My dream fine china

via Toast and Tables

I had a dream a week ago about a gift from a knight in shining armour (okay, it was black and white pinstripe Italian suit). It was a custom made Kate Spade coffee AND dinner service in daffodil yellow and white. It was simple... and so so luxe! Next scene in my very vivid dream was this gorgeous gift displayed in a simple while dresser behind glass in a sunlit all white apartment in New York.

Now. Of course I don't know the name or face of said knight... but what I do know that it was a pinstripe suit, the dinner set was yellow and white and from Kate Spade. And I do know that it was in a white dresser in a white apartment in New York. The way you know things in dreams :P

via Toast and Tables

To be honest, I have been looking for several months for a favourite yellow and white fine china dinner service... so maybe this is the source of my dream!

So I haven't been able to get that image from my mind (again, not so much the knight...)...

Late last night I went surfing. I found that Kate Spade did do a yellow and white dinner service, the Kate Spade's Rutherford Circle tableware in Yellow (discontinued), but the style of the cup was different in my dream.



The cup was more in the fashion of the June Lane series:



Actually the June Lane series pretty much is the set in my dream, bar the dragonfly and in a daffodil colour.

Simple, banded Limoges-finish fine china, as is my favoured, in that colour are slim pickings. China like my mother in law's or the kind favoured by Rachel Ashwell, while absolutely gorgeous and pretty... is not my style.

I did however, stumble across 2 designs.

The closest one to my dream (albeit too orangey but at this perfection, who's to complain??) is from Haviland, the Laque De Chine Mandarin Gold:



Also found Match, who produce these beautiful pewter tableware and in their Convivio line is a spectacularly exquisite gold/yellow set.



I also do like the bold, art deco style of the lovely Shelley fine china, in their Yellow Star pattern, but these are rare and often expensive...



I guess the only way left for me (since budget is un-limitless!) is to compile a set, much like I did my all white Johnson Bros octagon dinner service.

Clockwise from top left: Marc Jacobs Waterford "David" Canary Dinnerware Collection, Kate Spade's Pinney's Beach, Kate Spade's Rutherford Circle tableware in Yellow, Michael Aram for Waterford "Jaipur" Dinnerware Collection.

or in pink:

Clockwise from top left: Marc Jacobs Waterford "David" Scarlet Dinnerware Collection, Kate Spade's Pinney's Beach, Raynaud, Tropic Pink, Kate Rutherford Circle in Pink, Michael Aram for Waterford "Jaipur" Dinnerware Collection.

I also spotted some stationery I'd love to see in some fine dinner service... my favourite being Elum Design's desk set in charcoal grey, yellow and white:



Places to look for fine china:
Michael C. Fina
DeVine Corp

Vintage tea tins

So... in my last post, I wrote a little about my love for vintage tea tins.



I love my own tea tins. Only just 2. Recently they've been sitting in my kitchen... last week I put some winter roses in them and had them grace my desk.

But I thought I'd do some surfing for more inspiration on how to use these pretty tins...

I love this vintage set I stumbled upon on blog Reading Rosie

I discovered Uniquely Tea, a great blog for some tea tin inspiration! These are some of my favourites:

A table clock.... or a lamp! Pretty easy to do too.



Use them to display flowers. I find it best when you just fill the tea tin... I placed the water and flowers into a plastic cup and placed that into the tin...

Image from gathering spriggs

Image from gathering spriggs

Store Q-tips!



I keep various craft & sewing paraphernalia in these pretty colourful tins too.



Holly from decor8 also posted about tea tins last year... with some great photography and tips.

Via decor8

Or fill them with wax and use them as candleholders. I must say I really like this idea, although I can't really be bothered with locating wax beads, wick, boil them etc etc.



Make them into pretty vintage pendant shades via Junk Market Style!



My beautiful blue Asian-inspired bird vintage tea tin is now a holder for my new African violet. I love looking at this while I wash the dishes :)

A Blast from the Past 80s

Okay.. I HAVE to start with a disclaimer: I am NOT a Hello Kitty fan.

But. I am a fan of gadgety gear.

I am also a very selective fan of memorabilia from my childhood.

Today at Ikea, whilst walking rapidly towards the bathroom accessories section, I was hit.

Via Flickr user *Iron Lace*

Did you have one in the 1980s in school?? Everyone had one of these in school in Malaysia then!

The buttons on the left open up a pencil sharpener, a magnifying glass, a thermometer, eraser tray and one will even lift the pencil tray in the top layer up an angle! The inner lid face had a plastic pocket we could jot our weekly school timetable on. The BOTTOM of this case is ANOTHER opening for rulers and more pencils, and maybe a comb. I think mine had a mirror someplace.

When I got home from Ikea, I went on a hunting frenzy online. I didn't find anything UNTIL THIS.

Thank you *Iron Lace*!!! This is not only similar to the one I had, but it is the exact one!

Man. I now want one desperately.
Have you seen one?
Have you GOT ONE?

Disney sell them.

So do Japanese stores... ebay has some, check under "pencil case".

The magic action! (not exact match, just similar)

Via Flickr user Sakurako Kitsa

But I want me my VINTAGE one! (plus I reckon they're better made and the buttons are sleeker.)

Did these images send you back a million years too? Share, I'd love to hear!

How I did it.

A few readers have asked me how I created those little things for Hannah's dollhouse. So I thought I'd reply with a post.



As you might know, Hannah is my daughter and she's about 3-and-a-half. So getting her the best dollhouse/miniature furniture often gets lost on little children and she often breaks them accidentally. So I didn't want to spend loads of them (do you know how much the good ones cost??). I also knew most furnishings could come straight from my craft supplies...



Must have tools:
Glue gun
Some glue paste
Double-sided tape

The transparent grandmummy buttons are great for glass bottles or pomander. Better if it's a thick transparent with some bevels and grooves. Just attached a pretty pink button on the top... and you have a pretty vintagey pomander.



I have plenty of Swarovski beads that I use for invitations or jewellery. I used them to make perfume bottles and shampoo bottles for Hannah's bedroom and bathroom. I love it when the sunlight hits it and it becomes so ... perfumery! :)



I also attached a plain green button one of my glass button and it's now a bathroom accessory.

I made the shower curtain from vintage ribbon :) Just hop to Spotlight or any craft store, and get stiff wide ribbon. I attached it to the rod by folding over a length and secured it with double-sided tape.



And because all of those cupboards and drawers open and close, I wanted to signal to my 3 year old that one in particular was for dresses so I attached some buttons to the fronts. Helped that I had handy some dress buttons!

So it's buttons and beads again in the kitchen. Like the pile of plates in the kitchen and the plates on the dining table.



I filled the green button plate with glue from the glue gun. With my beading tweezer, I put a selection of beads that emulated sushi and Japanese bits.

I made a pile of red buttons and placed it on Hannah's dresser... to be like a vase or some art sculpture. :)



For the clock, I just got a pretty flower button and drew the clock hands.

So... I guess I'm at the end of show-and-tell. The other bits... were scrapbooking papers for floors, walls...

Addition to pink table

I have found another gorgeous pink table for my pink dining table inspiration :)

Via Australian House and Garden

Colours

I haven't written much because life has been busy for me... and simply because I haven't been inspired by much lately. I don't like to write about things that others write because it's the in-thing or because someone else has done it... I like to blog about inspires and moves me.

Lately, the economic crisis has not left us unscathed. To add to that, there so much eye candy out there that it's better I don't surf the eye candy!! :) I mean, I already want a pink dining table, 10 Chippendale Chinese dining chairs, a white and black bureau/secretaire... and loads more!

But I thought I'd practice my photography skills and capture closeups of some of my favourite things in the home...



I love vintage tea tins. But finding ones I really really really liked... is hard! The vintage tea tin one on the right I've had for years. I could not resist the one on the left on eBay recently for a song.



I was so inspired by using them to store flowers... or candles...

Top image from gathering spriggs

I think I should explain about the amount of birds I have in the home. Growing up for me was not easy, I started likening myself to sparrows and taking comfort that God cared for each and every one of this small, insignificant birds. So I've had a printout of a sparrow on the walls of my various bedrooms.



Then I got to know birds on a real intimate, personal level, with my then-boyfriend's family having them as members of the family... eating on the dining table at the same time as the rest of us, demanding bath times in the kitchen sink by running to and fro near the kitchen sink... by sipping ice cream from our spoons (after we finished, of course!)... Until then I never knew they had very distinct personalities. (Still doubtful about the little finches.)



One of the highlights of my honeymoon was a visit to the Jervis Bay reserve, South Coast, NSW. There's a park that's visited by kangaroos and birds. We hadsome of these beauties join our meal of sandwiches... and I was enthralled!



So, I've loved birds way way way way before the recent bird-trend in interior design. I'll also love them way way way past.
So I'm unapologetic for having that many birds art/pictures in my home - it's not a trend!

Oh and I collect greeting cards! And this is one of my favourites... because it shows the love for vintage-shopping and a close relationship with another female friend... also into vintage-shopping. I gave an identical one to my mother-in-law! She's my vintage-shopping friend. :)



Hope you enjoyed a few shots of my home!