Christmas Around The Cottage~REDNESDAY

It's REDNESDAY! It's also the day that I've kicked the indoor portion of the Christmas decorating extravaganza into high gear. If you don't like red, or vintage Christmas, you better skip this blog altogether for the next few weeks! 

I love that elf  Maureen over at Nest 'n Feathers sent me. I also love those bottlebrush trees and I pretty much love how great the reds look with the aqua clock, where the time is always a couple of minutes before 6. Still need to cut off the cord and make it battery operated! 

My favorite Christmas tablecloth is now in place.

Is it just me, or is that tree on the left very How The Grinch Stole Christmas-ish?!

A little handmade quilt that I found at a thrift store last year. I kept the tag on it, because I just couldn't believe that it was only $3.00. It's fun to keep reminders like that. This way, it will always be known as That Little $3.00 Christmas Quilt!

And I've added those red bells to the green cabinet. One of my favorite Christmas memories is of the red bells that my Mom would hang in the window at our house. When I hung those same bells in our daughter's bedroom, she was transfixed by them too, and would fall asleep to the little "ping" sound that they would make as each bell took a turn blinking. Unfortunately they're pretty old now, and old wiring scares the bejeebers out of me, so they have been retired to the attic for now, and these newer ones are becoming a real favorite. So this is some of what I accomplished today. If you love the color red, head over to It's A Very Cherry World, where Sue hosts this Rednesday party every week. And keep coming back here to see more of my Christmas reds!  

A SHAMELESS COPYCAT

No garage sales + no flea market + nothing at the thrift stores=NO WEEKEND FINDS. So I spent my time finishing up the outside decorations. Here's the front of the house. Oh I wish you could see it in person, because it looks SO much cuter than this. The snowmen just look like big blobs of light. This shot just doesn't do it justice!

Here's the back porch.

Two men of snow.

My favorite snow guy!

A holly silhouette above my childhood sled.

A light-up poinsettia.

Another sled, this one in need of a paint job. And here's where the title of this post comes in. I was reading Amy's post over at Into Vintage about her aqua sled transformation, and I knew right away that I wanted to do the same thing. 

Hence the "shameless copycat" title. Oh, and it's not really snowing in this shot. When I was visiting Kim over at Musings From Kim K, she had used PicMonkey to add snow to her dollhouse shots, and the snow made it look even more charming. I'm such a big copycat...... 

MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of My Weekend Finds, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!

Here in this part of Illinois, the hunting and gathering of junk has become extremely difficult, due to garage sale season being over and done with, and the thrift stores severely lacking in vintage stuff. Thank goodness the flea market runs 'til the end of November! That's where I found that old copy of The Secret Garden and the sweet watering can.

The other side of the can is just as cute, and it still has it's original price tag of $1.79. When I saw that sticker, I had one of those moments where I wished that I could go back in time to when these little cans were brand new, and fill a shopping cart with them!

This gorgeous bowl also came from the flea. I paid more for it than I normally would for something like this, but I've never seen one quite like it before and thought I'd better grab it.

The sticker inside is pretty funny: Sorcery In Ceramics!

This next find is rather silly. I walked past that skate case up there three times before I finally realized that I must really want it, and asked the seller how much it was. I'm just crazy about that skating couple on the front! There's a pair of vintage Roller Derby skates inside, and although I know that ice skaters would make much more sense for Christmas decorations, I really love them up there, and I guess that's all that matters!

My last finds were discovered on my porch! These are my winnings from Denise's giveaway at Old Fashioned Days. If you've never visited Denise's blog, you really should, because it's loaded with vintage goodness! Thank you so much for my Fire King cup and saucer, the Occupied Japan poochie, and the sweet little hankie, Denise. I love them all!~~~~~So, did you find any goodies last week?

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas!~~REDNESDAY

I've been contemplating stitching up some kitchen curtains, using an old Christmas tablecloth, for years. But I've been too scared to bring a pair of scissors anywhere near a truly vintage tablecloth. If the usual big gravy stain was in the center of the cloth, I thought: Heck, I am not cutting this one, because I can just cover up that stain with some decorations! And speaking of those stains, can you imagine being a housewife back in the day, and watching your family spill the gravy all over your pretty tablecloth? The poor woman didn't have SHOUT Stain Remover or OXICLEAN back then, like we do!

So instead of using one of my pretty vintage tablecloths, I used this one, which I suspect is not very old, but at least I didn't cringe while I was hacking away at it! 

Here's how they turned out. Not bad!

But even better when there's a Santa swingin' between the panels, and there's a bunch of tiny Santa mugs sittin' on the sill!

The Santa cookie jar is usually way up on top of a cabinet, but this year he's on the counter, for easier cookie access.

A Santa tray tucked behind the glasses carrier. I'm doing a tiny bit of decorating each day, instead of waiting to do it all after Thanksgiving. I think this will tremendously relieve the anxiety that I feel when I'm trying to get the inside and outside decorated before Christmas. Plus, for some reason, I just can't wait to decorate!~~~~~~~~If you would like to see more reds, head over to It's A Very Cherry World, where our hostess Sue is celebrating her birthday today. Happy Birthday Sue!  

REDNESDAY~Election Day Edition!

Election Day always seems to make me even more patriotic than usual! Did you know that there are some countries, such as Australia, where it's mandatory that every citizen votes?!

Mr. Old Glory and I just got back from voting. It's tradition that we vote together on Election Day, but it was SO tempting to do early voting this year!

This is a sign that hangs in a window of our home.

I'll admit it, I'm that dork, who decorates for Election Day! My sister made this yo-yo table runner.

A vintage quilt, draped over Cupcake's chair, so pay no attention to any cat hair you might see!

I planted a bunch of these red lilies yesterday.......

and I bought them because of their name: AMERICA!

I found this vintage magnetic bobblehead couple at the flea market a few weeks ago, and I bought them because they remind me of the ones that I had on a birthday cake when I was little. They don't seem too taken with each other, and he looks downright shy, doesn't he?

Until he sweeps her right off her feet! I really wish I still had the ones from my birthday cake. I remember spending alot of time playing with them, seeing how close they had to get to each other  before they would kiss!~~~~~~~If you would like to see more reds, head over to Sue's at It's A Very Cherry World! HAPPY ELECTION DAY!

MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of My Weekend Finds, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!

Please pardon all of my junk, but this post has more than two weeks worth of it! I found that aqua and pink bowl at the flea market last week, and I still haven't stopped drooling over it!

This Hendryx bird cage came from a garage sale, and I can't wait to get my birdies in there. Love those hairpin legs!

I'm a sucker for little red records for my little red record player.

I found a bunch of them, along with some green ones, at an estate sale. The graphics on them are SO cute!

Pretty glasses and an aqua syrup pitcher were found at The Covered Bridge Festival in Indiana.

A vintage Girl Scout cake decoration, perched on a metal flower frog. Were you a Girl Scout? If so, hold up your three fingers, and repeat after me: On my honor I will try, To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.  It's been about a million years since I was a Girl Scout, but I still remember the Girl Scout Promise!

Another picnic tin for the collection, found at the flea market.

My daughter Lizzy knew that this year I was desperately trying to stay away from Target and their always cute Halloween decorations, so she went in and surprised me with these plates! I love them, but they just make me want to go to Target to see what else they have!

Liz and her boyfriend were carving pumpkins, and I just had to share her Hello Kitty pumpkin that she carved!

I found a little vintage desk flag.....

And a humungous vintage flag! This thing is 5' x 9', cotton and has 48 stars. And it came from the Ickiest Estate Sale that I've ever been to. It was run by an elderly man and woman who fought with each other the whole time. Everything in the garage was just sitting willy-nilly on the ground and not priced and covered in dust. The house was SO dusty that I had to walk back out as soon as I walked in. As the man was walking me back to the shed that held other things for sale, he was ranting the whole time about wanting to leave so he could go to the store and get some chicken. All I did was poke my head inside, because at this point I was convinced that he very well might lock me in there, just so that he could go get some of that chicken.... 

The Fishes book had to be thoroughly wiped down, but it's a great addition to my Golden Nature Guides collection. I'm trying to replace the newer ones with the vintage variety.

This old candy box is huge. I was surprised to find it at this sale, amongst all of the dust and dirt, because it's in really great condition.

When I got home, I could hear something rustling inside the box, and when I opened it outside, there were all of these feathers in there. Nothing really crazy about that, I guess, but it still made me feel itchy and icky. You're probably wondering right now why I even went to this sale, let alone bought anything from it. I've been asking myself that same question, and when I come up with an answer, you'll be the first to know!