Today's craft project

I was a little bored with the way my desk was looking. Unfortunately I didn't remember to take a before pic, but the pic above is the after. The metal cans on the shelf used to be two different colors, half a brick red color and half a dark grey color. I painted them all a shiny black, and then decoupaged some vintage French printed labels from The Graphics Fairy onto the painted cans.

I got the black frames from Ikea, and printed up the vintage silhouettes also from the same website. It really brightened up my area, and I have to admit I smile every time I see the silhouettes because they remind me of a friend in North Alabama, she was an antiques dealer for years, and these remind me of some that were in her house at one time.

The Dinnerware brands of those white dishes

I have spent the last half an hour researching online where those white dishes are from and what the pieces are actually used for, as some of them are a little mystifying! I thought I would share my finds...

A couple of the pieces are by this company:
http://www.guydegrenne.fr/

My favorite is a slightly slanted white plate with an egg cup sized indentation in the side, haven't found the exact one on the site yet though!

A couple pieces are by this company:

http://www.2imahl.fr/en/info/bauscher.html

The white plate with the shrimp on it is one that I actually have.
Here is another link to the same company:

http://www.bauscherinc.com/

Another company was Cordon Bleu, but the only links I have found are for amazon or e-bay...
Same thing for Schonwald Germany.

I got a very cool small bowl with no base that rolls from this company:
http://www.rosenthalusa.com/1339/Brands_Products/Rosenthal_studio-line.htm

A similar one is on the front page, you can see it kind of tipped over on the plate.

A couple of the pieces are also from this company:
http://www.vertexchina.com/index.php

All in all a great treasure trove of white porcelain that I know I wouldn't have been able to just walk into a store and buy and I honestly can't wait to serve breakfast or lunch using some of the new pieces!

My Savers Trip

I went to Savers today to donate a bunch of stuff that we no longer needed. After the donation, they give you a coupon for $3 off $10, which is kind of nice. I went into the store to find something to use my coupon on, and found an entire basket of white china for $9.99... it is all from various European manfacturers in France, Germany, and England, and most of it had paper stickers and hand written numbers on the bottom. If I had to guess I would say they belonged to a sales rep, and were probably samples that were used to show pieces to hotels and restaurants.

I have no clue what I will use all these random pieces for, but I figured the price was right, and I am very creative, so we whall see!

I also got this:

It came in a hideous frame, which I promptly replaced with a plain black frame from Ikea, I just thought it was so apropos considering the recent Royal wedding and the current presidential visit. It is hand drawn and signed by the artist, so all in all, a pretty fun day!

Paris Subway

My husband and I took the subway all over Paris while we were there. It was a very good way to learn things about Paris I never wanted to know. Our first day I was nearly smashed in the door of one of the cars, as I was taking a photo of a man playing incredible busic on our car, and almost missed getting off the train, lol! Several Parisians came over out of concern, and seemed very relieved to see that I was ok, just a little dazed. Apparently you can be killed getting closed in a door on their subway. They do not reopen like other subways I have been on.

The Subway

The photo I was taking that almost got me closed in a subway door...

We actually saw a lady with a baby under one arm and a baguette under the other arm begging on one of our trips. Monsieur, cil vous plait... Madame, cil vous plait... I didn't take her picture, but her image is still stuck in my mind, and I now know how to beg in French.

Our last subway trip was from our hotel to the airport. It took much discussion to get my husband to agree to try taking the subway to the airport, as he was unsure about taking our luggage. However, we pack light, and in the end he decided it would be ok.

As we made our way out of the city on the rails, the last images of Paris that stuck in my mind were little cardboard shacks built one on top of another with chimneys jutting out the tops. These are built all along the route out of the city. I wanted pictures of them as well, but we were in no position to reach my camera at that moment.
As we reached our destination, the door behind us between cars opened, and a group of subway officials entered our car. They proceeded to check our tickets and demand 25 Euros each from us, in cash, immediately (a taxi would have probably cost about the same amount). Apparently the "unlimited" two day pass we bought for the subway did not include the trip to the airport. We thought maybe we were just dumb non-French speaking Americans, who had made an honest error, so we paid the fine. As they walked further up the car, we realized that they were also shaking down the French citizens, who were much louder about how ridiculous it was. Apparently they didn't buy the right tickets either, in spite of being obvious French speakers...

I have not blogged in what seems to be forever! I went to Europe on my honeymoon with my incredible husband, and spent a dream weekend in Paris. I came back first, and after he returned we started married life. Blogging isn't something I have had much time for, but my new resolution, is to do more of it.

Today I have been doing craft projects inspired by The Graphics Fairy. I realized that she has almost every image I have longed for in my home right on her site, and many of her posts link to techniques for using and transferring the images.

So far today, I made candles with music notes and crowns on them, I tea stained a bunch of old fabric I had around that needed to either be used or go, I planned out new couch pillows from the tea stained fabric, then realized I was missing a key ingredient for transferring my images onto the fabric! I decorated a pretty notebook, and just generally kept myself busy all day! I learned to make little flowers out of fabric, now I need to get the few things I am missing and finish up all the projects I have started!

I will have photos and step-by-step instructions coming soon...

Paris

Our weekend in Paris was truly fantastic. With a little advance planning, we were able to take in most of the sights we had the desire to view, and enjoy much of what the city is famous for. I want to spend more time there someday, but for having only a weekend, we saw a lot.
We used the metro for transportation. It was a little grimy, but some of the most eloquent things we found were actually underground. I almost got closed in the door of the metro at the Louvre trying to take a picture of a man playing an accordion in our car. The music was so beautiful, and it put us in a great mood! The people who were on the platform behind us came rushing over to see if I was bleeding, apparently getting closed in a Paris Metro car door is not something that happens everyday there, lol! Leave it to me!
As we walked up under the Louvre, there was a group of ten or so men all playing stringed instruments, it was so beautiful with the sound echoing off the walls of the underground passageways.
We walked through the mall under the Louvre first. It was truly a beautiful mall, with incredible window displays. There were many things I wish I had brought home with me, but well, suitcase space and budget constraints prevented me from going too crazy! We did buy some charm bracelets for Jason's daughter and his neice, they were too pretty and perfect to pass up.
We toured the Louvre rather quickly, we had a few things we wanted to see but we didn't really want to spend all day in a museum, even if it is the Louvre!
We saw the Mona Lisa, and I got a great picture of it, which was high on my priority list. I also finally got to see Winged Victory in person, it is way larger than I imagined, but exquisitely detailed!
On the way out I stopped and mailed a post card of the Mona Lisa to my son. interestingly enough to mail a postcard you have to enclose it in an envelope, which kid of defeats the purpose of having it postmarked at the Louvre, doesn't it?? Anyway, it was still a cute idea and my son loved it when he recieved it in the mail!

Honeymoon in Paris

I leave for Germany in a week! I am meeting my husband there, and we are planning to spend our belated honeymoon (we got married December 17th), in Paris, France. I have spent the greater part of this past week listening to the beautiful voice of Edith Piaf. She is so soulful and mournful, and yet so beautiful.

                     The Voice Of the Sparrow / The Very Best Of Edith Piaf (Domestic Only)

Chalk Board Labels

My design style is a mix of country cute and modern functional. I love to have things neat and organized, but I like them to be pretty as well.
To that end, Laura (a friend of mine) called me about an exciting deal on Facebook where I could get a $20 gift card to Cherry Hill Designs for just $5! She told me they had chalk board labels on there, and told me I would probably love them!
Well, she was totally right! I got them today, and I do love them!
Here are some pics of what I have used them on so far:

Our dog treat jar by the front door

Random kid stuff bins

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How I protected my cd collection for $3

I have a few cds still lying around. Yes, I know that most people use i-pods and digital media these days, but, just in case some rabid media executive comes calling at my door to accuse me of illegal downloads or whatever, I maintain my old cds. These are not simply cds, but licenses. Every time I have ever purchased a cd or dvd, the elevated cost wasn’t simply for the plastic disk or the case, it was the cost of the license to play the media. Some of my disks have deteriorated, some have gotten scratched or dented or cracked, but in the end, they are still my evidence that I purchased those licenses, and I keep them around as such.
My problem was, how do I store them, and prevent them from getting any more damaged? My solution?
I went to the dollar store and found two nice plastic boxes and a roll of saran wrap. I wrapped each cd in the saran wrap to keep them from getting scratched up bumping against each other, and then I placed them in the plastic boxes. You can see my lame picture of the result below, it isn't really glamorous, but hey, it works and it doesn't take up much space!

My Doggies

Since I have no idea how to add a photo to my blog yet, I am going to practice with some pics of my doggies! Their names are Shoji (the top one) and Mokey!

My first Fry's Mega Sale

Tonight was my first time ever shopping at a Fry’s Mega sale. For the uninitiated, it was a daunting task!
Fry’s takes manufacturer coupons, and right now any coupon with a value under $1 is worth $1 at Fry’s. They also take competitor’s coupons, and those are stackable with the manufacturer coupons!
So, Here is what I got:
4 Marie Callenders Entrees
1 package Bar-S Turkey franks
13 bottles of Honest Tea
2 Minute Maid orange juice
2 Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 Ken’s 16oz dressing
3 cans of Rotel
1 2lb block of Velveeta
1 box of Traditional Medicinals tea
1 box of Barilla Whole Grain pasta
I paid $9.40!!!
I was excited, but really exhausted from doing all the math to try and figure it all out!

My IKEA addiction

I have lately become a total Ikea addict! I moved to Chandler, Arizona a month ago, from Fresno, California. We do not have an Ikea in Fresno. I really missed them! I realized in the last couple of days, that in spite of not having been inside an actual Ikea for a few years now, most of my life is still organized into Ikea bins purchased ten or more years ago! Definitely time to update and upgrade them all!
My favorite part of Ikea is the As-Is section. I love getting a deal! They are doing a complete reset on the second floor on my Ikea right now, so that means lots of great finds in the As-Is area!
This week I got several Skubb white boxes for $2.99 each, I got an 18 compartment Expedit bookcase for $50 (marked down from $129), and a cute little stainless steel bookcase light marked down to $7.99 from $19.99! Our cozy little apartment is feeling much more organized now!