Tea is Served at Lac de' Fleur Gardens

Many of my summer weekends are spent just a few miles away from my home at Lac de' Fleur Gardens.  A couple of weeks ago I told you a bit about my parent's property and the wedding venue business that my mom and I run.  We had our first two events of the season this past weekend and I made sure to bring my camera along so that I could share the details of the days with you all!

This weekend we hosted 2 intimate tea parties.  Both were events donated for bidding at charity silent auctions.  The weather couldn't have been more ideal for dining in the pavilion next to the pond!

First we served traditional cream scones with homemade strawberry jam and whipped cream.

Next came individual salads garnished with strawberries, blueberries, blue cheese and candied pecans!  This is my mom's signature salad!

I had fun creating these delicate little tea sandwiches!  The cucumbers and oregano topped an herbed cream cheese spread.  The chicken salad included dried cranberries, celery and a curry dressing.

We have a friend who bakes the most beautiful and delicious cakes for us!  We recommend her to all of our brides as well! 

We served a delicious pistachio nut cake with butter cream frosting...mmmmm!

After our lovely guests had departed and the dishes were all washed and put away, I walked around the garden and snapped a few more photos to share!

This is just a very small glimpse at my parent's beautiful property!  I promise to share more in future posts!  In fact, I will be there all of next weekend for our first wedding of the summer!  The bride has a vintage/shabby chic style and I can't wait to see her flowers, decor and the dress!  If you want to read about the history of Lac de' Fleur Gardens and see more photos taken by my very talented father, you can check out our website at http://www.lacdefleurgardens.com/!

Thank you for your lovely visit today!  I hope your week is wonderful!  I am off to work on a few projects for the shop!  It looks to be a good day for painting!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Sharing with these fun parties:

Tea for Two Tuesday at The Plued Pen

Tea Time Tuesday with Lady Katherine

Tea Time Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage

Table Top Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life

Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations

Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Playing Dress-Up With Vintage Whites!

Included in last weekend's estate sale finds were two sweet vintage cream and white straw hats.  Maggie is here with us this week and before she ran off to play in the dirt with the boys this morning, she pulled on a pair of white gloves, wrapped up in my grandma's old knit shawl and we played dress-up in the garden. 

I just love old hats...especially the kind I imagine ladies wearing to fanciful garden parties long long ago!

I also brought home this lovely little white cream and sugar.  I believe it's ironstone...I should know this, but I'm not quite sure!  It doesn't have any markings.  What are your thoughts?  And the little cream urn makes such a sweet vase for a fragrant bunch of white roses!  I was on the hunt for more metal flower frogs and thought I'd missed out as I saw someone leaving an estate sale  with their hands piled full of them.  One green 3 piece frog had been left behind just for me!  Hurray!

I brought home quite a few other treasures that I will look forward to sharing with you soon!  Most of them I am putting aside for my new space at the shop!  Yes, I will be moving next month, after over 5 years in my little room at the back of the store, I've decided it's time for a new location!  If you're a patron of Camas Antiques, starting next month you can find me on the right side of the aisle farthest to the left, near the front of the store.  I am really looking forward to setting up my new booth space!

Thank you for your sweet visit today!  Summer is finally here!  I hope you're enjoying every single minute of it!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Linking up with these fun parties today:

White Wednesday at Faded Charm

Road Trip! We Break for Estate Sales and Antique Shops!

My husband called me from work on Tuesday this week to say "Hey, I have been watching for a new blog post from you and haven't seen one!"  Isn't it sweet that he looks forward to reading my posts?  Either that or he's really bored at the office!  I admit, I am behind on posting this week!  I had a wonderful little weekend road trip with my mom.  We set off to visit my grandparents in Eastern Oregon and had such a lovely time!  My mom is just the best travel partner ever!  Her words before we left, "We'll stop at every estate sale and antique store along the way!"  Best travel partner ever, I tell ya!  Here she is at a quaint little cafe in the Dalles where we enjoyed a fabulous lunch in the courtyard!

Well, we did stop at several sales and antique stores!  I found some wonderful treasures and took a ton of pictures!  We also had a lovely visit with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle and Cousins.  Of course the visit wasn't nearly long enough but we enjoyed every minute of it and plan to do it again as soon as possible!  I'll share more photos from the trip in another post, but for now I wanted to show you an inspiration display I've been working on!

This cream pottery vase was the one treasure from our weekend adventure that I purchased for myself!  I love how it compliments the beautiful Eden roses.  I know you've seen a lot of them in previous posts...well, plan to see a lot more because they are my favorite and I have an abundance of them in my garden this season!

The problem with setting up a vignette of items to take to the shop is that I see how lovely it all looks in my home and now want to keep it!  I can just hear my mom now, just as I've convinced myself that I can let it go, "Oh, Amanda...you should keep that.  It looks perfect there!"  I should really pack it all up before she comes over!  The desk has been my "emergency" display table for the shop for a few years now.  In other words, I love it, want to keep it, but periodically take it to the shop and put a high price on it or a "display only" sticker until I find something to fill it's spot.  The little curio with drawer was a recent yard sale find that I just painted this week.  I am loving how the two pieces work so well together!

My mom and MIL both have a thing for penstemon.  Whenever they find them, they buy one for themselves, one for each other and one for me!  I now have quite a collection and variety of colors in my garden.  They are perfect for adding height to floral arrangements.

These darling quail were yard sale finds from the weekend road trip.  They were filthy when I first picked them up, but they cleaned up so nicely.  I am going to have a really hard time parting with them!

Love these old scissors...found at an estate sale in a small town we stopped in for lunch while on the road.  It was one of the dirtiest sales we'd been to, but as you die-hard junkers know...the dirtiest ones often produce the best treasures!  Mom and I stood on the sidewalk next to her pristine SUV wiping down the larger items with antibacterial wipes before we put them on her backseat (the back of her truck was full of plants for Grandma!)  I spent most of Monday scrubbing centuries of grime off of several very cool things...some of which have already made their way to the shop!

I've just added a new pink rose to my garden!  This is "Discovery" from Heirloom Roses.

When I ask to take his photo, he complains or runs off to hide...but when he sees me photographing flowers and such, he hams it up for the camera!  Go figure!

Remember these dark wood pieces I shared with you last week?  Would you believe they sold over the weekend?  They lasted just 5 days at the shop!  I was a little worried that they wouldn't sell as it seems that painted pieces are more popular these days.  I guess I didn't need to worry!

I hope you're having a fabulous week!  I have so much more to share and will do my best to post again soon!  I am sure looking forward to some more treasure hunting this weekend!  I'll bet you are too!  Thank you so much for your sweet visit today!  Happy hunting!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Sharing with these fun parties today:

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Pink Saturday at How Sweet The Sound



Are You Shocked?

Well, I surprised the heck out of myself when I made the offer on these two totally-not-my-style pieces of furniture!  They are dark wood and I have no intention of painting them (though the thought definitely crossed my mind!)  It was the intricate carved detailing that drew me in and I knew that if I passed on these, I would regret it.  Standing alone, they looked a bit masculine, but I had a feeling that with some romantic touches, they would work with my feminine style.

Time and time again, girlfriends say to me..."I would love to decorate my home in a soft, pretty romantic style, but my husband just won't have it!"  Here is a great example of how two very different styles can compliment one another and suit everyone!  My husband definitely approved of this purchase and would have liked to have kept the desk but our house is pretty full and at this point I don't have anything I'm ready to part with to make room!  So, I added these two  antique beauties to my shop space last night.

After much anticipation, my favorite Eden roses are finally in bloom!  I think this pretty teapot bouquet could make any piece of furniture look elegant and romantic!

Book bundles!  I was hesitant to rip covers off of books, but I did it and have to say...I love the look!  Thank you to all of you lovely blog buddies for the creative inspiration!

A couple of the desk drawers had numbers stamped into them...how cool is that?

I wasn't able to find a lot of information on the Internet about this furniture specifically but I did confirm the manufacturer, Life Time Furniture of Grand Rapids, Michigan and that they were made between 1920 and 1930.  I love researching vintage finds!  I just wish I knew more about these pieces!

The carving on these cabinet doors is what initially attracted me to this piece.  And then, the doors were opened and I got excited about all of the storage and display possibilities!

Remember when I said I had bought a box of sheet music last week?  I finally dug into it and just look what I found...Printed in Paris, 1933! 

More unusual storage and organizing possibilities in the dresser cabinet.

And here are a couple of shots of my display at the shop after a few hours of fluffing, rearranging and doing my thing last night!

I had my doubts...I really did.  But after adding some feminine accessories and surrounding them with creamy, romantic pieces, I am pretty happy with my latest furniture purchases!  

Thank you for your sweet visit today!  I hope you are having a lovely week so far!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Linking up with these fun parties:

White Wednesday at Faded Charm

Treasures and Transformations at Pink Postcard

Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Treasure Hunt Thursday at Blue Creek Home

Vintage Inspiration at Common Ground

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home