Show & Tell Friday: Heritage Album

My thanks to Cindy at My Romantic Home for hosting Show and Tell Friday.....please visit all the participants in this event.

This is an old photo album that was given to me by my late mother-in-law that had belonged to her Grandmother Campbell.
I wasn't into family genealogy then as I am now, but loved the old album and all the history behind it. Since that time, family genealogy has become very important and almost an obsession. I've been able to trace many of my hubby's family members back to the original settlers in the colonies......one on the Mayflower and another a year later in 1621; and many more from the late 1620's on.

As you can see, this album went through a lot, including a fire and water damage.

This is the inscription in the album.....check the date, Feb. 1906.
This Lizzie would be my hubby's maternal grandfather's half sister.

These are some of the photos that are in the book.
I don't know who they are except there are a few who resemble recently living family members that we know....I guess I'm in for a lot of research.Thanks for visiting me and as always, your comments are greatly appreciated!

Carmel Apples & Apple Butter

After a disappointing trip to a flea market last weekend, hubby and I ended up in an area named "Glen Oak" in the local San Bernardino mountains.
It's an apple orchard area that we had visited many years ago and thought it might be fun to go see what was happening there.
It is about 4,000 ft. in altitude, so it was much chillier than at home and were we surprised! The area was loaded with people and they had hay rides, tractor pull rides and horse drawn wagon rides......it was a Harvest festival of sorts.
You could pick your own pumpkins and apples and they had mouth-watering pies and all sorts of goodies baking.
We only ended up with freshly made apple butter and a couple of carmel apples that were supposed to have nuts on them.......but they ran out of nuts!
I think we'll return soon and I'll bring a warmer jacket and the camera!

Thanks for visiting me and comments are appreciated.

Mosaic Monday: This and That

This first mosaic are photos from my computer's free image selection and I thought they were so beautiful and representative of all the seasons.

There are many other wonderful mosaics for you to see over at Little Red House, hosted by our leader, Mary.

Your comments make me smile!

These are some of the phalaenopsis (moth or butterfly) orchids that I raise.....they bloomed this spring and summer.
Some of these spikes last as long as 4 months and usually have 8 to 12 flowers on each spike!

Show and Tell Friday.....Tarnished Silver

I'm joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for "Show and Tell" Friday.

These are a pair of candle sticks that belonged to my Mother and that we recently found while my hubby was cleaning out the garage. I knew that I had them but hadn't seen them in many a long year.
This garage clean up started when I commented to hubby that he should maybe get his garage cleaned up after not being able to find some of my Fall decorations that I had CLEARLY marked on the box.

Now, I'm all for a bit of a tarnish or patina on silver but I feel this is a bit too much.....what do you think? I would love your comments.
Also, how do I clean some of the tarnish without making them totally shiny and new looking?
Any suggestions would be welcome.

Please visit our fearless leader Cindy to see much more "Show and Tell".

As you can see, there is a LOT of tarnish on these pieces.

The top of the candelabra unscrews so that it can be used as a single candlestick.

Mosaic Monday: An Antiques Flea Market

Last weekend we went to the Long Beach Antiques Flea Market and had a great time looking at all the antique and not so antique items.
There seemed to be a large crowd and looked like lots of serious buyers as they came with carts and wagons to haul their purchases out.
If these photos look small on your computer, please excuse me as I may have compressed them too small in an effort to save space.....I'll get the hang of this thing yet!
Please visit our fearless leader Mary, at Little Red House to see all the other wonderful mosaics this week.....hope you enjoy and I appreciate comments.
Click on the photos, they should enlarge in another window.

Lots and lots of bottles of all colors and sizes.

Do We Really Need This?

Last Sunday we went to the Long Beach Antiques Flea Market and had a great time......saw many items that we liked but my hubby insisted that we had to buy this old window.
Now I love the old shabby chippy look but we are working on getting rid of a lot of the "stuff" we have boxed in the garage and then we go and add to the "stuff".
I hope to be able to have done something wonderful with this piece and show it to you in a future post.
Have an enjoyable weekend!
Thanks for visiting my blog and I love your comments!

A Start on Fall Decorating

I've started putting out my Fall decorations even though it's in the high 90's here.....we are having a "Santa Ana" wind condition which means that the winds are coming from the east off the desert rather than the normal winds off the ocean from the west. We always get some of these winds in September.
I haven't really decorated for Fall in a few years for whatever reason but after reading some of the wonderful blogs that I follow, I was inspired to dust off the old pumpkins and get going!
I really need a few other items in the mix of these pumpkins.....maybe some white pumpkins, gourds, acorns and other natural items.
What do you think?....I'd love to hear from you.

Seashells and More Vintage Photos

Welcome to Mosaic Monday

Here are a few of my favorite things......seashells and vintage photos.
I felt that I had to redo my vintage photo mosaic because I cut off some
of the tops of last week's photos. I also tried to use different photos this time.
Hope you enjoy and leave me a comment!

Please click on the mosaics to enlarge.

Please visit Mary at Little Red House to see all the participants in this week's Mosaic Monday.

Etsy Shop Display

Recently Kathleen over at KasheaIntl purchased some of my vintage-style Paris bookmarks and tags and asked my permission to use them in her etsy shop display.
Well, here is the beautiful result.....I couldn't be happier with her lovely display and would like you all to check out her etsy shop, KasheaIntl
Of course I couldn't resist putting her photos in a mosaic....(do you think it's an obsession?)

The Last of the Season

Well, here are the last or almost the last of our roses and there are
just a few of the tomatoes left.
The tomatoes were plentiful and delicious!

Vintage Photos

Welcome to Mosaic Monday.

These photos are from some in my collection that I've acquired from here there and everywhere...I seem to have cut off some of the photos but can't figure out how to fix it...hope you enjoy them anyway and I LOVE comments.
Please check over with Mary at Little Red House for all the other wonderful Mosaic Monday
participants.

Chocolate Chip, Pecan, Orange and Oatmeal Cookies

Well, I meant to post this to my blog BEFORE Labor Day but I've been so aggravated by the way my computer was acting I couldn't seem to get anything accomplished. Hope you had a relaxing and pleasant weekend.

I normally use my laptop for all my etsy and blog things but happened to lose some of my "cookies" from my laptop and I can't get it back to normal. If anyone has any suggestions on restoring "cookies", I would really appreciate it.
Anyway, I baked these chocolate chip, pecan, orange oatmeal cookies for the Labor Day weekend and they were a huge success!! I usually don't make a new recipe for company before trying it out on ourselves, but this came out just great and I will bake them again.

Cooling on the counter top.

Here they are going into the oven.

A New Treasury

Here is a treasury from my etsy team mate, Cottage in the Sun, from Cottage Style Street Team
My vintage pocket watch is included, but please take a look at all the teams items.
Thanks for looking in at my blog and your comments are greatly appreciated.

My First Photo Mosaic

I read a tutorial by Little Red House about making a photo mosaic and thought I would give it a try.
Here is the result......
Random photos from our trip to Europe in 2006.
Thanks for looking and comments are always appreciated!

"Prettying Up" My Studio.....Part 1

A few weeks ago, some bloggers got together and posted looks into their lovely art studios.
After looking at these spaces, I decided to straighten up and "pretty up" my studio as it was very messy and unattractive. In observing the other spaces, I decided one of the reasons I disliked my space was because it was so utilitarian with most of my items in plastic containers or boxes.
So I went to TJ Maxx and purchased 3 apothecary jars for $5.50 - $7.50 and away I went. I filled each jar with some of my items and added one of my handmade tags to 2 of the jars and voila', I had a much nicer space in which to create. It's certainly not perfect, but I like it soooo much better.
I will show more photos of this "prettying up" process on a future post.
Thanks for looking and I LOVE your comments!
(Please forgive the different colors and fonts used here......I'm technically challenged and can't figure why the font changes and the color of the type changes as I write. Any help would be appreciated.)

After using the same pin cushion for many many years, I decided to purchase a lovely French pin cushion from one of my Cottage Style Street Team Mates on etsy......Bailiwick Design Studio.
I love how pretty it looks in my studio.

Some of the vintage lace I found while going through my stash

Two of the tags I made to make my studio more attractive

I've used an over the door shoe tree to arrange some of my ribbons.

Ancient Cemeteries and Genealogy

As I have posted previously, I am extremely interested in our family history and genealogy.
After joining an ancestry website and doing some investigating I've found many of my hubby's family when they first arrived in this country....well, it wasn't America yet, it was the "Colonies".
This man, David James (1660-1739) would be my hubby's paternal 6th great grandfather (that means 9 generations ago) and he came to the colonies seeking religious freedom as he was a Quaker.
He and his wife and new born child (hubby's 5th great grandfather) arrived from Wales in Oct 1682, on board the ship "Bristol Factor".
David James was given "city lots" in 1683 or 1684 but eventually settled in Radnor, PA.
David James name is on the map of the State House grounds on Chestnut St. in Philadelphia.
After finding some of these people I became interested in finding out where they were buried and from there is was a short jump to going to ancient burying grounds or searching them out on the internet.
The above photos are of the church grounds and the headstone where David James is buried....this cemetery is near the Valley Forge Campground where General Washington and his troops wintered during the Revolutionary War.
Some people feel that this is a bit macabre but I am always excited to come across a new cemetery find.
Love to hear from you!

Birthday Flowers

The lovely carnations were from my hubby.....Mr. A Vintage Obsession.

Okay, so this is not your typical birthday cake.....I love gingerbread cake and made this for myself.
In our home, the request for birthdays is my made- from -scratch, 3 layer German chocolate cake....but I figured we didn't need the calories and I had a craving for gingerbread.
Thanks for looking in and I LOVE your comments!

Wow.....Look What I Won

I won this darling birdie bookmark from a giveaway at MissesKwittys
Karen also included a butterfly magnet and a tiny little butterfly.
Thanks, Karen!!

Another Etsy Treasury

This is an interesting Treasury from BlueMoonBouquet
My vintage pocket watch is included here.
You may also check out her blog at SandOProductions
Thanks, Sarah!!!