Nifty Thrifty Tuesday - Vacation Finds

We enjoyed 10 fun-filled days in Europe on our vacation.  Four were spent in and around London and Cambridge, three in Paris and three in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Luckily my friend Paula and I found some time in that schedule to travel to London to shop on Portobello Road.  

(Portobello road has been a market since the 1800's but became famous for its antiques in the 1950's. On weekends you can find the street lined with stalls offering everything from antiques to clothes, jewelry, ceramics, music and food.) 

After a 45 minute train ride from Cambridge to London and two subway transfers from the train station to our destination, Paula and I arrived at our stop for a full day of shopping.

It didn't take long to figure out where we were going once we got off the subway.....we just followed the HUGE crowds!  The crowds on the street on a Saturday during the height of tourist season are not for the faint of heart.  It was very hot and very busy but that didn't dampen our enthusiasm for hunting for some nifty, thrifty treasures to bring home.  Since I did have some luggage constraints to consider, I had to be selective about my purchases.  No big pieces to try and stuff into my suitcase! 

One of the first places we stopped was at this table of costume jewelry.  Piles of rhinestones! 

I came home with these two pieces.  I'm not exactly sure how I will use them but I think they'll be incorporated into a couple of new jewelry pieces. 

I fell in love with this store, Alice's.  They had some wonderful items inside but they did not allow photography. 

Inside Alice's I found this old apothecary bottle and knew it would be a great addition to my collection.  At the cost of 5 pounds I thought it was a good price so it came home with me.  

                         

I found an outside vendor selling silver pieces.  In one box he had several pieces priced at 2 pounds apiece.  I picked out these five.  I've got some projects in mind for these that I'll post about later.

There were lots of vendors selling scarves.  The vendor where I bought this scarf had a sign that read "Vintage lace scarves".  Nice try with the "Made in China" label but I thought the scarf was pretty and I loved the flower detail so this made it's way home too. 

I have been wanting a cross for my silver chain and I found this lacy, silver cross that I was told was made in the 1930's.  There's no way of really knowing but I thought it was a pretty piece for the price of 10 pounds. 

I love old keys so I was very happy to find a gentleman selling old clock keys.  He was very sweet and told me how he cleaned all the keys before he brought them to market.  I got these for 1 pound apiece. 

As many of you know, I collect a lot of things.  I was very excited to find these two vintage hand mirrors to add to my growing collection.  They are going to be hung in my guest bathroom with the other 15 I own. 

I couldn't pass on these neat old Lexicon cards.  The lettered cards will be fun to use in art projects.  I think I'm going to frame the "E" card and add it to my wall of "E"s (another collection of mine). 

And last but not least....a fun, pink vintage clock to add to my clock collection.  I already have this on the shelf with all of my other vintage clocks. 

Wow.....I didn't think I bought that much until I wrote this post!  It was a fun day of shopping for my own kind of London souvenirs.

I'm linking with Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.  Head over to Linda's blog to check out all of the thrifty finds.

Jane