Fall Harvest Mantel.Natural Elements and Grandma

Our fireplace is the focal point in our family/living room and I love decorating it with the seasons. The oil on canvas fall scene picture that I chose to display this year is unframed for a lighter look.

Grandma raking leaves always gets a place of honor on the mantel.

Twigs in the crock are out of the yard.Copper and rust is so great with Fall colors. The old rusty tin bird atop the natural branch ladder and the bottom of the old crock has the same rusty look. Love the cracks and the wire around the neck. Looks like it sat in rusty water and stained the bottom area. If you look closely, you will see some real bird nests. The one on the ladder is not real ... but looks like it. I love to bring things of nature in the house.

Do not know what kind of bird this is but he has a real long tail, may be a roadrunner He is white metal. (pot metal)

This is a hand-carved wooden ball and it is almost perfectly round.     Do you know how

hard it is to carve a solid round ball? This was made by a man who replicated Indian artifacts such as clubs, arrowheads and anything they fought or hunted with. The story is that this would be a weapon that was used in a sling and hurled at the intended target. It is great and you can see the whittle marks.  The antler is a natural shed or drop from an deer. These are found in the pastures; if left, small field animals will gnaw on them.

The wonderful copper deer with the awesome patina is salvage from a weathervane.

 

Love these Autumn pictures.

More copper color in the copper and grapevine pumpkin, candle stick and books.

The cement figure is the base to a vintage birdbath and I added a planter with Faux fern.Hanging on the back of the chair behind the calico pumpkinis a bird nest in an enamel dipper. It is a House Wren's nest. They build a very big nest for such a little bird.

Hope you enjoyed sitting by the fire while I
showed you my Fireplace mantel.

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Audrey Z ... Timeless Treasures

Linking to: Life on Lakeshore Drive 

Liebster Award

  Matashie at The Place kindly awarded me the Liebster award. 

What a surprise ... did not know what I did to deserve this, but will try to live up to whatever I have to do.

This award is to showcase up and coming blogs with less then 200 followers.

The rules are to post and copy the award to your blog, thank and link back to the person who gave you the award and pick 5 more blogs and leave them a comment.

Here are my picks:

Piper @ Mercy Saved Me

Tina @ Living With Cheese Curls

Amy @ Califonia Dreaming

Michelle @ Crazy in Iowa

Chelsea @ Kiss My Brass

Blessings and Good Luck to each of you.

Brown Transferware & Bleach Bottle Country Living Copy-Cat

 

I have a few pieces of vintage Brown Transferware that I wanted to display this Fall but just needed some inspiration.
When I saw this arrangement staged by
Terri Cannon-Nelson in November 2011 County Living ... I was ready to go. I don't know if mine is a Copy-Cat or just an inspiration ... but here it is.
Hope you enjoy it and can be inspired too.

(Please click on the pictures to enlarge)  

This is a vintage oak Library table in our Entry ... my favorite place to stage seasonal decorations. I was ready to remove my Harvest decorations and when I saw this article in Country Living magazine, I knew this is what I wanted before Christmas decoration went up. We recently hung this large green mirror that is a swivel mirror from an old dresser with the 1950's antique finish and has lots of character and chippiness. It is big but just what I needed to open this hall up. It reflects so much and may make things look a little busy especially after I stood the round mirror against it ... there are lots of great reflection. It also reflects from the Living Room and Dining Room.  In the large mirror, you can see the picture of the Victorian lady that is hanging on the opposite wall and part of the picture is reflected in the round mirror. . Several of my crocks are displayed underneath. I am looking for an antique crock cupboard to put here to display my crocks.  I added the wreath with the antler to add some rustic charm.

 In the magazine picture, it looks like the brown glass piece is a Cloche ... I have not seen a Cloche like this before. Awesome and wish I had one. I used a vintage amber/brown Clorox bleach bottle and a small Lysol bottle. Around the neck of the large bottle hangs a vintage, rusty jail key tied with raffia. This brown glass is so beautiful in the sun.  

This is the inside of the large bowl. Actually this is a pitcher/wash bowl set.
It is so beautiful inside; I did not want to fill it with grapes. The wooden candlestick is a great match with this brown transferware. It came from an Estate sale this year. Instead of a candle, I placed a $Tree ceramic pumpkin on top. Other small pumpkins are from $Tree also. I have had the brown transferware for a long time. The pitcher has damage to the lip but it is still a show-stopper. I bought the set at a Garage Sale for $2.50 just because it was damaged. The pattern is more of a reddish/brown, but I believe it is still referred to as Brown Transferware.

Lovely tea pitcher. It is marked MASON'S  "Ascot"  England.

Sitting behind the pitcher is an outstanding iron candle holder. That was a $5.00 Estate item this year and it is the best cast iron candle holder that I have ever owned.

 This grouping is sitting atop a huge dictionary to give balance to the rest of the display.

It was kind of lost just sitting on the table.

Thanks for viewing this long post. Hope you get inspired to do a late Fall decoration.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

Linking in to: WOW Us Wednesday #40

CHIC ON A shoestring DECORATING

Debbiedoo's Blogging & Blabbing

Blessings ... Audrey Z

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Roosters and Chicken Wire

This awesome old white Rooster found at an Estate sale this year, just peaked my interest in adding new "Roos" to my old collection of Roosters. It has been fired once and is a wonderful unpainted matt finish. He may get painted one of these days. I still have some of my old roosters, but added several new ones this year for my Harvest decorations. At one time, I even had a Rooster wallpaper border in my kitchen.

Country Living featured Chicken Wire Cloches that looked so neat in the kitchen. Being expensive and hard to fine, I just figured I could make them. I had chicken wire and all I needed was a form. I found an old lamp shade that would work and made this.

It does not have a top or bottom so it is very versatile ... 

great cloche to protect my fragile glass roosters.

(will do a tutorial at a later time). 

(Please click pictures to see a larger view)

This shelf is an antique shelf/table which can be displayed in several positions ... even folds out to make a table.

These two pictures above this shelf are circa 1872 ... a lithograph from the Illustrated Book of Poultry
by J.w. Ludlow.

I made this bell shaped Cloche  …. but the metal form was pretty heavy and really not the right shape but displayed nicely.  I added a huge wooden finial to the top and tied an old rusty key with raffia to that. Looks good teamed up with my rooster clock.

A friend wanted a chicken wire charger … OKAY, no biggie, so I made a chicken wire charger.

 I had everything I needed, so here it is with my awesome white Rooster with the Charger.

You can see the Chicken Wire Charger Tutorial Here

A big metal rooster, pumpkins and fruit make a nice center piece on my Harvest Table. 

Hope you enjoyed my Roosters and Chicken Wire.
I welcome your comments and questions.

Thanks … Audrey Z.  Timeless Treasures

I have been featured ...  

Joining:
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Chicken Wire Charger Tutorial

I had seen Chicken Wire Cloches featured in some decorator magazines and loved the look. I decided that I could make them because they were so expensive to buy. I made two and then my friend says she loved chicken wire cloches but wanted
Chicken Wire Chargers.

… OKAY ... no biggie,
so I set out to make a Chicken Wire Charger.
I had everything I needed, so here it is.

I removed a wire ring from a tomato cage … the largest one on this cage was 12” and I thought that would do for a trial run.  Next, I cut a piece of chicken wire about two or three inches larger than the ring. I laid it flat on my work bench and stretched it really tight, securing with nails, staples and telephone wire clips to keep it taut … then placed the ring on top and folded the excess wire over the ring toward the center. 

 Using a screwdriver, I pushed the wire down neatly and as close to the ring as I could.                  

When wire was tight all the way around, I removed the nails, staples or clips, releasing  it from the worktable.

This is what you should have.

The wire should be tight and should not move. Then comes the fun and few finger pricks from the cut wire points.  Cut away some of the excess wire that you folded over, leaving just enough to wrap a couple laps of a single wire around the ring.

 One lap may be enough. Try not to wrap with any of the twisted wire as it will be too bulky. If possible, lay it along side the metal ring if you end up with the twisted section at the ring.  Be careful not to cut the wire too short or cut the wire and mess up the shape of the chicken wire design. 

Wrap it around the hoop and cut away any excess wire. You may be able to remove a short piece of the wire that is twisting the wire design together. If you don’t need it … remove it. The less you have to wrap around the ring, the neater it will be.  Try to place the ends of the wires where they will not puncture a finger, like to the inside of the ring.

Then you will have this. Neatly attached to the ring and tight as a drum. Not as hard to do as it looks.  

I laced the edge with jute twine but you could use leather, narrow burlap ribbon or fabric.  Try to place the jute over the places where the wire is tied. Not possible on every wrap, but what you can cover,  will help. 

Tie a bow when you complete the lacing.

These Charges would really make a nice statement on your Chicken or Rooster table setting.

This is a 10¾” plate … not much charger showing.

 This works out nicely with a 10” plate, but I would like it to be 13½” inches for the larger plate. I am looking for an affordable ring this size … maybe a wreath form. I found a perfect one on a tomato cage at Lowe’s, but would cost about $6.00 for one cage and would be too expensive to make eight and taking it off would ruin the cage. Will keep looking.

I only made one charger and added it to this place setting on my Harvest Table so you could see how nice it looks.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. 
You can see my Roosters and Chicken Wire HERE.
If you have a suggestion for a ring, I would appreciate hearing from you.
I welcome your comments and questions.

Thanks … Audrey Z.   Timeless Treasures
Joining:
Funky Junk Interiors
Debbiedoos Blogging and Blabbing
Knick of Time

A State of Mind and a Thankful Heart

This statement was on the front of our Church program this morning and it meant so much to me because I see so much beauty and receive so many pleasure from all of God's creations.  Maybe I do have a thankful heart and should express it more.  

It was a cloudy, dreary day but I felt a strong need to take pictures of things that I find beauty in and share them with you.  I am thankful for so much and so blessed.

Thankful for my husband, children, grandchildren and friends.

Dried roses are beautiful and bring loving thoughts of the giver.

Thankful for the little birds and marvel at the nests that take months to build. The birds never cease to amaze me and bring me happiness to have them around; watch as they feed and care for their young and fill the air with their songs.  

I found these beautiful tiny feathers today, likely from the flock of birds that stopped over here for food and water before flying on to a warmer climate. First time I had seen them.

Simply pleasure.
One year black birds built their nests in this old birdhouse and it was so much fun watching the babies try to get out and fly away.

Even the moss pieces that grow on our trees have a beauty of their own.
(Not appreciated by most)

 Aged, weathered wood. This is on an old milk stool ... if it could only talk ... what stories it could tell.

Beautiful patina that can't be duplicated.

Nature's wonder.

A old fire bucket that may have helped save someone's house or barn and the people who helped.

 More weathered wood ...

Butterfly and Flowers ...
This is mid November and our Butterfly Weeds are just now blooming and we have a few butterflies. These usually bloom in June and July but with the drouth, nothing bloomed.

Watching the rain trickle down our gutter downspout chain of buckets
and so thanksful for every drop.

A hose connected to the bottom gives our thirsty trees a drink. 

(If you want to make a bucket and chain downspout ...let me know)

I hope you enjoyed these simple pictures and remember to give thanks for the wonders all around
that we just take for granted.  

Thanks for viewing my blog ... Questions, suggestions and comments are apprecited.

Blessings to everyone.

Audrey Z.

Linking to: Debbiedoo's

Donna ... My Mother's Favorite Daughter

Gypsy Heart

Funky Junk Interiors