Themed Thursday...Furry Friends

I have a large collection of dog prints & dog figurines so I was excited about this week's Themed Thursday, hosted by KD @ Southern Whimsy .

First off, this sweet ceramic poodle. She's larger than the rest of my figurines so she lives apart from them. ;o)

Then we'll move on to my collection of vintage dog prints. Most of them are vintage anyway, I will eventually replace any that aren't w/ some that are. I keep them all on the stairway wall. I don't know what I will do when they outgrow this space. ;o)

(click on any picture to enlarge)

This appears to be a photograph of a painting but I can't tell for sure.

One of my favorites! Love the poms checking out the clown.

Hubby & I just bought this one while "tiking.... you'll see it in a future "tiking finds" post.

These last 2, are the 2 that aren't vintage. It'll be kinda hard to give up this one though as it was the very first of my collection. It's really only a sentimental attachment though as I think the colors are too dark for my home.

I have the matching print of this one w/ a girl & a cat but it's not displayed.

Despite what this signs proclaims, I do have a few cats in my collection (the sign was hubby's grandfathers...it hung in one of his businesses. It actually reads "no dogs or cats allowed" but I changed that. ;o) )

This is where I keep all my small dog figurines & veery one of them is vintage. Not a single piece of resin in the collection. I found this wall shelf & knew it would be perfect for them. The rental office sign was another one of PaPa's.

The poodle I found while thrifting recently.

See, I have a couple of cats. I don't usually "do" cats but there is a couple that have stolen my heart.

The doxie, hubby & I bought in Fredericksburg last year on our anniversary trip. The chi I bought for hubby while in Salado w/ my mom.

We found this little soapstone dog while 'tiking a month or so ago but I neevr posted those finds.

My favorite cat because it captures their mischievous personality.

Love teh painting of this westie!

Sweet, playful beagle.

This is one of a pair of vintage bookends.

Beautiful green eyes!

I know he's ugly but he looked so sad that I had to bring him home!

The other of the bookends & a sweet poodle. The antique dealer that I bought it from (for $4!) kept repeating, "you know that it has been broken & glued back together right?" & then she went on to say "it is supposed to be attached to another poodle but that one is missing."

Like, because it had flaws, I would be uninterested. I don't think so! Flaws add character for me.

This painting looks just my Gizzy. For about 5 minutes, right after he's groomed. ;o) I bought it on eBay...put in a maximum bid & won it for $11! Yep, $11 for an original oil painting. I guess it was an off week & noone saw the auction 'cause her paintings go for alot more than that. She does beautiful work & she does several breeds...you can check out her auctions here. http://stores.ebay.com/MONIQUEDOGS

Saw this little doggie creamer & had to have it. Ooops, I was wrong...this piece isn't vintage.

There you go...hope you enjoyed my collection. Head over to KD's to see everybody else's furry friends.

Tablescape Thursday

Hello...feels kind of weird having Tablescape Tuesday on Thursday, doesn't it? I'll get used to it but it's gonna throw my time of the week off for a couple of weeks. ;o) As always, Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch is our wonderful hostess. Be sure & tell her "hello" & check out her bluebirds in her Outdoor Wednesday post. It's fascinating reading!


We had our 25th anniversary dinner last weekend so I am sharing pics of that for todays Tablescape Thursday. I used a white lace edged tablecloth, w/ a piece of silver lame used as a runner & then on top of that, layered a sheer scarf embroidered w/ silver thread. I hung pearl bead strands from the chandelier.


For the centerpiece, I used my glittered church (I've used it @ Christmas & Easter ...it is soo versatile) & a vintage bride & groom on a mirrored base. You saw the bride & groom in a recent thrift finds post. I also scattered a few "diamonds" from Hobby Lobby.


I used diamond ring key chains for napkin rings & tucked in a sprig of silk lilies of the valley. I stamped Mr & Mrs onto a battenburg lace napkin w/ fabric paint. At first, I accidentally used dimensional paint, (don't do that!) so I had to use 2 more napkins & redo it.

Love this shot! I may make a photographer yet! ;o)

Not perfect but neither am I.

LOVE this 25th anniversary apothecary jar, hubby & I bought a couple of weeks ago while 'tiking. I filled it w/ Jordan almonds but then you couldn't see the silver detail on it very well. So I moved them to a crystal bowl.

Aren't the bride & groom doves sweet?

And I LOVE this vintage cake topper! I'll treasure it always. I think it's cake topper...maybe it's just a figurine. Either way, I adore it.

Bought these paper coasters @ Tuesday Morning to go w/ the table. They came packaged like a diamond ring.

For the appetizer, we had steamed artichokes w/ butter dipping sauce & parmesan focaccia bread (we bought the bread @ Central Market & I didn't get a pic of it)

The entree was Baked Bay Scallops ......

And a Cat Cora beef tenderloin recipe (we tried Kobe beef for the first time....extremely pricey but they're right...it melts in your mouth!) w/ Corn in Browned Butter . I topped the corn w/ some parmesan.

For dessert we had Silver Glittered Wine Jelly w/ chocolate truffles (store bought). By the time, we had dessert, we had had several Flirtinis though & I didn't feel like taking pics. ;o) I was really disappointed in the wine jelly anyway. It tasted good & went perfectly w/ the truffles but I wanted it to be silver since it was our theme. The recipe calls for edible silver leaf foil but I couldn't find any @ either Michael's or Hobby Lobby so I subbed silver edible glitter & it didn't show up at all. Other than the gelatin, it was a great meal....hubby is STILL talking about Kobe beef.

Happy Tablescape Thursday everyone!

Rose Wednesday

Hello & welcome to another Rose Wednesday. Hosted by Jan @ Rose Haven.



Today, I am sharing my favorite doilie. This one has beautiful crocheted edging & the center is petit point roses. I should have taken a close-up pic but you can enlarge the pic to see the beautiful detail work.




You'll see more of the table in a future Tablescape Thursday post. ;o) But not tomorrow, tomorrow I am featuring pics from our anniversary table this past weekend. Hope everyone has a wonderful rosy day!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday

Hi y'all! I'm playing in Trash to Treasure Tuesday again. Diane @ A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words is our wonderful hostess. I thought that since y'all are thrifters, that you might enjoy seeing the thrift finds as they come into the house. ;o) Then @ the end of my post, I'll show what I have done w/ at least one of them.

My "hauls" are not always from one trip to the TS. I often go twice a week (sometimes even 3 times a week!) & I keep them in a box then take pictures of everything for that week...I'm usually weeks behind in getting them posted though. And they are almost always from 2 stores since there is another thrift store near the GW I frequent.


I love, love, love this tiny drop leaf table & it was only $20. (I know, I know...I'm a price dropper. But I love to brag about my bargains!) It's really small, not much higher than my knees ..... did I say I LOVE it! It'll get a coat of white paint.

This clock will get a make-over w/ white paint, a bit of distressing & some bling. The mink hat was such a disappointment. I thought the tag said $1.99 & when I got it home I realized that it said $19.99. I like the hat but not enough to pay $20 for it! So I returned it for a store credit. As you'll see, I bought a lot of stuff that day & when the total was more than I expected, I just figured I spent more than I thought.

Would you believe that this silverplated tea set w/ sugar & creamer was only $15.99?


Here's the rest of my loot. The chandelier will become a teacup chandelier...$5! The fleur de lis has a purple stain on it but that will be rectified w/ white paint. And I bought the anniversary clock ($5) for the dome. I'll hang onto the clock hands too but will probably chuck the rest of the clock. The fabric is a Ralph Lauren pillow case..I already have 2 just like it.

Love these sweet little guys!

I adore this poodle & it was only $2.99! I have a collection of dog figurines....they may be my favorite collection.

This little lamb will be adorable in my Easter decor.

I used this vintage bride & groom on our anniversary table this weekend. You'll see more pics of it on Tablescape Thursday. Another $2.99 well spent!

Look how lovely the teaset (or is it a coffee? I've seen this shape called both) looks on the table in front of my mantel. I wouldn't exactly call it trash though since I didn't even have to polish it.

And the Mama & baby poodle get along so well w/ the other dogs in my collection. I'll share all of my doggies in KD @ Southern Whimsy's Themed Thursday . This week's topic is "Furry Friends Real or Faux".

Look at their eyes...they look like glass & are so real looking that I swear I can almost see a soul behind them. ;o)


If you like thrifting, go check out all the players @ Diane's. They're all really sweet ladies w/ wonderful finds!

Metamorphosis Monday

This is my first time to play in Susan's Met Monday & I'm late coming to the party....please forgive me!

Mine is just a small make-over but it fits in the category, I think. This is what I started with...a cheap silverplated award tray that somebody was given. I found it @ a thrift store so they obviously weren't too thrilled w/ it. ;o)

Course it is from 1988 so maybe they were proud enough of their first place trophy, to hang onto it for 20 years.

I hit it w/ some chalkboard paint (I used spray because that's all that Hobby Lobby had & I was too impatient to wait until I could get to another store) & look how cute it is now!

I've been asked several times how I spray painted the tray, leaving the frame silver. I taped off the edges w/ painter's tape (using a spatula to make sure the tape got in the "seam" tightly), not being concerned about staying in line. Then I took an exacto knife & trimmed the tape along where I wanted. The "seam" in the tray made it really easy to follow w/ the blade. There are a couple of "blurps" in it but they are very, very minor. I was being a little anal about them until I saw trays in antique stores done this way. You would not believe how sloppy they were! I seriously wouldn't display them in my own home much less try to charge money for them! Maybe spray paint versus a brush was the way to go after all.

Well, I better get my duff out of this chair & onto some projects so that I can play in Met Mondays more.... be sure & tell Susan thanks for hosting!