Friday, December 3, 2010

A Vintage Christmas




Santa Photos of my Kiddos nestled with my vintage treasures


I am drawn to the cracks in the glaze, the chubby Santa faces, innocents of Angels...
Maybe its the vivid graphics on the cards, no its the humor that they have.
Maybe its because they were made in Japan back then...


Whatever it is, I love them all, dusty, plastic, glass, etc.  


I like to take them apart, spread them around, glue them together, and marvel at who's memories they once were.  Estate sales are my favorite place to find these, I always head straight to the basement.  It took me a while to figure out I needed to come with a bag to put my treasures in.  Lately, I have lost out on a few great finds and I know they are probably posted on eBay but it wasn't meant to be.  I have stopped buying everything and I only grab what really strikes a cord with me.  It has been a fun year to add to my collection. My daughter loves to help.  The men in my house call them chochkies!  


These are a few of this years treasures I have found and created...I think some of you will see of your treasures among them!


Loads of Shiny Brites with an Estate Sale Santa Find!



Can you really have too many Shiny Brites...I keep saying one day there won't be anymore so we have to find and save them all...and glue them in place just like this, right?
Lefton, Shiny Brite and Bottle Brush topped off with spaghetti trim!   My life is complete.  My daughter tells me I  am going to use up all the ornaments when I do these trees.  


I glittered some vintage bell ornament, but it wasn't enough,  I added some great old Christmas tag add-ons, and then my best friend Amy just happened to gift me a box of old glass bell ornaments.  Perfect for the last embellishment.

My absolute favorite ornaments combined with shiny brites!  I topped it with an old German tinsel strand.

I managed to squeeze in this fun find from a local thrift store.   I can only imagine the hostess serving eggnog out of this in her sweet holiday apron...

I sewed this fun table runner out of vintage holiday hankies and added white bells to each end.  Shiny Brites are like candy to me.  I can't seem to get enough of these jars.  Again, I conjure up kids on their tiptoes  digging in for penny candy at the local dime store every time I find one.  

I found this red child suitcase at the Salvation Army and jumped at the chance to create a Santa case.  I  decorated it with some favorite vintage images (laminated for safety) a bow, Shiny Brites of course, glittered bells, some old reindeer ornaments and some vinyl snowflakes via etsy.  On the inside I add Christmas fabric just to be OCD.  It is at the front door under the foyer tree.

I found 2 of these wonderful pattern sewn stocking at an estate sale recently for .50 cents.  I love the images.    Originally, I was going to hang them on the doors, but they looked much better at the end of the stairs.  I had to fill them with tissue to keep them from flopping flat.
Oh, I hear Andy Williams calling...Happy Vintage Christmas!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I am charmed to the bottom of my heart! So many inspiring ideas found here. Chochkies on ornaments, ornaments in glass containers, ornaments in cups, it's all so wonderful. I just railed at my husband for throwing away big light bulbs from our old fashioned outdoor lights. It should be a federal offense! What a wonderful post! Thank you so much for sharing. Elizabeth

laurie -magpie ethel said...

Love the ornament with Rudolph perched on top of it. Fun post, and I agree about Shiny Brights being like candy!

Nan said...

I love all this vintage stuff, oh I'm in heaven looking over your blog.