Shabby-ville

(A happy image that I think came from Martha Stewert)

When Dad and Dona went out to the Waldo Flea Market and came back with about 50 mismatched china dessert plates for the wedding, a vintage shopping frenzy started in my soul. Of course I rushed right over when they brought them home, dragging Jeyko along, excitedly. They are all so pretty!  Jeyko and I found a couple other tall stacks of china/pottery dessert plates in Grandmommy's garage which she left us to plunder for useful objects. We set those aside with two paper sacks full of various sized mason jars and a big laundry basket filled with other little vintage knick-knacks like milk glass bowls and old lamps, buckets and bottles. A tub of vintage floral pattern sheets and a purple martin bird hotel that Papaw made long ago still await us for a little clean up and TLC.

 These are the plates that Dad and Dona bought for the reception.

Also last weekend, Jeyko and I happened upon a shipload of lumber in Grandmommy's barn and a gallon of white paint in the garage and set to work building a sign like the ones we've seen in other blogs. It felt good to finally pu some of that old stuff in the barn to use while at the same time, making something pretty. As Jeyko fixed up some old broken down saw horses, I sawed and hammered some slats to a 4x4 and rescued a little birdhouse my Papaw had built long ago, which was sitting under the carport. Our flower girl, Jade, painted everything and provided the witty commentary. I managed to get a few cute pictures of them as they worked before it got so dark we had to go inside.

And finally today, we had some down time and no definite plans on how to fill it up. So, pulling off the interstate on our way home from a visit with Mama at Grandmommy's house, I rolled into the parking lot of Webb's Antique Mall before Jeyko (who was engrossed in his book) knew what was going on. Feeling the car coming to a stop over rough gravel, he looked up to see me grinning mischeviously and pointing to the giant letters painted across the front of the building. He groaned but submitted good-naturedly to more than an hour of walking around booths of books, plates, crates, clothes and funrniture with its variety of dusty smells and wide range of price tags (anywhere from acceptable to ridiculous). Just as he was finally ready to give in and head back to the car to read, I hit the jackpot.

 The cake stand isn't actually a cake stand but a china platter that I found for six bucks and a small milk glass candlestick holder. In the picture I just balanced the platter but once I have them glued together it will make the perfect stand for Mama's delicious carrot cake that she's making us to cut into.

 The large pink glass compote bowl was a little more expensive at $20, but it will look so beautiful on the dessert table, filled to the top with fresh fruit and berries.

 The two hats and hatbox were just an extra little goody I picked up for myself because the were cheap and so unique. I'm weak when it comes to funky vintage hats. I had to play with them a little=)

So that's the latest on our shabby chic ventures. In other news, Mama and I ordered my wedding cake from Publix yesterday, which I finally caved on and decided to go with plain vanilla with buttercream (I wanted carrot cake with cream cheese icing, but that tends to melt). All the same, Publix's vanilla cake and buttercream is delicious and this cake (and wedding!) is going to be beautiful!!!! I'm so excited.

Hello Spring!

Martha Stewert says it's spring, so it must be a fact! Despite our 'save-money-every-way-we-can' system, I couldn't help buying up her new gardening issue of Living (which is beautiful by the way!) full of tips and wonderful-looking, veggie-ful recipes. Speaking of which, Jeyko and I started our own gardens up this weekend...he with the produce (asparagus, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, corn) and I with the flowers that may or may not make up my bouquet (zinnias, poppies, cosmos and echinacea) and a random scattering of native southern wildflowers. It's safe to say that our spring fever has been in full swing, but it's nice to finally be able to do something about it.

Dona and I started addressing envelopes and we got all the invitations and RSVPs printed out. My good Uncle Fredrick pruned all the trees in the orchard and with the help of Jeyko's family and my sweet cousins, Hannah and Jade, we got all the branches into piles ready to be hauled away or burned. All in all I'd say we've had a fairly productive weekend:)

Other than that I managed to make a little time for painting after discovering this beautiful new blog called Hey Gorgeous, where right at the top is a little project that the blogger chick came up with to revitalize her boring, white master bedroom. I immediately fell in love with this:

The quote, from Train's "Marry Me" lyrics, was just so sweet and simple...and totally something I would love to steal in a heartbeat! Besides that, her whole color scheme is just so restful and cozy. I love that gray is no longer seen as a bland color, since it has always been one of my favorite hues. [Soft gray reminds my of kittens...(just a side note:)]. And because her little labour of love inspired me so much, I not only made the split decision...I MUST PAINT...I also was aesthetically powerless not to stalk almost her entire history of posts to seek out more of her ingenously creative endeavors, and here is the other sweet something I came up with somewhere around page 4 or 5 of older posts (i think):

She did this in lieu of a guest book and I love it. Jeyko and I have been shopping around for all sorts of alternative guest signing projects that we might actually enjoy looking at again or displaying in the future. So far our favorites (woven wall art, quilting, thumb print tree) have either been more expensive than we'd like or would not leave enough room for well-wishes alongside signatures. This cute idea wouldn't be near as much work on our part, either. And, as we were cleaning the orchard yesterday, we found where my uncle had uprooted one of the dead apple trees. Seeing it as a perfect canvas display (it seriously looks so cool!), we set it aside where hopefully it won't be messed with or get thrown away or pitched into a bonfire. We're thinking we could hang a tin can full of pens from one of the branches with ribbon for signing and nail a couple banners to it that say: 'Ashleigh and Jeyko sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G'. Pretty cute, right?

And then, because I was saving these ideas from her blog, I ran across some other pictures I'd saved a while back from 100 Layer Cake.

And since my daling fiance just informed me that we are about to be late to my dad's house to visit my Aunt for her big 5-0 birthday, I'm afraid I'll have to leave you here to ponder these pretty images on your own (okay, so I'm not really too afraid)!

Love!