Pin's Purchases: God Save The Queen

I have had a rather happy few weeks buying all the Royal memorabilia that I can get my hands on. So far I have added a lovely notepad, a great pin tin and an amazing cupcake set to my collection.

These are the cupcake toppers, I'm not convinced they're going to look great, really I'd rather have some photos of the queen's face like last year's royal wedding rice paper photos. I'm totally impressed with the set though- Poundland wins again!

I think my notepad makes up for the cake topper disappointment. I can't decide what to use it for though; a sewing journal perhaps?

 I also HAD to photograph my most exciting purchase EVER....my grad ball ticket(s). Beautiful. Do you think I can wear a crown and a nice sash to the ball? Perhaps take along a jewelled Orb to compliment my outfit? Perhaps not.

In other news, my dad brought me up a cup of tea the other day and announced,

"I'm afraid Charles and Diana have had an accident."

Clearly this was slightly confusing, however, it transpired that he had DROPPED MY FAVOURITE WILL AND KATE MUG. I'm not sure what was more tragic, the loss of my beloved cup or my father's inability to distinguish between Charles and William.

P.S- I say 'favourite Will and Kate mug'. I mean 'only Will  and Kate mug'. Honest.

Pin's Purchases: Buttons

Today I dragged my poor Father into the Barras. This time I wanted a forage in the actual market. For those of you (Tori) who are not familiar with the infamous market, it's in the east end of Glasgow. In its heyday it was packed and a great place for a bargain. I remember visiting as a child and being in awe of the stallholder's Glasgae patter. Sadly, it is no longer what it was, bits of it are now more akin to the late Paddy's Market than anything else.

Anyway, there were a few good stalls to be found, (after my dad dragged me away from the 'Mulberry' handbags, I didn't know they did a PU range...) one of which sold some rather awesome buttons. 

I'm a bit of a button fiend. I was reading a post the other day over at Tilly and the Buttons about 'satisficers' and 'maximisers' and I was convinced that I'm a 'maximiser'. This may be true, but I think I'm also a third option...a 'hoarder'. If I see a button which I think is pretty then I will buy it(and can never bring myself to use it). It doesn't matter if I have nothing to go with it, I will buy it (ok a set of them...) anyway. My obsession even extends as far as buying random buttons from Ebay- as in a lot of 100 which again go with nothing I'm sewing...

My love for buttons stems back to the days of my Mum knitting me beautiful mohair cardigans with shiny heart buttons on. I LOVED those buttons, so much in fact that I still have one 20 years on. I also have kept a gorgeous button I found in my Gran's button tin after she died; its a really nice pink with silver detailing that I can't bring myself to use because its so pretty.

ANYWAY, today I bought some really nice buttons...just because I liked them. In the Barras. See, I knew this post would make sense eventually! So without any further ado...the buttons from the Barras...                                                  

 I think I might use these beauties (left) for the front of my dress.

Or maybe these lovelies (right). I'm a little bit of a Magpie...

 These are my favourites (£1 for ten, amazing!) but I haven't got a clue what I'll use them for (left)

 Oooh, or I could use these ones for my dress? Or perhaps the skirt I'm making?(right) 

 We chose these ones for my Mum because she knits lots of Aran cardigans. (left) 

Any advice on places to find buttons (or button donations!) would be much appreciated!

Come away with me

There is possibly nothing, nothing, as wonderful as a charity shop find. For me this find came in the form of two beautiful old suitcases. 

Now, if there is one thing I know nothing about...then it is suitcases. I have no idea how old, or how young, these babies are. I don't even have a clue what they're made of (plastic? But not hard plastic- is that a real thing?) and I have no clue what I'm going to do with them.

There's a bit of a story behind them. I saw them on Thursday morning, lying in the charity shop with their ridiculous price tags on them (the wee one was £3 and the bigger one was £2). I had a look around them, picked them up, put the overnight case over my shoulder to see how it looked. Then I made the fundamental error.  

Reader, I walked away.

My thought process being that I had no room for them and no use for them. 

Anyway, I got home and realised how silly it was not to buy them, I could use them for all kinds of stuff, I take the train down to England quite a bit and one of these would be the perfect size for a weekend visit. Or I could keep my craft supplies in it. Or I could decopatch it and use it to store my cushions in. Or I could photograph my cushions in it. Or or or. 

I went back the next day. It was Good Friday. And it was shut....

I was more preoccupied with my suitcases than my Easter Eggs over the weekend, but thankfully my Dad drove me down on Tuesday and they were still there!

So that's my sad little story of how they came to be mine. I'm still not sure what to do with them, I'm leaning towards painting the little one and using it for trips. Or maybe I should use the big one for trips. Or maybe I'll cover them in some sort of fabric (not sure how I'll do this...) or maybe I'll decopatch them both using the Complete Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson. (Bad English student)

Any ideas for me?