Sunflowers and Bees

Sunflowers are one of my favorite of all flowers - so bright and cheery, and I've noticed

they are frequently paired with bees.  I found the frame above years ago at Marshall's and decided to use it as the starting point for my early fall decor this year  - I just love the metal piece at the top! Let's start the tour with my mantel decorations - this bee skip is a top for a candle hiding underneath - a Mary Lake Thompson original!

The peasant girl vase is a vintage Catalina Pottery piece - and the vintage light sconces were found at a yard sale in Berkley on one of my pickin' adventures!

On the mantel, a book about bees suggests the theme, grouped with a vintage metal honey pot and a silk sunflower.

I paid way too much for the little "Beware of the Bees" sign a few years back, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet when you fall in love!  "Huney B. Keeper", the retired Boyd's Bear, leans against a vintage bee skip as she holds the sign. I just love the netting around her straw hat!

 This platter was a buyer's gift we received after we purchased an FFA lamb this year at the county fair - I painted the sunflower sign last summer to resell but fell in love with the way it turned out so it stayed home - both sit below the mantel and atop my fireplace insert since its been too hot to burn any wood yet!

The coffee table was the setting for this grouping - the sunflower cloche was a Marshall's find! I love everything Mary Lake Thompson of Oroville creates and this teapot is no exception! Another vintage honeypot sits with a silk sunflower on a vintage pie crust mirror.

Sunflowers and Bees!  Somehow I am always attracted to anything with a bee motif! This past weekend I lucked out finding this darling pillow half price - and it goes well with the gray striped feed sack pillow on my chenille couch!

Ok - so I love vintage pie crust mirrors! This one on my entry table is one of my favorites found at an antique store in Sacramento long ago.  I had to throw some mini pumpkins in the mix! A vintage frame leans in the background 'framing' the vignette.

I had been searching for about 9 months for the perfect sconces to place of either side on the mirror above my couch in my living room and found two of these at a gift shop in Benicia!  Glass vases sit inside a metal frame and I fill the vases to go with my seasonal decor - I think I'll do another post showing you all the different ways I've filled the vases so far!

This metal candle cloche sits atop some wonderful vintage farm books from 1850 I found in a shop in Calistoga - the embroidered napkin was another half price item I couldn't resist!

And finally, my prize sunflower from my garden this year!  This was the biggest head I raised this year - about 14 inches across! Can't wait to roast the seeds and enjoy!

Looks like something else enjoys sunflowers as much as I do! Hope you enjoyed the tour!