And the Winner is..........

Hi everyone, firstly a big thank you to all who left me a message and entered my giveaway.

Kade did the honours this morning with bleary eyes, selecting one name randomly from the bucket. The lucky winner is:

Lisa @ Simply Me

Congratulations Lisa, please send me your details and the necklace, card and brooch that you would prefer and I will pop them in the post.

T x

St Andrews Anglican Church Braidwood, NSW

St Andrews Anglican church would have to be one of the prettiest churches in Braidwood, and surrounding NSW regions. I took a few photos yesterday while we were visiting my parents, as the church top can bee seen from their cottage and is just a few steps away.

The foundation stone was laid 9th November 1881 and completed mid 1892. The tower was added 1899/1900 and was used as an official lookout during World War II. The church was built using local granite and was designed by Cyril Blacket, an architect and artist. I found a snippet from the Library of NSW:

"Edmund Thomas Blacket, 1817-1883, arrived in Sydney in 1842 and was appointed Valuator to the Bourke Ward of the City of Sydney and inspector of Church of England Schools. In 1849 he was appointed to the office of Colonial Architect and five years later he resigned and was commissioned to design the first buildings for the University of Sydney. Over the next thirty years he ran a very large and successful private practice with a variety of ecclesiastical, residential and commercial work. The firm's name was changed to Blacket and Son in 1880 when Edmund Blacket had his son Cyril, an experienced architect, work with him. He died in 1883 and it was completed by his sons Cyril and Arthur, a surveyor who had no formal training in architecture, under the name of Blacket Bros. "

The church has gargoyles on the tower which is not often seen in many country churches. The gargoyles have open mouths to drain away water from the building and to prevent water running down the stonework.

photo source

photo source

Taken from the Church website :

"St Andrews has a pipe organ with 665 pipes built by Mr W G Rendell (1853-1934), installed and commissioned in 1904 and rebuilt in 1975 by L S Waters of Adelaide. The organ still remains the most original sample of Rendell's work in New South Wales."

I hope you enjoyed the tour. I will feature some more heritage buildings and places soon. Have a lovely week, and don't forget to enter my giveaway! Closes 28th February at 11:59 PM Australia EST.

Tuesday is Code for Treasure Hunting Day!

We are a one car family by choice, and as the Mr and I work within a 10 minute drive from each other it seems to work quite well. Usually I am dropped at work, but as we have plenty of free car parking used solely by our department, and the Mr can rarely get a park these days after 9:00am without having to cross a busy road (the walk of shame he calls it), I have free access to the car at lunchtimes.

As you know, I work very close to the tip (Resource Management Facility); the surrounding op-shops and DFO (Direct Factory Outlet shopping) are just up the road as well, although I prefer not to drive in Fyshwick as it is mayhem (if you live in Canberra you would know).

So as yesterday was Tuesday (my designated Treasure Hunting day with the stamp of approval from the Mr) I decided to drive the other way and hit the op-shops in Fyshwick. The Salvos is a large store with a Bargain Basement underneath, details below:

Fyshwick Salvos Store
15 Mildura Street FYSHWICK ACT 2609
Ph. (02) 6239 0128
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 9am to 4.30pm Sat 9am to 2.30pm





My favourite find was sitting on the counter. A vintage boxed train candle holder cake topper. It still had the original candles inside and an extra little cowboy on his horse. Its hard to see but each cage holds a different circus animal; the one above is a lion.

It doesn't look it from the picture, but it is a large oval mirror, very heavy with original chain. Can't have too many mirrors, although I don't like to look in them. $15






















This cup on first glance looks like nothing special, until you give it a good look. I quizzed the Mr on the way home, I asked him to tell me what he saw. He said the following;

"Hmm....Bone china...made in Germany...early 1900's possibly earlier... souvenir piece."

He is learning after all.

The mug is inscribed Andinkenan Karlsbad and was $10.

Also finding their way home a silver napkin ring engraved 'Best Wishes', a teeny egg cup 'AIB' and the biscuit barrel, although missing its lid. Priced at $6, $1, $20 respectively.

Enjoy your week, and don't forget to enter my giveaway! Closes 28th February at 11:59 PM Australia EST.

A little Giveaway....

Wow, I nearly have 100 followers, and as near enough is good enough for me, I thought it was time for a little giveaway as a token of my appreciation.

THE PRIZE:The prize will include 1 brooch, 1 necklace and 1 card of your choice and few little extras as well.

You can choose between the Grey or White Brooch:

Pearl medal or Gold key necklace:

And either the necklace card or vintage clothes card:

HOW TO ENTER:
1. For 1 entry: leave a comment in this post, it could be .....why you would like to win, what is your favourite category on my blog, what you love to collect, what you would like to see more of....etc.

To increase your chances:

2. For 3 entries: Post about this giveaway on your blog, if you have one and let me know with a followup comment or my email can be found on the sidebar.

This giveaway is open to all readers, you don't have to have your own blog to enter. I will ship worldwide!

The giveaway ends 28th February at 11:59 PM Australia EST. One lucky person will be randomly selected and announced on 29th February (just because its a leap year!).

I have similar items listed in my esty store, and am happy to offer you a 10% discount applied at checkout. Just use the code '100TREASURES'.

Best of luck! T x

Did I Mention Our Home Was Small?

Too small for more thrifted finds but I am selective I swear! Last Friday we headed into town for a bit of op-shopping and a quick trip to the tip shop too. Little did I know that Kade was waiting in the school sick bay all afternoon looking all pale and with a terrible tummy, a mothers comeuppance for leaving the house during school time!

A few of my latest finds include:

Large metal flower frog/spike with free dirt and souvenir bell.

Can you see the wheat etched into the glasses? Super fine vintage glass set in perfect condition, only trouble is I have no cupboard space!



Another eiderdown but it is super ratty, though it doesn't look it. It is missing a lot of the stuffing, so not sure what it will be yet.



The two paintings were half price, not bad at $3.00 each.

I love rummaging around the painting section of the tip shop, you just never know what could be hiding in there. This painting now gives some sort of decorative meaning to my riding hat which is sitting below it.

Last, but not least, Mary found her way home too. She cost a pretty penny, but as they are very hard to find, I would kick myself if I didn't buy her.

Are you using the new blogger interface? What do you think? I can see some positives, but it has been a bit of fiddling around, and its doing all sorts of crazy! Argh!!!! (I've reverted back to the old interface, I just can't get the formatting of my post right).

A bit hello to my newest (and all) followers, its nice to have you on board! Have a wonderful week and a lovely Valentines tomorrow, T x

The Budding Pastry Chef

Hi treasure hunters near and far. Boy it been a busy week, with the kids starting their new school year, and me finally heading back to work. It feels like ages since I posted.

Last weekend our local Show was on, and India and I decided that we should actually enter something this year. Maybe we were inspired by Kirstie's Handmade Britain, but we thought we would bite the bullet as we are always going to, so this year we did!

India entered the decorated cake section for her age, which could not be a packet cake, nor could it incorporate plastic decorations. It was the first time that she was made a cake all on her own, from start to finish. It even came out of the pan better than mine, as mine usually stick.

She decided to make a Lalaloopsy (or Bitty Buttons) face, although I think the judges just thought it was a dead face...as they had a good laugh apparently. She was super chuffed to see that she has won First place the next morning of the show.

I also entered a few photos and won a Highly Commended for my bumble bee that I shot in England, you can see it here.

Here are a few shots of India's winning cake. Thanks for visiting! Enjoy your week and I'll catch up with you all soon!