The addiction of Treasures

 As a lover of Treasures, be it new or old, I have become very much an avid follower of Lizzie Longworth through her tweets on twitter. She has an impeccable eye and a knack to sourcing out my idea of treasures. Not everyone will think of them as treasures…but the word Treasure is very personal to everyone. At unik we have sought out traditional Treasures to find new happy homes and take great pleasure in every toy, blanket etc that finds one.

Lizzie explains how she got hooked on Treasure shopping.

The excitement of finding something that has been unloved for years and bringing it back to life for someone else to love all over again is the biggest rush. It is still the biggest attraction in my treasure shopping.

I became hooked on Treasure shopping after the birth of my second daughter all by accident. I found myself rummaging in our local charity shop by the girls school.

We weren’t hard up and we weren’t facing hardship but I suddenly realised we were bleeding money for absolutely no reason what so ever so I made a promise to myself we wouldn't continue to spend so freely. It started small at first with things like batch cooking, making packed lunches for trips out and buying things for our home from discount places and online. 

I bought, that day, some crochet blankets for our then baby and some vintage cups for a whopping total of £4. I couldn't quite believe my luck at all! This also ignited my passion for all things vintage and as I've found, I seem to have an 'eye' for anything pre 1970! I was dipping my foot in at first, finding exquisite things that I intended to sell on, like a few designer jewellery pieces I paid just a few pounds for that sold for more than £30 each and a French vintage satchel that sold for over £100!! This was a massive rush for me, not because of the money but the thrill of the hunt so to speak.

This soon spread to all aspects of my life, I whiled away hours scouring eBay for lost treasures for our home and vintage dresses to flout around in.

My two girls have also been bitten  by the Treasure bug bad! Seeking out toys and books from a time completely unknown to them, favouring clothes with floral patterns and quirky cuts. The girls are finding their own style as well as learning about a time so much different to our own, dreaming of dirty knees and climbing trees.  This pleases me. It gives me even more of a reason to hunt out the best charity shops to spend time  in and the best search terms to use to find lost treasures on eBay. My mum even has a shopping list in her purse constantly in case she spots something I may like! I don't expect everyone to be comfortable with wearing clothes and the like that was previously owned by someone else. The mere thought freaks some people out. But from an eco point of view, our carbon footprint must be tiny! Everything I buy for the girls and for our home doesn't come with 3 layers of wrapping, our clothes haven't been made by children paid £1 a day and flown millions of miles to get to us, that alone is enough to convince me to keep at it. So to anyone out there worrying about money, just wanting to save some pennies, the environment , or wanting to find a treasure I say go for it! Search every local Charity and Treasure  shop and don't be shy. There’s beautiful things to be found and loved. So the next time you need new tea cups or a table cloth, don't go down to your local supermarket and buy something cheap and substandard but nip to your local charity shop, spend a half hour searching for the perfect mix match cups take them hope and love them and all few a few pence, your not only recycling, your supporting a charity and changing other peoples lives.

Confessions of a Frugal Mama by Lizzie Longworth

Lizzie Longworth, La Chic Unique

A New Tradition: The Christmas stocking

With two new little ones to make Christmas sparkly and festive for this year, I have decided to start a new Mattews/Kircher tradition. I didn't have a stocking as a little girl. It was never a tradition that my parents choose to make. 

BUT, I have decided that my children will have stockings.

So, I’ve cut, sewn, decorated and painted stockings for them to use year on year and am really excited to start a fresh new tradition.

The Christmas stocking - is an empty sock or sock-shaped bag that children hang on Christmas Eve for Father Christmas to fill with small gifts of toys,  sweets, fruit and gold coins. If you have been bad, then you run the risk of waking up to a stocking full of coal. If you have been good, expect treasures galore.

There is no actual evidence as to the origins of the stocking, however there are many many legends that help explain this Christmas tradition.

Probably the most popular tradition is of Saint Nicholas. There are many variations to the lovely tale, but one goes a little like this.

Once upon a time there was a very very poor man with three beautiful daughters. He was too poor for his daughters to marry and he worried that they would never marry and have no one to look after them once he died. Saint Nicholas was passing through the town and heard of this tail from the local villagers. Saint Nicholas wanted to help but knew that the man was very proud so he decided to help by secretly giving the girls a bag of gold each. So one night he crept down thier chimney into the house and found the girls clothes hanging over the mantelpiece drying and placed the three bags of gold into the stockings drying, one for each girl. When the girls and their father woke up the next morning, they found the bags of gold coins and were of course, overjoyed. The girls all got married and lived happily ever after. Leading to the custom of Stockings at Christmas.

I have a few u-ni-k treasures that I will be filling Samson and Ida’s stockings with this year. Here are just a few of them.

Samson's stocking 

Hand Carved Wooden Ca

Organic cotton hat

Hand carved Breakfast Board

Ida's Stocking

Porcelain egg cup

A Creepy Crawly Paw Prints story

Hand knitted Bella

A little bit of vintage

My Mum is selling the family home for something smaller so she’ll be more comfortable. So we have had many a weekend towelling through the loft, garage, cupboards and cubbyholes, editing, dumping, recycling and renovating the contents of the past 30+ years. 

While emptying the loft last weekend, we found lots and lots of treasures that were BIG parts of our childhood. I bought many home to look after till Mum settles into her new abode. When she gets set up properly they’ll all be bought back to the 2^nd bedroom or as it will be newly re-named- the "Grandchildren’s" room. Actually, Ida's room!! First Grand child and all that!

I’ve taken a few pictures of the beautiful toys that originated with my sisters and I. I am so happy to know that my children are enjoying and will continue to enjoy the toys, games and books that I hold special memories of using.

Next year we are hoping to bring a new section to u-ni-k, of nostalgic and vintage treasures. We have a wonderful lady called Katey who is a magpie and collector of all things old and wonderful that will be helping us to find treasures to make us all swoon.

So remember to buy gifts that will last this Christmas. 
Gifts that will continue to create smiles and laughter even after the little ones that they were intended for have grown up and out grown them.