All mapped out

I have always loved maps and atlases, don't ask me why I find leafing though an atlas so relaxing, it's up there with browsing through holiday brochures as one of my favourite ways to relax. My biggest little man also seems to have this fascination, we bought him one of those giant Children's maps of the world when he was just a baby and stuck it on his wall at his level, he loved pointing out all the little boats and characters and stuff.

As he gets bigger I am keen to encourage this interest, and also his interest in all things to do with transport (especially trains of course)! He's the jetsetter of the 3, had been in 8 countries by the time he was 2, our second was in 4 countries by the time he was 6 months old, and guess what? Our youngest hasn't been out of Australia yet!!! Jetsetting is just that bit more difficult with 3 munchkins in tow, at least until they get older anyway. So for now it's holidays in Oz with our boys, but in the meantime I still enjoy finding items to encourage the whole world/travel interest.

I love these vintage cases, perfect for the rascals to store their treasures in, I think originally they were children's cases for school, the middle one is from a carboot sale and the other two from eBay, they go perfectly together, grand total - $41.

I was delighted with this wooden bookstand, $5 in Vinnie's, perfect for holding this big atlas, $2 in Vinnie's.

As you can see it's an old atlas, anyone been to Yugoslavia lately?

On the make

My eldest is a very creative little man, he loves making things out of sticks and shapes and drawing too and quite often really amazes me with his ideas. He's particularly fond of making trains and helicopters with sticks and glue and I have a drawer full of these little creations. I recently thought I would return the favour and make some things for him too, I couldn't have even imagined his reaction to the cushion I made him below:


"You made this for me? It's mine? It belongs to me. Don't make one for the boys"! (meaning it was pretty special to him and he wanted me to only make one for him and not his brothers too :-) He was so pleased, it is now ones of his absolute favourite things, he sits on in when watching TV, snuggles on it when we're having cuddles, if he sees me or Daddy using it he very politely brings over another cushion to swap so he can have this one.

Very delighted with his reaction I have various other projects on the go for the boys, I am going to use the various vintage style fabrics I bought off eBay to make bunting for the boys' room.


The boys have a mini Radio Flyer pull along little red wagon they store books in and also a full-sized red wagon they pull each other along in so I thought this red wagon themed fabric would be a good choice for the bunting, along with...

The boys have a nice little collection of tin toys including rockets, robots etc, great fabric to match!

Including this vintage plane fabric in the bunting will coordinate nicely with the cushion I made.

And my middle little man loves robots, rockets etc, hence the choice of this fabric. I also recently made a Space-themed wall hanging for him which got lots of smiles. As you can probably tell, I'm no Martha Stewart but these things are made with love, so I'm still proud of them :-)

Another recent creation which was a hit was the chalkboard below I made using a fibreboard panel, chalkboard paint, old comics and PVA glue.





Another future project is a mobile using pieces of a vintage map jigsaw.

Crafty

I like to find old things to use as storage rather than just storing all the kids' stuff in plastic tubs, I've seen this idea used before and was delighted to score an old wooden drinks crate on eBay to use as storage for the boys' craft supplies.

50 Cent

It's very hot in Sydney today, so I got the kids out nice and early for a walk before it got too hot, "coincidentally" we passed Vinnie's on our travels so we popped in and didn't really see anything, then on the way out I spotted a tied up plastic bag with 50 cents marked on it, I could see there was Play-Doh in it so bought it, here's what was inside:

Lovely wooden painted blocks, bright and colourful, great for stacking.


Cute little fabric animals in bright patterns.

And of course the Play-Doh, you can never have too much of that.

Well, I was very excited about this purchase, opening the bag without knowing what was inside reminded me of opening my Christmas Stocking as a kid, awwww!

Old Spice

I love giving old things a new role or purpose in the house, especially finding things to use as decor in the boys' room.
This is a boring old spice rack I picked up in an Op Shop for $5 ...
A couple of coats of white paint and taa daa - a lovely little book display for the boys.

Open Sesame

Being a child of the seventies, I naturally grew up watching Sesame Street (no Nick Jr. in those days), so I am always delighted to pick up vintage Sesame Street items (pre-Elmo and the various other individuals who have infiltrated the Street over the years).

These are a few of my favourites, the Oscar-like Trash Can was $6 in Vinnie's and the squeezy Big Bird was 50 cents in Salvos.

This little Sesame Street Toy Shop is adorable, it opens up to reveal six little toys and is in perfect condition - $2 in Vinnie's.

The Encyclopedia is fantastic, each letter of the alphabet has either a story, an activity or information, the kids love it! $1.50 in Vinnie's.

Banquet

I love gorgeous silverware and the whole look of medieval banquets with the silver goblets and huge long tables laden with food. So I was pretty thrilled with 2 recent finds:

These lovely stainless steel goblets were $9 for the six.

And I got 30 pieces of this lovely silverware for a grand total of $6 in Vinnie's.

Office Geek!

Ssshhhh, don't tell anyone but I've always been a bit of a stationery/office supplies geek. I always loved getting my new stationery ready for the new school year and this love has extended into my thrifting, I love when I find something gorgeous that can be used in the home-office.


This beautiful vintage typewriter is one of my favourite finds ever! $10 in Vinnie's!

Gorgeous wooden document trays - $4 each in Vinnie's


I can't believe I thrifted a stapler but this one has a lovely art-deco look to it I couldn't resist.

My first ever post!!

Well, I've done it! I've started a Blog! Hopefully it won't be one of those one post and that's it blogs! It's all about my thrifted finds, I love Carboot Sales, Op Shops, Garage Sales and get such a kick out of finding true treasure, this blog will have hopefully regular posts of my finds.