Éirinn Go Brách!

In honor of St. Patrick and the great country of Ireland, I want to share my few pieces of Belleek porcelain.

It is produced in the town of Belleek, County Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland. The porcelain is characterized by its thinness (almost translucent!) and slight iridescence.

Although originally producers of pottery, Belleck began producing the Parian porcelain, for which it’s still famous, in 1863.

Many of the patterns are of natural elements like this delicate little shell vase from the sea collection.

Bellek’s marking system makes it fairly easy to date pieces. The first three marks were black lasting to 1946, the next three are green lasting until 1980, followed by the gold stamp that is used today.

Belleck porcelain is widely collected and highly sought after. Many of the older pieces are beautifully intricate in design and quite pricey. Thanks for taking a little trip to Ireland with me.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Hugs,

Patti

And thank you all for participating in our
 "What's It Wednesday"  linky party!
Don't forget to grab a feature button.

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Here are this week's features:

Blue Creek Home

Hospitality Designs

At Nanns Table



The Polka Dot Closet

JBigg's Little Pieces



Villabarnes

An Easy Pill to Swallow

This is my latest acquisition, a cute little pill box covered in Swarovski crystals. I must confess it is not my first. Let me tell you how it all started…

This is the collection of my friend Debbie. She started me on this road of antiquing and collecting. We’ve spent many a wonderful Saturday at flea markets and antique shows.

 She uses all of her pill boxes and chooses a different one to carry in her purse each day. I noticed that she had different ones, but when I saw them en masse, I was hooked.

  

And it began.

 

The little pearl one started innocent enough. I just couldn’t resist this one with all the sparkle and the little pearls. The first one needed a friend. But when I spied this one with the micro mosaic top… I was a goner!

 So as my passion grew, so did my collection.

 

 I try to find unusual ones made from different mediums, tortoise shell, petit point, porcelains, and cloisonné. 

 The beauty of collecting pill boxes is the variety, range of price, and their small size. They allow you to follow your heart and buy what you love! They are so plentiful and inexpensive. So pick a material, a color, or design. You’ll find that these boxes are an easy pill to swallow.

Hugs,

 Patti

And thank you all for participating in our
 "What's It Wednesday"  linky party!
Don't forget to grab a feature button.

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Here are this week's features:

Daphne Nicole - Lynda Cade

See this fabulous purse, can you believe I won it in a give-away? They make the most amazing creations! 
Thanks Daphne

Chickadee Home Nest

The Fairfield House

Sullivan and Murphy

Miss Gracie's House

Freddy & Petunia

Ivy & Elephants Giveaway II

On our Ebony & Ivory post we hinted about giving away one of those gorgeous white porcelain pitchers, with the raised roses on them. Well here we go.

There are 6 ways to enter!

1) Leave us a comment describing what you would do with this porcelain pitcher if you were to win the giveaway. 

2) If you are a follower, get a friend (or two or three or more) to become a follower and leave us a comment indicating that your friend is now a follower. You must leave their name/blog so we can go by and show them some blog love. You can enter as many times as you have friends who are now new followers (i.e. you get 3 friends to follow, you get to enter 3 times).

3) Become a follower and leave us a comment indicating that you are a new follower.

4) Post our giveaway on your blog linking it back to us and leave us a comment indicating that you did.

5) Follow us on Twitter and leave us a comment indicating that you did.

6) "Like" us on Facebook and leave us a comment indicating that you did.

Remember to leave a separate comment for each cool task in order to increase your odds of winning.  We will be using a Random  Generator to choose the winner.  We will be announcing our winner on Sunday, September 4th. Grab our giveaway button, on the right side of this post, to share with friends. Good Luck and Thank you for a wonderful two months!

We are partying with the following fabulous folks this week:

Saturday Night Fun @ Sisters of the Wild West

DebbieDoo's Newbie Party @ DebbieDoo's

Amaze me Monday @ Dittle Dattle

Masterpiece Monday @ Boogie Board Cottage

Inspire me Monday @ Singing Three Little Birds

Making the World Cuter Monday @ Making the World Cuter

White Wednesday @ Faded Charm

Wow us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

House in the Roses @ The House in the Roses

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Ebony and Ivory

In 1982, one of the number one singles was "Ebony and Ivory", which was sung by the greats Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. The first line of that song is (y'all sing along now)

"Ebony and Ivory, live together in perfect harmony..."

Today I will highlight contrast in home design. These contrasts are yin and yang which can be colors, antiques & contemporary pieces, simplicity and complexity, darkness and light, gold and silver, well you get the idea. Ebony and Ivory is a perfect example of two beautiful contrasts. 

I love vignettes because they tell a story and they often times reflect my personality. The Ghanaian ebony thinking man among the white porcelain pieces is an example of one of Candice Olson's essential principles of good design which is decorating with contrast in mind. Plus, I just adore her.

I have fallen in love with porcelain pieces adorned roses. I have had the good fortune of finding them at Les Marchandises d'Maison. That's right, the Home Goods store. The ebony piece in the middle is a hand carved ebony statue from Tanzania. She is a carrying what appears to be a heavy jug. These contrasts allow me to enjoy the yin and yang of decorating. In this case, black and white as well as old and new. You have seen some of my porcelain pieces in the posts Cloche Encounters and To Shine or Not to Shine.  

I have this thing for tea pots and caddies. The ebony tea caddy with the African elephant is a great contrast to the delicate porcelain teapot and is an example of how contemporary and traditional pieces co-exist without competing with one another.

  

I picked up the ebony African old man with the marble base at one of my favorite local antique stores. He looks great anywhere you put him. Today he stands next to the porcelain bell. Hey let's ring the bell, "Espresso any one?"

This antique black marble hindu buddha looks peacefully at the delicious strawberries which are lying on a sandwich tray adorned by roses with patterned lace around the edges. I have a tendency to mix high end pieces with great regular market finds. The buddha came from a local antique shop. I recently found the tray at my neighborhood Marshalls. The porcelain bud vase I found on eBay for little of nothing. I was the only bidder. I love those kinds of bids.

So switching up a bit, I added a few more pieces to this contrasting vignette. The large porcelain vase in the back, with the beautiful roses around the neck, is the keeper of a special silk floral arrangement I had made as a center piece that sat on each table of my mother's retirement party. Two very special ebony statues from Ghana pose between the porcelain pitchers and creamers. In the foreground is a very delicate rose. The juxtaposition of colors, objects, history, culture and textures allows me to live in an environment that is elegant yet casual. This is what I call Vintage Urban living.

This week we will be partying with the following fabulous folks:

It's Party Time @ It's So Very Cheri

Flaunt it Friday @ Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Market Yourself Monday @ Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Making the World Cuter Monday @ Making the World Cuter

Amaze Me Monday @ Dittle Dattle

Motivate me Monday @ Keeping it Simple

Sunday Blog Love @ Cherished Treasures

Boogieboard Cottage @ Masterpiece Monday

Wow us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style

Time to Shine @ A Diamond in the Stuff

Inspired by you Wednesdays @ Eisy Morgan

Whatever Wednesday @ Momma Hen

Anything Goes @ Type A

Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here

White Wednesday @Faded Charm

Pearls and Lace Thursday @ Faith, Grace, & Crafts

Vintage Inspiration Friday @ Common Ground

Inspiration Friday @ At the Picket Fence

Time Travel Thursday @ The Brambleberry Cottage

Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Primp Your Stuff Wednesday @ Primp

Passionately Artistic Linking Party @ Passionately Artistic

Tea Time Thursdays @ Kreative Korner

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Cloche Encounters

 This week is all about the cloche! (There’s a big party don’t cha know!) It’s been a blast running around putting everything under glass. 

 I placed a couple of bathing beauties, strings of pearls, seashells, and a whole lotta bling as the base. And what beauty would be caught dead without a mirror?

 Next step, a topper. This is the key and beaded tassel from my secretary, and inside a gorgeous ivory finial from my lamp. (Looks like stalactite dripping from a cave ceiling, right?)

 I’m calling this one the siren's cave. I love how the beads cascading down look like seaweed. Watch out Little Mermaid!

 This little angel is cute as is. I just draped some pearls around him and plopped on the cloche. Cute!

 This is a French cloche called a Globe de Mariée. A bride would have one made upon her marriage. To see others click here. 

 This one includes the original orange blossom headdress.

 I had so much fun making the first cloche that I just had to try my hand at it again. I really wanted to think outside the box on this one. I used an old glass magnifier,

 A lovely pressed glass ashtray,

 Hmm… what to magnify? Why of course! This pretty little Georgian lover’s eye pin! 

 These were jewels that could be worn without revealing the lover’s identity. Romantic, huh? Voilà! I love it! 

 Until next time, I’ve got my eye on you. 

While we’ve got our eyes wide open let’s peek in at Paula’s and see what’s under her cloche.

Patti

First up is my elephant and roses cloche. Cloches, bell jars, and glass domes are a perfect way to highlight an object of your fancy. I just love porcelains. Porcelains with roses are one of my favorites.  

This vintage coffee pot from India is small enough to display in a cloche. I like to rotate my vintage import pieces giving each piece an opportunity to debut.

My favorite type of ironstone is Red Cliff. My favorite of the red cliff are the ones with the little grapes. This little Tureen was a bargain buy without its ladle. 

Have you ever seen these small dessert cloches and wondered "What can I put in there?" Well the answer is pretty much anything small. Patti and I were visiting a local orchid nursery and they were selling this orchid, from Thailand, in a painted wooden container. Can you believe that that orchid is soap? 

Here is another porcelain piece with roses on the front. I can't wait to show you the rest of the porcelain collection. 

 Thank you for joining us for our cloche encounters, we will be linking to the following blogs:

Masterpiece Monday @	Boogie Board Cottage
Amaze Me Monday @	Dittle Dattle
Show Off Your Cottage Monday @	The House in the Roses
Wow Us Wednesday @	Savvy Southern Style
Share the Love Wednesday @	Very Merry Vintage Style
French Inspiration Thursday @	The French Cupboard
Club G.W. @	Charm Bracelet Diva
Thrifty Thursday@	Tales From Bloggeritaville
Open House Party Thursdays @	No Minimalist Here
Pearls and Lace Thursdays @	Faith, Grace, and Crafts
Vintage ThingieThursday @	The Coloradolady
Vintage Inspiration Friday @	Common Ground
Inspiration Friday @	At the Picket Fence
Fridays Unfolded @	Stuff and Nonsense
Feathered Nest Friday @	French Country Cottage
Home Sweet Home @	The Charm of Home
Thrifty Things Friday @	The Thrifty Groove
Show and Tell Friday @	My Romantic Home

 

Patti & Paula

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