Birthday Bash and Thrifty Treasures

I'll start with my thrifty find of the year so far! There are a couple more as you read through this post, but this silver pitcher is the big winner, in my opinion.

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It's a tw0-piece creamer, as far as I can tell. I was looking at that inside pointy jabber thing, and wondering about it, and BF said "I know what that is! It's to open a can of cream!" I was like "Hunh? Whatchoo talkin' about, Willis?" He remembered canned cream from when he was a kid. So I did a little internet research and found that during the Great Depression, people would use condensed milk in their coffee, because fresh cream was hard to come by.

What has me a little baffled, though, is why a company would make a sterling (or plated--I'm just not sure at this point) creamer for a CAN of cream during the depression. This question leads me to believe that the pitcher is indeed plated, but is in unbelieveably great condition. It's mark is WMF, which is German, and I think that if it's plated, it's worth about $65. If it's sterling, maybe twice that. Want to know what I paid?

A dolla'! Holla'! (Hee...my kid is rubbing off on me.)

Now on to my birthday dinner party. I potted up some of the plants that have been waiting patiently for my attention....

See that awesome antique basket? A dolla'! Holla'!

The flat saucer above was just collecting water, so I dug up some moss out of my yard, and planted myself a little zen rock garden. Cute, right? :)

The table, all set and ready for guests to arrive...

...see the candle from my friend Elizabeth over at A Breath of French Air on Etsy?
It smells so GOOD!

My new (old) wicker rocker. $50. Sorry, not such a bargain, but I spent two hours out there yesterday reading and enjoying a fire...

What do you think of my little pine trees? I felt very Martha-ish as I wrapped the grapevines around the bases to cover the pots. Kathleen thinks I'm a little bit crazy, and BF said "Aren't trees supposed to be planted in the ground?" I'm so misunderstood. ;P

....a gratuitous pic of my new car....I'm loving it!

.....and my birthday present from BF. I love this thing! It's so ME! And it echos the domed shape of my tent!

Thrifty find alert! The table below fold up flat! $15!

I'm thinking maybe some Formby's refinisher might be just what the doctor ordered for this table.

I know, you wanted to see that tree a little bit closer, didn't you? .....so you could copy my grapevine idea, right? I knew it!

The par-tay table!

...oh, and below are all the awesome bargain pots I got at Campo de Fiori a few weekends ago. Cheap! Tent sale! Do you see my upside-down-cloche fountain? Too cool for school! It sounds and feels like a little grotto out there now.

Thrifty find alert number three! Old church pew! FREE!! I know, right?!

I'm thinking I may paint it a bright-ish color--maybe a yellow-green. We'll see.

I'm hiding...no wait, my sister and I are taking pictures!
There were eight of us for dinner. So nice!

The cosmos were so pretty!

My friend Jennifer brought me the most gorgeous bouquet of peonies from her garden.

My toolbox pansies! They're really taking off. Toolbox: $1

My wave petunias are lookin' good too!

Jennifer bought me my very own pink dogwood tree for my birthday.
Does it get any better than that? Seriously.

This is a shot of the garage doors that I painted last week. They used to have all black squares that were totally beat looking. Now it's not such an eyesore. I'll get to the rest of the garage at some point this year.

Everyone brought me plants! I'm so excited! Below, ligularia, some big garlic thing, some euonymous...

Sedum, autumn joy:

Dahlias! I've never grown those before!

This beautiful bouquet of peonies and roses was from my friend Kelly. *sigh* I ADORE peonies.

My $5 Table

Can you believe I only paid $5 for that table? It belonged to my neighbor's mother, and is not in the greatest shape, but I'm all about shabby! When I bought it I thought I might paint it, but now that I see it in situ, I don't think I'll bother. I LOVE the lines of it, and it fits perfectly right in the front window, holding one of Kathleen's many bunches of flowers from Mulan.

That glass "submarine" vase is from Roost, and was an early birthday present from my father. I love it! Don't the roses look great? Oh, and the aqua colored ceramic vase behind it was $2 at a garage sale last week. Did I luck out or what?! I know!!

I just had some fun with closups...bear with me, will you? :)

You can click on them to enlarge, and get a much nicer effect.

Do you know I had never seen the stamen(s) of a carnation before until I looked at this photo in its large format? So cool! And I used to think carnations were boring! Look how lovely this celery green one is. I especially love that color...may have to use it somewhere in my house now!

Slipcovers DONE and Barn Sale Finds!

OK, so I haven't hemmed the sofa yet--it still needs a little tweaking. But I serged it! And I hemmed the ottoman, so THAT is completely done! I'm LOVING the transformation. It's like a breath of fresh air. (Of course, it helps that the windows are open....)

I had BF bring the mirror in from the garage, to reflect the other windows in the room. It's working! It's a little brighter in here!

Oops! This isn't a slipcover OR a barn sale find...I just caught the two of them cuddling this morning, and couldn't resist snapping a pic. As usual, BF wouldn't look at the camera. (Incognito, all the way!)

Not too shabby, eh?!:

I had Kathleen bring these creamy drapes in from the barn--they were left from a showhouse I did a few years ago. I took down the red silk striped ones, and put these up for the summer--LOVE it--so bright in here now!

Here's a shot where you can see that the red chair sticks out like a sore thumb now. I have some black linen that I've had for a few years--it's a heavier weave than the sofa--and I'm considering slipcovering it in that. Oh, and the paintings on either side of the mirror are going. I'm going to hang carved wood sconces there instead. I'll get right on that.... :P

See my cute little chair? $12 at a barn sale today! It needs to be reupholstered, but I threw a linen runner over it and plopped it on the porch for now. I love the lines of this chair.

I'm a chair ho. Seriously. I love chairs.

I got this cute little beat up tool box for $1! (Rhoda will be so proud!) I filled it with my leftover pansies from the six-packs I bought last week, et voila! Ain't it cute?! Oh, and I bought the wood pedestal for $8--a little much, but I needed SOMEthing to put the toolbox on, right?

Ba-deep Ba-deep, ba-deep, that's all folks! (Actually, it's not. I'll have more of my bargains to show you soon! I made out like a bandit today!) Oh, and Kathleen is a freaking STAR, let me tell ya! I saw her play last night, and the kid is amazing. Did I say she's amazing? 'Cause seriously. The girl can SING. AND act!!