White For All Seasons

A little willow and weeds, and other natural elements added to your

white collections of linens and china, warm white up for the cozy season!

 Fall is fabulous outdoors in my neck of the woods, and it's a great time to get out and gather up a few leafy things for decoration. Definitely on my long "to do" list.

I've set up plenty of jugs and bowls just waiting for more leaves, twigs, and acorns to tuck in here and there from walks in the fields! I hope you're enjoying some fall outings too!

Thanks for stopping by! Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

I'm hooking up with  A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
Faded Charm  for White Wednesday!
Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
Color Outside the Lines for Vignette Friday
My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday
French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
 

Keepsakes

It's a natural that my Victoria magazines should be found among my keepsakes. For so many years now my piles of back issues have been a joy and inspiration.

Victoria magazine has been a primer on how to live with your special possessions and show them off to advantage. I enjoy their romantic travel and luggage themes like "Packing for a Woman's Journey", and "Sentimental Journey", and the many vignettes from its pages done inside a suitcase. How many of you have an old photo of yourself on a horse from the days of itinerant photographers or from county fairs? Is this done anymore?

Among my keepsakes is this old military pouch (behind the bottles) with my Father's service orders and discharge papers from World War II.

The watch my Husband's Mother presented me on my wedding day.

A revolving display like this one is a good way to involve family in history, and to ensure that important items are not overlooked and ultimately lost to generations. Seeing your treasures on display elicits natural curiosity for young people.

Having a few loved items at close range is a cheery way to enjoy things that may have been tucked away for a long time. The upcoming holidays seems like an opportune time to haul out an antiquated suitcase, with a romance all its own, and offer its contents for family perusal.

Aside from all that, it's just fun! We all have collected so much that cheers our hearts, and this is one more way to enjoy it all!

I hope you have an old suitcase tucked away somewhere! If not, they're not too hard to find!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

I'm linking up with Kathy at A Delightsome Life for Victoria, A Return to Loveliness. You'll want to visit over there for more Victoria beauty!

Autumn Blue

 I don't decorate with blue, but if I did, it would be the gray-blues that would attract me. Casting around for Blue Monday blues I found an old Holly Hobbie calendar which got me down a whole other track.

 I was so inspired by her drawings when I was lucky enough to have raised my daughter in the old Holly Hobbie heyday. The greeting card line centered on the "Blue Girl", patch-skirted and big bonneted as she was. This later drawing shows a less whimsical, more romantic phase of the art which was also characterized by nature studies.

Holly Hobbie still lives and works in New England. There is a wonderfully informative website devoted to all things Holly Hobbie that you might enjoy perusing, as I did, Karen's Holly Hobbie World.

It's overcast and moody in The Land of Enchantment today. Much like in the picture above. Temps are dipping this week after a run of unseasonal highs. Being in retail, Monday is my "unscheduled" day, so oddly, my current favorite of the week. I'll probably scope around the net for some Holly Hobbie memorabilia, call my own Hobby Girl, as I used to call my daughter, and hear snippets from the lives of the upcoming Hobby Girl generation. 

Best Blues to you! Thanks for stopping by!

Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

Check out the smiles over at Smiling Sally's Blue Monday!

Saying Good-bye

What a play it has been!  But it really is time now to merely recall "the languorous siesta of hot midday,

deep in green undergrowth, the sun striking through in tiny golden shafts and spots; the boating and bathing of the afternoon, the rambles along dusty lanes and through yellow cornfields;

and the long cool evening at last, when so many threads are gathered up, so many friendships rounded,  and so many adventures planned for the morrow." (The Wildwood chapter, from the Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame)

We officially know it's over for a season when our home loses its lovely mantle of ivy until spring.

As much as it is anticipated in the late spring, I dread the brief change of color, and then the red leaves dropping off one by one from the vine-covered walls of the house.

 
It's an unusual look for a New Mexico house to be vine-covered. Cactus is more to be expected.
 

 
 It's just a little bit fantastic and very beloved.

And now just beginning to turn.

All summer birds and insects take refuge in the ivy. And still, all through fall and winter flickers will feed on the dried berries, announcing their presence with a rustling at the windows. 

But it's good-bye for now, and I wanted you to see it in it's glory before it's all over.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

I'm joining up with the Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays. Pop on over for more celebrations of the Season.

What's in a Frame?

I love photos showcased in vintage frames. To me it's as much about the frame as it is the photo. I found this hand-colored antique photo mounted on canvas without a frame and thought to have a vintage frame cut to fit. But that is not possible with all antique and vintage frames.

An interesting solution is to simply float the photo by hanging it within the space of the frame. This method also gives lots of flexibility if you like to change things out as much as I do! If the wire showing bothers you, remove it and hang the frame with another type of hanger hardware.

Rarer still, are round vintage frames like this French grey version. Here a small collage has been arranged inside making the frame itself part of the art.

A round frame also lends a lot more interest to a grouping than one with all straight lines. The upper frame in this example brings the smaller picure within it into scale with the round frame below, and echoes the color tones.

The oval frame displayed behind botanicals on this dresser not only lends height and focus, but interest, contrast, and movement as well.

I enjoy frames grouped together on their own for something out of the ordinary on a wall or leaning together, as here.

There is simply no limit to the ways of display with a beautiful empty frame!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

I'm linking up to Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

and Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Lots more fun ideas over there!

October's Pink

 Selina's book came in the mail today! Just when I was needing pink inspiration.

 Few hues are cheerier than a bright pink!

 October 15th and my geraniums are still trying to give it a go on a south wall of my patio. What a lift when that color splashes against your eyeballs!

 Even if it does appear a little frail for all its efforts.

 It's enough for today. That bit of geranium pink, and a few others collected for a bit of romantic style.

 A tureen lid against Venetian lace.

 Spode's Jewel teacup.

 Its outer surface mimmicks the lace.

 

Wishing you a little pink lift!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

I'm joining House in the Roses for Show off Your Cottage Monday!