It's Been a Busy Year

2009 was a busy year for our family.  We constructed our greenhouse, planted our small (almost an acre) organic vegetable garden, sweated our way through the summer battling squash bugs and blight, worked our first farmer's market season, and battled the freezing temperatures feeding wood into the greenhouse stove.  We definitely learned a lot, and hopefully that knowledge will lead us to more success this coming year. 

In my first few months of blogging, I have really enjoyed reading many wonderful posts from all of you.  It's amazing how much you can learn from others, and how much you can have in common with a perfect stranger living 2000 miles away!  My hope is for all of you to have a safe, healthy, and fun 2010. 

Goodnight and Happy New Year!

Vintage Christmas Monday

For my first VCM post, I shared a Christmas shadowbox that my Mom made when I was little.  I didn't have a shadowbox, so I improvised.  I made a two tiered shelf by stacking two antique sewing machine drawers.  These are from my Great Grandmother's Singer.  I filled the shelves with little Christmas trinkets I've collected over the years- and a few vintage finds that I've recently picked up.  The picture flanked by the two flocked reindeer is of me and my parents Christmas 1971.

The card I found in my Grandmom's scrapbook.  My Grandparents were married on December 8, 1945 in Kenansville, North Carolina.  Their honeymoon was a train trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming where my Grandfather was to be stationed.  This card was their first piece of mail received at their new home in Cheyenne.  My Grandmom, ever the "labeler", has 1ST MAIL written at the top!  So cute.

The Santa was a gift from family friends when I was about four or five years old.  He makes a jingling sound when you shake him.  I always had this in my room during Christmas.  Now he decorates my son's room.  I had to take him out of there to photograph though- dear son is not a room cleaner!  The little tree next to Santa I made by hot gluing wood beads from an old garland and the tips of poinsettia party picks to a bottle brush tree.  The picks are new "old stock" and the plastic was so brittle, the pick part just snapped off when I bent them!

Swing by to see Joan, the hostess of Vintage Christmas Monday at her blog, Anything Goes Here .  On the right hand side she will have all the participants listed.  She will keep the list up until December 31st to give everyone a chance to catch up in case they missed some posts.  Thank you Joan for your time and energy to organize this fun event!  I have really enjoyed looking at all the wonderful memories fellow bloggers have shared.  There are some amazingly sweet and creative people out there in blogland.

I Heard the Glittered, Plastic Bells....

Two of my finds this summer at my favorite thrift were kitschy gold glittered bells.  The first one is hanging over my kitchen sink and has little bit of that plastic mistletoe I love so much.  It reminds me of my Grandmom's white plastic bell garland (that seems to have disappeared) that she would hang over the doorway of her kitchen at Christmastime.

The other find is a door hanging decoration that found a place on an interior door to the living room.  I like the plastic candy cane in the middle.

I hope you all are having a great week!

Paige

Vintage Christmas Monday - "Softlines"

This week I'm sharing the softer side of my vintage Christmas decor- fabric and soft flocked plastic.  I have really been lucky with thrifting some great Christmas stuff this year.  One of my favorite finds was this printed flannel tree skirt for a dollar.  The graphics are great and it's hard to tell with my non-photography skills and equipment, but there is a slight metallic gold sheen on some of the printing.  There was some yellowing and a stain on the Merry Christmas part, but an overnight soak in a little Oxy Clean helped a lot.  Even though this is a small skirt, I think it looks okay as an "overlay" to my plain red tree skirt.  At least it gives it some vintage character!

In this blog that I have recently begun, I mostly talk about things that I have from my Grandmom (maternal Grandmother).  I don't have a lot of things from my Grandmother on my Dad's side, so this tablecloth is really special to me.  My Grandmother died a month before I graduated from high school, and my Dad had a lot of her things packed up in the attic for almost 20 years.  We were going through some things this summer, and in one of the boxes we found the tablecloth.  I can remember this on her dining room table every Christmas Day for lunch.  As soon as I saw it, I was transported back.  I could smell the delicious food, and almost hear the sound of her electric knife slicing the turkey and ham.  Being in storage so long, it was yellowed and stained, so Oxy Clean to the rescue again.  It was a little too small for my dining room table, so I draped it on the top of my china cabinet.  I think she would approve.

This little inflatable reindeer was part of a pair- I have no idea where the other one is, but at least I still have one.  My Grandad was always taking pictures, and I think this was a Fujifilm premium.  Maybe like one of those deals where you send off proof of purchase "points" to get a freebie.  I think I first had them when I was about four or five, so definitely a vintage item!  It's soft plastic flocked with green.  It squeaks when squeezed, so I have to keep our dog Casey away from it! 

So that's my contribution this week.  Please go check out all the amazing collections of vintage Christmas items featured on Joan's blog, Anything Goes Here.  She is the amazing hostess of Vintage Christmas Monday!

Vintage Christmas Monday

This week I wanted to share another piece of Christmas from my childhood.  I thought this humble set of  "Made in Japan" mugs always had cool graphics.  Both of my Grandmothers had a set exactly alike.  Many mugs of hot chocolate and chocolate milk were slurped from these!

The kneehugger is one of two I found this year.  He's perched on one of my red Pyrex refrigerator dishes.  My plan is to finish decorating the dining room and show you a little of that next Monday.

Hope you all have a wonderful week and be sure to stop by to see Joan, the hostess of  Vintage Christmas Monday.  There you will find a list of participants on the right side of her blog, Anything Goes Here.  It has been so much fun to see all the creative Vintage Christmas displays.

Thursday's Christmas Happiness

Two little treasures made my day.  Found in an antiques/collectibles shop each with a thrift store price. 

They're not Dennison, but vintage, Christmas, and gummed seals all the same.  And so cute. The ribbon I almost overlooked in a jumbled box of cards and half broken ornaments.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but the design almost looks hand glittered. 

Doesn't take much to entertain me on a Thursday.

In a One Horse Open Sleigh

I'm still trying to decorate for Christmas.  If I can do one table or section of a room at a time, it's fine.....but I'll see something and think about putting it in my son's room, or maybe that would look better on the china cabinet, etc.  Distracted is a gentle way to put it!  Slowly but surely I'll get it done.  I did finish the piano last night.  For some reason, sleighs have been abundant at my favorite thrifts, so of course at the right price - cheap- they come home with me.  Here are a few of the ones I've scored lately.

My little kneehugger from the thrift last week is sitting in a wooden fold up sleigh from Habitat Restore. 

Some vintage flocked reindeer from a thrifted grab bag stand beside a plastic reindeer that has an upcoming date with some glitter.  He needs a little sprucing up.

Hope you all are having a great week so far.  Thanks again to all my followers!  When I finally finish decorating, I can sit in my finished Christmas room and catch up on all your blogs.