Show and Tell Friday, March 25th - Romantic Purses from Days Gone By

Cindy, from My Romantic Home, is hosting another Show and Tell Friday.  I decided to participate with a post that was first published almost two years ago.  I thought it would be fun to share for so many of you who never read it before.

(Don't forget to check out my GIVEAWAY  HERE)

Today, I share my antique purses..
I got this one 30 years ago at a thrift store in Provo, Utah. I routinely found antique items back then at this one particular store (not so much anymore).
The bead work is very lovely.
This purse was given to me by my sister, Jeanie, who knows my affinity for very feminine things and for pastel colors.
The beadwork on this bag is much more intricate.

I love to wonder about the ladies who carried these bags before me. Were they in the bloom of youth or were they older ladies like I am now? Did they make a special memory, meet a special someone while holding them? Did they pack them for travel and visit some far-away place where they took them out and used them? Did these purses ever hold handkerchiefs that dried a tear or were given to someone as a remembrance?

I, myself, carried both of these purses in the bloom of my young womanhood. I held the flowered one in my lap when I went to the ballet to see the Bolshoi and another time, the Kirov. They went on special dates with me when I felt young and beautiful. Now that I am older and rarely dress up the way I use to, they grace my bedroom wall. Someday, I will pass them down to my daughter while she is a young woman. Hopefully, they will help her to feel feminine and pretty, because beautiful things affect the way we feel about ourselves.

For more Show and Tell Fridays, please visit Cindy HERE.

Love,
Elizabeth

Show and Tell Friday - September 3rd

I haven't done a Show and Tell Friday for awhile, but I have wanted to share this ever since I got it a few months back...

My mother's first love was a young man named Emery. She met him in 1942 at a dance in Fayetteville, NC where he was stationed with the army. This young man from Pennsylvania was very taken with my red-haired, very Southern mother and they began dating. One year later, they married in April 1943 (interestingly, when my husband and I wed on April 17, 1993, my mother later told me that I had gotten married 50 years to the date that she had married Emery). This wonderful young man was shipped over to Europe in 1944, where they followed the wave of soldiers into France shortly after D-Day. They made their way, battle by battle, deep into enemy territory. On the weekend of January 13th and 14th, 1945, Mama made her peace with the possibility that Emery might not make it back home, like so many other brave, young soldiers. Why did she remember the exact weekend of this experience? Because on Monday, January 15th, Emory was killed in a tragic accident. He was returning to the front after some rest, in a jeep at night during blackout conditions (which means every vehicle was driving without their headlights on so as not to draw enemy fire). At the same time, a quartermaster truck was racing away from the front on this small country road and they met head on. The men in the jeep were run over.

This was a terrible tragedy for my mother and she always remained close with Emery's family. Several months ago, Emery's sister, Molly, passed away. As she was childless, my sister helped with her a lot and received some of her belongings. Among these items was a teapot which she sent to me. We believe it was sent by Emory to his mother or sister during the War.
See the inscription on the top. It says, "For England and Democracy". Emory was in England before they shipped across to France.
On the bottom it says, "World War II, Made in England."

To my knowledge, everything my mother had with Emery, all their personal belongings and keepsakes, were burned in a fire that occurred sometime after Emery's death, so having the teapot which may have come from him is very meaningful.

Thank you for sharing my Show and Tell with me. For more posts, visit Cindy at My Romantic Home.

Have a great day!
Elizabeth

Show & Tell Friday/Thrift Store Finds

Welcome Friends and Visitors!

Today, I am showing you some thrift store finds that I bought quite awhile back, but I love them and would like to share.

First, I have two of this plate which go beautifully with my white china in my hutch. My livingroom/diningroom colors are sage green and pastels (for Spring and Summer, anyway). These cute plates are a wonderful accent which pick up the colors in the room.
This soup tureen originally cost me a dollar! I love creams and whites in my display hutch. Those light colors next to the walnut finish of the wood look so lovely to the eye...

Next, I picked up this dress for a song (thrifting, of course) in order to make an apron out of it. I just pulled it out to work on it and decided I'd like to show you.
Don't you think it will make a sweet apron, maybe even two?
For more Show and Tell Fridays...

...please visit Cindy at My Romantic Home.

Have a wonderful day!
Elizabeth

Thrift Store Finds and Our Entryway Command Center!

Welcome to Home Musings! Today, I am showing some items that I found in thrift stores over the years which make up my front door/entryway command center. You know, the place where all the coats, shoes, backpacks and what not are stashed everyday. It could be a real mess. Above my little snowman still stands sentinal by the front entrance. He will go away at the end of the month...
A strip of wooden pegs, which were found in a yard sale years ago, hold the coats and backpacks. A sturdy shoe rack, bought from my favorite thriftstore hold the shoes which come off at the front door (keeps the carpet cleaner!). The bulletin board is a thrift store find, too, and holds papers that need to go out the next day to school or other activities.
Above is a closer look which shows the side basket which holds hats and gloves. You will also see all of our walking sticks!
Last but not least, on the opposite wall from the door we keep this key organizer, also a thrift store find. Keys go directly in the box as soon as we enter the house. No more scrambling to find them!

Hope you enjoyed this look at our Entryway Command Center. What do you do in your house to keep that first impression functional and more attractive?

For more Show and Tell Friday posts, visit Cindy at My Romantic Home

Have a great day!

Elizabeth

One of My Favorite Things

One of the things that I had in common with my dear mother was her passion for wildlife, especially birds. When my mother passed away, my sister sent me her lovely bird plates. There are five. The one above is a winter scene of sweet little chickadees perched upon snow-frosted berries. Aren't they precious? I have real chickadees that come to my feeders outside everyday. They are some of my very favorite birds.

The best part, though is that the leaf-decorated plate holder I found one day stashed upon a shelf at my favorite thrift store. It cost me $1 and is just the perfect thing to hold my bird plates. When I found it, it was as if Someone "up there" was watching over me and had given me a gift! Now, I always have one of Mama's bird plates hanging over my kitchen sink, something lovely to look at since we have no kitchen window.

For more Show and Tell Friday posts, please visit Cindy at My Romantic Home.

God bless!

Elizabeth

Favorite Ornaments

Hello, Sweet Friends!

Today I'm sharing some of my favorite ornaments. They are a lovely china miniature tea set from Hallmark.
I decorate in burgundy, green and creme, so they are just perfect for my tree.
Isn't the tea pot precious? Here is one of the plates...
And one final shot of a silly pussycat who loves laying on the decorations before I put them to use.
For Beautiful Life Friday, se Melissa's The Inspired Room posts, and for more Show and Tell Friday, See Cindi's blog, My Romantic Home.

Happy Decorating!

Elizabeth

Beginnings of Christmas in the Master Bedroom

I'm a little bit late posting these pictures of my beginning attempts to add some holiday cheer to the master bedroom.

Here a wreath, which normally would grace our front door is cheerfully hanging above our bed, with a creme-coloured Winter sign just below. Here is a better view of our bed with the wreath above. We love to decorate the master bedroom with whites on creme. We have a lot more we'd like to do in there, but this is how it is so far.

Atop the double dresser, some gold votive candle holders and three charming wax snowmen, all in creme trimmed with gold.

Aren't they cuties?

Well, that's it for me and my posting for both Show and Tell Friday (for more posts see Cindy's blog at My Romantic Home) and Beautiful Friday at the Inspired Room.

We are currently visiting in California. A dear friend is dying of cancer and we are here to say our good-byes. God bless this dear gentleman!

God bless you!

Elizabeth

Show & Tell Friday

happy Friday, Friends, and welcome to another Show & Tell Friday, here at Home Musings.

First my Show & Tell. See my cute little jack-o-lantern lamp? I found it last year in a thrift shop. Of course, once I uploaded this pic, I realized the cord is showing - tacky, tacky, tacky! :)
Next, Sweet Friends, I am so excited. My baack is doing SOOOO much better (I end up not having as terrible problem as they thought, just good, old fashioned arthritis!). Meds have made me mobile again and what was the first thing I did...I had the husband drive me up into the mountains... Want to see what is 10 minutes from our front door?

This is Snowbird ski Resort, up Little Cottnwood Canyon. Drivnng up there one goes form high desert climate to soemthing akin to The Alps!

It had snowed there earlier(rained in the valley) and the peaks were in the clouds.

Above we are headed back down the mountain again. On the way, we stopped to admire the Fall colors that are still ripening along the mountain sides.

An interesting rock formation.

Cliffs surrounded by Autumn color.

We had a really wierd cold snap early on, which dumped snow into the mountains and killed off leaves on trees which normally brim over with color.

A lovely stream flowing from mountain run-off and Silver Lake above.

..And last but not least, a beautiful collage of muli-coloured fallen leaves.

Have a lovely day and please be sure to check out more Show & Tell posts over at Cindy's blog, My Romantic Home.

Blessings,

Elizabeth

Some Lovely Finds

Today, I'm sharing two sweet finds from an afternoon of thrifting awhile back. They are two lovely plates that will go perfectly somewhere in my boudoir.
They are a lovely cream color, much like the french furniture of our masterbedroom. Our blue walls will be the perfect backdrop for these.

I believe that I spent $1 on both plates.

Aren't they pretty?

For more Beautiful Life posts, visit Melissa at The Inspired Room. For more Show & Tell Fridays, please see Cindy at My Romantic Home.

Have a great Friday!
Elizabeth

Show & Tell Friday/Fall Nesting & Beautiful Life Friday

Hello! Welcome to Show & Tell Friday and Beautiful Life Friday with Fall Nesting.
Here is my favorite focal point of the diningroom/family room, my oka hutch, all decked out in Fall finery.

These pitchers are thrift store finds. They cost a couple of dollars all together. Looking at their manufacturing info on the bottoms, three of these actually came together. The fourth one matches, but was made by a different manufacturer. I remember the day I found these grouped together near the chinaware. My eyes couldn't believe it. I love them!

Throughout out most of the year, I look for seasonal items while thrifting. Aren't these pumpkin plates adorable.

How about this pumpkin pitcher? I think it cost me one dollar, way back when.

A close-up of the top shelf of my hutch, including a lovely black & sepia of the children, my mother's English Cottage and a white, wooden carved pumpkin.

A pumpkin close-up with my niece, Emily behind...

Well, while we're at it, here is the Fall floral arrangement on my table..

This is actually a candle holder atop my mother's cake stand, with acorn candles around. The doily was my mother's.

Enjoy other Show & Tell Fridays over at There Is No Place Like Home

Enjoy more Beautiful Life Fridays at The Inspired Room

Have a great day!

Elizabeth

Show and Tell Friday

Hello and Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!
Today I'm highlighting some things that I love most about this time of year...Birds!
My husband let me buy these for Mother's Day some years back and they are some of my favorite things.
Aren't they chubby and cute? They are carved from stone.
Here are some new flowers in my backyard garden...

And here is a nifty feeder I bought last year at a yard sale. I'm going to repaint it soon!
So, there you have my humble things. I love them all so much.

Now, go check out the other blogs participating in Show and Tell Friday, at Kelli's blog, HERE.
Have a great day!
Elizabeth

Show and Tell Friday

Kelli, from There Is No Place Like Home, is once again hosting "Show & Tell Friday". Today, I want to share some old photos that were part of my mother's belongings that were recently sent to me. Old photos and school records, which bring back many memories...

I love the above picture, taken when I was five and part of a dance studio. I was a very feminine little girl, fanciful and open-hearted. I believed in everything magical. The world was a rainbow to me, multi-colored and splendiferous. I was sure I would grow up to live in a castle.
Above, here I am in second grade. A wistful girl. An average student, I was given to daydreaming when I ought to be paying attention. A doctor wrote of me that I had "sensitivity rarely seen in a child her age". I easily made friends, but was shy and longed for solitude.

As the years went by, I grew to be awkward and buck-toothed. Braces didn't add to my self-confidence. I wore dark-framed glasses and struggled with style. I no longer felt like a princess and believed I'd be lucky if anyone would ever take a second look at me.

Then the braces came off. I traded my glasses for contacts. I found my style (romantic). I felt confident and I forgot about myself.

Here I am with Mark, years ago...

Now, I am middle-aged, chubby, at times awkward and not as stylish I once was. But that's okay, because deep inside, I feel like that little girl with the crown on her head. I know that the world can be a scary, sad place, but it can also be magical, where anything is possible .

As we experience life we can one day find that we are far away from our true selves. It's a journey to get to that place and it's a journey to find our way back. It reminds me of a poem that was shared at church last Sunday...
Beautiful Women
At age 3, a little girl looks in the mirror and sees a queen.
At age 8, she looks in the mirror and see Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty.
At age 15, she looks in the mirror and sees fat/pimples/ugly and says,
"Mom, I can't go to school looking like this!"
At age 20, she looks at herself and sees too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly, but she decides she is going anyway.
At age 30, she looks at herself and sees too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly, but decides that she doesn't have time to fix it and goes anyway.
At age 40, she looks at herself and sees too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly, but says, "At least I'm clean," and goes anyway.
At age 50, she looks in the mirror and says, "I am" and goes.
At age 60, she looks and reminds herself of all the people who can't see themselves in the mirror anymore and she goes out and conquers the world!
At age 70, she looks at herself and sees wisdom, laughter and ability, and goes out and enjoys life.
At age 80, she doesn't bother to look. She puts on a purple hat and goes out and has fun with the world.
Moral: Maybe we should grab that purple hat earlier!

Courtesy of the Purple Hat Society

Have a lovely day!
Elizabeth