A Lucky Pick Up - Inside A Vintage 1980s Sad Sam Honey Pyjama Case

There are some things that just totally typify the 1980s for me - one of them is the pyjamas case. No single bed was complete without one. Isn't it sad - do they even make them anymore? I had a plush mouse with a huge skirt (!) to look after my pyjamas in the 1980s. Haha

I was doing my usual stock hunt the other weekend at a house clearance when I happened upon a huge skip bag full of plush. Nothing exciting until I found Sad Sam's Girlfriend Honey - she's huge! She felt solid, so I had a quick peek inside the zip and spotted some real gems. I paid and took her home for a good wash.

The contents were better than I was expecting - vintage 1980s tee shirts. Two of them Snoopy. My favourite!

Have you ever found anything exciting in thrifted items? I've found some great stuff...hmm? Maybe another blog post there :-)

Care Bears Sighting - The Supermarket and the Cinema...for £1!

After an especially stressful wrangle around the supermarket with a grumpy 3 year old and a 1 year old (busy day out + supermarket trip = GRUMPY) I totally pushed my luck. I was really happy to find this little bargain in the Tomy Gasha Capsule Toy Vending machines on our way out.

They're about 1.5" tall, flocked and scented. If flocking and perfume scented toys aren't a nod to the 1980s, then I don't know what is?! We got Friend Bear who's Pienapple scented (!) There are 8 different ones to collect. I've since seen them in the cinema too, so hopefully you'll find them round where you live too. I'm saving my £ coins for my next supermarket visit, but maybe I'll leave the grumpy over tired children with Daddy next time :-)

Skip Diving - 1980s Fanta Orangeade Can

There was a time in my life where I was unable to walk past a pile of rubbish on the street or a skip without having a nosey. These days I'm not as bad - but maybe that's because most of my home is full of found furniture and I have no more space?

I found this old can (check out the old ring pull hole!) on a skip at a house they're renovating down the street. I love the colour orange and the graphics are great. After a clean up it looks quite at home on the shelf in my office, don't you think?

Found - The 1990s called and they want their neon friendship bracelets back

As part of my job running Pica Pica Vintage I buy a lot of random boxes of toys - job lots and collections. I save the best vintage things for my collectors and customers and then the remainder gets donated to charity, saved for our Christmas shoe boxes and only then, if it's really of no use to anyone that's the only time I actually throw something away.

Often I'll find little notes or items that are so typical of the era that the toys are from - a few weeks ago I found this:

Just a little neon string bracelet that instantly transported me back to the 1990s. Neon rope friendships bracelets. I gave up having a cake at break time at school so I had the money to buy my friend one as a present on the way home. I probably would have changed into my cycling shorts and a dolphin tee shirt when I got home. Did you have them?