musings, mutterings, and creative muddle. . .





Monday, March 1, 2010

Behold the Treasures!

What an awesome weekend!  Non-stop - it's amazing sometimes how much a person can pack into just two days.  WOW!

On Saturday, J-girl and I trekked to a neighboring town to one of our favorite gift shops / flea markets. She was having a heckuva sale to reduce her inventory and I found some GREAT treasures!  I found these beautiful Mary Carol plates (and who knew Mary, and her shops, Nell's Hill, were right here in Kansas. . . and not very far north of me, besides.  I'm thinking ROADTRIP to all three of her shops.  Wanna come?) which complement the white beaded square plates I bought several years ago.  I'm totally motivated to completely revamp my dinnerware. . . .

Now to decide upon and locate dinner plates and bowls.  I have several ideas - neutral palest-yellow-cream has its appeal as it can be 'dressed' with different linens to match different holidays, or complemented with holiday-colored plates. . . but that sounds kind of boring.   Maybe a beautiful soft-cherry red or robin's egg blue (cherries and robins. . . .two of my favorite things AND colors) sounds like fun and is more my style.  I think the colors would make the black and white pallet of the new plates and black and white enamelware I collect really pop.  The spring-like colors would also help brighten the cherry cabinets and granite counters in the kitchen and play off the cobalt blue-rimmed glassware we use.   Really wish my kitchen and dining room were painted the soft pale yellow of my old kitchen. . . .

Beyond the dishes, I came home with the tiniest of crystal vases to add to my collection in my barrister bookcase.  Do you see that kitty on the right.  Dear daughter bought that for me from a shop in Lawrence, KS.  Hand painted and so fun!

I also found a couple of the sweetest little crockery vases that look just wonderful on my kitchen window among my cobalt blue.  Wish you could see the cobalt pieces with the morning sun. . . but the sun hasn't been shining.  You'll just have to do your best to pretend the light is streaming through the window.  The little vases are hard to see too.  Just one of those days.

And. . . . I found two mirrors that simply had to come home.  I've been looking for a mirror for in my office/studio/family room.  I found one in a gift shop in Western Kansas, but it was smaller than I wanted and it was more expensive than my budget would stretch.  The rectangle and square mirrors I bought this weekend wooed me with the nicest raised detail on the inner edge of the frame.  As an added bonus, they were inexpensive enough that there was no guilt with me immediately painting them another color (a great temptation I have with so many things I buy. . . I simply have the compulsion to individualize everything, but hold myself back. . . ).  They look lovely on my 'studio' wall with the rest of the antique-y things, don't you think?  You even get a little glimpse of my 'office' wall across the room, eh? 

The bike picture?  Son-o painted that several years ago. . .I think it's pretty neat.  The screw drivers above the picture?  Antique wooden-handled ones from my grandfather.  The antique Sears level below the picture was found at an auction.  The display-box-frame holds antque embroidery scissors, thread, hat pins.  And some fun scrapbook photoframes on the shelf above it all hold special photos of our family.  

Can you see those little glass frames?  I have no idea how old those are - but they are so awesomely cool!  Too cool for photos, even, eh?   I love those little galvanized steel cones I found at a craft store - they're even edged with tiny galvanized steel and glass bead 'garland'.  Didn't feel compulsed to change a thing about those;-)  The bulletin board is needing some sprucing. . . I am the first to admit.  It will happen - inspiration and resources just haven't quite come together yet. . . The wall is topped off with a wonderful vintage summer hat from Hubster's Grandma.  Quite dapper.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with Son-o to make fried rice and crab ragoons for supper.  YUM!  Look for the recipes tomorrow.

Have a treasure-filled kind of day ~

Robin Z

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