A This~and~That Post

First of all, look what came in the mail today!! This sweet lavender bag from Hanna, that I won on her Spring Giveaway. It is just precious, and came all the way from Sweden! I am just overwhelmed with her kindness to send this treasure all that way to me. Hanna, thank you ever so much for this lovely bag; it is so pretty and smells lovely too. Here is a link to Hanna's blog:

http://www.ihanna.nu/blog/

Now, some of you agreed that this little lady from yesterday's post needed a bouqet. So I gave her one, vintage of course! I think she is much happier now ....

And last but not least, here's a miniature cottage (found at a yard sale) for my fairy garden ~ which only exists in my mind's eye now, but hopefully will be a reality this summer. I have been *squirreling away* little trinkets for it, here and there. The cottage is shown here with some pansies I bought at the garden center, but have yet to plant.......

I hope you all are having a beautiful spring weekend!

Thrifting Style

I have a style ~ or method ~ to my thrifting. I do a quick pass-through of all the home goods aisles, quickly glancing over everything to see if anything catches my fancy. Then I go through each aisle again, more slowly this time, to make sure I did not overlook any treasures.
Well, yesterday, I was so glad I took the time to do the second walk-through, because look what I found! Isn't she darling?


She is still holding her original parasol; it is decorated with lace; look at the detail!

I think she is supposed to be holding something in her other hand, as it has a little hole in it like the other side. A bouqet, perhaps? A chain for a little poodle?
Her skirt has a lace overlay with sparkles.

Can you tell I'm quite fond of this little blondie?

Bluebirds & Roses Gift Tags

Here are some gift tags I designed and created for an exchange with some internet friends. Of course, you knew they had to have pink roses & bluebirds!! :)

I was so impressed with the creativity of my friends ~~ if you'd like to see their gift tags too, Lallee blogged about it here:

http://lalleescottage.blogspot.com/2007/03/gift-tags-and-friendship.html

A couple more Easter decor pics, before we get back to our "regularly scheduled blogging". :)

The top photo is of some Easter pretties I added to my white shelf in the dining room......

and the other is a little spring wreath, in which a vintage-style blue bunny is nestled, along with an egg and a vintage postcard ~ all placed within one of my recent finds of a blue-green decorative box. I like how Easter colors fit in so well with my existing decor.

She is in her Easter finery, wishing you a Happy Day!

I think she was from JoAnn's..... I know I got her on clearance after the holiday one year!

This little guy is proud of holding this pretty pink egg!

He is vintage; one of my mom's *hand-me-downs*.

Easter Decor......

Sparkly pastel eggs nesting in miniature tea cups....

joining little teapots that are hanging from the dining room chandelier......

Romantic Thrift Treasures

Look at the pretties I found! The little German pink rose pitcher was only ninety-nine cents, as was the vintage ring holder (open hands). The little "cube" on the left is a Victorian picture holder, for very tiny photos! Not vintage, but cute!

They had a lot of these little bottles with cork-stoppers -- not vintage either, but marked Spain, and only forty-nine cents each. I really liked their blue-green color, so I bought three of them just for decor.

A pretty pink fan, a figurine, vintage sugar bowl and rose print......

A closeup of the vintage cherub candleholder....... I immediately fell in love with it, then saw that one of its legs was broken off. No matter, a pink rose disguises the flaw......

The treasure box (bank) is also German,

but again, I don't think it's vintage.

It came complete with little lock and key!

And the winner is.......

I called upon my handsome young assistant (aka my 17 yr. old son Brad) to select the winner from his fedora....

The winner of the Spring flower pot is Tinker, and Nancy C. won the Easter postcards!

Congratulations to both of you!! Please e-mail me with your mailing address at: bluebirdroses@aol.com

A big thanks to everyone for participating; I had so much fun!!

Happy First Day of Spring!!

Tomorrow is the "Big Day", when I draw the names of the winners of my Spring Giveaway! There's still time to sign up if you haven't yet!

Here's the link:

http://bluebirdroses.blogspot.com/2007/03/spring-giveaway-as-mentioned-i-will-be.html

Thrifting Treasures
(I really don't go thrifting every day -- honest!! :)

But I did stop in yesterday afternoon because my son needed something, and of course I picked up a few things. The small Victorian picture frame (which I can't seem to get enough of), a little pot of pink, white and lavender roses, two PINK enamel pans for the kitchen, and a sweet little plate that I bought simply because of the pretty colors.

I also bought these four dessert plates (bottom photo)...... on the back, they are marked "Quaker Girl Petit Point 23 kt. gold rim"....... they were ninety-nine cents each, and I have picked them up and looked at them on my last three visits to Goodwill. I decided to bring them home with me this time! The basket of flowers on them is made to look like needlework.

The rose picture, below, is now hanging in the dining room ~~ actually, I found this frame several months ago at Goodwill, and it had a picture in it I didn't care for, but I couldn't resist that gorgeous frame. I was going through some old pictures recently, and found this botanical print that I had hanging in the bathroom at our old house (it formerly had an ugly metal modern-type frame)...... I decided to see if it would fit in this frame, and of course, it was as if though they were made for each other! Don't you love it when things work out that way?

Look what I made in my *new* vintage Pyrex today ..... Banana Pudding...... my grandma used to make that for me when I was a little girl. mmmmm...... Want some?

Oh, and just a reminder, don't forget to sign up for my spring giveaway, if you haven't yet! Here's the link to that post: http://bluebirdroses.blogspot.com/2007/03/spring-giveaway-as-mentioned-i-will-be.html

(added Sunday) ~ Here is the recipe link for those of you that requested it...... pretty easy, and yummy too! Enjoy!! :)

http://www.kraftfoods.com/recipes/CookiesCandyOtherDesserts/PuddingsCustard/OriginalNILLABananaPudding.html

A little re-decorating......... I love to change things around, do you? Make new vignettes, switch out pieces in arrangements. My decor is always changing, and I love it that way, because I enjoy decorating so much!
You can see where the "House Blessing" plate found a home in the dining room, along with the little rose butter pat and pitcher.....

Below, I made a tier out of some teacups in the living room ~~ I didn't have the right kind of plate stacker, so I decided to just stack them on one another, and am well pleased with the result.
The bottom photo is of three little plaques/pictures I've had for a while (thrift treasures of course), and I finally decided to hang them in the living room (when I have hammer and nails in hand, look out walls! :)

Recent thrift finds..... my favorite is the old egg vase in that great vintage green-blue color. Also the sweet little plastic angel, which might have been cake decor..... vintage Pyrex in that wonderful color; garden art; toleware milk can, tiny rose pitcher and small rose cup; shabby white wall sconces; two awesome old floral prints; small vintage oil lamp with roses....

Another Prize Added!

Over 100 of you have blessed me by visiting my blog and adding your name to my Spring Giveaway! In honor of that, I have decided to add another prize, and here it is!

A set of my original Easter *postcards*, which are created from prints I've made of vintage postcards, and then embellished with glitter and ribbons. I like to tuck these in little vignettes around my home, and hope you will like them too!

Your comments are welcomed here, but if you haven't yet signed up for the giveaway, please be sure to make a comment on March 1st's Giveaway post as well!

Thanks to all of you for helping to make this so much fun! :)

We have an old dresser that I decided to move into the living room. Some (such as my dh) would just see an old dark dated dresser, but in my mind's eye, I see it painted creamy ivory, the old handles changed out to crystal ones, and it brimming with vintage loveliness........ I don't have it painted yet, but I have started filling it with some of my pretties, as you can see in the photo ~~ this is in one of the tiny drawers. I just knew I wanted this dresser to have linens, lace, roses, pearls & such spilling out from the drawers....... as soon as the weather warms enough, it will be completely transformed, and I will share before and after pictures with you!

Update on my Spring Giveaway: I see we are nearing 100 entries, and that absolutely delights me! I decided that I want to add another prize, which I will be doing shortly, so there will be at least two prizes offered, if not more! Stay tuned, and thank you all for entering, what a true joy it is to *meet* all of you!

My latest thrift finds are pretty containers for my studio. The first one is an old powder container in a pale blue hue, in which I put my decorative beads and jewel trims. I also picked up this shabby metal bucket, which is great for holding my paintbrushes.

These two glass jars are perfect containers for my millinery flowers, so that their beauty can be enjoyed while waiting for their own special project to adorn! I was inspired to put them in clear glass by seeing something similar on another blog...... (I tried to find it again so I could thank them for the idea, but I couldn't locate it!) At any rate, I love this idea!

The large glass container was $1.99, all the other containers were only 99 cents each.

More on my studio later ~~ I'm very excited about it!! :)

Our Goodwill sometimes has "new" items from Target, such as this large white wicker basket with pink lining...... The Simply Shabby Chic bedroll pillows, and the Shabby Chic fabric were from previous Goodwill ventures. The spray of pink roses was a recent find.

Vintage floral "House Blessing" plate......

Will probably be at home in our cottage kitchen.....

For some reason, I found this picture to be so enchanting ~ to where does this flower-strewn path and rose-covered arbor lead?

A little wooden box, an ivory frame with gold embellishments, and a sweet old child's jewelry box (70's perhaps?) that opens to reveal a little twirling ballerina, dancing to the tune of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

Don't forget to sign up for my spring giveaway -- see March 1 entry for details!

Thrifting Treasures
Top picture shows a lace panel (I can never seem to get enough of those!); a frame with roses on the border, and a tealight candleholder that had tiny pink heart beads dripping from it. All from Goodwill.

The next pic shows finds gleaned from my favorite antique mall, but at great prices. A dollar for the vintage hanky, and three for the sweet rose butter pat.

~~Spring Giveaway~~

As mentioned, I will be giving away a prize this month, and here it is!
I made this little rose flowerpot just for one of you!!
It features a vintage postcard image,
and is filled with pink roses and a little nesting bird.
Just leave a comment on this post by March 20 to enter the drawing,
and a name will be drawn on March 21!

Second prize of my original vintage-style postcards added in honor of one-hundred comments on this giveaway! You only need to sign up once for a chance to win one of these two prizes!

To see the list of others participating in this giveaway, click on the link below:

http://heartofthenest.blogspot.com/2007/02/one-world-one-heart.html