Heads Up – It’s Halloween, What’s In The Shops – Poundland, Poundstretcher & The Range

It’s that time of year when the shops are starting to get in all sorts of creepy things that I can use either for crafting or to decorate The Towers for Iris and Bertie’s traditional Halloween sleepover.

After most Malvern Flea/Antiques fair Lu and I generally, if our feet can take it, head out to the large Poundland on the Malvern Shopping Park.  To be honest I don’t do that well with their seasonal stuff, they never seem to have the things that everyone is raving about on the Poundland Appreciation Page on Facebook, but even though it was August Bank Holiday Monday I still managed to get a few of the things I couldn’t get last year, as well as some of their new stuff  …….

…… in particular the pumpkin and cauldron mugs (still £1 although in Poundland now, you really have to watch the prices as £2,3,4,and more are creeping in)

I thought the mugs might be a bit difficult to drink out of, but they are pretty OK. The pumpkin one now being my mug of choice for the next two months.  I think the cauldron ones would look nice with a small plant in?  I also picked up two pumpkin candleholders (£1) which again would look nice with a succulent in after the event.

I also picked up two of the now traditional (to Poundland) rubber ducks for Iris and Bertie as a spooky bath time is very much de rigueur during a sleepover. The state of my bathroom after two cans of bath foam (79p Home Bargains), glowsticks and light up bath toys is nobodies business!

I was also tempted to buy two polystyrene LED pumpkins (£1) to adorn my festive shelves plus two bags of the very small glitter pumpkins (£1), I think there’s 20 per bag, for crafting but not sure what yet.

There was only one thing I would really have liked to have found, which also eluded me last year, a horror head doll tealight holder, which I know Marc wanted too.  It’s early days yet, Poundland introduce their seasonal goods in phases, so hopefully while on my various travels I’ll manage to find a couple.

Now on to Poundstretcher ………..

I don’t do Gonks/Gnomes, I just don’t get them, but I know thousands do.  Poundland have 4 different varieties this year (no pictures sorry). This year they cost £3 each and the reason why I am sorely tempted to turn off the appreciation page for a week or so as everyone is clambering to find them. They are already on eBay for around £9 each or three for £24.99!

But for Gonk/Gnome fans the above gaggle are from Poundstretcher and cost £3.99, which I think are marginally better quality and don’t seem to have found their way on eBay yet.

Poundstretcher are also carrying the sweet pots again this year, 6 for £1.49.  These days we are certainly getting less for our money, a couple of years ago they were in nets of 10 in Poundland for £1.

These metallic wall decorations were £1 a pack.

They are not that big really, but I thought they would look great on say black spray painted book covers, tins, decanters/bottles, vases or any charity shop bits and pieces, so watch this space.

Then, I found these skeleton garlands after spending far too many hours combing the internet for them a few months ago only to find that they were all horrendously expensive!  These cost £2.99 for six ……….

……. but they had me mourning for these (above)  bought a couple of years back (thank you Marc for re-gifting them back to me!!!).  They are much bigger and feel more substantial than the new ones, but at least I have an ample source for now. They work out at 50p each which isn’t too bad.  Their legs are jointed for maximum dangle effect.

As you can see I bought a few packs!  Stripping them from their cards and nooses as soon as I got home.  These I think I will keep for Christmas if all goes well, but following on from a long conversation with Marc I think I am going to have a go at trying to sell the original bigger ones as dressed up, be-winged Halloween/Goth fairies (as featured on Fiddle Fart before).  I am going to set a whole day aside, going hell for leather making them up and then see how they fare, so watch this space. I also need to make my own special version to put in a dome just for me!

These novelty sanitizer dispensers (£1 each) also, somehow, managed to find their way into my basket, a silly something for Iris and Berties’s school bags for October …….

…….. as well as the above, its horrendous and very loud, again for our sleepover, I am not sure if I dare actually put it on my front door as it’s sure to upset my miserable neighbour upstairs, sadly it might have to go on the bathroom door instead ……….  but we shall see.

Moving on the to The Range, black and silver, flat foil stickers for Halloween Elizabeth Shaw mint favours (99p per pack) ………

……. and the more colourful foam backed stickers for a more dimensional affect for mints, cards, tags etc. also 99p, which are calling out for a googly eye here and there.

I also picked up a a pack of Halloween paperchains, always good on a card as well as a way of Iris and Bertie helping decorate my flat – 89p per pack.

Well that’s it for now, it’s early days, so I expect I’ll be finding one or two other choice bits and pieces on my travels, however there’s no use in just collecting them, they need to be used!

No Completed Crafts Today …….. But Ideas In The Pipeline

As you read this I will be enjoying the pleasures of Bournemouth and Poole’s bracing sea air, café society and the very finest of charity shop shopping!  Our stay was all part of a “Gift Experience” given by my sister in law for Christmas 2019, but we all know what happened shortly after that Christmas ……. but 20 months on and several bookings and cancellations later, we’ve finally been able to use it!

However it’s also been another disruption to my efforts to get crafting and posting again  ……. so rather than no post at all I thought I’d share some ideas that I haven’t quite pulled off yet.

I’m really into tins at the moment after seeing some lovely ideas at a craft fayre at the Wedgewood Visitors Centre in Stoke on Trent where we went for afternoon tea recently.  I just wish I’d taken more pictures, as is always the case when looking at new ideas.

But look at the price?  However, I soon found that old tins, no matter how small command a quite a high price, so still inspired I went on the search of new ones ……….

….. and found these 20ml rectangular tins, with hinged tops that measure 60mm x 47mm and cost me £4.25 plus 73p P & P from eBay, which I can spray if I want.

I’ve only had a little play with them so far.  The front backing paper is a little pale for my liking at the moment.  Lining the tin with scraps of paper was an awful lot easier than I had anticipated. I quite like the inside with a textured painted background using Aleene’s True Snow, but I need to lay it on much thicker.  The tree, which I think I will add baubles to (flat backed gems etc.) is set in air drying clay, which needs to be a less deep/thick and then painted again with Aleene’s.

On the blank side I think I will use small letter squares to spell out Merry Christmas or “Oh Christmas tree”. I might also put a small bail on the back so it can be hung up as a tree decoration, however I think I have a basic idea to develop further here.

I also looked at small cigar tins winning these on eBay for £1 for 10 plus £3.80 P & P, so roughly 50p each.  They measure 10cm square and are much deeper at 2cms than I first thought, but opens up more possibilities for contents.

Again I have done very little with them so far, but with Halloween in mind  I did try spraying them black ……….

Which worked out pretty well. When dry I tried to rough the tin up a bit getting perhaps not quite the effect I was looking for, it looks a bit scratchy rather than weathered, but it’ll do.

I think I am going to put a haunted house in the bottom section, changing around the laser cut embellishments on another house I made earlier to fit, with a large skeleton in the top, with trick or treat in a jumbled array of various letters (?). On the front I may put something like “open if you dare”.  Again it’s a nugget of an idea.

So, that’s where I am at at the moment, a little frustrated in getting started, but at the moment, while the opportunities are there I think I should really be out and about and not stuck indoors at the crafting table or computer!

Malvern Flea And Antique Fair–August Bank Holiday 2021

I think the August Bank Holiday Malvern Flea/Antique Fair Lu will be the last one Lu and I attend for this year ……..

…….. there’s a couple more in the coming months but as the days get colder and wetter we’re pretty much fair weather friends and we can wait until next Easter now I reckon.

As I always say, for us it’s the best day out for pure pleasure for just £5 (there’s not even a charge for the parking) we could wish for …………

…….. with hundreds of antique and/or bric a brac stalls all in one huge field and under several assorted sheds ……..

……. and as per usual I took plenty of photos of the things we drooled over wishing we both had much bigger houses to fill ………

…….. made us smile ……..

……. or lusted after as objects of great desire.

We both fell in love with this tableware by Rob Turner, I don’t think there’s any age to it, but it was just so pretty.  I love my Royal Doulton Minden, but this sorely tempted me ……..

……. and I intend to do some further research on it when I have a spare five minutes.

The cocktail cabinet above is what I will regret and remember for the rest of my life!  It was only £40, I would have bought it in a shot had I got somewhere to put it and then bought it lovingly back to it’s former glory. The picture doesn’t do it any justice at all.  The mirror on the back was painted with red and gold cocktail shakers, glasses etc. and the red and silver mirror section at the front only turned all the way round to reveal spaces for bottles and glasses!  Can you imagine what state I was in, in the presence of something of such great beauty?  OMG I wanted it soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo badly.

I am still looking for my little bit of Lourdes, this (above) was a little too battered and I did find a tiny holy water bottle, but the price was a little to much for my purse, it seemed as if the seller was just throwing prices out left right and centre and I couldn’t be bothered to haggle, so my quest will deliciously continue.

I did however buy this ………….

I’ve never seen anything like it before.  I thought it was glass but on picking it up it was a heavy plastic. It was so unusual and quite large. I picked it up and put it down several times and then decided to haggle as there was one broken flower on it. I got down to £3, which wouldn’t even buy a cup of coffee and it now sits in my autumnal themed lounge atop a Poundland mercury glass candlestick with a smaller glass encased candle inside.

It was another brilliant day, I bought a couple more things, one in particular that required Lucy and my taking turns in carrying it round for the rest of the day  ……….but that’s for another post!

Autumnal Door Wreath

This is the first bit of crafting I’ve done in a long, long while, summer adventures and the school holidays have just got in the way, as they should have!

I used a basic twig wreath (£1 I think) bought from the Home Bargains Christmas Range (2020) with this sort of idea in mind.

Considering just how out of practice I have become, it all came together quite quickly and well.

I started by glue gunning fabric leaves from The Works (£1 for a bag of 50 assorted Autumn colours) all the way around at various angles.

I then added three packs of these paper flowers, also from The Works. I believe I bought them in the Christmas sale, possibly a couple of years back now. I don’t think they’ve had any in recently.

I had collected some small beech cones (well, I think that’s what they are) from the nearby park the other day with this specific purpose in mind. I think they work really well, despite such a mismatch of materials, something I don’t usually feel comfortable doing, but they successfully filled in the gaps.

Smaller gaps were then filled in with sections cut from a green glitter necklace I’ve had forever, but knew I would eventually find a use for.  I’m not now 100% sure about including them, but I think that’s me being super picky.

I thought I was finished at that point, but when I held the wreath up there was still something missing, more foliage (?) but I didn’t have anything of a natural type nature, then I remembered some wooden laser cut sprigs I had, would they work?

I coloured the sprigs with a green pen and think I got away with it ……….

…… despite, as I said, being totally out of my comfort zone using so may varied materials.

The wreath is now hanging on my door as I post.  On looking at the pictures I can see it’s not quite as rounded on the left hand side as I would like, but I know I am super critical of my own work.

It’ll be in place until just before Halloween when I will probably replace it with something more spooky and then put it back for perhaps for more few weeks until December 1st when I will going into festive mode.  Happy days!