A kitschy-cool plastic wreath in non-traditional colors...
Two unused linen tea towels, still sporting their labels...
A length of vintage patterned yardage...
Felt + beads + sequin goodness...
Vintage plastic ornaments, perfect for next Christmas when I'll have a 15-month-old little boy on the loose...
A bag full of the type of vintage ornaments that make you literally catch your breath and sprint to get the bag in your cart before anybody else spots the treasures therein...
Ornaments that will make it hard to decide whether to keep or sell...
The most perfect shade of aqua... (speaking of which, did you see this? WORD.)
And tarnished silver for which the cashier gave me 50% off, even though it isn't strictly Christmas decor...
I know that I'm not supposed to love material things and all that jazz, but I think my beloved aluminum pom-pom tree and my collection of beautiful vintage ornaments may rank up there in my Top 5 Material Possessions. I love my tree so, SO much. I say it every year, but when the afternoon sun comes in through that window and hits the tree, the *SPARKLE* just blows my mind!
a vintage Rudolph story book that I bought on Monday at an antique store. It's not in great shape (taped spine, ick) but it was el cheapo and it's cute and I can read it to Maren. It's flanked by two vintage flocked red reindeer, both found this year in my thrifting.
This snowman ornament belonged to my great-grandpa and my dad found it in his shed. It has a hole in one side (about 1.5" diameter) and was found with red cellophane sticking out of the hole. We can't figure out what it is--does anyone have any ideas? My first thought was a candy container but it seems a bit impractical for that because the hole is so small. We're stumped!
And some favorite ornaments from the tree:
I found her at a thrift a few weeks ago, but sadly there was no Mr. Claus to be found. I now have a mission: locate a pin bead Santa and reunite him with the lovely Mrs.!
Would you just LOOK at that hair? Hee! It's like Muppet hair.
This one's blurry but Porter is just the happiest, most smiley baby! He'll be 12 weeks tomorrow (HOW?) and is an absolute delight!
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.
I've said it before, but these bits & pieces collages are SO much fun to make. I love having a way to use up all the precious little treasures I've collected, and a 3"x3" square is a whole lot less intimidating to fill, even if there are a dozen of them to do. I think this is my 5th bits & pieces collage, and it certainly won't be my last.
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.
I saw an ad for the Zoku in a magazine and was intrigued. It's currently exclusive to Williams-Sonoma and on their website there's a great video that shows the Zoku in action. Basically, it's a popsicle maker that needs no electricity or freezing time--amazing, right? The mold unit is made of aluminum and has a liquid inside that gets extremely cold (much like the bowl of an ice cream freezer, I'm guessing). You store it in the freezer and when you want to make ice pops, you simply put in the plastic sticks, pour in your liquid and the pops will freeze in 7-15 minutes! It's kind of like magic, although I'm guessing to a kid that would be the longest seven minutes EVER. There is a tool provided to loosen the pops so you can remove them from the mold, and then you can use it again twice before it needs to go back into the freezer.
And my trusty assistant helped me choose the winner 
She even wore pink for the occasion! And the winner is:
is this lamp. (Man, that's a lousy picture--it's hard to take a picture of a clear glass object!) I bought this lamp during a pre-Halloween thrift run for $1.99. It stayed in a bag under my desk for a few days until I realized in my Halloween party house-cleaning frenzy that I needed more light in a particular room, and remembered my "new" lamp. I plopped it on a table, swiped a shade from another lamp and turned it on--I confess I didn't even clean the dust off first!
