Fall Flowers and Foliage

I love flowers.  Sadly I don't have much blooming in my garden this Fall.  Every other year I've had a plethora of hydrangeas to pick but they just didn't bloom this year.  According to my mom, the master gardener, landscape designer...my old fashioned hydrangeas were cut back too far last winter.  Because they bloom on old growth, and the old growth was removed, they produced new foliage but no new flowers.  I am still learning about these things!  So, the dahlias and hydrangeas I used for this arrangement came from my mother-in-law's garden.  She is so sweet to share her flowers and farm fresh produce with us!

Flowers are almost always at the center of my decor in every season.  My little kitchen window sill vases which are filled with little cherry blossoms in the spring and roses in the summer, have been replaced with a collection of old white pottery filled with dried roses. 

My mom brought me this beautiful bouquet of pink and white cone-shaped hydrangeas this morning!  Aren't they amazing?  Just the most perfect shade of pink!  I am anxious to see how they dry!  I'll keep you posted!

In keeping with the flower theme today, I've made some "Fall flower" almond sugar cookies (recipe here).  This is a family recipe and one of my very favorite cookies!  I don't have the greatest frosting skills, but I have fun.

We may not have flowers in the yard this time of year, but we have some beautiful foliage.  This tree has dropped it's lovely yellow and orange leaves all over the lawn.  My husband has been anxious to mow them up, but I've asked him to hold off a day or two...as I am still enjoying them!

Our sweet pup, Basil begrudgingly posed for a photo in the leaves.  I think I'll take the kiddos out for a little leaf photo shoot this afternoon.  It looks like it's going to be a dry, but chilly Fall day...perfect for jumping in the leaves!
 

Thank you for your sweet visit today!  I hope you've had a lovely week!  Enjoy this crisp Fall day and have a wonderful weekend!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Joining these lovely ladies for their fun blog parties...

Debra - Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Cindy - Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Sherry - Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Courtney - Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Honey - Potpourri Party at 2805

Vanessa and Heather - Inspiration Friday At the Pickett Fence

Beverly - Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

Fun With a Dress Form & a Boy With His Kitty!

A little over a week ago, I mentioned to my mom how much I would love to have a dress form.  Two days later, she showed up on my front porch with this lovely lady!  You'll never guess where she found her!  HomeGoods!  I had her all dressed up and in my space at the store last week but her fancy frocks have sold and since I didn't have any other clothing to sell, I thought I would enjoy her at home for a bit! 

Here she is in my bedroom, wearing a lacy vest and my grandmother's knit shawl, circa 1950. 

 I've dressed her especially for White Wednesday at Faded Charm! 

Of course she needed some bling too!  Pearls, pearls and more pearls!  Do I wear them all?  Not all at one time, but I love displaying them together and when I want to wear a pearl necklace, it's fun to have a variety of lengths and styles to choose from!  Some were special heirlooms and gifts, others were picked up at estate sales and such. 

My mom said that the dress forms had just arrived in the store the day she was there and that they were all in shopping carts except for this one!  I am so happy to have her and will for sure have a ton of fun playing dress up with her!  Thank you, mom!

 Look who joined me in the bedroom for my little photo shoot today?  These two were so adorable.  I couldn't help but snap some pics of them too!

My husband and I are seriously jealous of the love and affection this cat gives our boys.  He will have nothing to do with either one of us!  It's the funniest thing.  Can't you just see the love here?  Pretty sweet, huh?

My little guys hug on this kitty, carry him around, build him forts out of cardboard boxes and cushions and tease him with ribbon and toys.  He follows them around like a puppy.  He almost never tires of their attention.  If my husband or I try to pick him up or pet him, he bites us!  I am not exaggerating!  I can't explain it and I don't understand it, but he is who is and he loves who he loves.  He is one quirky but adorable kitty.  

Thank you so much for your sweet visit, dear friends! 

I hope you have a wonderful week!

 

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Old Bottle Crate Curio

At least once a week I make my way to Camas Antiques to restock and fluff my little space.  Usually I am bringing in treasures found at an estate sale the previous weekend, but sometimes there just aren't any sales to attend.  Then there are those weekends when my busy schedule doesn't allow me to make it to a sale, but towards the end of the month it seems that I am usually just plain out of spending money!

Still, I've made it my goal to work on my display at least once a week and not arrive at the shop empty handed.  And sometimes that means getting creative with what I have at home. 

This was one of those weeks...running out of money, no great sales to attend and really no time for them anyways.  I pulled this old bottle crate from my "junk pile" in the garage, cleaned it up a bit and went to work filling it with little treasures to create a "curio effect."  A very old family photo, a couple sets of monogrammed napkin rings, jars and salt shakers filled with dried roses, and a few printed cards with vintage jewelry tucked into each cubby with a bit of lace trim makes for a fun little vignette to add to my display.

Thank you so much for your sweet visit!  I look forward to skipping around blog land to see what lovely inspiration all of you incredibly talented, creative ladies have to share this week!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Joining these fun blog parties... Special thanks and hugs to the wonderful hostesses! 

Debra - Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Cindy - Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Sherry - Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Courtney - Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Honey - Potpourri Party at 2805

 

Romantic Old Silver and Creamy Glamis Castle Roses for Fall

This is the first year I've attempted drying my Glamis Castle Roses.  I am loving the buttery cream color.

This charming old tea set was one of my favorite finds as I shopped a few rummage and estate sales last week.  I just added it to my new tea display at the shop yesterday, along with this sweet silver basket...

It has a beautiful rose motif inside the bowl.

 You'll never guess where I found this lovely basket.  It was amongst the dirty tools and such in the garage at an estate sale last weekend!  It was so dirty that my hand was black from carrying it around with me!  Do you know what this basket is called?  Some might call it a "Bride's Basket" but from what I've read, Bride's Baskets have stationary handles.  This basket's handle is hinged...which means it was a "Cake Basket" used to hold petit fours.  I've cleaned and polished it and it has been added to my display at the store!

  This beautiful silver hand mirror was another lucky estate sale find.  Apparently I was on a silver hunt last week...unintentionally!

The combination of the old silver and the creamy roses and lace is so romantic, don't you think?  And this cool Fall air has me longing to sit around a prettily set table and enjoy a hot cup of tea with a good friend!  How about you?  In the mood for tea time...I'll be painting up more "Tea Party Today" signs this afternoon!  I sold out of them quite some time ago and just haven't found the time to make more...until today (hopefully!)

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

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Joining these fun blog parties...

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

Potpourri Party at 2805

White Wednesday at Faded Charm

Wow us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Beatrix Potter Inspired Fall Window

When I recently told a good friend of mine that I was planning a Beatrix Potter themed window for Camas Antiques, she was sure that I had meant "Harry Potter."  A Harry Potter theme makes much more sense for the month of October, when you think about it.  Wouldn't Beatrix Potter be more appropriate in the spring?  But if you are a real fan of Ms. Potter, you know that her life and her stories are about much more than just little bunnies in waistcoats!

100 years ago this month, Frederick Warne & Co. published The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes, book number 17 in Beatrix's set of 23 Tales.  What says Fall more than adorable little squirrels gathering nuts for the winter?  I found these vintage salt and pepper shakers and the small planter on different shopping trips over the past few months and have been "squirrelling" them away for my window display!

 When I bought this portable Underwood typewriter at a sale last summer, I wasn't sure why I had picked it up.  It was the only remotely interesting item at the whole sale...and I questioned whether or not I was just desperate to find something there!  Nevertheless, this machine was clearly calling to me.  Come to find out, my grandfather's first job was selling this exact model of typewriter door to door back in the late 1920's!  It turned out to be a wonderful addition to my display...one of those "meant to be" purchases!

I had some great help in pulling together some of the accessories I was hoping for.  My other grandfather who lives several hours East of me, is an avid estate sale shopper and picked up some beautiful fountain pens and inkwells for me!  They arrived in the mail this week!  I was sure excited to open up that box of treasures!  Thank you, Grandpa!!! 

I knew as soon as I spotted this beautiful English Springer Spaniel figurine, I had to have it for my window, but I wasn't sure why.  I know Beatrix Potter's tales fairly well and I couldn't remember ever seeing a spaniel dog in any of them.  I went with my first instinct and tucked the pup away with my other Potter inspired finds. Much later, I came across this photo on the Internet...

Beatrix Potter as a young girl with her handsome spaniel.  It's almost spooky, I tell ya!

You knew I would work some aged book page leaves into this display, didn't you?  It's a little difficult to see in the photos but I have the leaves hanging from tree branches that are attached to the ceiling.  Leaf garlands frame the burlap backdrop.  I scattered the book page leaves all around on the floor as well.  If you want to make your own book page leaf garland, the tutorial can be found here.

I am sorry that my photos of the overall window aren't great.  I did the best I knew how to do through glass at 11 o'clock at night!  My wonderful mother put together the lovely baskets of mums and kale which were the perfect addition to my display.  I say "were" because they are long gone!  We had brought in four of them and they all flew right out the door.  

I also just received a call letting me know that the typewriter and dog figurine have sold as well.  Three days into this display and already I need to replenish!  I'm so glad I got some photos when I did!

A shopping trip is definitely in order, and it just so happens that I have a grandma sitter lined up for tomorrow morning!  Yee Haw!

What an honor it has been to have creative control of a window display for my very favorite shopping destination!  And the best compliment ever came from the store owner when everything was finally in place late Monday night..."Enchanting," she said.  Exactly how I feel about the life and works of Beatrix Potter, and exactly the feeling I had hoped to evoke in my display!  Hooray!

Thank you so much for your sweet visit!  Happy Fall, my dear friends!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda 



I will be joining in on the following parties:

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

Potpourri Party at 2805