Are You Green with Envy?

I know you are going to be so jealous of my "new" china cabinet.   But please, try to control yourselves as I show you this fabulous transformation!  Good thing you don't know exactly where I live 'cause I know some of you would try to come over here and sneak it out in your purse.

Okay, enough bragging about my fabulous china cabinet.  (Notice I've used fabulous twice - well thrice - now.  That's 'cause it looks so fabulous!)  You want to see it, right?

Well, first you have to look at the before....

(Oh...you need to know that I took the before pictures very early in the morning and the lighting was not fantastic.)

This was an unfinished china cabinet my husband gave me several years ago for Christmas.  He stained and finished it himself so it's taken a long time to convince him to help me move it so I could paint it.  It was nice, but kind of boring.  (Ooooh! Hope you didn't read that Worker Bee!)

First I had to find the right green.  After searching for awhile, I found this gorgeous green from the Laura Ashley colors at Lowes.  It's called Moss 4.  We got a satin finish with the built in primer.  It seemed to work okay, but the white I bought for the inside did not provide good coverage.  I had to pull out my favorite primer/paint from Home Depot.  That paint has worked great for me every time I've used it.

After the paint had cured - for two weeks 'cause I got too busy to finish the project - I sanded some edges and corners for a distressed look.  Then I took some walnut stain (Zar brand) and rubbed it on and then rubbed it off.  It went very fast and was very easy to do.  This technique came from the delightful Miss Mustard Seed's technique on her inspiring blog.

Well, if I do say so myself, (and honeys, I DO say so myself) it looks.....................

FABULOUS!

*******************

Now I need your advice or suggestions.  When we were doing the fabulous birthday garage clean up I found these drawer fronts.  They belonged to a file cabinet that was destroyed in a very unfortunate accident that I'll have to write about another time.  (Suffice to say that I had a vertical bruise on my tailbone....I'll let you draw your own conclusions.)

So, I think they might be interesting hanging on the wall.  Worker Bee was kind enough to hold them up so I could take a couple of pictures so I could come to you for advice.  

Now Worker Bee thinks they look like they might belong in a morgue or a funeral parlor.  

Do you see that?  Did he ruin them for you?   

Let me know what you think and then you'll have to see what I do.  I'm open to other suggestions for them too.

Well, I'm so wicked proud (stinkin' and wicked are my go to adjectives of the season) of my china cabinet so I'm linking up to:

Cindy's at the fantastic Cottage Instincts

Cielo's whimsical House in the Roses

Susan's  over at the lovely Between Naps on the Porch

Joining Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Friday too since she helped inspire all of this greensation!

(Yes, I do make up words - frequently. Drives Worker Bee crazy!)

Hope you enjoyed my FABULOUS transformation.  Now, which dishes should we use for dinner tonight?  You will be joining us, right?  I'd love for you to come.

You know I can't leave you without one more pic....

Be sure to stop by here and leave a comment if you want to enter my first year blogthday giveaway!
Everybody is welcome!

A LIttle Pink Tea...

Here's a little pink love for you today.

Sweet little pink tea cup and some inspiring tea books -  

Pink, of course!

(This is not Depression Glass, I'm pretty sure  it is a reproduction. My sister-in-law's sister gave these to me.  I have three of them.)

How about a Bridal Shower tea?

I love the Country Tea Parties book because it has a different tea party idea for each month.

Doesn't a winter tea sound fun?  

Maybe this will be the year I pull it off.  

I think I could dream of hostessing tea parties all day long....

Have you seen this Mary Engelbreit book on tea parties?  It was published several years ago, but it is such a sweet little book to visit.

Won't you join in a cup of tea today dear friend?

I'm so glad you came by today for Pink Saturday.

Thank you Beverly for hostessing this sweet little blog party.

Oh and while you're here, please feel free to enter my first blogthday giveaway!

Totin' My Own Horn for Rednesday!

What could be better for carrying all your stuff around in then a sweet vintage fabric tote?

How about two totes?

This is the front of  bag #1.

These are just so stinkin' cheery!  

I love how she put these fabrics together.  She has a great eye!

This is the back of bag #1.

Here's the front of bag #2.

(The back is mostly pink so I didn't share it today.)

Perfect for carrying magazines and those all important reading glasses.  

(These are called Weedin' Glasses - more stinkin' cuteness!)

I purchased these from Cherished Vintage when she was selling on ebay.  I've also noticed that the sweet Amy over at Into Vintage has one of these up for sale in her etsy shop.  

Hope you enjoyed these splashes of red!

Somehow red always seems to cheer me up, how about you?

Want some more cheer?  

Then head on over to It's a Very Cherry World and see what Sue has put together for us all!

Please stop by and leave a comment if you would like to enter my giveaway!

And thank you so much for buzzin' in!  Such a delight to see you!

P.S.  And yes, I do believe a horn would fit in one of these totes!  

It's My Blogthday and I'll Giveaway If I Want To.....

This giveaway is now closed, winner to be announced.


Giveaway if I want to.....

Giveaway if I want to.....

You'd giveaway too if it happened to you!

(sometimes I am just WAY too silly)

Holy Guacamole!  

It's almost been one year since I started Sweet Bee Cottage and I can't believe how much I've enjoyed it and how many wonderful friends I have met.  

So in honor of my one year blogthday and my recent birthday I'm having a giveaway dedicated to some of the things I love.

First:

A vintage Fire King oven ware white mixing bowl.  It's very milkglass looking.  I love milkglass and I love Fire King, especially the jadeite version.  I've never seen a white one before so I scooped it up just for you.

Second:

A Mary Engelbreit mug.  Perfect for soup or a latte.  I have a serious Mary Engelbriet addiction.  

Third:  

A sweet little vintage hankie.  The blue rosebuds and pink dots are embroidered on this pretty little thing.  I keep all my vintage hankies in an apothecary jar on my dresser in our Bee Suite.

Fourth:

A vintage red handled apple corer.  For those of you who visit often, you know I love my vintage red kitchen utensils.

Fifth: 

A sweet cherry creamer.  Gotta love the cherries!  It's not vintage, but it sure is cute!

Sixth:  

A bar of Mary Engelbreit soap.  Can you see the cherries?  Triple milled and Made in the USA!  Smells like soap!

Seventh:

A vintage table runner/dresser scarf with hand embroidered dogwood blossoms.  Very pretty and it could be used to make some sweet items.  I really should wear my reading glasses (ohhh - now you can guess that that recent birthday was one in the 40s) when I go shopping.  I didn't see the spots on this until I photographed it today.  

Eighth:

A Sweet Bee latte mug!  So you can think of me when you drink your coffee!

Ninth: 

(Don't worry, you'll get more than 5 beans!)

Half a pound of my FAVORITE coffee beans (hope you have your own grinder), Java Estate Dark from SLO Roasted in Los Osos, California.  

Who knows?  I might even find a few more treasures to add!  You do know I've been cleaning out my garage!  LOL

What do you have to do to enter this fabulous giveaway?

For one chance, leave a comment on this post.  Be sure to leave me a way to contact you if you are the lucky winner!

For a second chance, mention this on your blog, come back and leave a second comment.

You DO NOT have to be a follower, but if you feel like following, please feel free to join in.

And.............drum roll please..........this giveaway is open to the ENTIRE WORLD!  

Entries will be accepted until midnight PDT on September 29, 2010 and winner to be announced on September 30.

This is a big thank you to all of you who have visited, followed, left comments, or emailed me this year.  

You are all just a big bunch of sweeties!!!

Thank you so much for buzzin' in!

I always enjoy seeing your sweet faces.

How I Spent My Birthday.....

You guys will understand, right?

Sometimes just getting something done can be a special treat, right?

Okay.........

this might sound kind of pathetic.............

but for my birthday...........

(drum roll here)...............

we cleaned out the garage.  

Hallelujah!

You won't believe some of the treasures I found.

Great garden tool caddy.....

Once upon a time it lived in our bathroom and it had jars filled with cotton balls, q-tips, toothpaste, etc.   But when Baby Bee came along it was moved out in favor of putting all the things she could get into in a secure place.  And it has languished in the garage now for several years.

Two - yes two - wooden Pepsi crates.  When my grandparents passed 20 years ago these were some of the things I snagged.  My mom was surprised these were Pepsi because I guess she had an uncle who worked for Ne-Hi and they always drank Ne-Hi.  Can you see how one of this is a lot taller than the other?  Too bad I didn't find these when Pottery Barn was selling them for quite a bit of $.  

Love these lawn chairs.  They bring back such memories.  My grandparents had four of these.  One of my cousins wanted them and so did I.  So we split them in half!  She has two (I hope she still has them.) and I have the other two.  

Had to take a close up.  I have no idea how old these are, but I would guess from sometime in the 1960s.  I can remember them from at least 1970 and I would guess anything from the 70s would have been plastic.  

Edited to add:  My mom remembers these lawn chairs from when Grandma and Grandpa still lived in the country.  They didn't move to town until 1956 or '57 so they are at least 50 years old.  And Grateful Gramma is right - they sure did pinch your legs!

One of my favorite things at Grandma and Grandpa F's were these kid sized lawn rakes.  There were four of us grandkids and we each had one in a different color.  I don't know what happened to them, but I wish we'd each gotten to take ours home with us.

This vase is from the White Pottery Co.  From what research I've done, it doesn't seem to be very well known so I guess this will not be financing Baby Bee's college fund.  I cleaned it up and brought it back inside.  I've had it for about 20 years too.  It belonged to my aunt's (by marriage) mom, Mrs. C.  Her home was filled with beautiful vintage things and my aunt was kind of enough to offer us a few.  She's all cleaned up now and living in the living room.

Now this little cherry canister is not vintage, but isn't it cute?  

I also got this from my grandparents.  It was unframed and very fragile so I had a custom mat cut for it.  Have you ever seen anything like it?  I would love to find out more about the artist but I can't see a signature anywhere.  

We started as soon as I got home from school - around 4:00 and worked until 11:00.

(There's everything on the driveway.  What a mess!)

The back of my car was filled with donations and I found quite a few things I hope to sell on ebay.

Also long forgotten treasures are now back with the family, never to be banished again.

There it is!  We can actually walk in it!  I'm so proud of us!

Our shipping station for all those things I found to sell on ebay!

Paint can central!

Worker Bee worked his stinger off!  


Thank you Worker Bee!


This was a wonderful birthday gift!

And speaking of birthday gifts.....

I'm celebrating my first blogthday and my birthday with a giveaway for you!

Here's a sneak peek.....

I know!  I know!  I am SUCH a tease.  

I'll be linking up today with 

Between Naps on the Porch

for

in honor of the Great Garage Clean-Up!

Thank you so much for all the sweet birthday wishes!  You made my day!

Thanks for buzzin' by!  It's always a treat to visit with you.  C'mon, let's go have a nice iced latte together!  Do you want it sweetened?  I can add a little homemade simple syrup for you.  We could even sit in the cleaned up garage and enjoy our beverages! 

Today's My Birthday!

Wish this was my cake!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Be sure to come back where you'll get to enjoy part of the festivities with a birthday/blogthday giveaway!