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!

Repurposed Bin!

My husband tries to act like he is interested in my 'pickins'!  When I got home from the Mes Amis Vintage Show this past Saturday he at least asked what I found. As I pulled this out to proudly show him,  he was about as excited as a hippo in the desert!
What could I possibly want with that old thing?!

Why couldn't he see the glory in my latest purchase?! I have plans for this!

What is it you ask?

Here's a clue!

You got it! It's the under storage bin from an old farm kitchen table!  Thanks so much to Anna Tichon from Found Vintage Rentals for letting me use this great picture!

The bin was used to store flour on one side and root vegetables,
 like potatoes and onions, on the other side.

Just look at the patina on this piece - you can't create this - 
a patina like this only happens over time . . .

Here's a close up of the underside -

If you only saw this close-up picture, you would wonder if this was bark from a tree . . .

or perhaps an aerial view of a landscape from 3,000 feet!

At a glance, the bin looks like a chunk of tree log! When I spy something like this, 

I wonder where it's been? Who used it? How long ago was it?

So many stories and visions come to mind!

But this bin is getting a new story!

 It's coming home to live in my space at Fabulous Finds as a display piece! 

Turned on it's side - it becomes a wonderful shelving unit!

 Once tossed away, but luckily discovered, it's now filled with cherished items!

A great display piece for fall and winter vignettes!