OUR CHRISTMAS MANTEL

It's not technically a mantel, because we don't have a fireplace. But, this is our substitute -- the cupboard with sliding doors that holds the living room TV.

Using the red plaid ribbon that I bought at Nell Hill's in Kansas City for inspiration, I went to nature for this year's Christmas decoration.

The candle holders are disc spacers from the farm salvage yard, contrasting with the elegance of 19th century brown transferware.

I'm joining all of the Christmas mantel parties going on this week in blogland - check them out for inspiration!

From My Front Porch to Yours on Monday, 12/5

Ten June Blog on Tuesday, 12/6

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia on Tuesday, 12/6

Home Stories A to Z on Thursday, 12/8

COPY CAT CHALLENGE

I've always enjoyed my magazines! Beginning back as a newlywed in the 1950s, the best part of the week was a Friday night when we would occasionally go out for dinner; then stop at the newsstand to buy the new magazines. Over the years I've found them to be a great source of inspiration. Up until now, I've never tried to be a total copy cat. But, since Debbie at Debbiedoos has thrown out the challenge to copy a magazine picture; I knew I had to give it a try. Especially when I saw this vignette in the Country Living, November 2011 issue.

I told myself that I couldn't go out and buy anything new - just shop the house, the yard, and the refrigerator. Also, I wanted to change up the original vignette from Fall to Christmas.

Here is my copy cat vignette exchanging pine cones for the pumpkin and adding some pine sprigs into the leaf arrangement.

My entry hall table is smaller and the mirror above it is rectangular rather than round; and the vignette reinforces what I already knew -- I'm not the best at floral arranging. But, the experience was fun - thanks Debbie for the challenge.

Please check out the following parties this week for lots of Christmas inspiration:

A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

Debbie Doos for Holiday Copycats on Mon., Dec. 5th

GIVING THANKS

Yesterday was our Thanksgiving dinner at church. The Women's Committee fix the turkeys, dressing, potatoes, and gravy. Everyone else brings a side dish and a dessert to share. You can only imagine the wonderful food that was served! Various women also bring their dishes and centerpieces to each host a table of eight. I was busy and only managed to take these two pictures of my table. I regret I didn't get around to take pictures of the other tables.

Nothing too fancy on my part - I used my Johnson Brother's Friendly Village dishes and a centerpiece of blue Ball jars filled with beans, etc. to be used later in a Harvest Soup with leftover turkey next week. I loved the look with the candles lit making that wonderful blue of the jars sparkle.

May all of you have a wonderful week with your family and/or friends giving praise of Thanksgiving!!

I'll be joining Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday. Please stop by her wonderful blog for a bunch of inspiration.

MY WEDNESDAY MORNING GROUP

I believe I have mentioned my Wednesday A.M. Coffee Group on this blog before. We started out as a quilting group in the early 1980s getting together while our kids were in school to spend a couple of hours together sewing, eating, and chatting. Over the years our numbers have changed with some members moving away or going back to work; but we have always maintained a core group and still meet every Wednesday morning. We stopped quilting years ago, and now just eat and chat. At one point, we had kids in each of the four grade schools, the middle school, and the high school of our small town. Our husbands were in a variety of professions around town -- we've always had lots to talk about!! The youngest of those kids are in their 20s now, and some of us have grand kids in those same schools.

Over the years, we have really become good friends. One of the things we have always done is celebrate our birthdays together exchanging great gifts. As a recipient this month, I can tell you the good stuff keeps coming. These girls know me really well, and keep feeding my obsession for brown transferware. Below are some of my birthday presents from the Wednesday A.M. group.

First is this great soup bowl from the aesthethic period. It has the "Kite" mark on the back that indicates it was manufactured in England in 1880.

Next, is this cute little bowl that is now holding my pine cones that I brought home from Germany this summer.

Then, I got two of these bone dishes in the Tonquin pattern. They match two plates that I already had in that pattern.

Not brown transferware, but something that catches my eye these days is white ironstone. I received this great, large bowl with an old mark on the back. Isn't it a beauty?

See what I mean? They really know me well! I hope you are as fortunate as I am to have a close group of friends to celebrate birthdays with you.

I'm joining the following parties this week. Be sure to go by these wonderful blogs and thank them for hosting these events.

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Very Merry Vintage Style for Share the Love Wednesday

No Minimalist Here for Thursday's Open House Party

French Country Cottage for Feathered Next Friday

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

White Ironstone Cottage for Treasure Chest Friday

2805 for Potpourri Friday

PLUMB BOBS

I'm convinced that there is something unusual out there for anyone to collect. My husband collects plumb-bobs. It was a natural - after all his name is Bob and in his career as a Civil Engineer, he was a licensed land surveyor.

According to wikipedia, a plumb-bob is a weight usually with a pointed tip on the bottom, that is suspended from a string and used as a vertical reference line.

It has been used since ancient Eqypt to ensure that constructions are plumb or vertical. It is also used in surveying to establish the nadir with respect to gravity of a point in space.

Bob has been wondering how to display them in his office. When we were at Round Top, Texas this fall; one of the dealers had theirs displayed on an old spool. So the search was on for a spool big enough to hold his plumb-bobs. We finally found one last week.

A GIANT CLOCHE

For 35 years in our antique travels, we have been looking for an early 1900s ballot box. The rare times we have spotted one, it was way out of our price range. In a recent discussion with a class mate that worked at our hometown court house, we found out that she had acquired several ballot boxes years ago when they became obsolete. At our recent class reunion, she brought one to give us. We were thrilled beyond belief. It was in "stored in a barn for years" condition and needed three pieces of glass replaced. Bob, of course, loves a challenge like that. This is what it looks like now.

He took it all apart, restored the original finish, and replaced the glass. It was like a giant puzzle putting it back together. It took our four hands and arms, two bungee cords, a belt, and a few well-chosen words to get the eight pieces of glass to fit back in their slots and grooves.

The top locks with three separate keys -- we assume for three different people to prevent tampering with the election process. If only our current election process was still this simple. The original printing is on the top door indicating that it came from a ballot box company in Denver.

All of the time we were working on it, I kept thinking this could be one GIANT cloche. It stands 25" high and is 17" square. The eight pieces of glass form an octogon within the square framework.

I'm sure I'll have fun thinking of things to put into my new "cloche" for the various seasons.

I always love when a decorative item also has meaning to our family. My grandfather was a popular elected official for years in the early 1900s. I like to imagine that many votes in his favor were cast in this very ballot box.

I'll be joining the following parties this week. Check these blogs out for a plethora of inspiration.

A Stroll Thru Life for the Fall Cloche Party on Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

Restore Interiors for Restored It Wednesday

The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursday

No Minimalist Here for Open House Party on Thursday

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

FROST ON THE PUMPKINS

We had a nice, wet snow yesterday!

So, consequently there was frost on the pumpkins this morning.

As you can see, our small garden produced a bumper crop of gourds and pumpkins this year.

Just in time for a Happy Halloween weekend!

Enjoy all those little ghosts and goblins!

IKEA EXPERIENCE

We went to the new IKEA store in Denver this weekend ------ didn't buy a thing ------ don't need to go back. You have to be a better, more dedicated shopper than I am to enjoy THAT experience.

No need to tour a corn maize this Halloween season - I've been to IKEA.

Doesn't that just look like the floor map of IKEA?

If you are a REAL corn maize fanatic, I hear this is a great one. Check out Pope Farms, Wiggins, Colorado just up Hwy. 76 from Denver.

CHAIR METAMORPHOSIS

My husband, Bob, loves to find old, neglected furniture to restore. This is his latest metamorphosis -- a chair that had lost its rockers, then left outside to deteriorate. It was in his price range of $5.00.

He took it all apart to re glue everything, then made new rockers; and finally gave it a new finish similar to its Arts & Crafts roots.

Then, it was my job to make a new upholstered seat. Since our son is taking the chair for his study as a reading chair, I also made a pad for the back for additional comfort.

Check out the following blogs for super inspiration; and be sure to thank these ladies for hosting these fun parties:

Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

Restore Interiors for Restored It Wednesday

The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday

Miss Mustard Seed for Furniture Feature Friday

ON TO KANSAS CITY

From the Austin, Texas area, we headed north on our 10-day, 3000 mile road trip. Trust me - it is a long way across eastern Texas, eastern Oklahoma, then eastern Kansas through small towns on 2-lane roads. Have you ever heard of Greasy, Oklahoma or Arma, Kansas? Plus, I had no idea that Eastern Oklahoma had mountains. They call them mountains; but I'm from Colorado, we call them foothills. Nevertheless, they were very pretty! We finally arrived in Kansas City to visit friends.

While there, we went to Blackwell's Thrift Store, 1316 E. 63rd St., Kansas City, Mo. This was the cleanest, best organized thrift store I've ever seen.

This is the place to go if you are into vintage Pyrex, enamelware, or any type of kitchen stuff.

See that carpet - I actually had that in our family room back in the 1970s.

We then headed north to Nell Hill's Briarcliff store. I've always enjoyed visiting the Nell Hill's stores in north-eastern Kansas. They contain inspirational vignettes, lots of decorating ideas, nice furniture and accessories - all at fairly reasonable prices. My favorite part are all of the details on the fabric items that they fabricate.

It looks like lanterns will be big this Christmas season.

And, one of my favorite things -- plaid!

Square wreaths and plaid book covers.

The only thing I bought at Nell Hill's was a roll of wide red, plaid ribbon that is acrylic, but looks like wool - my Christmas inspiration!!

From there, we headed back south to one of our favorite antique malls, The Mission Road Antique Mall, 4101 W. 83rd St., Prairie Village, Ks.

There, I found another piece of brown transferware. I've been trying to accumulate enough large soup bowls in brown transferware to mix & match. I now have 7 - almost there.

We had wonderful food, and enjoyed the hospitality of our friends. But, it was time to head for home - a long ride across Kansas.

Next week, I'm joining in the following parties. Please check them out; and thank all of these ladies for hosting such fun, inspirational parties.

A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

Very Merry Vintage Style for Share the Love Wednesday

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

2805 for Potpourri Friday

ROUND TOP, CARMINE, WARRENTON ANTIQUE EXTRAVAGANZA

Continuing on our 3000-mile, 10-day road trip, we headed to our main destination of the semi-annual Antique Week in Round Top, Texas. We arrived on Monday afternoon and started to scout out our plans for Tuesday. We discovered several tents along the highway that were set up and ready with great merchandise for customers.

Our plans for Tuesday were to spend the whole day at Marburger Farm, which has 9 tents, 12 buildings with 350+ antique dealers on 43 acres.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of Marburger and I took it on Wednesday. Let's just say: one car locked-box malfunction PLUS big bucks to retrieve camera from said malfunction EQUALS one unhappy shopper/blogger/Honda owner!! All that didn't dampen our resolve to see as much as we could in the 104 degree heat. We had been to Marburger in 2006, but it has really grown into everything imaginable that could be considered vintage/antique. Thank goodness they had golf-cart shuttles, friendly people, lots of fans blowing, and huge glasses of ice available. We are at the point in our lives after collecting antiques for over 50 years that we don't need a thing, so we didn't intend to purchase much - just enjoy looking and checking out trends. But, what did we buy at Marburger? You know I can't resist brown transferware, so my treat from Marburger was this terrine. I bought it from some friendly gals from Pennsylvania who were suffering from the heat and willing to bargain.

Bob is a sucker for hand-made tool boxes with interesting details and purchased this one.

It has lots of fun cubby-holes and original paint.

On Wednesday, we were meeting an old antiquing/quilting friend (Hi Tam!) from Beaumont, Texas at the Big Red Barn venue. It covers 30,000 sq. ft. in the barn, plus 2 tents and an off-site venue at the Carmine Dance Hall.

I loved this place, not only because it was air-conditioned, but it is loaded with Americana/primitive/really nice stuff.

I was happy to see that natural, wood patina is alive and well. Not everything is being painted.

We were in Texas, after all, so there were great western things.

My purchase on Wednesday was at the Carmine Dance Hall - a brown transferware chamber pot. I know it is A CHAMBER POT, but just look at all of that transferware lusciousness!

We finished the afternoon checking out other venues along the highway.

There are thousands and thousands (I'm sure?) of vendors.

Everything you could ever want, plus inspiration and bargains galore!!

On my next post, we'll leave Texas and head to Kansas City and a visit to the famous Nell Hill's store.

This week I'm joining the following parties. Please check them out - you won't be disappointed.

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Very Merry Vintage Style for Share the Love Wednesday

A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday