A Few of My Favorite Things...

via Pinterest

Love this photo featuring two of my favorite things... vintage deer and Christmas cookies. The vintage china is pretty sweet, too. I know it's not even Halloween, but when inspiration strikes you have to capture it!

Merry, Merry Kitchen Tree {Vintage Style}

I have set up a small Christmas tree in my kitchen dining room for the last few years. Rather than save the Christmas decor for only the more formal rooms in the house, I can enjoy the holiday lights while I am whipping up a batch of holiday cookies or a quick meal.

I have a larger tree in the family room, but that is not visible while I'm unloading the dishwasher or doing other glamorous chores that must be done every day. It's a small way of keeping the holiday spirit in view during the busiest days of the year.

This tree is just about ten years old, but it has a vintage vibe to it, especially after I've added some tiny vintage Christmas ornaments, glass bead garland and a sweet little frosted tree topper. Under the tree I've created yet another little glitter {Putz} house village. I've kept the color scheme red, white and pink this year. That way, when the tree is still up in mid-January, I can say it's a Valentine-themed tree and I am actually way ahead in decorating for the next holiday {lol}.

Seriously, this little tree village is the last decoration to come down in my house. Particularly when the cold dark days of winter settle in and most of the decorations have been packed away, this little tree brings a little light to the kitchen. The season passes so quickly. Shouldn't the holiday sparkle continue just a little bit longer?

Vintage Deer & Bottle Brush Trees {A Tiny Vignette}

In my haste to get the last of the holiday decorations up, I decided to clear a spot on the bookcase for these little vintage deer. A set of three purchased at the flea market, they really can be used throughout the year and do reside in my office permanently. With a few bottle brush trees that were too large to join the other Christmas vignettes throughout my house, they make a nice little accent to the room.

I am busy wrapping, baking, cooking and most of all, waiting to bring my family together for Christmas!

It Takes a {Vintage Christmas Glitter House} Village...

.... to complete the Christmas decorating at my house. I can't believe I was thinking of not putting up the Putz {or glitter house} village this year. I must have forgotten how much I enjoy the sparkle on the roofs and trees, and the memories of how the houses were collected over the years.

Some of the houses are in pristine condition and others have windows that are shattered and chimneys that are missing {a tiny Grinch, perhaps?} A few have been altered with additional glitter {oops, couldn't help myself} and others have tiny stains.

This jolly fellow is the only elf in the village. He's quite small, but still about as big as the houses. Hopefully proportion doesn't matter with a display of vintage Christmas decorations; you have to use what you can find, right?

His face is a combination of cute and scary in that vintage decoration type of way.

The trees in this display have been collected over the years as well. This one has some tiny tinsel still attached from another year's display that included some modern touches. That's okay with me... the more sparkle, the better!

There is a mix of houses, some with brick accents and others just with glitter. 

And then there is the tiny nativity {complete with plastic holy family} that sits amidst the tiniest of the houses on the top tier of my display. Some may think this old ornament is out of place, but for me it is the basis for this holiday, and even though it sits amongst the glitter and glam of my displays, it is truly the reason for the season, so why not?

Some of the houses are more rustic. I like the green and snow accents on the house above and the cheery red tree topper as well.

The trees on some of the houses almost look like bits of seaweed; I am not sure what they are made out of or why they were substituted for the tiny bottle brush trees on the other houses.

My favorite trees are those sporting a hefty dose of glitter {no surprise there}. 

So the village is up, the pinecone elves {see this post} never did get more housing, and I even have enough houses for another housing project under my little white kitchen Christmas tree, which I will share in an upcoming post. Stay tuned by following this blog here or by liking my page on Facebook.

Getting the {Vintage Christmas Glitter} Houses Ready

It's Christmas crunch-time, right? I have been late in finishing up my holiday decor, but the house seemed a bit unfinished without setting up some of my vintage Christmas glitter (or Putz) houses.

So, here I am... getting out the boxes, and falling in love with these tiny bits of cardboard and glitter that will become a little holiday village.

Check back, the completed project will come soon!

Vintage Inspired Book House Village

This was a fun project I did at work one day and I know those who love vintage finds will enjoy seeing the finished product. Challenged with creating a holiday-themed display case that would seem right at home at a library, I began my search on Pinterest for inspiration. I was initially going to use my collection of miniature glitter houses and refer to holiday decor books, but then I found a bird house made out of books and the creative light bulb went on!

Each house was made of four old books two for the sides, one for the door and another for the roof. I picked older books from my stash with yellowed pages and fabric covers. I like the aged look of the textures, perfect my favorite theme of evoking fond memories with vintage finds. I propped up the "roofs" with a thin wooden dowel to keep them raised so that there would be a nice peak to their shape.

I finished the houses with pictures from vintage Christmas cards, either copied from the web or from my own collection. Trimmed and then sprinkled with paste and glitter, they are affixed to the book with  blue painter's tape.

I did manage to add a few of my vintage glitter houses, deer and ornaments and a few bottle brush trees to add just a little more sparkle to the case. Lastly was an addition of beaded garland and sprinkling of snowflakes. I firmly believe you can never have enough glitter!

The beautiful evergreen trees are actually scans of a vintage Dennison bulletin board decoration that I enlarged, printed and added silver glitter to.  The snowflakes are scans of vintage book pages printed on card stock and laminated, then embellished with glitter. The bells are a scan of another vintage card, enlarged.

I really enjoy using old books in crafts and display design. I have a Pinterest board with over 100 pins dedicated to them that you can see HERE. It was a fun display to create, although I had glitter on my shoes for the rest of the day!

{Pretty} Pink Fireplace Vintage Christmas Card

Oh, this card is it... the perfect blend of holiday magic, precious pink and feminine style! What a treasure this was to find at the flea market.

I'm going to use it to make some Christmas cards to hand out at the office... glitter it up a bit and let all my fellow {female} co-workers share it's beauty. I always use copies of the vintage cards, never the original to make my handcrafted cards.

This image is shared for your personal, non-commercial use only.

Inside message:

With holly in the hallway and the Christmas tree so bright,
May yours be the enchantment of a Christmas that's just right

Signed: Dorothy Schrader

Marked:
5x1080 Made in USA 4674


Linking this post to:
My Romantic Home
Common Ground

Vintage Pinecone Elves {Sweet}

I started off the holiday decorating early, but I haven't kept the pace to finish up. My little vintage pinecone elf village is currently just a fraction of what I display. Two houses for six elves might seem appropriate (they are little guys after all), but usually I like to mix them among all my little glittery putz Christmas houses. I haven't brought any of those out yet.

The elves are currently living among two modern glitter houses from Bath & Body Works {sorry fellas}. Not that these houses aren't pretty, but the vintage elves would surely feel more at home among the vintage Christmas houses.

I hope to finish up this weekend with the Christmas decorations. Too bad these little elves can't do the decorating while I'm at work!

O {White} Christmas Tree, O {White} Christmas Tree

The {White} Tree is up! I am so pleased at how it turned out. The white branches reflect the lights and all the vintage ornaments in such a beautiful way.

Yes, those are vintage suitcases and a brown paper package under the tree at the moment! I was  fretting about getting {or making} a new tree skirt and as it turns out, the branches on this tree drape just about all the way to the ground. I really don't miss the little stick of a trunk that used to stick out on the old tree! The suitcases and the box hide the tree stand, and I didn't have a chance to put them away anyway. The little white suitcase holds some exercise bands and weights and the other case was on top of an armoire which now holds the nativity scene.



The tree is always the major task in holiday decorating for me, so I am glad it is done and I can enjoy it's beauty for the season. It's typically the first decoration that I put up each year, and the last I take down. For me, the tree is definitely the central part of the holiday decor.


Linking to:
Common Ground Vintage Inspiration
My Romantic Home
Craftberry Bush
Whipperberry

Vintage {Shiny Brite} Christmas Ornaments

One of my favorite things to look for in antique shops whether at home or traveling is vintage Christmas ornaments. When buying them individually, they are a small purchase, easy enough to tote home and add to my collection.

Several times, I've been lucky enough to find a whole box of ornaments in the original box at a great price. These cherry-red Shiny Brite ornaments are one of those great finds. I have never found any modern boxes that are as good as the vintage versions. They are lightweight, but still quite sturdy.

I'm just starting to unpack the plastic bins and will make piles of the boxes for decorating later. They're so pretty in their vintage packaging that I don't mind the piles on the side table as they await their turn to be added to the tree. I can't wait to see how they look on my new white tree this year.

I put the prettiest ornaments on first, and then fill in with the plain ones as needed. I do not skimp on filling the tree. The more the merrier when it comes to sparkle and shine!