Winter Under Glass

A light, fluffy snow fell gently all day. No winter wind here. No ice under. Just the sweetest, softest snow we've had in ages.

The late Thanksgiving threw me off my game this year and my holiday decorating is about a week behind my normal schedule. I put most of it up last weekend, hubby decorated the tree and I am now putting on the finishing touches.

One of the items I brought back from Arizona when we started cleaning out our parents' house was a beautiful folk art Santa by Pam Schifferl. I have a couple of her ornaments that I simply adore!

I planned to put the Santa under a cloche I had, but it wasn't tall enough. So, I headed to my neighborhood Home Goods store, which has an extensive offering of clear glass vases, hurricanes, apothecary jars and cloches. Eureka! They had one that was tall enough.

But, alas, I got it home and, not taking into account that it wasn't straight-sided, but rather bell shaped, the curvy section wouldn't fit over the width of the figurine. After an exhaustive and futile search for the right-sized cloche, I gave up and decided to make my own from a large egg-shaped vase.

The cute glittered bird substitutes for the cloche knob. He's surrounded by an ice wreath I already had among my holiday trimmings.

My mom's woodland Santa clearly is from the same clan as my ornaments.

Woodland Santa perches on a vintage milk glass cake stand atop a vintage bevelled mirror and is surrounded by vintage family mercury glass ornaments.

Welcome, Woodland Santa.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Sunday

Motivate Me Monday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday

A Simple Splash of Red

When I visit the wonderful blogs on my reading list, I find the all-shades-of-white, light-neutral and shabby chic vignettes and decor are what most often catch my eye and draw me in first. They're so luscious,  soft and romantic.

Funny that the soft whites impact me that way because I love color. Our home, while dressed in knotty pine throughout, bears color on all the (non-knotty-pined) walls and the original vintage tile floor on the lower level.  Some of that color is big and bold. Additionally, most of our accents and decor are colorful, and I don't mean colorful as in a single color family. I guess it's my passion for all things vintage that heavily influences a color palette with a wide variety of hues. 

This Christmas season, for the first time ever, I "neutralized" much of the holiday decor in the living room. Not quite able to let go of all color, I added small splashes of red amongst the winter whites, silver, gold and mercury glass. Like my great-grandmother's tiny antique bottle brush Santa.

And an antique German liquor bottle in the shape of a Santa.

A couple of well-placed pretty red items alongside the feather trees adds interest. In my humble opinion.

And, the tall, ceramic pencil Santa my mother hand-painted for me adds subdued, but stately, color against a collection of vintage mirrors.

A simple vintage ornament with a red band creates some pop next to the large mercury glass bowl on the Stickley postal table.

Relax! It's not a bonfire in my living room. But, I wanted to share a night shot of the mercury glass bowl on the postal table. I filled it with twinkle lights and this is what it looks like with the lights on. Sort of. You'll just have to take my word for it that it's softer light than that in person.

For a final splash of red, I included this stunning male cardinal I photographed this morning in the cedar tree along the ravine at the back of our yard. This was our first significant snow of the season. Fitting as a prelude to winter, don't you think?

Although I used a long lens to capture him, this brilliant guy was quite a distance away. So, I hope you'll pardon the photo quality.

I'm dedicating this post to my mother, who was born in December and passed in December six years ago. She was an avid, amateur birdwatcher, who counted the cardinal among her favorites.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:
Rednesday
Time Travel Thursday
Primp Your Stuff
Nifty Thrifty Sunday

So, What's on Your Mantel for the Holidays?

At Christmas, I decorate each room with a different theme.

For example, the dining room is the Snowbabies room.

The living room is Santa Claus themed.

The family room is where all the wacky snowmen frolic, atop a lighted fireplace mantel and surrounded by bottle brush trees and vintage ornaments.

I love how our lightbox-style mantel creates a soft glow about everything we display on  it, but the light certainly makes it difficult to photograph. Believe me, it looks much better in person.

The lighting underneath makes the little snowmen glow so nicely.

And, because I'm linking up toThe Mantel Link Party at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, my husband insisted I also include a most famous mantle in my post. The Mick's appearance here was short-lived, however.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:
Mantel Link Party at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
FMFPTY's Holiday Mantel Party
White Wednesday at Faded Charm
Wednesday Bunny Hop at Bunny Jean's Decor

Thanks for Adding the Pizzazz

Recently, I posted about my dining room buffet display created from estate sale bottle brush trees and bargain glassware I had picked up at thrift stores.

Many of your were kind enough to give me suggestions to enhance this collection. Thank you for taking the time to help me out. You provided lots of excellent feedback. I played around with the display, taking into consideration your wonderful suggestions, until I found something I really liked.

I added acrylic ice and clear gemstones I already had, vintage ornaments that my husband's mother gave us and put it all on a vintage white damask tablecloth that I picked up at an estate sale years ago.

It's not dramatically different. But, I believe the enhancements make it more cohesive and give it more punch. What do you think?

Make it a great day!

Linking to:
Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper
Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming
A Little Birdie Told Me at Rook No. 17
Holiday Dining Block Party at No Minimalist Here

Ornaments Have a Flipside

Who among us doesn't like surprises? I certainly do, which is one of the reasons I couldn't resist participating in  the Button Floozies Christmas ornament swap--create three ornaments and swap with three partners. (Read that carefully.)

For the foundation of the ornaments I made, I chose three beautiful images from The Graphics Fairy, mounted them on pretty card stock and embellished them with vintage lace and fabric, glitter, and, of course, buttons. The backside of each is Christmas-related sheet music so each is actually two ornaments in one.

The variegated blue lace around the Santa image is an old piece of tatting that my grandmother made. The netting adornment is from an old crinoline that I picked up at a local thrift store. The hangers for this and the bird ornament are made of vintage seam tape from an estate sale.

The photograph doesn't show the glitter around the mitten image very well, but it creates a finished look around the graphic, which is mounted on a piece of painter's canvas drop cloth.

Creating these ornaments was so much fun. But, I think the best part of participating in swaps is meeting and sharing with other artistic women from around the country.



Jeanelle created the sweetest holly ornament and packaged it using a page from a vintage 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' book. She hails from Colorado Springs, which is my absolute favorite city in the nation. Wish I could join her for an early morning walk in Garden of the Gods. Denise created two ornaments: one an of a 1940s vintage postcard featuring a long-established park in my community; the other a granny-circle crocheted Christmas tree with wispy yarn garland and great buttons. What Denise couldn't have known is that I collect vintage postcards and the park shown on the postcard has personal significance to me. Michelle created a wonderful ornament that looks as if it were designed specifically to coordinate with the rustic and primitive ornaments I already own.

If you've ever wondered about joining a swap, don't sweat over it. Jump in and give it a try. I think you'll be glad you did. You can see more wonderful ornaments at Button Floozies.



Make it a great day!

Linking to:

VIP Party at Designer Garden

Farmhouse Friday at LaurieAnna's Vintage Home

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

Button Floozies Christmas Ornament Swap

Sister Sunday at Sisters of the Wild West

Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple

Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy

Categorically Crafting at Someday Crafts

Savvy HomeMade Monday at Home Savvy A to Z

Cowgirl Up!