaps started shouting out ...  as they do ... 

'Sale On' ... 

'All on the table 50p'....

So of course I had to go and have a little look.

He was tipping out boxes of winter stock ... hats, gloves, socks and the like ...probably to make room for newer summer stock.

Luckily I always carry a little bit of  Bargain Hunting Money ... if you have got the ready cash there ... its amazing what you can snap up ... tis no good dithering .. often it won't be there in an hour or two.

The sock chap tipped out another box ... packs of thermal socks (12 pairs in a pack) just £3. 

Just the sort Hubby P wears .. and swears by .. they are so warm and comfy ... the only problem .. they were ladies.

Now occasionally I have borrowed Hubby P's socks ... and indeed they are warm ... a bit big and baggy ... being his socks on my much smaller feet ... but I have been disinclined to buy Ladies Thermal socks because they tend to be the same colour (as Hubby P's) ... and I could see total confusion when it came to sorting the laundry.

But 12 pairs for £3 ... that will last me ...years!

That's ... what ... 25p per pair.

So I came up with the idea of marking my socks with colourful thread ... it was going to be just a stitch .. but hey! a little flower.. much prettier.

Now the test is whether or not Hubby P ... on laundry duty (pairing socks and putting away) will actually see and note the little flower... or will he end up trying to force his size 10's into my flower bedecked .. much smaller socks.

Sock chappie's 50p table held lots of these ... pretty little gloves.

I got a few pairs to put in my Christmas box ... ready for next year. We have lots of children in the family and I like to donate bits and bobs I have picked up over the year to the Christmas Shoe box charity thingy ... 

So I always have a little Bargain Huntin money ... just in case.

It seems like I am spending .. but over the year it saves money and spreads the cost.

So ...what bargains of the week have you come across ... do share ... give us ideas.

xx

What More Could A Girl Ask For ... Fresh Air And Sunshine!

Hello there ...

what a lovely day we have had ... I do hope you have had a bit of sunshine in your little bit of the world.

Cheers a Girl up no end!

On such a Spring like day ... 

a Girls thoughts turn to her garden....

I reached it down from the shelf ... my special tin ... my seed tin ....
just to have a see what's in there ... just to kinda plan .. and daydream a bit...

Not that I can plant much just yet ... 
not being as organised as some lucky people with their heated propagators and nice warm glasshouses ... 
Oh a Girl can dream....

But I found a packet of Cress languishing at the bottom of the tin ... that will do ... it will curb the urge to plant and grow ..,
it gives a bit of fresh green stuff in no time at all ...
and its just nice to see something growing.
I didn't even need to find any compost ... just sprinkled it on a bi of damp kitchen paper ... and sat it on the windowsill.

My Christmas flowers have given up the ghost ... not bad they lasted almost three weeks in this hot room.

So as Hubby P said ... 'you've had your annual flowers ... its back to the weeds .. I see' ... and they say romance is dead!

He was commenting on the rather fetching arrangement of seasonal greenery ... or rather what I could find in the garden that didn't look dank and half dead.

It looks quite pretty with the sun on it ...
 nice and fresh and zingy green.

I spent a pleasant couple of hours sectors in hand ... and filled the green (garden waste) wheelie bin with some rather nasty .. sharp..
half dead roses ...  and I thinned the gooseberry bushes.

Not very glamorous but it had to be done.

I needed to clear and trim the shrubs away from up against this fence ... its a very old fence .. and the recent winds have done their worst with it.
Its about had it I'm afraid ... it will be used as firewood .. and keep us warm for a night or two.

The fence sits atop the wall between us and next door ... we have a lovely family next door ... its not as if we want to shut them out... but the fence was put up many many years ago when their boys were small ... and we had bouncy .. energetic dogs.

We found two little boys ... lots and lots of footballs .. and noisy dogs ... was not a good mix.
We spent a good amount of our days finding footballs lodged in the greenery of the garden and returning them over the wall...
to little shouts of 'thank youuuu'!

Not that I minded in the least we have four boys of our own ...
and children have to play .... but a fence made sense .. and made life easier.

But now sadly we have no dogs barking over the wall .. and the little boys are big boys and have other fish to fry ... football has turned into other more grown up pursuits.

So down it all comes ...
its not a very wide garden bed .. I shall just plant a few more shrubs and turn it into more of a hedge. It will give our friend next door a bit of privacy and something pretty to look at.

So all this fresh air ... what shall I feed a hungry man...

Well I rooted about in the freezer and found a very small pack of scrappy looking lamb chops ... obviously I had hotpot in mind when I bagged them up.
So I put them in the bottom of the much used roasting tin ..
pulled out what veg I had left and chopped it (I had some carrots .. a leek from the garden ... butternut squash .. swede and a little cabbage) ... put the mixed chopped veg on top of the chops .. added 2 oxo's and a spoonful of mint sauce (some water). I sliced some potatoes and layered them on top.
Pan/tin lid on and in the oven very..very low for a couple of hours.
I switched the oven up for the last hour (whilst we were out packing the van) ... took the lid off on our return and let the top brown/crisp up 
By the time we had coats off .. fire stoked and hands washed ..it was all ready. 

And very nice it was too.

I must just say .... that the butternut squash and cabbage I have were bought before Christmas from Approved Food ... I bought two of each. Just as an experiment really .. I've not had fresh food from them before. 
It was one way of me bringing the weight up (to get my moneys worth) ... buying something I would use ..yet keeping the overall cost low.
And they have lasted ... they are still good to use ...I will buy fresh again.
So what have you been up to today ... did you get the sun on your face?

xxx 

Everyday Stuff ....Everyday Finds ... And Making Every Penny Count..

Hello there ...

things seem to have calmed down a bit here ... just the normal ... hum drum ... daily stuff.

Why is it I always feel January 'has to be got through' ... 

such a dreary long month .... 

Anyway ...

Chickens are coming to a bit .... feathering up and looking a bit brighter.

Hubby P thinks they are better fed than him ... he's just whinging because I insisted they be fed before he could have his toast.

I made them some nice warm mash from the vegetable peelings (boiled up .. and nice and warm) ... to this I added a handful of oats to dry it off ... and a spoonful of the mush that is 'waste' from my juicer (fruit and veg ...so nice and sweet).

I mixed in a bit of this ... its the egg shell I have saved .. washed and baked in the oven (just when its on anyway) .. and crushed up fine. 

With the chickens being inside on deep litter (and not being able to forage) it helps give them the grit they need.

They tuck in ... I had a quiet word ... how an egg or two would be appreciated.

~~~~~~

I think one of the reasons January seems so long is the lack of ready cash ... 

The way we work means we have no regular weekly wage .. no monthly salary on a certain day ... no Social Security Benefits ...

its up to us to make what we can where we can....

and these cold dreary months ... well .. lets face it ... no one is buying much.

So Every Penny Counts .... 

and thank goodness for the stores we gathered in ... in the good months.

Thinking of what to make for tea ... what did I have in the cupboards ...

Well the leeks looked nice and fresh in the garden .. so I dug up a few of those.

So fresh they positively zing!

I still have half a sack of spuds ... a drizzle of cream (yes from Christmas ... just beginning to thicken and smell a little cheesy)..

And some of this lovely clean white duck fat (from the Duck we had at New Year).

So ... saute leeks and potatoes in a dollop of duck fat ... add a bit of stock ... and you have a nice leek and potato soup ... I blitzed with the magic wand and added the cream ... umm lovely.

I had a good sort out in the freezer whilst I was at it ... 

just to see what was left ...

it give me an idea of what meals we could have this week.

I pulled out some cheese ... if you remember I had a good deal on cheese just before Christmas ... I put half in the freezer ... so now when I need some good tasty protein .. its there to be had.

So tonight's tea  ... leek and potato soup.. and I made some nice 'very rustic-y' cheese scones which we can slather with butter.

Should do us nicely ... 

we had meat last night ... I'm trying to wean us off meat every night ... although I will hold my hand up and say .. we do enjoy meat.

Talking of 'every penny counting'....

the house looks like a Chinese laundry again.

When we cleared the caravan the other day (and the van broke down)...

there were lots of clothes and bedding to take away ... the owners of the van had taken what they wanted ... I suppose if you have a holiday home ... all set up so that you don't need to pack anything when you want to slip away for a weekend ... you have two lots of everything ...

Anyway ... bags and bags of good quality clothes and bed linen ... and all damp because the roof blew off... and it was raining ... a bit!

So I have been drying it around the fire ...

and bagging it up again.

We will put it all out for sale on Sunday ... as you know people are always looking for good quality clothes at reasonable prices ... ours will be super cheap .. we need to move stock on. 

And that's partly how .. hopefully this week we will make some money.

Do you find all this stuff boring?

~~~~~~

Find of the week .... 

This linen panel was found wrapped around an old piece of machinery .. all greasy and yucky.

I very nearly binned it as an old rag ... well i suppose it is an old rag really. 

My eye was drawn to the nice vintage-y blue colour and I spotted the sailing ships.

I gave it a bit of a soak and a wash ... it was Hubby P that noticed ... it was/is in fact a whaling scene. The men in the little boats have harpoons and are hunting the whales.

What an unusual piece ... I don't know what it was used for ... maybe it was part of a table covering ... its un hemmed.

Interesting as a piece of social history ... nowadays we are quite rightly appalled at the hunting of such lovely creatures .. but in the Victorian era it was this industry that kept the pretty oil lamps lit throughout England.

Well ... I was unsure what to do with it ... so its on ebay ... hopefully someone somewhere will know exactly what to do with it... and it will raise a few pennies.

Anyway enough !

 ... a long post again ... gosh I can chat on .. and on!

~~~