Valentine Heart Decoration from a Trash Find Quilt

Recently I had a GIVEAWAY of the Valentine door decoration I had made for myself.




BUT, fortunately I still had this paper mache heart I found a couple of weeks ago I at Michaels.

I think it was about $5. When I bought it I didn't know what I was going to do with it.

I liked its shape and size. It is 13" across. I thought about using it the way it was~ with just a little paint.




Then I remembered this pink and white quilt that I found in the trash last spring.

You can see that it is in pretty "rough" condition. It was hard to find an undamaged spot to use for the heart.

I used "Tacky Glue" to attach the quilt. For right now it is on the front door the way it is. I may add something more to it later.






Find many, many more thrifty DIY projects through the links at the top of my sidebar.

Silver Sunday~ Victorian Sterling Spoons

I need your help.... all of you silver experts visiting for Silver Sunday.



{You are looking at 40 years of tarnish}

Last week while Mr. Anything Goes Here and

I were purging things from the

kitchen, we found these stuffed in the back of a drawer.



{There are 6 matching sterling cherub teaspoons and 1 sterling Victorian lady tablespoon}

I want to sell them, but sterling silver is not my area of expertise as an antiques dealer.

Does anyone know what they might sell for, or tell me where I could find out?




If you don't want to leave information in the comments, please feel free to email me using the Email Button on my sidebar.

I thank you so much for your help. You guys are the BEST.

To find other Silver Sunday participants click the link on my sidebar.

My personal list of blog "pet peeves"~ What Are Yours?

These are my personal blog "pet peeves".

Then at the end I am going to ask for yours.





1. Black Backgrounds~ Hard for "old" eyes to read.

2. Tiny pictures

3. Dark or Blurry pictures~ Except when it is an "art" effect.

4. Backgrounds that run into the posts making the posts difficult to read.







5. Music~ Now I just turn off my computer's sound,
so I have taken care of that one.

6. Small writing~ Again I am old.

7. Lots and lots of words. Especially single spaced, closely packed words. Or long unbroken blocks of writing.
I get word "overload". My mind wanders quickly.

8. Expanded width blogs where multiple lines of writing go all the way across the whole screen~
I find this very hard to read.





9. Really, really big photos~ I am quite happy clicking on smaller pictures to get a good look at things that interest me. Big, big photos make these blogs load very slowly.

10. That takes me to slow loading blogs. More than 5 seconds and I am out of there.

11. Busy, confusing, overloaded blog pages~ Especially ones
with distracting whirling, blinking sidebar "thingies".

12. Writing that is a very light color or has little contrast to the background color. Again, hard to read.







These last two are more just annoyances or frustrations for me.


13. No E-mail Button on Blog Main Page~ Sometimes I want to communicate with a blogger, but would prefer not to leave my message in their comment section.

14. No Translator on non English speaking blogs~ I am interested in what bloggers have to say. This is an easy
widget to add. I am sure our non English speaking bloggers feel the same way about us.

Note: The translations can often be pretty funny, but at least I have some idea what is being said.


{All pictures are from my home.}




Remember this is my PERSONAL list of blog "pet peeves" about style NOT content.

What are your personal blog "pet peeves"? I would especially like to know if you have any about my blog.

If you don't tell me I will NEVER know, and I am blogging for YOUR enjoyment.

Also, if you don't want to leave your "pet peeves" about my blog in the comments, you can click the EMAIL button on my home page. I added about one 2 weeks ago, finally addressing one of my long time reader's "pet peeves".


Edited to add email link tutorial: Here is a link for adding an email link to your home page. I DO NOT mean to add your email address to your homepage.... just a button linked to your email.. See my sidebar for an example.

Vintage Hand-Hammered Copper Mirror

Sales~ both Estate and Garage have been few and far between since mid-December.

I don't know about in your area, but in the cold-weather states sales kind of shut down until around March.

But I did find this hand-hammered copper mirror before the season was over.




It isn't what I usually buy, but the price was very reasonable. It will be something I will sell when I go back to the shows in March.




Every part is hand crafted and decorated. I think its maker was quite talented.

I don't buy copper often, but this mirror's surface is very lovely.




On Thursday, see many other vintage and thrifty treasures by clicking the links on the top of my sidebar.

From the Dollar Store to Pretty Valentine Gift Box Giveaway

Last week our local dollar store had a stack of red foil heart boxes~

I loved their shape and $1 price,

but I didn't love their "shiny" red color.






I bought one anyway~ I knew that for a dollar, I could transform it into this pretty gift box.




I covered the top and bottom with old sheet music I bought for another $1 at an Estate Sale.

I forgot to get a picture before I started covering the box. Oops.




I painted the inside with pink craft paint. More interesting, don't you think, than the original plain white interior?




I love these old envelopes with the red stamps and strong black type.

Can you imagine sending a letter to Buffalo, New York without a street address?




Next a bit of pink crepe paper. Finished the top with a tea-stained flower and

a snippet of ribbon I had left over from another project.

If I add a hanger, the Valentine box could decorate my front door instead of a wreath. All for $2!!!!!!!

To see bargain other DIY projects and transformations see the links at the top of my sidebar.




Edited to become a Giveaway: Joy, one of my local blogger friends, suggested that I could make this Valentine Gift Box a Giveaway.

I think that is a good idea. If you would like to enter to win this Valentine box, just mention that you would in your comment. You can enter until Wednesday, January 27 at midnight. ENTRY IN GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED. WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON.

Remember to say " I want it" or... something else more creative to enter. And include a way that I can contact you when you win.

Also, my friend, Pam, from One Gal's Trash is having a giveaway. Hop on over to see how you can win.

If you want to become a follower, I would love that, but it doesn't get any extra chances.

Silver Sunday~ Antique Gazing Ball

Little did I know how difficult it would be to photograph my all-time favorite silver possession for this week's Silver Sunday.

Reflective silver things are hard to photograph well without being "in the picture".






This is a portion of my 12" diameter Antique Gazing Ball.

I bought it many years ago in Kentucky from an antiques dealer who specialized in garden antiques.

Gazing balls were first made in Venice in the 13th century. They were popular with the Victorians. Then again in the 1950's.

People tend to either LOVE them or HATE them.




I love this one because it is handblown. It is misshapen, irregular, and has a discolored surface.

I want to show you the end so you can see how the very old gazing balls were "finished off". The glass is nearly 3/8" thick and you can see the roughness where it was sliced after being blown.

Also you can see where the silvering ends on the neck.

The cork is original.




I don't know how old it is. I do know it is older than the ones my parents sold in their home and garden shop in the 1950's. My guess is l930's or earlier.

This is my "Dressing Room" reflected in the gazing ball. You can see part of my dress form collection!

To visit other Silver Sunday participants click the button on my sidebar.

How do you feel about gazing balls. LOVE them or HATE them????

Little Antique Tin Lunch Box

From reading a number of blogs I see that some of you can still find antiques in your local thrift shops.

I am not so lucky. Antiques and even vintage items are very scarce in my local thrift shops.


I used to go every day and now I don't go "thrifting" more than once or maybe twice a week.



So I was pleasantly surprised a week ago to find this little tobacco tin.

After the purchaser finished the tobacco the tin was to be used as a lunch box.

Wouldn't it be sweet on top of a stack of vintage tin picnic baskets with that same woven pattern on them?









{It says "Patterson's Seal Cut Plug It's the quality" on the top}


How is the antiques and vintage shopping in your area? As good as it used to be?


To find other "Show and Tell" participants click on the top link on my sidebar.

Silver Sunday~ Vintage Mercury Glass Bird Collection

I shared this picture of part of my Vintage mercury bird collection during the holidays.

but several of the Silver Sunday readers have mentioned how much they LOVE mercury glass



so I decided to show them again.






I haven't put them away yet. In fact I may leave them out on display all year round...

We'll see. I might be tired of them by April.

To find the other Silver Sunday participants click on the button at the top of my sidebar.

Turning over a new leaf

No, this isn't stuff I haven't put away from the holidays...

These are little felted ornaments that I just made for NEXT Christmas.

Before Christmas I was talking to one of my flea market vendor friends and she told me how she has

most everything done for Christmas by APRIL.. then she has all summer to play...

going to the garage and estate sales, attending the flea markets...

and when the holiday season starts

she is relaxed and ready to go.



That made sooooo much sense to me...

I have NEVER been that organized.







But the idea of it was so appealing that I started January 1st getting ready for next Christmas...

I'll let you know how it is going during the year...

If I really keep going.... getting ready ahead of time...

Seems so smart, but so foreign to me.

What about you? Are you experimenting with doing something differently this year? How is it going?

Silver Sunday~ Number 2

As I mentioned in last week's Silver Sunday post, I don't use much silver in my decorating so I went out this week to the thrifts to find some.

And I found all of these silverplate boxes for a couple of dollars total....





Now what? What would you do with them?

I can see why I don't use silver. I am stumped.

But, you can find the other far more clever Silver Sunday participants by clicking on the sidebar button!

Silver Sparkle for the New Year

I love silver, but I don't use it much in my decorating so to expand myself...

I am taking part in the Silver Sunday blog party.

To find the other participants in this blog party click on the Silver Sunday button on my sidebar.






{Some paper flowers I made using silvery centers and a message for all of you.}

Imperfectly Beautiful

Wishing you a lovely New Year including all its beautiful imperfections.

In 2010, I resolve to embrace imperfection!

What are your resolutions for the coming year?