Saturday, October 23, 2010

Sunday Favorites - My First Cloche Party

It's been a few weeks since I've participated in Chari's meme Sunday Favorites. Chari has a beautiful blog she calls Happy to Design and her designs make me happy! Today I made up my mind that I was going to participate this week come hell or high water...so far neither has come, so here I am!

Sunday Favorites is where bloggers can share a "blast from the past"! Ok, well maybe what I'm going to share isn't exactly a BLAST, but it is one of my favorites posts from the past and it's about my daughter April and she's had a rough week so I want to share this with her again and tell her that I love her and I'm so proud of her and that one year from now this past week will be but a fleeting memory!

Be sure to click here to go see what everyone else is sharing!



Favorite Post
from
September 10, 2009


Hi and welcome to my first ever Cloche attempt!

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life is hosting a cloche party, so I'm trying my hand at creating one. No easy task as it takes a creative mind and yours truly isn't exactly creative...most of the time. But here goes and I hope you like it!

Some of you may be asking, "What is a Cloche"? Cloche is french for bell. It's formed of a piece of glass shaped like a dome and it's purpose is to protect garden plants from cold weather and frost.

I didn't have a formal cloche or bell jar or apothecary jar, so what I did was take my hurricane lamp and turn it upside down, which makes a bell shape...hence a cloche!

I thought long and hard about what I would put under my cloche. I wanted something fall like, even though it's still in the high 90's outside. So I decided that I would do a little display for my daughter April.

A few months ago she took a job about 4 hours away and I've only seen her once since then. She's coming home this Saturday just for the day and so I figured I would go ahead and use some of her most loved things.

So here it is...my Cloche. April is collecting tea cups. This is the first one that she has found. She has four others because she's claiming the four that belonged to my former mother-in-law, April's grandmother...lol. Right now all five are in my possession. Also pictured are April's Russian Nesting Dolls which I gave her as a gift this year for her birthday...on Aprils Fools Day and yes, that is her actual birthday. I added the tray, flowers and candle just to give the display some fall colors.

I'm going to display it on my kitchen table, but I might move it on the weekend to my coffee table so I can see it while I do my "couch potato" thing. :-)

Here's a closeup of the cup and saucer. I love this picture, the way the light is reflected in the glass and mirror on the tray.

Here's a closeup of the Russian Nesting dolls...I felt they had great fall colors. The little orange candle in the background just is a nice fall color and also smells great! The little brown tray is from Goodwill and I've been debating painting it. It has a mirrored bottom and I keep it on my kitchen counter.

And the silk flowers were given to me by my sister. The rest of them are displayed in the barrel planter on my patio. I do great with silk, not so much with real flowers. I believe these would be mums?


So...what did you think of my first every cloche? I had a fun time creating it and now I hope you all head over the Marty's, A Stroll Thru Life and see what everyone else created!




6 comments:

  1. I remember this vignette- I liked your sweet little nesting dolls! Isn't it fun to look back at what we've done in the past? Hope you're doing okay, Alicia. We're having great fall weather these days....
    ~ Sue

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you have such a creative cloche ... I may use this idea. The teacup inside is sweet too. I enjoyed visiting your blog thru Sunday Favorites!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My favorite part is definitely your set of Matryoshka nesting dolls. I collect them like crazy! Glad I found you via Sunday Favorites! -diane

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very cool!!! I love that look, and thank you for telling me the real name for those bells...I had no clue:O) HUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Alicia...

    I'm so happy to see you for Sunday Favorites this week, my friend! Ohhh...and what a sweet post to revisit! Sending good thoughts and prayers your daughters way, dear friend! I absolutely love how you used this pretty vase as a cloche...it's perfect for displaying that pretty teacup! Hmmm...you have my creative wheels turning now. I was just trying to think if I have a similar vase that I could use this way...but I don't think I have one. Ohh...and I love, love, LOVE Russian nesting dolls! I am just intriqued with them! I have a set of Santa Claus nesting dolls...they are one of my Christmas favorites!!! Well sweet lady, thank you for sharing this wonderful post with us for Sunday Favorites this week! Such a treat!

    Have a fabulous week, Alicia!
    Warmest autumn wishes,
    Chari @Happy To Design

    PS...thank you for the sweet mentions at the beginning of your post! You're the best!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, it's just beautiful, sweetie! I love all your personal touches and I'm sure April loved it as well.

    ReplyDelete

Please leave a comment.I would love to know your thoughts!