vintage linens and lace

my sister and i have had a life-long fascination with vintage tableware. our mom had numerous sets of china, from her post WWII wedding china, heavily bordered in gold and strewn with roses, to the set of vintage all-white haviland limoges which she acquired later in her married life.
we share her love of dishes and enjoy finding vintage table linens to set off these lovely old china patterns.
we came across this elegant and charming little set and were delighted by the very idea of it...
breakfast in bed!
what a wonderful way to start the day...a steaming cup of cafe au lait, a freshly baked croissant, fresh picked berries...

and a cheerful greeting to set the mood for the day.

this weeks theme for make mine pink's friday shopping event is 'linens and lace'.in conjunction with this, we have added a whole new category to our online shop, and have only just begun to stock it with beautiful tablecloths, embroidered pieces, table runners and guest towels.

this breakfast set will be up for grabs, as well as some other fabulous vintage finds.

we hope you will pop in to see what we have and also please visit all the other make mine pink boutiques as we bring you 'linen and lace.'

happy weekend to you all!

~karla

pink friday: french farmhouse

tomorrow is friday, and that means it's time for another pink friday shopping day! we are excited about this week's theme:

french farmhouse.

here's a bit taken from the make mine pink website, explaining what french farm house decorating might be:

" french farmhouse is a home decorated with cherished family heirlooms...the nicks, scuffs and dents are the patina that only comes with time and offers a sense of history.

french farmhouse style lies in its eclectic nature..."

this really speaks to our hearts, because it is and always has been the way that my family has decorated our homes.

our mother cherished the things given to her by her spanish mother-in-law; equally cherished were those hard-to-come by items that were acquired by her own mother and grandmother during the lean years of the great depression.

when things got worn from use, they weren't thrown away in favor of 'new'.

now, many of those things grace my home and those of my sisters.

to us, the mixture of things which have been in our family, and things newly acquired, yet still old, is what makes living with and loving vintage so great.
no two homes can ever be exactly alike.

what speaks to my heart, may not speak to yours. or even to my sister's.

and, even if two homes had exactly the same group of objects, the display and composition of the vignettes within the home would never be identical.

in this eclectic mix of objects, both useful and decorative, even the small things become key ingredients in forming a pleasing and interesting whole.

when i am out shopping i am often most taken by the small and tiny things; cast off and forgotten by some one else, they become valuable to me. the amount of pleasure that i get from them cannot be measured.
please come shopping with us tomorrow; we have our store stocked with beautiful, time worn treasures which are guaranteed to lend warmth and interest to even the newest of homes.

we are also looking forward to what the other make mine pink boutiques have to offer for this week.

please join us, won't you?

~karla

favorite finds

we have been in a shopping frenzy for the past month, and have so much new stuff to show and to put in our shop, that i thought it would be fun to give you a peek at two of our favorites.
this is kristi's pick for her favorite 'latest find':
this is an exceptionally large glass apothecary jar, handpainted with pleasing colors, banded in gold, and in our very favorite color of blue...robin's egg!
we would love to know where it was first used and like to imagine if there were others and how grand they must have looked all lined up on a shelf.with spring feeling like it is months, rather than weeks, away, we are being drawn to color and feel like our senses are 'waking up'.


and here is my favorite:
we love beaded collars and have sold many in our shops over the years and quite a few just recently on our website. but this one...!

we are not sure, but this appears to have been hand made.
some clever and talented person has tatted a collar of gold cord; the collar has been lavishly applied with pearls of pink and soft ivory, and prong-set rhinestones.

we were looking at this last night under pendant halogen lights, and it really sparkles. as with all of the pieces we find and buy, we fall in love and struggle with letting go...

but part of the fun of what we do is sharing our finds with others.

and, fickle creatures that we are, we will be captivated and enchanted by something else entirely by the weekend!
~karla

p.s. both of these items will be available on our website today or tomorrow, and we will be adding a lot of great stuff in the days to come. please stop by!

http://www.polkadotrose.net