Thrifty Tuesday

A beautiful pale silk rose encassed in an oval Italian brass frame. So pretty even though it's a little tired and worn.

It's sitting on my dressing table today making me smile. What is making you smile today?

xx

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Thrifty Tuesday

UPDATE: Hallo - quick update if you've just noticed some changes on Cornflake today! Just playing around - something I do at home just as much with my things! I hope you like the changes and aren't too upset the old look has gone :-/

Some jewellery this week picked up from the flea markets: a brassy cuff, a green beaded brooch and my necklaces hanging from my wall (looks nice and saving space) above my dressing table/chest of drawers. Notice my brass frame that I picked up the other week? It's sitting on my drawers waiting to be draped in earrings and necklaces (space saving too!)

Jewellery is small so it doesn't take up much room, heyhey (I'm feeling the pinch - if anyone knows of afforable external storage solutions in Sydney I'm all ears)! I feel the shopaholic in me is still very much alive as I find it so hard to say no to pretty things (lots of pretty things) esepcially so if they're really kind to my wallet. ;-)

Please join in today if you'd like to share your thrifty buys! You know what to do.

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1.) Waste Not Do Want

Have a lovely day!
xx

Thrifty Tuesday

Hallo everyone, can you believe it's raining cats and dogs outside in little old Sydney town after a wonderful summery day yesterday? Being very English aren't I, always mentioning the weather!!

Anyway, guess what it's Thrifty Tuesday again, hurrah! This week's find was at the flea markets and was $15. It got quite a few admiring glances and comments when I purchased it. Can you believe I was um'ing and ahh'ing about getting it at first? Well, I was and that's because ladies (and gentlemen?) I'm running out of space in my little flat!

Yup, it's true. Sydney affords many a great buy (if you know where to look) but with all these great finds I'm seriously inching my way out of my home! I think next year we will be forced to look for a bigger place, lol.

Have a lovely sunny/rainy day wherever you may be. :-) If you'd like to play along today and showcase your beautiful thrifty finds too just click on the link below. I'll keep this as an ongoing feature if you like - power to the thrifter! ;-)

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1.) Bayside Rose
2.) Diaries of a Whimsical Wife
3.) Laura Mitchell

xx

Pondering...

Here's another little part of my home - it's a bit messy! I have a bit of a frame fetish as you can see (some thrift ones, I have painted turquoise which I love) and am just in the process of moving everything around - something I do quite frequently as I get restless with what I see when I'm at home.

~I really should have better things to think about shouldn't I?~

The cane table you see I bought on ebay for $20 not long ago and I love it the way it is but have been wondering whether I should paint it black, white or even turquoise or yellow (two bright colours which seem quite popular choices for cane at the moment). What do you think?

All our papers and magazines have found a new home on the underneath rack which is helping with our lack of storage in our little abode - it doesn't help of course that I buy so many outrageously beautiful bargains!

Anyway, I feel like I've just rambled a stream of consciousness which makes the title of this post apt!

Thanks for listening and have a great day! :)

xx

p.s. I owe quite a number of you visits - sorry, I just don't know where the time goes!

p.p.s. I have done two posts today, if you're in town next month don't forget to check out the Better Homes and Gardens LIVE event and email me for FREE tickets!

Thrifty Tuesday

Firstly, thank you so much for all your lovely comments yesterday. You're all so lovely! :-)

We had a beautiful evening and Mr Cornflake took me to an amazing Indian restaurant on the wharf at Woolloomooloo (yes I know how many o's!). They're actually doing a Masterchef evening there tonight and tomorrow for anyone interested (all meat though so not so good for us vegetarians!)?
Today my thrift is this cute little handmade brown vase ($1.50) and rose wrought iron candle stick holder ($5) of which I have two. So pretty. The beautiful hand you see is my other half's and from Vietnam and I think all three go very nicely together don't you think?

Next week I was thinking about opening Thrifty Tuesday up to all of you - so if you have some great thrifty finds let me know and I'll add a link to your blog and we can all play along together, what do you think? Let me know if you're game or not, I'll send reminders throughout the week. :-)

Have a lovely Tuesday everyone!
xx

Thrifty Tuesday

Oh I'm afraid the camera's focus got distracted from the main event but here are my 'new' turquoise bobbly glass cups! They were a dollar each, aren't they cute? Sorry the picture quality is so poor!

I don't know that I'll use them for anything other than ornamental purposes or for putting the odd flower in. :-)

Oh, I should add that, that white vase in the corner is also thrift (most of my things are as you're probably gathering!!) and is actually a 50s style dessert bowl/glass.

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my home yesterday it means the world!! Wishing you a joyous day my friends!

xx

At my home

Wishing you all a lovely start to your week! Today I'm playing along with Buttons by Lou Lou with her weekly 'at my home' post so I thought I'd show you a bit of my interior styling at my home...Notice lately how obsessed I've been with walls and decorating them? Well here's one wall I've decorated with framed polka dot fabric hoops.

So simple to do and so affordable and the beauty (as I'm sure you can see) is you can keep reusing them and mixing and matching different fabrics! I'd love to do some floral ones but I don't think that would go down too well with Mr Cornflake and fair enough! I have quite a few touches of my favourite colour, turquoise around the place and overall the mix of aqua blues help give our place a beachy feel while still being modern, young and fresh.
I've combined a bit of thrift too today ahead of Thrifty Tuesday so here is my fabulous (yet again another blue and white) vase which I found at the local charity shop for $10. Well you can get a bit of a feel for the size of our flat as this isn't our dining room, it's our dining cum living room cum hall cum dumping ground! A c'est la vie, the house will come one day I hope!!

Have a lovely day everyone!! xx

Thrifty Tuesday

My cute teapot and cups were altogether $8 from my local you know what. Can't say better than that! I love the pattern and the fact they're blue and white (I seem to have a lot of blue and white right now).(the green vase, which I've mentioned before was also $3).

To get your hands on your own bit of Cornflake thrift, don't forget to see my giveaway! :-)
Have a lovely Tuesday!

xx

Thrifty Tuesday

Much to the horror of a small (very small...) number of friends I picked this discarded, once loved chair up by the roadside. Yes this week's thrifty post was totally free!

Someone was throwing it out and no longer had a use for it but there I go walking past thinking 'great shape, white paint!' so guess what I was doing for a good hour this weekend! This project I'm proud to say got done in a jiffy! I will show you the finished results later in the week.

A few of my friends (none of whom I might add blog but always like to pass comment on mine :-)) have asked why I thrift so much, it's not like times are tough and we're still in the middle of 'the recession we had to have' - well, not in Australia thankfully. Well, I know I could spend a large part of my salary on beautiful things - not to mention clothes - but I've done that in the past and I've come to realise the smart way to consume is to take a step back and realise that it is possible to achieve a customised look that is beneficial not only to my long term savings plan of 'ever being able to afford a house' but also the environment (by salvaging/recycling/upcycling) and where possible buying fair trade.

That's not to say I don't like buying the odd name but as I approach my later twenties I think being a responsible shopper is the way to go.

I hope you all have a lovely Tuesday! We have gale force winds in Sydney at the moment, seriously so loud last night I hardly got any sleep!

xx

Thrifty Tuesday

I bought this vase some time ago for $7, again from the local charity shop. I can't quite put my finger on the style nor the country of influence, any guesses?

This vase though perfectly demonstrates that I don't have one partioular style, I just buy what I love and hope it comes together!

Hope everyone is having a good start to their week. Can't believe England got smashed by Germany the other day! Whoopsie daisy!
xx

Thrifty Tuesday

My crystal cut vase which I bought at the vintage/second hand markets in Rozelle (along with my two mini vase/pots ~ one of which, without its lid, you can see here) the other weekend. It cost $4, is in mint condition, is classic and I love it.

I'm so addicted to market and op shopping it's not true! It's much more fun than going to regular shops but while I'm espousing the virtures I secretly don't want everyone to start doing it or there will be fewer bargains for me!
;-)

The turquoise picture you see is a photo of a door in a street in Albania which has been printed straight onto wood. I picked it up at my local markets by the beach. It's not thrift ~ and here's an example of me mixing thrift with handmade (which I'm a huge fan of) ~ I love the fact the photographer has used her own pictures taken from when she travelled around the globe. Makes me think though I must do something with mine!

I still haven't got my new camera, as this photo and my others attest. I will do soon though I hope. Such a big purchase, I want to make sure I get the right one and if I'm honest I'm a bit scared making such an investment although I know it will be worth it!

Happy Tuesday everyone, I hope your week is kicking off to a great start!

xx

Thrifty Tuesday

Okay, I admit, this week's thrifty post isn't perhaps what you'd call total thrift but I did get this beautiful blue and white vase for less than half price!
I saw this beauty while perusing the ‘aisles’ of my favourite online 'store' Gumtree (people sell things they no longer want a bit like ebay). The seller was asking $50 which I thought was a lot (I know, even though it's beautiful) for something which had no origin and was second hand (sad fact is I'm way too used to getting bargains too...) so I offered $20 instead and, happy days, my offer was accepted!

What do you think? I have absolutely no idea how much these types of vases go for in the shops (I’ve never seen any) but I’m pretty sure they cost a lot more than I paid!

Now I have it home, I'm utterly and completely in love with it! :-)

Happy Thrifty Tuesday!
x

Thrifty Tuesday

I can't believe I got this gilt mirror for $8! Yup, it's from my local charity shop.

Okay, I admit, it's not carved wood but moulded plastic, not that you can tell until you touch or hold it. What attracted me to it most is it's shape and it's super light which makes it really easy to hang. For these photos I hung it above my bargain $30 side table which I sourced on Gumtree but I know it won't be able to stay because its 'way too ornate and girly for our living room'!

I haven't decided whether to keep it this slightly brash gold or touch it up with a soft old gold or paint it white.

Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

I've thrown in some extra photos of my sweetpeas and lilies. I can't go through a weekend without buying fresh flowers, they are my little treat after all my great thrifting! :-)

Thrifty Tuesday

My new turquoise cuff (can you tell I love this colour!). Again, total thrift at $3 from my local charity shop.

For this picture it asked to be photographed on my Cath Kidston wash bag with one of my roses ;-)

My tips for great finds? Keep frequenting your local thrift stores and don't be embarrased to do so, after all, it's for a great cause and I'm not just talking about the extra pennies you will save!

Happy Thrifty Tuesday!

Thrifty Tuesday

My little pale pink jug I bought for $2.50 with roses that I bought on the weekend from my local florist!

Thrifty Tuesday

These gorgeous little painted tin bowls were a dollar each so I snapped up the 6. I think I'm going to line them up in a row along the top of my bookcase. :-)

Happy Tuesday!

Playing with Buttons

I'm feeling a little creative at the moment so have brought out my beads and buttons ready for playing with this weekend. I love messing around making things, it's so therapeutic!

By the by, this little flower bowl was another thrift buy ($1) along with my favourite mug for drinking tea which I showed the other week. Don't underestimate the power of the dollar (singular) folks!

Have a great weekend everyone! :-)

xox

p.s. sorry the dates of my posts are all out of synch, it's because I kick them off in draft (oh me of little time in the mornings) but I've noticed now that they are all incorrectly dated, whoopsie daisy!

Thrifty Tuesday

My latest treasure hunting brought me these cute finds!

The fish is Genevieve Lethu and was $8, the white cushion (so cute) $3, the yellow and blue flower large cushion cover (visible underneath) is from Kenzo Paris and was $5, the silk button clip on earrings were $2 and finally the vintage plate was $1.50.

Bargain!

Thrifty Tuesday

It's that time of the week again :-)

Here's a little Chinese dish I picked up on the weekend for a $1. I wasn't sure about it at first but I was definitely attracted to it so, to save further deliberation over a dollar, I snapped it up anyway!

Turns out the dip in the centre is the perfect size for a tea light or putting an egg cup in.

To bring out the colour in the photo I added a bit of thrift I picked up in China a few years ago, my blue flower bracelet and offset that with some ♥ beads.

Thrifty Tuesday

Do you like my new earrings?

I wore them to a friend's birthday party on the weekend. Their '60's vintage screw ons which I found in my local antique shop. The sweet elderly lady who runs it just loves collecting old beautiful things and she always has a $4 basket of vintage treasures containing necklaces, rings, earrings, pendant charms and hair pins.

It's hard not to go back for more...

p.s. my top, which I only bought a few weeks ago, now reminds me of those gorgeous rooms I posted about the other day: turquoise with splashes of pink - how funny if my outfit merged with a room! lol.