Thank You and a French Milk Canister

Hello Everyone...

I hope you are enjoying your Friday!

I first wanted to thank Holly Becker of Decor 8 for the feature she did on my shop.

Holly is also the author of the design book, Decorate!

Anthropologie carries the book online and or you can find it on Amazon...

I have ordered my book, and can't wait to get a copy in the mail.

Thank you Holly Becker of Decor 8

On another note....

I wanted to share a few pictures I took of an antique french milk canister for my online shop.

I haven't ever had blooming dogwood branches before....

Aimee from the Antique Gardener ( you can read my post about her shop by clicking here) called me yesterday and told me that I could come and get some dogwood branches from her....

Thank you Aimee!

Aimee's shop is always filled with beautiful plants....

I unfortunately snapped these pictures at 6 o'clock in the evening...

when the sun was streaming in... so the pictures are overexposed...

I wanted to take more pictures this morning...

That won't be happening,

unfortunately they are very droopy at the moment...

I like how this antique jug looks sitting next to this alabaster lamp...

My parents had a small dairy when we were little kids...

I am always drawn to milk canisters!  Especially if they are french and this pretty blue color.

I wanted to share a few of my favorite blogs, I think you will enjoy reading over the weekend.

Modern Country

Me and Alice

Something White

I hope you get a chance to check these blogs out, these blogs are full of inspiration.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

I am so excited because I do get to go to Remnants of the Past...

I can hardly wait.

I promise to take a lot of pictures for you guys.

Take Care,

Maria

p.s. I wanted to say Happy Birthday to my sweet sister, Monica,

she turns 39 today.  : )

A French Fruit Crate and Remnants of the Past

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had a great Easter.

I wanted to share a few pictures I took of a vintage french fruit crate for my online shop.

I took these about a month ago....

Sorry for the repeat of product pictures using lilacs, but that is what I had at the moment, and used them for about every product picture I took that weekend.

I no longer have these racks available on my site, 

I just wanted to share an idea of how you can add some french farmhouse life to a dining room table.

I actually used a similar crate as a drying rack in my kitchen... I was already using french fruit crates as  drying racks for my monogrammed mugs and ironstone dishes in my kitchen.....

I decided to show a way to use the crate housing dishes in a more decorative way on my dining room table... I tried to keep a french farmhouse feel in the process.

I first added a french canning jar filled with lilacs... Next I added a stack of ironstone plates to the crate.....

I added a stash of antique letters from France.....

The racks are lined with chicken wire...

I like how the Anthropologie monogrammed mugs look against the chicken wire and wood.

{ These mugs would make a great Mother's Day gift : )  }

This is a quick way to add some french farmhouse life to a dining room table...

On a completely different note....

Have you been to the Remnants of the Past Vintage Show?

The show is this Saturday, April 30th, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

at The Dana-Powers House Property 535 Mehlschau in Nipomo, CA

The fall show was just featured in the April issue of Country Living....

Daniela and Eric, owners of Euro-Linens will be vendors at the show.....

Their booth at the show was featured in the April issue of Country Living...

Trinidad, Johan, and Martin, from Atelier de Campagne will also be vendors at the show...

(I still have a post coming about their container sale, I promise I will post about it very soon)

There are a lot of other great vendors on the list as well...

Judy has a blog where you can read all about the vendors that will be at the show....

Judy Watkins Blog

you can read more about the show by clicking here..

Remnants of the Past

Will you be going to the show???

Thank you for taking the time to stop by...

I hope you all have a great week!

Take Care,

Maria

A Favorite Pankcakes and Waffles Cookbook....Fete Et Fleur..... and House of Fifty

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all having a great week.

I wanted to share the name of one of my favorite pancakes and waffles cookbooks with you...

 I thought this inexpensive cookbook would make a great Mother's Day gift...

Pancakes and Waffles 

Kate Haberson

It is published by Ryland Peters & Small... 

I can't tell you how much I love this cookbook....

It has the best belgian waffle recipe as well as pancake recipes...

Pancakes and Waffles

Kate Haberson

My brother and sister were here for the weekend...

So I decided to make the Quick Vanilla Waffles recipe from the book....

You can find the recipe here ...

I think my husband and brother were a little annoyed when I pulled out the camera to snap a few pictures....

So I had to be quick....

They were ready to eat.....

I actually didn't even finish setting the table before snapping a few pictures....

I kept the table setting very simple....I know it actually looks quite bare.... try to imagine ball canning jars for glasses and silverware around the table : )

I threw on two red striped grain sacks on the ends of the table.

I used an antique  hemp linen towel for the middle of the table....

We made a strawberry and blueberry salad.... 

Slice up a couple of cups of strawberries...

throw in some blueberries....

add about a half of a cup of sugar.... 

And mix...

I used four french canning jars... 

and then used a clear canning jar to put the lilacs in.....

We made homemade whipping cream to go along with the waffles.

Just beat heavy whipping cream on high....

add vanilla and sugar for extra flavor...

My favorite brand of vanilla to use is 

Nielsen Massey Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract...

My brother wasn't impressed with my homemade whipping cream : )

I don't think it was sweet enough for him....

I have another brother who likes to eat his waffles with ice cream.

I put the strawberry salad and the whipping cream in ironstone bowls on opposite ends of the table.

I used a variety of ironstone plates that I have found at tag sales over the years.

Next time I will try and finish setting the table before taking pictures....

I had to share a few pictures of my youngest brother Carter who was here visiting this weekend.

He is the baby of the family (Carter is number 10)

I made him pose for a couple of pictures before he left....

Carter is currently going to school at Thomas Aquinas College.

I have been lucky to be able to see him a couple of different times this year...

On another note....

I wanted to share a few pictures that Nancy (Fete et Fleur) sent me.

Nancy won the French Linen Tote giveaway that my friend Melaine (My Sweet Savannah) hosted for me.

Thank you Melaine for hosting the giveaway for me : )

photo courtesy of Nancy (Fete et Fleur)

Nancy sent me these pictures she had taken yesterday of the items she won....

photo courtesy of Nancy (Fete et Fleur)

photo courtesy of Nancy (Fete et Fleur)

Photo Courtesy of Nancy (Fete et Fleur)

I love the way Nancy styled and photographed everything....

Thank you Nancy for letting me share your  photographs on my blog....

Nancy has a beautiful home and beautiful blog.

Fete et Fleur

On a final note....

I wanted to share a link to a very inspiring e-zine that Janell, author of the blog Isabella & Max has created....

House of Fifty....

It will be live April 25th...

Thank you Janell for asking me to be a contributor for your first issue.

I hope you get a chance to subscribe to 

House of Fifty...

{ and it is free : ) }

I hope you all enjoy your Easter Sunday.

I will be back sometime next week...

Take Care,

Maria

Creating a Relaxed French Farmhouse Feel, The Talented Ruby Wand, and a Winner

Hello!

I hope you are all having a great week!

I first want to thank my friend, Melaine from My Sweet Savannah for hosting the chic french linen market tote giveaway for me.

Thank you Melaine!

Also I want to thank all of you for participating in the giveaway and for all of your sweet comments you left over there.

Melaine picked a winner this morning.....

The winner is the author of the blog Fete et Fleur

Congratulations!

Thank you Melaine!

Today I wanted to share a few pictures I recently took of a french fruit basket....

I spend a lot of time taking product pictures for my shop...

I hope you don't mind if I share product pictures with you from time to time.

I love to try and give my house a relaxed french farmhouse feel.....

When I took these pictures of this french fruit basket, that was the feeling I was trying to capture in my photographs...

Here is what I did to try and create a relaxed french farmhouse feel.....

I first started out by adding a jar filled with lilacs to the basket, that ended up not looking quite right.

Since my lilacs are in bloom, you will see a lot of lilacs in my product pictures (sorry)

 I ended up just laying the flowers in the basket....

I added my J Crew sun hat  to one side of the chair...

I love using this hat throughout my house as a prop...

I added my Chic French Linen Tote to the other side of the chair,

I think the white tote helps break up all the wood that is in the picture.

I threw in my favorite lavender pillows that my sister made for me....

I like how the material looks against the wood and next to the lilacs.

I love creating displays on my bistro chairs.

Bistro chairs also make great night stands and or end tables.

That is how I tried to create a relaxed french farmhouse feel for a product picture....

On a completely different note....

I wanted to introduce you to the talented Ruby Wand.

Ruby recently special ordered a french ticking duvet and a set of french ticking euro-shams from us.

My sister Liz designed and sewed the duvet for Ruby.

I actually didn't get to see the duvet in person, since my sister lives in Atlanta, GA.  

Ruby just sent me pictures of the duvet over the weekend....

I could hardly wait to share these pictures of her bedroom and the duvet with all of you.

I love Ruby's style.... I think she is very talented.

I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of Ruby's bedroom....

Ruby used to live in a 1900's white cottage. 

They had to move due to her husband's work and currently rent a condo.

I just love what Ruby has done to this condo.

Ruby's husband Russ, made the night stand and the bookcase.

I love how Ruby used this mantle for a headboard and then added an antique bench to the foot of the bed.

I also love how Ruby mixed so many white linens with her gray and white french ticking duvet.

(The bottom side of the duvet is made from an antique french monogrammed linen sheet.

My sister designed the duvet so that Ruby could also use the linen sheet as the top side if she wished to do so.  Liz used antique buttons made from sea shells to close the duvet.)

I love Ruby's bedroom!

Thank you Ruby for allowing me to share these pictures of your bedroom on my blog.

I hope you will start a blog someday soon! 

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Take Care,

Maria