Giveaway!

We're blushing tonight, really!

We're doing a little advertising over at one of our favorite blogs, The Shabby Chic Cottage. The best part? We're also able to do a GIVEAWAY!

What will you be in the running for? A pretty little plate ... perfect to set a glass dome on top of! A cute little crochet coaster would be a nice accent for a candle or maybe your favorite tea cup. And finally, an ornate gold frame bone - we loooove these! All these items are just what you ned to start a shabby little vignette!

Click on the photo to be taken right over to Gina's post to be entered. And be sure to nose around her great blog and Etsy shop!

Today in history

I noticed that today, February 3, is Norman Rockwell's birthday. While I've never been a huge fan of him myself - I think there's something that anyone, especially the lover of all things vintage, can appreciate in his work.

I searched through a few pages of his work and found three to share with you ...

My favorite one? The middle ... simply because of the lady in the bottom left with the fancy hat. I love vintage hats! There's something so lady-like and elegant about them.

To celebrate his birthday, what's your take on Mr. Rockwell?

New Directions

Well hello!

I've been giving this little blog o' mine a lot of thought and decided that it needed to go hand in hand with my Etsy shop. I'm doing updates little by little, so sit back and enjoy the ride!

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, I've been giving some ideas in my item descriptions for some pieces I think could easily be a gift for someone special!

I've been lucky to run across some very well made vintage doilies and I really love this one! The scalloped, layered edge is so fancy, isn't it? I think its perfect to display a pretty milk glass vase on. It could also be framed and hung on the wall for a festive V Day vignette.

This perfume bottle and mirror is so nicely detailed and styled like a vintage piece, although it's not quite at that 20 year old mark. I think it's a perfect piece for a young lady to put on her dresser.
If you love crazed, loved pieces ... this cup and saucer will surely still your heart. It's got so many shabby details - some fading and worn spots, but wow - is it a beauty! Maybe take a special cake over to a friend on V Day on this special plate!
Come back soon, but in the meantime check out the above items and much more at Chester and Donkey on Etsy!

I don't do window(s)

Treatments, that is. That's right, ladies and gents. I don't have a single curtain on a single window in my home. Unless you count the old shower curtain I threw over my bedroom window.

Am I weird? Yep.

Thinking about my orange kitchen, I decided a good way to add an extra pop of color - and brighten up my mood on these dull wintery days would be to add some curtains.

My idea of curtains? A few years ago, my cousin made her own curtains out of either napkins or placemats - that detail escapes me - but I do recall they were super cute. I decided that I could do the same thing and do a no-sew version.

The plan is to find some pretty orange goodies, like these.

And simply drape them over my windows. Do I think it'll work? Probably not. Ok, so it might but it most likely won't be that easy.

What do you do for window treatments? Got any simple (and I mean SIMPLE) ideas?

I decided that my favorite ...

... color is orange ...

... for the time being.

I change obsessions like I change clothes. Being on Etsy 22/24 hours (ok, not really) a day doesn't help either! I always find something that I get hooked on ... be it decor, kitchen stuff, the way someone takes pictures, whatever.

I scored an awesome set of Butterfly Pyrex casserole dishes at Goodwill that I just love, Love, LOVE. It's sparked a craze of sorts and now I just want to decorate my kitchen in orange. I realized last night that that'll be easy ... I already have a lot of orange stuff!

I'll post pictures later this week when my decorating is finished, but for now - enjoy this picture (and check out the shop) of the mixing bowls I want so badly to add to my collection!

See you later this week for the Kitchen Reveal!

Dream House

While catching up on blogs, I made sure to stop by Vintage Junky first and see what Michelle had been up to. She's been on a house hunt, which led me to post about a house I recently drooled over.

I am a wishful thinker ... when I found this on Realtor, my mind immediately went to work. This was going to be THE HOUSE. The house that all my blood, sweat and tears went into. The house that 20, 30, 40 years from now would hold Thanksgiving and Christmas for my kids and grandkids ... yes ... my mind travelled that far into the future.

With a house like this, to me, it was hard not to. It was build in 1870. It has 2 fireplaces, 2 sets of stairs ... character that you just don't find in new homes. But, sadly it won't be mine anytime soon. With the (un)helpfulness of an agent, I found out it went to auction. Excuse the quality of the photos ... I grabbed them off of the listing.

Dreamy hardwood, plantation shudders, brick .... ahhhhhhh, this truly is my dream home.

Its about TIME!

Can you believe I haven't blogged since last year?! Ok, since the beginning of December ... but it does feel like 365 days ago since my last post.

I did not do as many Christmas projects and decorating as I anticipated. I slowly started to realize I needed more prep time. A handmade Christmas can't happen over night. And with that, I'll quickly turn this into a Resolution post!

I've realized that I have a lot to work on in 2010 to truly make it "my" year. I have lots of goals ... big ones, small ones, some that will take a day, some might take the entire year to accomplish. I've got my work cut out for me but I'm attempting to not get ahead of myself.

One of my focuses is my Etsy shop, Chester and Donkey. The entire month of December, I did a lot of window shopping on Etsy to see what's out there. I got lots of ideas, lots of info, and created many an obsession for myself.

I'm experimenting with taking better photos. By now, I think we all know that lots of natural light = lots of good pictures. To get creative juices flowing, I've also been taking photos with props so you can get ideas on how to display my lovely items in your own home. Here are a few of my favorites, which all have the same little tarnished silver creamer (not for sale - sorry, I like it too much!!!).

For the rest of January, I'll post more snippets like this with my resolutions. Hope you're having a good start to your New Year!