~ Cottage Goodies ~

Hello sweet friends! I hope the week is a cozy and sunny one for you! I have my eyes and thoughts on Spring, despite the refusal of Mother Nature coating us again (!! )with another heap of snow this week, wow! I sure hope she has a beautiful long Spring planned for us as a gift for getting through this long winter! :) I've been busy crafting and decorating and working on some new projects this week, hoping to get myself ahead of the game so that when that first warm day comes, I will be ready to open the windows and enjoy it :) I want to send out a big Thank You to all who visited and left such sweet comments on my last post about my before and afters!! I can't wait to finish many of the last minute details and get the floors re-done before it can be officially off the to-do list :)

Meanwhile , I've updated and added a few new Cottage Goodies to my Etsy store, Cynthia's Cottage Shop ....I've highlighted just a few of them in this post, I hope you enjoy! The basket here was a Vintage picnic basket I came upon at one of those great booths you just want to take every single thing home from. The basket itself is all original and I just adorned the top with some cottage/vintage details.

The paper used on the lid of the basket was a vintage paper with a blue and white gingham pattern, and then set on top were classic lace paper doilies and a Vintage Blueberry pie recipe from the 1950's Pillsbury cookbook. Also added were wooden kitchen spoons and such pretty embellishments from the Martha Stewart's kitchen collection. I love her attention to detail! Then the entire top was coated with a Shellac to seal it all together.
The handles were adorned with a vintage style gross grain ribbon of red and white polka dots, my fav :)

( A close up of the lid is below )

Stop by my Etsy store if you'd like to see more pictures of this or purchase it. I loved it so much I named her "Blueberry Betty Sue" :)

I also found some pretty canvas's and finished them in a soft Robins egg blue and added heart lace paper doilies , and again, vintage inspired kitchen embellishments that spoke of a different era...These are ready to hang in your kitchen and have the prettiest tones and colors for that cottage look. :)

( update: sorry, the ones above are sold out ) I am hoping to make more of these soon though!

Below, I used the same idea and added sweet cupcake and cake embellishments, I think they would go perfect in any kitchen where some whimsy and sweetness is loved :)

I also love cherries and red and white ...so I had to do a mirror with another one of my favorite themes :) The vintage style papers were taken from a kitchen paper book and the mirror corners are hand painted cherries with pretty blue and whites too! I hope you'll stop in and see the rest of my items and find something you love! And thanks to everyone who has already purchased from my little shop, it means to much to me to make things you love!
( update: Mirror below is Sold )

Speaking of Etsy :) I just adore everything there, it's either all hand made or Vintage, my two favorite things! The uniqueness of every item is what makes it all so special! I not only have my little shop, but now it's become the place I look first when I'm looking for almost anything. I came upon this site ( below ) the other day and went ga-ga for her pillows. I had been looking for pillows for the Family room all week and just fell into Heidi Devlin's Store and fell in love :) All of her work is so beautiful and well made and her prices for these style pillows is so fair too! Isn't her work scrumptious!?

I plan on mixing them in with stripe and floral pillows and some of my needle points too... I adore these french inspired designs.. Stop by Heidi's store if you get a chance , she has so many special pillows I think you'll love!

I think between Etsy and Home Goods I have found my favorite pieces :) I started my hunt for pillows at Home Goods actually but everything seemed to be solids and pretty dull colors for Spring , so I walked away from the pillow isle and did what any girl would probably do, lol, I kept hunting for something telling myself that the trip there had to be worth it ... even if I just spent $3.99 , I knew I could walk out of there with something I loved :) Hence , the little bowls below ...

One soft blue

and ....one soft pink stripe

So I got them both and headed home knowing the perfect spot for them :) I actually ended up getting 2 blue and one pink :) The blue ones have little lady bugs and butterflies on them , awwww :)

Now it's time to get back to decorating for the Spring and Summer ahead, I'm keeping it all light and airy and when I'm finished with the Family room and the wood floors are refinished , you all will be the first to know! :)

Just to give you all some hopes of a Spring right around the corner, I've left you some sweet daisies to enjoy !

Have a wonderful week ahead ladies!! and put in a special prayer that these daisies above don't just come from the local grocery store, but our own backyards soon!!

Lots of love and gratitude!

~ Cynthia ~