Everything's Coming Up Roses

You love the roses - so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses, as they rain
From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white
And soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be
Like sleeping and like waking, all at once! ~George Elliot

  Roses are simply a part of life for the lover of gardening and antiques, Shabby Chic, vintage and romantic styles. Both of my grandmothers grew exquisite roses and I loved smelling the different varieties in their gardens. I absolutely love roses but our property is mostly heavily shaded which makes growing them a challenge. I was lucky enough to inherit an old- fashioned variety from the previous owner which gets just enough sun to survive. It had been neglected for years, but I have been able to nurse it back to vitality with careful pruning. 

After a heavy rain I went out to take some cuttings. The bumblebee is back to enjoy the roses too!

 Our rose bush blooms in large clusters of small flowers which look so pretty in all kinds of containers. I love them in this blue Ball canning jar with some antique lace loosely tied around the rim. Simple vintage beauty.

I couldn't pass up this old basket because I loved the robin's egg blue paint just swiped here and there. It was just $5 and I can use it  for lots of different things, such as sorting socks. Nah!

I  found these vintage rose trays 3 for .25 at a yard sale.

I played around with the display when taking pictures. First I added this sweet little garden book.

 I bought the book at a yard sale last year for a quarter. It has wonderful vintage botanical graphics inside.

Next I used my favorite antique English tea cups that I borrowed from my updated summer mantel display which is shown in the picture below.

Summer mantel using second hand treasures

$5.00 for all of this gorgeous antique Steubenville Ivory china which is now in the center of my mantel where my large ironstone pitcher was displayed. Those tiny roses are so elegant.

I love combining mismatched sets with similar colors and themes. It keeps things interesting.

I don't know much about these tea cups except that they are stamped "Made In England." What I do know is that I only paid a quarter for them, and I love them!

The handles are especially dainty.

I moved my large ironstone pitcher from the mantel to the ledge in the dining area along with the rest of my pitchers and creamers.



Ah, ironstone and roses...



And while I'm on a rose kick I want to show off some beautiful rosey jewelry. This lovely vintage-inspired ring and earrings set was made by Amanda Clark of Ruby's Pocket. Check out her etsy shop on my side bar for gorgeous hand made jewelry and vintage jewelry upcycles.

I found this amazing pendant at the flea market for $1.00. I have a simple upcycle idea for it already.

Aged to perfection with Instagram.

More rose motif beauties for sale in my antiques booth

My porch is about the only spot I have that is sunny, so I was so happy to find these little miniature roses at the garden center. I even had this wonderful rose planter at home waiting to be filled.

Of course roses are magnificent dried as well and always look romantic.

Thanks Rachel Ashwell for giving a name to the second-hand decorating style so many of us had already been using for years and giving us lots of  "Shabby Chic" inspiration. Speaking of inspiration, its almost time for all the weekend linky partys. See you there!

Everyone have a safe and Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Partying with:

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/2012/05/feathered-nest-friday_24.html

http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/05/vintage-inspiration-89-french-laundry.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed: blogspot/bCGJMl (Common Ground)

http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/2012/05/home-sweet-home-68.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheCharmOfHome+%28The+Charm+of+Home%29

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

http://verymerryvintagestyle.blogspot.com/search/label/Share%20the%20Love%20Wednesday%20Link%20Party

http://knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com/2012/05/knick-of-time-tuesday-36-vintage-style.html

Lovely Ladies

I bought this set of 4 vintage "lovely ladies" pictures at the flea market last weekend. I was hesitant about selling them because they were so beautiful, but nevertheless I had bought them to sell so I took them straight to my booth before I got too attached. They sold in less than 24 hours! I had a feeling they wouldn't last long so I was glad I had taken some pictures of them so I could "keep" them on my blog to enjoy and share with you.

The pictures were absolutely gorgeous, but I also loved the frames and I knew they were worth what I paid for them. I would love to find out who the artist was and a little more about them now. I sold the set for a considerable profit but I still have a feeling they were very special and I may have priced them lower than I should have. Oh well, now they have a new owner who appreciates their beauty. I love finding things to put in my booth that make other people's hearts sing too.

*Update: Thanks to Sheila at One Charming Thing for the information on the artist, Huldah. Find out more about her here: http://www.anne-french.com/Huldah.htm

Amazing detail on the frames

I decided to give each of the lovely ladies names. I used my Grandmothers' and Great Grandmothers' names, and then I imagined a little bit about them from the pictures.

So shabby French!

This is Ella. She is obviously in love with that dreamy gaze. When her beau arrives to meet her in the park she is sure to give him that hanky as a token of her affection.

Ella

Here is Polly and little Miss Lula. Polly is Miss Lula's tutor. Polly is taking Miss Lula  into town to buy a fine dress for her birthday party.

Polly

Miss Lula

 I adore their accessories: hats, gloves, umbrellas, scarves, lace and jewelry...everything I love to collect for my booth!

This is Cora. She is intellectual and reserved, and as kind

as she is beautiful.

Cora

Here is Chloe. Her greatest love is flowers. She visits the markets each week to buy

fresh flowers for her vanity.

Cora

So as I complete this post I do have a little bit of seller's remorse, but it just fuels my fire for the next round of treasure hunting this weekend.

 Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to stop and take the time to smell the flowers this week!

Linking up with:

http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/
http://knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com/2012/05/knick-of-time-tuesday-35-vintage-style.html
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/2012/05/time-travel-thursday-98-talented-time.html
http://verymerryvintagestyle.blogspot.com/search/label/Share%20the%20Love%20Wednesday%20Link%20Party
www.myromantichome.blogspot.com
http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/05/vintage-inspiration-89-french-laundry.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed: blogspot/bCGJMl (Common Ground)

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who's The Fairest?

She's the fairest of them all...mirrors that is!

Last week I featured this beautiful mirror in my "Flea Market Finds" post. As I was working in my booth over the weekend, I decided the mirror deserved a little more attention and would be nice for White Wednesday and for the upcoming weekend blog parties. Isn't it amazing?

  This art-deco style mirror is very unique and old, probably from the 1930's-40's.  As a result the mirror is perfectly shabby, showing its age just as we vintage junkies prefer. It was hard to get a good picture due to lighting and reflections but I think you can tell that it is quite a wonderful piece. "She" is now gracefully displayed and for sale in my antiques booth awaiting her new home. The more I blog about this mirror, the more I think I am crazy to sell her! The statement, "to sell or not to sell, that is the question..." seems to be becoming a theme with all my recent blog posts about my junking finds!

I enjoyed creating this glitzy-retro display using gorgeous beaded shoes, white roses, pearls, beads, long leather gloves and vintage handbags along with the mirror. Its just a beautiful mix of whites, ivory, cream and silver.

She reminds me of a Hollywood star of the silver screen...

At some point in time someone decided to frame the mirror in a silver frame as you can see in this picture. Originally it probably had no frame and was a flat mount mirror with the little clear mirror brackets. I spoke with another antiques dealer who specializes in framing and she felt that the framing was done later, possibly in the 60's or 70's. It was definitely a professional framing job, as the company's name and location is stamped on the back. The framing was done in Brooklyn, New York. If I decide to keep the mirror, I will probably have it reframed in one of my antique wooden mirrors painted white.

I worked with the lighting on my photo editor and I was able to isolate the outline of the figure to make it appear as if she is suspended in air. So graceful!

This mirror was so much fun to photo edit. I love the border I found on photobucket.

 While working on this post I can't help but sing Madonna's Vogue  "...they had style, they had grace...Beauty is where you find it..."

Don't you think this mirror would be perfect in a boutique store, formal dress shop or a little powder room? Oh, wait ---I know the perfect place---just above the dresser in my new shabby-romantic-inspired bedroom!

Have a beautiful week Darling!



Partying with:
http://knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com/
http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/
http://micheleravendesigns.blogspot.com/
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/
http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/2012/05/feathered-nest-friday_10.html

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Flea Market Finds!

This weekend was not very pleasant weather-wise, and it rained so hard Saturday morning that all the sales in our area were canceled. I laid in bed and considered just giving into the weather which had me feeling terribly anyway, but I just couldn't stand the thought of missing a bargain!

So my husband and I decided to go ahead and drive up to the nicer indoor flea market which is about 50 minutes away. It turned out to be great. My little boy (who inherited the lucky-junker gene) scored some rare action figures that Santa couldn't even find for him this past Christmas.That's my boy!

  I spotted this fantastic Sellers enamelware table, and my husband got it for a great price. To keep or to sell...that is (always) the question....

I love the table, but my BIG score was this lot of precious retro babies! I also found a great basket to put them in (its even my favorite "now" color, robin's egg blue).

I paid $10 for all of them, and I had planned to sell them in the booth or on etsy. Then I thought about how my Mother's heart would absoutely break if I didn't at least show them to her first, especially if she would happen to see this post after they had sold. So I decided to offer them to her for just a bit more than what I paid to make up for the gas money. Actually, once I cleaned them up, I started to get more attached, and as I have worked on this post I am really starting to love them...

I had some fun photgraphing them too!

I took this one to make my little boy laugh, which he did...

One thing I love about being a flea market fiend is that it brings out the kid in me. I love playing with all my treasures. Whether I decide to keep them or sell them, I still get to play with them for a while. Do you fellow junkers ever wonder how other people don't junk???  How do they do anything else? Do you have friends who don't "get" it? Oh well, I guess I have always been passionate about collecting and junk (thanks to my Mommy).

Junking is such a fun way to spend a weekend. Its a wonderful family activity. You get treasures for cheap (some of them end up being worth a lot of money too!) You can beautify your home for next to nothing. You can help someone else beautify their home or surprise them with the perfect gift. I could go on and on. I AM a proud junkaholic!

I digress. I get excited. About dolls, and whatever else happens to be "the find" on a particular weekend. But this weekend for me, it was all about the dolls.

Just look at those faces! These dolls are from the late 50's-60's. They cleaned up wonderfully. My secret is the Magic Eraser. It takes off every little scuff and years of dirt. I always test it on an inconspicuous area first, and so far it has worked like a charm on these vinyl and plastic type dolls.  I used a dollar store generic Magic Eraser and it worked as well, so save some money and try the generic.

Okay who couldn't love these babies? I have gone through various doll phases in my life. I have always loved them, from Barbies to Victorian porcelain dolls. Then I went through a period where they creeped me out and I thought dolls were a bit tacky and I packed the best away or sold the ones of little sentiment.

Then, strangely enough, it was these old, somewhat creepy composition dolls that got me back on a doll kick. I found a box of them at a yard sale, along with some misc. parts and heads which added to the first impression of creepiness. At first I wanted to sell them, but then I thought they would be great for use in my Halloween decor.  As time passed, I grew to appreciate their beauty. They definitely have a place in a vintage, shabby chic decorating scheme. Just look at some of the beautiful examples on Pinterest and other shabby/vintage blogs.

(A special "Thank You" goes out to Debra at Common Ground for featuring my composition babies on Vintage Inspiration Friday #84!) http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/04/vintage-inspiration-84-garden.html

 Now after finding these "newer" retro babies, I am hooked on them too. Aren't they gorgeous? Nothing creepy about these cutie-pies. My Mom had better make up her mind soon or I am going to change mine!

A couple of the dolls are unmarked, and the other two are marked Horsman. This one is a Vogue Ginny baby. Amazing condition for being 50 years old!

 

More flea-market finds...

Silverplate pitcher, gonna sell this one I think, but I love it, so I don't know.

Oooo la la...what a lovely lady on this 1940's art deco style mirror. I purchased it from the same vendor who had the dolls. I took it straight to the booth on Saturday afternoon and started messing with a new display. She is currently for sale and I think she would look fabulous hanging in a formal wear shop, boutique, or salon.

"Oh darling, don't you want to take me home with you so you can love me forever?"

And yet more finds...

Check out this great scale! I found it at an estate sale a few weeks ago but I am just now getting the chance to show it off. Keepin' it!

 This weekend I also picked up the mug for .25 and the rhinestone necklace for .50  along with the little Kewpie-type doll for $1.00.

"I'm a keeper!"

Well I hope this post just goes to show that bad weather and illness can't keep a good junker down. I am already looking forward to next weekend. Who knows what treasures await?

 As for now, the babies and I will be waiting to see if my Mom is coming to adopt them or not... 

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Partying at:

http://knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com/2012/04/knick-of-time-tuesday-32-vintage-style.html

http://verymerryvintagestyle.blogspot.com/

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/2012/05/feathered-nest-friday.html

http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/05/vintage-inspiration-86-serendipity.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20blogspot/bCGJMl%20(Common%20Ground)

http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/