my latest gift baskets for Christmas...

here are a couple of my latest baskets ready for giving for Christmas!!

inside this treasure is a large vintage mixing bowl made by Harker (the oldest pottery company in the US), an egg beater, a cake spreader, a flour sifter, a cinnamon shaker, some measuring cups, 2 copper cookie cutters, nail files, body puff, hand-crocheted chicken, two taper candles that smell like apple pie, a lovely face lotion, and many, many ornaments for your tree....

a closer view....

isn't this cute? It would make a perfect gift for that special someone that you know that loves vintage kitchen items.

here is another fabulous basket loaded with vintage goodies...the feature pieces is a large princess-style Pyrex mixing bowl in a hard to find pattern that has grape vines on it, a lovely vintage table runner with fruit on it, a vintage Py-O-My bread pan, a wire wisk, an unusual masher with a rotating head piece, a Santa salt shaker, a miniature pitcher commemorative keepsake from the Blue Ridge Mountains, 2 taper candles that smell like apple pie, a wonderful night cream for the face, a snowflake shaped floating candle, and numerous ornaments for your Christmas decorating....

love the fruit on the table runner....

this basket is all about roosters! It has a vintage melmac dinner plate with a farm scene on it, 2 swanky swig juice glasses with roosters on them, a vintage syrup dispenser, a set of vintage slat and pepper shakers from Gemco, 2 taper candles that smell like apple pie, wonderful aromatherapy bath salts, and lots of ornaments for your Christmas tree....

Russell's Auctions & Tag Sales

The gentlemen's chest shown here, along with the matching ladies piece shown below, is 200 years old. The top of this chest is made of rosewood from Upstate New York. The front of this piece is burl maple. Absolutely delicious pieces of furniture. I love this set. You will never see wood grain, or furniture like this ever again....beautiful and a piece of history too.

here is a double child's school desk, complete with the ink wells. so unique!!

fabulous place setting. The glass is a deep purple, trimmed in a butter yellow enamel dot pattern.

can you believe this desk???? the wood grain is stunning....

love Roseville...now is the time to buy it....

doesn't this place look like fun???? stop in and see for yourself!

ooops...should have rotated this one....:o) lovely antique dresser...needs to come to my house....

don't you love finding a 'new' place to shop and hunt for vintage treasures? Here is my latest find....yes, it is 'new' to me, but this dynamic duo has been in the antique business for decades! Joyce and G.I. (Russ) Russell are the owners of Russell's Auctions & Tag Sales, located in West End, North Carolina. They used to do large auctions, but due to health constraints, they now host 'tag sales' in their large warehouse, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 1pm to 5pm. Their warehouse is full of the some of the most beautiful pieces of antique and vintage furniture pieces that I have seen in one place...they also have some of the most interesting eclectic pieces placed on or  next to a priceless heirloom! and guess what? it works!! check out some of my photos from my most recent visit....

home made bread....

Just seeing the words 'home made bread' can make you hungry, don't you think? I just took four loaves of my home made sourdough bread out of the oven...the house smells so good!! Having been raised near San Francisco, I grew up eating sourdough bread just about every day of my life. I started making my own bread back when I was a teenager....gee, that was before the internet, blogging, cell phones...well, you get the idea...:o)

My next items to bake include the Italian Christmas bread called panettone, and then the German Christmas bread called stollen....both are so yummy with a hot cup of coffee....I make my panettone with chocolate chips rather than the currants and raisins...although I do have one friend that asked me to make a few loaves with the raisins.....did I mention that I love to bake bread???

time for another sale....

Thanks to everyone that stopped by last weekend to celebrate our inaugural 'Christmas on Park Avenue' Holiday Craft Sale. It was fun to see old friends, and to meet my new neighbors....so much fun, that I have decided to do it again! So many people asked me when I would be doing it again, I thought, 'well, how about one more time before Christmas?'

Our next sale will be on Saturday, December 10, 2011 from 10am to 4pm. There will be lots of fun and interesting vintage and antique collectibles for sale, old chippy-paint solid wood doors and cabinet doors for your next craft project, ready-made gift baskets filled with lovely vintage items, yummy sourdough bread, beautiful silk flowers, and so much more....

stop by and say hello....

four new creations....

Yesterday I created four new gift 'baskets'....my husband and I are getting ready for our 'Christmas on Park Avenue' event which is coming up this Saturday, November 19th from 8am to 4pm.....stop by and say hello!!

a Saturday in Fall....

Saturday was such a beautiful day...it was chilly and cold in the morning, but it warmed up to be such a pleasant day in the afternoon. Around 1:30pm I headed out to do an Ultimate Spa Facial event for a friend of mine. Her house is so adorable. It was built in the early 1930's, and is just the perfect country farm home. I did the Facial event for her and several of her friends. One of the ladies in attendance is getting ready to open up her own beauty shop in the town of High Falls, North Carolina....I will make a post for her when she holds her grand opening...I am so excited for her!!
After the event, we sat around chatting and munching on some home made pecan pie (absolutely heavenly by the way!)..it was a great time...just as I was packing up my things, my friend mentioned to me that her husband and her father are starting to do some blacksmithing. I had to see what that was all about!! So I followed her outside to see what the two men were up to...I was so amazed to see the lovely items that they were making out of iron. Wouldn't you know it that I didn't bring my camera with me?? My friend promised to send me some pictures of what they make...they showed me fire place tools, hand wrought hooks to hang pots from in your kitchen, and the coolest thing ever...they made knives out of railroad spikes!! I had never seen anything like it! so cool...can't wait to see what they come up with next....

Christmas on Park Avenue!!

After my husband and I moved out of the building in which we had our antique store, we moved into a lovely home located at the center of town. I often have things delivered to our house, and when I first had to update my shipping profile with my various businesses partners, I found that the autofill for my address kept putting in Park Avenue, even though I knew that the street was really Park Street. I thought, 'this is odd, I wonder why this keeps popping up'...so I had to continually over ride my street address entry...one day while thinking of ways to help reduce the inventory of items that we brought to our house from our store, it struck me....We could have a Christmas event on Park Avenue!! Who wouldn't want a Park Avenue address??? so, rather than fight google, etc...I decided to have fun with it...so there you go...My husband and I, and our neighbors, are hosting our inaugural 'Christmas on Park Ave' Holiday Craft Sale on Saturday, November 19, 2011. The fun begins at 8:00am and continues until 4:00pm.
There will be lost of antiques, vintage items and collectibles, ready made gift baskets for Christmas giving, yummy baked goods, and plenty of great deals!!! come and join us if you can....
On that same day at 6:00pm, the Town of Robbins will be celebrated the lighting of the town's Christmas tree located next to the train Depot. There will be carolling after the tree lighting. Please bring a non-perishable food item for a donation for the Robbins Area Christian Ministry. There are lots of people in our area that need a helping hand right now....
So, mark your calendars and come to see us in Robbins next Saturday. The fun begins early on Park Avenue, and continues into the early evening downtown.
See you there!!!