Are You Thinking About Valentine's Day?

1997 by Charpénte

Valentine's Day 

is just two weeks away.

1988 - Midwest Importers of Cannon Falls, Hong Kong

Do you have something 

special in mind for your valentine?

1986 - Midwest Importers of Cannon Falls, Hong Kong

Perhaps you plan to 

bake your valentine's favorite pie.

Not Dated - Midwest Importers of Cannon Falls, Hong Kong

Or spend some time 

together, just the two of you.

1988 - Midwest Importers of Cannon Falls, Hong Kong

I'd go to the end of the 

Earth for my special valentine.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Sharing my small collection 

of Mary Engelbreit valentine tins.

Your Special Valentine

Ann Estelle Paper Doll ~ HOME COMPANION, April May 2001

Ann Estelle is still in her robe and slippers because she slept-in this morning. She has had a busy weekend with all the Chinese New Year festivities. Click here if you missed her Chinese New Year Party.

1997 by Charpénte

Valentine's Day 
is just a week away.

1988 - Midwest Importers of Cannon Falls, Hong Kong

Do you have something 
special in mind for your valentine?

1986 - Midwest Importers of Cannon Falls, Hong Kong

Perhaps you plan 
to bake a special pie.

Not Dated - Midwest Importers of Cannon Falls, Hong Kong

Or spend some time together, 
just the two of you.

1988 - Midwest Importers of Cannon Falls, Hong Kong

I'd go to the end of the Earth 
for my special valentine.

Sharing my small collection of Mary Engelbreit valentine tins at the following blogs. Click the links below to see what others have to share this week.

M. E. Monday @ The Cherry Chick

Holiday Haven's Ongoing Valentine Party

Masterpiece Monday @ Boogieboard Cottage

Three or More Tuesday @ The Gypsy Corner

REDnesday @ It's A Very Cherry World!

All Out of Candy Corn

Hope each of you enjoyed a

Happy Halloween full of sweet treats.

All out of candy corn here!

Joining the Cherry Chick

for

M. E. Monday.

This little Mary Engelbreit Halloween tin has belonged to me for many years.

Click here to see a list of other posts that feature Mary Engelbreit's artistic talents.

And The Winner Is . . .

A huge thanks to each of you who took the time to enter this Anniversary Giveback with a thoughtful comment and to all my faithful followers both old and new. I appreciate you more than words can express.

Some think the #13 is unlucky,

but not Mr. Random Generator.

Congratulations to Penny

@ The Comforts of Home/

Lavender Hill Studio!

Meet Penny, mosaic artist and author of two wonderful blogs, The Comforts of Home and Lavender Hill Studio. Penny lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina where she creates exquisite pieces of mosaic art and other delights. This active, creative lady also generously shares her beautiful home, gardening, cooking, and inspiration for a comfortable life. If you don't know Penny, stop by The Comforts of Home for a visit. You'll be charmed with all this lovely lady has to share.

Send me an email, Penny, and the Anniversary Gift Package will be on it's way to North Carolina. I hope you enjoy the contents as much as I enjoyed putting this together.

And again, thank you to all who visit, comment, encourage, correspond, and share your individual talents and creative spirits. It truly has been an amazing year with hours of creative fun and a whole new circle of friendships. I follow and read your blogs with great admiration. Bloggers are an amazing group of individuals who generously and graciously share your talents. Your creativity continually amazes me. I learn from each of you every day.

You, to me, are unique in all the world.

Celebrating ~ Giving Back with a Gift

Hyacinths for the Soul is celebrating its First Year Anniversary with a Giveback. The winner will be announced on September 1, 2010. I hope everyone will join in the fun.

~ The Gift ~

~ A Package Containing ~

Something Old

That would be this vintage tea table cloth that I purchased last spring at the Round Top Antique Show. 30" square and made of white woven cotton, it is full of lovely details and in perfect condition. Four beautifully embroidered bouquets fill the space in each quarter as delicate pink appliquéd ribbons gracefully weave in and out among the colorful blooms. The workmanship on this piece is gorgeous!

Something New

A friend gave me a set of these "Friendship" glasses sometime ago. They are classic vintage style French glassware with the expression: Un Verre D' Amitie which means "friendship glass" or "glass of friendship." I've so enjoyed using my set of these charming glasses, that I picked up a set of four to include as part of this gift.

"I raise my glass in friendship to each of you!"

Something French

Just for you, I contacted The Frenchy Bee and placed an order for some of my favorite cookies and caramels from Brittany. Barnier's Sucette au Caramel au beurre salé are petite salted caramel lollipops. Each is wrapped in a blue and yellow cover decorated with the Quimper faience figures depicting a Breton man and woman in traditional dress. Barnier has been making candies in France since 1885. The galettes are pure butter cookies, the traditional favorites from Brittany. These thin and crispy cookies come packaged in their own Quimper motif tin. You can read more about these collectible tins in a previous post here.

And Certainly Something Blue

Included in the gift package is a set of 4 porcelain dessert plates, each featuring a different toile design. This set was spotted on eBay and purchased specifically for this anniversary giveback. The plates come in their own little round box featuring a beautiful blue toile design.

So there you have it, and I do hope it will please the one who wins. It is a small token of appreciation for all that I receive from each of you who visit and leave encouraging comments. I wish I could send every one of you a gift. My blogging friends have definitely enriched my life this past year. Thank you!

If you want to take part in this Giveback, leave your entries on the original post HERE.

Thank you to the following hostess. Please visit their blogs to see a list of others participating this week:

Blue Monday @ Smiling Sally's

Mosaic Monday @ Little Red House

Three or More Tuesday @ The Gypsy's Corner

T is for Tins, Souvenirs de Bretagne

T is for

Tins, Souvenirs de Bretagne

Galettes from St. Michel

Join me as I share a collection of delightful souvenir tins. I'm recycling this post from one I published as guest blogger for Quimper Club International last September. A special "Thank You!" to QCI members Diane, Gay, Judy, Doris, and Barbara for sharing photos of tins from their collections as well. All you pinkies here for Pink Saturday this week will find lots of pink used in the designs on some of these tins.

Group of Tins Filled with Galettes

If you are like me, you like to take home small gifts from your travels to family and friends.

I've discovered the perfect gift from Brittany is a tin of galettes. Designed for the tourist trade, one can easily find tins filled with the traditional Breton butter cookies: the flat"glaettes," the thick shortbread "palets," or the rolled crêpe cookie "crêpes à dentelles". Of course the charm for me of a souvenir of this sort is the gift tin in which these cookies are packaged. Often these delicious French butter cookies come in hinged tins decorated with Quimper faience designs. So once the cookies are gone, the charming little tin box can be reused for any purpose. In our home one is usually filled with fig newtons, while another may have fresh baked brownies. Several are home to tea bags, odd buttons, or anything that needs to be stored on a shelf. A friend in France says they are the perfect size for a box of sugar cubes.

No wonder these are so good. They are made with lots of butter!

This tin shows the typical decor of "Décor Mistral".

This one is in the "Décor Soleil".

One of my favorites is "Décor Le Coq Ancien".

Another of our feathered friends, "Décor Jardin d' Eté".

Here we have another version of the "Décor Jardin d' Eté" with a "Décor Mistral" .

This tall cylindrical tin shows the same HB-Henriot décor as the large square tin show in the header.

It was produced in recent years and often used to store spaghetti once the cookies were gone.

The beautiful floral design is also found on the sides of the square tin of this design.

This tin shows a painting by Philippe Lalys in the tradition of Porquier Beau.

This unusual tin with handle shows the décor of Jim-Emile Sévellec.

Another tin, Galettes de Pleyben, is from the 1930s and is also a design by Sévellec.

Each side is decorated with additional scenes.

Notice the detailed borders

And of course this identifies the contents.

This vintage tin is possibly a design by Fouillen.

This tin shows the Modern Movement work of artist Mathurin Méheut.

Obviously this tin held the curled crêpes dentelles. The delicate lace border mimics the lace of the coiffe, a traditional Breton headdress.

Looks like these young ladies are having a good time!

Oh, the Breton crêpes are the best!

Vintage tin from Le Croisic

Yet another vintage tin with typical Breton scene.

This is the colorful border on the tin pictured above.

Contemporary tins typical of those found in the souvenir shops of Brittany.

Another tin with a scene of celebration.

This one shows the beloved Bretagne character, Becassine.

These two contemporary tins show typical seaside scenes from Brittany.

This delightful tin depicts a celebration along the river bank.

If a trip to Brittany is not in your near future, this charming "Décor Mistral" tin filled with Galettes de Bretagne is just a click away here in the US at Frenchy Bee. Click here to order your tin today.

Click here to buzz over to Mrs. Matlock's class for more about the Letter T at Alphabe-Thursday. I'm also linking this post to Le Chateau de Fleurs' French Obsession Party for June and the following memes this week.

Suzanne's Vintage Thingie Thursday @ Colorado Lady

Pink Saturday with Beverly @ How Sweet the Sound

A Few of My Favorite Things with Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie

Blue Monday with Smiling Sally

Three or More Tuesday with Tam @ Gypsy Corner