At home with the J and Ps

There's been a fair few grey and miserable days recently round our way.  What better way to spend such a day than to do a bit of crafting.  Even Mr J and P got in on the act.

For Xmas, I bought Mr J and P this:

Magical Menagerie by a Japanese artist, Junzo Terada. 

You get 20 animal models on good quality, extra strong card and you simply pop out the pieces and fit the matching slots together.  No scissors or glue needed! 

A penguin in its flat form

So simple, in fact, that even a total dim-wit could manage it.  NOT that I'm suggesting in any shape or form that Mr J and P is a dim-wit but you get my drift.  It's sooooo easypeasy.

Take a look at what Mr J and P and Little Miss put together:

The cat and its ball has to be my favourite

Cute monkey complete with bunch of bananas

A penguin (left) and peacock (right) in case there's any doubt!

Sweet ickle birdy wirdies

Cool huh?

As this activity only took minutes to do, the pair of them decided to do some mosaicing.  Two Xmases ago, I bought a mosaic kit for kids whereby you can decorate small pieces of MDF to make cool coasters.

This is what they did:

Mr J and P's on the left; Little Miss' on the right

When I casually mentioned that the orange one had the look of a crocheted granny cushion cover , Little Miss J and P remarked "Hopefully, not one of yours, mum".  The cheek of the child!  She is, of course, referring to my retro creation pictured here once more for your delectation and if you fancy a good laugh:

If you're wondering what I was doing amidst this hive of activity, I was sewing two single candy stripe sheets (one slightly damaged) to make one double one and, with the remaining material, I made two pillow slips.  Oooh, I do like a bit of candy stripe bedding.

On a completely different note, the lovely Elizabeth from MakingGoodUse sent me a wooden handled kitchen knife to add to my vintage wooden handled kitchen utensil collection (thank you so much, Elizabeth).  I now have a whole 3 items in my collection!

I am, of course, on the lookout for more.  The problem is how to display them.  I thought I would hang them up in our kitchen but none of them have hanging holes.  Mr J and P has offered to drill a hole in the handles.  You can imagine what I said to that, can't you? 

I was also the lucky winner of a giveaway by Rachael from CleverCheshireCats .  Isn't this crocheted pincushion stunning?  I love it!

One last thing, get a load of Mr J and P's monsterous parsnip:



Fnar, fnar...

 And with that, dear readers, I'll love you and leave you.  TTFN.

Countryside, chips and charity shops

Had another lovely day out recently, this time en famile.  We each discussed what we wanted to do on our day out.  Mr J and P wanted a walk in the countryside.  Little Miss J and P wanted to have lunch in a cafe and eat chips.  I, of course, wanted to charity shop.  So, Mr J and P got out his trusty "Walks in Hertfordshire" book and we walked from Ware to Hertford and back again - 6 miles in total.  We live in London, very close to both the Essex and Hertfordshire borders.  We're always popping over to Essex, but tend to forget about Hertfordshire. 

We successfully incorporated all three elements of countryside, chips and charity shops in the walk. 

Now, at this point in the post, more efficient bloggers would insert photos of their day out - some pretty countryside perhaps or maybe some interesting architectural features. 

Not me, dear readers, here's one of some eccentric old biddy wearing one of those noses for Red Nose Day

Joking!  That's little old me!

Here's one of Little Miss J and P sporting the same nose in the grounds of the former Hertford Castle.

Anyway, let's talk about important matters like what we bought.

Quite a lot of yellow ricrac for 10p:

Ladybird books at 59p each to add to my collection:


One charity shop had a basket full of crocheted granny blankies.  Well, you know I have a penchant for those, don't you?  They were at a decent price too (£1.50 to £1.99).  The only thing about them were that they were a little small for my purposes- lap blanket size I would say.  What happened next was something that one should never do if one can help it.......I hesitated.  And during that moment of hesitation, some old dear grabbed the whole damn lot and announced to no-one in particular "I'll have all of these!".   Grrrrr, that'll teach me to dither. 

Well, dear readers, I nearly sobbed into my Fortnum and Mason hamper:

Yes, dear readers, I did say Fortnum and Mason hamper. 

A rather large wicker chest hamper (empty) complete with handles and faux leather straps.I spied it outside one of the charity shops and thought it would be a genuinely useful item to have. 

It cost £7 but it is large and very practical.  Did you notice that I'm emphasising its practicality and its usefulness?  Between you and me, I'm trying to get into Mr J and P's good books, I wouldn't want him to think that I'm bringing "more useless tat" (his words, certainly not mine) into the house.

When I got home, I checked Ebay and, guess what.... Fortnum and Mason hampers go from about £40 upwards.  Huzzah!  Score!

TTFN and may your week be bargainful.

A Cheeky Day Out a Deux

Mr J and P and myself had a cheeky day out the other Friday, just the two of us.  We went to Leigh on Sea near Southend on the Essex coast.  It was my idea of a perfect day out actually.  We spent the morning charity shopping, went to a greasy spoon for lunch and then we had a bracing walk along the sea front before driving back home to pick up Little Miss J and P from school.

Visited a glorious 8 charity shops in total.  The stuff we bought, though, came from only two of them.  These were, what I call, traditional type charity shops, ie not a colour coded clothes rail nor a dedicated "retro rack" with hugely inflated prices in sight.

Oh no, I nearly went into a senseless rant then.  I'll stop immediately and show you what we got. 

Mr J and P spotted this little beaut for me.  I thought to myself, the last thing I need is another basket.  However, I quickly changed my mind when I discovered it was only 60p.  How could I leave it behind?

Plus it came in handy carrying around our subsequent purchases.  Old hangers 20p each.

Not very exciting I know, but I do like a proper wooden hanger don't you?

Two wooden-handled kitchen utensils for 75p.  I thought I might start a collection of these old utensils and display them in our kitchen (just in case there are any readers out there who were unaware but I'm a mad collector and terrible hoarder of almost anything) .  Problem is they are few and far between these days.  I'll let you know how I get on. (My tea towel collecting - see here-  has been seriously curtailed as I've not seen one in a charity shop for months).

I find myself having to buy crocheted granny blankets whenever I see them.  The colours are so bright and cheerful.  I got this one for £3.50:

While I'm at it, I thought I'd show you this stripey one I bought some time ago only because it looks so jolly on Little Miss J and P's bed with its candy stripe pillow case.



Stripeyliciousness


I'm rather hysterical about this delicious red pom pom trimming that I bought from a fabulous fabric and haberdasher's in Leigh.  Even Mr J and P was impressed with the stunning array of fabrics, buttons, ribbons and wool.  Such shops, rather like teatowels and wooden handled kitchen utensils, are thin on the ground are they not?  Unfortunately, no pics to show as we didn't take our camera.

Hornsea Summertime pottery both for £2.  The first is a little jug which was used for oil or vinegar? I'm not quite sure.  The second was probably a salt pot but has lost its lid - which is fine because it now houses a set of chalks for our new chalkboard in the kitchen.

A retro step too far

I'm a keen fan of the colour combo:  yellow, brown and orange.  Soooo deliciously 70s.  Anyway, I recently crocheted a cushion cover in those colours.  Dear readers, I have a feeling that it wasn't my finest hour.  Do you want to see it?  Are you sure?  Here goes:

What was that, dear readers? You can't see it properly from that distance?  You want a close-up?  OK then, here it is.  Don't all guffaw at once.

It's nothing if not eye-catching!

I've even backed it with a 70s floral sheet like so:

It's retro gone mad isn't it? 

I think what it needs is a little companion - another knitted or crocheted cushion cover, in different colours, just to set it off as it's looking a little lonely on its ownsome on our bed.  Mr J and P thinks that what it needs is to be unravelled.  Cheeky blighter.  On second thoughts, he might have a point........

Well, I've decided to ignore Mr J and P's opinion and I'll be posting my latest creation on Annie's Monthly Makes group for February.  Here's hoping that I won't be drummed out of the group for bad taste!

Au revoir. xx

A floral frenzy

A floral theme today, dear readers.  The lovely Sarah from Modern Country Style is having a garden party today and has invited fellow bloggers to post their pics of flowers. 

Sadly, there is not one real flower to be had at J and P Towers today (very remiss of Mr J and P not to buy me any).  So, instead, this is what I've found:

Lovely Rosali duvet cover from Ikea.  Scrummy, n'est pas?

I love this painting in our bedroom.  It's entitled La Fenetre a La Goulette by Albert Marquet.  I like to lie in bed gazing at it and imagining that it is really the view out of our bedroom window.  Sigh.........

More roses, this time on a Cath Kidston oil cloth adorning our dining table:

A sketch of a lily by Little Miss J and P:

Another flower daubing by Little Miss J and P when she was very little:

A detail of a vintage silk scarf which I've made into a ....you guessed it......a cushion cover:

Flowers on a tea cup.  It's a Midwinter and the design is "Sunglow":

Flowers on a vase.  It's New Devon pottery (50p from a jumble sale):

Flower fairy lights adorning our mirror in the hall:

Beautiful pics of roses from The Concise Handbook of Roses published in 1966.  Another jumble sale buy.

Even more roses.  Great Grandmama J and P (aka Gladys) was a dab hand at painting flowers.  Roses were her speciality.

Not bad eh for someone who took up painting in her sixties!

Another tray to add to the collection:

Why don't you pop over to Sarah's and feast your eyes on some more floral delights!

The Winner Takes It All

Or rather, we have THREE winners of the Jumbles and Pompoms Vintage Tat Treasures Giveaway.  Whoop!  Whoop!

Little Ms J and P and I carefully wrote out all the entrants on slips of paper and three lovely winners were picked out of a vintage jar.

Little Miss J and P, eyes closed, picking names from a jar

Vintage Tea Time wins the Paperchase goodies:

Rachael (spelled correctly this time) @ CleverCheshireCats wins the books:

And finally:

Dawn, aka Country Girl @ Life on the East Coast wins my old tat  this charming selection of vintage goodies:

Ladies, plse email me with your address so that I can send your prizes off to you.

Thank you everybody for entering my first giveaway.  It was soooo much fun!

One last thing.  I'm taking part in Sarah from Modern Country Style's garden party on Weds.  See the button on the side.  Why don't you come too?