"Friends are kisses blown to us by Angels."

I told you that I would update you on how I was progressing on this years gift idea for my sister-friend, Jeanne. I take gift buying very seriously. 

 After roaming some of my favorite creative gift shops in the area 

I returned to one of my favorites, 

Mt. Lebanon Floral. 

They have a  unique verve to their shop and their approach to their creative arrangements. 

I walked in and well, there it was. I KNEW it had great potential.

Very vintage, rustic looking.....perfect to display all sorts of wonderful things including plants. I had no idea what I was putting in it, but knew it had great potential.

It is about 1'6"high.

Jeanne loves things from nature and I felt this had great potential.

So I found some additional items to add and gathered all my other treasures from my many flea market finds.

Even my hatbox of vintage lace and bindings.

I bought a fragrant oregano plant to use, burlap ribbon and painted the terra cota

pot gray for the oregano plant.

I found this little bird on a garden globe also a Mt. Lebanon Floral find.

I added this bird and the nest to the moss base I placed on the bottom.

This little magnet bird works any where.I think he looks great perched on top for now.

I believe the gift wrap is an integral part of the gift giving, it makes the receiver feel special, a little extra gift. To me it is just as much fun as the gift. I made this bow from a roll of burlap ribbon I found at Michael's.

I started by making a large burlap bow.

I used some lovely fabric samples Jeanne gave me years ago to make the flower.

A vintage ear ring is the center. 

I'm so excited to give it to her today. I am working on a gift tag too. Do you ever give a gift that you enjoy so much you find it hard to part with it. That's when I know I have found the perfect gift. 

A gift from the heart for someone who is very dear to my heart. 

Happy Birthday dear Jeanne!

I hope you all have a very special sister-friend and very dear friends you

truly connect with in a very special way.

"A friend is a second self"...Aristotle 

I am linking this post to:

Savvy Southern Style

My Romantic Home

Never Forget!

Hope your flag is flying!

I love repurposing....here's my version of an ornate ceiling light fixture.

Common GroundI do love repurposing, especially for decorating or storage purposes. 

To me it is fun to find some flea market find and put it to a new use.
I love to see what other people have done with their finds too!
Some time ago I found this ceiling light fixture...

I bought it only because I loved it, with no specific idea what I would do with it! 
What can I say, I was so drawn to it.  Unfortunately I did not take a before picture of it with all it's wires and electrical items in it and it's original color. But here it is at the stage I had been using it for quite some time with all the electoral stuff removed and white washed.

II have never felt it was complete, even though many people have commented on it.

It has had many homes...

On the mantle.....

On the wall.  It has even been a centerpiece (sorry no pic)!

My friend,Heather(Link) suggested putting my initials in the center,

but I decided to do something from nature.

I love rabbits so this is what I did and it is so easy anyone could do it....

I took a clear transparency I had from a trip to Michael's (on left)

Copied and sized it in black onto good drawing paper(on right)  and then drew a rabbit in pen and ink. You could add a stamp of a bird, flower or anything. You than add color. I used water color to the rabbit and the border and glued it to the center.

 This is how is turned out.....

Today it is here......

In a way it looks like a fabulous frame to my artwork, doesn't it?

Leave a comment on my blog. I would love to hear from you, what you think, additional ideas or your repurposing project.

 I would so appreciate it if you would join my followers...it really helps me out to have lots of followers...thanks my friends, 

Lastly, I love quotes....one of my favs...

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Don't you love it! Have a wonderful day my friends!

Please enjoy these links! 

Polish The Stars

Common Ground

My Romantic Home
The Brambleberry Cottage
Savvy Southern Sytle
Michele Raven Designs
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Delightful Order
French Cupboard

I love discovering a lovely, distinctive shop....

For months now I have been driving by this cute little house

 that someone made into a shop, 

promising myself I must stop by and explore because it looked so inviting.

I always see these beautifully merchandised shops on other blogs, 

but rarely see them around me.

While I love rooting around a crazy, junky antique store my artistic nature loves a beautifully, well thought out, merchandised shop.

 The owner, Mary Keebler, is very talented. 

Her aesthetic tends towards Belgium chic.

She is also creating  her own blog. 

When it is ready I will post it for you because I'm sure it will be lovely.

I was so excited to see this charming home and garden shop called,

GARDEN STYLE LIVING.

If you live in the Pittsburgh area, it is South on Route 19

across from Donaldson's Crossroads.

These cigar boxes with handles could be used for so many things!

She has vintage mingled with some new items. 

She is full of creative ideas for using items and is very knowledgeable.

I love finding new places to put fun items like this

little Fleur de lis  I bought. Mary suggested it would look cute in a planter.

It does for now!

I hope to find more fun places to share with you.

Hope you enjoyed my new find.

Let me know your thoughts and tell me about your own finds.

Don't you love exploring new places?!

Iris Painting Update

Just thought you all might like a follow-up on my Iris Painting.

Still may consider selling it, but the colors actually were done to work in my great room so I am enjoying for now.

This is on an antique server my husband Fred found before I met him. 

He always had great taste.

I will post on that large apothecary jar sometime later...great flea market find!

So was that chair too as a matter of fact.

Just a quick update I plan to do from time to time.

Thanks for checking in to my ramblings.

Love hearing your comments.

Knowing when to take advice: Chickadee Painting/Collage only Smaller This Time

Did some mulling over the advice Sande Chase of A Gift Wrapped Life www.agiftwrappedlife.blogspot.com 
gave me on my Iris Post. She along with others suggested I do another painting. 

 I admire her blog so I thought I should take her advice..... 
Ok here we go again....what to paint....

I pulled out this small 5"x7" wrapped canvas.
 I love chickadees and I have wanted to do more with collage so
 I used the little guy again from my friend Jeanne's gift.

I painted the whole canvas gray, mounted a thick textured paper 

with spirals embossed on it.

I painted the chickadee on a snowy looking paper. 

The little guy is perched on a limb. 

I placed a crystal on his wing.

I decided to add the gold shear leaf I found at Michaels. 

It picks up some colors in the paper.

Next came the gray ribbon and vintage olive lace at the corner.

Finally I added the 2 vintage buttons on top of each other.

I really like this little addition and hope to use it again.

I have it displayed on a Michael Aram tray on my coffee table on a small table easel.

It is with some other items representing nature.

This tray is one of my favorite things, a BD gift from Jeanne.

I love putting things from nature in my decorating.

Will have to show you more of that later.

I would love hearing what you think. 

Planning on another one....any subject ideas??

I hope you all have a wonderful day....

Is it too Early to be Thinking about Christmas Gifts?

One of the blogs I steadily follow is The Feathered Nest.

www.the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com

Dawn does some beautiful creations with lovely vintage materials. 

I loved her post today and thought I'd feature it in my blog post today. 

She made a charming Christmas Advent Calendar.

I would love to make my own version with maybe miniature tree decorations for a friend of mine. This was featured in the current issue of a wonderful magazine, 
Handcrafted, by Stampington.

These are WONDERFUL creative magazines that come out regularly on various subjects: Arts/Crafting, Blogging, Redesigning Vintage clothes and jewelry, cards, journals and more 

I love them all. I find them at Barnes and Noble and online.

She used a lovely fabric stretched over a canvas, lovely little pockets sewn into strips of sheer material.

In each dated pocket she made a vintage item. 

I picture them hung on a small tree.

Here is a vintage key, lace and a bit of vinage jewelry.

So simple and I love repurposing these simple items.

Lovely hang tags with more vintage lace.

You could do all sorts of versions of these lovely hang tags, maybe some with lovely messages. 

Use vintage style glitter, old buttons, vintage chandelier pieces, pins, single ear rings, an old pearl necklace.

Next time you go to a flea market look in those old boxes with junk in them, you'd be surprised what you can find.

Maybe something with an old faux strand of pearls or an old clasp.

I'm not much of a seamstress, but I think I could manage these pockets, not 

as beautifully as Dawn, but I'll figure it out.(Either that or my dear friend Heather will advice me).

It's probably not too early to start gathering for Christmas is it? 

Hard to think about when the temperatures are lingering in the 90's and 100's!!

Put your thinking caps on. How would you approach this lovely idea?

I'd love to hear your comments. They are part of the fun of blogging!!!