**Last Minute Nesting**

Good Morning. 

I was changing things around a bit yesterday and really feeling the need to nest. I felt like I did when I was I was getting ready to have my little one, in a fury to get things done. I do the same thing in the house when I'm getting ready to go on vacation. Does anyone else do that? 

I got this great old chippy bench at the flea market last month. I did seal it so it won't flake any longer.

I rearranged the fireplace mantle as well. I love my big ol' spool of vintage string. My husband got this for me at Country Roads. I was going to use it for when I wrap up packages, but I just can't do it. It's too pretty to use, at least for now.

A small kitchen vignette. I love this vintage metal lunchbox. I like how it adds a pop of color in contrast to the dark rusty chickens.

A collection of some of my vintage linen towels. The rest of them are scattered throughout the house. 

Well that's all for now. I will talk to you all next week sometime. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

Sincerely,

~Melinda

~***~~**~

Hi all, hope everyone is well. It's another beautiful day here in So Cal. I've been busy with lovely orders from my vintage shop. I really need to stock my vintage shop, its getting a bit low. I see lots of flea markets in my future! ;0)

Vintage cashmere and lace wreath from my vintage shop. Every time I make these I can't keep them in stock, which is a good thing!

I may be absent for a while starting on Monday due to some surgery I'm having, so as soon as I'm up and around again, I'll get back to you all asap.

Sincerely,

~Melinda

~"White Wednesday"~

Good Morning.

I thought I would join Kathleen for White Wednesday. I haven't been able to participate in a while.

Beautiful flowers from my favorite place, Trader Joe's. 

The freesia smells heavenly!

My husband gave me this fabulous vintage creamer for Christmas. It's the perfect creamy color with green popping through the chippy paint.

Vintage linen towel and hotel silver.

I hope you all enjoyed my photos today. Please check out the other white Wednesday participants at Faded Charm.

Have a great day.

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**~2009, 2010 Clearance~**

Happy Monday all, I hope you all had a great weekend.

It was so beautiful here this weekend, sorry to all of you who are still experiencing cold temps. I went to Country Road's yesterday and although there were some fabulous treasures to be had, I didn't purchase anything. I know, I might be sick or something! Instead, I took the kids to the mall and bought them new shoes, and me some cute new tops. The fact that I bought clothes instead of something for the house could be attributed to the fact that hubby threatened to disown me if I bought anything else for the house. I think he was getting  tired of my old ratty clothes because he insisted that I buy some new ones. I do have to admit that my clothes were getting pretty bad, but my house is looking fabulous! :) Isn't that all that matters?!! Men!!

"Smokey Copper" earrings.

"Roses and Gold" necklace.

I wanted to let you all know, I put a few things on sale in my Etsy shoppe, so take a look. If there is anything on sale that you would like to purchase, let me know before purchase and I will give you free shipping on those items as well. ***The free shipping offer is only available to my blog readers, so make sure and mention that you follow my blog.

I'm trying to clear out seasons 2009 and early 2010 to make room for new designs.

"Teal Drops" necklace.

"Royal Initial" pendants.

This is just a sampling of what's on sale. Please convo me through Etsy or send me an e-mail with any questions or to receive free shipping on any sale items.
www.alabasterrosedesigns.etsy.com

Have a great day.

sincerely,

~Melinda

**Bracelet Love**

Happy Saturday everyone, I hope your enjoying the start of this beautiful weekend!

I wanted to show you all a new bracelet I just designed. I really like this one a lot, so much so, that I'm wondering if I can part with it or not. 

I haven't decided what to call this bracelet. Any suggestions?

The small aqua pearls are Miriam Haskell, if your familiar with my designs, then you know how much I love using vintage and new stock Miriam Haskell pearls. I am loving anything aqua or turquoise lately! I really like how the pearls add a burst of color here and there.

Well, if you have a good name for this bracelet, let me know.

And I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**Sunshine And Water**

Good morning, I hope everyone had a great weekend. The kids were off yesterday for Martin Luther King's Day, so we decided we would head to the beach. Sorry to those of you who are still experiencing snow and cold temperatures, but So Cal yesterday was gorgeous! It was 80 degrees inland and about 75 at the beach.

The kids had a blast as did me and hubby. I really needed yesterday after the last few weeks, it really lifted my spirits!

 
The big rock was covered with pelicans.

 
I love this photo, how the sun makes the sand sparkle like glitter.

It's so magical. 

My little one loved the ocean. I couldn't get him away from it once it was time to head home. And my 6 year old just happened to "accidently" fall in the water. Yea, I don't buy it either. He is my little fish, he loves the water!

It was such a great family day. Too bad hubby and son are back to work and school today, so we can't go and be beach bumb's again.

******

On another note, I just wanted to thank Jami from Freckled Laundry for the sweet and beautiful post she did on me today. I joined her Vintage Market a couple of weeks ago and I am so honored to be featured on her blog.

Also, my sweet friend Michelle, from 

Petite Michelle Louise is having her 300+ follower giveaway, for her current followers only,  and she is gifting some fabulous treasures. So if your one of her current followers, make sure and visit her blog for all of the details!

Hope you all enjoy your week.

Take care.

~Sincerely,

Melinda

**2011 Inspired Collection**

Hello my sweet friends, I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

Thank you so much to those of you who left me such encouraging comments on my new jewelry venture. You all made me so happy and so excited to start on some new designs!

Well, here is one design ready for the new year.

This is the first piece in my "Inspired Collection". I love designing collections, it makes me feel like a famous jewelry designer! :) I can dream right?!

This piece is designed with genuine Amazonite  faceted gemstones, and all sterling silver wire and findings including the scalloped charm. The rose is pewter, and I love how the dark patina on it brings out the letters in the charm.

Look, there's the fine silver clasp I made myself. I am so excited! The color of these gemstones are absolutely gorgeous, the palest of aqua, so soft and beautiful!

"Inspire You"

Be your own inspiration this year!

I love the quirkiness of the letters being imperfect and not straight. I did this purposefully. 

Well, I hope you all liked it. I love this piece, the gemstones are really stunning.

Have a lovely night.

Sincerly,

~Melinda

**New Avenue**

Hi All.

I hope your all having a great weekend. This will be a short post, I was just so excited at what I just created that I had to share it with all of you! 

I have been in a funk with my jewelry design lately and these new techniques have made me excited to venture on to new things.

For a while now I've been wanting to work with fine silver. I have been wanting to add some really special things to my line of jewelry and I am so excited about what I'm creating!

Now, I know none of these techniques are new, but for me they are. The small sterling scalloped charm I hand stamped and hammered it to add some texture to the piece. And the necklace clasp, I actually created myself using fine silver wire. I love how it turned out. 

I have been wanting some clasps like these, but they are pretty expensive, so, now I can make my own!! 

I think these new details will had that extra "umph" to my designs! 

After I master this, I think I'm going to start designing my own line of sterling silver rings. This involves a propane torch, so I'm a little apprehensive, but I'm sure I can do it! 

Well, I hope you like it.

Have a great Saturday night! 

~Melinda 

~~~***~~~

Hi all, I hope I'm finding you all well!
I know there is no name for my post today, but I am running out of ideas. 

As you can see I re-worked my blog a bit. I felt like it was getting a bit cramped so I cleaned it up a bit. What do you all think? Do you like how it was before or as it is now?

I would love your feedback.

I'm still waiting, impatiently, for the jewelry supplies I ordered so I can get started on some new designs, I am going crazy sitting around the house waiting for my back to feel better.  I'm dying for it to get warmer so I can take my boys to the beach and take some photos of them. We haven't been to the beach since we moved away almost 2 years ago. I can't believe we didn't go when we moved back in August, but we were busy getting settled in. 

Here's some more photos from around the house:

I received this sweet crown from my friend Amy from the blog
Mittens. She was offering one of these for the winner of her giveaway last week and ended up deciding to make one for everyone who entered. How awesome is that?!!! She has the most incredibly kind spirit, I am so lucky to count her as a friend!!

A few random photos from around the house.

This is the start of my huge hutch make over that I started a while back. Remember the shelves use to be aqua. 

Vintage cabinet in my dining room.

The vintage creamy headboard use to hang over my bed, but I love the way it looks sitting on the cabinet with my vintage bread and cake cabinet in front of it.

 I'm joining Debra at Common Ground today for Vintage Inspiration Friday. So stop by and check out the other lovely participants.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**New Things On The Horizon**

Good morning to everyone. I hope I find you all well.

Just wanted to do a quick post and tell you all hello. I have some new treasures coming soon for my jewelry line, I can't wait to get started on some new and different jewelry designs!!So stay tuned for that!

I also just joined the lovely Jami's Vintage Market. She has the fabulous blog Freckled Laundry. She designed the most beautiful advertising button for me to put in her Market.

Isn't it just wonderful?!!

She has spaces available to advertise your website or Etsy shoppe and the prices are really reasonable!

Thanks Jami!!

Here's a couple of new designs that I just added to Etsy.
 

I have been really eager to get more exposure for my jewelry line. I would so appreciate any advice you could give me. Especially from those of you that have a business. 

I'm ready for bigger and better things this year!!

On another note, I went to see my Dr. yesterday and found out that I fractured the lower part of my spine, that's why I've been having lower back pain. I'm having a hard time moving around because of the pain but he assured me that it will heal all by itself. So until then, I'll just take it easy and work on some new designs.
Have a great day.
sincerely,
~Melinda

**Obsession**

Hi all, I hope I find you all well and enjoying the start of the New Year!

I'm starting this New Year with a couple of new obsessions!

Never a good thing for hubby! 

Here's some photos of obsession#1:

Can you all guess what it is?
 

 

 

Did you guess? I'm sure you did! I am obsessed with these vintage grain sack bolster pillows from Full Bloom Cottage!!

I thought I was going to be happy after the 2nd one, but when I walked into Loretta's space the other day, she had designed some new ones and they were huge!! I was about to die when I saw it, it is so fabulous!! (the huge pillow is in the first 2 photos)

Now my 2nd obsession lately is with vintage gates, screens and windows! My house is starting to look like an architectural salvage shop. :)

I've had this screen for a while now, but I just painted it a light French gray, it use to be black. 

See the empty wall behind my bed, well, I have something very special coming in the next few weeks to put back there!

Vintage French linen from the 1800's that I found at the flea market last month. It actually has mine and my husband's initials!! (I guess I should count this as Obsession #3, but this has been an existing obsession for years, so does this count?)

Well, there you have it, bad way to start the New Year, I've spent all my jewelry sales money. I better get busy and sell more!
I'm linking up with Debra at Common Ground today for Vintage Inspiration Friday! It's my first time and I'm so excited!
Check out the other inspiration!

 Have a lovely day all.
sincerely,
~Melinda

**Amaze Me, And A Crowning Giveaway!!**

Do you ever have those days where you just want to head on back to the bed and hide all day? Yea? Well, that's how its been for me the past few weeks. Health stresses and life stresses and kids driving me crazy stresses, can be a bit too much sometimes. But when I logged on today and checked my e-mail, I had 5 e-mails from new friends and old friends wishing me well and sending me just what was needed across this vast internet, kindness, support and love. AMAZES ME EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! I have never had friends like the ones I've made by blogging in my life. Sad, but true. So again, I thank you all, so truly from the bottom of my heart!! 

**So, a wonderfully sweet friend of mine just reached her 300 follower milestone and is gifting away one of her beautiful pieces of art to one of her followers!! She should have 3000, she and her blog are that fabulous!!

So head on over to Mittens and read Amy's blog and oooh and ahhhh over her gorgeous creations, become a follower and post about it and leave her a lovely comment and you'll be entered 3 times to win!

I'll be back soon with some new photos of the house and new designs soon, I promise. 

Also,

welcome to all of my new followers and of course, thank you to my old faithful ones!! 

Sincerely,

Melinda