Score: auction house bracelet for two pounds

As a result of my roamings in my new town, I recently found an auction house that features an indoor market where sellers rent out cases showcasing  vintage and antique bling, paintings, pottery and other goodies. I've been sans hubby this week and was feeling sorry for myself, so I popped in and found this amazing bracelet ... for a pound ninety-nine!

I'm not sure how to begin dating it but it's tiny, which could be an indication of its era as people were much smaller in, say, Victorian times. It has a slight ethnic look to it too - very pretty boho, in my opin.

Not sure if you can see but it's quite rough-hewn, so maybe it was handmade. Any ideas out there as to its provenance?

It reminds me a wee bit of the vintage bracelet I picked up in TO (for $35) at a vintage shop, though this one looks more new and is obviously more blingy. I don't often wear bracelets so it takes something special to stop me in my tracks.

Needless to say, since the prices for bling there are so fantastically good, I'll be visiting that auction house again. There are also auctions every three weeks and I plan to drag the hubby to the next one to see what's on the block!

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Score: vintage carpet bag made in the UK by a still-existing company

Though I am holding out hope, I appear to have lost a few treasured vintage bags and carpet bags in the move from Toronto to Ottawa and then overseas. Maybe it was that loss, but in the last few weeks I've been absolutely obsessed with vintage carpet bags on Etsy. But not any carpet bag will do - I wanted something huge, which, if you've ever trolled Etsy for vintage tapestry bags, you'll know are hard to come by. The vintage styles just tend to be smaller. Enter the handbag pictured above.

Photo courtesy KeepitRetro on Etsy

It's just so gorg, featuring an idyllic woodland scene with flowers and trees and various creatures. And it's large enough to fit a whack of stuff in it - love!

I did some research on the maker and discovered that Carpet Bags is a UK-based company that still exists. It started hand-making carpet bags out of recycled fabric in the 1970s and its products have graced the shelved of Harrods and Liberty of London. Wowsers. Somewhere along the line it started using tapestry, which my bag is made of, and then switched back to new carpets that reproduced old patterns. I am so thrilled to have this piece of UK heritage and am also chuffed the business still exists - a tough feat in this mass-produced offshore manufacturing kind of world, to be sure. I have to email the owner to find out how old my bag is but I'm guessing 1980s. Will keep you posted.

For the bag's first outing, I wore skinny jeans and a tunic (bought new in Canada) with a thrifted jean jacket and my fave thrifted leather lace-up booties. I love that I can take the long strap off the bag and use the bag handle if I so choose - though I may feel like Mary Poppins if I did that!

To honour the home-made heritage, and to make the outfit a bit more feminine, I added my fave Liberty of London scarf (found in a junk shop in Canada for two bucks) and a pretty silver ring with a large cut green stone (new, but 50 percent off). Notice the button on the jean jacket that I wrote about this week?

This is why I love old things: they bring the satisfaction of knowing a bit about the history of the maker, and also of giving the piece an appreciative home!

Photo courtesy KeepitRetro on Etsy

If you're a novice buying vintage handbags, especially online, I've learned to always take a whiff of the bag or ask the seller if it smells. Some old handbags just smell too musty when you open them, so it's always worth asking. I haven't had extensive experience buying on Etsy but I have looked at a lot of pieces and I find most sellers will declare any flaws and if if they don't I imagine it's in their best interest to answer such a question honestly. That's my two cents! Anything else you seasoned vintage bag hunters look for or ask when shopping?

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New charity shop, a cardi & a carpet bag, and a friend

Welcome to my new carpet and tapestry handbag obsession. I normally stalk these babies on Etsy, but since hubby's instructions to mind what I spend, I have had to back off from Etsy (but if he wants to buy me the 30-pound, plus almost that in shipping, leather and tapestry bag I am currently lusting after there as an early B-day pressie, I suppose I shall have to deal with it). But I digress: yesterday when I checked out a thrift shop in a nearby town that I've never been to, a church charity shop, I found this 1990s-esque tapestry bag with the tags still on ... for three pounds! Isn't it a beaut?

There's more to this tale. In said church charity shop, I met Shoo, a lady who lives in the same town in which I do and shares my passion for charity shops. Shoo kindly invited me to dinner at her place after discovering I'm new to town, haven't made a lot of friends and am often on my own. What a sweetheart. So I went to dinner and donned my "new" bag in honour of the occasion, along with an oversize purple wool cardi in perfect condition that I also bought at the shop for three pounds (note: church charity shops have waaay better prices than the corporate charity shops here, where these items would sell for double or more).

Under the cardi I wore a thrifted Teenflo little black dress, a vintage velvet elastic belt, new Guess? booties and crochet tights, and a thrifted statement piece necklace. Dinner was a blast and I know I'll soon be charity shopping and experiencing other adventures with Shoo!

I was pretty pleased that I was able to somewhat glam up a slouchy cardi for my dinner outfit, but I wanted to show you a more casual look showing the same pieces I bought yesterday: under the cardi I'm wearing a new turtleneck bought on sale at Danier Leather in Canada; a gorg scarf gifted to me by the owner of my fave thrift shop in Toronto, Canadian Thrift (now called Ontario Thrift); and riding pants gifted to me by my pal Nadia (of the green dress, see two posts below). I made the look more casual by wearing my new purse cross-body.

P.S. I have a few more vintage carpet bags to show you. Coming soon!

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One of my latest vintage obsessions: handpainted boho brooches

I recently found these boho-like brooches in two different charity shops, one for a pound and another for a pound-and-a-half.  I'm not sure how to describe them as they're not in line with the typical vintage brooches you find out there - they have a boho, artsy and almost rustic feel to them that, along with the flowers, I find appealing.

The first, a mere pound, I dug out of the bottom of a bauble dish at a charity shop in St. Annes. The flowers are recessed and look handpainted as there's some wear. Sizewise, it's between a pound and two-pound coin.

This one is larger and looks like it was painted and then shellaced. It was a pound-forty-nine. So pretty!

The problem with some brooches is they're too fancy to incorporate into every day life. Not so with these babies as I saw them instantly on one of my many denim jackets, which I tend to live in in the spring and summer, with jeans and even over sexy sun dresses to keep me warm. With a fine wool floral scarf, the look is pretty pretty, n'est pas? (and I made a consious effort to smile here so I don't look like Victoria Beckham, lol).

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Green day: dress gifted by Nadia & other goodies from Toronto

In Honour of Earth Day, and thrifting lovelies everywhere, I'm showing you a vintage 1970s dress that used to hang on my gal pal Nadia's wall (it's nylon - don't come near me with a match as I may melt). 

A fellow thrifter and style icon in her own right, Nadia gave this to me when I left Toronto. Je love. Je also miss Nadia.

The bodice is super small - perfect for me! Not a lot of room in this baby now that I've put on some curves, but that's a good thing, I think. I'm wearing the dress with a bone multi-strand necklace and bracelet, gifted to me by a lovely lady in Toronto, Lucy of Boj Decor on Mount Pleasant Blvd. The sandles, which you'll be seeing a lot of as I trashed most of mine when I moved, were a screaming deal, new (25 pounds instead of 100), at a closing sale in St Annes - Lacuzzo high-heeled platform strappies that make you look like a movie star.

I bought these vintage but never-worn sunnies a few years ago - a definite splurge item. The seller, Ratas Optical in Toronto, has a huge stash of never-worn retro and vintage shades - if you're ever around the Danforth and Broadview area in Greektown, check them out. They ended up replacing the faceted lenses for me, for free, as they had a slight magnification to them that made me dizzy. Nice eh? I have thought about selling them if I ever open an Etsy shop as I'm not sure they suit me. They're a definite statement piece item that you don't wear with just any old outfit!

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Charity shopping "problem", simplicity & my Victoria Beckham look

My hubby came home from a day out with the boys at St George's Day to find me wearing this white tuxedo top and statement piece necklace, both of which I found at charity shop for a few pounds each. He calmly asked me if I had a "problem" with charity shopping.

Moi?

Well, I do love finding great deals and I do roam the shops when he's away flying and I'm lonely - then again I always have been a thrift shop maven, and let's face it: it is slightly addictive. But it's not like I'm a high-maintenance babe going out and buying Chanel every week. Right?

Mmmm. When I think of it, I guess I don't need any more necklaces - but this one was so pretty, and I have been absolutely looking for a simple white cotton shirt, like one I used to have years ago, to create a simple look for myself this spring. I tend towards drama in my outfits when I'm not in hack-around mode, but the idea of a white shirt, a lovely necklace, jeans, booties and a killer bag is rocking my world these days. Simple style - what a concept. Does this mean I'm getting older?

I digress but I had to show you this snap as I look freakishly like Victoria Beckham in all her 

unsmiling media glory ... and I think I know why she never smiles in photos: it makes one look older, as I sadly discovered while snapping these pics! But don't worry, I haven't given up smiling ... yet. That will happen when hubby takes the bank card away, haha.

But I will try my very best to obey his parting words to "not spend too much" (though a carpet bag obsession on Etsy has recently taken hold). But I have to ask: do charity shops and obsessive shopping go hand-in-hand? I've often thought that thrift shopping allows me to shop MORE and OFTEN as it's so cheap, thereby fulfilling a need for constant consumption of pretty things. Taken in that light, my shopping doesn't seem that green or that different than the mass-market hyper consumption I can sometimes be critical of. Deep thoughts - thanks, husband!

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Granny-Annie polyester skirts can look chic

Not to be insulting to little old ladies but the polyester fashions of Finn Karelia are pretty granny-Annie, in other words what my Grandma would have worn when she was alive - elasticized polyester pants and huge printed blouses. But when I saw this polyester skirt with the Finnish label in a charity shop this week, for three pounds, I instantly fell in love with the 1970s print and shape.

I'm wearing it with my fave Michael Kors lace-up boots (over six years old but bought for 50 percent off), a thrifted blazer by Theory (only a few bucks but it would have cost hundreds new), and a thrifted suede handbag that was made in Italy (again only a few Canadian dollars). The cashmere sweater was a gift.

The gloves are from a charity shop (two pounds) and the statement piece necklace was a steal, purchased new for $45 in a Toronto boutique. The maker was a lady recovering from addiction and the shop owner was helping her out by selling these necklaces for her, commission-free. Good Karma, that.

If I can, I may see if I can transform myself from a non-crafty person to a crafty person and try to make this necklace - I get so many compliments on it that I would like to share it with others. Will keep you posted!

Thanks to my new photog (my hubby), who snapped these pics in Blackpool.

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