Miss Duffy’s Blog

Comfort People

April 26th, 2007 by missduff

 

I just love old friends, family, and all those people whom make it an easy and enjoyable existence.  The reassurers, encouragers, and supporters- you know them- you’re probably one of them.  I have lots of them in my life.  They make great warm food- give the best hugs.  They know the perfect timing to offer a seat, a drink, or a kind word.  They give away cuttings from their garden- even though it would be easier not to.  They bring by “just thinking of you things”. They make extra warm food to give to neighbors, friends, and family.  They are always thinking of what they could do for someone, or who would like this or that.     They are like comfort people, instead of comfort food.  My friend Holly is one of those Gems of a person.  She is the real deal both inside and out, and I feel honored to be blessed by her friendship.  My daughter and I went to spend the weekend with them awhile back.  We had the Best time, and I mean the BEST time.  I could just take up residence in her Sweet Blessed Life.   It was so relaxing, and we had so much fun.  When it was time to go, she stared packing me up with all sorts of goodies.  I came home with food- she actually gave me the entire ingredient list, can goods and all, for a yummy pot pie we ate for supper the night before.  She gave me cuttings from her garden, which is like giving me money.  She had bought me a set of the wonderful glass footed dishes she featured on her blog a few weeks before.  I’m a Country Bumpkin and rarely get to go into the BIG city to do real shopping- you know the kind that’s not for food?  This girl thinks of me when she’s out shopping.  If she likes something or buys something, she will call me to see if I want one or some or what ever, and then she gets me one or some too!  Can you believe that?  She also sent home a craft kit to make your own snow globe, because she knew my daughter collected snow globes.  This winter after finding out that my daughter collected snow globes, she made a trek around OKC looking at Dollar Stores for a snow globe necklace she had seen.  Crazy girl!   I think if she could have folded up her whole house, she would have at least tried to put it in my car.  Now, I don’t just love her because she gives me stuff.   Most times I feel really guilty!  I know, I’ll go see someone about that.  I love her because she is real.  I love this piece from The Velveteen Rabbit:

“You become.  It takes a long time.  That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily or have sharp edges or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.  But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” –The Velveteen Rabbit 

Now, we are young, and Holly is beautiful- she has a full head of hair and her eyes are intact, so all of this does not apply, but I think what I am trying to get to, is when people have found themselves, and Become- they are themselves through and through, and you feel this ease when you are with them.  They are not sharp, break easy, and do not have to be carefully kept.  They are not trying- they are.  Which frees them to be their own wonderful self, and this is what I love most about Holly.  She has “Become”.  She once laughed saying she was born Old- meaning, her hobbies, ideas, and sense were different from most women our age.  I wish this for everyone I know- not for them to be like Holly, but for them to “Become” who they were meant to be.  We were not all meant to be alike.  That is not how God made us.  We are all as different as the facial features that define us.  God made us to be wholly and uniquely different.  This means there should be no social center of gravity, only common ground.  We should all be a little off from the center when we “Become”.  Please go over and meet her if you have not already been there.  She is so talented. 

She does the sweetest paintings on canvas.  The O pictured is one she did for my daughter a few years back.  Go take a peek at more of her Artwork.  www.hollydoodledesigns.com  She also sells Doodle-Packs from her website for the crafty and talented.  The notions, vintage wall paper, and tulle are all from a Doodle-Pack I brought home from her house.
 
Take a peek into her Blessed Life and see all the wonderful things she creates http://hollydoodledesigns.com/WordPress/ or you can go on over from her website.  Did I mention how many times she has blogged about purchases she has made from me- drumming up business with no strings attached.  I am hoping that there are a few of you out there that have not come over from there in the first place.  If you haven’t been over yet, I can promise you will be addicted to her sweet blog.

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Pretty Maids All In A Row

April 25th, 2007 by missduff
A few whimsies have arrived here in the store.  I thought these were so glittery and sweet.  I find it hard to resist anything with vintage style crepe paper.  “I just want to kiss ‘em.”  My mom said this the other day about some Day Lillies, so I’m stealing her line. These are made of what appears to be vintage dictionary pages with the definaton of the word flower on them.   Delicately adorned with crepe paper, glitter, and a button to top it all off.  Wouldn’t these make the best party favors for a May Day celebration or a Birthday party?  I’ve just planted them in foam here for now.  I think I will name them.   I had a friend who made the most outstanding birdhouses, and she named them all.  I envied her opportunity to make things she could name.  I mean, you can only have so many kids.  So, I guess if you don’t mind I will name these.  These are ready to be transplanted from my shop to your home if they suit your fancy!  And at a whooping $2.49, you could have yourself a dozen!  Happy Planting.  Oh, by the way www.missduffys.com.  I listed them under All Things That Glitter- because they do!! xoxox


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Saying Good-bye

April 23rd, 2007 by missduff
  
We sold our home last week.  This is a picture of our Arbor there.  Isn’t the Wisteria just wonderful.   I have noticed it has done well this year for everyone.  It is one of my favorite plants, but I have never been able to pick a favorite, so I will tell you this about many plant species.  When the Wisteria is done with its show, the Grapevine goes to work.  I’m not sure about the Wisteria, but the Grapevine is very old, and puts on the most wonderful fruit- a very fun summer project for my kiddo’s.  We also have/had three of the most beautiful Antique roses that I’m hoping are in bloom before we Close on our home.  I would like to share them with all of you.  I will not have roses like these beauties at my new home till I’m old and grey, because I think these are over 100 years old.  So, I will try to show them off before we leave.  I will have to leave the wisteria, grapes, and roses, but I did manage to move my Lavender collection earlier this spring, and to my surprise, they survived the move.  They don’t want their picture taken just yet.  If you come back in May, they will be lovely.  I have a variety of species of this wonderful plant- again, one of my favorites.  I am most proud of my two Melissa’s which are the pink variety, and my two Albas which are the white variety.  They are the rarest of the bunch and coming on their third year, so they should put on quite a show.
     Here are a few pictures of our EMPTY old home.  It sure looks different without us there.  If you were wondering why I haven’t posted pictures of my kitchen for the Vintage Kitchen Swap, it’s because we had left it, and my new Kitchen just does not feel like home yet.  As we make our new home our own, I do promise to let you all have a peek.  This home was the first and only house our little family has ever occupied since the beginning of US.  It is not a fancy home, but we are not fancy people; however, it is an old home full of the rich character of time.  I feel honored to add our memories to the years of memories this old home has held.  I know people move everyday and all the time, but I am so sentimental- especially about something as personal as a home.  This home holds so many of my families first.  My husband and I were married on the front porch; we brought both our two children home from the hospital here.  It’s where my kiddo’s took their first steps, and said their first words.  They learned to ride a bike on the parallel street, made many treks under the sprinkler in the back yard, and sold 100’s of glasses of lemon-aid from the front yard.  We have left wonderful friends and wonderful neighbors all whom we will truly miss.  Leaving a place you love is never something easy to do.  It really is like leaving pieces of you, but I guess that is why God allows us to have a memory- A place for us to store the past ever so gently as life changes so that we are able to move on into the future- yet not forget. 


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Serendipity

April 13th, 2007 by missduff

ser?en?dip?i?ty n. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. 2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries. 3. An instance of making such a discovery.

Don’t you just love the dictionary? I confess-when I was younger I liked to read the dictionary, and I am not kidding. I don’t do it anymore- I don’t have time or I might, but I do keep an ongoing list of interesting words that I want to learn. I Looove words. I know that sounds silly, but I actually read for the words sometimes rather than for the plot. For instance, I read most of the Ann Rice books. It’s been years ago. I actually found them rather off my subjects and somewhat disturbing, but I just kept reading them because of the way that woman uses words. By the way, if you are wondering why I read the first one, it was because I took a literature/writing class in college, and the reading was based on classic horror novels. We read Frankenstein and all the other classics. Strange- I know!

Anyway, I?m starting to ramble. I serendipitously stumbled into the past this week. We were off to pick-up my second load of bedding plants for the shop. Which by the way have been indoors since thier arrival,becaue the weather is so Bi-polar in Oklahoma! My mom went with me and had business to do in Hinton Ok. This is a little speck of the universe much like Canton. Just a little two sided main street with less than 12 buildings, which housed a variety store, a hardware store, a flower shop, a couple of cute little boutiques, a movie store, and a couple of eating places. There were a few more things, but I didn’t make note of them. Hinton is a quaint place to visit, and it is home to Red Rock Canyon State Park. When my kids were smaller, and before we moved, we were just a jaunt from Red Rock. They put a Dairy Queen off the interstate exit going to Hinton which was about twelve miles from our house. Now, that sounds like no big deal if you live in a city, but talk about excitement for our little town and my little family. We took many treks to hike around Red Rock and get ice cream on the way home. What great memories- Oh, that makes me hungry for a Buster Bar. Anyway, rambling again! I’m getting to the good stuff- so be patient.

 

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Ok, back to visiting Hinton. Can’t you tell by my pictures, that I’ve had some serendipity. Read on…I was wondering around town waiting on my mom, went into the Hinton Variety store, and there I was smack dab in the middle of more New Old Stock than I have ever seen. This was not an antique store, nor was it a retro boutique. This place was open for the business of selling variety goods, and let me tell you they had a variety of goods to sell- all sorts of things- variety goods from every era dating from the sixties to date.

 

 

There was a small bin of jelly shoes from the first time around, shirts that said, Vans are Neat! In colors straight from the seventies, vintage Converse shoes still in the box. You name it, and it was probably in there. My interest was the sewing things.  The first pictures above are some of my finds:  Lots of old buttons from Holland, pastel colored seam bindings, spools of old ribbon, tiny vintage envelopes, and some cans of vintage paint in the most outstanding shade of blue.  Now, you are going to have a hard time with this next information, because all of this was selling for the price it was marked the decade it was set on the shelf.  I am not kidding!!  I have a limited budget, a limited imagination, and had no need what-so-ever for most of the things.  (I did want to buy some jelly shoes, because my mom never let my sister and I have them the first time around, but I refrained) Girls, I left a store full.  If you are a lover of all things vintage, and I suspect you are if you are on?this site, this place was really something to see.  Even if you don’t purchase a thing, the place is a real novelty.  If you get a chance to be in rural Oklahoma, this is a destination you may want to put on your agenda. The man in the picture is the owner- I wish my pictures had turned out better. His family has had the business since the early sixties, and there had been only one other owner before him. Look over his shoulder in the first picture and notice the old metal button racks on the wall.  I left tons of them. Now that’s serendipity!!

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Vintage Swap 2007

April 13th, 2007 by missduff

 

I am regretfully late in posting my pictures of my Vintage Swap gifts.  It was good Dolly and I had each other because we were both a little late in swapping.  I have so enjoyed getting to know Dolly- such a sweetie!  http://frommycherryheart.blogspot.com  My gifts came so perfectly package in pastel tissues and wraps, but I am so impulsive that the idea to photo the package did not come to me until I had ripped into it.  I love gifts!!  I am also a little embarrassed, because I did not do a lovely wrapping job on her gift.  It was my first swap and all I could think about was making sure I had enough bubble wrap to safely land her breakable package.  Sorry Dolly!  For those of you who don’t know Dolly she’s a Cherry girl.  Hence, the name My Cherry Heart!!  For me, she painted a vintage cake cover in my favorite shade of mint green, and topped it off with her signature painted cherries.  I also received four sweet wood cloths pens that are to be used to close chips and things in the pantry!  A great vintage mint green hen dish with candies, and tea towels with my signature Bee in mint green on them! To top it all off, a sweet handmade sachet and Easter candy galore- did I eat all of it?  Thanks a million Dolly, I’ll be over for a visit soon! 

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Spilling In

April 6th, 2007 by missduff

  

      This is a fun short project, and the results are so vintagey and interesting.  The sky is the limit when it comes to putting these bad boys to use. I found this idea on The Curious Sofa Diaries.  They had put them on window panes and made banners with some, but this is as far as I have gotten with mine.  I scoured the images from a fun site called Miss Mary’s- Miss Duffy likes Miss Mary’s.

 http://shop.missmary.com/details.php?gid=85&sgid=&pid=173

This was so simple.  I ran old book pages through my printer and Waa Laa!!  I used pages from a British poetry book brought back from a trip to England many moons ago! It was probably worth a million dollars- I guess not now!  Miss Marry has 41 free images right now, some of which are birds! Have fun Girls! The images above are from her site too!!

 

 
 

 

Bloom where your planted”.  I was going to write today about blooming where you’re planted.    About that quote being so assuring, and how it insinuates the all dreaded, “or else”.   I was also going to go on endlessly about your happiness in life boiling down to a “state of mind”,  and all sorts of other inspiring things.  Then the darn UPS man walks in the door, and my mind goes shallow. I am so easily wiffed away with new arrivals. I can’t get back to that level right now.  I hope you all can make it through the weekend without my self-help spill, because I am no longer going to give it.  I am going to show you what is spilling into my shop instead.   First, take a look at these sweet girls. Wonderful new foiled nut cups and May baskets.  They’re all dressed up and ready to go out- that is, of my door and into your homes and studios.  These are oh so everyday, and just in time to replace the diminished supply of  foiled eggs.

 

 

 

I’ve have had birds on the brain.  I can’t help but to love all things birdsih (I know- not a word). Anyway, I hope you do too because my Easter offerings are being replace with nesting supplies.  Calling all Humming bird lovers!  These feeders are top notch.  We love companies with a mission and this one is in our book.  First, we love birds and apparently they do too!  So, there in, but listen to this:  All the feeders are hand blown- Love that, and made from recycled glass- Love that more, and reminiscent of vintage perfume bottles, molded hard candies, and other vintage inspirations- Lovin’ em more yet!  And last, but certainly not least- Top notch quality!  I hope your thinking Mothers day, or at least thinking, “I’ve got to have one”.  I can’t tell you how beautiful these are in the sunlight compared to their plastic step sisters- no comparison!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Go take a peek! www.missduffys.com! And do come back to see what is new!!

 

 

Here are a few more bird things we have added, and I’m not kidding the best is yet to come.  We will be adding some wonderful glittered woodland bits soon!!  I can’t wait for you to see whats coming! 

 

 

 

 

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