Friday 13 September 2013

Tons of tins for posterity


Today Mary is just basking in glory.... and she thanks you for kind words


Sorry - this post is a bit tinny!!!

I am posting these old photographs of mine here because all of this has now been dismantled  and transplanted elsewhere..... this arrangement no longer exists....feel a bit sad now.....



For posterity  I thought that I would show you some ('Some' said Arthur 'Did she say some?' 'I think that she did' said Martha) of my tins.  You can see them behind this blog when the first page is loading if you are quick!


This 'arrangement' never stayed the same for more than a day or two because I have would have to sift through each tin to find 'stuff' that I needed for sewing.  It would be far too simple to label each tin and remember what was in each one.  NO - I like to make life an adventure if I can so I add spice to my mix by playing 'tin roulette' every day (even though it would give rise to phrases along the lines of: 'Which ruddy tin is it in...' or something slightly similar...)




A constantly changing landscape of tins......Tinscape




I have gone on about vintage baskets in a previous post (somewhere) and I am particularly fond of children's tiny baskets (our  children were 'forced' to use them each Easter - whether they liked it or not!!).  There are some more of them in a cupboard....oh dear....I have recently sent some very nice baskets to the charity shop....I have recently been back to the charity shop with a view to buying back some very nice baskets.....hopeless.....



Each tin has some sort of haberdashery item in it - the 'Sew and So' needlecase below was mine as a child (of course...never throw anything away....).  As with tablecloths I have tins for Christmas, tins for Easter, tins for Valentine's Day...a tin for all seasons....


As this tin doubles up nicely as a radio I also use it to listen to 'The Archers'.....whilst chewing on a butter scotch....did anyone listen to the Last Night of the Proms - Dom misheard and thought that Crusty Alltopp was conducting.....

How we laughed...



I am rather fond of tins with a black background and bright coloured flowers - some time hence I may devote a whole post just to them


I am rather fond of brightly coloured tins....

Yes - I am rather partial to a nice tin.....


Clashy colours as always - do you find this toooo much?


Just wondered as I am very  intrigued as to what people think when they read this.  Thank you for commenting by the way - that helps me to gauge public opinion!


 You can't beat a nice old cotton reel can you - I have a post lined up of 'car boot finds for 2013' where I bought a carrier bag full of them for £3....it is hopeless isn't it.....


The little drum tape measure above  is tiny and wonderful - also from a car boot for £1 I think.






Kilner jars are very handy indeed for all sorts of things - please colour co-ordinate if possible


As no one has asked (!) I thought that I would tell you my approach to writing a post (unpublished posts now tally at 59).   I load about 20-30 photographs and then delete the ones that I think don't look so nice - I delete and delete until I am happy with the remaining ones.  Sometimes I cannot delete - which is why we end up with some posts having similar photographs - I could not decide which ones should go.  I then add words - sometimes the whole thing in one go or sometimes just a few words  at first.  I then might leave it for months and months and add a few more words over time.  I might delete some words too.  Then - when the time is right - I might post it here.  Sometimes I delete the whole thing and start all over again.


All I know is that it takes a long time....possibly why I am so protective of it all.....


We're all different...


Tins display all g/done and dusted now.....



PS: Currently writing a book entitled: 'The Custards - my life in tin'

PPS: Currently writing a book entitled: 'The Custards - my life in tablecloths'

PPPS: Currently writing a book entitled: 'The Custards - my life in cake'.............

PPPPS: Good to see Arthur and Martha back in town - they are been on their sojourns for a little while

PPPPPS: Great British Bake Off hotting up

PPPPPPS: Currently preparing a GIVEAWAY COMPETITION (a giveaway with an edge!!)  before work gets extra busy - I have taken on some extra work so reduced time here sadly.....or maybe that is a good thing....don't answer that one..

PPPPPPPS: Thank you to those who visited my rather grandly entitled 'Vintage Shop' - the shop with nothing in it.  It was work in progress but as I do all too often I pressed the publish instead of save button.  I am a bit click happy and this happens with posts too - sorry for the confusion.  I will leave it there for now as a constant reminder for the 'to do' list.

PPPPPPPPS: Passed the course that I have been studying for the past two years - now a Fellow.  There are some other members out there I think....

PPPPPPPPPS: I have studied something (ranging from RHS to NHS) most of my adult life.....I might put it on hold for a while now....

PPPPPPPPPPS: Weekend bag tutorial not yet of sufficient standard for public viewing - I should not have mentioned it perhaps!

PPPPPPPPPPPPS: Off to Milton Keynes this weekend...............there will be some  cakes there I hope

PPPPPPPPPPPPPS: Mary is a little miffed that she does not feature in this post

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPS: Question: When I click on some names to look at your blog I am taken to Google Plus and cannot see your blog - so sorry if I have not visited.  I do not understand Google Plus and I cannot add anything else to this laptop because it will explode with overload.  In addition - I was the first person that I knew to get the internet and therefore have had the same old email address for 17 years.  I hate deleting or sorting so my mail box is always 'nearly full' (I like reading old messages as a pastime) - if I have have too much mail the in box implodes and then explodes.  'Tis a fact of modurhn life.  I may have mentioned before that in the early days of the internet friends would gather round to watch a photo of Mount Kilimanjaro take five hours to load up....

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPS: Slightly cheesed off with seeing my photographs on 'you know where' but of course with them stripped of all attribution now....is it really that desperate! Saw one today that has been used a few times that said: 'Nice to see my pins pop up' But it was my photo (not that you would know it)......

56 comments:

  1. Oh you make me laugh. Yay for clashy colours - your pics are never tooooo much. Blimey, you and your 59 unpublished posts. I just take rubbish photos and bung them all on and then witter about stupid things like kitchen sinks (I kid you not, I'm writing one about a kitchen sink this very minute!). xx

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    1. I do like your sink post very much
      Thank you for calling in
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  2. Congrats on being such a jolly good fellow of higher education....well done cannot of been easy with everything else going on ...ie tins,reels,daughters,tins,reels and life....Daisy xxxx

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    1. Wish I had thought of jolly good fellow.....
      It has indeed been very difficult fitting it all in with the tins and all!

      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  3. Reading this brilliant piece (in all senses of the word) has reminded me why I love blogging so much. To re-visit 'a kindred spirit' and to share their pleasures is so good. It's good, too to hear that other people take ages to write their posts. I tend to have one huge attack and everything ( children, housework etc) is ignored until I get it just as I want! Jane xx

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    1. Dear Jane
      I thank you for calling in - I think of you every time I look at my 'old book' post yet to be 'published'. I love my books.
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  4. I'm seeing a splendidly stocked shop already. My post gets in my head when I can't sleep then I test my short term memory in the morning. I have a draught free house and an amazing short term thingy. Congrats on being a jolly good Fellow...xx

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    1. slow and steady does it I think (hope) - we are bulging at the seams here so something has got to give - it might be my seams at this rate!
      Best wishes
      jenny

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  5. I luuuurrrrvvvveeee all your tins and the jars and the baskets and all their contents ever so much, keep on collecting and showing please!! xxx PS for some reason I've been able to leave a comment today! xx

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    1. Hurray! thank you for calling in
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  6. oh dear i have just laughed all the way through this - thanks for that - i was feeling quite miserable before so that was just the tonic i needed ..... i am relatively new to all this and i don't know what i'm doing half the time - i had no idea i could have been stockpiling blogs that may or may not be published!!! i still have difficulty understanding why anyone would want to read about what goes on in my life so i am still waiting for something really good to start with (no pressure there then!!)...... i loved this post - i had the middle basket as a little girl - both my sisters had had it before me - god knows how many had had it before then ...... when i finished with it it became a peg basket for my mum and then when she died i expect it was chucked!!! in my defence there i was only 37 when mum died and my sons were very young - i didn't have time to be sentimental and my sisters are both throwawayers (then and now) however in my dotage i have become a hoarder and a bit doolallie so i can identify with a lot of what you have said in this post - sorry if that sounds rude - it is not intended - congrats on your fellowship - hope you get to enjoy lots of cake this weekend and that mary isn't sulking for too long!!! lynne xx

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    1. Dear Lynne
      Thank you for calling in - ho ho a start of a poem
      Anyway I am glad that I was a tonic for you. What as shame that you no longer have the basket - tiskit tasket - My eldest sister is a thrower outer (though really she puts it in her vast attic) but we all have hoarding tendencies.....sadly. My parents died a few year ago and we were under pressure to clear the house - several skips were hired and I counted 10 bin liners just full of jugs (they went to the charity shop). There was so much stuff that we lost heart in trying to sort and sift so most was thrown away sadly. Good news was that I have gathered lots of childhood stuff when my mum had to leave the home we had grown up in.

      Mary is doing just fine today
      Thank you for calling in
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  7. You have made me chuckle,love this post, love the tins, baskets and other stuff. Great work, i had no idea posts were so involved.... You put alot of work into it.

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    1. Thank you for calling in - it does take a bit of effort but that said I sleep very little so it gives me something to do in the small hours! I have just returned to almost full time work so that might put paid to the whole thing
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  8. Oh how this made me laugh! I love your tins, and those baskets. How funny that you get rid of things and then rethink and want them back. I am just like you, so hard to part with items. I should have a museum - so should you! I love all those colours together. And yes, you know where drives me nuts too. It's a brilliant reference, but my mission on it seems to be to repost images adding a credit. x

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    1. Thank you dear Mrs Black the shoppe keeping cat
      It is daft this hoarder (ahem!!!!!) business and sometimes I give myself a really good talking to and pack lots and lots off to the CS and then I see on someone's blog that they have bought THE BEST THING - and it is bound to be the thing I have just 'passed on'....
      All the best with righting the wrongs
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  9. Your tins are amazing. I am intrigued by the radio tin, as they are the sort of tins we collect, or rather I do thinking he who collects radios would like them!!
    Julie xxxxxxx

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    1. Thank you Julie
      I cannot remember where I got that tin from now as I have had it a few years - but I like things that morph in to something else too
      Thank you for calling in
      best wishes
      Jenny

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  10. What a fun read! I do love your tin collection, being a tin hoarder myself I know the joy a pretty tin brings. It was comforting to know someone else returns to charity shops with the view to purchasing similar items to those they've recently donated! Oh, and did I mention I am also a basket hoarder ("collector" sounds better)!

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    1. Indeed Susan - we shall call ourselves collectors from now on! Sounds a bit more refined I think. Nice tins are difficult to pass by but I am much better than I used to be - our house is FULL UP!
      Thank you for calling in
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  11. Love all those tins. Does your husband ever comment when you bring another one into the house, or has he just got used to it? Congratulations on passing your course. I managed to block pictures being taken off my blog see here http://makingamark.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/pinterest-how-to-prevent-your-blogger.html My son added the code on my blog and it does work.
    Sarah x

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    1. Thank you kindly Sarah - Dom shakes his head and has given up. He would dearly love an empty house but is reasonably happy so long as the rubbish is confined to one room(which it isn't...)
      Thank you for this link and I added that a long time ago but people now just download to their own computer and then pass them of as their own!

      Worse things happen at .....sea!

      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  12. oh I love your tins - I am green with envy, that is my dream tin collection.

    congrats on passing the course!

    N

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    1. Many thanks for calling in and kind words
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  13. Tin tinnery tin tinnery tin tin ta - roo
    You like your ti-ins and I-I do too
    Ah Dick Van Dyke missed a trick there - that film would have been far prettier if he had been dancing around some picturesque tins instead of wasting his time on t'roof.
    Congratulations Higher Fellow x Jane

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    1. Dear Jane
      I am a bit slow on the uptake and had to read the first bit a few times - slowly -and then I roared with laughter - thank you for that! I am writing to Disney Productions this evening.....

      I always wanted to be a Higher Fellow!
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  14. DEAR JENNY,I'M IN A CAPITAL MOOD TODAY,I HAVE NEXT WEEK OFF WORK,HURRAH!!CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW TITLE.I AM TINGED! WITH ENVY ON YOUR COLLECTION THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFULLY VARIED.I HAVE REALISED WHY YOU CAN FIT SO MUCH INTO YOUR DAYS, THEY MUST BE 27 HOURS LONG!!or YOU HAVE A SECRET RECIPE ENERGY BAR!HAVE A FAB WEEKEND AND THANKYOU FOR BEING YOU,I AM PROUD TO know YOU!!best as ever PAM.

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    1. Dear Pam
      I hope that you have not come down from your cheeriness and the capital mood has continued.
      You are very kind Pam with your thoughtful words - I don't work as hard as think I should but come October I will be extra busy and serves me right for not being so busy for a while. Not much sewing to be had sadly

      I am proud to know you dear Pam
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  15. PS That comment sounded a bit OTT,sorry I'm just a bit giddy today!!Pam.

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    1. Never OTT Pam - just happy and friendly
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  16. Love the tinscape, it is tintastic! always love calling in for your ramblings. Jo x

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    1. Tintastic - I like that word a lot!
      Thank you for calling in
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  17. the squirrel is green-eyed and drooling...not a pretty image but yours are! Love all of them...LOVE LOVE LOVE...the colours, the mix, the baskets(oh those little baskets), i want to play at your house it looks like fun! Particularly fond of the red tin with the squirrel and friends on.....and i agree about the dark tins with flowers...definitely deserve a post to themselves! Thank you for bringing colour and laughter to my grey afternoon! x

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    1. You are most welcome mz squirrel. Those little baskets are sweet aren't they - I wish that the children were little again - do come round and play anytime - I have a few doll's houses.....
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  18. So pretty as always Miss Jenny!! Love all your beautiful collections! :) Happy sweet weekend! xo Holly

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    1. Thank you Holly and thank you for calling in
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  19. You have a beautiful tin collection. I once read that it's not hoarding if it's well organized. I say that lovingly because I love to collect too. :)

    Danielle

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    1. ah yes - it all well organised so that makes it ok!! Hurray! Us collectors need to stick together....
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  20. Wonderful the tin collection Jenny, love them. I thought I had a few but.... :)
    x

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    1. Oh dear Barbara - kindred spirits
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  21. Love the tins too. I can appreciate the difficulty in remembering what is in which tin. For me out of sight is definately out of mind! I remember the early days of the internet with the awful dial up tone, and actually trying to watch a short clip of about three minutes that took about an hour to watch if you were lucky.

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    1. Those were the days my friend we literally thought that they would never end! Bring back dial up...not really
      When I am old and grey (careful...) I will use my tins as a memory game to keep my brain working
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  22. You so remind me of a particular friend of mine (I am not naming any names here!) who has a TAD of a hard time letting go of things. LOL. I am a minimalist compared to her. But your collections are delightful I must say. Most especially the tins! And thanks for the visit to my blog; glad it didn't explode your vintage computer. :-). Linda

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    1. Oh dear - it is difficult Linda but I am always giving myself a stern talking to. I assure myself that my 'collections' serve a purpose of sorts!
      Thank you for calling in
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  23. I am intrigued by your statement that the tin display has been "dismantled and transplanted". What has happened? Nothing dire, I trust, like some family member claiming space. Good to see the tins and cotton reels, some of which were familiar as ones I have, knew, or coveted and they "got away". Congrats on the exam and enjoy a well earned period of respite.

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    1. Hello and thank you for calling in - all will be revealed with the tins soon! Nothing dire though fortunately. Thank you for kind words - my brain is going to have some time off for a while!
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  24. I think we'd all like to have a rummage in your tins and baskets, they're lovely, beats my slightly OCD Ikea boxes with post its on! (they fall off all the time anyway so I still never know what's in them).

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    1. Ikea boxes are very good indeed - they can be labelled and stacked - unlike the tins! Somewhere I have a photo of an Ikea storage thing that I covered in vintage wallpaper and it looked fine
      Thank you for calling in
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  25. Transplanted? One can never have too many tins esp. as gorgeous looking as your tinscape. I'm trying to swap labeled shoeboxes with unlabeled tins, so I see your point. Mary looks beautiful, still kicking myself for giving a "Mary" away years ago.

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    1. Well -moved! I hope that another Mary comes your way
      thank you for calling in
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  26. Do you perchance have a tin hat, in case when tinkering with your tinikins they fall upon you with a great tintamarre which would surely be tintregh! (You gotta love the OED!)

    And a Fellow eh, humongous congrats! Do you have a piece of paper that tells everyone you're a jolly good bloke now? I only ask 'cos, as you know, The Linnean Society gave me one and I have a young friend who finds it horribly confusing ... who knew kids even used the word 'fellow' these days. Unless of course there are characters in story books that say things like 'Young fellow m'lad'. Would Martha or Arthur know perhaps?

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    1. Ho ho Annie. I have had an interesting diversion looking up your words. The Fellow thing is interesting isn't it - it is a bit (bit) like (or should I say 'akin to') the use of 'Mr' for consultant surgeons as opposed to Doctor. After all these years of using 'Mr' is would seem most disrespectful to use Doctor. I am fond of 'young fellow m'lad' and will use that tomorrow in my conversations. I will check with Martha and indeed Arthur
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  27. Oh bless you, you've brought a smile to my face and a chuckle to my heart, I LOVED reading this post especially the familiar feeling of wanting to go and buy back what's been donated lol. I take ages with my posts, I usually use Blogpress with my iPad, I write a little then come back and see how many times the corrector, who lives in my ipad and works against me! has changed what I've written. Also I have to go off the page then come back to rectify mistakes when writing comments. I did download Bloggsy but can't figure out how to use it arrrrgghhh.
    I think if you're tins, jars etc are neatly stored hey who is it hurting and lets not forget there may be a tin shortage one day. Lol
    Found your blog through another and definitely following.

    Peg xx

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    1. You have an in-built corrector! Wow!
      Indeed if there is ever a tin shortage I know whose door they will come knocking on!
      Thank you for calling in Peg
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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  28. I think we're all tin mad basket cases ... I love your colour clashing tins ... gawjus!
    Congrats on finishing your course.
    I'm off to check out 'Down by the Sea's' picture knicking blocker code as it truly annoys me too!
    M x

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    1. Dear Jane - I love your 'gawjus' (I had to read it a few times to understand it - a bit slow am I!
      I hope that the knicker blocker thing works
      Best wishes
      Jenny

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