Charity Shop Shopping …… And A Project – A New Whimsical Style Painted Chair ……..

Last week I was in Burnham on Sea with Lu for the day.  We had hoped to visit the charity and independent shops of Gloucester Road in Bristol, but OMG even on a Monday morning there was no where to park, so instead we headed to Burnham on Sea for a quieter mooch and sea air. Let’s just say we were not disappointed …….

…… because look what I found in, what I think is called Larkins Discount Shop at the top of the High Street ……..

……… only packs of 4 glittery silver nameboard/easels for £1. I was sooooooo excited …….. I loved the white ones I originally got from the wedding section of Home Bargains, but they are no more and unlikely to be stocked again, but these will do very nicely for next Christmas’s  fairing gifts in place of a card …..  I can’t believe I’ve actually said that when we haven’t even had this Christmas!  What am I like? Anyway I availed myself of 6 packs.  The shop is one of those places that is packed to the rafters with all the things you didn’t think you needed until you saw them, plus the sort of things you only seem to find at the sea!

The charity shops yielded much too, i.e lots of immaculate and clean Ty Beanie Teenies for putting in Iris and Berties Christmas crackers, plus a few mini Beanie Bears to hang on their Christmas tree.

I also found a bag of these (above) which I believe are iron on, applique flowers for £5 and there were at least 120 flowers in total.  I recently bought a black duffle style jacket for £6.50, (also charity shop shopped) and if I am feeling brave I am wondering how it would look with these added on to the pockets, cuffs etc. ……… we shall see.

This unused purse cost me £2.75, perfect, as my old holiday purse has just given up the ghost, however when I got home, as I had never heard of the make/designer before I thought I would look him up ………

It seems these Jimmy Liao purses (a famous Taiwanese illustrator) are pretty hard to find in the UK and quite expensive to buy new, even coming in their own fabric drawstring bags. 

I might try my luck with it on eBay and if it sticks, well, I’ve still got a posh holiday purse to use.

And finally two of these capiz shell light shades.  I think the lady in the shop was just relieved to see them go …… they cost £3 for the two, which was such a bargain as I bought them to dismantle and then do something crafty with the squares, but perhaps for this Christmas, at least, hanging one lightshade’s worth in their string/rows on my twig tree (???).  Each square measures 5cms x 5cms and there are 12 strings of 3 squares, 16 of 4 and 20 of 5, making a total of 200 squares per light shade (400 total!)

I don’t think there’s a lot of age to them judging by the attached sticker, however the quality and colour of the shell, after again doing some research, leads me to think that these might be something a little special too, having a real retro feel to them.  So I might again chance my luck in the New Year with at least one on eBay.  What I would do with them craft wise I am not sure of at the moment, paint them or bejewel and/or add snowflake designs …….  all suggestions very welcome and  I am pretty sure something I find on Pinterest will inspire me …..

However, my best “seaside souvenir” from Burnham came from The YMCA charity shop, where they had four odd wooden chairs sat sitting outside for free.  I oooohed and ahhhed and then we decided to think about it while we were still exploring the town. When we went back, one had already gone but as we had room in Lu’s car we asked if we could also take one.

Since doing my whimsical hall table I have been desperate to do something similar again, especially after all the things I learned the first time round, and a chair, I thought could fit the bill, living in my craft room when I am working in there and then under my decopatched table in the lounge when I have overnight visitors, without losing any floor space in my small flat.

The chair is in a pretty battered state with no woodworm. It was the turned legs that did it for me, as each section would lend itself to a new colour/pattern as does the back panel.  The seat shouldn’t take too much work/time to re-cover in the final stages but I am very excited. It was all spookily meant to be, as I bought a tin of primer for no reason, on a whim only the week before.

I am not going to rush this project.  I am looking on Pinterest for ideas, I’d like to be a little more intricate with my design than I was with my first effort, perhaps even adding some gold, but I know I need to be very patient and only work with one colour at a time …………. now where’s that primer?