I'm going to call this, "A Beautiful Mess"
It may be a disaster but somehow it bothers me far less than the other messes around my house at the moment. :)
Lots of goodies to keep and lots more to put in my etsy shop!
I saw a gumdrop wreath in a Martha mag years ago and have always wanted to make one, but never got around to it.
Until this year, that is! I decided that it would be the perfect festive activity for Maren to help with, so even though the Thanksgiving decorations still sat in a pile on my table, I set out to make a gumdrop wreath. After looking at two stores with no luck, I happened upon big bags of gumdrops at JoAnn's, of all places! I didn't even think to look there but as I was buying my wreath form, I found bags of candy near the cash registers. Not only did I save myself a trip to another store, I was able to use my 40% off coupons for them as well! It worked out perfectly.
I applied mine in a CPR fashion--CPR in this case standing for Carefully Placed Random. I didn't want to think about it too hard but I also wanted a fairly even distribution of colors. I just fit my gumdrops together like bricks. If you look at Cheryl's photos, it looks like she did one wreath that way and one where they are placed in more orderly rings. I still need to spray my wreath and add a little bit of glitter, and once I decide where to hang it I'll add a nice wide RED grosgrain ribbon to the top.
Today's RED item would also fit for Vintage Christmas Monday. Oh heck, most of what I post this month would probably fall under that category! I found this guy a few weeks ago at the thrift. I bought him to sell, but as it seems to happen all too often, I think I like him too much to let him go.
I'm not usually one for figurines (aka dust collectors), but come on--isn't he darling? I love the spaghetti 'fur' trim.
It's so rare to find something like this at the thrift and have it be intact, but he's perfect--not even any chipping on the spaghetti trim! I think I need to find some candy canes or barber poles to fill his sack.
Yum. Makes me want to put my shoes on and run to the thrift store again! Thrift store treasure hunting is like gambling--usually you lose but sometimes you win, and those wins make it all worth it!
And these were found at my new favorite vintage store in town, Pink Attic Cat:
More toadstool ornaments for my collection (are those Smurf houses?) and a fun little green mylar spray that wants to be a Christmas corsage.Heidi Heidi Heidi YOU WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS! Please email me all your info so I can get her on her way to ya! YAY!
that my visiting mother-in-law actually came running to see what was the matter with me! Oh my gosh, I am SO excited! Jen's work is completely gorgeous and original and I simply cannot wait to see it in person, sitting on my table where I can look at it and examine each little detail and drink in the vintage Christmas goodness all December long. :) Thanks again, Jen!
I'm a little late so I don't have a post for yesterday but I'll be joining in next Monday for sure. It's the most wonderful time of the year at the thrifts, you know, and I've already been hitting them hard, scouring the racks for the vintage holiday goodies that I love so much. I'll also be stocking my etsy shop over the coming days with the few finds I can bear to part with. :) Back tomorrow with pictures of what kept me busy this weekend.
See what I mean? Seriously. That's some vintage Christmas goodness, right there. And she's having a giveaway, so go enter!
Like Christmas in April, I tell you. Maybe these beauties will be like priming the junk pump so I'll find lots of great vintage Christmas stuff this garage sale season. Thanks again, Linda--I love them!
Sure enough, it's real, and it's interesting to see all the bits and pieces the bird used to construct the nest. I can see twigs, Easter grass, string, dryer lint, and lots and lots of hair (yuck).
I was surprised then to find two little eggs on Sunday morning when I went out for the paper! The Momma Bird flew away to the tree in the front yard, where I could hear her scolding me all the time it took me to run for my camera and lift Maren up to see the eggs for herself.
This morning I opened the door to let a guest out and was delighted to find yet another egg! I'm relieved that Momma found her nest and didn't seem too bothered by its slight relocation. The eggs are teeny and the palest grayish-blue with speckles, much lighter in color than Shara's eggs. I wonder if there will be any more? It's getting kind of crowded in there! I do hope they hatch so we can see the babies.
This is a little ornament I made for my friend Shara. The Santa is a vintage gummed package seal and the back is a vintage Dennison label and lots of twinkly silver German glass glitter. The bead on the bottom is from an old earring. I'm pleased with how it turned out and I hope Shara likes it too! Once I clear the mounds of Christmas crap off my desk and get some glass ordered, I'm hoping to make some Valentine pieces. On one hand I hate to put away all of my vintage Christmas pretties but on the other--as I expected--I'm just ready for the mess to be gone. From the slew of organizing post around blogland, I know I'm not the only one!
These fun treats are the Snowman Hats I made to take to Maren's preschool party. I used the same idea as these Pilgrim Hats, (I used chocolate bark instead of chips) and decorated them with a strip of Fruit by the Foot for ribbon and cinnamon candy holly berries (I wanted to use mini M & M's but they're not peanut-safe). They were a huge hit with the other parents and teachers and they were yummy too! If I'd remembered when I was doing my shopping, I'd have used a little tube of green frosting and made a little holly leaf to accompany the berries, but they were still pretty darn cute even without it.
Kkeep in mind that this photo doesn't show the 5 toadstools I found at Macy's (including a few giant Martha Stewart versions) or the really neat vintage toadstool guy I bought at an antique store in Utah on Saturday.
It's a little wooden crate with a few flocked toadstools, plastic greens and vintage glass beads. I totally dig the red velvet ribbon and it's even painted my favorite color of shabby aqua blue! It's like it was made just for me!
To go along with the toadstools I found these little wooden gnome ornaments (in a bag from the thrift) and some of these glass guys like Sarah found at Macy's. More toadstool love can be found with Sarah's woodland tree, Suzy's mushroom tree, and Hannah's giant sequined toadstool.
Isn't it darling? Shara even included some little brown toadstools! Does she know me or what? Thanks again Shara, I love it!
I soldered a jump ring on the top to hold the ornament hanger and also on the bottom, where I hung a pretty iridescent bead taken from a vintage earring. I tied on a bit of matching red seam binding and tucked them into organza bags. I love how they look and hope the recipients like them too! I definitely feel a bit more confident in my soldering abilities now as well.
I've never seen anything like this and I probably never will, as it was handmade. It's a bouquet made of all different shapes, sizes and colors of mercury glass beaded picks, tinsel, and vintage glass ball picks. Oh, it is glorious! I love it so, so much (like everything else I've ever bought at Patina) and I'm not sure I'll be able to bear to pack it away after Christmas--it might have to stay out for a while so I can look at it more!
They were stuffed in a bag with some other ugly (new) beaded garland but when I flipped the bag over and saw these I think I might have gasped out loud! This might be just the prettiest vintage glass bead garland I've ever seen and certainly the most elaborate in my small collection. Wow! What a treasure.
Vintage glass bead garland is one of my Holy Grails of thrifting. I find it so rarely that every strand I've managed to turn up is absolutely precious to me and I hoard it jealously. The problem is that I don't have a good way to display it--it doesn't work on my tree and when piled in a bowl or on a cake plate it just looks like sparkly spaghetti. I've seen so many neat handmade items embellished with these glass beads that I'm trying hard to get over my hoarding tendency and my fear of actually *using* it. I'm trying to remember that I'd get a lot more enjoyment out of the garlands if I used them (even if that requires cutting them apart) as right now they're just tucked in a plastic tote out of sight. I did manage to unstring a few beads from one to use on a project I'm working on right now. Baby steps!
(Sorry for the lousy photos--it's hard to get a good one since there's always light coming in) Making the garland couldn't have been easier--just measure the ribbon, find the center and string on the cookie cutters! I knew I wanted to hang mine on the curtain rod over my kitchen window but the valance I had up, cute as it is, didn't match. Luckily, the same friend who lent me the other valance also gave me this cute gingham curtain trimmed with fat white rickrack, which turned out to be the perfect background for displaying the garlands.
I started out by making the bottom garland but when I finished I still had plenty of cookie cutters left and another spool of ribbon, so I made another! The only thing I did differently from the tutorial was leave off the buttons, for no other reason than pure laziness!
I love how the garlands turned out! What a fun, easy and satisfying craft project and a cute decoration!
This was torn out of a BH&G Holiday Decorating special magazine from 2003.
I used double-sided tape to attach the ribbons to the top and bottom of the frame. I used a small square of the same tape to attach the cards to the ribbon--there may be a better way to do this but I wanted to get it done.
The greeting cards are all thrifted. The round card on the bottom left is gorgeous--all lovely Victorian embossing and soft green velvet ribbon (that was from an antique store and was more than I usually pay for cards but it's just beautiful!). The round item on the bottom right is an old coaster, and the two Santas in the middle are vintage die cut decorations. On the top of the frame I have three vintage bottlebrush wreaths I found at a thrift last month. Two of them needed new ornaments but that was easily remedied with tacky glue and a few items from my collection. I had been looking for a way to display them and this was just perfect!
These went straight on the tree. My favorites are the ones with pale green and pink stripes and sparkly old glitter. I do profess a certain secret love for the ornaments made of styrofoam and sequins as well...I gotta have my sparkle, and I've never met a sequin I didn't like!
These were also waiting for me back in the craft section. I can always tell when they've had a donation of someone's old sewing supplies because they have several bags full of vintage goodies at once (the rest of the time it's bags of old zippers and that horrible 'craft' ribbon from the 1980s). Those are my favorite times! I love the button cards with the lovely ladies in the minty pastel colors.
It makes me so happy to walk in there and see the glitter! Now that's done, it's time for the rest of the house to get festive.
this is the look we got when we told her to "smile like a princess"
And mommy dressed up too! I knew last year that I wanted to be Mary Poppins so I've kept an eye out for costume pieces for months. The hat I bought early in the summer from this webshop. I did have to paint it black and add the daisies but I think the effect was good (although now that I see the photos I wish I'd painted the underside too, whoops). 
I already owned the blouse but the jacket, skirt, scarf and bag came from the thrift store. White gloves were from a costume shop (although forgotten in this photo) and I made my own parrot head umbrella. I used my vintage umbrella and found a photo of the parrot head handle on flickr. I enlarged it on the computer, printed, cut it out and taped it to the handle. Not too bad for homemade! 
The likeness was good enough that everyone at the church knew who I was supposed to be (even kids) and I got so many compliments! :) It was such fun and I'm already know who I want to be next year!
Oh, my pretties. :) The thrift stores now have their Christmas items out and I have already found several great vintage goodies! Good thing, as the garage saling haul this year was meager and I was feeling a bit sad about not having more to add to my collection.
