Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Need Help-Antique FLOWER Print Identification of Blue Flowers!!!??

I bought this Victorian flower print in Charleston, and I am going to list it on eBay, but my brain is flower-id-comatose here. They are not violets, or lilacs( the blue ones), and I am also at a loss of what the white ones are ( snow-drops, crocus)?

HELP me flower people!!???
thanks,
Gina

Monday, March 26, 2012

Early SPRING In Charleston, South Carolina- March 2012


We took off one day last week and visited Charleston, so nice to live so close to my favorite city. It was hot, about 78 degrees, and moved up into the 80's the second day we were there. The great shot I took above was heading back one evening down Church St. St. Philips church is in the background, spring planters delivering their lushness in my path.
I had time for a quick walk before dinner.

I arrived back at the hotel , changed and then we went walking to a restaurant. You can walk to all restaurants, shops, gardens, etc. here.
That is me and my lovebug, we were all heading out to eat, and as you can see staying at our favorite place to stay in Charleston, The Indigo Inn . I was tired, we were tired, as I had been antiquing in the outskirts of Charleston for about 4-5 hours, with my husband and son.
Yes, they were troopers.
This was a nice antique 19C oil I found there...but let's get back to the gardens.
Charleston was already showing its early Spring debut. I took lots of pictures of window planter boxes, as they are everywhere, and I mean ALL over Charleston.
Then various other shots of pretty Spring.
Let me show you....

Purple hydrangeas.
A tulip garden.




White azaleas pushing through wrought iron.
My favorite little cupids in Charleston, that are the only ones I have seen anywhere that are like my identical twins, that I have in my garden, look...
I have to get my behind out and work in my garden as all my fellow garden bloggers are kicking it with their hard work they are showing in theirs.
Ok, back to Charleston...
I'll just be quiet( if I can here), and show you what I saw.
Do you see how Charlestonians cram so many flowers into one windowbox and it works !? I see I could not stay quiet for even one picture frame.
I will try again.
Early evening picture coming back down Church St.
I give up on no talking.


This one was on Rainbow row.
Rainbow Row, famous grouping of colorful homes near the Battery area.

I have said in previous entries, that Charleston has very small front yards, or no front yards. But that does not stop the residents and business owners from putting out overflowing planters, urns and windowboxes for us to enjoy.
I think this entry is running too long, so I will leave you with a shot of some romantic lovers walking along the battery,it was early morning here, they were holding hands, probably in their late 40's or 50's.
They looked peaceful and happy that morning.
Charleston is for lovers you know, they are everywhere, all ages, holding hands, smiling.
Hopefully I will do an entry of just some people holding hands and looking in love and happy, walking about Charleston.
I will also continue this one of some other garden shots and some funny dog pictures of spoiled pooches in Charleston.
Busy day here, running very behind on all kinds of important tasks,
take care all,
Gina




Saturday, March 3, 2012

More ANTIQUE Mall Shopping & My Comments & Tirades:


Here is a continuation of my last posting, of a shopping trip at Sleepy Poet Antique Mall in Charlotte , N.C. One of my fav places to go and buy all sorts of antiques. Above is a grouping of vintage suitcases/luggage. People now use these to store items at their homes, instead of for travel.
Gorgeous Art Nouvea, early 1900's picture frame. I think it was 175.00, way too high for resale. PASSED on it.
Beautiful Art Nouveau vase, would have bought it but she has a major chip under the faux foliage. Passed.
I have seen this old print many times there lately, and I love it but it is too high for resale. See she is trying to choose between the man with the car and the man with the horse and buggy ?
Thanks be to God someone left this old tole chandelier in it's au naturel state. If you have missed any of my previous posts on antique shopping, I am a rabid ' hate everything painted white' gal.
OK students time for an antique lesson. see this ' old' painting ? Looks quite old, Folk Art, mid 1800's. But let's take it off the wall and let me show you something...
This is some sort of reproduction, as the canvas has been painted ( to fool the average buyer) , not aged naturally, with a swash of brown paint.

  A definite Pass, unless you want just the ' look ' of an antique , and don't care if it is actually old.
This dealer has handmade some bible verses and religious quotes, and wrote them on burlap, and then framed them in old windows.
Great pair of Art Deco bouncy lawn chairs.

Very charming handmade romantic cards for sale, these were made by Abe's wife. He is another very nice employee/dealer there who helps me with my purchases . The nicest people work at this mall. Wish my picture was clearer, she embellishes them with glitter/pictures and a pun on words.
Much better than Hallmark.

Wonderful antique portrait, I want her, but she is way too expensive for resale for me to buy. So I leave her,
but still want her.
Another great antique oil portrait painting, in massive antique gilt frame. Still a bit too high for resale, and since Maxine and wrapping large heavy paintings have torn my rotator cuff muscle( recovering here), and I am looking for smaller items to ship.... I am going to have to pass.

New heart rocks for sale, I bought one awhile back that says TRUST. One of the hardest qualities/actions I cannot achieve. Still trying, ever so minuscule.

Decorated antique dress form.

I'm old enough to remember people wearing these, I think it was 1980's.
I love anything with a heart. I used one of these one time and I have it on my keychain. Just take the pin off the back, and you have a heart to put on a keychain. My husband thinks it is completely dumb, as he crams his  keys in his pockets and he doesn't like all the ' junk' ( treasures) , I have dangling from mine. He tells me so often, I ignore him about it always.
It's MY keychain.

More ( ugly painted ) mirrors.

I should have bought this, as it is a church with a heart birdhouse, but I have no where to put it. It was only 8.50.
A steal.
Another antique art buying lesson students. Here we have what looks like an antique painting in an antique frame. But remember, FLIP it over...
New repro painting in new frame. See the color of the back of the frame, how new the finish is ? Also do not be fooled by the little plugs of wood in the stretcher corners, of the painting. Look at the angles, and see it is stapled or something, all in all, not old. And I firmly believe the sellers need to SAY SO ON THE TAGS. Nice , but NOT an antique.
Good example here, new repro dog painting on the left, and vintage ( 1970's) pastel dog painting on the right.  Also most dog paintings, which are very collectible, the ones that are old or vintage are not perfectly rendered always, and that gives them the charm they have. the new ones are so perfectly painted( a few antique ones area also), but mostly they have a individual artist's style, that is not exactly perfect.
Sort of like all of us humans.
A very nice vintage painting of Charleston, SC, that I have almost bought for myself many times. I try not to buy anything for myself, as I have too much stuff already.
Except little heart items.
I may buy this one day if I can get him to come down on the price some.



OK, ready for me being dumb as a brick story ? This little aluminum vintage icetray reminded me of it. When I was over at my parent's house one day, probably when I was about 22-23 years old, I saw my dad fill up the icetrays with hot water and put them in the freezer to make ice. I looked at him and asked him why he used hot water and he says '"Hot water freezes faster than cold." I thought that was odd, but since my dad , a college professor, a whiz at math and science and such, told me..then I believed him.
So everytime I filled up my trays I used hot water. My husband saw me one day, and goes why did you just put hot water in the trays? I tell my husband, dad told me it freezes faster, and relayed the old story to him. By happenstance, my dad and mom were eating dinner with us that night, and I called dad into my kitchen . I asked him to back me up on hot water freezing faster than cold. He looks at me like I'm nuts, and says,

"Of course it doesn't , who told you that ?"
I told him ' YOU !" and relayed the decade old story of him doing it. My dad looks at me, has a huge grin on his face, and goes, " And you BELIEVED me ?"
I stood there with both of them laughing at me, I put my hands on my hips and said,
" YES, I have been doing it for 10 years now!!!!!!!"
You see I always believed what my dad told me.
Now I knew why my ice always took so long to freeze.
DUMB as a BRICK.
There you go, another tour of Sleepy Poet in Charlotte , North Carolina. You can tell Jason, Jamey, Dexter, Jerry, Abe , and I am going blank on everyone else's name that works there, but tell them I sent you . Each and every one is great to deal with and help you with your purchases.
Until later,
Gina

Friday, March 2, 2012

WARNING for Parents Posting Pictures on BLOGS of Their Children:

I wanted to let you guys know , that I have noticed a small, but weekly,  disturbing trend in my stats of pedophiles looking for pictures of children. You can check your own stats for the week or month, and see if you see any of your children being looked at with weird search terms( anything that includes children or boys). Not even pictures or posts that anyone normally would consider a problem, are being pulled up on my blog ( and very probably yours),normal everyday pictures ( but the search words are perverted). I am most likely not going to post anymore of my child, unsure, as he is a big part of my life. But his safety and privacy from these messed-up perverts/criminals is paramount.
I am also unsure about pulling any posts that I have his picture in.
Just every parent and grandparent that blogs, be very aware of this.
take good care,
Gina


More ANTIQUE Shopping Tips & Rants :


I go to Sleepy Poet Antique Mall in Charlotte . N.C. about every week or two weeks usually. A HUGE mall with super nice employees that make my shopping a pleasure. I finally took my camera along again recently, and got some shots of some interesting antiques, and some dumb antiques( my opinion ), and a final story of me being dumb as  a brick many years ago. But let me just take your hand and show you what I saw...
Another painted mirror, I do not think this is old, I believe it is a newer piece, but silver paint seems to be in vogue, which means, do NOT go spray an antique mirror silver simply because it is in vogue in 2012 !!!!!!!
Another case in point ( and there will be many),someone painted an antique cherub  base WHITE, and then added a top. This may have been metal, I think it was wood with metal, but still, RUINED for future generations that don't want everything painted white.
Bust with pink velvet sombrero, nice touch.
Great 1960-70's vinyl cowgirl jacket, I would have bought it but it smelled heavily of cigarette smoke. Always give vintage jackets/hats/purses the sniff test, as old cigarette odors are about impossible to get out after so many decades. I know some people toss them in the dryer with a febreeze sheet or spray them with febreeze, but that doesn't last always.
So sniff first.

Here is Jamie( Jamey), one of my very favorite employees/dealers there. He is showing his large 1980's Vietnam soldier painting he has for sale. While he was posing, a very tall older man walked up and looked intently at the painting. I asked him if he remembered the war, and he said he was a Vietnam Vet, and we discussed how unpopular the war was back then. I still remember the look in this man's eyes when he was staring at this.
Here it is on the wall in his booth. It was oil on canvas, about 250.-275.00 I believe. Nice large piece of artwork.
Plus he has a nice' come and get it' Western meal -caller thingee that they used on ranches and farms.
With a handy old screwdriver used as the tool to start all the noise for , " ' Come on in to dinner ' round up .

Moving on I spy a 1980's ala Micheal Jackson purple leather ensemble.

A great old vintage 1960's ESSO gasoline plastic clock, I would have bought it but it had a break on the side of it. Passed.
Vintage 1980's poster/album cover which personifies perfectly a few men I have known.
Another mirror destroyed for the future with white paint. Shabby-yuck-chic. Sorry, very tired of this paint all this nice wood madness.
Great smaller booth with lots of neatly arranged vintage telephones. I miss the click-click sound of dialing a rotary phone.
A really neat vintage movie poster , loved this movie, but the price was close to 200.00 so a no-go for  resale. Passed.
Killer gorgeous antique pair of large cement garden statues. I think they were about 950.00 for the pair. Here is the other one...
These were very large and expensive, but high quality, and original old statuary. Love these.
Another painted white tole chandelier. I swear if I see anyone walking a round with a spray can of white paint, I will tackle them.
Another nice vintage cement statuary for your home and garden.
Nice old pastel of a terrier dog.
If I can't stop this white paint madness soon I am going to explode. Better yet, I see I have run too long here, I have much more to show you, including the story of me being dumb as a brick in the next post about my trip. To find Sleepy Poet antique mall, click here.
thanks to you all for coming with me,
more later, Gina