Monday 28 May 2012

Nails, shirt and buttons

Hi, I have been getting some great bargains in the charity shops lately, and I think this may be my back-up to Walthamstow market.  I managed to purchase some 5 mtre pieces of fabric a few weeks ago, and again on Friday but following the announcement of my 10 shirt marathon, I need quite a few buttons - 100 to be exact.  Now my local shop is charging me 10p for each button, not too extreme I hear you say, 10 buttons per shirt = £1, but you know me I love a bargain.

It is amazing what you can buy in a charity shop.  I purchased a Fisher Price musical chair thing for my DGD for only £3.50 and when I looked up the new price it was £35.  This toy looks brand new and Alana loved it.  Today I purchased an ELC cooker washing machine toy (she is always pushing my washing machine buttons) and again it was only £3.50.

The original reason for going into the shops in the first place was looking for ties (to use as bias trim - go for the pure silk ones to add a touch of glamour, and they are great for Hong Kong finish to your seam allowances too) books and buttons, however I was distracted by the toys lol.

Friday I purchased a bunch of ties along with the Fisher Price toy, but best of all was a Hermes tie for £1.25 which is still selling on line today for £135.00 (that has to be the bargain of the century).  I wasn't going to tell my D Mike that it came from a charity shop, but without the lovely orange box they sell these things in, it would be hard to convince him it was new.  Still I think its great.  Its bright red, so I will have to make him a shirt to wear with it.

Today I planned on getting the buttons for shirt number 3 on route to the dentist.  There are a couple of charity shops close to the fabric shop, so before buying any I thought I would ask around.  The first shop said no they didn't have any but get them from time to time, but I struck lucky on the 2nd one and managed to buy 200 (I've counted them) for £3.00 - they only asked £1.99 but I was so pleased, and it was for charity I gave them a little more.

Last but not least I had my nails and toenails manicured on Saturday.  My nails are shameful - too much crafting and sewing means they break really easily, so I have had a set of gel nails done, for the first time ever - not bad in 53 years.  I am still getting used to them.  They put tips on my nails then applied the gel - they are hard, so I hope durable too, however have you ever tried picking up pins off the table with these nails - I have to lick my finger if my fingers aren't tacky enough and even today I feel like I have something alien stuck to my fingers, but they look pretty - lets see if I can keep up appearances.

That's all my news for now.  As you can see from the picture below - No 3 now has buttons (not from the charity shop because I didn't want white) and it looks good.


Let me know if you ever go to the charity/thrift shops and get good bargains.  Catch you all later...........

3 comments:

  1. I love the idea of using silk ties for bias! I'll have to look the next time I'm out and about.

    Love the shirt!

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  2. You can strengthen soft nails by buffing them a couple of times a week with french chalk.

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