Vintage Christmas Monday!!

Today is the very first Vintage Christmas Monday Party, and Joan at Anything Goes Here is our hostess! I heart Joan! She is awesome, and if you haven't checked out her blog before, do it now! No, not NOW now. After you look at my stuff!

My first vintage thing is this Made In Japan Santa, with rhinestone eyes. You might need to enlarge to see his eyes, but he looks a little crazy, doesn't he? Like maybe the elves have spiked the eggnog!

Next are bell lights. The ones on the left are from when I was little. Each bell alternates blinking. Gee how I loved these. They were my favorite decoration. Many years later they hung in my daughter's bedroom when she was little, and she loved them just as much! She loved to fall asleep while looking at them. The other set has the spectacularly tacky plastic flowers that I adore!

When I was out antiquing last week, I had to get this box, even though it was empty! Don't we all love Shiny Brites?

But my favorite thing about this box is this: Uncle Sam and Santa Claus shaking hands. Two of my most favorite guys in the world! Mr. Old Glory, you know you're #1!!

And finally, I apologize to those of you who have to look at this again, but.....you know how much I love it!! Now head on over to Joan's to see more vintage Christmas. Joan's going to make Monday the best day of the week!

5-Diamonds Award!

Kori, at Blonde Episodes, recently gave me this award! Please, please visit Kori's blog. If you like a touch of Hollywood glam, you'll have fun at this blog! Plus, she's sooo nice!
I need to pass this award on to 10 other blogs that in my eyes really sparkle. Here are the simple rules:
1.Link the person who gave you the award
2.Pass the award on to 10 blogs and link those those you gave it to
3.Let those bloggers know you chose them
4.Post your award on your sidebar if you choose
5.Recopy the rules for someone else

Ok, so here are 10 blogs that are real gems to me!

1. Cottage State of Mind
2.A Vintage Cottage Home
3.Fairy Footprints
4.Garage Sale Gal
5.Keepie DaNiece's Eclectic Stuff
6.Mamie Jane's
7.Pupylov
8.The Bewildered Brit
9.The Green Suitcase
10.Two Crazy Crafters

Congrats to all!!!

Christmas Decorating With Dollar Store Items!

I bought this huge old tool tote several years ago, when I was in my Northwoods decorating stage. I filled it with greenery and those electric candles that you can get at Dollar Tree. I decided to give it a little makeover.

I gave it a whitewash, and decided to go with blue accents. I have never really cared for blue in the past, but this year I have been drawn to it again and again.

I added blue glitter to the candles, and made the bow from Dollar Tree ribbon.

I think I will go back to Hobby Lobby tomorrow and get more of those glittery berry picks, because I think it needs just a little something more. I'm so not good at this type of thing, so I'll probably keep tweaking it 'til I get it right. Any suggestions are very welcome!

These are just those snowflakes that Dollar Tree sells in a box. I added fishing line, and I hope you can see that I added tiny little mirrors all down the line. Enlarge the picture if you can't see. They add a pretty sparkle as they twirl when you walk by.

These are supposed to be trees, again from Dollar Tree.....

but I flipped them over and added silver pipecleaners to make them into cones to hang from the knobs on this chest. I want to put something inside them, but I haven't decided what yet. Probably just some greenery, but I would like something a little more spectacular than that. Ah well, no hurry. It is still just November! I just wanted to show that it's easy to decorate using inexpensive things, and let your creativity turn them into something great. I am in no way affiliated with Dollar Tree. I just love that store!

Pyrex And Fire King For VTT

It's time for VTT, where Suzanne at Coloradolady is our hostess!

I thought I'd give everyone's eyeballs a rest, and take a break from all of the Christmas stuff! We must pace ourselves, because after all it's only November, and there's still so much more Christmas to share! I originally bought this pink Pyrex casserole dish to resell, but that was two years ago, and I can't bear to part with it!

Another Pyrex casserole dish. I forgot the name of the pattern, but I know that Sue knows, and she will remind me! I love it, and use it all of the time.

Oh, if only I had a lid to go with this beauty! I bet I'll find one some day. Until then, I use this baby all the time too. I just put a piece of wax paper over the top and it cooks like a charm!

These are Fire King bowls that we use for our own little Thanksgiving dinner the night before we go to my sister's for the big dinner. This big bowl holds the mashed potatoes.

And there are two smaller bowls that nest inside the big one. The smaller one holds the gravy.

And finally we have a Fire King tulip bowl. I had a whole set of mixing bowls, but I sold them on Ebay. I think this is a grease jar that is missing it's lid. Maybe that's why when I tried selling it, no one wanted it. Can you imagine? That's ok, I'm happy to have a piece of this cuteness all to myself! Now please head over to Suzanne's, because there's so much more to see!

A Red Christmas For Rednesday!

If you love the color red, you'll want to head over to It's A Very Cherry World, where Sue hosts this great party every week!

Let's start out with a little banner. I bought these chipboard letters at Hobby Lobby.

I kept it very simple, just painting it red, adding some buttons and rick rack. This is hanging at the doorway from the kitchen into the dining room.

I've only just started the digout of all the vintage Christmas decorations. Everything you see today is from one box. One down, a million to go! Here we have a Santa on skis, and a little elf.

A clip-on felt bird, two ornaments, and a pinecone elf. I should have turned him to the side a little, so you could see his jaunty red hat.

A Santa with glass bead legs, and a spun cotton head. I never knew a thing about spun cotton until I started reading blogs! I didn't know alot of things until I started reading blogs!!

Bottlebrush wreaths hanging from all of the cupboards in the kitchen....

and the cabinet as well. I don't think I could ever, ever have enough bottlebrush wreaths. Or trees! But that's a story for a different day!

And finally, I made this from letters from JoAnn Fabrics. They used to have letters in their dollar section, all year long, but they don't anymore, and I really miss them. Does anyone know a trick to taking good mirror pictures? It's so hard! Oh, and I forgot to mention this: Yes, I have started decorating for Christmas! I've never started this early before. But it takes so long to do, that by the time I'm usually done, I feel I haven't gotten to enjoy it enough. Oh, and another thing. Be prepared for nothing but Christmas stuff for Rednesday, right up 'til the new year! Now head on over to Sue's for more red stuff!

Weekend Finds And Another Glitter Cottage

First, please let me apologize to anyone who is offended by my total lack of regard for Thanksgiving, and jumping right into the Christmas spirit! Don't ever let it be said that I'm not thankful. Indeed I am! It's just that my daughter Liz was home from college for the weekend, and she made my banner and helped me pick out a background. She's so talented! And once the banner was on here, and looked so stinkin' cute, I couldn't take it off! You know you're itching to do the same, so I give you permission to go ahead and do it!
Ok, so there were only two estate sales this past weekend, and I didn't get alot. I did get this cute kitty planter though, Made In Japan.

Also these two old plastic urns, with the delightfully tacky plastic flowers I love!

And some little picks, an old cardboard house, and a couple of knitted ornaments.

Plastic poinsettias. Yay!!

I got this little white tree from Target's dollar section. I'm pretty excited about it, because I really want it for my Valentine's Day decorations.

And finally, another glitter cottage, hot off the assembly line. I love the rick rack, and I'll be adding it to a couple of the other houses. I don't think I'll add anymore embellishments to this one. I like it plain and simple. I love it so much, I wish I could move in!

The Glitter Cottage Assembly Line

Last year, after Christmas, I bought a bunch of these paper mache houses. I had seen lots of pretty, glittery cottages on blogs, so I was determined to give it a try. I think they'll look great with my old bottlebrush trees. I started painting them a couple of weeks ago, and decorating them as I go along.

These are the first three on the assembly line. That aqua one needs something up there on the dormers. They all need alot more embellishing!

And here are the next three. The one on the right needed a little peephole so the occupants could see who was at the door, so I cut an opening.

Here are some of the adornments. Lots of glitter....

sparkly pipecleaners, and lots and lots of buttons! Because as my daughter Liz always says, buttons make everything cuter! Now I need to get back to work at the glitter factory! Check back soon, to see The Glitter Cottages, on Sparkle Street! Sounds like a hoity toity subdivision, doesn't it?!