Car Boot Sales, Flea Markets and Charity Shops - My Thrifty Wardrobe

A wee post about some of my favourite secondhand gems

I love clothes. And accessories. Handbags make me happy. Hair flowers make me smile. Summer dresses, winter woolies, sun hats or fluffy gloves - I love shopping and every season throws up endless possibilities to mix and match - tights, skirts, warm cardigans, cosy knits, little floral dresses and an ever-changing rainbow of hair flowers and head scarves.

At Vintage Nation - Sourpuss bag, Collectif shorts, T.U.K shoes and Gypsy top 50p from car boot sale

What I don't have, however is a huge budget. Not even a big budget. Nope, I don't even have a medium-sized budget for clothes shopping. 

Most of my money is spent on my fabulously fun toddler and family activities - which is exactly how I like it. But I still manage to refresh my wardrobe and dress in my rockabilly/pinup/vintage style, with something 'new' almost every month.

Because although I love shopping, I generally avoid the high street and instead, I find some cracking pieces by hitting Edinburgh's fantastic array of secondhand treasure troves.

Lovely vintage dress. £3 from the Edinburgh Flea Market. It was half-altered when I bought it & held together with pins!

I'm not going to lie - I have ALWAYS shopped at vintage fairs and charity shops. Even when I was earning a great wage, I mixed expensive brands with thrifted £2 tops and cute secondhand dresses. Nothing beats a good rummage at a vintage event or car boot sale for me and knowing that I've stumbled upon a little gem - a pretty belt or a sweet bracelet that's not available on the high street makes picking a pair of earrings off the shelf in Claire's seem boring in comparison.

Handbags - £1 each from a charity shop £1 Outlet

Now - my wardrobe isn't filled with only vintage items - I have a lovely collection of Hell Bunny dresses, Collectif skirts, Banned cardigans and gorgeous pieces from my other favourite brands, Miss Fortune and Lindy Bop. My favourie brand of shoes is T.U.K and I do like a bit of H&M and Primark for basics. 

But rifle through my wardrobe and you're guaranteed to pull out something adorable and I'll gleefully tell you "That cost me 50 pence at a car boot sale!"

Cherry print ribbon 10p, Faux pearl earrings 50p for 2 pairs & vintage faux pearl bracelet 10p. 10p!!!!

Cute gypsy top £1 from a car boot sale

Edinburgh has hundreds of fabulous vintage, preloved, thrifty places to shop - I've been visiting Armstrong's in the Grassmarket for many years and there are three branches in Edinburgh. Greenside Omni Centre's Sunday car boot sale is a hustling bustling car park with hundreds of stalls, so busy with people that at some points you're shoulder-to-shoulder with bargain hunters. 

Certain areas in Edinburgh are known for their streets filled with charity shops - Stockbridge has some excellent ones, all a couple of doors apart.

The leopard print top and vintage waist cincher belt were £1 each from a charity shop

There are also regular vintage events throughout the year in Edinburgh and I can usually be found there - Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair, Lou Lou's Vintage Fair and The Vintage Clothing Kilo Sale as well as the fantastic monthly Flea Market at Out of the Blue Drill hall (which I wrote about in a previous blog).

My favourite bargain outfit - pink sweater £1 from a charity shop and the skirt was 50p at a car boot sale!

So... if I was magically given £1000 to spend on clothes right now would I hit the high street where I could browse at my leasure and come home with a few carefully selected seasonal items OR would I rather pull my sleeves up and get down to a good rummage, up to my elbows in belts and bags, summer dresses mingling with novelty Christmas cardis, tatty old boots hiding pretty heels and - wow! - a vintage dress perfect for that special night out. 

I'll see you at the charity shop.

Laura Dolly Cupcake xxxx

Anteaques, Edinburgh - a Review

Antiques, fine teas and delicious cakes in this little gem of a place!

I like to eat cakes, that's no secret. But I especially like to eat cakes in unusual, unique and quirky places. I prefer 'one of a kind' places over large chains - especially if they have a vintage twist. 

Edinburgh is quite the treasure trove when it comes to fun, cute, interesting and unique cafes - if you know where to look! I'm enjoying seeking out new places to indulge in my cake eating and so last Saturday, Mr Dolly Cupcake and I went in search of a tea shop I'd heard about called 'Anteaques'.

On busy Clerk Street in the centre of Edinburgh, among various shops selling fabrics and knick-knacks and lots of restaurants, and a stone's throw from The Meadows, we found Anteaques. 

When we stepped inside, we were taken not only into a warm and cosy tea shop, but a treasure trove filled with antiques for sale, hundreds of teas in every flavour you can think of, locally made Edinburgh chocolate truffles and friendly welcoming staff. Opera music filled our ears and the scents of the bakes, jams and teas made our mouths water. I immediately began to lust over the gorgeous bone china tea sets displayed in the front of the shop. You can never have too many china teacups.

So many beautiful teacups!

There are only four tables in Anteaques (yes - four!) two large tables in the back, two smaller in the front. We decided to wait until a table in the back became available, as I really wanted to sit in the back room which looks like this:

Pretty trinkets everywhere

The lovely lady took my name and booked us a table for half an hour later. Mr Dolly Cupcake and I waited in the pub across the road (a cheeky glass of vino to pass the time) although there are plenty of shops on Clerk Street to look in, or a wander around The Meadows is lovely on a nice day. Otherwise I'd advise booking a table, as chances are you'll have to wait - there was a steady stream of visitors while we were there. 

Half an hour later, we were shown to our table and honestly, I have never been anywhere like this before. On every surface something caught my eye, from a pink teapot, to crystal dressing table items, a bowl full of walnuts, silver tankards. 

The menu listed hundreds and hundreds of teas in every flavour I could imagine and then some. There were black teas, green teas, seasonal teas, scented teas, Scottish tea and infusions. 

I chose the Violet Petal tea which smelled just like Parma Violets and tasted incredible. Mr Dolly Cupcake chose Cherry Almond tea and we shared them - both teas were delicious but as a big fan of anything violet, I did prefer mine!

Served on perfect china - we even got gold spoons!

We ordered a slice of Green Tea Cake each and we got a generous portion:

Green Tea Cake

Delicious cake, I'd never had tea cake before (apart from my own disastrous attempt at baking one) and it was such a unique flavour - very rich and filling. Although we did have room left for scones!

Fresh, soft, delicate scones with clotted cream and the option of various jams. Mr Dolly Cupcake chose strawberry jam and I chose Rose. Mmmmm - this was the nicest jam I've ever eaten. It tasted just like Turkish Delight. It was the perfect accompaniment to my scone and the very generous portion of clotted cream.

Delicious cakes, beautiful teas

We made sure that we took plenty of photos, and of course I had to look at everything a few more times before we left. 

Back in the front of the shop, we paid our bill - great value for money, with two pots of tea, two scones with clotted cream and jam and two slices of tea cake costing around £15. 

There are teas, crystallized violets and rose petals and pots of jam for sale, including (yay!) my new favourite rose jam. 

I am already looking forward to going back to Anteaques, as there are about 100 more teas that I want to try (Chocolate Cherry next, I think) plus some Edinburgh Chocolate Truffles and scones with violet jam with my name on them. Oh, and a few pots of rose jam to take home.

http://anteaques.co.uk/

Laura Dolly Cupcake xxx