A Little Studio Time for Myself

Hi Bloggie Friends,

It has been so very long since I've done any creating just for myself, but this weekend was a break in the cycle.  A couple of weeks ago, I picked up this fun little frame at my local thrift store.  It was made in Italy, was VERY gold, and did I mention, it was PLASTIC.  EEEEOOOOWWW!  Anyway, I thought it had potential, and went ahead and purchased it, even though my husband rolled his eyes at me.

I'm terrible at remembering to take "before" pictures because I usually just want to get to work, but I did find this image on Pinterest that is what my little piece looked like except mine was a really garish gold.  I saved the little cherub for use in another project sometime.

A little chalk paint, a little wax, clear, followed by brown, and then adding back a little gold with a wonderful French gilding wax gave the frame the look I wanted.  I covered over the worn red fuzzy backing with a nice damask paper and finished the back (not pictured) with a similarly styled vintage wallpaper.   Then, I added a pretty lady and some gorgeous old French silk ribbon work trim.  After putting her all back together, this was the result.



Beautiful details...

Love me some beautiful old ribbon work any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

And here she is, hung on the wall in her forever home (well, okay, maybe just her "for now" home, but whatever).  I'm so pleased at how it turned out. 

Thanks for coming along for the show and tell.  It's been a long time, hasn't it? 

Until next time,

Nothing Beats a Dose of Pretty for Making Me Smile

Hi Bloggie Friends,

I woke up feeling tired and cranky this morning...not good when it is only Tuesday.  I decided that the best way to shake off the Grinchiness was to play with the camera and take some pretty pictures just because.  I love the awesome antique linens I got recently and roses, china, and white ironstone is a trifecta for beating the blues, at least for me and lots of my peeps out here in cyberspace (you know who you are).  I've had this amazing cup and saucer for ages.  The roses in this photo are from my garden and smell SOOO good.  I took them into my office in a little milk glass vase and it made the office smell so nice...

Butter pat love for sure...

The little enamel Roman numerals make my heart go pitter patter. 

I can't help but smile even editing the pictures.  Got the French cheese heart mold (couer a la creme is it's proper name) in Brimfield about 5 years ago and I LOVE it!  I clearly need to make time to play with the camera more often.  It's cheaper than therapy!  I'm sharing today's post with Blissful Whites Wednesday over at Timewashed.

Until next time,

Happy Valentine's Day

A Belated Happy Valentine's Day to all of my Bloggie Friends!  I hope you all had a day filled with love.  My sweet boys and I stayed home and just hung out.  The mister and I will go out for date night this weekend.  These are a few photos of my Valentine decor this year.  Nothing too serious, just fun. 

I love pulling out all of my little heart things...

I have a lot of cherubs in the house, so they get to come out front and center for Valentine's Day.

I'm working full time now (second week, still training, lots to learn) so I must get some sleep and let the pictures do my talking for me.  See you all around...

Until next time,

The Unintentional Collection

I have lots of collections, a fact I freely admit. Usually, I know from the moment I buy the second one of the item in question that I intend to have a collection. Not so with the cherubs. I was laying in bed the other day and looked around my bedroom...a few cherubs. I went downstairs to get my coffee and began looking around...hmmm, more cherubs. I made a comment to Mr. French Laundry that I thought I had a cherub collection. He said something to the effect of, "Duh! I knew that, didn't you? I've known that for a long time." Well, I DIDN'T know. Not sure how I missed that one, but I did. But, here for your perusal are a few of the little darlings that I found lurking around my home.


A Victorian painting...

A lamp...

A place to display some antique jewelry...

A pretty little girl who graces the top of my china cabinet...

Another lamp...


A clock...


A Victorian painted canvas wallhanging...

Candlesticks...

More candlesticks...

Our wedding cake topper (with pretty antique crown)...

A sweet little one who graces my bedroom window. I bought it years ago when shopping with my mother who is now deceased. I think of her whenever I look at it...

What collections do you have in your home that you never intended to collect but that's how it ended up? I'd love to hear your comments.

Until next time,

Beautiful Eye Candy from 2008

As I sit here trying to figure out how to balance working at my "real" job this weekend, visiting with my long lost godson who is visiting from out of state, and returning to creating new Ebay listings after a 2 week break, I got the urge to share with you some of my favorite Ebay listings from 2008. I enjoyed doing the mosaic for My Romantic Home's End of Year party so much, I decided to create some more. I only sell what I would love to have in my own home, so, while it makes it fun to shop, it does sometimes make it hard to sell. I'm glad to have my photos to refer back to since it does help me to feel like I still have some piece of these beautiful items which have since gone on to different homes. I have a definite "look" that I sell and I find that helpful when shopping because I love LOTS of different antique things. If I didn't limit my purchase choices, I'm afraid I'd have more than I could EVER list! That being said, I should get these tired bones to bed so I can make the most of the time I have this weekend and get some pretties listed for Sunday evening. Okay, after I watch the "Best of" show on HGTV with Candice Olsen-she is SO WONDERFUL. If you haven't caught "Divine Design" on HGTV, check it out at http://www.hgtv.com/divine-design/show/index.html and see when its on in your area. In the meantime, enjoy the photos. BTW, you can click anywhere on the mosaic and it will enlarge the whole thing so you can see the pictures better.
Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2009!