Pearls and Lace Thursday #51 and Giveaway Winner!!

A Bit of Glass.

Sometimes I just can't say no to purchasing a piece of glass...there's something about it.  Whether it's the design of the piece, or the color, maybe it's the shape, but all of a sudden I have a whole 'collection' of glassware and when I look for places to display it, well....I have to make room.

The Basket above is white with such a pretty ruffled scalloped edge I just HAD to have it.  Perfect too because my husband liked it and it didn't cost much.  I have some rectangular shaped prisms filling it, but it's hard to photograph, but it's pretty in the sun.

A very recent find is the crocheted dresser scarf above.  The pinks caught my attention first, then as I got closer I saw the textures of the handwork.  I see where doilies were crocheted for the edges, but the panel above the edge is huckweaving I think....anyone want to tell me the proper name for it??

I've filled this sugar bowl with prisms from a chandelier and just LOVE how they sparkle.  Sure do wish I could capture that with my camera!!

I have a winner for the lace roses I've been making lately.  Please email me your mailing address and I will get them to you in the next week. 

Congratulations to  Trisha!!  

You can see her blog here:    http://americanhoneyhome.blogspot.com/

    

Thank you so much for your lovely comments and for participating with me for Pearls and Lace Thursday!!  Did you know that because of my last post, Rust and Roses, Gail named her 2 new shelter kitties Rose and Rust???  How cool is that???  Thanks so much Gail!!

I'm going to be linking up for the Pink Saturday Party at:

http://www.howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

As well as the gorgeous White Wednesday at

http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/

Go by and see all the pretties!!

You can link up again this week for Pearls and Lace Thursday by clicking on the linky below and adding the url code for your post.

Please no Etsy, Ebay or selling your items posts, and please use the url of your POST, not your BLOG.

Blessings,

Doni

Pearls and Lace #21

It's all Red!

I pulled a bit of red from all over the house and had so much fun doing it!  From the buttons to the old printer's shelf, old bobbins to glassware, red is one of my favorite colors with which to decorate.  The dark reds are my favorites.  Now don't think my whole house is done is red...it's not.  I love lots of colors, and there are some that I don't care for at all.  But, as a favorite...this is one of the top.

The red candy dish belonged to my Grossmutter.  I remember as a little girl going to her house (she lived only 3 houses away from us!) and dusting the furniture.  This candy jar as well as a milk glass one resided on the half-wall located just inside her foyer by her telephone table.  I would carefully dust each crevice of the glass in hopes that I wouldn't miss a spot or break it.  So far, I haven't broken it!

I'm also a lover of old tins. This one has a foreign word on the top and has been in my collection for many years.  Others I've only had for a few months!

Old buttons just seem to find their way now into my blog posts.  I've seen how talented many of you are with laces and buttons and have had an itch to try something with them.  Perhaps I'll get all my stuff together and start!! 

These are the only two pieces of the red transferware that I have, but I'm hoping to find some more!  These have the English castles on them and I'm in love with them.

These little perfume bottles are my latest finds.  I found them this last weekend at a yard sale and think they're sooooo sweet! I love the red cord on the one on the right, and the delicate and graceful lines of the one on the left make it one of my favorites.

Please join me this week for Pearls and Lace Thursday!  Add your post's url link to the Linky below and show off your beauties!!

Hope you all have a blessed Thursday!

Doni

I'm joining with some parties at the blogs below!  Come by and join in the fun!

Show and Tell Friday

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

It's a Hodgepodge Friday

http://itsahodgepodgelife.blogspot.com/

Vignette Fridays

http://niagaranovice.blogspot.com/



More Cooling Blues Around the House

I just must thank Laura from Ontario (her blog is Laura's Rose Garden) for sending us here in Texas her cooling weather!!! It has been only in the 90's this last week and we even saw some lows reach down to the 60's!!! WOOOHOOO! (can't you picture me running around outside waving my cowboy hat and smackin' the horse?) (Actually, it's a whole lot more likely you'd see me waddle around and smack a mosquito!!)

We've really enjoyed the 'cool spell' and look forward even more to Fall!!

I was hoping to have a lovely table all set with my newest white china that I bought off of ebay, but after a whole month of waiting, IT"S STILL NOT HERE!!!

Yes, I called, I nicely pestered, and she had all types of reasons as to why my china has not arrived, but as long I remain nice and she does to, well I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. 

I can't wait to see what it will look like put together.  I am not the type to set the table for dinner, but I love love love what I see on so many of your blogs.  Tables set with gorgeous china, flatware, glassware, real flowers, lovely centerpieces, etc.  Maybe I will take some lessons from y'all and see where it takes me!!

Hope you are all having cool breezes and may you have a lovely week!

Be sure and check out Pearls and Lace Thursday #17 here and see my beautiful hand painted bowl I recently acquired.  It's worth the click!!!

Join me here on Thursday as well for Pearls and Lace Thursday!!!

Blessings!!

Doni

I'm joining these parties for a delightful blogging Monday!!

Be sure and check them out and join us!!

Mosiac Monday at

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

Today's Thrifty Treasures at

http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

Blue Monday at

http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

Show Off Your Cottage Monday at

http://houseinroses.blogspot.com/

Pearls and Lace Thursday #7

Handmade pillowcase... made by loving hands and given to me on a very special day.

She's sick right now, so please pray for her...

A view of the top of my Grossmutter's dresser. I've place all of my clear glass pieces along with my rhinestone pieces here. It's going to change...I have so many ideas!

It's so fun to play with everything! Is this the reason we grew up with dollhouses? So that we would learn how to re-arrange things when we grew up??

I found these Bluebonnet paintings at Thrift Stores in my area...
the first one recently, and the second one many many years ago!




I will not be at home for Pearls and Lace Thursday this week, but am leaving this to post on Wednesday evening. I'm hoping there are no problems with the Link this time!!
Please feel free to join me here by linking your Pearls and Lace post html code to the Link below. We are looking forward to seeing YOUR Pearls and Laces!!
Blessings!
Doni

My Brick Walls

I knew a lady years ago who told me a story. Actually, she told a whole room full of ladies this story, and it has really helped me out over the years.

She told us that one day her husband (who was a brick layer), drove her all over the city and pointed out walls, buildings, bridges, etc. that his hands had built. He told her that they were his life's work and that they would stand longer than he would live. Others would see them, perhaps benefit from them by living in them, using them, etc. He ended the drive with extreme pride over his accomplishments.



She however, had another idea. She was an avid crocheter of beautiful afghans. She had made hundreds of them over the years and given the majority of them away to friends and family. She taught anyone who wanted to learn how to crochet, and she was still cranking them out, beautiful colors and patterns. Her 'brick walls' she told us, were these afghans! These were the things that people would remember her by, they would last longer than she would, they would give delight, warmth, and color to other households.



So, what are my brick walls??? I guess I have quite a few different ones...

My scrapbooks and handmade cards, my tatted doilies, the pictures I have taken, even the collections of beautiful dishes and glassware. These are some of my brick walls. I might not have put my hands to a brick and laid it down to last for years, but I have things that I've touched that will last for years, that others might enjoy. And yes, I've made some afghans too.



Sometimes I get extremely discouraged. As in this morning. I just got the laundry room all picked up, organized, swept and clean during the end of last week. It took me hours to put all that junk up and get it nice looking (it stores a lot of our Dachshund Kennel food and items). This morning, I went in there to find that my husband had been in there. Need I say more? I was very angry. Then I remembered my brick walls. Cleaning up after him is another part of it. It might not last long, but it's a part of something that WILL last a lifetime.



So, what are your 'brick walls'?
Blessings,
Doni

In The Pink

I just wanted to share the first of a project I've started...it's called

CLEANING THE HOUSE!!!

If I understand this correctly, it means that every single object in my house is supposed to be clean and organized and in its place all at the same time.

I choose to disregard the part about 'all at the same time' as well as 'every single object'. I'd kill myself if I had to do that or even tried!

So, in keeping with the abbreviated version of cleaning the house, I've chosen to start cleaning one part of my house at a time, and the pink dishes are the first things to get a bath.

Hope you enjoy them.

I've also had another brilliant idea and would like your feedback on it.
I want to host a weekly post where everyone who wants to participate may do so. I'd like to have one called, "Show us Your Lace Tuesday" or something like that. Laces are some of my favorite things, and when I see pictures of what others have and use, I get all excited.
So, tell me what you think, and I'll start. Give me some good ideas of names too...perhaps I'll start by having a giveaway.


The dried roses are from my awesome wonderful husband. He has been wonderful to me on my birthdays and our anniversaries. I have kept every rose he's given me over the years and dried them for keepsakes. With some I've dried the petals and have them inside this glass vase to hold the roses that I've dried by hanging them upside down. I just love the light pink and cream colors when they're dried.

I suppose now I have to choose another part of the house to "clean", and then when I get it all pretty and dust-free I will take a picture of it. Just think! In a year or two, I will have a blog full of clean objects posted that will stay clean forever in pictures, and then I'll have to start all over again in the house and clean it all over again! (It will take me at LEAST that long to get to it all!!).

Please let me know what you think about the "Show us Your Lace Tuesday" idea!

One more thing...I just want to thank all of you who have decided to follow my blog! I never thought I'd have 20 people decide to actually follow ME! Wow! And I've had so much fun over at your blogs. You have inspired me to clean and decorate and make my house a home.

Hugs!

Doni

"Meant" to be Mine!

I guess I've always love glass...I went to garage sales a lot when I was just a kid (thanks mom!), so I've always wanted to have a home of my own and collect all the beautiful

pieces I saw and display them. This first picture show a recent find at a

local shop near me. It was so sweet, it had to be a part of the collection.

The rose jar on the right also came from the same shop, and of course I fell in love

with it at first sight! Do you ever do that? Just see something and KNOW that it

was meant to go home with you? The piece on the left was from a garage sale,

and as usual, it just had to come home with me!

This is a cool jar. It's large and it's heavy. It has a spigot down at the bottom (like for tea),

and seems to work. BUT, I wanted it for all my LACE!!!

Perfect! It looks cool in there! The bottom of the jar says ITALY, and

I found it at the GoodWill store near me. Cost me 5 dollars, and

I almost left it behind....but it just caught my attention and I KNEW...

It had to come home with me!!!

They were meant to be mine!

I'm still working on my Guest Room, and have SO far to go, but it's a work in

progress and looks as if it will only progress slowly. I've redone the dresser my

Grossmutter gave me, so it looks a whole lot better. I used the new dresser scarves

I bought at the Estate sale, and I've moved the purple violet tins to another

place in the room. More pics as I get them all done!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Doni

He REALLY loves me!

My husband is the most wonderful, awesome, magnificent, loving and caring man in the world, and I'm so thankful he's all mine!! To show some of these traits, while we were travelling to Missouri to pick up a new puppy earlier this week, he made time during our trip to spend hours (and do I ever mean HOURS), happily poking around flea markets along the way. No time constraints except closing time! I've had a blast! My feet ache more than I can remember, and I didn't get to see ALL of the whole huge building full of lovely antiques and cool stuff, but my mind is full of things I've seen, my home now has a few new treasures, and my hubby has a very happy wife! This picture shows a few of the items I picked up on our trip. I'll show more later.

See the little plate with the bluebird on it? Well, when I picked it up to look closer at it, he came up to me in the booth and right there in public hugged me and told me he loved me! What a perfect plate to commemorate that event. I'll always remember it now!

Now I've got to get busy and work on the house. It really needs to be cleaned and I have a whole room to get ready for company! Not that anyone is staying yet, but they couldn't if they wanted to...we've got all kinds of boxes and dog crates sitting in there right now and I have lots of new treasures to display!!

Doni

Cobalt Blue...one of my favorite things!

It had snowed and been sooooo cold...and I was at home for what seemed like WEEKS! I just had to get out and SHOP! So, I went to a small town near my own small town in hopes of finding the Antique shop open. It wasn't. So instead, I stopped by a small shop that I knew carried "new" stuff that was interesting. It just so happened that as I was looking around, browsing over the myriad pretty gift ideas, etc., I heard two ladies who were shopping together say something about the Cobalt blue in one area. My ears listened closer to what they were saying and my eyes shot across the large room to a booth set up with antiques and TONS of Cobalt Blue glass!!!! My husband laughed about my thoughts as I told him about it later, he knows me well! I could only think, 'Oh, don't you dare buy something I might want!!!'

So carfully, I got closer and took another look. Uh oh...she picked up a wonderful little jar! Oh no! She'll want it! I just know she will! But no....she put it down!!! Yea!!! Then, they started to look at other pieces...one was a set of four gorgeous goblets that I KNEW needed to come home with me!! Thankfully they were drawn away from the area by asking some questions about some other items, and soon after that left the store altogether. They did however mention that they'd be back later....

Well, not only was there once section of antiques, but 2! I browsed and hunted and carried Cobalt Blue glass to the front for quite some time! I asked the proprietor to please not mention that it was me who had bought all the Cobalt Blue!!

Do you think they came back? Do you think they got mad at me? I truly hope not. I had a BLAST shopping over there and will go back soon I hope! So many more things over there had my name on them!!!!

Enjoy the pictures! I have more to share later. And that little jar? It is now safely home. The Glass sets above are wonderful! One is the set of 4 water glasses that I saw, and the group of 7 juice glasses are so thin and pretty! I love them all!

Doni