Inspiration Friday - Lace

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First, I apologize for these pictures, there is a lot of glare. I was rushing to take these pictures before work this morning.

I LOVE old lace! The photos are all from the book Living with Lace by Bo Niles.



I found a really beautiful website yesterday which inspired this post about lace. Em's Heart Antique Linens. I found it through someone's blog....sorry I don't remember who it was??? Wow, I have never seen so many beautiful things! Next thing I know I'm on Ebay looking for more linen and lace and I don't know how this happened but I bid on a tablecloth and napkin set! I went to bed last night hoping that someone would outbid me because I have no business spending money right now on that kind of stuff! I woke up this morning and I was relieved someone did outbid me. I really need to have more restraint!

Update on the little table I posted about a couple days ago. I waited a couple days before I went back in and it was gone. I don't know why but it made me feel a little better that others have had the same experience of regret for not buying something. Thanks for leaving those comments! I've learned my lesson and if I see something that I love that much again, I'll just buy it! Top Ramen is not that bad and I could eat that for a week in exchange for a beautiful table...maybe not all the time but once in awhile! I don't think my daughter would feel the same way though.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I may hit a couple garage sales tomorrow to see what treasures I can buy with about $10.

Update: I was JOKING about eating Top Ramen...my finances aren't quite that tight and in 2 months my car will be paid off so I promise I'll stop acting like I'm dirt poor when really I'm not.

Lamp & Frame Makeover

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I bought these two lamps at the thrift store a few months ago for $7 each. They have been sitting in the corner of my bedroom for months waiting to be painted. Finally last weekend I got around to spray painting them. It's hard to tell in these pictures but they have leaves and roses. They'll do for now... until I find another set I like better! The pretty lampshade is from Target!I also painted this little frame white and then antiqued it a bit and added some green and blue Rub N Buff paint on it. The frame was only $2 at a thrift store. It was pretty painted gold, just not my style.

This cute picture of my son Vince has a funny story behind it (funny now but it wasn't then). My son's dad left me for another woman the week my son turned 2 years old. It was the hardest thing I've ever been through...he moved out on Christmas Eve and moved in with the woman he was having an affair with. They ended up getting married after our divorce was final and this picture is from THEIR wedding. My son was in their wedding! The strange thing is, my ex-Mother-in-Law gave me this picture! Why would she think I would want a picture from my ex husband's wedding to the other woman...the woman he was seeing when we were married???? Very strange...oh well, it doesn't bother me any more and early on I accepted the fact that she was my son's step mother and if he had to have a step mother she was a really great one and still is even though his dad divorced her and married wife #3. I don't hold grudges so I get along with the ex, his ex and his wife. Confused? Well I won't even get into my second husband and how that all ended....

Napkins

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I was trying to think of some things I could use for napkin rings because I'm bored with the ones I have. Since there is so many creative and talented bloggers out there I thought I would ask them to share. If you want to show off your napkin decorating, just leave a comment here when you've posted your pictures. I can't wait to see what you come up with!
Mine are really simple... a ribbon tied into a bow and then I added some daisies and rosemary sprigs.

Garage Sales & Thrift Stores on a Saturday Morning

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Warning: If you don't want to be depressed, don't read the last paragraph of this post.

My daughter and I went to a few garage sales on Saturday. I was thrilled when she said she wanted to go with me. It's so much more fun with someone else. We went to 4 different garage sales and I only found 2 things at the first one but they were great things so I'm happy. First this little hand painted dish. It's really small...is it for salt? Absolutely beautiful colors. I'm really loving this blue-green color lately. This was only 50 cents!

At the same sale, I found this cute little creamer. It has a small chip near the top but the lid hides most of it. I love the blue and green together on this. This was $1. We also bought 25 apricots for $1. They were picking them off the tree for us, can't get any fresher than that!
I was kind of disappointed that I didn't find anything else at the 3 other garage sales so we hit the thrift stores. I found this planter. Every time I see these I feel like I have to buy them. I guess I'm now collecting them! It was $7.00

Here it is with the others. It's the big one in the middle. Click here to see another one I bought at the Goodwill awhile back.

Now for the sad part. We went to the Salvation Army and when I walked in I saw one of those curio side tables with glass all around. It has a little door you can open and put collectibles in. The glass was curved all the way around. It was so beautiful. The glass on the top was missing but that could be replaced easily. It was marked "as is" $39.99....AND I LET MY DAUGHTER TALK ME OUT OF BUYING IT!!!! I'm so mad at myself...what was I thinking. I've always wanted one of those tables. Why was she so convincing? Why did I listen to a 14 year old? Why did I not just buy it even though I know I should be using that money to pay bills? I know if I go back today it will be gone but I may go check just in case. I know my daughter meant well, I was just telling her that I have to stop spending so much money. I may not bring her with me again until she can fully appreciate and understand what a great deal is!!! I looked on the Internet for something similar and this is as close as I could get. The one I found was painted and more french style. It was also had more glass and less wood on the sides and also the top was glass (but missing). Now I just want to cry!

My Handkerchief Projects

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Remember THE PILLOW that I made and wanted to put a handkerchief on it because is was so plain? Well, I found 21 vintage hankies on eBay for $9.95 (that includes shipping). They were so inexpensive because they were in not quite perfect condition. You can barely tell there's anything wrong with them! So, I used one for my pillow and here's what I did with some of the others. I made a hankie banner by stringing ribbon across my curtain rod and draping the hankies on the ribbon. Then I just used straight pins in the back to pin them onto the ribbon. This little project added so much charm to my bedroom...I just love it! (You can click to enlarge photos)

I put them over my mirrored closet doors too. This photo was taken looking into the mirror over my dresser.

Here is the one I used for my pillow.
I could see how collecting handkerchiefs could be addicting just like my button collecting!

Inspiration Friday - Blue

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I'm a day late posting my inspiration Friday....the day went so fast with my son here. We had such a good visit. He's such an amazing kid! (oops, I guess at 20 he's not really a kid anymore)

I LOVE blue...you probably already knew that if you've read my blog before. My taste in blue is changing though. I'm liking LIGHT blue more now, like in these pictures.

Next week I'll be sharing some great things I found on eBay, the thrift store and a garage sale.

Welcome Home!

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My son is coming for a visit today. I only get 2 days with him but it will be wonderful! He just finished his 3rd year of college. He has to be back at school (UC Davis) on Monday to start his summer school class (Arabic). He's majoring in Political Science and Economics and plans on becoming a professor...he'll be in school for awhile!

This is my kitchen chalkboard. It's really hard to get a good picture because just on the opposite side of this is the fridge. It's so narrow that there is only enough room to open the fridge door. I found this old picture frame at the flea market and my dad added the chalkboard backing, the shelf for chalk, and painted it for me.

More Thrift Store Finds

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Saturday I went to the Goodwill by my house just to drop off some old things at the donation center but somehow I was pulled inside the store by some weird force that I can't explain. I'm really trying to cut back on my spending but I have no control I guess. The good thing is that everything was half off!

For only $8 total I got some great things. The candlesticks with hanging crystals. I also got the crystal cake stand. (hmmm I don't know what that purple glow is under the cake stand...weird)And the best deal, this Spode Christmas Tree tea light lamp. I have service for 4 in this pattern along with glasses, salt and pepper shakers and a pitcher so I was thrilled when I found this. The lady behind me in line couldn't believe it. She must have told me 4 times what a great deal that was. It looks like it's brand new. Probably someone got it as a gift and didn't like it. The lamp shade looks crooked in the picture but it's really not...just my bad photography skills I guess. I took this photos at 2:00 am this morning so maybe that had something to do with it. Sometimes I just can't sleep!

Not a bad day...$8 goes a long way sometimes.

Pillow Talk

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Another UPDATE: The quilt is from Summer's Cottage...the link is on my sidebar

UPDATE: Since a couple people asked, the paint color in my bedroom is Glidden -Cancun Blue. It looks a little brighter and darker in these photos than it actually is. Click here for their website. The color is under "Relaxed and Cozy", click blue on the color wheel. It's the 4th color under RC24.


I finally got my sewing machine back from the repair shop a couple weeks ago so I decided to make a pillow. I originally sewed small white baby buttons in the initial "C" on this but I didn't like way the turned out so I cut them all off. Now I have a very plain pillow. I'm going to look for a lace hankie that I can sew on the front of this to make it look a little less plain. I learned that sewing double ruffles is not fun. I also learned that I should make the back ruffle fuller.

Have you seen the price of pillow inserts at the fabric store? It's ridiculous...I could buy a nice decorative pillow cheaper at Marshalls! I've been collecting feather pillow inserts from the thrift stores. They are about $2-3 each. I must look pretty funny squeezing all the pillows trying to find the feather ones. I just like the weight of the feather pillows more than the fiber fill. Since they are just for decorative use it doesn't bother me to get them from the thrift store. I would never buy my sleeping pillow there...YUCK!
I also tied a ribbon around my sleeping pillow. I love the way it looks. I untie it every night and retie it in the morning.

A GREAT FIND!!!

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I've been wanting a crystal chandelier for my dining room but didn't have hundreds of dollars to buy one. Saturday I was coming home from running some errands and noticed that a neighbor across the street was having a garage sale. I almost didn't walk over there because I didn't really see anything interesting as I drove by. Boy, am I glad I walked over! I found this crystal chandelier for $20. These pictures were taken before I cleaned it up and rewired it. All the crystals were in a separate bag and I couldn't wait to see what it looked like so I hung it from my curtain rod bracket as soon as I got it home and hung on the crystals. I LOVE it! I kept it hanging there all Saturday afternoon so I could admire it. Sunday morning I took all the crystals off and washed them and cleaned up the base. I ripped out all the old wiring and replaced it. It took me hours to get the wire through the chandelier arms. I was ready to give up and just take it to the lighting store and pay to have it rewired but I just kept at it and did it myself!

Hopefully I can get someone to hang it for me later this week. I can hardly wait to see it in my dining room. I can't wait to show you how much better it looks clean and sparkly! I didn't scrub the brass because I wanted it to have that aged look. The little metal cups that you see were added on later I think. It came with glass hurricane shades and to me they just didn't go with the chandelier so I took those little cups off.

When I was unpacking this I noticed that the newspaper it was wrapped in was dated Oct 25, 1970. It's been packed away for almost 37 years! I love that it is very dainty looking...it's exactly what I wanted!

My Happy Things

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Heather at Present Past Collections wrote a post about her "Happy Things" yesterday. I thought it was a fabulous idea so here are some of my Happy Things:

1. Making homemade jam. I made blackberry jam last weekend (pictured above). I love to give these away in baskets for Christmas gifts. I hope to be making peach jam soon.

2. Enjoying my favorite Ice Tea which I can brew quickly thanks to my ice tea maker

3. The way my skin looks and feels when I use this product. Read the reviews and you'll see how great it is. I also found great reviews that weren't on the manufactures web site. You have to give it a least two weeks to see the results. It can be bought at Walgreens, Rite Aid, etc.

4. Listening to this guy...he can change a bad mood into a happy one with just his voice. This is a proven fact because it actually happened to me today! Go to his website and send him an E-flirt (I'm too shy to do this). 5. The best chocolate in the world. I'm sure some people would disagree but it's my favorite. Love their butterscotch squares!

6. Santa Rosa plums....my absolute favorite fruit and it's only available for 2 weeks in mid June. I wish I had room to plant one of these trees. They are the best!

What are your happy things?

Mmmm Good!

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I'm still on my low-carb diet and I'm pleased to say, I've lost 11 lbs! I thought I would share a great recipe, it's good whether your on a low-carb diet or not. I got it from http://www.epicurious.com/ which is where I get most of my recipes. This is Spinach-Stuffed Chicken Breasts. It has a filling that you stuff under the skin and it tastes like a warm spinach dip. Mine came out a little dark (not burnt) because I was upstairs checking my email and I didn't hear the timer go off. (I found that it does take longer than 20 minutes to cook which is what the recipe calls for) Click here for the recipe. Oh, those green beans are from my garden! I GREW those! How cool is that?

See the salt and pepper shakers in the photo above? I found those at a thrift store for $3. The tops are silver plated. They were so tarnished and the glass was so greasy, I almost threw them away when I took them out of the plastic bag they came in. I soaked them, put the glass through the dishwasher twice (just to be sure) and polished the silver with a lot of elbow grease. It was worth the work. I really like the shape of them.

Food is so hard to photograph and have it look good so I apologize for these photos, it really is more appealing than it's looking here. It looks a little dry but it was really moist.

Thrift Store Finds...again

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I was at the thrift store last week during my lunch hour and I saw a crowd gathering by some large bins on rolling carts and I knew it was new merchandise waiting to be put out. I spotted these on the bottom of one of the clear plastic bins and I had to wait for other people to clear away before I could get to them...trust me, I wanted to push a woman out of the way but I didn't. I started digging for them and that women said...Oh yeah, I saw those but there aren't any cups to go with them. I told her that that doesn't bother me and grabbed them. I walked around the store holding them, wondering what I would do with just the saucers but I couldn't leave without them. They were all so cute.

This yellow one is a little bowl
Once I got them home, I knew where to put them. In my bedroom with my other plates and platters. Of course, I'll always be wondering what happened to the cups!

On HGTV website "Rate my Space" I left a comment for someone who was unsure what to hang over her bed. She had an adorable cottage bedroom so I suggest some vintage plates. Someone else commented that she thinks plates don't belong in a bedroom. Hey, I say if you love plates, hang them in every room, who cares!

Below is the picture before I added my new finds. I think it looks a lot better now. I need two more to add to the sides at the top of the white platter and I should probably stop there.