Summer Time Limoges Boxes

It is nearly summer time and many people are donning their swim suits and getting ready for some beach-side fun in the sun!

Limoges boxes capture the essence of beach time fun with a cute sandy theme.  Colorful beach chairs, sea shells, sun glasses, starfish, ... these fun details strike up the cravings for a heat wave. 

Send a loved one off on their summer vacation with these summer enticing trinket boxes.  Usher in the sunny season with summer time Limoges boxes and set the mood to start your rest and relaxation.

Sun glasses, wide-brimmed sun hats, these Limoges boxes have lovely details that add just the right touch to the sun-worthy pieces.

Visit www.LimogesBoxCollector.com for these pieces and more that will match all your summer dreams.

Celebrate Graduation With Scholastic Limoges Boxes

Graduation season is upon us.  This is a time when students move up from one stage to the next, preparing for college, a career, or to pursue another degree!  There is a lot of excitement attributed to this time -- you have achieved something and everyone is there to acknowledge the official completion of a job well done.  Meaningful, valuable, and a landmark in one's personal timeline -- these descriptions apply to the graduation ceremony as well as to the qualities one should look for in graduation gifts for this special day.

This Graduation Limoges Box encompasses the ceremony with the cap, tassle, diploma and even the handshake that officiates the special moment on stage

 

Limoges boxes make exceptional gift choices for graduation.  High in quality, loaded with sentiment, and ranging in themes, Limoges boxes at www.LimogesBoxCollector.com are organized into categories that will help narrow your search and ensure you will find the perfect piece. 

These porcelain giftware are geared toward high school graduation, legal studies, medicine, computer engineering, dentistry, etc... just take a look and enjoy the options.
 

The significance that a graduation ceremony holds in any student’s life cannot be described in words. Every student dreams of this one day. It is the vision they have held on to throughout their studies, a moment when a new door in life will open up.  Students walk up the stage upon announcement of their name, and collect their degree in front of all his friends, family, and colleagues.  Make your loved one's graduation unforgettable with a Limoges box they can cherish and display as proudly as their new credentials.

Limoges Boxes Un-Corked

For a few years now I have collected wine corks.  There are so many fabulous crafts you can fancy from these frequently thrown away items.  Glue them together to make a hot pad or a cork board, bend wires and poke them inside to create cute little dolls, or link them in a square for a great picnic place mat.  A little creativity goes a long way with this craft-friendly material, not to mention you can usually get a free bottle of wine with each purchase.  :)

Inventive cork usage dates as far back 3000 BC, when this material was already being used in fishing tackle, floats, stoppers for casks, women's footwear and roofing materials.  These beautiful Limoges Box corks pay homage to that air of antiquity, gorgeously painted and clasped in gold metal, making you marvel at the dynamism of these stoppers.

Wine cork Limoges boxes are a perfect keepsake for wine lovers.  It is nice to have this piece as a preservative tribute to the glory of cork, as in recent years many producers are turning to rubber wine stoppers. These French porcelalin wine corks summon the respect and admiration that the Greeks and  Romans afforded this material as a noble and adaptable material.

It is always a satisfying moment to uncork that bottle and pour a relaxing glass of your favorite glorified grape juice.   As you sip, visit www.LimogesBoxCollector.com and feast your eyes on some lovely wine-geared porcelain treasures.

Fair-ly Nostalgic Limoges Boxes

Fairs are great venues for kids and adults alike to enjoy fun and games!  Food, candy, live shows, entertainers, rides ... show much stimulation for all the senses jam-packed into one place.  Typically, counties have fairs every spring or summer, something that people look forward to so they can spend the whole day taking in the sights and smells and just enjoying all the activities. 

There are many different forms of machinery brought in for these events -- colorful equipment that are enticing and exciting to the eyes. Perhaps the most memorable of these rides is the carousel. With music and lights and colorful animals to ride, these rides are are joy for all ages.   

These rides are abundant in France, and the name itself of French origin, making it perfectly fitting that these lovely Limoges boxes are made of quality French Limoges porcelain

This Carousel Limoges box is a nostalgic delight, with bright colors, and featuring three beautifully painted horses.  It makes you remember the music that fills the air at a fair and creates a fun-filled setting to think of you or your loved ones as first-time riders sitting tall in the saddle.  Smiles abound as a carousel spins, spreading laughter to all aboard, and this Limoges box is a great way to evoke those smiles again.                           

The Limoges Boxes Of The City That Never Sleeps

Bright lights, big city -- New York is well known for its jam-packed East coast flavor.  Taxi cabs, subway, food galore, Brownstone apartments, and Broadway shows, NY is filled with all the stereotypes, charm, and allure that people have come to envy and idolize. Not to mention all those key places that natives and tourists flock to on a regular basis:  Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and the Met.

 You can find Limoges Boxes of specific NY landmarks, or one like this -- a comprehensive gathering of NY tourism hot spots

When I lived in Connecticut, I would frequently hop on the train into the city for a weekend of shopping or meeting up with friends.  I even went to meet my brother and his finance, at the time, just before he proposed to her atop the Empire State Building.  Never a dull moment in New York, that is for sure.
 
More than eight million people call New York city home, and no doubt these individuals are a tough and proud bunch, knowing full well how great their city is.  It is a relatively young city, as well, as settlement began in 1625, and started bustling in global trade, investment, dynamism and density by the early 1800's. 
New York, interestingly enough, also served briefly as our nation's capital in 1785.  Soon after that, though, in 1790, Washington D.C. became our capital as we know it today.

New York certainly has not had an easy road.  It's popularity and strength of a billion dollar economy, ranking right behind Tokyo, has successfully journeyed hardships.  The most recent tragedy hitting the Big Apple, was the September 11 terrorist attack that took 2,979 lives and destroyed the city's proud landmark of the twin towers.  Historically, in 1832, a cholera epidemic killed 4,000 citizens; a fire in 1845 leveled 300 buildings; and in 1975, the city defaulted into bankruptcy.  So, clearly, NYC is no stranger to hardship, and the fact that this city never sleeps is perhaps their secret weapson, keeping alert and active against setbacks.  They are always on the ball, tourism is every increasing, and opportunities are abundant for several leading industries, including fashion, finance, and commerce.

 The skyline of NY along the rim of these Limoges boxes make me long for a night out on the town!

If you can't make it out to NY as often as you like, you can surely created your own little NY at home with these darling little French Limoges box pieces of the awesome city!

Limoges Boxes A La Richard and Emily Gilmore

My all time favoirte TV show that I have watched and re-watched (and re-re-watched) is the Gilmore Girls.  No other show has had me hooked like that one.  All the characters: Luke, Lorelai, Emily, Richard, Rory -- they are the core of their Stars Hollow town, and they make you want to live in that town for all its homeliness and quirks.

Richard and Emily Gilmore are a well-to-do couple in their 50's, living in Hartford, CT.  Their life is consumed with business deals, charity functions, auctions, European vacations, and , of course, their daughter and grand-daughter, Lorelai and Rory.   In their home, they have a main item that is 1920's classy -- a cocktail cart.  Whether whipping up drinks for a dinner party or preparing a quick nightcap, their tray provides functionality for their lifestyle.

Tray, shaker, cocktail recipe book, lime, glasses -- Limoges boxes are ready to mix it up!

This tray reminds me , too, of those old movies, like with Katherine Hepburn and the like, where that ready tray abides in homes ready for a glass of bourbon to relax with in a favorite chair while making witty conversation with guests.

Limoges boxes like this one make me nostalgic for the 20s and for any Gilmore Girls episode.  Martinis with olives, vodka straight no chaser, scotch on the rocks ... they all give a shout out to Hartford rich living, Gilmore-style.

Love those martini olives?  These French porcelain Limoges boxes  have you covered with a couple extra.

Get your own trinket box memory of Gilmorean class with these Limoges boxes.  Pop in any Gilmore season, while your at it, mix up a Bloody Mary, and you will soon see why I am so enamored by this Stars Hollow world!

Limoges Trink-cat boxes

Cats are popular pets, just as popular as dogs, and this universal popularity means only one thing -- Limoges boxes!

That's right -- you can find a porcelain trinket box to suit your taste in cats -- and highlight your favorite part about their personalities.  Some people love their independence and low-maintenance...

Some enjoy them for how playful they are...

Others regard them as effective mouse-trappers...

This is one of my favorite Limoges boxes, for sure!

And the rest, most likely, simply enjoy having them around the house just looking cute!



Sometimes you want to hug and kiss Limoges boxes when they look as adorable as this one!

Cats require some basic equipment for everyday life:  a litter box, carrying crate or container, scratch post, comb or brush, and small toys to keep them busy.  They love to play -- they will chase a string or bat around a small ball for hours.  They also love attention, as noted by their perpetual purring when you pet them.  These Limoges boxes exemplify all the sweetness of our feline friends, and they are much easier to collect than a bunch of real kitties! 

Being quite territorial creatures, this can make it rought for a new cat you may bring into your home if you already have another.  Not only with other cats, but they can be territorial with humans as well.  I will never forget a trip I took to visit my cousin for a few days, where her cat was clearly not enthused with my presence.  Each time my cousin and I would leave and return to the house, I would find articles of my clothing by the front door, that her cat had dragged out of my luggage -- he was trying to get rid of me one shirt at a time!  :) 

I like cats because they have a fearless ferociousness to them like their kindred lion, but they also have a little bit a cuddly kitten to them no matter how old they get. 

These Limoges boxes come in all types of feline friends.  A great collection to grow ... and no need for vets or canned food ... just an occasional dusting and they will be just as independent as the real thing!

Limoges Boxes In All The Colors Of The Rainbow

The most alluring thing about Limoges boxes is the colors they come in!  Artists hand panint these porcelain trinket boxes with splashes of luscious colors to make them realistic and appealing.  You can collect Limoges boxes to add a little color and sentiment to any area of any room, thus creating a showcase in any variety of themes.

I love the fresh color splash of food myself and you can get all types of veggies at www.Limogesboxcollector.com.  One box may feature a bunch of veggies together ...

.... or, I like to have vegetable Limoges boxes in a row like a vegetable rainbow, customizing my collection limited to my select favorites.  Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple Limoges boxes are a perfect mix of eye candy.

Red can be a tomato, luscious and plump....

Orange could be a carrot, freshly plucked from the ground....

My yellow Limoges boxes are lemons, tangy and bright ....

Green brings me to peas, huddled in a pod....

My bit of blue is blueberries, pickable snack and garnish...

Purple is my yummy fig ...

These Limoges boxes are an example of how fun it can be to collect these porcelain pieces -- personalized to fit any style and any taste, while adding visual interest when your decor is in need of some pigmentation.

The Happiest Limoges Boxes On Earth

Walt Disney is a legend in the world of animation and his success has left a phenomenal mark on history and the future.  Cartoons, feature films, theme parks, and distribution companies, Disney is a household name known and loved by children, animators, parents, and fairytale lovers. 

Walter Elias Disney had a great love for animals, as we can see from most of his famous classic films such as Bambi, Dumbo, The Jungle Book, Lady and The Tramp;  and, of course, any film with his most famous characters, Mickey, Goofy, and Donald. 

Many valuable classic Limoges Boxes are available in our favorite Disney characters.

Walt Disney not only brought talent and loveable characters to the table, but his work brought monumental effects to the world of animation in a time where more and more films were rushing to produce films to capitalize on the burgeoning new technology of sound in movies.  Walt saw that there was no sense in making any more silent cartoons, as his first had been, and in 1928 he released the famous "Steamboat Willie".  This was his first step in a fruitful path to synchronize sound  with cartoon movement.  Also, by the end of 1935, Disney mastered the use of three-strip technicolor to create rich, full and vibrant films, which boosted their popularity.  It certainly made his films more magical to see Dopey's red nose and cheeks, Mickey's blue and yellow sorcerer's hat, and Tinkerbell's sparkly yellow fairy dust. 

These Limoges boxes exhibit accessories that are unmistakably Mickey Mouse!

Today, we can enjoy Disney in the movie theatres, as his films continue to be produced under his name and classics return to the the big screen time and again;  we can visit any of the four Disney theme parks;  we can take a Disney cruise adventure;  we can shop in a Disney store;  or we can visit www.Limogeboxcollector.com to have these little pieces of happily-ever-after in our own homes.

Limoges boxes your little ones can (one day) appreciate

Any parent knows that there is an enormous amount of preparation necessary, both mental and physical, before welcoming your new baby.  There are diapers to stock up on, doctors visits to keep, a room to prepare, baby showers to have, and books to read.  It is a fun time and a busy time, getting things all set up so you are ready for all the action with the new little one. 

One great thing about baby life is that they come along with the need for miniature furniture and accessories necessary for their day to day.  Cribs, strollers, pacifiers, high chairs, bibs -- things that any great shopper can appreciate the entertainment value of.  Setting up and accumulating all these baby items makes your life easier and their life more comfortable. 

And, naturally,you can get all your baby needs in the form of Limoges boxes as well!  These porcelain pieces are great for any baby-welcoming time -- for your own baby, your friend's, your sister's, your cousin's ... a gift that is guaranteed to be unique and bewitching.

So detailed and realistic, these French porcelain Limoges boxes make the mess, full-time schedule, and busywork of tending to babies seem less stressful and more enrapturing.  An adorable pink pacifier that fits into the Limoges box featuring an adorable sleeping baby girl; a cozied up little baby boy that you can set into his crib;  and those ahhhh-inspiring teeny baby booties.  Perfectly petite and a great memento for any new parent to mark the occasion of a new addition to their family!

My parents kept many of the little gifts they recieved when I was born ... piggy banks, clothes, beautifully framed photos, scrapbooks, foot prints.  I love to look through these keepsakes, as it is sweet to know how celebratory my baby-life was for them.  I do think, however,  it would have been surpassingly great if http://www.limogesboxcollector.com/ was around back then so their friends and family could have also showered them with some of these precious collectibles for the occasion.  :)

Egg-cellent Limoges Boxes

Easter is always a fun holiday for kids and adults, as there are so many activities to do together that make the day special and memorable.   This holiday marks the beginning of Spring for many, which is the entrance into a wonderfully refreshing time of year.  Limoges boxes cover all the bases of this day in porcelain, featuring every Easter-related french porcelain trinket box from bunnies to baskets. 

The best part about Easter for many children today is the Easter basket, filled with fun treats like candy, toys and big chocolate eggs. 

Limoges boxes can be a creative gift that highlight the most special memories we take away from events or holidays

The part about Easter I have always liked the most has been coloring the eggs.  I love coming up with new designs and techniques to outdo the previous year's work.  Starting with a plain white egg, then dipping it in various dyes to achieve a multi-colored masterpiece was always the fun way to spend Easter morning when I was growing up.   The Limoges boxes below are quite similar to the work produced in my own kitchen every year ... only so much cuter!

These Limoges boxes showcase eggs in all their colored glory ... the best part of my Easter day fun!

By decorating eggs you are joining a tradition whose roots extend deep into histroy.  Ancients, believing the whole universe was created from a cosmic egg, decorated eggs as a gift to the world of life, power, and goodness.  The tradition passed from ancient Egypt and Persia to the Middle Ages in Eastern Europe where decorated eggs celebrated Christ's resurrection. 

While spending this day with your family and friends, why not add some charm to your place (or theirs) with a touch of French porcelain Limoges.   Easter baskets don't have to be just for the kids, as Limoges boxes also make a great Spring gift.  These precious collectibles can light up your home every Easter, year after year ... and then some!



Living Happily Ever After with Limoges Boxes

Don't forget the slipper, too!!  These Limoges boxes can open up to store the slipper so Cinderella won't lose it ever again.

Pumpkins are a magical fruit most popular at Halloween time.  They are orange balls that can be carved into various spooky-looking jack-o-lanterns, painted, and propped on your doorstep.   Also popular at Thanksgiving is that delicious after-feast delight, pumpkin pie.   And, of course, the seeds are an ever-delicious convenient tasty snack at any time in the year.  Pumpkins provide so many ways for us to enjoy them!

But, they did not always have a spooky or edible purpose -- they were also at one time a fairytale mode of transportation for a overworked young lady who needed a ride to a life-changing party. 


Cinderella's story is famous all over the world and her fairy godmother was notably resourceful by choosing mice to transform into carriage-horses, and one lucky pumpkin to be her carriage for an evening.  Disney made this story a hit all over again, but it was orignially written in 1697 by Charles Perrault.  Wicked stepsisters, chores day in and day out, a prince, a ball, some magic, a slipper, and a touch of happily ever after.  Since the original version, the story has been told in many different ways and the plot has had some changes, but the pumpkin is a constant. 

Open up these Limoges boxes to find Cinderella and her Prince sitting inside 

Children and adults can fall in love with this story and once that has happened you will wish you had your very own fairygodmother and a magic pumpkin carriage to take you away!  The good news is you CAN have your own carriage from http://www.limogesboxcollector.com/, and it gets even better -- you can keep it much longer than the stroke of midnight.



Desert-ed Limoges Boxes

Browsing through the plentiful inventory listed on www.LimogesBoxCollector.com, you will find some low-maintenace flora.  Limoges Cacti are even more low maintenance than the real thing, and they will surely be the easiest thing to care for in any French Porcelain Limoges box garden.

These Limoges Boxes get you started on a little indoor garden perfect under a kitchen window

 

If you want to see an impressive amount of cacti in one place, you must visit Arizona.  Most of Arizona is desert, which means the climate is harsh, dry, and hot for most of the year.   But, this weather is just perfect for some plants including the spiny cactus.  They thrive on the limited water, as their broad shallow roots absorb water effictively after brief summer or winter rains (depending on which desert area they are in) where the water may not soak very far into the soil. 

There are many different species of cacti:  Saguaro (the most classic type and the symbol of the Southwest), Prickly Pear (short cacti with sharp needled paddle branches), barrel cacti, fishhook cacti, organ pipe cacti (resembling a spider lying on its back), and Claret Cacti (with deep red flowers), are just a few.  Many of these cacti have beautiful blossoms and they bear plump edible fruit.

Limoges Boxes are available in my favorite Saguaro Cacti form

I always enjoy driving through Arizona, as road trips through the years have lent themselves to, because the cacti are a huge part of the charm of the terrain.  You know you have arrived when you see those prickly arms raised up in the air welcoming your arrival. 

In addition to these fun plants all over the place, Arizona has many things that are very view-worthy.  The Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest National Park, London Bridge, and various ghost towns.  Yet, the only things I have ever stopped to take pictures with have been my cacti buddies!

Limoges Boxes with Trunk Appeal

Elephants are remarkable animals -- they are strong, have a reputation for having remarkable memories, and for being incredibly social animals.  Limoges boxes are available for other elephant lovers like myself, to showcase these intelligent lovable animals.

Today elephants are the logo for the Republic political party, originating November 7, 1874 from the Herald illustrator, Thomas Nast, and his picture caption showing how the elephant roamed the forest while frightening "all the foolish animals he met in his wanderings".

 Limoges boxes can even serve as a sign of your political loyalties

Physically, today elephants are found in Africa and Asia.   About 50-60 years ago nearly two million elephants existed.  Today there are fewer than fifty thousand left, contributed partly to ivory-hungry poachers and to the natural occurrences of lion attacks in areas of high elephant populations.

Elephants communicate with each other through low rumbling calls and can keep track of each other by sening their smells in the wind.  They easily remember places, other elephants and people.

 These Limoges boxes display our animal in his African habitat atop a jungle sunrise

Despite their long swinging noses, awkward tusks, enormous size, big ears, and rough skin, they are such cute animals.  Their sad eyes, the way they travel in herds while holding on to each others tails, how they fan themselves with their ears, and use a built in nose-shower system, makes me want to give them a big hug.

These animals are certainly the best part of circus performances as well, exhibiting before an audience their great strength and ability to follow directions, walking on huge rolling balls, standing on their back legs, carrying heavy items, etc....  I just adore them.

It is fun to create your own jungle scene of Limoges boxes to include these great animals .... just keep them away from the lions!

Hearty Limoges Box

Girls love hearts.  Heart shaped boxes of chocolate, heart pattern clothing, heart picture frames -- it is lovey-dovey and romantic and we just love that stuff.  This is why its so great that Limoges items are available not only as heart Limoges boxes, but as wearable porcelain heart-shaped jewelry!

Typically, when someone mentions the heart we automatically think about the emotional definition connected to the word. The heart is clearly not as lovely looking as the common rendering we see everywhere, instead it is quite an odd-shaped valve-ridden blob.  Nevertheless, the heart is powerful and responsible for many functions other than just in conjunction with our thoughts and feelings.  Our heart provides life, rhythm, and cleansing for our body at every moment, keeping us centered, alert, regulated and healthy.  

The heart is not just a pump, it is part of your circulatory system, electrical system, and emotional system.  The heart is a muscular organ about the size of a fist in the middle of the chest.  It beats 100,000 times a day and with each pump it sends blood throughout the body and cleans out the waste. 

The circulatory system is how the heart transfers blood in different directions in the body.  Blood is brought to the heart, away from the heart; nutrients and oxygen are transported, and carbon dioxide  is taken away.  The electrical system produces a signal with each heartbeat, which makes the heart contract and pump blood from the top of the heart to the bottom, pumping to the lower chambers and to the lungs.  This signal occurs sixty to one hundred times per minute.  

The heart is the most vital organ and the busiest one.  It deserves all the popularity it gets as a decorative and symbolic representation highly marketable for special occasions.  We do not often think about the significance of the heart as working daily for us to keep us running.  This is all the more reason to love these French porcelain Limoges items, which can serve to remind us of how treasured our hearts should be to us, if not only as a beautiful daily adornment. 

Lucky Limoges Boxes

As with many long-standing traditions, the fortune cookie does not have a clear origin.  There are various stories about where and when the charming after take-out treat got its start, but we cannot be certain of any of them.  Some things we do know is that they are not from China, they are produced by the millions today, and they always contain a fun message inside for the partaker.

With these Limoges boxes you are always guaranteed good fortune

One version of the fortune cookies story is that they were created by a Chinese immigrant in 1918.  In consideration of the poor individuals that wandered the streets around his business, Hong Kong Noodle Company, he created the treat and passed them out to them for free.  Each one contained a slip of paper with a Bible verse written on it. 

Another possible origin was the invention by a Japanese immigrant who designed the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco.  After experience much opposition from prejudice individuals, his employment was saved through the support of influential characters in the city.  As a form of thank-you, he created and passed out these cookies regularly in the Garden.

Lastly, fortune cookies may date back as far as 13th or 14th China at the time of the Mongols.  There was much uprising due to frequent invasion, so these cookies (in a earlier, more primitive form) were used to carry messages tipping off revolutionaries to planned attacks.   Story has it that this technique was effective and led to the Ming Dynasty.

Wherever they came from, fortune cookies are a fun way to end (or start) a yummy Chinese meal.  You can even order your own little Limoges boxes in take-out package form, and feel lucky even if just to own a non-perishable cookie that comes with it!

This French Porcelain Limoges comes with little chopsticks and a cookie

Limoges Boxes That Inspire Relaxation

My favorite instrument-inspired Limoges boxes are by far the various pianos available.  I am inspired to buy a huge multi-level doll house, just to showcase one of these pianos in each of the rooms.  Pianos for me symbolize relaxation, stress-relief, and auditory rejuvination -- whether listening to piano music or playing it oneself, it is remarkably therapeutic.

This upright piano Limoges box features a live musical event on the lid

Today we are offered music in virtually every setting -- at home, in the car, at work, in the elevator, and even from the morning singing of our neighborhood birds.  Music plays in grocery stores, oudoor malls, doctor's offices, health spas, in commercials on TV and radio, at athletic events .... anywhere people are for any purpose.  Even if we wanted to we could not avoid music; and everyone loves music becase it enhances our everyday lives. 

I have found that unlike any other musical form, piano music can calm and center us in stressful situations, relax us at the end of a long work day, and it can be welcomed company when our idea of retreat is not in pure silence.  Each element of this music can have subtle positive effects ... the rhythm, the melody, and the tone. 

When trying to reach a point of calm self-collection, we have many choices that will slow us down and put us in a gentler frame of mind.  Baoque and Classical works are ususally good selections, due to their slow movements, which our heartbeats and breath cycles will naually move along to.

Due to the fact that these Limoges boxes are so intricately detailed, I feel as though I could touch the keys and start playing a tune.  I can even almost hear my most loved sonatas just by looking at these lovely French porcelain pieces.  They remind me constantly of my favorite moments in life, when I stumble upon a gorgeous peice of music and once it ends I find myself transported.   Melody has that power to lift us up, even the sheer presence of a melody-inducing item like these!