Magpie Ethel

Holiday Snippet - New Years

I have taken down my Christmas and up went my New Years decorations lickity split.  It seems so empty if I don't have some sort of festive thing going on in my house.

I had some big one sided glittered New Years paper bells that I had never used before. I paper clipped two of them together and hung them in my front window (there is a big blue one and a magenta one as well).  I hung some big pink honeycomb bells in the window for some color.  Simple, but an easy way to ring in the new year.

My little alcove mantel got a little honeycomb love as well. The paper fringe is attached to vintage party blowers.

I love paper-whites. An old mirror and some vintage alarm clocks are ready to welcome in the new year.

The top of my china hutch houses the majority of my vintage New Year's party goodies. Kim from Camp Whimsy gifted me with the two smaller New Years plates.  Pam from One Gal's Trash gave me the larger center paper plate as well as the paper cutout of the New Years baby in the top hat.  I love friends that know me well and add to my collections!

I have spent the past few days tidying up.  The Christmas is down and put away. The garage is organized and I am headed out to the studio to tackle that project next.

No big plans for the New Year, probably just a quiet evening at home.  That is fine with me....Hope the New Year brings you many happy days!

Collection Challenge #85 - Vintage Ornament Candles and Trees

I am putting away Christmas today, so am doing one last snippet of holiday before it goes into the bin for the year.  You may remember my photo of holiday decorations where I showed my collection of vintage candles made from ornaments (trees too).  Some of you had never seen them before, so I decided to feature them as they are pretty nifty. They are here on the left by the white tree.

Here they are closer up. They were manufactured and the majority of them are stamped "Japan".

They are very simple in their construction, and I love the vintage feel of them. This one is an ornament type candle with flame.

These candles are wrapped foil cardboard with a cellophane twisted flame.

And then we have a bump chenille flame with another cardboard/foil candle.  I have about a dozen of these.

These substituted a candle idea with a trio of mercury glass picks.

These candles are marked Japan and have a chenille flame and a fancy foil skirt that spreads out.

In addition to these manufactured candles there were also trees that were made in a similar fashion.

This variety has a bottle brush type branch with ornaments.

Similar tree, but different construction and with silver leaves added.

Trees made with vintage ornament picks similar in construction to the candles with just the wire circle base.

They can become a bit more elaborate when sugar bells are added.  Turquoise holiday bling at its best.

This tree was made with pipe cleaners and ornaments.

I love the detail of the star shaped branches.

Most of this collection is estate sale found, and I always grab them if I see them.

If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____." More collections to come with the new year.

 

The Holiday Lookout

Perhaps today as you finish that last minute wrapping and baking, you may catch a glimpse of a red figured man outside. Do not be alarmed.  He is likely just checking his route for those that have been good this year.

Cute and jolly.  Wishing you and yours the most magical holiday.  Merry Christmas to all!

This jolly Santa is my latest holiday addition to my front porch Santa collection.  Found at a local antique shop, he is almost as tall as me and definitely brought a holiday smile to my face!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

 

Holiday Home Snippets #8

With Christmas almost here, I felt the need to show a few more snippets before it is all boxed up and put away for the year.  Today we are in the living room looking toward the front window.  My tree reaches up to the ceiling and is decorated with a hodge podge of handmade and collected ornaments. I would classify it as a sentimental decoration tree, with lots of ornaments that the kids have made over the years.

This is the coffee table arrangement. After one of my craft sales, they were giving away the centerpieces that decorated the dining tables. I brought one home and added glittered pink pine-cones and old mica houses. It is on a silver pedestal for height.

I had a bunch of old Santa boots and filled them with old handmade bump chenille poinsettias.

I did not do anything different with my tree toppers this year.  They are displayed in my little corner cabinet tucked in my cream ware collection.

This little area displays all my boxes of tinsel, old Christmas lights and other items with a graphic appeal.

I got this little cardboard fireplace the other day in the original box at a local antique store.

A few of the cardboard pieces were missing, but it is still dang charming.

My snowman have migrated to this new spot this year.

My cardboard Santas live on the top of this hutch. These were all collected at estate sales. I made the wreath years ago from ornaments from my grandparents.

I can't believe Christmas is getting so close.  Finsihed the Christmas shopping today and getting the last of my cards out tonight.  Tis the season...

Collection Challenge #84 - Vintage "Do Not Open Before Christmas" Stickers

With Christmas less than a week away I am encouraging you not to hunt down your Christmas gifts and give them a peek.  When my mother was in second grade she found all her Christmas gifts tucked away and opened them and then carefully re-wrapped them. She knew what everything was that she was getting and she talks about this being the worst Christmas she ever had.  On that note, I am sharing my collection of vintage "Do Not Open Before Christmas" stickers.  I have shared my vintage sticker collection before, but only a small portion of the DO NOT OPEN stickers.

I am amazed at the variety of DO NOT OPEN stickers.  Here we have vintage deer.

Sisters and brothers were encouraged not to peek at their gifts.

The anticipation of this pair make me smile.

Jolly snowman encouraged one to wait until Christmas.

I think this winking gal is from the 40s as she was found with some older cards and such from an auction.

Pirates, indians and gun toting Santas encouraged us not to hunt or attack our gifts early.

Darling dogs decorated these stickers. The dog on the top is near a safe and reads "Keep safe until Dec. 25th"

Santa was a very popular figure that showed up on these stickers.


I don't often see a Santa wearing glasses...perhaps he needed them to help guide his sleigh.

Holiday poinsettias, greenery and trees.

Cute little kitties.

Smiling bears.

Angels encouraged one to be angelic and not open those gifts.

Foil stickers were quite popular.

Perhaps if my mother had encountered a sticker on one of her gifts, it would have deterred her from opening them.

I doubt it, but you never know.

If you have an idea for a future challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of ___".  And between now and Christmas NO PEEKING!

Holiday Home Snippets #7

I have had this blow up deer for quite a few years.  He has never found the perfect spot to live in my holiday decorations. Some years he has not been blown up and has stayed in the holiday bin.

This year he made a holiday friend.

Reindeer meet Santa.

Santa was found at a local thrift store.  At first I thought about listing him in my Etsy shop, but then I decided that he should live with Mr. Reindeer.

I had to find the perfect spot for the two of them.  Cardboard holiday fireplace fit the bill.

I had a heck of a time trying to put this fireplace together.  It had a mind of its own.  I finally just ended up wrapping it around a dresser that was in that spot and it worked perfectly.

The fireplace also holds my collection of vintage holiday boxes.

I almost did not buy this holiday fireplace a few years ago. It was in the original box and it had been used once according to the owner. I went ahead and spent the $5 and it is one of my favorite holiday decorations.

I am sure that Santa and Reindeer are happy I brought it home too!

A couple more snippets to come....

Holiday Home Snippets #6

Here is the view when you stand in my living room and look into the dining room. You can see my white garland that hangs between the rooms that is hung with vintage ornaments (it is held up with fishing line).

If you look to the left you can see my china hutch.  Last year the top was decorated with snowmen, but this year my forest of vintage trees has grown and is sprouting on top of the hutch.

The white plastic tree plugs in and a light inside rotates and the color changes from red to green.  This tree and the pink ornament tree were new finds this year.

If you turn around you will see this little vignette living above my dining room window.  I was about to ask Tom to hang a long shelf above the window, when I realized my window coverings actually made a little shelf.  The line of vintage trees were up there lickity split!

In the first picture you can see a peek of my kitchen.  I love to decorate my kitchen windowsill.

The little garland is from Into Vintage.  I especially love these silly cans of Can'd-Ice that I found this year.  The grinning snowman make me grin right back at him.

A few more snippets to come....

Holiday Home Snippets #5

Last December I had four holiday home snippet posts...1, 2, 3, and 4.  I try and mix up my decorations each year and they do change a bit with the finds that I collect throughout the year.  These are some of my new decorating snippets this year.

My corner of holiday trees and bling.

The white tree on the right was newly estate sale acquired this year.  The white tree and the silver tinsel tree behind it hold my collection of vintage mica/candy container birds.

The plastic tree holds my collection of tiny vintage bells....I think I hung over 80 tiny bells on it this year. I love that the molded plastic tree has little hooks to hang each bell.

Beside the bell tree is a table that holds more holiday color and bling.

I collect little candles that are made from wire and vintage ornaments and I display them here.

I also have a couple of containers of paperwhites that I am waiting to grow and bloom. The paperwhites grow up through my holiday vintage sprigs that decorate each container.

During the day this corner gets good sunlight and the corner just sparkles and makes me happy with its bling.   More holiday snippets to come....

Collection Challenge #83 - Vintage Santa Heads

Carol from Old Glory Cottage challenged me to see my collections of Santas.  I decided I had better narrow this category down as Santa is big in my house. For this post I decided to showcase my collection of Santa heads.

Most of these heads are plastic or styrofoam and are all a head shot.  I have quite a variety of the handsome fellow. Most of them hang in my basement on a bank of cabinet doors.

This Santa is made of styrofoam and is over two foot tall.

This fellow is made of some sort of pressed straw and I love his look. He is over two feet tall.

I was the winner on Ebay a few years ago and won this plastic fellow that lights up. He lives in the stairwell to the basement and provides a friendly glow.

Made of a thin plastic.

This smiling Santa is made of plastic and is over two feet.  This is one of the first Santa heads that I found.

This Santa was produced in a plastic.

His twin was produced in Styrofoam.
A set of rudolph like nosed Santas that are a thin plastic.

(Styrofroam)

I found this light up Santa this year at a church sale.

This is the smallest Santa head in my basement.  He is made of plastic and is about a foot tall
Some of my hardier Santas can live outside and withstand the elements.  This head is over three feet tall and hangs on the front of my house. I braked quickly when I saw him a couple of years ago in the window of a local antique store.

I don't know what happened to this nose.  This fellow was gifted to me.

Two of these Santas hang on my front porch.

And last but not least, one more smiling Santa.

I really do have a love affair with Santa.  Here are those last few fellows decorating the front of my house. If you look closely you can also see the Kringle gang.  Kris is peeking out of the skinny window to the left of the Christmas tree. Clause is on the front porch and Nick is near my front door.

Ho, Ho, Ho!!!!  If you have an idea for a future collection challenge, leave me a comment and finish the sentence "Show me your collection of _____."  I will see what I can find in my goodies.

Craft Show #4 - Crafty Wonderland

This past Saturday and Sunday was my last show of the holiday season for me. Crafty Wonderland is a wonderful, wonderful Portland show and this is my third year as a vendor.  I have shopped it for years as well.

This is what I set up in my driveway on Thursday to get a bit of a feel for how my 10 x 10 spot would look and how my props would fit together.  I used sidewalk chalk to mark a 10 x 10 square and started adding tables and such.

Friday a.m. I borrowed my Dad's truck.  It was empty.

Friday afternoon the truck was full.  The bucket seats in the back were full and Ben had to ride with a load on his lap.  I had quite a bit of inventory. Ben helped me load into my spot in the convention center.

My driveway vision became this.

One side.

And the other side.

It was a great weekend and almost 16,000 people came through the doors to shop. Thank you to my blog readers who said hello and to those that took my business card and said they would come and check out my blog and Etsy shops.  A great end to my holiday crafting shows for this year.  Now I need to start my Christmas shopping...