Thrifty Sunday /20

Thrifting is awesome and I'm so lucky to have a bunch of great thrift shops in my area :)

Definitely still on that home beautification kick so this book was a fun read!

I see a lot of crochet blankets at thrift store but this one has the most beautiful bright colours - instant love and I think it was $2 which kind of makes me cry when I think about the materials + the skill and effort involved to make this!

Some vintage snoopy paper I found at the tip shop (of all places!)
btw penpal writing is something I've been really slack on - apologies letter friends!

Adding to my big things collection, a pin of the big rocking horse in South Australia :)

I'm only a tenth of the way into this book but so far I'm loving it. Reducing waste is an area I really want to improve upon and hopefully this book gives me a good kick up the butt!

A letter holder for my desk :)

And lucky last an expo 88 mug (you all know my love for anything expo 88 related!)

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Snail Mail /9

This parcel was a super lovely surprise and completely shocked me with its crazy contents - big super thanks to Thimble Cat aka Emily :)

You had me at yellow (tissue paper!)

Oh my goodness, pulling everything out was one part exciting, one part overwhelming - is this all for me??? eep!

And the confetti everywhere, just killed me :) (in a good way of course!)

LOOK!!! He he he

I have to say the most special thing was this Big Things planter. I'm pretty obsessed with big things - I have my own blog and facebook page where I document them, so seeing this planter made me so so happy! I only found out that Emily is making other amazing ceramics, with her company Pot Luck Ceramics - eep, isn't that the cutest name - go check them out on insta!

She even stamped my name on the bottom - dies!

On one side is the big pineapple and on the other is the big banana! Such a treasured gift for me!

The mail didn't stop there - check out all these amazing vintage paper goodies

Can you see the photo of those two little girls - I've always wanted a vintage photo but I've never ever seen them whilst thrifting, so I feel very lucky to own one now - their facial expressions are perfect!

Everything was so beautiful - some awesome lettering too!

And holy moly a big pineapple postcard! That's going straight to the pool room (aussie film gag!)

The cutest vintage Christmas deer, pom poms and super cute erasers!

Some perfect Australiana too - gasp!!

And oh my goodness a totoro photo frame - how incredible is that?!!

And ending with this extra wonderful strawberry pom pom Emily made. I've always been fascinated at those fruit Pom Pom tutorials on Pinterest and now I have my very own :) :)

Yup, told you it was a beyond amazing parcel!
Thank-you so much Emily

Emily blogs at thimble cat but you guys should definitely follow her pot luck ceramics on instagram

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Big Things of Oz Collection

Let me introduce you to yet another collection - Big Things memorabilia! Currently in it's early stages and surprisingly not as easy to find as I would of thought its still been fun keeping my eyes peeled whilst op shopping.  Below are its humble beginnings...

A fridge magnet of the Big Koala down in Victoria, which I've sadly haven't seen yet...
#bucketlist

I also stumbled upon this amazing vintage tee, which has secret buttons so you can fold your shirt sleeves up!

I think this shirt is actually what started the collection off.  I love it's colour and illustration of  the Big Gumboot in Tully :) I also decided my Big Things Blog needed a good about photo but I dunno, maybe I should of made Ben take this rather than a tripod :P

I live in the same town as the Big Pineapple and to be honest when I picked up this book I was really disappointed that the words out weighed the photos - I really wanted the book to be filled with huge vintage photos but after reading it I'll happy eat my own words because it's awesome! I read it whilst having my back issues and every five minutes would yell out to Ben an exciting fact that popped up through the pages. The Big Pineapple or should I say, Sunshine Plantation (didn't swap names till 1996) has definitely been on a journey of highs and lows and hopefully it's headed back for another high! Also, did you know Macadamia nuts (another famous product of The Big Pineapple) are the only native Australian plant to hit the international market.  Do you guys eat Macadamia nuts?

I also got this (paper weight?!?) of the Big Banana - if someone knows the name of these tourist items let me know, they seem like they want to be a snow dome but without the snow or dome :p

So, yup, humble beginnings but it's only the start - the hunt is on!

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Big things of NSW

I've been blogging over at my Big things blog but thought it would be fun to compile all the Big Things 
I discovered on our trip down to Port Macquarie, into one post here :)

First up the big prawn! 

 Definitely my favourite big thing so far, it was amazing! Recently it under went a facelift - 400,000 dollars later and he finally has a tail and a new paint job :) Well spent coin in my opinion!

I love it most when people around me get on board with my love of Big things 

They get even more points when they want in on the picture!

This guy is Ben's brother, Paul outside the Big Bowls in Lake Cathie

The Big Banana

or as I like to call it the big overhype :P 

It is one of Australia's most famous big things but honestly I've seen better :p 

(oops maybe that's too harsh!)

Kew's Big Axe

(the very small township of Kew seem to be very proud of this axe, so I better watch my words here :P)

 In a more random direction, just before the big prawn we saw this pineapple at a petrol station.  Definitely one of the more bizarre big things finds as it didn't seem to have any purpose and you could also go inside of it! Whilst the windmill on the right unfortunately has a tragic story attached where the original builder died whilst constructing it :(

Full Disclaimer: I didn't know that fact before posing for the photo so I probably wouldn't of looked so happy

(my faux pas)

 Cunningham's Big Bunch of Bananas

Like the big banana, the big bunch of bananas also lives in Coffs Harbour and unfortunately suffers under it's shadow - I still thought it was cool :)

The Big Knight and the Big Avo

both are adjoined to tourist attractions, Macadamia Nut World and Tropical Fruit World which we unfortunately didn't have time to visit :(

And lucky last the Beehive at Urunga

which we did get to stop in and where I picked myself up some yummy local honey!

I'm not sure if I told you guys but Ben and I are roadtrippin' back to Port on the 20th because Ben's brother (the guy on the motorbike above) is getting married - woohoo, it was a bit of a surprise but I'm super excited to go back, I love road trips! This time we're also taking the inland track down rather than the ocean way so I can photograph a few more big things *looks ridiculous excited*

Oh another happy note, Ben is back, *dances like crazy* woohoo!

(forgive me if this blog turns into a ghost town for a while :P)

Catch you on the flip side!

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Big Things Blog

Having a broken ankle is amazing in so far that it forces you into doing those things you've been avoiding whilst you sit on your butt and let your body do it's recovery thing. One of those things I've been avoiding is compiling a Big Things blog of all my Big Things adventures, turns out despite its time consuming nature it was really fun to put together and will now be easy for me to update.

So here is the link, Big Things of Oz

My ankle by the way, is feeling amazing, two weeks seemed to be the magic time for no longer needing pain tablets every four hours. I'm having a lot of trouble getting into the hospital, so I still don't know if I need an operation or not, I have a feeling by the time they transfer me to a Brisbane hospital it will be time for my cast to come off, which is exciting in itself!

My next project is my cat book, which I've started designing and is keeping me creatively entertained, I've given up on my photo a day challenge and instead have become all consumed by cats!

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