Friday, May 31, 2013

Estate Auction and finds!

This past week I went to an antique auction at this wonderful Plantation home...


upon my arrival these two concrete lions sat proudly on their brick thrones overgrown with ivy, beckoning me to enter into their domain and warning me of the storm that was a brewing in the skies above...


these romantic little cherub/putti greeted me and assured me that it would be alright. The tables were full of lots of goodies all nestled under a tent ...


and the furniture was to be sold inside...


The house was just wonderful with beautiful rosettes and lighting...


and outside it was just as pretty. The home and 3 of the 17 acres ended up selling for the low price of $110,000.
I wish I could tell you I was the new owner but I cannot. I did express my interest in the home with hubby beforehand but you must remember, hubby is not a Victorian Wanna Be so it didn't work!


But I did end up buying a few things that had made my heart go pitter patter! I brought them home and displayed them on this little table for you to see...


First up is this milkglass chick, resting upon a hankie, peeking out of an egg riding a sleigh. The chick was $15 and the hankie I got an Goodwill the other day for 50 cents, I like the sweet little tatting on the edges. The book is a Queen Victoria book, I got it for $2.50 and not sure what I will do with it. I needed it for my Victoria Day post I did a few weeks ago.


Only a few pictures in the book, I liked this silhouette picture of "Her Majesty"...


and these photos of her as a young girl...
                                                                          


And here is a piece that caught my eye immediately! It is an Old Paris porcelain dresser tray (I think). Not sure what the little cups are, maybe for face cream? Would they have had lids, I don't know.


I totally fell in love with that bird on top! The piece has a few broken places (and the bird's tail has been glued back on), but not real noticeable and for $10, who could pass that up?! I believe there would have been a mirror where that flat part is. So I think I will get one cut to place there.


And I think I saved the best for last! (even though you saw a glimpse of them in one of the photos from above). I just loved these little guys with all the pinks and flowers and all. But I'm going to tell you a little secret, they have been decapitated at one time or another, but thank goodness someone had the sense to glue those puppies back on!! I have not cleaned any of this stuff up, so it is a little dirty looking and has dripped wax on them. On the bottom is a blue crossed swords looking mark, kind of like Meissen.  I paid $20 for these.


A view from behind...
 And if you look carefully you'll see what I've been up to!


I decided these guys were a little plain and needed some sparkle, so I got out my prisms! The smaller one's on the left are too squatty looking so I took some prisms off the luster and VOILA! I love that look!


So here we go! What to do now? Take the prisms off the lusters and not use the luster vases, or maybe just try and find extra prisms for the candlesticks too? And where to put the candlesticks, on the piano?


On the mantle? (sorry for the blurry picture!)


Or on the pier table next to the shell dome? The pink flowers on the candlesticks match the pink shell roses in the dome so that looks nice. But whatever I do I'll need to rearrange things or just add to the vignette.
Hmmm....what to do? What would you do?
                         

Thanks so much for visiting. Have a great week!

I am joining these wonderful parties, please come and join us.

SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY with Cindy at MY ROMANTIC HOME
PINK SATURDAY with Beverly at HOW SWEET THE SOUND
AMAZE ME MONDAY with Cindy at DWELLINGS
A RETURN TO LOVELINESS with Kathy at A DELIGHTSOME LIFE
WHAT'S IT WEDNESDAY with Patti and Paula at IVY AND ELEPHANTS
TREASURE HUNT THURSDAY with Pamela at FROM MY FRONT PORCH TO YOURS
HOME with Sandi at ROSE CHINTZ COTTAGE

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Peony Romance

The Peonies are in full bloom all around us. They are just so pretty and fragrant, too pretty to leave on the bush. So after the rain beat the blooms to the ground I decided that that was my chance to go cut some off! I don't know about you guys, but every time I see something pretty my mind gets to thinking and planning for this "blog thing" that I have seemed to become so addicted to. Actually, I think it's the photo staging that I have become addicted too!
Recently I bought this antique German porcelain shoe. I just adored the sweet little cherubs even though they both have suffered a broken wing. I am planning to restore them, after all I only paid $5 for it. As pretty as the shoe was in itself I just had to add some peonies to the vignette, add some more shoes and make it a shoe vignette! So here it is...


As you can see, I used my trusty ol' dresser tray lined with lace , my pressed glass boot vase to hold the peonies, that match the bloom on the gold shoe. The cherub shoe is hand painted and I'm thinking is from the the mid to late 1800's. See the little round piece with the little hook on the heel part of the shoe? I was wondering what the heck that thing could possibly be when it occurred to me that it must have been used to hang your pocket watch in. Now how nifty is that?! (I don't have a pocket watch to show you what it would look like.)


Just in case you did not see the blooms in last week's post, here they are in my Queen Victoria tumbler.

                      

And here is what I did with all the blooms that I cut off of the rain beaten bush...


I wet the statue so it would look better for the photos. I didn't realize it had so much moss (or whatever you call it) on it either. It looks pretty bad, I will have to scrub that off pretty soon.


A closer view of the blooms...


and a view from the front door. I'm afraid I have freaked out my cute little feathered friends by adding the blooms to their bath...


 it looks like the only visitor I will get is the one below...



Have a great week and thank you for visiting. I am joining the following parties, please come and join us.

DWELLINGS with Cindy at AMAZE ME MONDAY
TOOTSIE TIME with Glenda at FERTILIZER FRIDAY, FLAUNT YOUR FLOWERS
IVY AND ELEPHANTS WITH Patti and Paula at WHAT'S IT WEDNESDAY
FROM MY FRONT PORCH TO YOURS with Pamela at TREASURE HUNT THURSDAY
ROSE CHINTZ COTTAGE with Sandi at HOME
A DELIGHTSOME LIFE with Kathy at HOME AND GARDEN THURSDAY
SHARE YOUR CUP THURSDAY with Jann
SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY with Cindy

Monday, May 20, 2013

To Honor the Queen

Today is the day the Canadian's observe Queen Victoria's birthday, I do not live in Canada but being the "Victorian Wanna Be" that I am, I just had to post about this wonderful day!
The below picture is a close up shot of one of my antique scrapbook pieces, I will show it in full further down in this post.


Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 until her death in 1901. It is this time period that is referred to as the Victorian Era. Below is a picture of the cover of one of my favorite books. I would love to have a bust like that in my parlor!


This morning I quickly went about the house in search of anything "Queen Victoria" related and here is what I came up with.
The crowns are a few my daughter has won in pageants, the full view of the scrap piece I showed above, and an antique child's 3" Stafforshire dog. These chimney ornaments  were made in pairs of all sizes and were modeled after the King Charles Spaniel and probably inspired by Queen Victoria's Spaniel named "Dash".


Another vignette using the Spaniel, an 1897 Diamond Jubilee celebration souvenir enamel ware tumbler filled with pink peonies from the yard and a McLaughlin's Coffee trade card showing the lovely queen herself, her drawing room and Windsor Castle.


A closer look at the tumbler, pictured on the back side is Buckingham Palace.


In the photo below is the above Victorian book opened up to these pages, the caption reads " 'I will be good.' Victoria receiving the news of her accession. By H.T. Wells, 1880. (Tate Gallery, London)"
An oval magazine picture and the coffee trade card.


To end this post I would like to show another full view of "Her Majesty".


 Thankyou so much for visiting today and I hope you have a great week!

I would like to thank Sandi at ROSE CHINTZ COTTAGE for featuring my Lilac post on her HOME party. Before writing this post I noticed her TeaTime Tuesday post (below) is observing Queen Victoria with a Victorian Tea Party. Her tea parties are always so beautiful, I hope you will take the time to stop in and check it out.

I am joining the following parties, please come and join in the fun!
Sandi at TEA TIME TUESDAY
Cindy at AMAZE ME MONDAY
Sandi at HOME
Paula at WHAT'S IT WEDNESDAY
Cindy at SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

Sunday, May 5, 2013

It's Lilac Time!

The other day I noticed the lilac bush loaded with beautiful blooms so I went out to cut some and in the process was inspired to post about them. So I got to thinking and planning and here is what I came up with.
With a vase full of blooms I staged this pretty vignette on my dresser tray...


using an antique postcard on a brass easel and a stick pin holder with a few purple stick pins.


Took a few blooms out of the vase and placed on some lace in my tray...


and had a little more fun with the pins...


Lilacs were a very popular Victorian subject for postcards and I have a lot to prove that. As you will see, lilacs were used on Christmas, Valentine and Easter cards as well as for general wishes.
Pictured below is a Christmas scrap piece in the shape of a paint pallette. Notice the white lilac, I have never seen a white lilac but was told they are more fragrant than the purple ones.


Pictured on this Easter postcard is a pink lilac. I have never seen a pink lilac before either, have you? Usually they are the light purple or the darker purple.


I have several Valentine postcards with lilacs on them. Look at the sweet little girls with their pretty dresses.



Another Valentine card with a cute little couple and their dog, all 3 dressed in purple with the boy holding a purple bouquet. I really don't think they are lilacs, but I'm saying it is for this post.


Here is a birthday greeting with a purple flower decorated horse and buggy. Not sure if they are lilacs either, but again, I like the purple for this post.


Another postcard with lilacs in a shoe, the lilacs were embellished with little sparkly beads


and for this last lilac postcard, my little faux birdie got out of its cage to join in the fun...


Well that is it for my lilac show, I hope you enjoyed it and have a wonderful week!

I am joining the following parties, I hope you will join us.

AMAZE ME MONDAY with Cindy at Dwellings-The heart of your home
HOME with Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage
WHAT'S IT WEDNESDAY with Paula at Ivy and Elephants
TREASURE HUNT THURSDAY with Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours
SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY with Cindy at My Romantic Home
A RETURN TO LOVELINESS with Kathy
TUESDAYS AT OUR HOME with Maria Elena
LET'S TALK VINTAGE with Jillian
SHARE YOUR CUP THURSDAY with Jann
HOME AND GARDEN THURSDAY with Kathy
HOME SWEET HOME with Sherry