American Cottage Antiques

Pumpkins

2015-10-26T15:22:00.002-07:00

Happy Halloween

2015-10-10T13:39:00.001-07:00

Great Graphics Site

https://www.pinterest.com/source/cizgilimasallar.blogspot.com/

Tomato Worm

2015-10-03T09:41:00.002-07:00

Cute little tomato worm the gardening husband found munching on his plant, he might be history as of this post! ;(

For the love of Frogs ;))

2015-09-26T11:37:00.001-07:00

A few years ago I purchased the large frog at a garage sale and put it in the back yard then forgot about him. My retired husband found it recently and brought it up to the deck, then went online to ebay and found there were more needing to be adopted, now we have a family of four...you can't help but smile when you see them! I have other individual frogs around the yard and in the house, when my children were young we even had live frogs! The Frog Lady

Chef for a day

2015-07-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

Gougeres

My husband has taken over the kitchen this morning, YEA! The aroma of these little gems baking on
a rainy day is sooo comforting! Lot's of recipes online, this one is from LATIMES.COM Dec. 2010

2015-07-12T10:44:00.001-07:00

Playing with Photoshop

Happy July 4th

2015-07-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

November Flea Market Find

2014-11-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Child's Toy Wheel Barrow $6.00 found at a local flea market.

some red berries and gourds my husband found on his hike, plus a few fake pumpkins from last year to decorate my dining table. Just getting this done, too bad I'll be taking it down right after Thanksgiving!

October 2014

2014-10-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th. of July

2014-07-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

The Meaning of Flowers

2014-05-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

White Trash Cooking

2014-04-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine gave me this cookbook for Christmas in 1986 because she knew I had a southern background, Tennessee to be exact. While there are many good southern recipes in the book, the only one I use is Uncle Charlie's Cornbread. I don't make it often because of the bacon grease that I use rather generously! The basic recipe goes like this!

2 cups yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons Bacon Grease, melted, add to batter but leave a little in skillet.

Heat skillet on stove, pour in batter and put in oven.

Directions:

Preheat oven to hot (375). Heat bacon grease in 10-inch black iron skillet.

Mix cornmeal with buttermilk, egg, salt and baking soda. Stir in melted bacon grease. Pour in prepared skillet. Bake in preheated hot oven (400) till golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Serves 6

To kick it up a bit add any of these.....

1 C grated cheese
1 C creamed or whole kernel corn
1/4 C chopped Calif. chilies
1/2 to 1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes.

Composting

2014-04-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

add these things to a compost pile or

just dig them into the soil for happy worms.

Happy worms turn and feed the soil.

Garden Seeds

2014-03-31T16:26:00.001-07:00

Quote from Audrey Hepburn

.....more quotes from Audrey Hepburn

Pesto, I'm cooking today! ;)

2014-03-11T15:33:00.002-07:00

Love this graphic!

Some nice examples of early Samplers

2014-03-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

Antique samplers were predominantly stitched by young girls in private schools, in the 200 year period between 1650-1850.

Drought

2014-02-18T09:53:00.000-08:00

Watering in drought conditions...just a good reminder!

http://www.countryliving.com/outdoor/expert-gardening-tips-and-advice/watering-drought-conditions

Perennials, annuals, trees, shrubs and lawn all need about an inch of water a week to stay green and healthy. But it's best to water once a week, deeply, instead of several times a week, especially in times of drought. This helps the plants to develop deep root systems, as well as lessening water loss through evaporation.

In drought conditions, the least important thing to water is the lawn; although it will brown out, the grass will simply go dormant to await wetter times. Concentrate instead on your other plants, like trees and shrubs, which are highly susceptible to drought damage. A heavy coating of mulch such as pine bark will also be very helpful in conserving water and lightening the demand on your well.

6 Reasons Why the Young Don’t Dig Antiques

2014-02-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.worthpoint.com/blog-entry/my-children-do-not-want-it-6-reasons-young-dig-antiques

....loved this reader's reply!

I have been collecting since I was 19. I’m 50 now. I have two antique booths and a vintage clothing spot. My son who is almost 11 wasn’t really interested until I took him to a garage sale and I told him this ‘I will give you $20.00 – you go find something you think would sell in one of my booths and I will give you what we make off of it minus the costs incurred’. WOW, did that peak his interest.

His first item was a set of two bubble glass wood frames in perfect condition. He bought the set for $30.00 (ok he went over his $20 budget, but I new he couldn’t pass these up – it was such a GOOD pick for his first time). He recently sold them for $98.00 for the set. They lasted about three weeks in the shop. I went through the cost of the item and the percentage our store is entitled to (Curiosities in Beaverton, Oregon) along with a small percentage mom takes to pay for the booth. Once all the math was settled he received $54.00. He was so jazzed he decided to call himself L’il Picker.

We had a sign made and he now has a shelf at Curiosities where he displays and sells his items he finds at local garage and estate sales. I not only found a way to get him interested (and hooked), he’s also learning the business side of things. So much better than playing video games.

Vintage Christmas Tree

2013-12-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

at least online!

This is the little tree I keep in the garage with a few

favorite ornaments that I've collected.

Some are handmade by me or my children through the years.

Small cloth American flags that have been dyed with a Rit Dye solution.
Small folk art stockings hand painted with my folk art designs.
Antique framed tin type images from the 1800's, I found at a Garage Sale.
Hand painted red and white ornaments found at a thrift store years ago.
Red plastic boots from the 60's, I sometimes put small candy canes in them.

California Fall

2013-11-11T12:28:00.000-08:00

Love the change of season

The leaves on the liquidamber will soon be gone

A few summer petunia's are still holding on

Happy October

2013-10-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

Click on images to enlarge.

A friend set up shop at an outdoor Flea Market this past Sunday,

pulling her cute little travel trailer loaded with antique and vintage

items for sale. The three smaller pictures are of the inside, so cozy and cute!

She will soon be selling on line with her own website under the

name of Driving Miz Daisy!

The October weather couldn't have been more spectacular,

I purchased a small primitive weathered house

pictured below, now on my dining table.

Happy Early Halloween

2013-09-23T14:00:00.003-07:00

Back of tags

5 Tags $12.50 includes shipping in US

One of my favorite holidays, don't know why

except maybe I can let my imagination run amuck!

Too early maybe, but this is on my primitive red coffee table,
I'll probably be sick of it before the end of October!

This antique small black chair I use as a backdrop for different
holidays and always have something displayed on it, so
as to discourage friends from using it, as it's a bit fragile!

Time for Fall

2013-09-23T12:47:00.001-07:00

Fall Tablescapes

2013-09-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

Love the creativity of these table settings,
much more on her website...
http://homeiswheretheboatis.net/

A few favorite things

2013-08-13T13:30:00.001-07:00