I spent the morning packing up all of the paintings from Friday’s original art sale.  Thank you so much to everyone who shopped.  We had over 3,000 people on the site at one time, so if you had trouble getting the painting you wanted, that’s why!  I am also pleased to share that all of the paintings sold and I was able to donate $1250 to Samaritans Purse for their field hospital in Ukraine.  Thank you for being a part of supporting that.  So, I need to paint a lot more, which I’m not mad about.  I’m heading back to Isle of Palms later this week, so I hope to get in a lot of beach paintings while I’m there.

I will be listing some of those paintings as prints in as well.

I spent the weekend mostly on errands and this morning packing up the paintings to ship out, so today I am going to share some goodies I got in the mail last week.  My friend, Maria of Dreamy Whites, recently took a couple of shopping trips to Europe, so I’ve been keeping an eye on her shop updates for things I might want.  She has such a great eye and is amazing at curating special pieces.

And, since we’ve been friends for over a decade, she tucks in some extras for me.

The thing that caught my eye most was this vintage French proofing basket.  I’ve been wanting a “bread basket” to put rolls and baked goods (you can find some of my favorite winter recipes HERE) in around the holidays and I thought this basket would be perfect and special.  And, I will also use it for proofing bread!  It’s an interesting shape, which I really like.  If you’re going to have something, like a bread basket or proofing basket, why not have one that is unique and makes you smile.  This one makes me smile.

Maria included some of the products that her sister, Liz June, makes.  I love that these two sisters partner up to make the perfect mixture of a product that’s antique and handmade.  Maria finds the antique European containers, like ironstone molds and bowls, yogurt pots, and glass pickling jars, and then Liz June fills them with handmade soaps and candles.  This yogurt pot, for example, is filled with handmade solid dish soap.  I’m excited to try it for washing artist paintbrushes, but it’s such a clever way to store dish soap by the sink.  I’ll report back on how it works (a few people have asked for a review, since most of us are used to liquid dish soap.)

And the best part is I can use the French yogurt pot for a variety of other things when the soap is gone.

Maria also sells some of my favorite dish brushes.

And Savon de Marseilles soap, both items I love so much that I used to sell them when I sold retail.

The handmade lavender candle poured into an antique French pickling jar smells heavenly before it’s even lit.  And it is a big candle.  I don’t know how many hours it will burn, but I’m sure it will be for a long time.  And then, how pretty and perfect is this jar for storing small items or even to use as a vase for a bouquet?

I tidied up the kitchen counter last week and gave myself a bit of a clean slate, so I decided to put the candle right in the middle of the island.

As we’re waffling between winter and spring here in Minnesota (although it’s been a bit more spring lately), it’s nice to bring in a few new things that spur on tidying and rearranging.

If you like unboxing videos, you can see a short video of these goodies being unwrapped on Instagram…

 

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A post shared by Marian aka Miss Mustard Seed (@missmustardseed)