Have a Blessed Mothers Day

Bleeding Heart Flowers and the Cross

  I am linking this post to Faded Charms White Wednesday , Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursday . Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday . Favorite Things Saturday

   My favorite flower has always been the bleeding heart. I love the simplicity of the flower and the meaning behind it. I have the pink or red as some call it that represents the blood of Jesus and the white His Resurrection. Did you know that inside a bloom is a spear that pierced His side. I have shown a bloom opened with a picture of the spear.

    I also collect the old pressed pattern glass with the bleeding heart pattern.

     I have also included one of the many antique Easter cards I have. This is the only one that shows the true meaning of Easter.

     Have a Blessed and safe Easter. ~~Sherry~~

Victorian children in white and First love

 

     It is Faded Charms White Wednesday again and it is one of my favorite parties of the week since most of my house is done in white. Be sure and stop over at Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday also.

     I think I have mentioned before how much I love old prints and the two with the children in white are two of my favorites. The little boy sitting on the edge of the water fishing and the little girl in her prim white bonnet and frilly dress. I purchased these at two at different times. Their frames are very similar and I love the chippiness of the frames. Both have wood backs which I have never removed but would love to take a peak inside hoping that it would give me some idea of the era of the prints.

     The last picture is of my sister, a friend named Skeeter and myself. He was our first love. This was taken in the summer in about 1955. Skeeter visited his grandparents every summer and we were his grandparents closest neighbors so if he wanted to play, he was stuck with my sister and myself. Would love to know where he is now. His Grandparents moved in the late 1950's and we never heard from them again.

My Grandmother's Decorated Real Eggs

     This is a partial collection of my Grandmother's decorated eggs. My sister has some and my Mother has the bulk of her collection in the Antique French display case my Grandmother bought to display her eggs in. She was an artist beyond compare. Her eggs were her crowning glory as they were displayed quite a few times in our county seat library for all to enjoy.
     The first photo has an egg on a stand decorated with pearls and gold braids that opens up to a velvet lined interior. The yellow looking egg has dried fern attached. The one with the mirror in the bottom is open on both sides and has a bouquet of velvet flowers in the top that reflect in the mirror. The one in the front she applied cracked egg shell to an egg and then dipped it in dye to give it the marble effect. My favorite of these is the open one that looks like it has an egg yolk in it. She split an egg in two and placed the top portion of another egg inside that she had added tiny gold beads to. She would apply her beads with tweezers.
                                                                                    The next photo is a close up of some of my favorites. The next photo has 3 of her Easter and spring related eggs. The middle one she dyed the egg in boiling onion skin to give it a mottled look to it. The cross is made with bark and has dried flowers at the base of the cross.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
 The next photo  has two that are Valentines related with hanging hearts. She always put a tiny bead at the bottom to represent dripping blood. I love the Victorian  looking ones that she decoupaged and then added black lace or netting. The glisten you see on a lot of the eggs was her treasured diamond dust.

     The two blue ones she decoupaged and added diamond dust.

     The last two are my very favorites. The one with the dove she took the top of an egg as the base. She placed small letters on the base alpha and omega. Under the egg she put the letters BTL which were her initials. That is the only piece she signed in someway. Next she placed a dove with an egg between it's wings with a gold cross with red rhinestone. The crown of thorns she made from a twig and painted gold. She adds a bit of glimmer with irridescent sequins to the base and beside the crown.
    
     The last one I shared a few months ago for blue Monday. She painted an egg blue and all the decoration she made with crushed eggs that she applied to thin cardboard that she cut into flower design. She evevn made the bow at the top with cardboard with the applied crushed eggshell. This is the only piece that is dated 1971 with tiny white letters applied to the sides of the egg.

     Before Easter I plan on doing another post with the eggs and the cabinet that my Mom has.
                                                                                         I am linking this post to Faded Charm for White Wednesday. I am also joining Kara at Elements Interiors for Whassap Wednesday, Doni at Faith, Grace and Crafts for Pearls and Lace Thursday , Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday , Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday , My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
 

One Heart, One Mind

SPCA Yardsale Goodies Another Chandy

I am linking this post to Colorado Lady for Thrifty Thingie Thursday.

There were some great things at the local SPCA yardsale Saturday. So much so that I kept going back after loading my car twice.

Some of my great finds was an antique ironstone butter dish with liner for $2.00, an Atlas aqua canning jar with glass lid for 75 cents, a collection of candlesticks that I will be using for my seashell candlestick displays, a fibre optic Very large Easter egg with bunny inside in it's original box that was $39.00 new and I paid $2.00 for it and a large box of craft items that included an unused bottle of mod podge, a can of acrylic spray, 10 angel hair ribbon packages and over 30 packages of dazzle flex o mirror. The whole box of craft stuff was only $2.00.

My treasure though was the wrought iron chandelier with clay pots with the light fixture inside each one. Great items as I can change the flowers with the season. When I first saw it I thought the price tag read $30.00 so I asked the lady if that was right. No she said it was $3.00. Of course I said SOLD without trying to bring too much attention to my find. I am thinking of painting the whole thing white, but will think on it before I do.

That was one of the nicest sales I have ever attended. Everything was in sections, garden center, craft section, art and frame section, holiday section, linen section, household items and so on. I could have lingered all day as I have never seen so much in one sale like that before unless it was an auction.

Hope you found some great things last weekend. Looking forward to seeing your treasures. A lot of what I found I have listed on etsy.

1800's Ship Painting

     I love anything connected to the sea or beach. I found this painting many years ago at an auction and fell in love with it. The blue sky and the green blue sea set my heart afluttering. It is dated 1869 on the back and is signed Colter.
     You can see by the crazing of the paint and the old frame that it is very old. I can imagine it having hung above an old fireplace many years ago which I think cause a lot of the crazing.

     I am linking this post to Smiling Sally for Blue Monday.

Seashell Art Candlesticks

     I should be thinking Spring. After all I am a florist and Easter is just around the corner but summer projects keep calling my name. When I came across Cyndy at The Exchange and her post about sealife candlesticks well Spring just got put aside for the moment. If you love shells then her post is for you.
     Am I the only one that starts a project then another idea pops up and you get side tracked? I have admired the different high end shops with the old bottles with seashells soldered to them. Well I have many old bottles but I did not want to permanetly transform them with shells. Besides I had a problem with the dark solder making such a division between the bottle and the shell. Well when I found Cyndy's post about putting them on candlesticks she had me won at hello.
     She shows how you can hot glue the shells to the candlesticks and they stay I am here to tell you!!!  Her tutorial is fabulous and a must see. I love the way the shells on the candlesticks look like one unit. I have many old glass candlesticks that belonged to my Grandmother. She loved and collected odd candlesticks. So I got them together and started to make my version of Cyndy's. The only difference in mine is I had all these bags of micro mini glass balls that are used for making water in fairy gardens and I hot glued them around the bottom of the shells to look like water. And another plus is if you ever want your candleholders or shells back you can just soak them in hot water to remove the shells. Be sure to check her out.

     I am linking this post to Faded Charm for White Wednesday and A Beach Cottage for Good life  Wednesday. I am also traveling over the Kara's at Elements Interiors for Whassup Whassup Par-tay . And be sure to check out Common Ground for Inspiration Friday .  I am also linking to Boogieboard Cottage for Masterpiece Monday.

Mischievious Kittens!!!

I am linking this post to Smiling Sally for Blue Monday.

     This print is from the early 1900's. The artist of the orginial painting was C. Reichert an Austrian artist that passed away in 1918. I love this print with the mischievious kittens and the blue birds. The frame was painted a yucky gold and I repainted it in white. I belive this is the original frame it came in. Beautiful colors and such a playful scene.

     The winner of my giveaway for the cakestand and tablecloth is Beverly from Southern home Sweet home.    Beverly email me and I will send out your cakestand and tablecloth the first of next week. 
     Sorry for short post this morning, but I am a florist and unfortunately am working on 3 funerals this week. All you prayer warriors please say a prayer for the Bowen family. Mr Bowen was a very active member of our church since his youth. He has been ill for a few months and passed away at the age of 79.

Blue Quilt Top for blue Monday and tablecloth cakestand giveaway

   I am linking this post to Smilling Sally for Blue Monday . Also linking to Boogieboard Cottage for Masterpiece Monday. And Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.
THIS GIVEAWAY IS FOR THE CAKESTAND AND THE TABLECLOTH!!!
   If you could not already realize I love blue and the combination of blue and white is my favorite.  I use to make quilts, but when I became a florist, time was limited to this fun hobby. I appreciate the time and effort people take in making quilts and so when I find quilts or in this instance quilt tops I usually grab them up. I got this one at an auction a few years ago. I paid only $12.00 for it. I was thrilled at the price, but sad that no one else appreciated the time, money and effort that goes into this work of art. I am hoping that in my "old age" which in reality is now, I will be able to finish it. I would love to be able to frame it, but it is huge.
     Be sure and stop by Sally's for other blues today.
     I have finally hit 100 followers and in celebration of that I am doing a give a way. This is open to U.S. followers only. The only rule is you must be a follower or become a new follower. Just post a comment to this blog post and you are in the running. Since so many of my followers do tablescapes and tea parties I decided the gift would be a new spring green tablecloth 60" by 102" and the spring flower cake stand that I made from a vintage plate and vase. Good luck and I will announce the winner on my Monday's Blue Monday post. Have a great week. ~~Sherry~~

Know That He Is Lord

Mr Rabbit Says "Let Me In"

I am joining Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for her Spring Cloche Party , How Sweet The Sound for Pink Saturday.   and Faded Charm for White Wednesday.
     I would like to introduce you to Mr and Mrs Rabbit. They are not getting along right now and she will not let him into the cloche with her. I think he did not bring any carrots home for dinner so she is a little bit annoyed with him. Hope they make up before the mating season or we might not see any little bunnies running around.

     I love this pair of rabbits. They each have a Napcoware Import Japan sticker on them. They came in the large egg. Not sure if that is Napcoware.  Such detail to their faces. I love how the egg is decorated with flowers. I have them placed in my largest cloche which is 13" tall.
     On Monday I will be having my first give a way for having reached 100 followers. I will give details on Mondays Blue Monday post. Visit my 100 follower give a way HERE.
     Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out all the other cloches At Marty's

By the Sea By the Sea By the Beautiful Sea!!!

     Sorry about the title, but that song popped into my head when I was placing the old seaside photo's in my coral and I cannot get it out of my head.
     I love seashells and I really love coral. I did not realize how much I had until I started gathering it together for this blog post. I love the different textures and colors of shells and coral. Each piece is different just like our fingerprints. It amazes me when I think that with all the people in the world no 2 peoples prints are the same. Well it is the same with shells, no two are exactly alike. I am mostly attracted to ones that are different shades of white. I also like old black and white photo's with beach themes.  Especially when they are of vintage swimsuits.

          I am posting this to Faded Charm for White Wednesday , Paisley Passion for Thrilling Thursday and Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

Cobalt Painted Stoneware

 

I am linking this post to Smiling Sally for Blue Monday.   A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday. In the 1980's I subscribed to a magazine called Early American Life.  There was an add in it about this reproduction of antique stoneware made by the Wisconsin pottery in Columbus Wisconsin. You could join to receive one piece every 6 weeks for I beleive the price was $19.99 each 6 weeks. You never knew what pieces you were getting til they arrived.  All pieces are dated and mine are from 1988-1990. I do not know exactly how many pieces I have, but have shown most. I have a few other pieces scattered here and there, but these are pieces that are clusted together. The first picture are different shape and design jugs and pitchers.

      The next picture is a large crock with a blue painted flower and leaf design. I have only used that for flowers once in a while. The Grandma's Dessert Mold is an antique and belonged to my Grandmother. The second are all covered pieces that I keep sugar, tea and the large one has my flour.  Next is my beverage center where I put my coffee or tea together in the morng. The large container with the deer is a beverage container with spigot. Love this piece. The mug in this picture was not part of the collection.  The next picture has my mixing bowls, baking crocks and inside one is a pottery colander.  When I was collecting these I thought what in the world I am thinking. But after many years I really appreciate them and use them every day.    Thanks for stopping by to see my repro stoneware.  ~~Sherry~~