New Vintage Treasures and a Question

Hi friends!  I am taking a break from watching bowl games (Hotty Toddy!!)  to share with you a few new vintage treasures that I just received.  First, I am so excited to have two new additions to my Ironstone collection.  The first is a small milk pitcher that I picked up a month or so ago at Antiques at the Loop in Mobile.  At only around 5 inches tall, it is such a sweet, simple piece.  I thought it was perfect and only eighteen dollars!  

The second is a slightly larger, and more ornate, milk pitcher.  It is also vintage white Ironstone.  It is probably older than the first piece.  The tag said it was from the nineteenth century.  I have looked at it several times at Antiques at the Loop.  (Can you tell I love this store?)  There are a few more larger pieces there that I love, but I just haven't been willing to splurge.  On Sunday Jon and Seth and I rambled around after having a late breakfast at Panera Bread.  After we had been to Academy and Hibbett's, we made a stop for me!  Yippee!!  The booth that had my favorite Ironstone pieces were having a 20 % off sale.  Yippee again!!  I decided to get this piece.  It has some wear and tear marks from over the years, but that just makes it even more special!!  I am looking forward to growing my Ironstone collection in years to come.  I already have my eye on a fabulous soup tureen!

This year I also began collecting American Fostoria crystal - thanks to my sister Anita!  She has quite a collection going.  So far, I have only purchased six juice glasses.  They are adorable!!  I have been drooling over the beautiful Fostoria cake stands that I see in antique stores and, of course, on Ebay.  I do not want to pay $200 plus.  It is crazy how expensive they can be!!  

I was thrilled when my sister, Anita, gave me one for Christmas.   When I opened it, she explained that it was a "cake salver".  I had never heard this term before.  I am assuming that salver means server. :-) 

I love that it is vintage.  It still has the original Fostoria sticker.  Very cool!  

The thing is:  it is in two pieces!  Have any of you every seen this before?  How do you connect the two pieces?  Liquid nails?  Another adhesive?  Do I take it to a glass repair specialist?  Are you just supposed to use the flat part?  It sits fine by itself; however, if that is true, why is there a pedestal? Wouldn't that just be a cake plate as opposed to a cake stand?   (My sister and my aunt, who also collects Fostoria, both have beautiful cake stands but they are the one piece type. :-).  In the picture above I have the top sitting on the base, but if I put anything on it I am certain it would fall.  The top of the pedestal is curved and the bottom of the plate is curved. Perplexing!!  Help please!!! 

If there are any collectors or crystal/Fostoria experts out there, I would really appreciate your advice.  (I asked at Antiques at the Loop, but they said they don't usually have Fostoria and therefore, they were unsure of what to tell me.)  Help please!  

Thank you for visiting!  I hope some of my blogging friends out there know exactly what I need to do so that I may use my beautiful vintage beauty!! 

Linking to the following parties:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm

Blessings, 

Lisa

Christmas....A Look Back!

I hope each of you had a very merry Christmas!  We certainly enjoyed ours with my family in Mississippi.  It is so good to gather together and celebrate the season.  This December flew past so quickly!  Does that mean we were busy and having fun, or that I am getting old? I am going with the former!!

Our sweet elf, Cooper, appeared after Thanksgiving. Seth was thrilled!!  I know one day he will think he is  too old for some of our traditions, but, until then, we still have fun with Cooper!  The first year that Cooper was with us he actually wrote a guest post on my blog.  You can read that here. 

Like all good elves, Cooper loves sugar!! He left Seth a healthy breakfast one morning. 

Seth was thrilled to find out he was on the NICE LIST!!

Before it is too late, I wanted to share a few pics of our home decorated for Christmas.  I love to decorate each year.  Some years I am in a "less is more" mood.  This year; however, we decided to do two trees.  We did our traditional tree in the family room - I am still enthralled with red and green for the holidays. In the sitting room our tree had a natural theme with lots of owls, birds, pine cones, and an antler or two.  This was our only tree last year, but I truly missed my collection of Radkos and other precious ornaments from years past. So... this year we did both of them.  (And a small tree in our son's room.)

Also, I have to confess, I almost did not do a Christmas post. When you follow some of the fabulous blogs that are out there you  may (okay, it's me!) feel insecure.  There are some seriously BEAUTIFUL homes out there that are completely DECKED for the holidays.  But, I read a wonderful post by Rhoda of Southern Hospitality.  In it, she spoke about this exact feeling. I realized I was being silly.  So here is our home - it is not perfect - it is probably not our forever home, but we are blessed and I had fun decorating for our family.  

This is our sitting room tree - simple and rustic! 

\

Owls and birds and acorns, oh my! 

I fell in love with this little family of deer when I saw them at 

Mistletoe Marketplace in Jackson, MS. 

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care! 

A beautiful nativity scene has a place of  honor in our sitting room. 

 It is topped by a simple boxwood wreath. 

I have had my Christmas dishes for quite a few years.  The pattern is Hollylujah by Gail Pittman.This year I began collecting Fostoria crystal. These juice glasses were a recent antique store find.   

A simple centerpiece completes the tablescape.  

This is our family room tree.  I love it because it is filled with ornaments that we have collected over the years.  It brings me so much joy to hang these ornaments each year.  I also love to find one or two perfect additions each Christmas season.  This year I added a wonderful Etta Bee Pottery Santa Claus and a precious Ole Miss ornament!  Hotty Toddy!  The picture does not do it justice. I am working on my photography skills. 

Two small additions to my Radko collection. 

Of course Seth spent lots of time checking out the presents. 

Also in the family room is our Show Village (by Dept 56).  My mother purchased  my first piece - a Starbucks Coffee Shop - many years ago as a Christmas present. 

Seth's favorite pieces are the tiny bicycle and tricycle. 

It really is the little things that I enjoy pulling out each year:  I love my Happy Everything cookie jar that my Daddy gave me last year.  It is all decked out for Christmas.  

I love this cross stitched Merry Christmas picture that Jon and I got many years ago.  

These poinsettia pictures belonged to my mother.  This year I brought them to my home - with my father's approval, of course! I love them!!  Who says you can only decorate the outside of your doors?  This leads to our patio and backyard.  It deserved a festive touch that we could enjoy each day!

Soldiers stand guard in the hallway.

A sweet Santa music box and a reminder to remember the reason for the season.  

Happy Birthday, Jesus! 

Ahh... A cozy spot to sit and relax after a day of shopping! 

Thank you for visiting Buttercup Bliss!!

Lisa

I am sharing at the following wonderful blogs: 

Feathered Nest Friday @ French County Cottage

Fall into Thanksgiving

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving!!  I hope your day has been full of family, friends, food, and football!!

We stayed home this year for Thanksgiving.  It has been a wonderful day!!

I have had my fall tablescape in place since about mid September. I tweaked it yesterday to make it perfect for Thanksgiving.  Here are a few pictures:

For the early fall, I used simple white dishes that go with everything!   

The striped napkins are actually hand towels that I folded to serve as a napkin.  

I loved the blue and brown stripes for fall.  Of course, I had to use my plush pumpkins.  

The burlap table runner was a recent find from Antiques at the Loop. 

To "tweak it" for Thanksgiving, I switched out the burlap runner for this wooden beaded runner.  I got it several years at Target.  

I switched out the napkins and added my Spode Woodland salad plates.  I have a mixture of these: turkeys, quail, deer, and a hunting dog.  I love the rich colors of this pattern.  I also removed my everyday flatware and added my silver, Gorhap Buttercup. 

I added a paisley napkin and also changed the casual gold goblets to clear goblets by Denby.  I suppose I should have added my nicer crystal but I really like the more relaxed look of these glasses.  (Plus, we no longer have a formal dining room so the Waterford is packed up for now.) I do love a formal dining room.  When we have our "forever home", I hope to have a place to enjoy special family gatherings and display my china. 

Thanks for visiting Buttercup Bliss!!  I am off to cheer on my Ole Miss Rebels!!!  

A Halloween Walk Down Memory Lane

I stumbled across some old pictures on my computer recently.  Many of them were Seth when he was a toddler.  I sat there and just grinned at the silly pictures I found.  I really wanted to cry! He is just growing up so fast!  It really breaks my heart!  

I found his first Halloween picture and just cracked up!  I remember being SO excited as fall approached! I had never really gotten into Halloween before I had Seth.  I did activities with my students when I taught school, but I had never purchased a costume.  I had no idea what I had been missing!!! Naturally, I thought his first costume had to be perfect.  After searching stores and websites I found this adorable Hershey's Kiss!!  Too sweet!!  

Seth's first Halloween ~ 2003 ~ Our very own Hershey's Kiss! 

Halloween 2004 ~ Seth the Jester! 

Halloween 2005 - Seth the Cowboy

Halloween 2006 - Seth the Football Player

Halloween 2007 ~ Seth the Biker Dude! 

Halloween 2008 ~ Seth the Pirate! Arghhh!!!

I am missing 2009! UGH!! Do you hate it when you can't find something??  It drives me nuts!!  Just know that this year he was a Special Forces Officer... and I WILL find the picture!!  

Seth the "Army Man" ~ 2010

2011 ~ We were not very creative this year.  He said he wanted to be a baseball player.  It sounded good (i.e We didn't have purchase a thing!!) to me!!

2012 ~ Hmmm... Not sure what to say about this one ~ Seth as Al Capone?

Thank you for joining me as I walk down Memory Lane - Halloween style!!  I am sure you can determine when Seth began to have a say in his Halloween costumes.  "Cute" costumes gave way to "all boy" costumes!!!  And that gave way to AL Capone!  Ha!! My baby is growing up! This year will probably be his last year to go Trick or Treating. But I am not going to dwell on that right now.  At this point, he says he wants to be a Marine or Army Man.  And I am okay with that choice!  

Hope your Halloween is super sweet!!! Ours will certainly be sweet... sugary sweet!  We have TONS of candy ready and waiting for princesses, ghosts, goblins, Army men, Power Rangers, clowns, and any other little characters that stop by our house!  

Natural Fall Mantel

I am finally going to share my fall mantel. I wish I could say that I just threw some things together and called it a day. I wish I could say I just worked with what I had (that is partially true) and a few minutes later voilà - A beautiful mantel was ready for the fall.  But..... I could not get this one to come together.  I have wished and wished for a mantel to decorate for the seasons.  We have typically had a huge television over our mantel, and that REALLY limits what you do to make the fireplace look festive.  However, we moved recently and we now have a "den" and a small living/sitting room. (To tell the truth, I am not sure what to call this room). The den is where we hang out and watch tv.  The "sitting room" is where we - hmmm, we don't do anything in here!! Well, we walk through it on the way to the kitchen and den!!  But, I digress!  Back to the story - I was finally able to decorate the mantel and it threw me for a loop.  I started, stopped, tweaked it,  tried again and finally decided it was complete.  What do you think?

I have had the picture for several years. It used to hang in our foyer.  I thought it was perfect now over the fireplace.  Prior to decorating for fall I had it

 propped up on the mantel. I asked Jon to hang it for me so I could place items 

underneath it without appearing too crowded. 

I love the little squirrels that I purchased at a florist near where I work in Mississippi.  

Their faces are precious!  I scattered around some of my tiny plush

 pumpkins, acorns and mushrooms.  

I pulled out some of the pumpkins that I have purchased over the last few years.  These were purchased at Hallmark and Hobby Lobby.  While I do collect Ironstone, this pitcher is inexpensive.  It is from Target and cost less than fifteen dollars.  I believe the burlap flowers are actually poinsettias.  I am sure they are meant for Christmas, but I fell in love with them.  I decided not to wait until December to use them.  

My friend, Lynda, made the burlap bow for me.  She is always willing to help me 

because I can not make a bow!!  

I picked up an oval grapevine wreath from Michael's.  

I added the sweet owl that also came from the florist 

in Hurley, MS. It is an ornament - I snipped off the hanger. 

 I plan on getting more of these for my Christmas tree! 

  I picked up the small burlap rosettes at Antiques at the Loop in Mobile. 

 It is the BEST antique store around!! 

An apothecary jar is filled with pine cones to add more natural elements. 

The antique wire basket on the right was also a recent 

purchase from Antiques at the Loop.  I am not sure what it was originally used for but I am picturing someone collecting eggs in this little gem. 

 Don't tell me if that is not what it was 

used for - I have such a sweet picture in my mind!!  

So there you have it: my fall mantel.   Now, I am off to watch my little one play football!! I am so thankful that the weather in Alabama has finally cooled off just a bit.  It was actually below 80 degrees this week.  Yippee!!  As always, thank you for visiting Buttercup Bliss! 

I am joining the following parties:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Tweak It Tuesday @ Cozy Little House

Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here

Come join the fun!