Charm Alarm

Hello dear friends, we interrupt our regularly scheduled program for the following announcement... Amy over at Inspire Company has listed some more of my charm bracelets. So many of you have signed up for my shop newsletter, but I did not have a chance to send out a mail letting you know about the update on her site. (My day job is really getting in the way of my creativity. LOL!) Just wanted to keep you all in the loop. I appreciate each of you and hope you have a wonderful day!

Flickr Follies

I am trying to master the art of Flickr mosiac creation. This is round number two. The blank spot in the middle was not intentional, but I like it. What are some of your favorite images to search for on Flickr?

British Invasion

I have to share another one of my collections with you. I adore Cornish Kitchen Ware from England. Over ten years ago Country Living magazine had a cover photo featuring a hutch filled with shelf upon shelf of these unique blue and white kitchen canisters. I am from a long line of dish lovers, for my mother it was Franciscan "Apple" pattern for my grandmother Fiestaware, but I had never seen anything quite like these blue and white beauties. They had me at blue and white...the attraction was immediate...I had to find out more about my new love.


After reading the related article, I learned that this particular kitchenware was from England. It had a long history and was a commonplace in many homes there. Since I had never seen any of this pottery while antiquing and not being very familiar with Ebay at the time, I thought the possibility of running across any pieces in my neck of the woods to be unlikely. Nevertheless, I kept the magazine with the hope that one day I might find at least one of these lettered jars to call my own.

Several months later, while attending an antique fair, I came across a booth that had on display the same issue of Country Living that I had stored away in my wish file. Attached to the magazine was a 3x5 note card stating that 13 pieces of this very same style of pottery were available for purchase!!! The dealer was from another town and had not brought the pieces with her, just the magazine to see if anyone was interested. Fast forward two weeks... thirteen pieces of vintage Cornish Ware are lined up on the hutch in my kitchen! I would learn much later that I bought all thirteen pieces for as much as some collectors would pay for one jar !!! Serendipity baby!
Enthusiastically, I joined a collector's club from across the pond and acquired some of their new pieces designed exclusively for members. This cake dome is one of them.
Here is a closer look at the milk pitcher. It is marked on the inside with the different measurements . The piece on the left is Bridgewater. We've talked about this people, I am a sucker for lettering.
Ooh.. and I had to show you a better view of the marmalade. I love that it has the serif style font for its lettering. Up front is a salt cellar. It features the sanserif style font.

Alright, guilty as charged...I added more pieces when I discovered the wonderful world of Ebay too. I have slowed down though...I mean I have to leave some room for my beloved glass jars!

Hope your day is filled with delightful surprises!

And The Winner Is...

Meleen Dupre!

Congratulations Meleen! Please drop me an email with your mailing information and your little Friendship Pin will be on its way to you!

Thank you so much dear friends for all your sweet encouraging words over the past week. I am thrilled beyond belief for all the comments, emails and phone calls I have received. You sure know how to make a girl feel special! I appreciate each one of you. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Big News and a Blog Giveaway!!!

Hi everyone! I am thrilled to announce that I am the current Inspired Friend over at Inspire Company. If you recall, I have been giving you some sneak peeks of works in progress. Well, they were all in prepartion for this event! If you would like to see the finished products, take a spin by there for a browse.

I also wanted to show you the project above that I completed as part of my feature. This is the Marie Antoinette inspired Friendship Pin that I designed. If you are interested in making one for yourself , step by step directions are available there. Now if you are a very busy girl and would like to WIN this one, then simply post a little comment below or drop me an email, and I will pick a winner at the end of the week. Thank you for stopping by and helping me celebrate this wonderful opportunity! I hope you have a great day!

Purple Reign Concluded

And now for the moment you have all been waiting for...the third and final installment in my purple room miniseries. This is a spare bedroom that I use as a crafting area. I put away my junk laden folding tables just for you! I used a Benjamin Moore paint, but I can't remember the color. If you ever watched Sharon Osborne's talk show, her background set was painted the most perfect shade of purple...this is NOT that shade, but I THOUGHT it would be when I selected it. It wasn't quite what I was going for, but I still like it. I'm glad you came along for my little tour. Let's see...what should be next... pink bathrooms or rooms painted green?
Hope you have a colorful day!

Purple Passion Tour Part Deux

As part of my ongoing series on purple rooms in my home, allow me to present my formal living room.This wall color is Grape Mist by Sherwin Williams. This room opens off of the dining room...you know the room with the intense dark purple, so I thought I would dial the color down considerably for this space. I would have given you a pulled back shot, but then I would have had to clean and straighten and we couldn't have that. I mean I started blogging to avoid doing such mundane tasks. LOL! Notice the Easter decor is still up...fast forward to June...it will still be up!

I wanted to give you a more up close view with the Grape Mist contrasted against the white woodwork and the dark picture frame.
And here is a little closer view of the mantle area. Hopefully you can get a feel for the shade this room is. Gee, who knew photographing paint would be such a challenge! On the next post we will be dialing it back up...bring your earplugs.

No, Prince Does Not Live Here.

Have I ever mentioned that my favorite color is purple?
I have always loved it. One summer when I was little I told the kindly next door neighbor that I was allergic to all flavors of Popsicle except grape, just to be sure that I would receive a purple one when she did her daily distribution of these to all the kids within a two block radius. LOL!

It's odd to me that purple is such a polarizing color for most. People either love it or hate it.Sorry purple, no middle ground of indifference for you! Now I'm not saying I would want to drive a purple car, but I have gone as far as to paint three rooms in my home in varying shades of this hue.

I always wanted a formal dining room with drama, so I selected two deep rich Sherwin Williams colors (Vibrant Violet and Cabaret Purple) and used the Wall Magic technique to apply them. I love the result! Most people think that the walls are covered with suede because the appearance of texture that the technique gives.

I think I will make this a three part series and show you my other rooms over the next couple of posts. If you hate purple your can sit out the next two posts and if you love purple you'll have something to look forward to! LOL!
Hope you are having a great day!

A Peek at the Pink

Happy Friday everyone! I had to let you have a glimpse at more of the bling that will be finding its way onto some charm bracelets very soon. Hope you enjoy the parade of pink and pearls! I'm going to be in Saturday Detention over at Charm School Jewels so that these little babies will get finished. It'll be fun detention though...you know detention Breakfast Club style replete with self revelation, soda swigging, and perhaps even a cereal sandwich.

Hope you have fun plans for your weekend!

Confessions of a Jar Junkie Continued...

Hi, my name is Melissa and I'm a Jar Junkie. It's been four days since my last jar purchase.

Isn't it a beaut? And wouldn't it have looked strange sitting there all sad and empty? Tisk tisk, we couldn't have that now could we? You remember my aforementioned initial fetish, correct?Well I found these little lettered rolly pollies to fill it up! Hooray!!!

Listen, I never promised to write posts with substance. LOL!