Saturday, March 27, 2010

Rocki Gorman Jewelry-More for your collection

What's hot for Spring? And Fall 2010? Purple, purple, and more purple...These laser-dyed purple Kingman turquoise designs are stunning and fresh this year. These purple pendants have a tint of bright turquoise shining through here and there. The dragonfly has beautiful beady turquoise eyes-so unusual. The mother earth strand now has purple amethyst, pearls, turquoise, and a mix of other faceted beads. Will try to take some clearer pics soon-these are from my phone...
For summer-the story is multi-color stands of stones, the revival collection which looks like old Navajo pieces, and bright green Mojave turquoise. One of my favorite things is Rocki's cloud earrings with multi-color lightning bolts. Rocki was at market this time with her precious mother-such down to earth, creative women that have an eye for design and quality. Her summer collection will also include yellow turquoise, pearls, and denim lapis mixed with turquoise which is going to be very popular.

Home in the city...

One of the things we like to do on Spring evenings in Dallas after market is to drive around and look at the beautiful houses downtown...The tulips, cabbages, and pansies were so beautiful! Not to mention the gorgeous houses-this one was one of our favorites because of the details...

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Are You A Bird Lover?

These cute bird pens and spring notebooks are perfect pick-me-ups and sweet gifts...Lonesome & Cricket would appreciate these (a dove & a canary-they're friends of mine!)

More New Spring Items

We just got in these fun printed burlap bags for spring and summer...aren't they fun? Also shown are antiqued mercury lanterns, pottery, and the garden twine & scissor sets...Fresh new things!

Spring Entry

I've been working on my entry for spring...I hung a spring wreath over my antique mirror and did a forcythia/tulip arrangement on this antique french chest. I got this antique bible in Lubbock at the disabled veterans associations (it's falling apart but I love it-it's dated from the 1800's). The page is open to a picture of Jesus with his flock of sheep...
Maybe one day I can get this beautiful bible restored-it's such a treasure!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Pastry Queen's Coconut Cake

Tomorrow is my grandmother's birthday and one of her favorite cakes is a coconut cake. It was my great grandmother's specialty. So I spent the afternoon whipping up one, it wasn't easy but I think it turned out pretty good!
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ cup whole milk
• ½ cup unsweetened coconut milk (available in the Asian section of most supermarkets, or see notes)
• ¼ cup coconut cream (such as Coco Lopez)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 large egg whites at room temperature
• Whipped cream filling (recipe follows) I used Stonewall's Lemon Curd instead from the shop-makes it much more delicious!!!
• Frosting (recipe follows)
• 3 to 4 cups unsweetened flaked coconut for decorating
click here for rest of recipe

Coconut cake is such an essential part of the Southern culinary landscape that it was featured alongside fried chicken, greens and cornbread during a "state of the plate discussion" at the 10th annual Southern Foodways Alliance symposium. This cake would be fantastic to make for Easter.

Our Betsy

So we entered our '63 bermuda green Volkswagen Beetle in the Amarillo car show a few weekends ago...we had so much fun even though it seemed to be a bit of an ordeal. The event supported Make A Wish for children in the Amarillo area...loved the red Ford Mustang behind us...

This was our diplay in the interior-we had fun with it...mice & cheese, picnic basket, embroidered pillow in the back seat. Needless to say the people's choice purple roadrunner & a smokey and the bandit trans am beat us-hmmmmm...we still think she was the best...

This beautiful Hudson drove all the way from Oklahoma...60,000 original miles and original interior. This car has stayed true to what it was fifty years ago. The color was just amazing-it was a fantastic car...

Sue's Kitchen

Recently we worked on a customer's house to "spring it up"...For her kitchen we took one of our French corner cupboards and made a burlap/linen table topper for her kitchen table. We all really loved how it turned out...
This sweet corner cupboard was filled with red transferware and her white pitcher collection...

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Spring Table Setting

Love the white & linen tablecloth mixed with the mexican etched glasses, chocolate rabbits, brown transferware, and small garden plate in the center...We just got in these precious wheelbarrow plates...


Feather Your Nest

One of our new books in is "Nell Hill's Feather Your Nest" an interior design book from design guru Mary Carol Garrity. Mary Carol empowers home owners to create personal spaces that epitomize their own unique tastes and interests. Step-by-step and twig-by-twig, Garrity encourages budding home designers to discover what works for them and create a plan, or decorating blueprint, to continue that style throughout the entire home.

Lauded by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NBC's Today show, and more, Mary Carol shows home owners how to bring the outside in, while also encouraging the use of more traditional items like silverware or china to highlight the home by being displayed in new, innovative and intriguing ways. Five chapters focus on nest-building basics for different areas of the home, such as common spaces like foyers and living rooms to private spaces like bedrooms and baths. Transition and work areas like staircases and laundry rooms—and everything else in between—receive the Garrity touch as depicted throughout the five decidedly different homes showcased within Feather Your Nest:
*Mary Carol's own breathtaking and airy 130-year-old Greek revival
*The bustling hub of family life inside a colorful colonial
*A soulfully updated 1950's ranch with craftsman details
*A calmingly cozy cottage retreat with sophisticated flair
*And a to-die-for Tudor that deftly merges generations past and present
With an emphasis on being timeless, affordable, and comfortable, rather than trendy, extravagant, or inaccessible, Garrity motivates readers to feather their nests by staying true to their own unique design style.

Mary Carol Bathroom

Love the soft colors-the old tile floor-who said everything had to be new to be beautiful? This confirms my desire for an old bathtub like this one to soak in....

Designer Mary Carol Teacart

What a wonderful display and show of use with an antique teacart! We have two of these available at the shop right now. This display was done by the designer Mary Carol...She is a big believer on making the most with what you have.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Guy Wolff's Story & His Pots

Guy Wolff & Martha "Over the years the pots I make have taken on different jobs made in different kinds of clays but with every project the over all search has been my interest in understanding what makes old pots so vital, so alive, and so good."
Guy Wolff's Studio

The architecture of the piece is my passion and is why I can look at 18th and 19th century English flowerpots and centuries old Asian vases with the same eye and ask the same question: What makes this antique pot so wonderful?
What a wonderful story of an artist and his talent-go here to read more about him: http://www.guywolff.com/

Collection of Wolff Pottery

Love these pots and can't decide which ones I like the best! The white ones are so unusual yet I also like the mossy green ones with the scalloped/fluted edges. Usually we buy flowers and then figure out which containers to put them in. In this case you buy the beautiful pot and decide what would look best in it!

New Garden Items

We have gotten in some really neat and unusual garden items! As well as Guy Wolff pottery, copper shadowboxes, cream scrubbed hat racks, and head planters (I love this guy-he's kind of odd isn't he?) I was trying to think yesterday what would work the best planted in him-asparagus fern?-haha
Twine is so useful to tie back climbing roses, overgrown tomato plants, the cat to entertain herself-I really like this twine and scissor set....

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Santos

For Christmas I received a beautiful Santos and I love her...I've hung different necklaces around her neck and she looks wonderful with all the different stones around her...we have several different ones right now at the shop....I have seen very old beautiful churches filled with these interesting pieces.
Santo (from the Spanish word meaning "saint") is a traditional New Mexican genre of religious sculpture. The word "santo" is also used to refer to individual works in this genre. Santos are carvings, either in wood or ivory, that depict saints, angels, or other religious figures.

Icons and other religious images were crucial for the conversion of indigenous peoples to Roman Catholicism, which was itself an integral part of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. However, long distances, inefficient methods of transportation, and high demand for such artworks limited the ability of ecclesiastical authorities to supply parish churches, especially those in remote outposts, with "official" works of religious art from Spain.

The first santos are thought to have been imitations of Spanish Baroque statues carved by priests. Later santos were influenced by native styles. They became popular items of devotion, found from home altars to churches, whence they sometimes attracted pilgrims.

Originally common throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the tradition of santo carving was preserved as a folk art in Northern New Mexico, whose isolated villages remain secluded to this day. Of particular note is the village of Cordova which has produced several well known santeros (carvers of santos), including George López who was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1982.

Santos carved in the round are commonly known as bultos. They are usually carved from cottonwood root, pine or aspen. A santero carves a bulto with a knife and then covers it with gesso, a mixture of native gypsum and glue, to prepare it for painting. Some contemporary santeros still use paints from homemade pigments.

French Pieces....

Here is one of a few antique french pieces we have gotten in...Be sure to come in and look at them before they are gone! The prices are very reasonable and we've gotten in so many different and unusual things!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Gardens

Love the pea gravel and green stained fence around this...Here are instructions on how to build raised flower beds...
http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2010/02/build-your-own-raised-flowervegetable-bed-redux/

Gardens

What is always in Ree Drummond's garden? click here
http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2010/02/what-will-always-be-in-my-garden/

Gardens

We got some rain and everything is slowly starting to green up. I am in love with these garden images and I couldn't wait to share them. Depending on the weather it's getting to be the perfect time to start preparing your beds and thinking about spring & summer....Will keep posting on what we plan to do with our window boxes and pots at the shop.

Monday, March 8, 2010

More "vintage" majolica

Here is some more of these precious majolica pitchers-here you can see the aqua stag plate in the background. Love the hound in the plate chasing the deer...The blue color is just perfect-notice the tiny birds & birds nest on them. These would be so sweet all together with small blooming branches stuffed in them...

Aqua Vintage Majolica


I've been eyeing this turquoise majolica for a couple of weeks...I need it for my kitchen but can't make my mind up on what I love the most. "Do I really need it...yes just get it....no you don't need it..." I have a aqua kitchenaid mixer and antique aqua scales in my kitchen. The prices are really nice and it's patina is quite beautiful...Oh and the turquoise stag plates that match the tiny pitchers are so good. Temptations!

Country Living Hall Tree

Thought this display in Country Living gives ideas/thoughts for our wonderful antique hall tree!
If you had an extra large closet wouldn't one be great to organize and hang items-in a bathroom to hold towels, robes, glass jars....

Antique Oak Hall Tree

We just love this beautiful old hall tree-we are waiting for more room to move it to a better space. It just tells you of days past-can't you see it full of damp umbrellas and jackets & hats from visitors many years ago? Made of beautiful old oak with brass details and carving it certainly tells a story...(it has a brass luggage rack at the top!)
Hall trees are an essential part of your entryway furniture collection. Once your guests enter your home, they usually look for a place to hang their coats, hats, and other items. Hall trees are made for this purpose. They make your entryway and hallway look more organized as well as providing a more elegant look.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Blue & White Bedroom


This RL blue & white bedroom is so crisp & beautiful! The blue is not overdone but just has the perfect touch of it I think! Notice the blue & white platters framing out the headboard....The white hydrangeas, green pears, and ruffle on the sheets are so sweet-perhaps the details make this appealing...

Large Old Blue & White Delft Platters

Delftware, or Delft pottery, denotes blue and white pottery made in and around Delft in the Netherlands and the tin-glazed pottery made in the Netherlands from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The use of marl, a type of clay rich in calcium compounds, allowed the Dutch potters to refine their technique and to make finer items. The usual clay body of Delftware was a blend of three natural clays, one local, one from Tournai and one from the Rhineland.[4]
From about 1615, the potters began to coat their pots completely in white tin glaze instead of covering only the painting surface and coating the rest with clear glaze. They then began to cover the tin-glaze with clear glaze, which gave depth to the fired surface and smoothness to cobalt blues, ultimately creating a good resemblance to porcelain.[5
Delftware in the latter sense is a type of pottery in which a white glaze is applied, usually decorated with metal oxides. Delftware includes pottery objects of all descriptions such as plates, ornaments and tiles.Today, Delfts Blauw (Delft Blue) is the brand name hand painted on the bottom of ceramic pieces identifying them as authentic and collectible.

Monday, March 1, 2010

More Spring Florals

Bright Spring florals are arriving weekly. How beautiful are these orange and yellow poppies against these bright veggie prints? Can you see the mice?

Successful Windowboxes

Designing and having window boxes can become a very fun, creative, and rewarding endeavor. The diversity of plant materials to choose from and effects that can be generated seem almost limitless. Many people choose to try different combinations and overall themes each year. For a successful window box, plant a thriller (something tall), a spiller (something to trail over the sides), and colorful fillers – like yellow million bells, coral twinspur and orange snapdragons.
Upright, taller growing plants are often placed towards the center or back of a container, while spreading or trailing plants are placed near the edge of the container where they can grow over the containers edge. Understanding growth patterns of plants can help in determining placement in the window box and how close to plant different species so each is showcased, not smothered. Window boxes typically have cascading types of plants planted near the edge that can spill over, while more mounded or upright plants are planted closer to the window.

Combine plants that share similar light requirements and moisture needs. Using plants with similar growth rates helps to prevent slower growing plants from being smothered by vigorous neighboring plants. Mixing plants so that something is blooming at all times during the season can help enhance season long beauty.