Cast My Vote and Picked A Winner

Today was wonderful

 with a warm house, electricity and sunshine!

We are feeling so fortunate as my sister still has no power...

...and of course, so many people have lost everything as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

Mr. Flea and I got out early in order to cast our votes

 in the Presidential election.

I had a little time to take a few pictures

 of my pretty deep green Belgium bottles and French canning jars.

Thinking of using more green and red

 in my Christmas decorations this year.

I used to always use this color palette...

but then... 

...moved more toward a white and natural

 Christmas the last few years.

  I like both.

 In fact...

I also love a blue and silver and gray Christmas combination.

Perhaps I will use all three!

I will probably leave out my lavender and purple bottles

 when I decorate for Christmas ...even though...

...that could be pretty too!

It's obvious I have no idea yet which way I will go! :)

Speaking of purple bottles...

...thank you for all your comments!

The randomly selected winner of the Giveaway is...

ZuZu from A Cottage In The Woods.

Thanks again so much for all your support,

 words of encouragement and prayers.

 You folks are the best!

:)

French Canning Jars

Several weeks ago as I was poking about my local Anthropologie

 I spotted these two old one litre French canning jars.

They each have an embossed image of a  thistle on the front

 as well as on the glass lid...

...and are marked La Lorraine

I love the wire bale attachment mechanism for the lids

 and the color of the glass...

...light green to aqua

Coincidently...

... and quite recently, my very kind, clever and patient friend,

 Julie of Being Ruby

helped me with a few technical changes on my blog.

  And in appreciation,

 I sent her two blue Ball mason jars with zinc lids ...

...which she has been wanting

 and has found hard to come by in Australia.

I guess these two French jars were waiting for me to find them

 ...to replace the Ball jars that left home!

Hope you have all been well since I have been absent

 here in the land of blogs...

My time has been well spent visiting and having fun with

 family members, who came from all over,

 to celebrate the holidays with my parents here in Florida.

Now that most have flown the coop...

I will try to do a bit of thrifting and plan to go to the 

flea market at Webster.

I also have an exciting visit planned next week

 with a special blogging friend.

 I will let you know more about that soon!

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last few posts...

and although I have been focused on my family...

... I am always touched by and appreciate your prayers

 and well wishes for Mom.

Take care...:)

Decidedly Red

I think I have made a decision.



OK, not a life altering decision...
... but a decision, albeit a small one.



Since the overwhelming majority of you liked the look of the buttons...
...I will keep part of my collection in one of the old French canning jars.



To complement the button jar, I decided to put my French red and white tapes, along with some vintage red buttons and laces in the second jar.



...a few pretty ribbons and baker's twine...



I purchased several of the tapes from Tongue in Cheek Antiques...
...a few on Ebay...



...and the card wound with the red 55 tape came from French General...
...I received it as part of my party favor from Charlotte Lyons when I attended her Sweater Craft Sessions! ...that was a really fun day!




I think they look perfect now!
The red is so cheerful...



...and there is still room to add more bits and bobs and memories...
...I will have to look around...
...think I have an old game piece with a red 52 on it...

Do you see how easy it is to make me happy?

I wonder what Paula put in her two jars?

What do you think? Did I make a good decision?
:)