Sunshine in my shadows

Welcome to sunshine in my shadows. This blog is my space to share all the stuff that makes up my every day life. Family, friends, crafts, recipes, books and all the little things that add 'sunshine to my shadows'. We all have a sprinkling of sunshine and an equal sprinkling of shadows in our lives. Hopefully you will find more sunshine than shadows to read about here and on the days when shadows fall, know that the sunshine is peeking just around the corner!


Copyright allthingschristmas.com

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Just like the pied piper....

After 'mortgaging my house' to the scrapbooking shop yesterday I found the nearby op shop a calling to me! I was helpless to resist of course. This particular op shop is a little further afield than my usual but whenever close by I like to call in as they usually have some good books if nothing else.
Yesterday was no exception.
The first book to catch my eye was this lovely old Reader's Digest gardening book. Although tatty around the edges I was thrilled by the slipcover. When I saw the price of $1 that sealed the deal.
The book is filled with lovely old illustrations like this page pictured above.

Next to catch my eye was this old version of Arabian Nights. One peek at the flyleaf pages and I just had to bring it home with me!
A bargain for $2 and the whole book has pictures like this right throughout.
Next to catch my eye was a couple of Enid Blyton books, one of which has a lovely dustjacket. They were $2 each.

Then I found two wonderful vintage children's storybooks that just had to come home with me!
This one is filled with funny little ryhmes and the other ...well one look at the cover and I was in love with it.
I ended up paying $1 each for these treasures! The one with the little girl in red on it was perfect and had a $5 sticker on it (I would have paid the $5). When the man at the counter was sorting through my little pile of things he looked at it and said "That's not right, that's not one of ours, we don't use stickers" and to my horror he pulled the sticker off (tearing a piece of the cover in the process...he tore a strip right off). I could have cried! However for $1 I wasn't going to complain.  He was a little rough and actually damaged another of my purchases as well but I decided to buy it anyway. (explanation to follow)
The last bookish bargains I got were a small bundle of Little Golden Books for 50 cents each. I found some classics like Eloise Wilkin's Mother Goose, Tootle, Bambi, Handsel & gretel and a couple of others to add to my small collection.
I don't often buy things that hang on walls as we have very little free wall space in our home (too many bookshelves LOL) but this little plaque was calling my name and at $1 I wasn't going to leave it behind. It is made of tin and covered with some kind of plastic?
I love the little poem and that is the sunshine glaring on the photo not a camera flash! I took this pic outside this morning. The man behind the counter was a bit rough I mentioned earlier, well he was sliding my purchases around on the counter and he must have slid this little tin plaque over the top of my final purchase because it was perfect when I picked it up and when I sat it on the counter. When he was packing I noticed some damage to the foil. *sad face I think the corners of the tin plaque on the back must have rubbed against the face of the foil picture.

I'm not sure when these foil pictures were popular. 1950s? Later? I fell in love with the fairies in this one anyhow. I think I've done all the op shopping my purse can bear this week.......but you never know, that 'calling' is very strong!

wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen

8 comments:

  1. Oh Helen what wonderful books.I do hate it when they put stickers on the covers and or they put prices in pen gets me a tad shirty!!
    He obviously has no respsct for vintage that fella.
    The liitle plaque is so sweet and the foil pic is very cute.Shame he was a rought nut tho.
    Those type of pics had a resurgence in the 90s I believe as I bought some new for my kids.But who knows yours could be older. xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful buys there Helen - I have stayed away from the Op Shop lately because it is just too dangerous to my purse.

    Love and hugs,
    Linda.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have to say I prefer it when woman are behind the counters at op shops. They know how to be gentle with breakables!

    My purse is not happy with the amount I have been spending at op shops lately either.....

    E :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. good finds, and I too am a hater of stickers and texta prices!grrrrrrrrr..... a nice HB pencil works just as well and rubs out with ease. I found a wonderful stash of vintage knitting patterns when I went out with fellow blogger, Gina, yesterday♥

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh you do find the very BEST books! I love the children's rhyme book.
    Thanks for sharing.
    I had to chuckle when I saw your Christmas countdown!
    Love, Lady Linda

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great books! You know I am getting a bit sick and tired of op-shops and their stickers. The ones around here are charging antique shop prices and shoving stickers on the items without a care. They must realise that a high price demands respect for the item. However they are just being greedy, shoving a high price on and giving no respect or acknowledgement to its importance. Oooh I could go on forever!

    ReplyDelete
  7. How annoying! What a shame to be so reckless with your lovely finds. I've also had sticker issues.

    I just love vintage childrens books and you've found some beauties.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nelly oh yes I hate prices written on in texta even more than I hate stickers. They could at least stick them on the back or somewhere unobtrusive.

    Linda that's funny my op shops seem to be really bad for my purse too...must be some kind of op shop bug LOL

    Em now I have this visual of all these purses with little frowns on hehe!

    Lyndel yes pencil is the best! I read about your day out with Gina. Glad you ladies had a nice day out and well done on the knitting patterns.

    Lady Linda I have always loved childrens books and started collecting when I was quite young. I have developed a keen eye for finding them at op shops etc. The really vintage ones are getting harder to come by now.Christmas is another of my obsessions thus the early countdown lol.

    LOL Nick it seems that my op shops are taking advantage of the fact that vintage is 'in' too. Prices seem to have skyrocketed in recent times in my opinion at least.Almost a blog post right there ;)

    Thanks Alison I always look out for children's book, big kid that I am lol. (My children are almost 15 and 19 so I can't use them as an excuse)

    ReplyDelete