*Pretty Birdies*

These pretty cream birdies are just new in the Vintage Amethyst shop, they are so sweet.
They are made from metal and hang by cream ribbon.
They are only £3.00 and can be found *here*

I also have some lovely birdcages too that will be available to buy very soon, I just love birdcages and these ones are adorable.
Keep checking back for those!

*As seen in Period Ideas*

*eek* I was very excited to find out yesterday that my Rosebud Heart is featured in the November issue of Period Ideas!!!!

It is in the November inspirations article ~ see below!

This is the second product to be featured in a magazine this month & I am soooooo thrilled as both of the items that have featured in magazines this past month are handcrafted items made by little ol' me! *blush*

*Shop Talk*

A few items have recently been reduced over at the Vintage Amethyst shop.

These incredibly pretty vintage style teacup candles have been reduced from £7.50 to £5.00 ~ hurry only a few left! *click here* to take a peek.

These retro style Ice Cream signs which are wonderfully big have been reduced from £8.00 to £6.00. *click here* to take a peek.

And these pretty 'jam jar' tealight holders, ideal for a little posy of flowers too have been reduced from £4.00 to £2.50! *click here* to take a peek.

Plus these heart shaped chalkboard tags are now back in stock again!

They have been 'flying off the shelves' like crazy since they were in the magazine at the beginning of the month ~ a huge amount of people are ordering lots for their weddings at the moment!

*click here* to take a peek.

***

Well the Christmas season is approaching & I will have some festive goodies in the shop next month so don't forget to pop along & take a peek at those!

*Cute Shabby Chic Thrifty Loveliness*

A couple of weeks ago we visited a car boot that we had never been to before, it is really close so I don't know why we hadn't visited before. It is on a Wednesday at 5pm, so no early get up times either & it is indoors too ~ bonus for when it is rainy!
It really is more like an indoor flea market than a carboot as there seem to be permanent stalls including a great second hand furniture one!

Anyhoo, the first time we visited we totally scored as we bought this little Shabby cutie!
As I mentioned in a previous post, I had been looking for a little old table that I could paint & pop at the top of the stairs & when I saw this I just couldn't resist.
Look how cute it is?
I have no idea what it is but I just loved it, especially the colour & the complete Shabby Chic-ness of it & it only cost £5 too!




It has this little drawer that pulls out & the top opens too. For some reason I think it would have been used in a nursery, it just seems so lovely & child like doesn't it?

I haven't actually done a thing to it yet, as I love it the way it is with this beautiful soft blue colour with lots of distressing going on. I'm certainly not going to paint it, I'm just going to clean it up a little by sanding the top a bit & perhaps painting the inside & pop a bit of left over wallpaper in the bottom just to make it feel a little cleaner & tidier.

I think this has to be the best thifty find I have had to date, I just love it!



Blogged for Today's Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality hosted by the lovely Rhonda, do pop along & see what other thrifty treasures people have found ...

*Hurray for Shabby Chic*

At the beginning of the year I was so saddened to hear that Rachel Ashwell had had to close the doors on her 'Shabby Chic' shops & then website too, I found it terribly sad that this had happened to such a giant of the interior world, it had me worried for a while as I thought if this could happen to Rachel Ashwell who had been in business for 20 years what hope did I have this year ~ were people not shopping anymore, what had happened?

I followed Rachel as she posted the most moving posts on her blog about her journey through this difficult time & especially with the death of her mother & it touched my heart seeing her write with her pure honesty & feelings to us all.

Of course we all knew that Shabby Chic wouldn't, couldn't die & that one day again the doors would once more be open ... and then I was overjoyed to read on her blog this week that yes Shabby Chic was resurrecting, such wonderful news & of course there is a new book too 'Shabby Chic Interiors' with which Rachel is doing book signing events! Hurray, I think this book will be on my Christmas wish list, I'm not one of the lucky few that get to meet Rachel at the London event. *sad face*

But hurray, Shabby Chic is back ~ Hurray for Shabby Chic!

*Lemon Meringue Pie for Taryn*

This is the recipe for you Taryn aged 14, that you left me a message about.

Ok so Lemon Meringue Pie from an old stork book, here goes ...

Ingredients:
1 cooked 18-20cm flan case
Filling:
25g Stork Margarine
3 x 15ml spoons (3 tbsp) cornflour
grated rind of 1 large lemon & juice made up to 275ml with water
50g sugar
2 egg yolks, size 3
Meringue:
2 egg whites, size 3
75g castor sugar
Glace cherries & angelica to decorate (see this book is very old!)

How to:
Oven pre-heart to fairly hot 200 degrees C ~ Gas mark 6 or slow 150 degrees C ~ Gas mark 2 see stage 8.
Shelf third from top

1. Place Stork, cornflour, juice & water & sugar in a medium sized saucepan.
2. Stirring continuously over moderate heat, bring to the boil & cook 2-3 minutes until thickened and smooth.
3. Cool slightly, beat in egg yolks & stir in lemon rind.
4. Pour into cooked flan case.
5. Whisk egg whites stiffly, until they stand in peaks.
6. Add sugar & whisk as stiffly as before.
7. Pile over lemon mixture, sealing filling completely.
8. To serve hot bake in fairly hot oven for 10-15 minutes.
9. To serve cold bake in slow oven for 20-30 minutes.

Serves 4-6

Hope this recipe makes sense as it is originally Pineapple Meringue Pie & the lemon is the variation recipe, so I substituted the pineapple for what they suggest for the lemon in the recipe so hope it makes sense & works!

*Happy Baking*

*Flying Somewhere?*

Are you flying somewhere this month, perhaps with Flybe.com?
Well if you are, do make sure you check out the Flybe.com in-flight magazine as these little Vintage Amethyst cuties are featured in the magazine this month ~ our heart-shaped chalkboard tags.
Unfortunately I haven't seen the magazine, no flight plans for me this month!
Boo hoo!

*Bits, Bobs & a Birdcage*

Thank you for all the dresser love in the previous post, anyhoo I thought I would continue with a few bits & bobs that live on the dresser ...

... so lets start with this purty birdcage ~ I am completely in love with it!
I had wanted a birdcage for like ever & tried & tried to find a pretty one but didn't have much luck or either they were really really expensive, but one day I thought to try TK Maxx & lo & behold I found this beauty!

It is a really good size, quite large actually & the door opens, it has a little swing & a little bowl holder too (too too cute) & the floor even pulls out for easy dusting ~ really what more could I have wanted, a good price perhaps? Yes I even got that! It was a bargain-licious £19.99!!! How fab is that?
I love it when little people visit the house as they are always amazed by it & always ask 'is this for a bird to live in?' & I have to explain that 'yes it is but unfortunately no birdie lives there & it is only for decoration' to which I always get a blank look!



... moving on, here we have a lovely white cake stand that my mummy bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago. On top sits this lovely cream butterfly which I picked up in Hamburg a few years ago, the card is a card I received from a couple of friends when I was in hospital a few years ago that I kept, I just loved the picture of the person 'collecting thoughts'.

The old cotton reel is just basically that ~ when we moved into James' grandads house years ago(our first house in fact) we inherited a lot of his Grandparents things, which a lot of them we still have & I inherited his grandmothers sewing box which was filled with lots of old cotton reels (I still have a lot of them that haven't yet been used up) this one was one that I did use up but couldn't bare to throw the lovely old wooden cotton reel away & so it sits here with other bits & bobs.

The felt flower is something that James' gallery owner gave me. I had had my eye on these for a while as they are so pretty & sometimes it just sits here so that I can pop it on a jacket or a bag just before I leave the house.

The little jar was just an old jar that I thought was too cute to recycle & so it was recycled in a different way ~ I have a problem with jars people!!! I just painted the top, rubbed it back a little, added a little oil paint for that grubby aged look & glued a little wooden heart on top & now it is a little cutie!



... and finally these are my pretty faux roses that I bought years ago, just popped in a little white pot from Ikea. I love these little pretties. They are sitting next to a white rack of hooks that I just prop up against the back of the dresser ~ this has never been hung on a wall it has always just been propped up against things & I love it that way easy to move when a new look is needed. I think it is far to pretty to be used to hang jackets & bags on, you just wouldn't see it so I love it just propped here.

There are a lot more pretties on the dresser but I have waffled on enough today so I will save some of those for another day ...