A Few New Treasures...

I haven't shared any new treasures that I've listed for quite some time on my

blog so today I thought I'd show you a few lovely items that have just been

listed on my web site.  First up is this lovely antique goddess plate from

Bavaria...isn't it gorgeous!

This pink poodle wicker basket has a ton of retro charm!

This lovely antique print would fit in any decor...I love this!

How cute is this little vintage night light?!

This antique moustache cup would be a pretty addition to your collection!

How about this vintage Italian Benacchio figurine?

I love this print ~ it dates to 1906!

And I've saved the best for last!  This gorgeous antique French

Limoges cake plate is sure to make you swoon!

Until next time, have a wonderful day!

~Stacy~

My Love For Statues

I love using statues in my decor so today I thought I would show you a few

of my favorite ones.  Most of them are vintage or antique, some are newer

and some are somewhere in between.  They all have a story to tell...

The one you see above was purchased at an antique auction.  I don't

remember how much I paid for this particular one, but I know that it wasn't

very much.  I left the original finish as is.  I rarely like to paint them unless

the finish is way too far gone for my liking.

This isn't really a statue, but almost!  This is actually a super heavy resin

fountain that I found a few years ago at Savers.  I can barely lift it, it weighs

an absolute ton!  I think I paid $20 for it ~ total bargain!  The fountain does

work and I use it sometimes, but it's often so gobbed up with decorations that

it's almost a pain to use it.  It doesn't matter, it looks pretty just sitting there.

Here is another statue that is actually a lamp.  I have a pair of these and I

purchased them at an antique auction as well.  These are replicas of lamps

from 17th century France and this pair was made around the 1960's.  They

are absolutely gorgeous, extremely well detailed and very feminine.

Here is the other one.  These are super heavy as well.  They sure knew

how to make things years ago...I call these my Goddess lamps!

This is a newer resin piece that is about 10 years old.  I picked her up at a

garden/flag store and she just reminds me of spring.  I added a little nest with

pink eggs and some little birds to her wings.  Her metal wings are detachable.

This is another favorite of mine that I purchased at an antique mall some years

ago.  I added the old pink floral hat.  Love some whimsy in my decor!

Here is another statue similar to the first one I showed.  I have a fair amount

of gold in my decor and this one fit right in with my Marie Antoinette style

front room.  Again, I love the original finish on this one!

You may recall seeing this statue fairly recently.  I just purchased it a few

months ago and decked him out for Valentine's Day.  He is new with a crackle

finish and I picked him up at Tai Pan Trading Company...a great store!

This is probably my all time favorite statue.  I took this picture a few weeks

back during Valentine's Day so it's not the best shot of her.  She is so pretty

and is clutching a little bird in her arms.  I purchased her from my good friend

Paula who always has just the best stuff to choose from!

Here is another statue that is actually a lamp.  I purchased it from my friend

Marci.  Marci touched up some of the painting on this one and added the

pink accents...she knows I'm a sucker for pink!  (*_*)

And last, but not least here is a simple chalkware statue that I picked up for

only a few dollars at the thrift store.  She sits on my bathroom vanity draped

in pearls.  I love the wicker baskets she is holding.

I have more statues, but I'll save those for another day.  I hope you

enjoyed my little statue show.  Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!

~Stacy~

Sittin' Pretty...

I received some emails from a few of you awhile back asking me to show pictures

of the sofa in my front room.  Yes, I am little bit slow...so today I thought I would

showcase this room a little bit.  It is my favorite room in the house.  Enjoy...

There is a story behind this sofa and curio cabinet...don't the best treasures

always have a story?!  I got these pieces about five or six years ago when

I went to auctions on a regular basis.  This sofa, curio cabinet and matching

occasional table (not shown) came from an auction up in the Ogden area of Utah.

It was from a doctor's home and he was liquidating after a divorce.  I am so glad

that I went to the auction that lovely summer day... (*_*)

The coffee table you see actually matches very well.  It has a marble top and the

most glorious creamy carved roses on both sides.  I purchased it from a good friend

of mine who has always has the best stuff!  Thank you Marci!

I love the scrolled woodwork on this sofa and I especially love the fact that the

wood has pastel highlights on it.  Here you see it decked out with a bunch of

ruffled pillows.  I am trying to de-fluff the rest of the house, but this is one room

that will probably stay pretty "fluffy"...I just love it this way!

Don't you just LOVE these details?!

This is the matching curio cabinet!  I can tell you that I honestly almost dropped

dead when I saw it!  Okay, that is exaggerating, but seriously...!

The curio cabinet has the same scrolled detailing as the sofa, but it also has

carved pastel roses, curved glass and awesome rope trim inside the glass.  I

simply adore it!  Of course it wasn't enough by itself, I had to add dozens of

roses to the top...I know, complete overkill...

Just another view of the loveliness...

Check out those roses!

Here is a little view of some of the treasures inside...

Love this antique platter and I used to collect Seraphim Classics, but now just

display a few of them.  My Mom gave me this gorgeous Royal Doulton figurine

for my birthday a few years back.  Isn't she pretty!

Another treasure from my friend Marci...

This is a little thrift store find that I picked up for only $1.  His foot is broken,

but I don't care.  It's tucked under the other leg...so what right?!

More lovelies including some Fenton melon vases, Lefton figural vases and

my prize RS Prussia teacups and saucers.  I just love them!

This has a lovely curved drawer front...

And more pretty details on the bottom...and the best thing I can tell you about

this set is that all three pieces were under $500.  Yes, that is the best part!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

~Stacy~

Coffee Filter Wreath Tutorial...Sort Of!

So I have become slightly obsessed with coffee filter wreaths...looking at pictures

of them that is!  With my Pinterest obsession (another obsession...sheesh!) it

is easy to find tons of lovely pictures of these gorgeous wreaths along with

great tutorials on how to make them.  I also went to my favorite boutique a few

weeks back and they had the most GLORIOUS white coffee filter wreath hanging

in a display.  I decided that it was time to give it a go!

Because there are so many tutorials out there, this isn't going to be a regular

tutorial as such, but rather I'll give you just a few hints that I found to be

extremely helpful.  I actually combined hints from several tutorials to make it

work right for me.  I found a lot of time saving hints.  Oh look on the left hand

side, the cardinal sin for photographers...the photographer in the mirror...what

a loser!  (*_*)  Anywho...

For my wreath, well, I wanted it big!  What is that expression..."go big or go

home"...well, yes...I followed that rule of thumb!  I started with an 18" straw

wreath form that I found at my local Hobby Lobby store.  You can use any form

obviously, but I wanted a strong one because I was going to make it rather large.

Next I went out and bought no less than 600 white coffee filters, the basket

type, not the cone type.  Yes...I did say 600!  Most tutorials out there use

around 200 - 300 filters...not this cowgirl!  I wanted it thick and big, not

skimpy!  I loathe skimpy!  (*_*)

You can see in this picture how densely the filters are packed in.  I started with

the row in the center of the wreath where the middle hole is to get it going and

then another row around the very outside edge.  I wanted to make sure that the

these two rows looked uniform.  Then I just glued in rows from the outside in...next time I would glue in rows from the inside out.  I think it would be easier because as you go along, the rows get more and more packed in and it's harder to work toward the inside edge.  A few tips that I found to be VERY helpful are...

Do NOT fold your filters.  I see alot of tutorials doing this and I couldn't figure

out why they folded them in a fan shape. What a lot of extra work!  What I did

is this...find a thick sharpie felt pen in your stash...you know, the thick ones

that are about four inches long or so.  They have a black lid and then a small

little round area on top about the size of a pinky fingernail...take

the end of the sharpie, grab your coffee filter and just put the end right in the

center of your pen and with your other hand in one smooth movement gather

the entire coffee filter down around the filter, put a pea sized dollop of hot glue

on the end and then attach it to your wreath.  No folding, no fooling around, it

is SO EASY this way!  I attached my filters in uniform rows and did not leave

any space between the filters.  Some tutorials leave 1" or 2" between each

filter while gluing it on.  I did not, I jam packed them in there and the result

was really amazing...remember, I did say almost 600 filters were used!

I also added some ribbon for decoration.  Mine has wide white organza, pink

silk, crinkled seam binding ribbon and a fabric flower in the center to tie it all in.

I didn't hot glue this on, I pinned it in case I want to move it around or put a

different decoration on it altogether.

A closeup of my ribbon and flower...

In this picture you can see how dense the wreath is.  The end result was pretty

uniform, but I did spend some time trimming the entire wreath with sharp craft

scissors to make it look even better!  See how lovely it looks and no folding

required to give it that cool, wavey look!

I will tell you that by using a sharpie to attach each filter, I did not burn my

fingers once!  That is worth it right there!  I did see this idea on someone's

tutorial, but I have no idea where I saw it so if this is your idea, write me

and I'll give you credit.  It's a really great idea!

Another thing...if you are going to use almost 600 filters like I did, be prepared

for it to take you awhile.  Those gals who say they can turn one of these out

in a few hours are definitely NOT!  Okay, they may be able to, but those are

the tutorials where they are using 200 or so filters.  Granted I did not work on

this straight through, but I'll bet it took me a good eight hours or more when
I did work on it.  It took me a weekend of working off and on...it would be

a good tv or movie watching project!

And here is my end result...a huge, fluffy white wreath for my wall.

I can't wait to make another one...it was really fun and it cost

me under $10 to do the entire thing!

Hope you enjoyed...

~Stacy~

Mr. Cherub Is All Decked Out!

This year I have been abit lazy with my Valentine's Day decorating.

This is kind of strange for me seeing as how I have so much pink stuff

hanging around this house!  So I got to it and decked out my sweet

crackled cherub that I purchased recently...like I need another statue...

I bought him at Tai Pan Trading Company and if any of you are fortunate

enough to have one of those stores near you (there aren't very many,

only a handful) then you know what I'm talking about.  This guy is over

two feet tall and he is made out of heavy ceramic.  I just love him!

I added all sorts of ribbon and things to bling him up!

Here is a vintage three strand pearl necklace and some really wide pink

ribbon with wired edging ~ love that stuff, it's so great for bows!

I also added some pretty crinkled seam binding ribbon and some cream

grosgrain ribbon.  The little necklace of sorts that you see in the very

center is actually off a belt buckle that I found at the thrift store.  I just

took it off the belt and added a piece of pink ribbon to it for hanging.

You can find all sorts of great belts at the thrift store for only a dollar

or two and they always have lots of bling on them!

I added some of my own bling too...a crystal encrusted heart necklace

and an angel wing necklace which I absolutely LOVE ~ I have earrings too!

So here it is all together...kind of a mixed up menagerie, but I think

it looks pretty cute for Valentine's Day  (*_*)

He's all ready for February 14th!

And of course I couldn't resist showing a parting shot of his cute little wings...

I hope you enjoyed the pictures...

~Stacy~