Family Treasures, Past and Present

I have always had an obsession with organization, containers, and nick-nacks. Put them all together, and I have a problem decorating table tops, shelves, and end tables.

My decorations are finally, after lots of years, coming together cohesively. Brass and antique colors are some of my favorite, so here are photos of my home decorations.

Kitchen Table: Pastry stands as wedding presents, my grandmother's picture frame with a photo from our wedding, found and dried pinecone, a locally made cutting board, found brass candle holders and vase, dried flowers, and home made napkins by my mom. I am planning on refinishing our kitchen table soon - sanding and staining a dark antique brown.

Living Room Bookshelf: Collection of fabulous books including my mom's copy of The Hobbit and my dad's college copy of the Iliad, more found and dried pinecones, mercury glass candle holders from our wedding, a found brass picture fram with a wedding photo, a skull I bought Steve from Mexico, and the cutest brass elephant Steve bought me for Christmas.

Up close details from bookshelf: My mom's copy of The Hobbit, the beautiful details on the brass elephant Steve gave me, our wedding photo in an ornate brass frame, and my favorite detail- a gold pin with two hearts and my Grandma and Grandpa's names carved in :)

Bookshelf in my Craft Room: Brass picture frames with Steve's Mommom and Poppop on the left, and my Grandma and Grandpa on the right (in a frame from my Grandma), A gold and pearl brooch from Steve's Mommom, Steve's wedding boutonniere, more mercury glass candleholders from our wedding, and lots of art and sewing books!

Bedside table in the Craft Room: A beautiful photo of my Grandma in a brass frame, found wedding vases used in our wedding, antique lace from my mom, a vintage inspired blue glass perfume bottle, all on a handmade wood shelf by yours truly in 7th grade!

Kitchen Nook: Dried roses al from Steve (including the rose from the first bouquet Steve gave me in 2009), a vase from Poland which Jay bought me, an antique syrup canister, more candle holders, a vintage heart shaped sugar dish, a cutting board from my parents, a photo of my brother Chad, a wedding photo of Steve's parents in a brass frame, and found vintage postcards of Paris and London in a frame.

And Mr. Peabody enjoying his 4th birthday - cupcakes for Steve and I, and a can of tuna fish for the 4 year old!

oh, did i tell you i'm getting married?

for my wedding next October, I want to make as many items as I can... not only to save money, but it will be something fun to do while waiting for my day.

I saw crochet votives on BHLDN's website, and for $8 each, I don't know who would buy them. But I wanted them! and I knew I could make them cheaper than $1 a piece.

So, I'm saving all my old food jars (small ones, like little pesto jars, etc) and using my leftover yarn from other projects to crochet covers on the jars. I also have a ton of glass tea light holders from my sister's wedding. I think the different sized glasses and colors of our wedding (grey, yellow, red) crocheted on the votive will look better than $8 candle holders. Plus, I'm going to use real candles, not tea lights - will last longer and probably produce better lighting, (25 bucks for 80 real candles? yes!)

Here's the first one I made, and I have two others as well. Just waiting to eat some food and reuse the jars :)I just guessed on the pattern - double crochets with two chain stitches in between. Another one I made is all the scallop stitch - very pretty with the light shining through!