Blue & White Beauties

Some thrift store treasures in my china cabinet:

Goodwill Treasures - February 2011 - part 1

This lovely serving fork came with the silver tray down below.


I love the fact that it is monogrammed! Not my monogram - but that is cool!


Here is the tray that came with the serving fork.


This plastic, fake wood planter (?) needs some painting - but it should turn out very nice...I will post more when it is done.


This is a Rogers & Co. silverplate tray - picked up for a whopping $1.59!!!

Myott Finlandia

In my post about the Miss Mustard Seed "Copy Me Challenge" I mentioned that I was scouring the thrift stores for plates like hers. I had found onesies and twosies around and I would pick them up.

Last week, while taking a day off - I ventured into my favorite thrift store. I call it my honey hole! Anyway, I came across a stack of these lovelies. Seriously - there were 9 dinner plates, 16 small dessert plates and 11 bowls...for, get this, $15!!! I could seriously feel my throat closing, my palms were sweating and I didn't think I would make it up to the counter with the dishes. I was certain the second I stepped away from the shelf, someone else would swoop in and take them. It didn't really matter that there was only one other person in the shop and we were definitely NOT looking at the same things!

I finally got them home, cleaned them and they are now as deliriously happy as I am...I think dishes can be that happy, right?? My collection of these style dishes has now grown! They are all a little different but I love that all the same. I thought I would add some of the china markings from the bottom of the dishes that I have. The group that I picked up at the thrift store are Myott Finlandia.

This is from a bowl in the same design that I bought over 10 years ago.


A sweet little cup I picked up at Goodwill.


This marking is on a set of 3 plates that I got from Goodwill as well. Furnivals Limited!

More Family Heirlooms

My oldest son was given this beer stein by his grandfather last weekend. It originally belonged to his great-great-grandfather! I am dying to know what it says - google translate didn't make any sense!

Gift from Grandma

See my little 2 or 3 year old self. I have no idea when this picture was taken or what me and my older brother were doing - but it was definitely at Grandma's house. I know that because I was clutching her porcelain doll. I had always loved that doll. I wanted to hold her and carry her around wherever I went and my grandmother let me...I only hope that I can do the same when I have grandkids!

I don't ever remember if my cousin and I fought over her - we were only 3 months apart (she being the older of the two of us) - and the only girls in a sea of boys! I don't recall her holding the same fascination - maybe she did?? But as we got older and my grandmother began parsing out family heirlooms, Lisa (being the older and therefore first granddaughter) got the doll. I can tell you that I was green GREEN green with envy.

Many years have passed since that all took place and my cousin agreed that she never held the same fascination that I did - and agreed that this doll needed to come and live with me! Isn't she beautiful.

The Cheese Plate

I made this plate for a friend - a Green Bay Packer Cheesehead!! I was supposed to bring it over for the Superbowl - but in my haste to finish the macaroni & cheese (cheeseheads, remember) I left the plate at home.

I used vintage cheese labels that I got from Cathe Holden at Just Something I made. I plan on giving it to her soon! I just cut out the individual labels and decopauged them onto a plate I picked up Goodwill for 79 cents.

Trying my hand at Jewelry

It is amazing what a little Glossy Accents, some paper scraps, buttons and some bezels (which I picked up from Hobby Lobby - on sale 40% off!) can do! Here are few more -

Boxes, boxes, boxes

At least a year ago, I bought a bunch of paper boxes - with the idea that I would decorate them...I have finally gotten around to it! This one is my favorite so far. I used an old pattern that I picked up at goodwill for 57 cents. The rest of the stuff I had laying around the craft room. Time to start using supplies - not admiring the accumulation of them!

For this box, I used some Lilly Pulitzer wrapping paper and topped the box with a ribbon rose.

All the papers and "buttons" used on this box are from Heather Bailey. I love the bright fun colors she uses in her fabrics and was so excited that she came out with papers to match! Click here to visit her blog and here to visit her online store. (No, I wasn' t paid to endorse - just love!!!)

The final box is definitely Miss Mustard Seed inspired. I used some vintage sheet music I got from a co-worker (thank you, Alex) and I painted the top with some silver paint. For a little rustic touch - I painted the pine cone with the same silver paint and glued it to the top to use as a handle.

I wanna be Miss Mustard Seed

Have you ever stumbled across a design blog and thought - YES! This is what I want my room to look like. We live in a very traditional house, in a traditional neighborhood, in a traditional city, in a traditional state!

I have been trying to figure out - what is my style, what makes my heart stop? And then I saw a picture of Miss Mustard Seed's dining room - there it was. I was mesmerized. I have redesigned my space with VERY strong influences of MMS.

So, here it is - my dining room ala Miss Mustard Seed...

Let's start with the old: It was fine. I mean, I liked it - but I didn't love it. I wanted to love the space. It is the first room you see when you walk in our front door and I wanted it to feel more like a space you wanted to be in - not just walk on by! I made the curtains about a year after we moved in the they are nice - but fancy. They are aqua / brown and have a silk lining and have nice pretty baubles hanging from the trim. So out with the old and in with the new:


Shall we take a tour? Where are all the MMS influences?? I would have loved to have been able to paint my table/china cabinet. The mister almost went into cardiac arrest when I suggested it - so that will remain the same (for now!) Here is the vision, the start of it all - Miss Mustard Seed's Gorgeous Dining Room!
What's not to love, right? Well, I started with the curtains. I had seen the fabric MMS used at Joannes and a couple of other online sources. I liked it - but wasn't as big a fan of the birds as I though I would be when I saw it up close. After a few hours online I found this wonderful fabric at Fabric.com, they had it on clearance for 11.98 a yard. Joanne's had the same fabric - but definitely not the same price! When I went to place my order they had a couple specials going on - free shipping (cha ching) and if you spent more than $100 you could take an extra 25% off! Seriously - I ended up getting 12 yards for $107!!!
They came out - exactly how I wanted them (I followed along the same curtain making instructions, provided by MMS here). You see that lovely mirror on the wall...can you believe that many years ago, my mom purchased it from Home Interiors. It was originally a shiny, shiny brass color. After some silver spray paint made for plastic (because, yes, it was plastic) and some black glaze, it is now a tarnished silver look.

Next, I tried my hand at finishing a piece of furniture - improving it with the magic of paint and glaze. This corner unit we have had since we moved in together, before we got married. It was a lovely shade of avacado green - here is the transformation:

Up close and personal...MMS has some great tutorials on painting - you can find them here and here.

Here are some more MMS inspiration areas in the dining room -
Artwork: I found this image from the amazing Graphics Fairy - a close and personal friend of MMS!! I printed the image out on heavy resume paper and then put it in the frame I got from the local Goodwill store. Of course the frame was originally gold, I painted the outside silver and the inside trim a nice french blue. The candlesticks were another vintage Home Interiors plastic gold travesty. Like the mirror, I painted and glazed and now have tarnished silver loveliness on the wall. This is another corner of the dining room - I haven't painted this piece, because I don't know if it is staying in this room for the long run. But it is a great spot to hold some of my smaller dishes. The plates on the top shelf are Ironstone - and we all know how much MMS loves her ironstone. Most of the plates and goodies that I have found to decorate with I discovered at my local goodwill.The place settings that I have put together are a study in thriftyness. The bottom chargers came from Hobby Lobby and are...shhhh...plastic. I have a cream colored plate next - picked those up at Tuesday Morning for about 3 buck a piece. The blue and white plates that are next I got at Ross - for 2 bucks a piece (wish I had someone to pass dishes down to me - but my families budgets were more like 70s corelle ware than lovely Enlgish transferware!) The cute silver dishes on the top came from my very favorite thrift store and were only 85 cents a piece!! Here is MMS's version:
Pure loveliness, right. I have actually started a collection of the plates that you see her using in her place setting - I saw a stack of three on the shelf at Goodwill and scooped them up - I didn't even realize it until I started doing this post that 1.) I bought a bowl that matches them about 10 years earlier and 2.) That they were the plates MMS uses! Wierd how that worked out! The Hurricanes on the table I picked up on clearance from JC Penney (while I supposed to Christmas shopping) I found the lettered balls, once again at my very favorite thrift shop - a little typography for MMS!



This little chair was probably one of the first projects I had tackled. I made the slipcover out of muslin and the skirt on this little lady is very reminiscint of MMS and her wonderful slips - she has some great tutorials here.








My final MMS inspiration Vignette - I didn't paint this piece either - I loved the patina on the finish and just didn't want to change it - All of the items (chest included) came from the thrift store. Seriously, I love that place. I also included a wreath - made with sheet music to incorporate MMS' love of sheet music. Here are some more close up shots -
I just love the title of that book - "Your House in the Country." It is full of very practical advice for those housewives, making due in the 1930s! I don't live in the country - but if you asked some of my co-workers, they would swear I did. Spotsylvania county sure sounds like the country to those folks in D.C.! (did you notice the plate??? Very MMS!)

Here is a better shot of the wreath I made. A little bit of modge podge, strips of sheet music paper, and some other pretties - and I have quite a nice little wreath!

So, that about sums up my obsession with Miss Mustard Seed. I am linking up to here "Copy Me" challenge post. I hope she knows, I took her rather literally. I am so please with my dining room, I can hardly stand it. I just sit in there with a stupid grin on my face. Miss Mustard Seed, I hope you are proud of your influence on me and take my "copying" as a true tribute to your abilities! I am going to leave this long, long, long post now - with one question...My dining room chairs - blue velvet or the original cream?