R.I.P Tesco Value

Hurray! No longer will our cupboards be stocked with the obvious cheapness of Tesco's blue and white stripped Value range. Instead, a new modern range of Everyday Value has been brought in, rebranded and repackaged.

The new packaging looks so much better on my shelves, I am defiantly a fan. Plus, this innovative change has upgraded the products as well as the packaging. The orange squash now contains 10% more fruit juice and the fish fingers contain 100% fillet of fish. Winning!
So long Tesco Value range, you have reached your sell by date.

Thrifty Inspiration

We recently held my 29th [ahem] birthday party in our new home. Friends seemed [and rightly so!] to be gushing about our house renovation and quirky furniture, decorations and objects about the house. Moreover, I was looking through a close friends' photos of the party and they were mainly of items in the house! More house pictures to follow in later articles.

People constantly ask where I get my unique and thrifty inspiration from, and the answer is from many sources.

The 'make do and mend' mentality comes from my family. During the war, clothes were rationed just like everything else. I remember my Gran telling me about unwanted jumpers which were unravelled and knitted into something else, or just like Julie Andrews in 'The Sound of Music' old curtains were cut up to make skirts and dresses. This obviously past down to my mum because when my brother and I were little she made all our clothes, and has brought me up to make my own soft furnishings, not to buy them.

Maria made clothes out of curtains - very make do and mend!

My love of salvage was probably first inspired by dad who was a dustman in the 1970's. During a house clearance he managed to salvage a pair of beautiful Ercol chairs, that are still to this day, in their kitchen. Later, as elderly relatives died and I inherited old furniture and stunning pieces like cut glass perfume bottles, I really began to favour the old over the new. Something about my things having a bit of history about them, excites me.

My parents salvaged chairs.

Other than that, I've always read a lot of house and interior magazines, I check out other people homes quite a lot on Right Move (maybe I should become an estate agent?) and I spend many a weekend scouring charity shops, car boot sales, flea markets and antique shops looking for the perfect items for our home.

Freebies: Free Hugo Boss 3D Glasses

Let's face it, we all love free stuff. It gives you that wonderous feeling of getting an utter bargain, even if you don't really want the item in question in the first place.

I quite often encounter free give-aways, so figure why not make them available to my lovely Thrift-Queen readers. Today, for example, I stumbled across a pair of FREE limited edition Hugo Boss 3D glasses. Handy, if that's what floats your boat.

I have already ordered some, because you never know. Just Click Here to fill in your details on their page. Available as long as stocks last.

Handmade 2012: Kids Detective Box

WANTED: An easy, cheap and fun handmade kids present.

Why not make a detective kit. All young children love to play spy, so help fuel their imagination with this simple and thrifty box of goodies.

ideas of items to include

Here are some photo's of the contents of the detective box:

outline Chalks, cotton bud [swab sticks], finger print ink pads and binoculars

I made a secret storage book by carving out the inside of an old boring history book. 

finger print lifting kit - corn flour in a travel size make-up pot, a make-up  'dusting' brush and some sellotape for lifting the prints.

all good detective's must carry a notepad