Bluebirds, Golden Shamrocks & Red Elephants

I manged to find quite a colorful collection of glassware while out junking the other day. With several pieces of French origin, I was a happy thrifter!

 

Aren't these bluebird bread plates the sweetest?  Just found the five little plates, no other pieces, although I did give the shelves a good looking over.

I always get these decorated French, glass canning jars to hold bulk items in my pantry. They make for such pretty storage and I do prefer glass over plastic. I especially like this pattern. The red Poppies are so fun, and how often do you see Viola on something? The metal band had some oxidation that I cleaned off with steel wool and a brass brush, the brush gets into areas that you can't reach with the steel wool. I detached the metal from the jars before cleaning, otherwise the glass gets scratched.

Don't you just love the vibrant, bright green, fruit design on this container? I don't think it's ever seen the inside of a dishwasher! I've passed up quite a few of these because the top spout flap was not functional or partially missing, sometimes the whole lid is missing. In memory I associate these with "Tang", I know they produced a multitude of different containers for this "space age" drink. This one is going to hold my coffee, I think the rich brown and the lime green will look nice together. And easy to find in the fridge in the morning!!!

Along with the memory of seeing these when I was a child (1950's) and a wee bit of research, this cute as pie, little cup ( only holds about 2 ounces), was a "complimentary" container that held processed cheese spread. Referred to as "Swanky Swigs" they were introduced by Kraft Foods in 1933.  Love the wee little animals marching around the top and the red Polk-a-dot elephant. I think this one lived with the other jars, it's also in pristine condition.

I have a growing collection of floral frogs, so much so that I thoroughly look and debate the necessity of each new find. Well I was giddily surprised to see that this pretty crystal one was made in France. It is marked on the bottom and also has a paper label.   Wooo Hooo...crystal AND French, going home with me!

I don't need a salt and pepper set, but I did need to get these in the box Fitz & Floyd Christmas Geese shakers. They were just to pretty to pass up.

The petite little "Carolers" were gold with heavy dark brown antiquing...the first thing I did when I got home was to lighten them up...so much better! Also, this is a better picture of the Bluebird plates.

And the cherub got a "wing makeover", I didn't quite care for the copper and gold rather messily applied color of the wings.  The rest of the body was already white.

I also just gave a very light antiquing of golden oak stain. I pretty much dry brushed the stain on and wiped off immediately. I used another dry brush to pick up the excess out of the nook and crannies. Just be sure to keep this brush wiped off with an old rag. This way you can achieve an old look without the heavy build-up. I keep separate brushes to use with this technique.

Also got this smaller (15" x 18"), ornate frame (hard to find these in any size in my area). It was originally gold, rather flat and very light in color. So while I was spraying everything else, I gave this piece just a light coat of white (just a little so that the crackling from age is still visible) and used the same aging technique.

All three of these makeovers were so simple and easy.

But I believe the "piece de resistance" of my finds are the Gold Shamrock wine glasses.  Guess where they were made? If, like me, you thought Ireland (because of the shamrocks), you'd be incorrect!!! You have to go a bit further east, cross the English Chanel and set foot in France. Yes, these little pretties are French.

They might only be three leaf clover, but I feel very lucky to have found them! And they also must have lived with the other items that have never seen a dishwasher.

I wonder if most of these items could have possibly been donated from the same home. I often get this notion when I come across finds like this in a thrift store.  Do you ever get that feeling?

All of the new pretties arranged for this photo shoot are sitting on my granddaughters birthday surprise (that it's done). She has patiently been waiting for me to paint this stand for over 6 months. She found it at Goodwill for the unbelievable price of $4.99. Her selling point to me? It had a magazine rack and the cut outs were sooo cute! (I've trained her well, extremely proud)!!!

It was just your basic stained, wood tone piece of furniture, but very sturdy. Her color choice is Passion Blue (premium flat) by Benjamin Moore. Primed, painted, lightly distressed and clear waxed was all this piece needed, and was wanted! She knows what she likes.

Delivered and now in use as a bedside stand...Happy 11th Birthday Ciara!!!

...Love, Gramcracker.

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Happy Hunting and Gathering~~~ 
  
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Got A Few Things Done

Here are a few things that I was able to get done from my last post.  

Before

After

What a difference! The bookends turned out fantastic!

Before

After

 You can hardly tell but the one on the left he's a terra cotta color.  And here he is all chalk painted, touched with gold and waxed. I always enjoy making these little guys over. Sometimes after waxing I add just a bit of real blush powder (with a cotton swab) to add a hint of color to the cheeks.

A few of the picture frame skeletons...remember that blue one?

Before

After

Way better now! Those purple painted spots from the before pic bled thru so I had to scrap off the paint, really easy the chalk paint adhered to the purple and it just sort of popped off when I scraped at it. 

This is the paper in back of the previous frame pic. It's the Time Traveler Collection "Love Affair" Prima Marketing Inc. Just picked up yesterday at Memories of Time, my local, well stocked scrapbooking shop.  It's gorgeous...be great for Valentines Day projects or just any romantic, sentimental project.

Before

I left the inner liner in and just painted. I've ruined a few frames trying to get the sections apart. Never thought to paint the whole thing. Unfortunately the large dark one in the back turned pinkish from stain bleed through...got to fix it.

After

I really liked how beautifully they painted. I also waxed with clear wax, even the fabric colored liner.  Grey frame just got spiffed up with wax. The more ornate one shows some red that was under the gold.

Here's the desk with the broken pull.

Before

 Much better...but was sort of pain to accomplish. Got the pulls off EBAY, somebody else wanted them as badly as me. Crazy spendy!!! But they were the exact maker and style number that I needed.

After

And having said that...they didn't fit!!! 

At first that is. 

The replacement ones were for a flat front and I needed to fit a slightly curved front. They wouldn't lay flat and I disliked that noticeable gap. So I heated them (almost a boil) in a pan of water and VERY GENTLY shaped them with a pair of pliers. Heating sort of helps prevent the metal from snapping into and it also cleaned them very nicely! I used tongs to take them out of the water and an old towel to hold them. I also used a brass brush on them it helps to polish very nicely.

After

After I got the new ones put on I thought the single drawer pull needed "beefing" up a bit. This one is larger and has more gold to match with the others.

The desk is finished on the outside, just need to line the drawers with pretty paper. It's headed to the shop Monday morning!!! 

~~~Have a wonderful weekend~~~

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~~~Happy Hunting and Gathering~~~

One Last Makeover For 2014

I'm going to squeak one more post in before 2015.  I decided at the last minute to freshen up the bookcase and the bathroom. I've been wanting to get this done for quite sometime.  So I rolled up my sleeves and set to work!!! It's been a grueling few days---but I'm so Happy with the results.

Up first is the built in book case.  I did this paint and stencil treatment back in 2001...so it was time for a re-do.

I liked the stenciling, but you really couldn't see it when all the books were in place. My dad built this and I never really wanted to paint the wooden shelves that he had lacquered. But time had taken it's toll on them and they need to be re-lacquered or painted.  I can't do lacquer...I don't even use oil based paint. I knew I wanted to go lighter and brighter. So I rummaged around in my surplus supply of paint and came up with a light grey pint of latex miss-matched paint.

Liking it already! Let's fill  those shelves up!!!

 

 

 

There's the bookshelf all done~~~and to the left is a wee glimpse of the bathroom. Ready for a tour?

Here's a few before pics. Starting at the entrance...this finish (lacquered) has seen better days!

This cabinet isn't getting a makeover this time...still like it as is~~~
and the rugs staying.

You can't tell, but the walls are a taupe color.

 

See that beautiful gown the damsel in the middle is wearing? That color inspired my paint choice. A rosy, slightly peachy tone.

And here they are, my Benjamin Moore paint choices . Chantilly Lace for the trim and Rose Reflection for the walls, well it was suppose to be Rose Reflection but the test patch was way to pink for that tiny space. So I added white and it's between Pink Swirl and the RR, on three walls. And added more white again so it's Pink Swirl on the fourth big wall.

~~~And here's the finished space~~~

 

 The medicine cabinet got an update with a couple of coats of Chantilly Lace. 

After adding this pic to the post I realized I had forgot to change out the little night light.

 Now that's better!

The picture in the background is a very large and vintage post card of
Glastonbury Abbey in England. The book under the lamp is a 1915 edition of Scott's Lady of the Lake and is inscribed "Miss Alice Ekblad, Marshfield, Oregon. It was a volume from the local high school that I also attended some 50 year later...Marshfield High School.

This shelf is a new addition above the sink, it was gold colored - now it's white and distressed a bit. A perfect place for a Frog Prince to sit!

 This shelf used to be under the knight and damsel picture, it got freshened up with a coat of white paint and a little distressing.

 The pink glass Eiffel Tower was a gift from a dear friend

 who visited Chicago last Autumn.

The shelf is different here, this is how I bought it. Had it stored (of all places) under my bed!

 ~~~I absolutely adore Italian Florentine boxes~~~

I only buy them when I'm out thrifting, which limits my finds!!!

 This sword use to be above the window.

 

 Switched the old hook out for this crown...goes with the royal theme!

I transformed this little table years ago, the medallion is plaster of paris. I made a mold in clay of the original and casted this one myself, then attached the crystal and glued it in place! 

The small picture is an Italian Florentine with convex glass.

My grand daughters make these little nests out of grass during the fall.

 Yes, those are rhinestone clip earrings gathering up the valance. 

Well that's my major makeover for the year, like I said just squeaking it in. I'm loving the new light and refreshed look of everything.  The only thing I bought for this makeover was the paint, everything else I already had. So this was a very budget friendly re-do!!!

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Happy New Year!!!