Vintage Treasures

Hand painted vintage table lamp. This belonged to my grandmother and my mom is 65 and grandma had the lamp before she was born so we know it is old, but not exactly sure how old. The body is ceramic and the roses and flower colors on it are vibrant and there do not appear to be any flaws. I have listed it on ebay (with mom's blessing) and hope to find out more about it from someone with more knowledge on antique lamps.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160362767118&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp4712.m38.l1313%26_nkw%3D160362767118%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

World's Best Pancakes

My kids will eat these for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and they are so good, they will even eat them plain! Here's the recipe, since I have made them 3 times this week.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients together

2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter

Heat the milk and butter together until the butter is melted

3 eggs, separated

Mix the yolks into the heated milk and butter, then use an electric mixer to mix this with the flour ingredients.

Rinse off the beaters and beat the whites until almost stiff. Gently fold them into the batter. Heat a skillet and use butter in the pan, not oil! Butter makes all the difference in taste!

Make small silver dollar size or larger, your preference. My kids like them small. Butter the skillet in between each batch, just a small amount, to keep the pancakes from sticking. These taste like the lightest crepes and are always a huge hit when family and friends come over. They are a little more work than other recipes, but they are always worth it. I'd love for you to try them and post your comments here. I have used nutella on them before, syrup and jam, but I still love them best plain. Enjoy!

Bits & Pieces Collages

Pink Christmas Bits & Pieces Collage

Halloween Bits & Pieces Collage

Paris Apartment Bits & Pieces Collage

Love For Tommy

Frankie Smith, who helped organize the "Love for Tommy" benefit, enjoys the sun with Tommy Conforti outside his family's house in Newport Beach on Monday, August 17, 2009.

Tommy, summer 2009
Tommy, center with "the buzz boys," his friends from school
(and younger sister in the back), Dec. 2008



Matthew, Tommy and my two sons, Matthew and David, Dec. 2008

http://lovefortommy.com/

Tommy is raising money for his charity CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation. There is a link on the site http://lovefortommy.com/ if you would like to donate. Thank you for allowing me to share these stories with you!

More Plaques ~ New Sayings!

I have restocked more of your favorite plaques, and added some great new sayings as well. Each plaque is just $12.00 for handpainted roses!!! Please come take a closer look at http://www.bellalucille.com/

Grandma's Birthday

My mom just turned 66. What better way to celebrate than with a surprise party with her grandchildren! We had balloons, a cupcake pinata (pull string) and Susie Cakes cupcakes that are absolutely delicious! We got 4 flavors: coconut, chocolate, strawberry and lemon. If you live in an area where they have a bakery, they are so worth ordering from and they carry many other flavors! http://www.susiecakesla.com/

I made my mom's favorite spinach salad:

1 bag of baby spinach

fresh strawberries, cut and sliced

fresh blueberries

crumbled gorganzola cheese

candied pecans

raspberry balsamic dressing (I like Annie's brand, available at most health food stores)

Toss and serve cold. Pepper to taste, if desired

New & Improved Pink Christmas Signs

This year we are offering thicker, larger handpainted signs that read: "I'm Dreaming Of A Pink Christmas." They measure 36" long by 7" wide by 1/2" thick. They are nice and solid. The background is a distressed pale pink, and the lettering is done in script with dark pink letters. These look really nice, and are for sale now for $36.00 each.

Baby Shower Pictures and Ideas

Recently, I hosted a baby shower for my only sibling, my older sister. Thankfully she is having a girl, since I specialize in pink! We had 16 confirmed guests, so I went to Old Towne Orange and went into an Antique store where I had remembered seeing a large variety of Limoges dishes. I thought it would be really fun to buy 16 different plates, each one with pink roses on it but in different patterns. The plates were anywhere from $9 and up to $95, so I opted to buy lunch sized plates, which are smaller than dinner plates, but a little larger than dessert plates and I spent about $230 for 16 plates and 1 serving bowl. I lucked out because the plates and bowl were all 20% when I went in! I would have tried to negociate a discount if they hadn't been on sale. I have found most antique stores will entertain reasonable offers. I also mixed in white milk glass servers that have holes on the edges, and wove them with pink ribbon. I brought a chippy old bistro table inside for added seating and used a pretty table cloth and added some pink organza fabric over the cushions that I tied into bows. I repainted my dining set white, and decided to use 3 coordinating fabrics for the cushions. The tablecloth was my grandmothers white cut lace tablecloth and I added a diaper cake for the center piece. For a fun touch, I framed the shower invitation and had it on the entry table. My sister loves seashells so I put some pretty polished white shells into a silverplated dish that I found at our local goodwill for $.99!

Everything looked really pretty and the shower was a wonderful party. My sister is due in about 2 weeks and I cannot wait to be an auntie!

One of a Kind Pink Seashell Mirror

http://www.bellalucille.com/item_455/One-of-a-Kind-All-Pink-Seashell-Mirror.htm

I had so much fun making this mirror! The shells and pearls are dyed pink, and I glued them all by hand, one piece at a time. The base is wooden, and the overall frame measures approximately 9" x 11". It is really pretty in person. Please click to enlarge!

First Sale of the Summer!

We are having our first sale of the summer ~ 20% off, valid 6/22/09 - 6/30/09

Please come see our pretty new items!
http://www.bellalucille.com/?code=June09

I am excited to have added lots of pretty handpainted signs, like the one shown. Ruth did a beautiful job making the signs up for me! Thank you Ruth!

I have joined Nashville Boutiques, a wonderful sister site to Shabby Lane Shops