Getting ready for Christmas!

Hello friends!
Yes, it is July . . . but a day was spent taking inventory of my "wares" . . . the tags, ornaments, cards and assorted items I market annually at the November O'Tis a Festival in Norwich.  I counted and sorted and thought about what I want to spend time making for this year.  An ever-changing list was begun  . . . decisions, decisions . . .

A few things from last year . . . . I pack and transport the goods in fabulous cardboard suitcases I found at Michael's several years ago.  They work perfectly  . . . I just open the lids and everything is pretty much ready for viewing.

The case seen below holds flat paper goods . . . note cards, bags, tags, and flash card banners. A few new Christmas stamps arrived in that brown truck so my popular tag selection will expand a bit this year.  With the coloring book phenomenon in full swing, I'm thinking of adding some "color it yourself" tags to the mix.

A second case carries paper ornaments including embossed and glittered partridge-style birds, ice skates, and little dresses folded origami-style from dictionary, sheet music, maps,and text pages. Silhouettes of men, ladies, and a Sherlock style fellow are stamped on book and school register pages in a black card stock frame.

More ornaments in the third case . . . embellished sheet music angel wings, a glass ball ornament with a little tree and glittery snow, and some half globes with snowy scenes of deer, trees and a cabin. The gift bags with tags keep these from shifting around.

The final suitcase holds "objects," including a variety of wooden spool ornaments. There are also bottle brush trees in or on various containers or spools in the snow globe theme popularized by Anthropologie several seasons ago. I've also been collecting little vehicles and plan to add Matchbox style cars/trucks carrying little trees to the 3-D selection. 

Although it's in the 80's outside, the Christmas spirit is moving along inside, worked in around the golf schedule!

Cheers!

S.

A wreath for another season

Christmas grapevine wreath

 The grapevine wreath over the fireplace mantel in my house lives there year-round.  One reason is because I like it. Another is because it is larger than the average grapevine wreath found in the marketplace at  24" in diameter and fills the space well. And the best reason is because I can easily change it to suit my mood or the season.

I bought it unadorned and added a natural looking garland of leaves and berries found at Classic Country Furniture in Uncasville.  Two years ago, I was in a pine cone phase, picking them up on the golf courses we played in NC (too many according to the man of the house). I chose some of the smaller ones and tied them onto the wreath with brown chenille pipe cleaners.  I prefer those to wire because they poke well through the openings in the wreath and they are kinder to fingers.

For Christmas, I added some glittered gold birds and some swirly round ornaments. No bow this year, and I was happy with it. 

Valentine grapevine wreath

A quick changeover for Valentine's Day involved replacing the birds and gold ornaments with some hearts.

The wool hearts were my first ever Etsy purchase about four years ago from a shop called Marshall Country - unfortunately it doesn't have anything like this any more. They are made from 100% wool and are trimmed with vintage buttons. I made the bottom red heart from red felt I had (so the color is different) and added some buttons from Annie's button tin.

The hearts are attached to the wreath with wire ornament hangers. Pretty simple.







The Valentine's mantel  . . . I left the candle rings from Christmas since I felt the candlesticks looked too barren without them.

Quick change Valentine mantel

The stack of wooden spools wrapped in red ribbons adds a pop of color to the dark mantel. These fabulous ribbons are from the Jolee's Boutique French General collection and each pattern of ribbon came wrapped on a cardboard French lady holding a little metal spool charm. I was intrigued with them when I first spotted them at Michael's but didin't know exactly what I would do with them.  When I found the French ladies at T.J. Maxx at less than half price, I knew I could  find something to do with them and bought a bunch. So they are on spools on the mantel for now - accented with some heart quilting pins.

French General ribbons

I added wrapped spools to the ledge holding my winter deer . . . I love the lines of the metal deer against the off-white walls. I'm thinking I might have to darken the spools for the deer.  Hmmm . . .

From the French General line is another item that I hang for Valentine's Day. This 12"x12" collage of sewing notions and bits of ephemera called to me from way back on a bottom shelf at T.J.Maxx. I am a huge collage fan and am always intrigued by the way different elements are arranged to make a great composition. There's all kinds of stuff and whimsy to catch one's eye in this piece.

 Have a sparkling day!

A Giraffe of a Different Color

The #1 son keeps company with a little gal who has a "thing" for giraffes. Everyone has their favorite non-human creature, but Becci is the first person I've met who favors giraffes. 

So I was walking into the Dollar Store a couple of weeks before Christmas and smack dab in the middle of the entryway was a bin filled with plastic zoo animals.  Including giraffes. Without hesitation I grabbed two (two is always better than one) not knowing exactly what I would do with them, but confident I would. Do something or other with them. They came home and sat in the bag in the closet waiting for inspiration to strike me.

I was looking through one of the " too many" catalogs that flood the mailbox before Christmas and came across some funky ornaments. Animals accessorized with hats, purses, & shoes jumped off the page at me. It was time to begin. 

Spray paint was the first step - well, more like a dozen steps - those brown giraffe spots didn't want to stay under cover. And hitting all those hidden parts was a challenge. Then I decided I preferred a matte to a glossy surface so that was a bit more spraying. 

Now what? I had a cylinder of five rolls of coordinated red tape so decided to play around with that.  Decorated the neck, legs, and torso with tape, added a bit of red nail polish for the feet and horns (actually called "ossicones" and both males and females have them), some red glitter glue on the mane and tail and . . . Voila!  A Christmas (and possible Valentine's Day) giraffe. 

It elicited an "I love it!" from the giraffe fan, so all was good. 

And I have a spare that can be embellished with a different color for that green beer day in March!

Have a sparkling day!

Undecorating Christmas

Now that the tree is gone, it's time to deconstruct the rest of the little scenes around the house. One of  my sentimental favorites is the manger Dad built in the 1950's and the collection of nativity figures Mom bought for it.

I remember it being set in the fireplace surrounded with a blue wrapping paper background.  Mom had us stick metallic stars on the paper for the Three Wise Men to follow and  bring handfuls of straw from the field behind our house to thatch the roof and put on the floor of the manger. It was just perfect. (Aha! Found a picture!)

No straw and blue paper for me, but other than the addition of the silver town roofline behind the figures (a wonderful 1969 UNICEF card by paper artist Ted Naos titled "Bethlehem"), it's pretty much the way it always was.  Just perfect.

Nativity Scene

If not now, when? Hello!

If not now, when? I've been thinking about writing a blog for a while, with the goal of spreading craftiness and promoting the Etsy shop I plan to open for next Christmas season . . . if not now, when? So now it is.

Happy New Year! The Christmas tree went out the door today - always a bittersweet day but I do enjoy my tree decorations. I have lots of ornaments, lots and lots of ornaments that have joined the tree over many years. I'm not one who trims a tree with a color palette or the "theme" of the year in mind.

Ours is a tree of memories. It's filled with ornaments that have a story. Some are handmade . . . by my children, friends, co-workers, and by myself.  Some have been gifts. Others are craft show acquisitions, quaint little shop finds, department and discount store buys, and most recently online purchases. I unpack them every year and spend time remembering how they came to my tree while finding the perfect spot to hang each of them. I enjoy the memories and share the stories with whoever happens to be in the house at the time.  It's a beautiful thing. At least, I think so.

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