Easter

The resurrection changes everything.

Happy Easter 

from

Olive, Joe, and Shelley

Bloggers Are Givers

There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving.

--Henry Drummond

Bloggers are givers and I have had occasion to be the recipient of many gifts this week.

Tuesday I had lunch with Donna from Distressed Donna Down Home. We have much in common. To say that she is fun and kind is an understatement. She brought me carrot muffins in the box tied with a yellow ribbon and at the time I was so excited to meet her I did not notice that there were three vintage Easter postcards tucked under the ribbon.  After lunch we went thrifting like we had been shopping together for years.

Donna sells primitives and shabby chic items and has two booths in an antique mall not far from our yellow house. Donna and I will be meeting for lunch and shopping again soon.

I won this Nest burlap banner from Judy at 20 North Ora. Judy sent me handmade quilted Easter eggs too. If you have not seen Judy's dress form, please look. It is a work of art.  We have a stone fireplace that is without a mantle so I was in a bit of pickle as to where to hang the banner. The kitchen window won. Thanks Judy.

Blogging friends near and far away have enriched my life this week.

joy and peace

Olive

Displaying Lemons

Lemons are an integral part of our culinary life. I slice them into iced tea, bake them over fish, and zest them into all manner of dishes. Why not display them beautifully? Here I have them paired with my favorite color of blue pottery. Lemons also look wonderful in clear glass dishes or hurricanes.

I have had this blue pottery compote, tray, and large Italian tray stored for a while but decided they needed to be on the kitchen island. Now, I should make lemon curd again. I also have red potatoes in a dough bowl and onions in another blue bowl. I like fruits and vegetables sitting around in bowls. It looks warm and cozy. 

Please consider following me with Bloglovin on my sidebar. Bloglovin is easy to set up and provides a reader and imports the blogs you already follow for you. Google Friends Connect is being discontinued sometime soon. 

Linking@Wow Us Wednesday's

Tweak It Tuesday

joy and peace

Olive

Linens, Frame, Lamp

Matelasse coverlets, spreads, and shams sell well for me. This one needed work but hot water, time, and OxyClean transformed it. Matelasse gives a bed character and texture. All items shown on this post Joe and I picked up, last Saturday, while thrifting.

These are basically new matelasse shams in down pillow inserts. I wash every item in hot water and OxyClean before it is sold. I iron frequently and adore my large Rowneta iron (found at an estate sale). Yes, I am a freak.

This is a sexy little black lamp. I am surely the Crazy Lamp Lady as I have sold many lamps and have lamps sitting all over the house in various states of repair. 

I am keeping this large Florentine tray for myself. I find these pieces which are made in Italy off and on and I like them. They sell for a nice sum on One Kings Lane too. It will be useful and beautiful at Christmas.

This is one of a pair of 11" X 20" frames in a primitive wood that is both rustic and lovely. I can picture an ironstone platter hanging in them. I have no room for them. Drats. This is a small sample of what I delivered to The Rusty Gate in Tennille, Georgia on Friday.

Linking@Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

happy thrifting

Olive

Saturday Friends&Family

Fancy, my dear friend and her grandson walking down the curvy road from our house to her house. We had been sitting on the ground, in our yard, digging in the dirt. He thought it was great fun.  All kids should dig in the dirt. This big kid certainly loves too.

Thank you all for commiserating with me about my ever so slow way of finishing a painting project. I am happy to know I am not alone on the I-May Never-Finish-A-Project front. 

CC leaves in the morning after church. Her spring break has been swifter than painting with chalk paint. Today we shall stay home in our pajamas and talk, talk ,talk some more:-}

Happy Saturday

Olive

Black Painted Coffee Table

Yes, I have painted a coffee table. It had lovely classic lines when I saw it at a church sale, last fall, and it was priced so low I felt the need to rescue it despite the fact I rarely paint furniture. I have no before image but the top of it was sorely abused and had numerous white rings on it.

I actually painted it last fall and finally waxed it this weekend. You are envious of my speed I know. I was spurred on by the fact I had to get to my lawn mower and the table was in my way. I cut grass (mostly weeds) yesterday with the push mower.

I distressed the edge all around the circumference of the table. I will be selling it. I hope someone will want it anyway.  Don't hang on the edge of your seats waiting for another project such as this because it is time to play with flowers. 

Linking@Be Inspired

joy and peace

Olive

Green Chair Green Basket

The green chippy chair I found for three dollars and a wicker green funeral basket (this one still has it's galvanized liner)  filled with dried hydrangeas from our Nikko Blue are now in front of the sunny bay window. The green chippy chair makes every item I place on it look better. The chair is one of my favorite thrifty finds.

A large old basket with handles happily sits beside the chair. Somehow I must pile items in front of the bay window. I often place throws in the basket but spring is here and we no longer need throws. I snapped these images today because I actually dusted, vacuumed, and mopped the floors. Shelley's hair gets in every nook and cranny but he is Big&Sweet and I really do not mind.

Yesterday CC and I stayed out all day and I never picked up the laptop. We ate Vietnamese food for lunch which is our favorite Asian food and then we shopped at a large Asian market. If CC is home that is simply what we do. The schedule for the week is full, full, full.

Linking@Wow Us Wednesday

Be Inspired

joy and peace

Olive

Church Pew

 Cades Cove, last summer, inside a beautiful country church. 

Think of all the souls who worshiped from this pew. 

We had a beautiful time in church today, with CC, between the two of us. 

Good times y'all.

To see more Cades Cove images click here and here.

Happy Sunday

Olive

Eastertide~Vintage Postcard

All Good Wishes

for a

Bright and Happy

Eastertide

That is my lone vintage Easter postcard.

 I seem to have one vintage postcard for each holiday. 

CC arrived home late yesterday afternoon.

I  squeezed her a lot and she in turn talked incessantly. 

It will not be quiet here next week.

I am auto-posting this while Joe and I are out at Garage Sales.

 I will catch up with you tonight.

Happy Saturday

He is Risen

Olive

Vintage Easter Basket Two

This my second vintage Easter basket. Don't tell CC but this basket is for her. She is coming home tomorrow for spring break. I went with hot pinks because I also have this vintage tablecloth that has wonderful spring colors in it.

I had no idea what to do with all that pink filler so I piled it into the glass hurricanes.

This sweet bunny had to come home with me from a garage sale. Lest you think I keep everything much I buy thrifting is sold. By the way the chocolate in CC's basket came from Aldi's on the cheap. I go there weekly to buy fruit and vegetables.

Linking@Be Inspired

Happy Easter

He Is Risen

Olive

Vintage Easter Basket One

I found not one but two vintage Mexican Easter baskets recently. I bought this one, yesterday, at a local community thrift store that my sweet neighbor volunteers at every Wednesday.

The chalk lamb happily belongs beside the old Easter basket I think. In the next post get ready for a pretty vintage tablecloth and some hot pink accents with the second basket. I have not put together an Easter basket in ages. I am rusty but CC is coming home Friday and I thought "Why not?"

Linking@Be Inspired

Happy Easter

He Is Risen

Olive

Spring Garden Readiness

This Thyme that I purchased in a nearly dead condition last summer, for fifty cents, has survived and even thrived. It is winter hardy here too. I have had two of these rusty blue tile tables in storage and decided to use them on the deck. I am slowly clearing and cleaning the deck and pergola. Yikes, I did not sweep it.

The pansies have smiled at us all winter. It is hard to tell but rosemary is growing in the purple pot. I enjoy growing herbs pretty much for how they look. I also have rosemary growing in a planting bed now {it is winter hardy too}.

More pansies and blooming variegated vinca slightly different from the vinca at the old house I showed you on Friday. I like the vinca flowing out of the overhanging deck basket. The pansies will soon be replaced with another flower. Joe and I have worked tirelessly, this weekend, in the yard and flower garden. I cut an uncounted mind and finger numbing number of monkey grass bundles, with scissors, because they are where our mower cannot reach {because I must be ever so slightly mad too}. I went to bed last evening when the sun was still high in the sky.

I should give this camellia bush a special name because despite our strange weather she has been beautiful this year. I adore this soft pink color. I think I can say our flower garden is ready for spring. By doing a little bit here and there, every weekend, we have managed to get where we want to be with it. We are blessed by our little yellow house that you see here on Olive Out. Thank you for sharing the journey with us.

~please forgive me I am chatty when exhausted~

happy gardening

Olive

Thrifted Living Room Rug

A few posts ago I mentioned an estate sale that Joe and I attended that had great prices. It was being held by a young affluent couple selling all they owned from their three story historic home, except their summer clothes, to become missionaries to Honduras. We bought this Capel handmade braided rug from their boy's room for thirty dollars.

 I looked at the Capel site online and these rugs are expensive {this one would be close to $1000.00}. It takes our living room a little bit more traditional and perhaps a tad country but we do not mind. It is chenille, well made, and will last a long time. It is far better than the indoor outdoor rug that was here before. It is also quite warm underfoot.

It works with our white, blue, and burlap pieces of furniture.

Here is the old rug in a shot I happen to like from my former camera. In the background you can see the dining room rug which I have always felt was too fussy. The Capel rug seems to play well with it and makes me think I can enjoy the dining room rug now.

I hope you are having a terrific Sunday. I have not slept at all because I worked in the garden yesterday yanking lantana branches and I hurt all over. Clearly the monster lantana won that round. I keep telling myself we keep it for the butterflies and the hummingbirds and they will be arriving soon.

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Tweak It Tuesday

Wow Us Wednesday

joy and peace

Olive

Vinca

 An iPhone shot of one of our sheds, at the old house, being overtaken by vinca vine.  Vinca is so plentiful at the old house we mow it with the lawn mower.

Happy Friday Friends

Olive

Leather Handled Basket

This large round basket was added to the living room coffee table after our thrifting this weekend. It has leather handles and would be equally pretty hanging on a wall if I had a free one. I paid five dollars for it. I have had the German enamel pitcher for years. The antlers were given to me.

This week has been extremely tense for me, so far, with no end in sight. I am playing tag with the post office and have a deadline for a writing job and am not feeling well on top of all that. It is good that I work well under pressure. Thank you all for your visits here.

Linking@Be Inspired

joy and peace

Olive

Hotel Sign

Since making these cabbage rose cafe curtains the spot over the frame less window seemed bare. I had looked at this metal Hotel sign in an antique mall near CC's university two times, over a period of a year, before I finally bought it. I thought it would fit above the window and it did.

I sanded the edges to expose the metal. I thought about painting it but then kept it this grey. It is of undetermined age. I do not think it is vintage but Joe and I like how it looks in our small kitchen. It brings an industrial edge to all my florals.

I had an interesting time taking pictures of the sign. I ended up sitting in the floor. Shelley thought I was there to wrestle with him. This household revolves around that adorable German Shepherd of course.

Linking@Wow Us Wednesday

Be Inspired

joy and peace

Olive