Many, Many Thanks....

....to my daughters and their husbands for helping me with my 4th of July decorations! No, they didn't actually show up at my house to help but they helped "empty" all of those beautiful, blue bottles. I think I have posted about my sudden love for colored bottles. They catch the light differently at all times of the day. And, if you are recycling bottles not buying them, they are free. All the better. The large bottles held Riesling and who knew that beer now came in blue as well? Hence, all of the smaller bottles. If anyone is interested, I could use a few more-ha-ha!

Any way, it was hard to get a good picture of the pass through window but these simple bottles look so pretty when the sun shines through. I have actually nestled a lot of these bottles throughout my decorating. Thought they might be cute with a fresh daisy thrown in as well.



Found this small frame at HL last year after the holiday & it was 66% off. I simply downloaded a vintage picture of girl holding a flag & it was good to go. Just realized how all of my decorating would have suffered if I had never learned to download! The flag plates are from HL a few years ago and I put my cheese spreaders in the blue votive holder for a change. Also put my PB red mercury glass Christmas candle holder to work-anything red, white, blue or silver is fair game for this holiday and I store these things on shelves in my garage all year long (as opposed to in the specific holiday storage containers) so I can access them when needed. I am always on the lookout for things that I like in red (Xmas, Valentine's Day & 4th of July), green (St. Pat's, Xmas or even some Easter & spring) and orange (Halloween or autumn). And, because I love silver mercury glass so much, I can sneak it in lots of places!


I wish I could tell you where I got this piece. Last year, someone posted a paper collage on her blog and then offered a special from some company to have it printed and stretched on canvas. Since I wasn't inclined to follow her tutorial on making it, I decided to order one instead. I like it but I am now thinking of doing some more embellishing on it myself-we shall see.

I love the wine stopper my girls gave me. It always reminds me of fireworks. They sold them in their online boutique but they change their inventory all of the time so I don't think they're available any more. But, they have lots of other great things so check them out. If I knew how, I would give you a link but you can find them at Too Chic Gift Boutique. Stop by.



The plates on these shelves were recently found when I was going through the cabinets in my dining room. I had these cabinets built to hold all of my many dinner ware sets and seasonal ceramics of all sorts. I also have a lot of pewter, silver, etc. Some of this stuff I pull out only rarely when I am doing a theme party or meal for friends or family. A lot of it I will admit is from my "country" days but I don't want to get rid of it "just in case". Hence the reason these plates have been hidden away for so long. I was looking for something else the other day and came upon them. We bought the in 1996! Yes, from the Franklin Mint (are they even still around?) to commemorate the bi-centennial. There are 6 in the set and our plans were to give each of our girls 2 as a souvenir of that occasion. After all, they lived through it as well. We also got all sorts of currency with the year and they each got a Madame Alexander Betsy Ross doll. What were we thinking? Believe me, none of my girls would want these things in their homes today. We had good intentions but....

In any case, a light bulb went off-it happens now and again- and I thought they would look great on the shelf over the doorway into the living room where I always have some sort of seasonal plates. What do you think? Guess I should at least check to see if they have become a collector's item and gotten more valuable over the years-yeah, right!

That's as far as we will go today but there is more-lucky you. Stay tuned.