Coral Gables

I just moved to a different part of Coral Gables and I wanted to share the city's breathtaking beauty through some personal photos I took on one of my many walks through my new neighborhood.  This romantic city was built in the 1920s by George Merrick.  Merrick wanted to create a city that blended perfectly with the rich, lush environment it was built in.  He definitely achieved that!  What other city would let snake-like trees grow over it's sidewalks?  

Can't you just imagine a dashing Douglas Fairbanks acting out a daring sword fighting scene on these steps.  Why are these steps there?  Where do they lead?  The mysterious architecture is all part of the romance of Coral Gables.  

These beautiful trees attach to the ground creating a amazing curtain!  

I adore 1930s architecture! This beautiful house reminds me of an ocean liner.  The circular, "port hole"  windows remind me of Shirley Temple singing in a scene in the movie, Captain January.

This beautiful house is completely made of the famous coral rock Coral Gables is named after.  

Venetian Pool was originally the quarry used to build Coral Gables.  In 1924, Denman Fink, an artist, architect and uncle of Coral Gables founder George Merrick transformed it into an amazing pool.  The gorgeous Esther Williams swam here, the talented Paul Whiteman and his orchestra played here and the pool was even drained once so the Miami Grand Opera Company could perform in the pool's basin.  

The famous George Merrick house hiding in the lush Coral Gables landscape.  

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my new neighborhood!

Rosenthal Lidded Jars

Bjorn Wiinblad, Danish painter, designer and ceramic artist, was a very important designer for the Rosenthal porcelain company in Germany.  His most popular dinnerware design was called Romanze.  The exquisite white porcelain featured incredible gilt decorative detailing.  These gorgeous pieces have become very collectable and highly sought after.  

The opera, The Magic Flute, had special meaning for Wiinblad.  The melodies and characters from the opera were his inspiration when he created the Rosenthal Magic Flute Series.  Each unique piece of porcelain in this series depicts acts and scenes from the opera. 

Wiinblad translated the music through his bas-relief design.  The bas-relief was left unglazed, allowing the beautiful raised design to really shine through.  As if these pieces weren't exquisite enough, Wiinblad then hand-painted a gilt painting on top of the unglazed bas-relief.

Bjorn Wiinblad's designs were so unique, a special firing technique had to be developed for his work.  Even specialist who worked with Wiinblad had a difficult time translating his work onto the porcelain, but their final efforts produced the most unique and beautiful masterpieces in porcelain and bone china.  These pieces are more than just decorations, they are fine works of art.  

I have two amazing Rosenthal lidded jars by Bjorn Wiinblad for sale in my shop!

Here are the links:

Romaze Lidded Jar

and 

Rosenthal Studio Linie Gilt Lidded Jar

Mushroom Pictures

Here are some more pictures of my mushroom vase photographed with more beautiful flowers by Dragonfly Expression!  It was very fun to photograph this vase!

Mushrooms, no not the magical kind!

Have you ever wondered, "What are mushrooms?" Well don't, because you won't want to eat them anymore! Just enjoy their beauty and amazing taste! Not only do mushrooms have amazing flavor, they are also a low-calorie food and a good source of vitamins.

Mushrooms come in all colors, shapes and sizes. They have been eaten for thousands of years and have even been used for medicinal purposes and in fairy tales and folklore. The ancient Egyptians believed mushrooms were the plant of immortality. In many other countries, it was believed mushrooms held super-human strength. Images of Superman are flying through my head right now! I have to find that mushrooms that will give me super-human strength!

France led the way in the cultivation of mushrooms. Mushrooms were grown and cultivated in caves near Paris. Imagine how mysterious these mushrooms looked growing in Parisian caves! Mushroom Cultivation didn't reach the United Stated until the late 1800s.

Today, mushrooms are sold in grocery stores and farmers market everywhere. I love going to my local Whole Foods and seeing all the varieties and textures of mushrooms. Mushrooms are amazing!

I just listed this amazing mushroom vase by German porcelain manufacturer, Hutschenreuther in my Etsy shop! It is extremely rare and exquisite.

I found this amazing picture on Wikipedia of a tree mushroom in Sweden that reminded me of the vase in my shop. It is best not to eat mushrooms you find in the wild, because some mushrooms are poisonous.

This desk is not in mint condition.

My grandfather was a very interesting man.  He was a lawyer and then when he moved to this country, he became a teacher.  I think he secretly wanted to be a doctor, because he loved reading medical books.  He also loved anything that had to do with Mid Century Modern.  When I was a child, my favorite part about visiting his house, besides the amazing rice pudding he cooked, was to sit in this desk and imagine I was in a 1960s movie.  While sitting in his desk, my grandfather would play records like Aretha Franklin, Pete Fountain, David Brubeck, Sarah Vaughn, Stan Getz, the Beatles, Astrid Gilberto, and many more.  My appreciation of all types of music and vintage things came from grandfather.  I loved hearing the mellow and cool sounds of the 1960s on his vintage record player.  My favorite part of having my own Etsy shop, is getting to photograph the lovely vases for sale in my shop on his mid century desk.  Even though this desk isn't in mint condition, I would never get rid of it.

Custom Logo

I want to say a very big, "Thank You" to the lovely Haley Williams from The Yellow Peony for designing my amazing logo!  She worked with me every step of the way to create the most beautiful logo I have ever seen!  She is absolutely wonderful to work with!  I highly recommend her Etsy shop for not only custom logos, but also for beautiful wedding accessories and jewelry!

Flowers

My friend, Claire, does the most beautiful floral design for events in England.  She is seriously one of the nicest and most talented people I have ever met!  We used to have so much fun working the front desk together, in the hotel we used to work at, Hollins Hall. I have so many interesting stories to share about my time spent in England, but I will save those for another day.  I have been thinking about her a lot lately, because her elegant flowers would look wonderful in the vases for sale in my shop.   Her floral designs are more exquisite than any I have seen in any bridal magazine.  Please check out her website: http://www.floralimagination.co.uk/

Here is one of her amazing floral creations!

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

I love flowers and gardening. I volunteered for 5 years at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Fairchild is one of the most beautiful places on earth. In my opinion, it should be listed as another one of the wonders of the world. I am very thankful for all the knowledge I gained from volunteering there. The volunteer department does so many wonderful things! During my time at Fairchild, I was able to do so many exciting jobs. One of my jobs at Fairchild was to scan and upload plant specimens onto their database. It was an exciting job because I learned about new and fascinating plants. My favorite group of plants to scan was the Pteridophyta group, which includes ferns. Ferns are just as mysterious as they are romantic. People are named after them, so they must be great, right? During the spring, when the lighting bugs fly through them, I always remember when I was a child and I would imagine the bugs were really pastel-colored fairies. The light glittering in the ferns fascinated me. Now, when I go on walks and find ferns hiding under soaring trees, it intrigues me. There long stalks and leaves are lovely and dainty, in contrast to the huge, cement-like trees. Walking through an emerald abyss of ferns makes me happy and relaxed. Ferns can be used in so many different ways, people even eat some types of ferns. They look modern and gorgeous in vases, especially in vintage white porcelain vases. The gorgeous green color stands out against the elegant white porcelain. White and green really look great together!

    A vase in my shop.

    This photo of a white picket fence with ferns growing below was taken on one of my trips to Micanopy, FL.

  This last picture is of an Australian fern hovering over plants in my garden.  

Doesn't this gorgeous and modern vase make you want to visit the moon? It is very populated in Miami, so it's very difficult to watch stars in the city.  In order to stargaze, I would have to drive out to the the Everglades and, frankly, I'm afraid of alligators.  Since I can't watch stars outside, one of my favorite things to do is visit the Museum of Science in Miami and watch the planetarium shows.  Every time I pick up this vase, it reminds me how I love watching stars and planets at the planetarium.  This vase is very unique and I absolutely love it! It is a rare Scherzer Op Art Vase from the 1960s/70s.

These West German art vases from the 1960s are becoming quite collectible. They were recently featured in Martha Stewart Magazine's premier digital issue for iPad. The vase in my shop was recently featured in an Etsy treasury list!

I love this blog!


http://www.honeytalkvintage.blogspot.com/

Etsy Shipping Help

For all the Etsy sellers out there, I found this site very helpful for shipping:

http://outright.com/blog/25-ways-to-avoid-etsy-shipping-horror-stories/

Mad Men

My husband is in advertising and I love anything that has to do with Mid Century Modern, so we are obsessed with the show, Mad Men.   We are currently watching season 4 of Mad Men on Netflix.  Season four takes place between November 1964 and October 1965.  I can't believe what drastic changes our country went through during this time period.  Times are changing fast this season and so are the sets. One of my favorite parts of the show is watching the amazing set design.  I also adore the costumes, but that is a really long blog post for another day!  I always imagine where I would place the lovely vintage vases I sell in my store on the sets.  This Heinrich Fuchs for Hutschenreuther vase is my favorite!  It is very modern and beautiful!



If anyone else is also watching season 4, please let me know your thoughts! (Please no season 5 spoilers ;) )

The link to my shop

Here is the link to my shop:   http://www.etsy.com/shop/LightTheGlitteryMoon?ref=si_shop

Welcome to my blog!

Please share your love of everything vintage with me!