Sunday 10 July 2011

Raiding Grandma's attic

I spent last weekend at my in-laws', and in addition to eating my own bodyweight in ginger creams and helping myself to books from their extensive collection, I was able to make the car heavier on the way home for another reason as well.  My mother in law Carole had been sorting out their attic, and found a load of crafting supplies belonging to my father in law's late mum. Would I like to take a look? Obviously I didn't need asking twice, and clambered eagerly up the wooden ladder to the loft (they live in the most gorgeous art deco house) where I found these.


Ooh, tins!

Grandma had been a keen maker of mosaic pictures and was obviously quite the magpie. In addition to  pieces of tile and broken pottery, the tins (and some less attractive dusty tupperware) were full to the brim with buttons, millefiore glass, shells, coloured fish tank type pebbles, broken jewellery, pieces of smashed headlight...basically anything pretty or sparkly.



Buttons, earrings and...shards of broken glass. Yay!

My husband found me an hour later, happily stirring through the contents with a stick. I don't know when I'm likely to make a mosaic (although I do love Parc Güell in Barcelona. Why think small eh?) one of the broken turquoise and silver clip-on earrings in the photo above has already become a ring. And look at the tins! Aren't they lovely?  

Quality Street tins like what they used to be

Under sea biscuit tin


One of my best friends lives in Moscow, I miss her

Broken earring re-purposed

Carole also has an extensive wardrobe, and very kindly gave me her favourite skirt from back in the 80s. I'll blog that later on, but suffice to say zebra print and lace feature prominently. [Yes, it looks better than it sounds].
Lakota x

PS. Have you seen my Facebook page? Or come and see me try - and usually fail - to condense my wittering into 140 characters on Twitter. I'd love it if you said hello.

Linking up to Flea Market Finds
Magpie Monday
Thrift Share Monday

64 comments:

  1. Love the tins - contents are great too!
    Liz

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  2. oh who needs a flea market or a car boot when you have a MiL like yours, lucky girl♥

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  3. tins are gorgeous! i do love my quality street!

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  4. Wow, I'd still be up the attic now. Gorgeous ring, get that Etsy shop OPEN!

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  5. So they're your mother in law's father in law's mother's? Three generations above you? How OLD must it all be?! You're a lucky girl! x

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  6. I'm in love with that moscow tin-I wonder what came in it originally, caviar?!!!

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  7. No, her husband's mother's. He's in his 70s but I believe his mum was pretty elderly when she died. There's also an ancient steamer trunk up there which I may convince them to let me clean up, it's pretty filthy.

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  8. absolutely love the tins and the reproduced earring is so pretty :) it's such a nice thing to explore someone else's attic, isn't it?

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  9. oh wow, i love those tins especially the under the sea and the moskow ones! the turquoise stone that you made into a ring is so gorgeous! it even stood out among other broken pieces of jewellery/buttons, love it!! i know what u mean about twitter with 140chars, that's why i dont use it much hehe..xx Susan

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  10. Awwww lovely treasures in old tins - my favourite! ... :0)

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  11. How lovely - the finds are even nicer as they have a family connection. I am sure she would be thrilled that you are using them.

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  12. Oh Lakota you lucky lady you!! That would be like something in a dream for me I love it all even the mosaics (you must try it one day its addictive tho) I adore that tin with the bright pink lady and the seashell one.I hope you get some more treasures there soon.xxx

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  13. Oh Lakota you lucky ducky! What a glorious stash of treasures! I frequently lament the lack of tins like they used to make for toffees, chocolates and biscuits etc....what is wrong with the people who design them today?? **sighh Have fun thinking about what to do with the mosiac jetsam and flotsam! :)

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  14. Oh my you struck oil in the attic! Beautiful , beautiful finds.

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  15. So pleased you enjoyed exploring our attic - Halva is a middle eastern sweet, very sticky and crumbly and very calorific as it's traditionally full of nuts, honey and sesame seeds. Love Carole xxx

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  16. oh my - its like a pirate's treasure chest! i'm a little green over here! i am hopefully making going to open my own twitter account asap and then i will tweet away to you. x

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  17. That pink and white quality street tin,thats the exact one my mum kept all her buttons in when I was tiny! Love the Moskow one too, but cant wait to see the results of your wardrobe raid!

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  18. Yeah Miss Ginger's spot on - treasure chest! Wonderful things - I love the Quality Street tins - I have a couple too, filled with buttons - that I got in an auction job lot. They are great.

    You should sell those rings you make - they are lovely, you old clever clogs! :)

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  19. I love love love that Moscow tin and the Under the Sea one too Scarlett. How fun, to go fossicking for treasures in your MIL's attic. Can't wait to see skirt...I have been buying lots of vintage clothes lately and I have an 80's party to go to soon, so it might give me some ideas about what to wear xxx

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  20. OMG that is the second time in as many days I've got someone's name wrong Lakota! And both very special someones too. Forgive me Lakota. Please. I'll blame it on the wine! xxx

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  21. My favourite is the under the sea tin and the turquoise re-purposed earring/ring is gorgeous too.

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  22. My favourite is the under the sea tin and the turquoise re-purposed earring/ring is gorgeous too.

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  23. Treasure trove indeed. Isn't it fun stirring through button tins?
    Love from Mum
    xx

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  24. I like the collection of old buttons and the old tins..what finds! I think the ring is really pretty..a great way of re-using a broken earring. Very nice blog :)

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  25. Aren't Nanna's places just full of undiscovered forgotten treasures? My Nanna used to have a shed and you never knew what you would find. She thought it was old junk, but I treasure the handful of things I kept from back then.

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  26. Oh digging in an attic full of treasures sounds like soo much fun.

    I can't wait so see what mosaic pieces you might put together.

    Love the ring!!!

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  27. How marvellous! What lovely treasures.
    Love the ring.xxx

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  28. oh my... what a treasure trove of crafty goodness! I loved the part where your hubs came up to find you an HOUR later to find you still poking around... haha! I especially love the Moskow tin, it has such wonderful graphics.

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  29. I actually collect vintage tins, what a stash to find! And good job on the ring, you'll have to make loads of gorgeous buttons rings too now! xxx

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  30. I love vintage tins and those are a really gorgeous collection especially that Moscow one.
    I'm in love with your refashioned earring ring, what a beauty. x

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  31. Aaah lucky you! The tins are amazing, Quality Street def needs a revamp back in time! :)

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  32. Lovely tins and what a fab stash of crafting goodies. Its amazing what you can find at the in-laws, isn't it?

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  33. OMG that would have been my idea of heaven rooting through all that. Beautiful tins too!

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  34. Thank you. I now have visions of a little red crab singing "Unda the sea.. unda the sea.." in my head! The tin is divine!

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  35. ooooh tins and craft goodies - love it! Scarlett x

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  36. TINS! And shiny, shiny things. I have definite magpie tendencies so I'd have been in heaven too. If you're not in a mosaicy mood, could you just tip the contents into a big glass bowl and put it out on display? Or is that not a good idea with kids in the house?

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  37. No matter the temperature a trip to the attic always sounds exciting.
    What a fun find in all the bits and bobs and broken glass.

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  38. Ohhh I can't get enough of tins!! The older the better!!

    Those are some serious stashes of buttons and glass/porcelain shards! Perfect time to look for some adhesive and try mosaics!! I'm loving the re-purposed ring too - turquoise and silver, lush :-)

    Jem xXx

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  39. I have a couple old quality street tins too! They were so much better back then!

    The underwater biscuit tin is absolutely phenomenal! How utterly stunning! That is such a find and how nice of your in laws to give it to you!

    My boyfriend is always telling me about the stuff his mum has tucked out of sight.. I wish she'd let me have a rummage!

    Love the ring! xxx

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  40. ooohh...love the tins. I'm a hoarder of tins. Yet to find vintage ones at the thrift stores. The mosaic pieces are beautiful finds, you'll be lovely just displaying them in a vase. The buttons are precious.


    love~mongs
    mythriftycloset.blogspot.com

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  41. the undersea biscuit tin is a stunner though... and no thanks, the pat butcher earrings... ha ha ha.... n♥

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  42. So amazing, and it's great to have a family connection to those items.

    My mom has a very similar Quality Street tin to hold her sewing kits. We loved it as kids and I always feel warm and fuzzy when I see it.

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  43. The Moscow Halva tin is my very favourite, but would love to have been in the attic with you sorting through the contents. I might show your post to my 'minimalist' OH to show him why you should keep some things in the attic!

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  44. I have a thing about containers so I love the tins and I am sure I remember those Quality Street ones from childhood Christmases. Love the sea one too lots.
    Just glad my little crafting girl did not find all those bits and pieces. She is good at crafting but not the tidying up afterwards bit

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  45. Only an hour poking with a stick? Bet if he'd left you to if you'd still be there weeks later.

    Heavenly!

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  46. Oh the buttons! Oh the boxes! Oh the broken bits! What trasures -- and I love calling someone a magpie as opposed to the term here in the US - A packrat. I am officially changing my designation bye bye rat, hello magpie.

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  47. Hi Lakota, I love the last person's comment 'A Packrat' crikey I have never heard that saying before! The tins are amazing and even better that they are filled with buttons and treasures. We went to Parc Guelle in Barcelona last year and fell in love with it. I even brought one of the Spanish busking bands CDs to remind me of the place. Bx

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  48. OMG, tins AND buttons! Two of my utmost favourite things. Oh, are your going to give mosaicing a try? I've always thought it would be a therapeutic thing to do.

    Love your ring,you clever thing (that rhymes). xx

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  49. What wonderful finds. I remember seeing Quality Street tins like that at Christmas when I was little in the 1960s. Love the undersea biscuit tin too.

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  50. oooh, great tins - we had one when I was little with Lego in it!
    Thanks for your kind comment on my blog!

    BH x

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  51. Great finds as usual. Love those vintage tins.

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  52. Ooooh jealous! Am dying to try mosaicing!

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  53. Those tins really are lovely! Whenever I'm sorting out a problem in my head I open a large jar of vintage buttons and just paw through them and sort them all by color, shape, etc. It's just so relaxing and for some reason helps me organize my thoughts (and the buttons). I can totally picture you with your stick and a tin of miniature treasures. Your ring is to-die-for. Love it.

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  54. Wow!! Those tins are simply amazing! I think the seashell one is my favorite!

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  55. Lucky, lucky YOU! I can imagine great mosaic garden art being made with all those bits and bobs.

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  56. Fantastic repurposing of that earring...it looks absolutely smashing as a ring!

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  57. I've got one of those Quality Street tins under my bed, I filled it up with random bits when I was a little girl and I haven't got the heart to empty it.

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  58. we used to have those Quality street tins... mum used to keep cake in them. Yum yum!

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  59. wow, I love tins and buttons. great idea on the ring amor.

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  60. Gorgeous tins. If i keep my current (new) Quality Street tin maybe it will be an antique by the time Flo is old enough to thrift. I told you about the rip-off one at the boot? Shame as it was pretty. So nice that you have something from the family though!

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  61. What a lovely post, love rummaging through other people's treasures, also love a bit of mosaic. That ring is gorgeous btw! x

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