Magpie Monday #1 There be Pirates!

Poor old blog. It was all going so well, and then I got chickens. Chickens take up a lot of time, especially when they are doted upon and not just egg producers. Still, they go to bed at four in the winter, so I have no excuse for abandoning the blog during the colder months.

In a bid to rectify this, here is my first post in nine months! Inspired by tweeter @missielizzieb I am joining in on her Magpie Monday project. She's encouraging us all in a virtual show-and-tell of all our thrift shop, boot sale, ebay finds, basically anything that you've bought that will find a new and re-invigorated life in your possession.

So, without further ado, here is my first submission to Magpie Monday!

The thrifty pirate's hoard

1. I have long planned to hold a pirate party and this year I am finally going to do it! I spied this spotty corset on ebay and thought it would be the perfect starting point for my costume. I plan on adorning it further with embroidery and tattered lace, but it's a great backdrop for piratey creativity and only set me back £5 including postage. Watch this space to see how it ends up.

2. Beaten pewter tankard - for above event. If I can find enough, everyone will swig ale from a tankard at the pirate party, but if not, I really can't have enough piratey props, and this one cost £1 on of my lunchtime forays at the charity shop.

3. Another charity shop find - a very piratey red and white stripy headscarf for a bargainous 50p! This will either be worn as a scarf, or tied in a casual fashion from the corner of the buffet table. I am hoping a lot of suitable headscarfs and oddments of fabric turn up before September, as I will also need a lot of pirate bunting. :)

The Easter Tree and Baking

Nothing will ever come close to a Christmas Tree in my books. When I put all the decorations away back in January I counted how many I carefully wrapped in tissue paper and stowed safely in shoeboxes, I've close to 200 now. I've been collecting Christmas tree decorations for 14 years, so it's no wonder really.

I've always loved the little wooden painted eggs and rabbits you see at this time of year and I finally got round to getting a couple of sets a few years ago. And now, every Easter I have an Easter tree! It's just a twig arrangement in water, but I enjoy the same aspects of it that I do with my Christmas Tree. Choosing the right twigs has become an art - I look for hazel branches in the forest that have shed their catkins and whose leaves are just beginning to unfurl. Then the Easter decorations are hunted down (never a mean feat, they always seem to hide!) and the tree is assembled.

I have eggs, rabbits and few larger wooden decorations in pastel colours. But I'm always on the lookout for more - I have some way to go with Easter decorations before I have a collection to match the Christmas ones.

I'm of the opinion that chocolate Easter eggs are a complete rip-off and so every year I like to bake something chocolatey on Easter Sunday. Last year I made a huge chocolate cake, topped with primroses, which was really a bit too extravagant! This year, I just made cupcakes - Chocolate, with chocolate icing, and topped with hundreds and thousands and a mini egg, and Apple and Lemon curd ones too - topped with tiny sugared violet flowers.

They almost look too pretty to eat, sitting under the Easter Tree, but, I can be persuaded.