Mele Kalikimaka! Pink Saturday

Happy Pink Saturday! Check out Beverly's blog for more Pink Saturday posts!

Today I'm excited to show you what I got in the mail from a great BookCrossing friend! What is BookCrossing, you ask? To sum it up, it's a fun way to share books all over the world. You can go to BookCrossing.com and register your book with a unique id number. Then you leave it somewhere to be found by anyone. (I like to put a post-it on it reading, "Free Book") The one who finds it can then go to the site, enter the id number and give a journal update as to where and how the book was found. They, in turn, leave it somewhere else or, in some cases, send it somewhere and it continues to travel. I've got books all over the world now and have met countless wonderful friends. Check it out if you're interested...my user name is Elizardbreath.

Anyway, for the last three years, I've hosted the Holiday Gift Giving thread. We all post our wish lists (books and more) and then send gifts to and receive gifts from people all over the world. This runs Sept.-Dec.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a lovely package from a BookCrosser in Honolulu, Hawaii.

She sent me three kinds of Hawaiian chocolates: chocolate covered macadamia nuts, macadamias and caramel covered in chocolate, and macadamias with crispy rice pieces covered in chocolate. They were all delicious and my favorite was the caramel one!
She also sent me this beautiful pink beaded bracelet! It's got little hibiscus flowers, hearts and leaves. I think it's adorable and it fits perfectly!Thank you, ghir, for sharing your talent and treats with me!

Beautiful Limoges Plate! Pink Saturday

Welcome to Pink Saturday! Please join me in visiting Beverly's blog for more pink-themed posts!


I was so excited earlier this week to find this beautiful Limoges plate at a local antique store. I didn't really know what it meant to own a "Limoges" item, but remembered the name from reading other blogs so thought I should pick it up! Ha!

So I totally feel like I've arrived with all of my Shabby Chic blogging friends now that I've got this gorgeous plate! I've been reading about and viewing all these beautiful pictures of porcelain "stuff" from Limoges, France on everyone's blogs, and have really not known what that even means or why it's significant.

On Wednesday, my daughter and I were out hunting and gathering (for antiques, that is) and we came across this gorgeous plate with a tag that said "Limoges". That's significant, I said to myself! So I bought it. It was $7.95.

When I got home, I looked it up online and learned that Limoges is a city in west central France that is known for it's porcelain, as well as for other really great stuff like oak barrels. When a piece is marked Limoges, that means it was made there but could have been made by any one of numerous manufacturers in the area.

Turns out my piece was made by Tressemanes & Vogt sometime between 1907-1919. This happens to be my favorite time period at the moment, The Edwardian Era. Woot! Lucky Me!
My piece is hand-painted and signed by the artist. I've seen ones like it online tonight selling for anywhere between $40-$175. Mine is, of course, in the higher appraisal bracket so shall we start the bidding at, say, priceless?

My First Limoges!! Vintage Thingie Thursday

Dear Thursday,

I love you. Thank you for existing. It is because of you that I can experience Vintage Thingie Thursday---my most favority of all favorite things to do in BlogLand.

Your Friend,
Sarah

So...guess what!!??!! I found a Limoges today. I really have no idea what that means, as you will soon see, but I'm excited anyway!!!
So I totally feel like I've arrived with all of my Shabby Chic blogging friends now that I've got this gorgeous plate! I've been reading about and viewing all these beautiful pictures of porcelain "stuff" from Limoges, France on everyone's blogs, and have really not known what that even means or why it's significant.

Today my daughter and I were out hunting and gathering (for antiques, that is) and we came across this gorgeous plate with a tag that said "Limoges". That's significant, I said to myself! So I bought it. It was $7.95.

When I got home, I looked it up online and learned that Limoges is a city in west central France that is known for it's porcelain, as well as for other really great stuff like oak barrels. When a piece is marked Limoges, that means it was made there but could have been made by any one of numerous manufacturers in the area.

Turns out my piece was made by Tressemanes & Vogt sometime between 1907-1919. This happens to be my favorite time period at the moment, The Edwardian Era. Woot! Lucky Me!
My piece is hand-painted and signed by the artist. I've seen ones like it online tonight selling for anywhere between $40-$175. Mine is, of course, in the higher appraisal bracket so shall we start the bidding at, say, priceless?

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday everyone! Hugs and Kisses to anyone who can help me pronounce Limoges. Right now, it sounds kinda like "La Mot Cheese".

What's Your Answer Wednesday

I was out doing errands later than expected tonight and haven't got my post up yet. Here is the linky for you all and I'll post later on! :)

A New Experience! Blue Monday

It's BLUE MONDAY time! Please visit Smiling Sally for more blue blogging!

In January, our family moved from a rural Eastern Oregon town of about 16,000 to a much larger community an hour north of Seattle and an hour south of Vancouver, BC. Since then, we've had many new opportunities and experiences.

Yesterday, we attended a medieval war tournament hosted by a member group of our regional reenactment group. Here is the dress I made for it:

I am now also known as Lady Gairwyn of the Freehold of Arandor! This next picture shows some blues on a warrior's uniform (please disregard the modern vehicles in the background! Ha!):

A little more blue during Ogre Wars:


Here is my husband and his friend doing a demonstration of medieval Italian-style sword fighting. My husband is on the right. I also made his surcoat:



Meet Sir Corbinian of the Freehold of Arandor!

Lots of fun! Happy bLuE mOnDaY!

My Talented Daughter: Pink Saturday

Time for another Pink Saturday! Take some time today to visit Beverly's blog and the other Pink Saturday participants!

Today I want to share with you the beautiful shawl that my 10-year-old daughter, Lynzie, made for her American Girl doll, Felicity.

Lynzie has been sewing for almost a year now and is getting better and better all the time!

She began with a leftover piece of fabric that I had from a nightgown I made myself last summer. She found some lace and gold ribbon in my sewing box and hand-stitched it in her room at night after she'd been tucked into bed.

I think Felicity looks pretty happy with her new shawl, don't you? Good job, Lynzie!

Vintage Sealing Wax: Vintage Thingie Thursday

I've missed participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday the past couple of weeks so I'm excited to be back today! Visit Coloradolady for more Vintage goodies!

A couple days ago, Lynzie (10) and I were discussing her upcoming birthday party. (It's actually not until the end of January...!!!) Each year, she's pretty creative about picking a theme to bless her friends. One year she did a fairy garden tea party with grape Kool-Aid in the teapot. Another year, she had a costume party and everyone came dressed up. (She was Batman).

This year, she's decided on a full-blown Revolutionary War era tea party. I won't go into too much detail as it will make for some really great blogging later on, but one of the things she mentioned was that she wanted to seal her invitations with a wax seal. She started describing the process to me and I began to grin as I remembered something.

I went to one of my art cabinets and grabbed this sealing wax set that I'd picked up at a yard sale when I wasn't much older than she is now. I was so excited to sit down with her and show her how it worked and let her play around with it too.

Long story short, my sealing wax set is rather VINTAGE (for a nice way to say it... :) Some of the sticks wouldn't even melt and the ones that did caught on fire and dropped flaming drops of wax onto the paper. Before we could get the seal stamped, the wax would turn brittle and crumble. More often than not, it would harden as we put the stamp down and then I'd have to heat it up to dig the wax out of the pretty rose and fleur de lis designs!

I did a little searching online to see if I could figure out approximately how old this set is and where it came from. The box indicates it was "imported exclusively by Marcel Schurman Co., Inc., San Francisco" and that it was made in England.

Turns out, Marcel Schurman is the original founder (and father of the current owner) of Papyrus stationery stores. From what I can see, it looks like the set is from the early 1950s.

We've resolved to buying us a newer set of wax before time to send those invites out!

What's Your Answer Wednesday

Due to a yucky flu outbreak in our house, I will not be putting up a post today! (Haven't had the time!!) However, I look forward to reading everyone else's so go ahead and add your link below!

Have a wonderful week!

~Sarah

Yummy! Pink Saturday

Hello!! It's time for Pink Saturday again! Please join us at Beverly's blog, How Sweet the Sound, as we celebrate all things pink!!

Today I thought I'd treat you to a couple of my favorite recipes. Since I want to make sure and give original authors their credit, I will offer links to the recipes and my own photos and commentary to accompany!

Selah celebrated her 4th birthday on August 22nd. She wanted a very pink My Little Pony birthday cake so I pulled out my favorite frosting recipe and went to work!


I have used this recipe for Wedding Cake Frosting for about six years now and love it every time.


I first used it for an actual wedding cake---two, actually---then a few baby shower cakes, a bridal shower cake, and now it is the traditional birthday cake frosting in our household!



I had a bunch leftover (I even halved the recipe...which I would highly recommend if you're only doing a birthday cake!) so I decided to make some cookies to take to church and celebrate with our church family. I had found a recipe for Homemade Oreos at Hope Studios a couple months before, and had been wanting to try it out. Since I wanted to make a big plate to share, I decided to frost the cookies instead of making the sandwiches as Jennifer suggests. The cookies are so chewy and delicious...gotta stop this blog post real quick before I talk myself into making some more! As a side note, I actually did make a second batch to use up the frosting from Cainan's cake three days later and tried putting an extra egg in to see if we'd like them better "cake like". Nope...too crumbly! We love the chewy ones!



Have a happy Pink Saturday everyone!

Shabby Hutch Makeover: My First DIY Project!

While out thrifting one day, I came across this beauty! Ha! I've been so inspired by all the DIY projects I've seen on so many blogs lately and thought to myself: "Hmm...maybe I could do one!" It was only $15, and they were very clear to indicate that price was for "As Is" condition!
Yikes! So I headed to Walmart for paint, sponges and new hardware. After an amount of time that I will not disclose, this is what I ended up with:

I'm pretty happy with it...for my first time, that is!
I took out the drawer guides and the remainders of the broken drawer to make a bookshelf.
I used a vintage handkerchief to try and draw attention away from the missing drawer corner. It's not as noticeable in reality when one is not zooming in with a fancy camera.

I decorated it with some of my favorite things. At the top, I arranged some of the members of my baby planter collection. I got the idea for this collection from Two Crazy Crafters!Here are a few vintage items I picked up at a recent church yard sale along with a special picture my friend made of us at her bridal shower (in my blonde days!):
This is the Bible my parents bought me when I was two. It is displayed on a vintage dress that I found at an antique store and is guarded by this sweet little angel, Hope. You can read more about her here.
These are some beautiful flowers I brought home from the market last week, along with a picture of my great-grandmother when she was a young girl and a pressed butterfly that my Mom put in the Bible above when I was little.
I really like how it turned out and am excited to tackle something else now! I have a piano that really needs to be done...but not so sure I'm brave enough for that one yet!

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