~To Market, to Market to Buy a Fat Eclair

The Winter Park Farmer's Market is a wonderful place to visit on Saturday mornings. The old depot serves as shelter for some of the vendors and the parking lot area is set up with all the rest.
The colors are so amazing. Actually I don't buy much fruit and vegetables here since I find organic ones at Whole Foods and now Publix for just a bit higher price. But look at these colors! I don't eat eggplant but love the color.
And mushrooms, not my taste either. But the color of those gently aging blue cardboard fruit baskets just calls out to me. Delicious color.

The plants are a great bargain at the market. I often purchase my bromeliads here. These are quite large and we can grow them outside. They need a good home and I know one just waiting. Maybe next trip.

A sea of beautiful blooms. Always a feast for the eyes over on this side.

Don't these look like little art treasures. Only the chocolate is a flavor I would eat, but I adore the shapes and color.

Aaaah, getting closer to what is really calling me. Irene's French Pastries!

This one is for my daughter and I was busy getting the shot of this when he was packing the eclairs. And I totally forgot to get a picture of the nice sweet fat eclair before the first bite. But it was most delicious!

Then off to do some walking and window shopping through here. All cities should be planned this way. Part two, will be a few pictures of their beautiful little shopping area.

Hope your weekend was a good one.

~ Cool Summer Whites, Renninger's Weekend Part 2

Linda was busy painting some old hand-me-down furniture, antiqued white. In the 1970's there was so much "used" furniture everywhere, it cost next to nothing. This time for Linda it was nothing. Her mother-in-law lived in an incredible old, and huge to me, wood house overlooking the river an hour or so away. Funny how back then it seemed a long way. The MIL had given her another near worthless piece of furniture and Linda was transforming it into something much nicer. There was quite a bit of antiqued white furniture back then, and it didn't appeal to me. It was old, it was painted white, and it meant you didn't have the money to go buy something good and new. Hey I was a kid!

Linda (my first "older" friend, she was 28! ) became one of the most important people I would ever know. She was an artist, and she shared her paints and supplies with me. Years later we would decide to go back to school at the same time, not knowing the other was doing so as well. I was going to college for the first time and she was returning for her B.A. It was the beginning being an artist & designer for me and she was a part of the first real step.

Years later, I fell in love with white painted furniture and almost everything got some shade of white. I have many old pieces which have been painted blue, green, black, white, that if you sand a leg you would find all those colors. Then a few years ago I tired of all the white and craved some real wood. That's when the kitchen cupboards were redone. Some of the white furniture got painted a fresh coat of black.

Of course a short time later, I started wanting more white, or creamy white with an aged look.

At Renninger's, there is great booth with aged white furniture. The lady started out with one booth. She used to do all her own stripping and painting. She has a good eye and sense of what sells, so now she takes up quite a bit more room. I always enjoy seeing what she has. But I get overdosed with all white.
Funny I think she is getting a bit like that, too as is Rachel Ashwell who uses beautiful strong dark wood pieces more as of the last time I read something by her. And this is the perfect mix for me. I love the play of color and mood between dark or painted pieces with the whites.

As you can see she has expanded to somewhere between 4 and 6 spaces. This is really not a bargain hunting booth, but certainly a fun treasure hunting one. We had too much to do to make it to Vero Beach to shop, but went thrifting a little ways from home. I found some larger pieces that I wished I had room for, but didn't buy anything. I hope they are there when I get to that next room I'm planning!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and that you all have a great weekend.

~Weekend Treasure Hunting

Even though this trip didn't bring the amount of great finds as the last couple of trips to Renninger's and Mt. Dora, we had a very good time anyway. What I did not buy was an amazing French desk/vanity for the 1820's with the original yellow/gold paint. I just have no place for it. At $950 it was a good buy. The lady at that booth inside Renninger's always has the best goods to sell. I'm still thinking about it but it won't do any good with no place to put it right now.

But the fun treasure of the day for me was that a different "Junk Man" was set up outside of Renninger's. He didn't have much, but when he saw me looking at old hardware stuff he asked if I needed some old keys. Keys???? :) Yeah, skeleton keys! So of course I bought most of what he had because I love those things. The shape, the size, the colors, the age...everything...I just love them.

We even went over to the Flea Market side of Renninger's first, which is mainly t-shirts and junk like that. I don't usually even bother going over there. But one little stall set up as a shop had some fun things and I found a bag of old buttons for give away goodies in my vintage wallpaper packs. The cute butterfly pin with the keys was in this booth as well.

He also had a framed (new and cheap frame) of some old paper dolls with clothes. I have no idea what I needed them for, but I loved paper dolls as a child and I got them. I was wondering how old they were and when I took the paper out of the frame, this is what they were on! How fun, a 1928 Ladies Home Journal cover, with the lady reading about who to vote for. (Edited, corrected nicely :) by Amanda that women did have the right to vote at that time. )

After that we went down towards downtown Mt. Dora to the antique mall shop, but not much there either. I did find some old vintage rick rack, and that was it! A bit disappointing since there was more of interest last time.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Summertime and It's All About Gardening!

Friday Edit:

Thank you so much for coming by and stopping for a bit out by the pond.

I really enjoyed sharing it with you.

We are off treasure hunting this weekend and during next week. I'm itching to head back to that large antique "mall" in Mt. Dora so we are going out tomorrow. During the week, we are headed down to Vero Beach to check out the Hospice Thrift Store that my MIL is very involved with. She does the pricing. :) So I hope to find a trunk full of goodies! I'll keep you posted.

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

It's too hot to really go out digging now, but the flowers and plants who made it this far into the heat need lots of watering. At least we did get some rain last week. This is an area that we were working on during the last couple of months. The decks needed restaining, we put in a new walk down area to the pond, and replanted around the outside areas. It's a really wonderful peaceful place. And we have lots of baby fish to entertain us, except they scurry away if they see us. Silly fish.

The Angels for Brianna Auction is going great! Thank you to all of you who have helped out. Everything is working correctly now, so be sure to stop by and look or bid if you haven't had a chance yet.

~ A Gathering of Angels, A little New Art, too

It is an amazing thing to see the Angels posted on the Auction of Brianna site!

The HeArt and Soul of the many, many artists is incredible. So far the bidding is generous. I can only image how this touches the heart of Iva, Brianna's mother and all her family, to know how much people care in giving their art or to be purchasing some it. When the fabulous 3 friends decided to do this, they hoped for maybe 20-25 artists to donate. But there are over 70!

Here's a new sweet Nest Fairy I've been working on which is on Ebay. Oh how I love these elements of old laces, aged papers, and vintage images.

Thank you so much for your kind words on my Angel for the auction. She was of course a labor of love. It is really wonderful to see her in the company of all those outstanding and talented artists on the auction site.

Happy Monday to you all.

~ Friday Vintage Wallpaper Packs on Etsy

I just added some beautiful old wallpaper packs to my store. Let me know if you would like one or even one that is smaller or larger and I'll be happy to make one just for you. These old papers make your heart beat faster they are so beautiful and have the aura of age to them.

Hope you have a great weekend!

~ My Angel for Brianna

(Click on the banner above to get information about the auction.)

"Angel of Star Lights"

I've worked the last couple of days on this for the auction. Yesterday I finally made myself go to the family's site and read it http://iva-and-family.blogspot.com/.

I knew it would be almost more than any mother could take just to read it. But this incredible family is living it, now without one of their children.

When my daugther came home yesterday I wanted to just sit and hug her for an hour like when she was little. But she's 28 and doesn't sit for hugs that last that long anymore. At least I got to hug her for a quick minute.

It's impossible to believe how quickly the time goes by from when they are little to when they are grown. But you still think you have years and years ahead to be with them and love them.

The auction starts this Sunday and will end the following Saturday. If you click on the banner at the top it takes you to the site and it explains how they will do the auction by email.

Thank you to each of you come by giving friendship and kindness. I love hearing from you and visiting you as well.

~ Monday, Corners ~Small Treasure Chest of Lace

Few old and vintage things capture me like old lace. The intricate beauty made by hands of people I never knew, but somehow now are a part of my life is so intriguing. The small chest, about 18 inches wide, is very French Colonial inspired to me, toile decoration on a bamboo & wicker styled box. It was being abused by the weather out on the sunporch, then I realized it was perfect for making a treasure chest for my growing lace collection. By collection I don't mean it will sit around with me just looking at it. Instead this is a working collection for making art from vintage elements.

I'm fascintated by the piece on top which was never finished. The pure linen is aged to a darker cream with gold accents. The thread is still on the cardboard spool and one of the medallions was still being worked on that goes on the fabric. I like to look at it and just pick it up and feel the age and tenderness of it. And of course wonder about who made it.


Many of the other ones you see here are all handmade, many without a machine. What beautiful work. The patterns and the colors and the feel of the lace is so amazing. There are a few Irish and maybe a French piece in there, but I've mixed them up too much now to know. Maybe that is good so I won't value one above the other.

It actually rained last night. After the promise for over a week of 70% chance and then not a drop. The flowers are singing today. And I'm listening to their song as I start the Angel piece for the auction. It's a beautiful day.