Spring Shelves In Our Kitchen

I love spring and look forward each year to lightening and brightening our home with Spring decorating.

It might be that I was born in the spring, or just that after a long winter we so look forward to seeing signs of new life and growth.

Blues and greens are my favourite colours, and they remind me of Spring, so I shopped our home to add these colours to the whites and metals I normally have in my kitchen shelf vignette.

Turquoise blues show up in Crown mason jars, a few books, and faux speckled eggs. They go well with our turquoise painted barstools and mirror over the sink. 

I added shades of green with linen napkins, a book, more speckled faux eggs, two little leaf plates and granny smith apples.

I also used pieces of my ironstone collection, vintage crochet doilies, a vintage kitchen scale, a jar of silver spoons, a silver cake plate and my patenal grandmother's silver sugar scuttle.

 With Easter not long away I thought the eggs would work too.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit to Blue Clear Sky! Happy first day of Spring!

I'm linking up to the Spring Fling Link Party at The Lettered Cottage. Layla is hosting the first party featuring Spring ledges, shelves and mantels. Looking forward to seeing lots of inspiration!

I'm also joining the fun at...

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm
Cowgirl Up Link Party at Cedar Hill Ranch
Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Potpourri Friday at 2805
Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

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Mason Jar -Collection Updated

I love mason jars and today I am sharing my updated collection all in one spot.

Mason jars are just so appealing and practical.

My favourites are the aqua jars with zinc rings and matching aqua glass seals. I have about a dozen of these, many so old that there are very distinct bubbles visible in the glass and they are a bit mis-shapen.

Mixed with my little collection of silver, or my growing collection of white dishes, ironstone pieces  and linens, it is hard for me to resist photographing them.

I always keep part of my aqua mason jars on an open shelf in the kitchen, and enjoy decorating the shelves seasonally.

This past Christmas the mason jars on the kitchen shelf were filled with old Christmas lights just for fun.

Miniature mason jars make great tealight holders. Simple twine was wrapped around the rims for some texture.

We also use mason jars, new and vintage, for food storage. In the little beverage center beside our stove a vintage jar holds tea bags and a new jar holds hot chocolate mix. I switched all my spices to  small mason jars and used my label maker to label them.

I love to use my vintage mason jars to hold fresh cut flowers from the garden.

In my hobby room/studio I use vintage mason jars to hold paint brushes, buttons, knitting needles and trims.

Using lamp kits, I made a few little lamps out of bigger jars.

And of course we use new mason jars for jam and frozen soups and stews.

Almost all my vintage jars, aqua or not, are Crown jars made in Canada. I found a pair recently that have the Improved Gem lids...

one an Improved Gem and the other with a Mid West logo, both also Canadian Made.

I shared my first mason jar post with Funky Junk Interiors' SNS Mason Jars the first time around here, and now I am sharing this updated collection at SNS Special Mason Jars #123 here. Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Ironstone Platters

I found an old Staffordshire ironstone platter at the local thrift store earlier this week.

Ironstone is proving to be challenging to find in our area so I was thrilled to find this one at the bottom of a pile of plates. The price? $2.99! 

The start of my ironstone collection was shared in this post and the beginnings of my pitcher collections (some ironstone) were shared here.

I also like the finer type of ironstone, but this thicker rustic style is my favourite.

I love that this newest platter is nice and deep and that it shows a few spots of yellowing around the edges.

Inspiration for this collection is from some of the many lovely blogs I visit. I dream of having cupboards just full of ironstone pieces like Ellie at Frog Goes To Market has. Did you see Diana at Our Vintage Home Love's latest finds that were covered in dirt? And Jacqueline at Cabin and Cottage has many beautiful posts highlighting her lovely linens and ironstone. 

My family would cringe at this, but lately I have been craving painting the oak buffet and hutch in my kitchen.  I said I never would, but I have been itching to redo the farmhouse table in the kitchen eating area and painting the oak buffet and hutch seems to go along with it.  Maybe this summer. 

You can find me at these parties...

The Charm of Home's Home Sweet Home party

At The Picket Fence's Inspiration Friday

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

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Kitchen Shelves for Valentine's

Our kitchen shelves got some Valentine's L.O.V.E. 

The two shelves we added at the end of our upper cabinets are fun to decorate seasonally.

I made a quickie little banner of tags with a HAPPY VALENTINE'S message. Okay, it might be a bit too small to see the sticker letters in these photos. 

I added a little pink bird to a stack of ironstone plates.

I love the scrapbook paper in pink toile, pink check and solids in pink and cream. The tags are tied to a piece of string with pink satin ribbon. The 'love words' are pretty in red and white glitter.

Both the little ceramic bird and the distressed THINK PINK sign were part of a Just Beachy blog giveaway I won from City.Cottage. 

 I love the soft pink and the chippy distressed finish.

'HUGS' to you my friends! Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blog world. I have seen my blog visits grow steadily since this little blog started 3 years ago this month, but since January the pageviews and unique visits have increased substantially. I don't focus on this but I am amazed that so many people choose to visit Blue Clear Sky. I wish you all the best this upcoming week.

I'm sharing this with...

SNS #120 at Funky Junk Interiors

103rd Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Met Monday at Between Naps on The Porch

Cowgirl Up! #2 Party at The Farmhouse Porch and Cedar Hill Ranch

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Vintage Industrial Wooden Spools

Hmm, industrial spools or industrial bobbins? Or maybe they are called both.

I do know that I love the patina and various sizes of each piece, and details like the red paint, green paint and metal ends. I often wonder the task they were made for and where these hard working pieces were put to use.   

They are not used nearly enough in my decor and were kind of hidden away in my hobby room/studio (plus two new ones I found recently.) 

I have been considering selling them in my etsy shop or trying to find a vintage sale to hook up with. We just don't have a lot of horizontal and open display surfaces here. For now I brought them down to our kitchen table to enjoy for a few days. 

I'm joining the following parties...

Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors and SNS Vintage

Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Cowgirl Up Week at Cedar Hill Ranch

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The Start of an Ironstone Collection

Just what I need, another collection and more white dishes!

The first piece in my ironstone collection was this covered dish that I found at a summer yard sale for a buck or two. I have to find pieces at a really good price because I'm really cheap we have a budget. 

The second piece I found was a little butter pat at an antiques warehouse in Glen Williams, Ontario for 25 cents, at least I think it is a butter pat. It is the thicker round edge type with some lovely discolouration.

I shared my love of white dishes here and here. I loved seeing dish collections in the many blogs I visited and  in magazines, but I was a bit confused as to what pieces were ironstone until I read Ellie at Frog Goes To Market's post My Antique Ironstone Collection. Have you seen her collections? Drool worthy!   

I found out that the thicker round edged pieces with simple lines and the finer more detailed pieces are both ironstone. I love the antique shades of white and that some pieces show their age with crackling and discolouration. So I guess you can understand my excitement when I found more pieces at thrift stores in a neighbouring city this week. At one store I found 10 Myott Meakin bread/dessert plates with a scalloped edge, 39 cents each. They are marked 1982 so not really old but made in Staffordshire England.

At another store I found the two Johnson Brothers dinner plates, made in England, shown under the covered dish, for 99 cents each.

The third thrift store had two platters and a little dish. The little dish was $1 and the one above was $5.99 and is marked Unicorn Thomas Hughes and Son, Staffordshire England, and is 11.5" in diameter.

The largest platter is 14.5" long and has a very faint marking, only $3.

These pieces may not be super valuable, but I love the different shapes, sizes and the beautiful shades of whites. For now they will find a home on our kitchen buffet and hutch or in our dining room cabinet. One day I would love to have a fraction of Ellie's collection beautifully displayed in an open cabinet. For now I am enjoying my little collection.

Linking up this week at some of my favourite places to hang out...
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Inspiration Friday at At The Picket Fence
Treasure Hunt Thursday at From My Front Porch To Yours
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Saturday Nite Special # 119 at Funky Junk Interiors and SNS #124 Vintage
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday #100 at Coastal Charm
Wow Us Wednesdays #52 at Savvy Southern Style

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