Fabulous Finds for Under Four Dollars!

I really hit the jackpot on this week’s thrifitng finds! Several of them were brand new and at a ridiculously low price, so you know I loved that! Plus, they were actually very useful, so that always helps since I am really trying to reel myself in a little! lol First, I found these wonderful Southern Living at Home casserole caddies at my Goodwill a week apart! Strangely enough, the smaller one was priced higher at $2.92 while the rectangular one was only $2.32! Woo hoo!


They are in the now-retired Clairmont pattern and were originally around $30 or so each! My daughter bought the rectangular one at a Southern Living party a while back and now has me on the lookout for the square one! I think I am winning her over to GW hunting! lol


I found this one while on the hunt with my friend Linda at Nina’s Nest…a brand new Bodum French coffee press…their Starbucks version! And do you see the tag…$39.95? I paid $3.53! As my grandson says Wow, zowee, wowee, zow! lol I have a smaller one that I found a while back, but it makes only one cup, so I will enjoy this one! After all, who drinks only one cup of coffee? Not me!


I couldn’t pass up this blue and white pitcher because I had one like it that met with an unfortunate accident at the hands…er, paws…of our co-host Baby Kitty…which may explain why he is staying away from this post! lol I added it to the vignette on my hutch.


Another find still in the wrapper is this recipe binder for $3.53! I was really excited to find this one…


…because, as you may have seen in a previous post, this is how many of my recipes look! I want to leave them in their present form because the little scraps of paper remind me of where I was and who I was with when I wrote them down. The binder has clear plastic sleeves where I can store them and still see them.


Plus, I have recipes that I collected while I was in France that I want to leave as is. Notice that I had to convert the measurements to something I could understand. And figuring out the temperature on a French oven that only says 1, 2, 3 etc. on the dial is a whole different post! lol


Hmmm…this is the metamorphosis part of my post, but I can see this is going to take waaay longer than I thought! So this will have to be a metamorphosis in the works!  I’ll do this while I watch The Bachelorette! (Oops! Did I say that out loud?)


And here’s my favorite find…a teeny-weeny, but just-right sized rocking chair! I am going to leave this one as a little teaser for next week’s post when I will reveal its occupants!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Please visit these wonderful ladies and their beautiful blogs to see what they are up to and to find a list of this week’s participants!
Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Today’s Thrifty Treasures
Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
See you next time! A la prochaine!

Crazy For Clay: Part Deux

Somebody stop me! I am in love with those clay cookers from the early '80s! Well…obviously, I will have to stop collecting them because I am now officially out of room. I love the texture and earthy feel that they add to the wine rack in my breakfast nook. You might remember the first ones I bought from a previous post. They have wonderful German names like Schlemmertopf and Romertopf, as does one of my new additions (upper right). However, that one was actually made in Mexico…can you tell from the designs?…and was $3.53 at Goodwill.


But my favorite find this week was discovered for me by my Goodwill hunting pal, Linda at Nina’s Nest and was only $4.94! This one was unmarked, so Linda christened it a Henertopf! lol You have got to love the detail on this little hen!


My quest for clay is not limited to cookers. I also seem to be on a frenchy topiary binge, too. How could I resist this olive tree in a very frenchy terra cotta jar? It was also  a GW find and was only $4.50 since it was senior day!


I added it to the little vignette on the top shelf of my wine rack. I like the way it looks with all of my blue and white plates and chinoiserie.


My clay finds even extend to my front porch, where I have added this terra cotta bunny for a touch of spring. Isn’t he a cutie? He has his own faux moss…love it! I also added some small boxwoods for a little touch of green.


In case you are wondering, my burlap wreath (directions here) is still on the door. I’m having a hard time making myself take it down. Soon…


And finally, all of my finds this week weren’t clay, but this one is certainly clay-related! You can’t have 30 year old cookware without a 30 year old cookbook! 


Hmmm…the cookbook seems to have caused a stir! Here’s Baby Kitty pitching some ideas for his cooking show Catatouille to our CEO Ozzie in this rare glimpse into a Plate Addict staff meeting. Stay tuned to see what happens!
Thanks so much for stopping by!  Please visit these wonderful ladies and their beautiful blogs to see what they are up to and to find a list of this week’s participants!
Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Today’s Thrifty Treasures
Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
See you next time! A la prochaine!

A Sweet Surprise...and...Patio Peeping

Aren’t our fellow bloggers the most thoughtful people on earth? I was so excited to find a wonderful surprise in the mail this week from my sweet friend Sarah at Hyacinths for the Soul! It was wrapped in cute frenchy paper topped with a colorful tag in a checked pattern…Sarah’s signature!


I giggled out loud when I opened it because attached to the present was a lovely set of demitasse spoons... and…inside was one of my favorite French books!  I had to leave it behind when I retired since the book belonged to my school. Does she know me or what? Isn't she a wonderfully sweet and thoughtful friend?


The spoons are gorgeous, aren’t they? Sarah said that she found them at an estate sale and immediately thought of me. Can you see why? I love grapes! Look at the detail in the tiny bunches of grapes…beautiful!


The book is called Mots d’Heure: Gousses, Rames (sounds like Mother Goose Rhymes) and is a very clever play on words disguised as a manuscript of a 93 year old retired school teacher who died while grading papers! lol It is in French, but when read aloud sounds like English and is actually a collection of Mother Goose rhymes! I used to Xerox a few, have my students read them and wait for it to dawn on them! What fun! Can you recognize the ones shown above? Try reading them aloud...the answers are below.
Thanks so much, Sarah, for your thoughtfulness and some fun memories! You are a sweetie!
Answers: #1. Humpty Dumpty, #2. Little Jack Horner, #3. Little Miss Muffett.


And in case you are wondering how I actually managed to get a few photos without the staff getting into the act, here’s why…lots of action on our patio this spring!


Not only do we have our new neighbor, the baby bunny…


…but also an assortment of lizards sunning themselves…


..and a very angry mama mockingbird who brazenly came to the door to fuss at the staff!


Even my grandson and my granddog Paco have been enjoying the view! lol I hope that you are finding your day to be equally fun and interesting! Thanks so much for stopping by! See you next time! A la prochaine!

French Grain Sack Pillow...and...A Bunny Chef!

Woo hoo!I have finally finished a project that has been cooking in my little brain for a few weeks…this Ballard knock-off French grain sack pillow!

I fell in love when I saw this photo on their web site! Only one problem....it doesn’t seem to exist.  Sooooo….I decided to try to recreate it myself!

Since this was my first attempt at transferring a design on fabric, our CEO Ozzie decided that she needed to have hands-on control of the project…so to speak. lol


First, I blew up the photo of the design as large as I could on my computer. Next, I took it to Staples and had it enlarged to the size I wanted…15” high to fit a 20” pillow. After that, I colored the back with a charcoal art pencil (to make it like carbon paper), taped it to poster board and traced over the design to transfer it to the poster board. I decided not to attempt the letters, and instead cut out an area and added purchased stencil letters. Then it was just a matter of cutting out the design from the poster board with an Exacto knife. Can you say tedious? 


Finally, I taped the stencil to my fabric and filled it in with fabric paint…and voilà! Let’s peel off the stencil and see how it looks. Baby Kitty seems a little nervous.

Hmmm…not perfect, but not bad for a first attempt! It says mills of Provence. I love those roosters! The fabric is actually a remnant from a drop cloth I used to make a slip cover…so it was free.

And here is the completed project once again. I used a down insert that I got at Goodwill on senior day for about $2.00…cheap, since those rascals can cost up to $50 for this size! I figure that I spent a total of about $11 to create the pillow, mostly for supplies from Michaels using 40% coupons. The Ballard version (if it exists!) is $59! The best thing…now I have a stencil that I can reuse to create more pillows for almost nothing!


The down insert wasn’t my only thrifting find. Here’s my favorite…a bunny chef for $4.04. He is very heavy and nice…just needed a clean-up and a little TLC. What do you think he is?


He’s a recipe card holder! Cute, huh? Only one problem…


…this is how most of my recipes look! lol And I like it that way. Sooo…


…I decided to turn him into a chalk board! I just cut a leftover piece of poster board to the right size and sprayed it with chalkboard paint and taaa daaa! And I can switch to a card holder whenever I need to! I added him to the vignette on my kitchen counter with a little message from Julia Child…(said in her voice)…Bon Appétit!

Thanks for stopping by! Please visit these wonderful ladies and their beautiful blogs to see what they are up to and to find a list of this week’s participants!
Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Today’s Thrifty Treasures
Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for the Saturday Nite Special
See you next time! A la prochaine!

Changes in the Toile Bedroom...and...Easy Frenchy Candles

My thrifting finds this week have been added to my toile guest bedroom, where I decided to take out some of the color and concentrate on the black and white. Can you spot the changes?


I added a funky black Grecian urn lamp to the bedside table…love it! I think I am becoming a lamp junkie! This one came from a flea/antique dealer who had decided to retire and had all of her stuff reduced…so I paid $16!! Woo hoo! But, my favorite change…


…is the addition of these frenchy candles! I used some brass candlesticks that I painted white for a previous post and then added some jute twine to shabby them up a little. But…it’s the candles that I love! I stole the idea directly from my friend Linda at Nina’s Nest who featured the cutest frenchy clothespins on her blog last week!


I simply rolled the candles across this Hobby Lobby Le London stamp using some waterproof ink and then let them dry…that’s all! And then…


…I went wild! lol I had to stop myself from stamping every candle in the house! Here’s one I added in the dining room!


Is it not amazing? And, best of all, I already had the stamp and ink, so it was free!!


I also changed the vignette on the chest to go with my concentration of black and white by adding an antique mirror, an old paperback book that I covered with sheet music, a starfish and a few white pitchers. I have left the paintings because I think I like the use of some red and yellow on the wall. I can’t just go completely without color!


And finally, I have hung the bunny pictures near the bed, added a $2.52 rooster from Goodwill that I painted white and decorated with a vintage tag, and added some Provence lavender to my kitty pitcher. The lavender is from Hobby Lobby and is some of the most realistic I have ever seen! And…for you faux haters, I do have some real lavender in pots on my patio! lol


And for those of you who are wondering about the whereabouts of our handsome co-host…here’s a hint of where to find him. I don’t know what it is about this room that makes him want to hide…and then jump out and scare you! lol So try to pretend that you are surprised!
The staff here at Plate Addict would also like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all of our dear friends in Blogland! Enjoy your special day!

Thanks for stopping by! Please visit these wonderful ladies and their beautiful blogs to see what they are up to and to find a list of this week’s participants!
Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Today’s Thrifty Treasures
Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
See you next time! A la prochaine!

Fun Frenchy Finds...and...Some Staff Shenanigans!

My Goodwill hunting this week didn’t net a lot of finds, but I do love what I got!  First, I found this faux  lavender topiary for $7.50…a little more than I like to pay, but its obvious frenchiness won me over! Doesn’t it just look like a little bit of Provence?


And look at the wonderful faux moss on the pot, too! The blooms look so real that the sales clerk checked to see if they had that lovely lavender fragrance! lol I think you might see what’s coming next…


…but I am saving that job for our lovely co-hostess Kitty! She is excited to have a chance to fill in for Baby Kitty, who is otherwise occupied, as you will soon see!


She wants to show you our bargain of the week…this set of French cheese plates for only $2.82! Woo hoo!


I love the colors and the little frenchy designs…especially l’agneau dansant…the dancing lamb!


Another recent flea market find is Mister Mouse, who became the star of the little vignette on my media cabinet. If you have known me very long, you know that all you have to do is put clothes on a mouse and I will buy it! lol He looks like he just stepped out of the pages of my favorite childhood book, The Wind in the Willows. I like the change he adds to this area! You might also notive a HUGE change if you remember that not too long ago, this was the spot for the world's oldest working console television...then the world's smallest television! Now I have a flat screen like the rest of the modern world! lol


And now for an update on the corks that I placed around my transplanted faux olive tree…the staff hasn’t really bothered them very much…so far.


Hey! Wait a minute, Isabella! What are you trying to hide?


Hmmm…it appears that she has chosen one of the corks as her toy and added it to the staff’s toy basket! lol No kidding…I saw her do it! She fished a cork out of the planter and was playing with it when she saw me coming toward her. So...she picked it up in her mouth, ran to the basket and dropped it in! I guess this one is now officially a kitty toy! Smart girl, huh?


As for Baby Kitty…he is preoccupied by our new backyard neighbor...a baby bunny! It seems that there will be no outdoor romps for the staff for a while! Perhaps our co-host will be ready to return to his duties next week. Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Please visit these wonderful ladies and their beautiful blogs to see what they are up to and to find a list of this week’s participants!
Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Today’s Thrifty Treasures
Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
See you next time! A la prochaine!