Friends and Frills Just felt like sharing some pretty things today.....

the picture above is a card I framed, that adorns the living room.....

This old chair is by our front door, a vintage cushion and some lace and roses soften it.....

The mirror is also by the entryway...... I had to add some pretties to it, of course! (Oh yeah, it's a garage sale find, and the chair is from an auction! :)

Can't let today go by without giving a "Happy Birthday" shoutout to my dear friend Gail.

Happy Birthday, Gail!!

Prizes and Pretties

The sign above is a custom order I did for a blogging friend. I had made a "Sweet Dreams" sign for her last year, and was honored that she requested another sign painted by me. This is one of my favorite color combinations. (By the way, I am happy to take custom orders with different wording and colors, just contact me! :)

Also, I have been blessed to be on the receiving end of two blog prizes lately! These sweet pink rose jars came from Cindy at CutePinkStuff. They just arrived today...... they will either go in my kitchen, or will hold little bits and baubles in my craft area (which I'll be sharing pictures of soon, by the way! :) Thank you so much, Cindy; they are darling!!


These are the tags I won from Bailiwick Designs. They are so lovely and also in in my favorite colors. The one on the bottom right is a magnet that she custom made for me with our last initial, and in blue and pink so I could put it on our refrigerator! Thank you very much; they are wonderful!! Last, but not least, Vickie made a purchase from my website, and when she sent me her payment, she included these sweet Victorian lady scraps!! How kind; thank you, Vickie!! I love them!!

Thanks to each of these thoughtful ladies, and to every one of you; for you all brighten my day!!

You all left the sweetest most kind comments on my kitchen! Thank you!
I thought I would answer a couple of questions that you asked.......

Where did I get the curtains? Well, my sweet dear husband made them for me! I picked out the fabric, and he whipped them up on his ANTIQUE sewing machine! He already knew how to sew when I married him, so that was quite the bonus in addition to all his other wonderful qualities!
Here is the view from that window. The curtains are lighter than they appear here, but it was hard to get the lighting right for both indoors and out!

A photo he took just yesterday out that window, of all the cardinals gathering round. He keeps them well fed. But before you go thinking he's too perfect, when I was downloading these photos to the computer, there was also a photo he had snuck and taken of my backside in my pink rose jammies. Stinker!! (okay, I still think he's perfect! :)

A couple of you also asked Did I make the pillows shown on my bench. Actually, I made the one on the right, out of an old cutter quilt; I just love those roses. The other one was an eBay purchase, and it's really beautiful. I haven't been able to locate the seller again though, but she certainly did nice work!!

As always, thank you for taking the time to visit with me! I wish you all really could come for tea in my cottage kitchen!! :)

My Cottage Kitchen

Well, here they are, the long-promised kitchen photos. This is a vintage chandelier I picked up at a yard sale for three dollars! It hangs in the middle of our kitchen.

Cottage blue curtains with roses hang at the window -- there is a great view of the birds in the woods through this window! It *almost* makes washing dishes fun!!

This is an old Sellar's cabinet we picked up at auction. It has great chippy paint but needs some work!

A little area by the door, complete with bench for sitting to take our shoes off, and a shelf with cubbies and pegs for each member of the family (of course, I've hung vintage aprons on the pegs! :) The old blue stool was a garage sale find for seventy-five cents! A closeup of the bench and aprons.....Well, I hope you're not too disappointed now that you've seen our humble little kitchen in its entirety!!

But if you'd prefer vignettes, here's a closeup of the cabinet tops you see in the above photos! :)

Vintage tins and hens-on-nests

Bluebirds (of course) and an old pink cake carrier.....

And my small collection of vintage "Mother" rose cups that are in an old PINK metal cabinet....

Thank you for visiting me in my cottage kitchen today!!

LOVE

~*~*~*~*~

I saw this in Michele's shoppe, Sweet Yesterdays, and it just moved me. It arrived today, and is every bit as beautiful ~~ no, it's even more beautiful ~~ than I imagined it would be.

Can you read what it says? "But to see her was to love her, Love but her, and love forever".

It is a vintage piece...... mounted on old wallpaper, old black frame. I just love it.

I have a few different ideas of what I might do with it ~~ I've thought of hanging it nearby a wedding portait of my sweetie and me ~~ but wouldn't it also be special hung among some old family wedding photos? (I like that idea but don't have much wall space left! ;)

It also would be beautiful just on its own. Did I mention I just love it?

Thanks, Michele!!

~Random Prettiness~

The sun keeps bursting through the clouds on this cold day, and that makes for some great moments to take pictures of my pretties. Sometimes it's hard to get good indoor photos in the wintertime, so I seized the opportunity, and took some random pictures of some pretties ~ some you may have seen before, but these are all new photos taken today in the sunshine! :)

My latest creative obsession......
Altered Glass Bottles......


Available on my etsy and in my shoppe.....

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for all the *kitchen love* on my previous post. I still hope to share more pics of my kitchen soon!

Remember that thrifted shabby blue framed print I shared two posts back? Thought you might like to see where I put it. It's in the kitchen, among some other vintage floral prints......I also recently hung these oval robin's egg blue pictures that I found at the big yard sale this past summer ~~ I put them above the doorway that leads from the kitchen to the dining room ....... I love their color.....

Thanks for the comments on the boys performing Wipeout -- it's just one of those "feel good" tunes, isn't it? (see post below if you haven't yet! :)

Thanks for stopping by!!