Creative Displays.........

Hi Girls....

Are you having a fun and relaxing weekend? I haven't been doing anything too exciting myself today, just a bit of "playing house" and finding new ways to display some of my collections.

As you know, I love to collect vintage crocheted potholders and for many years, I have displayed several of them on my kitchen counter top using an old metal coffee mug holder with hooks that I had painted a pretty shade of pink. It worked perfectly for hanging the potholders. Here's a very old picture from my archives to give you the idea.....

Well recently, as I was shopping at Marshall's, I came across an item that I thought might work for displaying my potholders in a slightly different way. Wanna take a guess as to what this piece is that is now displaying some of my potholders?

If you guessed that it was a jewelry holder, you guessed right !!

Isn't this a wonderful piece? I just adore the architectural detail on this. The little posts that are intended to hang necklaces on work just perfectly for hanging my potholders from instead. There are seven posts in all with four on the top row and three on the bottom. I can hang two or three potholders on each of the post.

Just a fun and creative way for displaying some of my favorite things so I can see them everyday and which of course makes the daily chore of doing dishes just a little bit easier.

I'd love to hear about ways that you have found to use an item for a purpose other than which it was intended for. I'm sure you all have some great ideas to share.

More Found Treasures.....

Hello ladies and happy Wednesday to you all. I hope this mid-week day finds you happy and well.

If you were here over the weekend and saw my previous post where I showed a darling vintage wicker sewing box that I had found while out antiquing last week during my vacation, I now have another wicker piece to share with you as well. This one is a wicker tray of sorts with a handle on it and was found in the same antique shop.

It is a very soft faded creamy yellow color, just the shade of yellow that I love. It's extremely hard to get a picture of the true color of it as you can see between these two photos where one is a bit lighter than the other.

For the moment, I have it sitting on a small bookcase that separates my home office space and my laundry room. You can see the washer and dryer in the background and of course, the big old ugly water beige heater as well. Having the bookcase here with some of my pretty things displayed hides a bit of the ugliness on that side of the room. Not enough to my liking, but I'm still trying to figure out a way to block the view while still allowing the light from the southern window on the office side to brighten up the laundry room side as well. I'm thinking maybe a sheer curtain of some sort if I can figure out how to hang it.

And of course, a visit to an antique shop usually isn't complete for me until I find a some new crocheted potholders to add to my already too large collection. This time, I added another pink one and a pretty pale green one as well. They were a bit musty smelling, but I just threw them in the wash inside a small lingerie bag when I got home and then let them air dry and now they smell all fresh and new.

The day after my visit to the antique shops, I stopped in at my local Goodwill store and found a plastic baggie full of lace trims for just $2.00. I'm sure they are new and not antique, but they sure are pretty and I will add these to my collection of "crafting things" to be used someday if that creativity bug ever gets around to hitting me. Until then, I can just admire their prettiness.

Is it sad to say that I am already looking forward to my next vacation so I can do even more antiquing? As I'm sure most of you know, it can be quite addicting and it really is hard to stay away from your favorite antique shops when you know there just might be a new treasure or two waiting for you to come find them and bring them home.

The Best Part of Vacation Is.............

Going antiquing and finding great things like this...

A lovely teal blue vintage wicker sewing box with a floral decal on the lid and also on the inside bottom.

Even though I don't sew (at least not yet anyways...), I love to use these vintage sewing boxes for storage as they are so pretty displayed on a shelf, or even just sitting on the floor.

I actually have several of these in my collection now, each in a different color, including a creamy white, a bubble gum pinkish color and one in yellow as well. I'll have to gather them all together for a group picture one day soon to show my complete collection.

This wasn't all that I found, but I'll wait to share the rest in a day or two.

I hope you all have been having a great weekend and that maybe you've found yourself a few new treasures too.

See you soon!!

Sweet Bunny and Other Stuff..............

Goodness, here it is Friday already and this is my first post of the week. Funny how plans change as I had every intention of getting a bunch of posts ready to share while I've been enjoying a nice relaxing vacation here at home this week, but I guess I didn't do a very good job of it.

Guess I got too busy doing other things each day. Things like doing some thrifting and antiquing and even working on a few pages to add to my "decorating scrapbooks".

First up, let me show you the cute little bunny that I found at the thrift store....

This little bunny is really really shiny and white which makes her very hard to get a good photo of. I had to prop up one of my crocheted potholders behind her just to get some color into the picture so she would stand out a bit better. She's very sweet pushing her little cart of flowers.

And here are two of the pages I finished for my decorating scrapbooks. The first one has a background of soft pink cardstock paper on which I put together a color theme of reddish pinks and yellows.

The second page has a background of soft yellow card stock showcasing a color theme of very pale blues, pinks and creamy whites.

I just love putting together these pages where I take images I've cut from magazines, and create a page layout featuring different color themes of my favorite vintage, shabby chic, cottage style decor. It's hard to get a really good picture of these. They look much better in person and they give me hours of enjoyment from putting the pages together to browsing through my decorating scrapbooks when they are finished and seeing all of the pretty images I've put together without all of the "junk" stuff you have to wade through in magazines.

I found a few great things while antiquing this week and I'll share those with you sometime over the weekend. Until then, have a great day and a great weekend!!

Wanna See Some More............

Hello my sweet friends.

I'm so happy you stopped by for a visit today and I'm sure you will be too, because today, you get to see some more of my vintage planter collection.

My favorite type of planter to collect, which are also the most difficult to find, are the lady planter figurines. These charming ladies wearing their beautiful gowns look lovely from the front...

But they seem to have a little bit of "junk in the trunk" if you know what I mean...

However, in this case, it's a good thing because you can pop in a small bouquet of pretty flowers into that trunk and make them look even prettier.

She has a few other lovely ladies to keep her company as well....

This one looks a bit like Marie Antoinette don't you think?

And we can't forget some more of those adorable baby planters. They are just too cute to pass up. I love the soft shades of colors on these.

This baby pram is even showing it's practical side by being useful for holding my post it note pads here on my desk at home.

Yikes, that's quite a few pictures today. I didn't realize just how many planters I had until I started taking photos of them to share with you. Maybe I should consider my collection to be complete, but I have a feeling that just ain't gonna happen and that I'll be adding more to it as I find new ones I just can't resist.

Well, that's all for today girls. Hope you enjoyed seeing more of my planter collection. I must say goodbye for now as the dryer is calling and it's time to go fold some clothes and redress the bed.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

A Collection of Planters.......

Call it cheating just a bit if you will, for if you have been a long time follower of my blog you've probably seen several of these before at one time or another, but today, I've gathered them together and added a few news ones as well to show off some of my collection of vintage planters.

This post is dedicated to Lorena @ http://rosechicfriends.blogspot.com/ who mentioned last week that she'd enjoy seeing my collection of vintage planters after I had commented on a post where she showed some of hers.

So here's what you asked for Lorena...

Yikes, I just noticed the dust in this one on top of my bookshelf where I display this lady with a basket planter. Guess I forgot to dust up there......

This one isn't vintage, but she sure looks a bit vintage doesn't she?

How adorable is this one??? Too cute

A vintage rosy pink McCoy planter mixed together with a few new ones. The colors on these are totally screaming SPRING!!!

And I can't leave out my pretty bluebird planter. Love this one to pieces....

Another one of my favorites. She's just a tiny little thing, but so sweet.

One of my adorable vintage baby planters......

I have even more to share, but they will have to wait for another day..

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my collection Lorena..

Now I'd better get busy doing a bit of dusting. See you soon!!!

Creative Stuff.....

I've been gathering all sorts of pretty things to get creative with......

From pretty ribbons, decorative fabric trims, pre-cut quilting squares and crepe paper rolls, to vintage wallpaper scraps and pretty flower embellishments in the yummiest of colors.....

To paper doilies in different shapes and sizes and some beaded trims as well ...

And lets not forget the pretty buttons and some roses too....

But alas, that creativity hasn't appeared just yet, except for in my dreams.

I dream of creating beautiful things just like I see everyday during my time spent in blogland, but those dreams have yet to come true.

Please help me... Where oh where do I start?