Thanksgiving Table and Mantel Decorations

Before my house goes fully Christmas, I wanted to show you my fall mantel and dinner table. I went with chocolate, green and silver for the most part. I love those colors together.

I love the way my mantel worked out this fall. And I would just leave it like this for Christmas, but then where would I put my stocking holders? So I might go back to this after Christmas.

I love the chocolate, green and silver in my dining room. I am planning on sticking with these colors in here for Christmas, too.

We eat in this room every day. So I just leave the table set like this all the time. The silver chargers are silverplate trays I have been picking up at Bonne Volonte over time.

I have one more of these nickel-plated candelabras that I am going to list on my website this week.

I filled my tiered tray with some gilded fruit, wood fruit and some sparkly picks.

In a couple of days I will put up another post from the Holiday Tables event I attended. Beautifully decorated tables for Christmas! So please come back soon for some wonderful ideas.

Shannon

Guest Post On Decorating

My name is Peter. I’m a freshman in high school. I’ve been homeschooled all my life. I’m writing a guest post on my mom’s blog. I take a few classes a year in a homeschool co-op and one of them is writing composition. I have to write a ‘human interest story’ for my assignment. So I have decided to write a guest post about ways my mom likes to make her house beautiful. I figured since her blog is about decorating, I should go into decorating here.

My mom loves to decorate. Especially at Christmas time. That’s her favorite time of the year. She starts listening to Christmas music in September! Sometimes even earlier than that! There are lots of things my mom decorates with that are beautiful. Like her three-tiered tray that she sets on a small old table, which she has currently decorated for fall.
My mom loves to stain furniture to a dark brown color and she likes to put old books, keys, jewelry and so forth on the furniture. One of her oddest decorations is the feather trees that she puts around the house. My family always teases her about her weird feather trees.

My mom also loves to decorate her dress form which I call a ‘crash dummy.’ She writes posts and takes picture after picture after picture about her dress form! I just think to myself, “What is so interesting about a limbless, body-shaped crash dummy that you can put clothes on?”

She gets various ideas from decorating shows, decorating magazines, other blogs and so on for new ideas to decorate with. Some of her ideas I think are plain weird, but they always turn out good in the end. Even if I do think they’re weird.

Well, writing this post was a lot easier than I thought because I didn’t have to worry about formal writing rules, such as sentence fragments or run-on sentences. Writing conversationally is a lot easier than the paper I now have to write about blogging for my co-op teacher. Who, I might add, is a groovy teacher.

Peter

Now That's a Cake Dome!

I just got home from Dallas. My mom and I were at the gift market at the World Trade Center. This massive cake dome is one of the things I ordered for my store. I am working right now on getting things ready for a grand opening soon!

I can't wait to get this cake dome. Just imagine the possibilities!

Shannon

Flea Market Finds

This weekend I went to a few estate sales and a flea market. I only came away with a few things. I found these old pocket watch parts. I am going to use these to make something. I don't know what yet. I've seen a few pictures of ways creative people have used old watch parts. Of course, I can't remember any of them right now. Hopefully, some creative idea will emerge from the fog in my brain. Got any great ideas?

I love the look of old creamware and silver together. I already collect old silver and silverplate, but I had never bought any old creamware before this weekend. I found a couple of pieces to get me started. I'm sure my husband will just be thrilled when he begins to realize that a new collection has taken root in our house.

And I just liked the brown transferware plate. The little ceramic lady is something I can add to my "collection of heads and bodies" that my kids are so fond of.

I can't believe I have let a week go by without posting. I've just been so busy.

This is my 98th post. Remember, every comment you leave between now and 100 will give you another chance at winning my GIVE-AWAY. I'm still collecting things to add to it! I will show you everything in my 100th post.

Shannon

Salt Cellars

This week for Show & Tell Sunday, Cindy at Junque Art is asking for one of our favorite vintage collections. One of my favorites is my salt cellars.

This collection just started by accident. I found this old pewter salt shaker at an estate sale and bought it.

Then one day I found this 3 piece set on ebay - a salt cellar, pepper shaker, and a mustard pot.

I also bought these grape salt and pepper shakers on ebay. By now I'm sensing an addiction coming on, and I started looking for salt and pepper shakers everywhere I went.
These two little silver salt cellars came from ebay, too.

My mom had two of these silver and cobalt salt cellars, and when she became aware of my little collection, she gave both of them to me! This one lives by my stove so I have salt close by when I am cooking (*to my kids: stop snorting and laughing - I do too cook! Yes, my chicken and mashed potatoes and green beans dinner is considered food. Is too!!! Is too!!! Is too!!!)

The cobalt blue double salt cellar below also came from my mom, and I ran across the silver salt and pepper shakers at Goodwill.

And these little shakers I have picked up at various estate sales along the way.

Do you think my family needs to be on high blood pressure medication just as a preventive measure?

Thanks for stopping by! For more vintage collections, click on the button below!

Shannon

My Favorite Bits

Show and Tell Sunday at Little Pink Studio is all about your vintage art bits today. I have several different collections of bits, but my favorite bits are my jewelry. I have a lot of vintage jewelry bits, and some new jewelry bits. Combining the old and the new is what makes these bits so much fun to use!

Thanks for visiting my bits today. For more Show and Tell Sunday, go to Little Pink Studio.

Shannon

Fall Nesting Week

The Inspired Room is hosting Fall Nesting Week. I have loved going to all the sites and getting some wonderful ideas!!! I have only just begun putting out some fall decorations; but today the weather is cool and windy, and all of your fall posts have inspired me sooo much. So I just had to participate with the little bit that I've done so far.

Go to The Inspired Room for more Fall Nesting!

Shannon

Pink Pumpkins and Silver Trappings

Well, I finally have time to further explain my last post. My blog has been called Treasures From Home. I named it that because my eBay store is called Treasures From Home. But then one day recently I thought of the name Silver Trappings. Because I love silver. Actually it has become an addiction. Or maybe a disease. It started one day in Goodwill. I saw a set of three silver pine cones. Silver Pine Cones! They were gorgeous. I snapped them up! They were only $1 each. And thus began my addiction.
So now every time I go into a thrift store, or to an estate sale or garage sale, or shop on eBay, I head straight to anything silver I spot.

Recently I decided that I wanted to open an Etsy store. Actually I had never even heard of Etsy until I started reading all of your blogs last spring. Etsy has such a friendly, fun atmosphere to it. I do still love eBay, and will continue to drop-ship the pewter and pewter-accented glassware that I have on eBay. But Etsy, with all of its hand-crafted and vintage stuff is so fun. And that will give me an outlet for some of my vintage finds and for some hand-crafted items that I make. And I am thinking that a lot of what I offer on Etsy will be silver, or at least have something silver on it. Or as a part of it. Or an accent on it. (Well, too many ideas swirling in my head - this all makes sense to me at least. And someday will be translated into my creations.)

Soooo. . . . that is where I came up with the name Silver Trappings. For my Etsy Store. I did actually open my Etsy store this month and have listed two items, but lots more is coming soon. I named it Silver Trappings. I like that name a whole lot more than Treasures From Home, so I decided to change my blog to Silver Trappings. Yes, I know that my blog address is different from my blog name, and my Etsy store name, and my eBay store name. It makes me crazy. I strive for some consistency in life. But now I am stuck with three names for my online life. And I don't see any way around it. My eBay store can't be changed. My Etsy store can't be changed. I changed my blog name. But I can't change it's address. Because then, you know, all the dozens and dozens of readers that I have won't be able to find me. So I am trying not to obsess about this inconsistency in my online life. Hey, it makes me look unique and diverse. Right? Right. So now, here, I am Silver Trappings.

So what does "Pink Pumpkins" have to do with all of that? Nothing, but here is an event in blogland that you need to know about! It starts this week on September 4. Go to Life at Rose Cottage to sign up. You can get there from the pink pumpkin below! Everyone go enter! I am, and I want to see some more ideas. (And, yes, my pumpkin does have silver on it!)

Shannon

Add A Little Elegance

It is so fun and easy to add a little elegance to your day. I just added this little tray to my ebay store. Taking pictures of it, and thinking about the possible uses for a little silver tray, I realized that we can add a touch of elegance to any room of our house.

And a little silver always makes me smile.As, of course, does chocolate!!

Shannon