Next stop? Thriftshop again!

This beautiful lady is Karla's great aunt Caroline who is going to celebrate her 100th birthday this summer. Unbelievable! She has always been a very active lady (well to no ones' surprise, I guess, being a relative of Karla!) who likes handmade things. Now Karla has a great idea; she wants to give her aunt 100 handmade congratulation cards, all made by different people. You can sign up with Karla if you want to make a card for her aunt too. Have you done that? No? Perhaps I can tell you that Karla is giving away a prize to one of the cardmakers. So you'd better hurry otherwise there will be too many participants!

Well, I have told you before that we are going to the thrift shop again! Anja of my new classic home is hosting this thrift shop challenge.
I try to go every now and then to 'Opnieuw en Co' (Again and Company). I do this as an exercise. I go there by bike and I can tell you that it much easier to sustain than the gym. This time you can accompany me.

Here we are at the recycle store. These are stores that are supported by our government. It has three goals; to stimulate recycling, to offer jobs for those who face difficulties to find jobs and to offer goods to a group that hasn't got a lot to spend at reasonable prices. This is very important to know when being in doubt whether you should buy or not. Let's go inside!

This is a large store. There is a book department, clothes, glass, tv's, you name it. Part of the exercise is checking every corner. Well what do we have here:

An old suitcase, complete with old hotel labels....

Close up.
Why don't we use these labels anymore? Can anybody tell me why a lot of fun things just disappear?
And then my eye catches another suitcase:


Heavy! Inside is:



I know that there are typewriters with better keys. But this one is a classic, no sans serif. It functions and it's decorative and Marja has said when in doubt: Buy! And that is exactly what I have done, as you might have seen in the previous post. But I do recommend thinking before buying:

It was a good thing that I didn't buy both suitcases..Thank you Mr. Postman for holding my bike.
And there was more:

I was so happy to find this. About a 100 years old, poor condition but

It's tiny! And rare and expensive at antique stores. Even in this condition you pay about 15 euro, if you can find one, so it was a steal at 50 cents, though you probably would have left it, haha, one girls' trash is another girls' treasure.

Another treasure?

Yes indeed!

What about this book, a collectors guide on garden gnomes (translation I give you a garden gnome)? I have a friend, who hates those gnomes. He revamped his garden into a beautiful classic herb garden. When his work was finished his parents came over with two hideous garden gnomes for their grandchildren, who were thrilled. So these gnomes were in the garden spoiling the look my friend had so carefully planned. It became a running gag. So when my friend was walking in Switzerland last year, he unpacked his rucksack and discovered that someone had put a garden gnome in it, that had to accompany him in the mountains...My friend suspected me. Why? Mmm somebody tell me!
But I couldn't leave this book and I have sent it to him for his birthday and he has finally decided to give up his restraint and promised me to start a collection of garden gnomes, which was a very good idea, because I also have bought the first very mean gnome of his collection here:



And of course I had a few small things that went in the 'trunk' on its way to Germany today. It was mailing day. The trunks made for Heather's Junque in your trunk swap had to be mailed today. I don't show too much Carol...
In the mean time I'm going to take part in a new swap:

This is going to be so much fun too. Until April 18th you can sign up on Beth's blog 'Gathering Dust' of course you can find all information here too.

Sometimes I wonder what was I doing all day before blogging?