Two Tops and Silver

One of our family's favorite things about the arrival of fall, is the steady agenda of fall festivals. There is one close by almost every weekend. The first one of the season is Two Tops...food, music, tractor and horse pulls, crafts, food (oh, I said that already, didn't I?), and.....fleas! 

Okay...we arrive. And the first stand I walk up to has a utensil organizer with tarnished and dirty silverplate in it. I ask...how much?  "Oh...50 cents apiece."  Cool, I think to myself, and pick out one place setting. $2.50.  Pretty good!  While I'm picking them out he says..."Or you can have the whole thing for $5." I assume you can figure out how long I hesitated on that one.  I walked away with 1 knife, 3 tablespoons, 11 teaspoons, 5 dinner forks, and 7 dessert forks of Community silver plate in 1932 Lady Hamilton pattern. 

I love the magical transformation that takes place with a little silver polish.

Also included was the heavy duty, perfect condition stainless steel utensil tray which cleaned up beautifully, a few miscellaneous pieces, and this cute little brass thingamajig with a lid that unscrews. 

As I polished it up, I rubbed extra hard in case there was a teensy tiny little genie in there.  No....

On Beauty

In the last few years I have grown more aware of a need for beauty in our lives. As I experience His creation I think, God could have created a functional world with just our survival needs being met.  But He did so much more than that.  He gave us incredible beauty. And He instilled in us a desire and need for it. We need a protective structure to live in, but we also want our home to be a beautiful sanctuary.  There is a lot of ugliness in our world. We need to balance it with loveliness when we can. Not for the sake of having "things", but to remind us of the wonder of His provision.  We have become a society of fast foods, plastic and busy-ness.  Don't get me wrong...my husband and I often eat on paper plates in front of the TV. And when our four children were still living at home we were on the go a lot. But I feel more and more that we need to sometimes take the time to pull out that "good china" that sits in our china cupboards, use those precious hand stitched linens that grandma made,  and leisurely converse with friends and family...surrounded with beauty.  As we go through our daily activities we need to be able to rest our eyes for a moment on that wonderful photo we snapped on the day trip we took with the kids that was so much fun.  Or catch a whiff of the fresh flowers on the table as we pass by. Or pause, just to enjoy the beauty of a vignette we created with some of our favorite things.

One recent evening, after a long day, I had a glass of a special gingerale my sister shared with me. I was in shorts and tee shirt with my bare feet propped up. But I drank it out of a gorgeous etched glass goblet.  I felt like a queen.  ;)

A Little Stamping

I get to do a little stamping once a month with some dear friends. And I actually got a few cards made.

On this, and the rose card, I lightly sanded the raised portion of the embossing. This exposes the white core of this cardstock, highlighting the embossed design. The white oval bearing the sentiment was lightly sponged with blue sky while still in the oval die, to protect and emphasize the white border. Also, I stamped the flower portion of the oval stamp again on the blue paper, cut it out and adhered it to the white oval. Then I used the 3D paint to make tiny dots in the center.

Recipe:  paper-  white, Core'dinations canvas textured cardstock "vacation blues" (Storage Units, Inks & More);  stamps-  Oval All (Stampin'Up);  ink- archival black, blue sky (Stampin'Up);  accessories-  Elegant Bouquet textured impressions embossing folder (Stampin'Up), sanding block, ribbon (American Crafts), Nestabilities (Spellbinder), shiny white Scribbles 3D paint.

As soon as I saw this stamp of Ronda's, I knew I wanted to paper piece it. 

Recipe:  paper- white, K&Company designer papers;  ink-  black archival;  stamps-  need to find out;  accessories-  Square Lattice textured impressions embossing folder (Stampin'Up),  punches (Stampin'Up), shiny white Srcibbles 3D paint.

Recipe: paper-  K&Company designer paper, white, black;  ink-  black archival;  stamps-  Oval All (Stampin'Up), hummingbird stamp;  accessories-  Nestabilities (Spellbinder),  Scribbles shiny white 3D paint.

I used the same sanding technique on this as the first card.  Also, I cut away part of the embossed panel to highlight the roses. 

Recipe:  paper-  white, K&Company Classic K Designer Mat Pad, Core'dinations canvas textured cardstock (Storage Units, Inks & More);  accessories-  Manhattan Flower textured impressions embossing folder (Stampin'Up), sanding block.

SCORE!

Oh my!  Every once in a while it happens. That fun, big bargain find. I had an hour to kill on Tuesday (two piano students out on vacation). So I slipped to the Goodwill store close by.  Thanks to some of the amazing blogging thrifters out there, I've gotten more into the habit of checking out boxes. Off to the side, before I left the store empty handed this time, I saw two large cardboard boxes...one marked "Pottery Barn Kids" for $3, and the other marked PBTeen for $4.  Pottery Barn! How can it not be good? I've seldom seen anything from that place that I didn't love. Each box contained an item that had never even been unpacked.  I couldn't find the chair in a catalogue, but I did find the lamp. It's listed for $79! Granddaughter #1 needs a lamp for her new bedroom, and what child can't use a classy chair just his or her size?  Thank you, Lord!

Not bad for a total of $7.

Best Laid Plans...

I had visions this summer of projects, gardening, alfresco entertaining, regular blog posts. Oh well.  Number one...it's too miserable outside most of the time to even think about picnics, dining out, or sitting around a fire pit. Number two...the outside looks terrible because everything is burning up. My poor, once beautiful flowers. And finally, the biggest reason it's "oh well" to my plans, is that we're renovating a house. Only it's not ours!  Daughter #2, husband, and three grandkiddos are moving into my husband's parents' house. Both parents passed away within the last two years and the family preferred that the house be kept within the family if possible. It brings daughter and family 25 minutes closer to their respective jobs, and right around the corner from us. Yay!!  The house was an old one and had not had hardly anything done to it since it was built.  Needless to say, it needed work. So while everything there is being scraped, sanded, painted, and cleaned, everything at my house is being....ignored. Dust and dirt included. 
However, we do need groceries once in a while and to go to the grocery store I need to pass a thrift store and an antique mall. Grin. So, Friday I treated myself to a couple unscheduled stops before groceries. I found 3 beautiful blue and white plates and two very nice silverplated serving pieces. Total spent, $12.  

At least when I finally do get around to working on my house, I'll have some pretty things to use. :)

Squatter's Rights

Squatter-  a person who settles on land without title, right, or payment of rent. 

I took this pic of a potted plant on my my front porch on July 15th.  Doing pretty well.

A few days ago I went out to water and, at first glance, thought my four year old grandson had been digging in my plant. (I apologize sweetie).  At closer inspection, I realized that I had a squatter. 

Of all the acres of plants, bushes and trees this little bugger had to choose from, she had to make a nest in my planter. Oh well...she new I wouldn't chase her out.  I haven't seen her yet to know what kind of bird she is, but she has startled the tar out of a few people as they unknowingly walked by and she whizzed out past them.

No eggs yet.

In Love...again....

Most of my current collections began with the finding of one "love at first sight" item, usually at a flea market.  It happened again this week. It was a plate in a booth at a local antiques/flea market.  She had multiples of all the other plates, but just this one plate sat alone.  And I couldn't resist. 

However, I despair of finding any more. I googled the manufacturer (Coalport), tried replacements.com and couldn't find my pattern anywhere. I'll keep trying, of course. My daughter and I both agree it looks presidential.