Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

My One Weakness!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Hello my friends,

Today I have a confession to make. . .I love French Pastries!

In the famous words of Dorkus Lane, (from the BBC series, Larkrise to Candleford)…It’s my one weakness! If you’ve seen the show you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. If not, I suggest you watch it. It truly is a charming little series.

It’s not the decadent chocolate ones that tempt me so. . .but the white flaky & caramel ones.

Good thing I don’t have one very often.

I decided that I would give in to my temptation and decorate my family room mantle like a French Patisserie. I found this cute tray at T.J. Maxx for $5.99.

I’m happy to say-It’s now open for business!

This is the culprit that started the whole idea of a French Boulangerie (bakery). I bought it last summer on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $7.99. It was originally marked $39.99.

I had plenty of faux sweets to add to the display. They are the best kind. Pretty, but non fattening.

I placed a little metal heart pick to dance in front of it.

Plates have been gathered and are ready to be filled.

I love my found vintage spice jars. The perfect shade of pink!

I made the cupcake & doily garland last year after seeing one in a local shop.

A mini crystal chandelier adds to the French charm.

The sweet treats are priced right. I bought the French display frame from Décor Steals.

When I told my sister, Jeanne that I was going to make little signs she said, “Well, then you had better have some of them”(meaning the goodies). I think she may have been born with the same weakness. Hee-hee!

Looks like I am going to have to make a ‘SOLD OUT” sign to put up whenever she comes to visit. lol!

More sweets on the hearth. I bought the cute jar at target for half price, $12.00. It’s filled with white, milk, and dark chocolate.

Some of my vintage tagged items were placed in a new vignette.

How about you, do you have a weakness for French Pastries? If so, come on by. We’re open for business. Let’s just hope they won’t all be sold out!

Bonjour!

Jann

p.s. I want to thank Debra from Common Ground for featuring my Visual Interest post! I truly appreciate it!

I will be sharing with:

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

The Thrifty Groove for Thrifty Things Friday

Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays

What About Co. for Show Off Friday

Bernideens Tea for Open House

Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday

Made in a Day for Made U Look

Shabby Art Boutique for Shabbilicious Friday

Jennifer Rizzo for Fabulously Creative Friday

The Rose Garden in Malevik for Saturday Show Off

Sunny Simple Life for Sunny Simple Sunday

The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Kathe with an e for You're Gonna Love it Tuesday

Share Your Cup Thursday #41

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Hello my friends and welcome to Share Your Cup. I hope that your cup is overflowing with love and happiness so far this year!

Each week I see a few new blogs joining in and I want to say ‘Welcome’! I love my faithful friends and always look forward to making new ones!

Before I get to this weeks features a couple of items of business:

1. Can you see that I reached 700 followers? Such an amazing blessing. Never ever thought I would even have 100! A give away will be coming. I will announce it next week at Share Your Cup. Also. it is almost my blog anniversary. I actually have two anniversaries. One is when I first started blogging, Feb. 2, 2009. (pretty pitiful! I didn’t even add pics).The second is when I started visiting other blogs and finding new friends. That is May 2011. This truly opened up a new world for me!

2. The other thing I wanted to mention is that when I leave a comment I am going to call Share Your Cup SYC. Just saving myself a little typing time. Is that lazy or what? Just didn’t want you to say, “What in the heck is SYC”

Also, I am saving some of my favorite Valentines links and will be sharing one or two each day starting Feb. 1st when I start my Valentines challenge. Go here to read about it. What the World Needs Now!

Now for the fab five features:

I always get in an organizing mood after Christmas. Thought both of these were worth sharing.

Heather from Friendship Life and Style shared how she organized her closet. Lots of great ideas. This scarf ladder was my favorite. You must go see her shoes!

Maria Elena from Our Home Away from Home got busy and organized her pantry Dollar Store style. Go visit to see what a wonderful job she did.

I love this creative use of a yardstick by Virginia from Artsy Vava! Great photo display!

And how about these bookmarks Patricia from Old Things New made using vintage jewelry? Aren’t they beautiful? The crushed velvet ribbon is gorgeous!

Of course Pamela’s vintage tools stole my heart. I have a little fetish of my own. You must go see more at Playing with my Camera!

Thanks so much and please grab my button if you were featured!

A few rules and then let the fun begin!

1. I would love for you to be a follower of Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson.
2. Link up a particular post and not your entire blog. Please limit your links to no more than three.
3. Please have a link back to this post. That way others will know where the party is. Feel free to grab my button on the sidebar if you’d like. Only those with links back will be featured.
4. Please find time to visit at least a few other participants. It’s a great way to find new blogs

After you link up I would love for you to leave a comment. They help to fill my cup!

What the World Needs Now. . .

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

I’m sure that you are familiar with the tune. What the world needs now is love, sweet love.

No, NOT just for some, but for EVERYONE!

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone felt loved?

A couple of years ago I challenged myself to show a daily expression of love for the month of February. I know that this is something we should and hopefully do daily. But it never hurts to pay closer attention

I am going to do this again starting Feb. 1st. Each day I will post my challenge. I would love it if you decided to join in with me.

I decorated my living room yesterday for Valentines. What better way to introduce my theme than with a mantle of Love? It’s not really a mantle, just a shelf. But it has a similar effect.

I used a collection of mercury glass. My red orbs are perfect for Valentines.

I love old bottles. I used one under the cloche and another one on top of a book. The music theme for the song has been carried throughout.

If one garland is good, two is better, and three is divine! lol! Wondered if I got a little carried away. I made the new heart garland and had to use it somewhere.

The sentiment of love is everywhere!

I made this primitive angel years ago. She still holds a spot in my heart.

This candy bouquet was given to my by a friend a few years ago. Too cute to eat!

You’re probably wondering, “what’s with the blue shutters?” My couch has a touch of aqua in it.

Hope you’re feeling loved! And remember, in order to receive love, one must give love.

Hugs,

Jann

I will be sharing with:

Savvy Southern Style for W.O.W.

Lavender Garden Cottage for Cottage Style Party

Rose Chintz Cottage for H.O.M.E.

A Delightsome Life for Home and Garden Thursday

Common Ground for Be Inspired

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Fridayl

Pass the Mustard Please!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Hi my friends, I wanted to share with you what I was working on this weekend.

In July of ‘2011’ I was able to have a picking adventure with a few of my friends. We actually got to go to a small town in Southern Utah and scavenge through an old barn. If you’d like to read about it go here: My American Pickers Dream.

I discovered this old laundry table that I thought would make such a fun addition to a craft room. Only one problem. . .I didn’t have a craft room. lol! However, I did have an unfinished basement and knew that It was on the list of ‘someday’.

Well, I’m here to tell you that someday has arrived. We will be starting on our basement within the next two weeks.

This weekend I decided to pull the table out of our garage and give it a work over. (Yes, it’s been stored there for that long). Thank goodness we have a large garage.

Here she is with all her rustic charm. After closer inspection I saw that she actually had 3 layers of paint. grey, yellow, and cream. If there had been a bit more color I would have just cleaned her up and left as is. But I thought she needed a new look.

Here there was a dirt spot. When I washed it off you could see the yellow. After it dried the color just disappeared.

Here she is when I finished her. Still rustic, but charming. Well, almost finished her. I may sand the legs a little more. My sand paper was ca-put.

I painted the top Old White using A.S.Chalk paint. Then using a Benjamin Moore paint I gave her mustard colored legs. Finally, the title makes sense. Hee-hee! I hit the edges with a brown glaze just so the distressing would show up. I will finish her with a clear wax.

Notice the chips and dings along the edge? Some people would have filled those in. I love them just the way they are!

I wanted the drawer to stand out so I glazed it slightly more. This is the knob that was on it. May decide to change it to a mustard colored one.

Look at the fun rods with hooks. They are on each end of the table.

I am loving her new look. Now, where to store her for the next two months until she can find her new home in my craft room.

Hugs,

Jann

I will be sharing with:

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style for W.O.W.

Timewashed for Blissful Whites Wednesday

Junkin Joes

Miss Mustard Seed for Furniture Feature Friday

Valentines Day Tag. . .

Saturday, January 12, 2013

It all started with the arrival of a couple of vintage items in the mail Thursday afternoon.

Recently I won a give away from Cindy at Old Time Farmhouse It was $30 to spend in her etsy shop. The minute I started browsing I knew just what I wanted.

Then a day or so later I wanted a second peek at it. I went back and found something else that took my eye.

When they arrived I thought, they are so cute. I want to use them in my Valentines displays.

So that’s what got me playing a game of Valentines Day Tag. I began having ideas run through my head of Valentines sayings using my new vintage treasures. I pulled out some craft items and started making tags.

This is the item that I picked first. Isn’t it SA-WEET! I tried to keep this tag very simple. It needed that old fashioned feel.

And here’s what I spied when I went back for a second look. What made me fall in love with this fan was, of course, the red center.

As you may have noticed, I didn’t stop there. I started tagging several more vintage items. What’s a girl to do when she’s having so much fun? I had picked up this pair of locks a while back at D.I. I thought they were tag worthy.

From there I went to this old bowling pin. It belonged to my youngest son when he was a teen. He hasn’t asked for it back yet. I think it’s ever so cute!

I decided that I didn’t want to over do the tag thing (like I hadn’t already). . .so I just laid this one on an old book.

This old camera is one of my most favorite vintage finds. Had to tag it!

After that I started thinking of a lot more sayings. I had to tell myself, “settle down Jann, you haven’t even pulled out your Valentine boxes yet.

Not sure they will stay like this, but I put my tagged items on this table for a photo shoot. Do you ever wonder if they feel like we are the Paparazzi?