Fab Five Friday--Granny's things edition

If you have been following my blog for a while you may remember that just over a year ago my dear granny passed away after a very difficult battle with cancer.  For the past year my parents and my dad's sister have been goign through things, and last week I went to look through some of her things for keepsakes and to put in my home.  These are some of my favorites, which I will be putting up and using to remember my dear Granny!

1.  "Breath of Spring"

 the title for this beautiful painting that she painted in 1975!  I love it--the fact that she made it, the cheerful colors, the title; it's just a wonderful reminder of the amazing woman that she was.

2.  Her spice rack:

I've given it a bit of a makeover since I got it--it was a dark 70s looking wood and had little metal stars and an eagle at the top--not really my thing.  But I LOVE the glass jars and the brown-bordered labels.  And also the fact that she re-labeled some in her own writing.  They actually still had the spices in them when i got them--not quite sure how old those spices were! But I cleaned them out and scrubbed them really well and am now using them to hold all of my baking spices.

I've put both the painting and the spice rack on the side of my kitchen cabinet so I can enjoy them all the time!

3.  Her Coca-Cola wall hanging:

 You know how for every kid there is one thing that signifies your grandparent's house to you?  This was one of the main ones about Granny's farm house.  She had it hanging in her kitchen (where of course we spent a lot of our time) and I remember walking up and standing right beside it and looking at it so intently.  It also makes me think of potato skins chips & green tomato pickles...

4.  Favorite Recipes of America cookbook set:

 Granny was an amazing cook!  My very favorite thing that she would make was biscuits with milk gravy.  I could eat it over and over and she made it better than anyone in the world!  We spent so much time in that hot country kitchen with the yellow Formica topped table and her deep freezer in the back room.  I never saw her use a cookbook, but of course I had to have these!  It cracks me up that there is an entire volume dedicated to salads (of course most of those are the mayonnaise-based salads...)

 And you know I'll be trying some of these dessert recipes!

5.  This gorgeous apron:

 I honestly don't think she ever wore it--it is in really good shape, but the yellow reminds me of her kitchen table, and the whole thing looks kinda like her painting!  It is a very special addition to my apron collection :)

And I've got to throw in one more thing, even though it's only supposed to be a list of five:

6.  a Lady Lovely Locks tray!

I honestly don't remember using this, but I'm sure it was there for me to use as a kid--Lady Lovely Locks was one of my favorite dolls!  I had the Lady Lovely Locks & Maiden GoldenWaves Enchanted Island dolls as well as the Enchanted Island Fairytale bedroom & Sea Magic Salon  (and no, i didn't remember the names off the top of my head but found them on the AWESOME website Ghost of the Doll which identifies 80s & 90s girls toys).  I also had a nightgown :)  It's just such a sweet reminder of how Granny would always do special things for us and get us little treats and toys for when we came to visit. 

I'm so thankful that we kept so many of these things and that I can have them in my own house to remember her by!