Pretty Petals Boutique

Pretty Petals has Moved!!

2008-04-25T19:14:00.014-07:00

Hello Everyone! I know this is a pain for all of you that have me bookmarked but I have decided to move over to Typepad to host my blog... so from now on I will be posting my little posts HERE.... hope to see you there!!!! It feels a little weird and I feel like the new kid on the block in my new home but I am sure I will get used to it soon. :))) xoxo Heather

Here is the new URL~

http://www.prettypetals.typepad.com/

Vintage Treasures

2008-04-22T17:12:00.011-07:00

I found this gorgeous old flapper dress on Ebay one day while I was surfing. One of my fave Ebay searches is "vintage flapper". Love to see all the cool things that come up when I type that in. Do you have a fav search? Oh, another one I like is "chippy paint".... and this is always a pretty one... "vintage roses". lol

I have this dress hanging in my room. It is for an older child... Atleast I think it is... or maybe now that I think of it??? could it be an adult since they were so incredibly tiny back then??? nooooo... that would be completely depressing if that were the case....but completely possible.

My Mom and I got the chance to tour an old Victorian home where the lady had an amazing collection of old clothing and beautiful treasures. She said when she buys mannequins to display the clothing she has to choose a size 0.... or a girls large, so that the clothes will fit. lol! That is one thing that completely amazes me is how teeny tiny they were. She also told us that the Victorians only took a bath ONCE a year.... can you EVEN imagine??? gasp! I am thinking of what I feel like if I go for 2 days! eeek.

So today I dusted my room and added this little purse to my table... I picked it up at an antique shop and love how it looks after I piled a few fav things inside. The outside is a gorgeous dusty rosey brown color and the inside is so pretty with a beautiful soft pink color so I love having it open to see inside.

She is beautiful.... one of my favorite half dolls. I think she looks pretty tucked down inside.

This is a gorgoeus old wax flower tiara wrapped around the purse... love old wax flowers so much and they are SO hard to come by so I felt so lucky to find this one.

This is a pretty vintage powder jar in the best colors! It looks pretty sitting beside the purse.

One more thing I wanted to share today... I was so happy to hear that my swap package to Niki arrived safely in England this week! I love the idea of my little trunk traveling across the ocean and making its way to her sweet little stone house... :)) Niki loves lots of fun colors like Aqua, Red, purple and pink...Here are a few things I included in her trunk of junque.....

I had such a fun time with this swap and I am pleased to hear that Niki liked her goodies. Thank you for being such a wonderful swappy partner Niki!! ;) It seems as if everyone has pretty much finished with their swaps from what I have seen. Thank you all SO much for playing along and making my first swap such a fun one. :)

Some New Hats!

2008-04-21T12:27:00.003-07:00

Today I added a few new Millinery Confections to my shop... Just a few pretty little things. I have had many emails from you girls asking when I will be making some new hats and so I whipped a few up. I am going to try to be a little more consistent about adding some new things to my shop once a week... I have sort of gotten away from doing that and I miss it! Also,

I added 3 new vintage Nancy Anns! They are probably the last for a little while until I can replenish my supply of them. Since I deal with all vintage materials for my creations it isn't alwasys easy to keep them stocked as I am sure you know!

Hope you girls are having a great start to your week! I am off to make dinner as the kiddos are starting to come home now. :)) see you soon! xo

Pretty Bling and A few Sassy Girls!

2008-04-19T16:47:00.008-07:00

Posting a bit early for the Sunday show and tell this week...tomorrow we have lots of family stuff going on. So, today I dug out some of my favorite jewelry for Cerri and Analise's bling day.

I bought this gorgeous jewelry box from Erin at the Classy Rabbit... I had been searching for one to house my jewelry that i craft with and loved this one in particular because it has blue velvet lining... :))

Since this pretty little thing is sitting here I snapped a photo of it... I bought it from Dana's booth at the flea market, I believe it is an old ink well??? but not completely sure! I bought lots of good things from her and will post about some of it soon. :)

Here are a few of my favorite rhinestones......

Love these pearly ones... I always buy them when I see them. They are my favorites!
Love the blues... the one on the left is from my sweet swap partner Niki. :)) And the beautiful necklace in the back was a gift from a sweet Aussie friend Kathy.

Here is a peek at a few more dolls that I whipped up ... I just love froofing these sweet Nancy Anns! This one with the bright pink hat is my favorite of all that I have made so far... I LOVE her little sassy attitude...and froofy hat. I think she is the "bad" sister! lol

And this is the good sister... although Cerri said she thinks she might be a tomboy forced to be a flower girl!! lol!!! I think she might be a little scrapper underneath all those frills.... ;~)))

Have a great Sunday!!! Hope you have a wonderful day. xo

Swap Gifties from Lisa

2008-04-17T18:15:00.014-07:00

Ooh lots of junque boxes coming and going around here! Have you seen the gorgeous swap packages in the flickr photo pool??? So many beauties from you talented girls!!! I am happy to say that this is my last box of junque to arrive from my swap partner Lisa. I loved opening all the pretties in this box so much... just one gorgeous thing after the other!! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world lately. My husband says to me.... is there any more boxes that are supposed to come??? and did you send them stuff too??? I am laughing saying... why yes of course!! lol

This is the pretty box she made...love the paper! She had it wrapped up so pretty with a bow, tags and flowers but of course I didn't photograph it until I was done! lol

She included the prettiest blue tin box.... and a gorgeous necklace that I love!
how cute this little bisque nancy ann is!! I am going to make her a hat. :)

Beautiful linens and lace...
She sent me a ton of old cards... I love this sweet girl with her bonnet on.

she had a bunch of old jewelry in these cute little bags... these are the only 2 that I didn't open yet! I love how she packaged them up. :))

I love this photo!! reminds me of a the one from Lori but different.... they would be pretty hung together.

the sweetest ever baby booties!
LOTS of pretty vintage millinery flowers!

this is a beautiful old hat pin..

Thanks a million Lisa!!! I noticed you included lots of my favorite color "blue".... I can tell you put so much thought into the things I love and collect. :)) LOVE it all so very much and I thank you for being so sweet and spoiling me so!! xo Heather

Vintage Vavoom

2008-04-16T15:58:00.007-07:00

Have you bought this book yet???? OH I love it!!! you know... it is a beautiful book, lots of beautiful colors and pretty little things but the thing I love how it goes through the steps to help you find your own style. Sometimes I am drawn to a certain thing over and over and then later realize that it is part of an era or style that I didn't even realize? I tend to flit from thing to thing and lately I have been feeling really inpired by all sorts of colors.... I am tired of the pink, blue, and green that has had my attention for the last year or so. I want to add some bold barkcloth pillows to my couch and spruce up my walls with a fresh coat of white paint so that I can add colors on a whim... this is how I have been feeling lately. I think it is Spring Fever! ;~)

Here are a few peeks at the inside.... ;)

I just passed up one of these display boxes at the flea market last month!!!! KICKING myself!!!! This looks adorable!

Ok, so I WANT this linen closet SO badly!! It is a beauty isn't it?? You can find one of these books used or new on Amazon Here.... I bought mine used for around $16.00. I always buy the used books when I can... I see no sense in paying much more if they say it is in good condition.
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Here are a few dolls I spruced up last night for a sweet customer as a special order. I think they turned out sweet with their new pretty hats! I haven't heard from her yet but I hope she likes them! (Sandy if you are reading this I promise to work on your wreaths next!)

Well... my sweet swap box came from Lisa today. It was SO pretty! Just full of treasures!! I bet you are sick of hearing me talk about all this swapping.... I promise.... after this and the derby hat swap, no swaps for awhile!! xoxo

A Few Swap Gifts

2008-04-15T15:58:00.013-07:00

I received notice that Lisa and Lori got their swap packages yesterday. I thought I would share some photos with you girls today. Niki's will take a few more days to arrive. I also just wanted to say a special thank you to all of you that joined in the Junque in my Trunk swap... I have enjoyed it so much. I hope you did too! I am so thankful to my swap partners for making it such a fun swap for me too. ;))) I truly enjoyed creating for this swap so much that I almost forgot that I was going to get some pretty things too!! lol That is the fun of swaps don't you think?? the creating part.... and then the pay off is getting beautiful things for yourself.

This first set of photos is Lisa's box..

I am so happy to hear you loved your box Lisa! Thanks for being my swap partner. It was so fun and I will let you know when your box arrives here. :)

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Next up is Lori's box......

These cards that are mounted on the sheet music were fun to make... I got the idea from a Somerset magazine article. What you do is take an image that you love and apply oil (I used olive oil) to it with a small paint brush. This process sort of gives it an aged semi-transparent look. When I placed it on the sheet music you could sort of see the sheet music coming through the paper.

Lori... I am so happy you loved it. It was fun creating a special box with your tastes in mind. I LOVED my box from you and it was fun being swap partners!

Oh and thank you a million times to those of you that sent me hostess gifts! I can't believe you girls sent me gifts just for hosting a swap..lol... I am always so blown away by the kindness of you blogging girls! :)))))

Have a great day everyone! xo

Swap Reminder!

2008-04-14T20:31:00.002-07:00

Just a reminder to all of you that have joined the Junque in my Trunk Swap that the mail date is tomorrow April 15th!! Hope you all had fun! I will be back soon with photos of my swap packages I made for Lori and Lisa.... Niki's will take a few more days to arrive. :)))

xo Heather

Hankie Show and Tell

2008-04-13T17:38:00.003-07:00

Hello! Today is show and tell Sunday... these Sunday's just seem to come and go so quickly don't they? lol Today is hankie day. Love this so much. The one thing I realized when Analise and Cerri started these show and tell Sundays is that there hasn't been one thing yet that I don't collect! eek... I am thinking I may have a few too many collections ;~) Today I show you my whitework hankie collection...

I love to collect the beautiful handmade lace ones... they were most likely wedding hankies. Most of mine have a hole here and there. It seems that I can gather them more reasonable that way and since I am just displaying them, I don't mind their imperfections.

These are some silk ones..

Love that one at the bottom with the ruffle... it is sooo adorable and if you look close you will see the tatting edge attached to the ruffled edge. love this!
This is a beautiful hankie case... it is the only one I have. I love the color and the ruffles.

This beautiful hand embroidered silk hankie was a sweet and thoughtful gift from Holly... I wanted to say a special thank you Holly! I love it sooo much and it was so sweet of you to think of me. It fits into my little collection so nicely!! ;)

And this one is my favorite of my collection... I believe it to be all handmade. I love those tiny flowers in the center.

Hope you enjoyed my little collection of special hankies... Have a great Sunday! Desperate Housewives is back on this week... yay!!! xo

Swap Junque from Lori

2008-04-11T12:50:00.008-07:00

Hi there!!! Next up is my swap junque from Lori... I love it!!! She had everything wrapped so pretty and as usual I forgot to take a picture so you can see Lori's photos on her blog here.

She put everything into this pretty vintage chocolate box. Love this!

This is a satin case that she added one of her special handmade hankie flowers to. loving this so much... I have a hard time finding these pretty cases so I was so excited to see this in my box!

oooh... isn't she sweet??? very Marie Antoinette don't you think??

This little doll has the absolute cutest expression! love her!! she was very excited to see that there are lots of other dolly's that live here. lol... ok... lost my mind I know!

I adore this card... the roses are beautiful.

This is a very pretty garland of flowers that Lori handmade. Lovin the blue!

pink rick rack... I sent her some too! lol

And this pretty glittered H was attached to the outside of my package... it is so pretty. Thank you Lori for my beautiful box of junque! I love it all and I hope you will love mine too!!

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This swap is like a big horrah for me because I am not going to join anymore swaps for awhile so I am enjoying every minute of this one! xoxo Heather

A box from Niki

2008-04-10T11:23:00.013-07:00

I am thrilled to show you my swap package I received for the Junque in my Trunk swap from Niki! When it arrived I didn't open it right away because I wanted to enjoy it without the famous "MOM I need a drink... Mom he is touching me"...kind of stuff that goes on around here daily! lol So I made myself a cup of tea and opened each carefully wrapped treasure one at a time after the kids were in bed. Everything is just beautiful! It was dark so I didn't get a photo of how pretty it was wrapped but you can see the pictures on Niki's blog if you like. I love the fact that this all came from my sweet friend in another country....things we wouldn't be able to find here you know? That kind of thing just makes me so sentimental. lol. I took lots of detail photos so you could enjoy every little thing right along with me.....

On the top of the box she attached this sweetest little girl in blue... I love her! I promply attached some millinery flowers in her hands and placed her amongst my little pillows here. She is darling and I think she likes it here. ;)

One of the things I love best about her is her feet!! aren't they cute??? Niki leaves no detail unturned!

Inside the box was also this beautiful pale blue ruffled collar.... it is SO me and just beautiful!!! I am envisioning a dress for a doll with this! Do you see the vision????

These are some of my favorites in the box... the tiniest little rose trade cards that would have come in old cigarette packs... is that right Niki??
And these are silk ones! LOVE These soooooooo much!!!!

I wondered what these were when I opened them and Niki has since told me that they were used in France when they would box up a purchase and tie it up with string, then they would attach these little wooden handles to the string so you could carry your box. Amazing!!! This is genious I tell you!

She included a collection of 19th century French fabrics for me. I LOVE Them!!! I always admire the beautiful french fabric covered boxes I see but can never ever find any here so I would love to use some of these to make a few. :))
This one is my favorite.... beautiful Toile de Jouy.
Check out this little cutie! That is made from a doll torso!

I love this verse so much.

Well... I hope you all enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed my beautiful swap gifts from my sweet friend. I just love it all so much and thank you for being my swap partner Niki! I hope you will love your box as much as I love mine!

Junque in my Trunk Swap

2008-04-08T17:03:00.004-07:00

How is the junque in my trunk swap going for everyone? Mail date of April 15th is coming up soon. I finished my boxes finally! Today I am posting a peek at how I wrapped them up. The pictures of the goodies inside will have to wait until another day. My swap partners are torturing me by making me wait to see what is inside of the ones they made for me... and each of them WANTS to be surprised about what is inside of theirs (can you believe that?) so I am going to be considerate and not show and tell just yet ;0)

Last night I recieved Niki's box in the mail... and I didn't open it until the kids were in bed. I made myself a little tea and sat and opened every little thing so carefully. I just LOVE It so much and will post it one day this week on its very own post. :)) Thank you Niki!

Now on with the junque!

If you remember from my previous post I used sewing machine drawers as my trunks. I added some hankies in each of their favorite colors to wrap them and topped them with lots of ribbons and millinery roses.... I love how they seem so flirty and fun... don't you think?

This one is for Lisa.... she has a thing for roses... (hehe)... and pink ones at that!
This one is for Lori.... she loves Chocolate brown... and pink. ;)

This one is for Niki... she loves aqua blues so aqua and pink it is!..

I know you all are wondering what is inside????? but I can't tell... it is a secret for now. ;o)

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I have so many things to post about this week... my swap package from Niki and also I met two other sweet bloggers this weekend.. Dana and Kelley... I bought some things from them at the flea market and can't wait to post them. It was sooo fun meeting those girls! Will see you soon! xo Heather

Lori's Doll Party!

2008-04-07T21:47:00.009-07:00

Hello all! Today is Lori's doll party...yay! Such a cute idea Lori, I mean, who doesn't love dolls??? My Mom tells me I wasn't really a baby doll kindof child... but I did LOVE my barbies and remember going to the flea markets where I would search out the ladies that crocheted barbie dresses. :)

I have posted most of these in previous posts so you may remember them from before. They do look so sweet all gathered here for the party. :))

This is my favorite doll... it was made by the ever super talented Niki... her name is Violet. I LOVE her!

She is an old boudoir lamp... just love her beautiful pink hair. :0

a pretty boudoir doll... I love her gown of ruffles.

sweet german girl... atleast I think she is german, not sure how to tell exactly?

oh I love these ones!!! that one with the polka dot dress is so sweet... I rounded this photo up on my flickr, now where is that doll??? I must have her packed away somewhere? I need to find her today.

this is my collection of half dolls... love them!

I made a new skirt for this pretty girl.

Cute little babies that came from a swap with Beachy.

love how it looks like they are holding hands.

she is kinda "vampish" but I adore her. No one I know likes her... maybe you see her beauty like me?

oohh... this was sooo fun Lori!!! I love dolls so much. Millinery flowers and dolls are my 2 FAVORITE things and we posted them both in one week. I actually started a flickr group called "vintage sweet dolls" a few weeks ago... come and join if you like or just browse the pretty dolly's on there. Have a great day! xo

Millinery Show and Tell

2008-04-06T16:18:00.007-07:00

Hello girls! Today is Cerri and Analise's show and tell sunday. Every sunday the girls will post a new topic that we bloggers are supposed to post about. Love this weeks topic.... millinery flowers!

I bought this amazing silk dress awhile ago and it was terribly torn at the bottom so I cut the bottom off and saved the top. It has the most amazing little millinery roses all across the front.

Pretty little pink rose. :)
This pillow is one that I bought from Holly's shop... oh do I love this! I added one of my favorite pale pink millinery flowers to the top.

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Here are some various photos I have taken and posted about in the past.... these are some of my favorites...

Thanks so much Cerri and Analise... this is SO fun! I love your idea and look forward to playing along in the future. This one was a GOOD one... the photos on flickr are just pouring in! xo

Pretty Little Folder

2008-04-02T17:27:00.006-07:00

I bought this pretty hanging folder from Lori-Vintage Flair's Etsy Shop. I love it!!! Love the blue wallpaper... how she sewed it all together from ledger papers and sewing patterns... she is so creative.. just love her art so much!

Every season I seem to have a new favorite color scheme that draws me in and this spring I feel so drawn to these brighter pinks.. just love it right now!

I started to pile all sorts of things in it when I got it but then realized that it covered up all of her pretty little trims and things. I like it with just a few things tucked inside. :) Pretty isn't it? Love it Lori!

Thank you!

2008-04-01T07:27:00.004-07:00

Wow girls.... thanks soooo much for your gown and ruffle orders... I see you liked them! lol I love them too... just such a piece of the past isn't it?

I just wanted to tell you about my Mom's wonderful find! She had the most AMAZING luck of finding an old 1880's ledger filled with pages. If you love ledger paper then you KNOW how hard this stuff is to find especially with the pretty old handwriting. I am so excited for my Mom that she has decided to open her own etsy shop to sell some of her pretties. She has added some of this gorgeouso ledger paper. Stop over and wish her well if you have a minute. :) The above photo is a picture of some of the goodies she gave to her swap partner Madai... the ledger papers looks sooo pretty all tied in a bundle like that doesn't it?

Also, have you read Pearl's blog "A Storybook Life"? She writes the loveliest articles on how to enhance our creative life... just love her features. Well, I was excited to see that she featured my little creative area's in her latest one called Creative Spaces - Nurturing Our Need to Create. There are some amazing little creative spaces from such wonderful women so go and take a peek. Thank you Pearl! Love what you are doing!

ok off to get my little munchkin... he is calling me saying "Mom I don't know how to turn on the new fossil??? (faucet) lol!!! xoxo

Shop Update!!

2008-03-31T15:59:00.014-07:00

Hello there! I just finished a big shop update and wanted to show you girls some of these fabulous old gowns and things I have added. This first one is a vintage gown that reminds me so much of a Cinderella gown! I was able to date it from the tag on the inside and it was made sometime between 1955- 1962. It is amazing!
even has a gorgeous bustle on the back with ribbon roses.

this one I just love so much! It is full of ruffles... just so pretty and it is blue so you know it is hard to give it up!

This is a beautiful velvet gown... just sooo elegant and lovely. It is from my Mom's collection of gowns. :)

This lace one is beautiful... love the pink velvet embellishments on it.

also added some crinoline skirts!

The little girls gowns that I added today truly have a place in my heart. I adore vintage children's things and I doubt I will ever have such a nice selection of beautiful gowns as this again. There are some very special ones that I have been blessed to find. This first one is another one of my Mom's collection ... it is SO amazing so many extra pieces. it is hard enough to find the dresses but...

it comes with the tiny gloves and a veil. Also, if you look at the waist it has a gorgeous little satin belt with the prettiest tulle flower. Just love this so much!

This one is adorable.... it even has a tiny bustle!

Also added some jewelry pieces too...

And a few more ruffle packs in pretty peach and blue...

Wow... that is a lot of fluff isn't it?? I have had some of you leave me messages about how can I give these up?? well... a girl can only display so many of these without starting to cover the entire walls and floors with them!! I have one prom gown that is all white and full of ruffles... that one is my favorite and I have been so fortunate to have come across these little pieces of history and truly when I see old gowns and things I feel so sentimental about who wore them?? what was the occasion that they were worn?? Just love to think about all that! Hope you all are having a great Monday!! xoxo Heather

Hello Friends!

2008-03-30T15:17:00.007-07:00

Today is the day Analise is hosting a button challenge... we are supposed to show our fave buttons on our blogs as I am sure you already know if you have been wandering around blogland today. this is such a cute idea. Love it! I love to collect buttons...The photo above is a few finds from today... will show more peeks later this week. :) Now on with the show....

Love to collect rhinestone, glass and shell buttons....

These ones I showed you the other day... the pink rose things are earrings but the rhinestone ones are buttons.

And these little sweeties were a gift from Rhea... she is so talented and handpaints these sweet buttons and shells. Love them so much!

Now I am off to see everyone elses buttons! xo Heather