Christmas leftovers

Just a few leftover photos I haven't blogged. Although I didn't do much decorating this year, I did manage to make a few new displays.

This one was inspired by Jane, who also used thrifted ice skates on her front door. Those are my skates and I poked in some greenery and junk that I pulled out of a old floral arrangement. I've wanted to do something similar for several years, ever since I saw a photo of blue vintage skates in an old Matthew Mead holiday publication. I've never been able to find a pair of those blue skates, but the white ones work too. Cute, and I can just pull the stuff out of the top when I want to use them to go skating!

One of my favorite vintage Christmas collections are my beaded mercury glass picks. I haven't thrifted many--most have been purchased from antique shops, though I did manage to find a few really neat ones this past summer at a garage sale. I happened to have polished my silver champagne bucket for the Christmas dinner I decorated earlier in this month, so I combined the two and came up with this:
There are some lumps of floral foam wedged in the bucket and I simply poked the picks into the foam. I love how it looks, and I was surprised at how many picks I've amassed!

Back tomorrow to share the goodies I received in the Sweet Goodness Sparkling Winter White swap!

From amidst the wrapping paper carnage...

"The closest thing to heaven on this planet anywhere,
Is a quiet Christmas morning in the Colorado snow."
-Tennessee Ernie Ford


Merriest of Christmas from

Yes Heidi, there is a Santa Claus...

...I know this because who else would have left all these treasures at the thrift for me to find on Tuesday evening, and at 50% no less?

The biggest, fluffiest bottle-brush wreath I've EVER seen...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...

The Fat Man came through for me this week in a big way, and I hope he pays a visit to you tonight!

Vintage Christmas Monday (on a Tuesday)

If my life right now was to be represented by me swimming, I'd barely have my nose above the surface of the water. I feel like I've been operating on a stress level of 13 (on a scale of 1 to 10) for more than a month now, and it's definitely taking its toll on my mental state. My memory is like Swiss cheese lately and I feel like I'm constantly moving in slow motion--no matter how much I run around, I hardly get anything done. I'm most definitely overloaded--some of which is my own fault, and some that I can't help. I caught myself this morning thinking, "If I can just get Christmas over with, I'll be fine and I can rest." Over with? What? I need an attitude adjustment, stat! So even though I still have a To Do list that's a mile long, I'm going to try hard over the next few days to let go of perfection and enjoy the moment (thanks for the much-needed reminder, Jane!)

So, then. Onto Joan's final Vintage Christmas Monday party, to which I am a day late. For this last installment, I thought I'd show my very favorite vintage Christmas decoration, my tree!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!

My crazy stressed-out end of November and most of December meant that I only put out about 25% of my Christmas decorations this year. A bummer because I love my vintage Christmas pretties that are packed away most of the year, but maybe a blessing because now I don't have to put so much away, right? However, the first thing I put up and the only thing I really care about was my gorgeous tree and all of the hard-won ornaments that I've found by searching through the crap at garage sales and thrift stores. You can see some of my favorites in this Flickr set (I'd post some of the original photos for you to look at, but I can't find where I filed them on my computer!)

And my thanks to our lovely hostess Joan for making Vintage Christmas Mondays possible! I hope she does it again next year!

It's Rednesday and Vintage Christmas Monday (two days late)

I've been out of town so I'm a bit behind at blogging. Actually, I'm a bit behind in life in general right now, but I'm doing my best to get out of the weeds...

For Sue's Rednesday party, I have this to share: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.

I'm two days late but I'm going to join Joan's Vintage Christmas Monday for this week anyway. These photos are of some of the vintage Christmas lovelies at my parents' house. It's fun to share an addiction, although I suffer a far more severe case than they have!

I believe this neat Santa candy container came from a garage sale, lovingly stored in its original box:

Another set of St. Nick and his coursers, this one I found at a thrift and gave to my dad:
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!

I bought this tree topper from an antique store. Love the graphics and bright red and green!
And some favorite ornaments from the tree:

It's Rednesday--vintage apron, pin bead Mrs. Claus and gratuitous cute baby photos

Yippee, it's Rednesday! I'm joining Sue's Rednesday party today.


I love this pin and bead Mrs. Claus! She's a Walco craft from the early 1970s and is reminiscent of the pin bead fruit that I collect as well.
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.!

Found at a rare weekday garage sale when I was out visiting my mom in Utah, I think these are actually from 2008 but I never blogged about them. The crocheted apron is a child's size and somebody turned the vintage tablecloth into cute red-hemmed cloth napkins.

And a favorite red (and blue) thing around here:
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!

Vintage Christmas Monday

This has been the state of my front room table for about a week now:
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. :)

After a poor showing at the thrifts so far this season, I scored on Friday afternoon. Yay!Lots of goodies to keep and lots more to put in my etsy shop!

I'm joining in on Joan's Vintage Christmas Monday!

Goody Goody Gumdrops!

I love gumdrops. I love the way they look and I love the way they taste. I love them at any time of the year, but most especially at Christmas! A jadeite bowl full of gumdrops is just a happy sight, isn't it?
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.

Although the construction seems pretty self-explanatory, I did use the instructions found here, via One Pretty Thing. I used a 12-inch white foam wreath form from the craft store, but I did see 10-inch green forms at the Dollar Tree this morning as well. I used nearly three 20-ounce bags of gumdrops (the small size) and that allowed for plenty of 'sampling' opportunities as well. I took Cheryl's advice and used my hot glue gun rather than toothpicks to attach the candy. I went through several glue sticks, more than I had anticipated, so make sure you have plenty on hand. From there, it's easy.
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.

I wish gumdrops came in pink--I think a pink gumdrop wreath might make me feel faint from the super-high cuteness quotient. I do remember that Martha showed all-white wreaths made of champagne-flavored white gumdrops in one of her wedding publications, and they were quite pretty. I know that Walgreen's has bags of red and green gumdrops on sale this week for 99¢, so if you purchased a dollar store wreath form and a couple of bags of candy, you could have yourself a very cute little holiday decoration for around $5!

It's Rednesday--vintage spaghetti ware Santa

My favorite color is RED (has been for years) so it's only fitting that I join in Sue's Rednesday party!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.

We had a self-imposed snow day today. It was snowing and the wind chill was 4 degrees this morning when I got up, and I just couldn't face going out in that to take Maren to preschool. I haven't yet figured out a good solution for keeping the baby warm and wrapped up while I take Maren to school. The stroller is a pain (especially in the snow) and carrying him in the bucket carrier is unwieldy and heavy, but just holding him in my arms wrapped up in blankies doesn't seem warm enough, and I sometimes worry that I'll slip and fall with disastrous results. I've got to get something figured out though, because we have about 5 more months of cold mornings to look forward to here in Colorado! Right now the wind chill is a whopping 10 degrees, and tomorrow morning won't be much of an improvement from today. It has been a good day to stay inside and work on crafts and decorations--hope to have some to share tomorrow!

Vintage Christmas Monday

I'm joining Joan's Vintage Christmas Monday blog party!

All of the digging through bags of overpriced junk at the thrift is worth it when you find a bag that contains these:
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!

This was found at an antique mall. Love the original box!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.

Still haven't got the Christmas decorations out. Hoping to change that soon!

Thanksgiving leftovers

I'm getting all the Thanksgiving decor ready to put away so the Christmas decorating tornado can commence, but wanted to show you this before it disappears into a box for another year. I initially started this collage to put in my etsy shop, but 1) I took too long to make it so couldn't get it listed in time and 2) I fear I might like it too much to let it go!

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.

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend. I'm going to try to get the house cleaned up today so I can start bringing up the Christmas boxes. I can't wait to get a look at all of my vintage Christmas pretties again!

It's Thanksgiving Time!

Thanksgiving Time
by Langston Hughes

When the night winds whistle through the trees and blow the crisp brown leaves a-crackling down,
When the autumn moon is big and yellow-orange and round,
When old Jack Frost is sparkling on the ground,
It's Thanksgiving Time!

When the pantry jars are full of mince-meat and the shelves are laden with sweet spices for a cake
When the butcher man sends up a turkey nice and fat to bake,
When the stores are crammed with everything ingenious cooks can make,
It's Thanksgiving Time!

When the gales of coming winter outside your window howl,
When the Air is sharp and cheery so it drives away your scowl,
When one's appetite craves turkey and will have no other fowl,
It's Thanksgiving Time!

Vintage Christmas love

I screamed SO loud when I read this email:

Heidi Heidi Heidi YOU WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS! Please email me all your info so I can get her on her way to ya! YAY!

concerning this beauty: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!

Another bit of Vintage Christmas love is that I've joined the Vintage Christmas Monday blog party hosted by Joan at Anything Goes Here! 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.

etsy Treasury love!

I'm just tickled! An item in my etsy shop, The Merry Magpie, was just featured in an etsy treasury on the front page!! I don't know how to post the photo of the treasury, but here's the link: bellalulu's red & turquoise retro treasury. Thanks for including me, bellalulu!

The coolest popsicle maker ever--the Zoku Quick Pop Maker

We still have snow on the ground so when I'm looking for a treat this time of year my thoughts don't automatically go to popsicles, but I think if I had a Zoku Quick Pop Maker I might change my mind!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.

This looks so fun! I think perhaps I'll be asking Santa for this. :)