Record success for the magpie in me this week! I found a vintage Wizard of Oz record for £1 in a charity shop which the boys will love when they are older. Plus the cover makes a fab play room piece of art for the wall in the meantime.

My heart was racing as the seconds counted down on this vintage record holder, which I won for £1.45! It arrived very promptly and is now a beautiful letter rack on my new desk! I use the numbers along the bottom as days of the month and have slotted jobs to do and birthday cards in each so I can keep track!

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I took the boys to the local car boot sale on Sunday morning, to give my husband and extra lie in (he did the same the day before) and only bought one thing! I did fall in love with an art deco clock, but at £20 I carried on walking. Fortunately, one of my twitter pals had a sweet Westclox for sale (save that for next week!) so there will be something ticking on my desk. I bought an old Action Man trunk that is ideal for storing the hundreds of plastic soldiers we have collected (from charity shops at 99p a bag).

The sun is shining a rainbow of colours in our road! I made up this game for big boy who, apart from a soggy trip to the park yesterday to walk the dogs, has had a wet weekend indoors.

I dug out an old digital camera we used to use years ago, that although the picture quality is quite grainy, it is perfect for my son turned photographer!

I tied together a load of paint charts I picked up from a DIY store. We then wrote each colour in turn on the pavement and then went off to explore the cul de sac, to find something that matched the colour. He even tried to copy the writing himself.

When he spotted something he took his own picture! We found a few things for each colour for as long as his attention span would stay on each.

I loved listening to how his little brain worked, as he wouldn't always point to the most obvious thing.

Here are some of his photos!

I spotted this beauty!

I made the easiest but really effective, tie backs for big boy's nautical room. I bought 2 metres of rough rope with frayed edges (I thought it added to the character of them). Cut it into two lengths then twisted each metre length back on itself, leaving a loop at the top and the two ends loose. I glued the two ends together at the point that they crossed over and glued nautical buttons, at approximate intervals along each length. I turned the twisted rope over until all the buttons were used. (20 for each tie back.)

I bought the metal anchor buttons at a charity shop for 99p, so it is always worth having a rummage through their haberdashery boxes.

I simply slipped the loose ends though the looped end around the curtain.

Hey presto! Cheap and definitely cheerful for my little sailor.

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