A Vintage Junky Christmas 2010

Hello all!  Hope you had a very wonderful weekend!  We stayed in for the most part... the festival we were going to got rained out.  And then it SNOWED!

In fact, I am home today.... snow in Tennessee + no salt trucks + idiot drivers = Mommy at home. So I thought I would show what our house looks like with all the Christmasness (I kindly decided NOT to show you the two mountainous baskets of laundry waiting on me.)  So, grab some cocoa and sit down... this a full of pictures post.

The back of our front door... I ordered the mini boxwood wreaths from Garnet Hill.  They are preserved so hopefully they will hold up a bit better than the ones that I made last year.  My kissing ball that I have had for 3 years, didn't make it this year.   

I found these fun cards after some sweetie sent me (I mean, baby hughes) one tied to an owl.  Then I saw them on etsy here. I hole punched them and strung them to some baker's twine.  I love baker's twine!

I decided to make a few snow globes this year... I couldn't find glycerine to add to the water to make it thicker... so I had to use baby oil and mineral oil. An expensive little project, but it fulfilled this little part inside of me that loves miniature stuff in jars... terrariums... snow globes.... 

I found the the instructions by Martha here.   I may make some more if I can find some jars to fit these other deer I have.  A word of advice... make sure the jar top is threaded.  I had a top that screwed on and off on another, but it wasn't threaded so it is leaking a bit.

The dining room... I sort of went crazy with my circle punch... jumbo confetti!!!  I am not sure how much longer it will last, it sure is festive and fun for chubby little hands.  Oh, and you can see that I finally decided to go WITH the grosgrain ribbon trim.... I think it is just more me.

We (I begged) decided to get a small tree too... I loved our table top tree last year and the drum that covered the base, so I decided that we should do two.

Jumbo confetti runner with one of my favorite mercury glass pieces filled with vintage light bulbs...

don't get me started on these new LED lights.  I don't like them. One bit.  And we try to live green.... but I still want twinkle lights and griswalds.

A piece from the booth that hasn't sold yet... no matter, it makes a really nice tabletop tree perch.

I added the devil Joy from last year.

I love ornaments hanging in front of a window... so this year I did it.

And, what would a mini tree be without mini presents?

I started a tradition this year...see that little box wrapped in sheet music has a tag that says it can be opened on December 24th?  Mr. Hughes asked me... did you seriously wrap baby Jesus?

yes, yes I did.

I hope that in the future years that while baby hughes is impatiently waiting Santa on Christmas Eve that we can maybe infuse the Reason for the Season by unwrapping and placing Jesus in our Nativity.

Okay... here is a few testimonies to the paper snowflake madness going on here.  

In the windows....

Garlands....

Strands... they are everywhere!!  They are fun and simple to make and are so festive and NOT precious. So, if a certain hyena decides to go on a destructive rampage, all I am out is a few sheets of paper.

Here is a tutorial in case you don't know how to make them.

Mr. Hughes' favorite decoration (an heirloom if you will) is all sparkly with some vintage like garland and some HO HO cards.

Some garland and some birch covered pots.  I was trying to go for a theme... kind of a Nordic, papery snowflakey, vintagey, handmade sort of Christmas. Not sure if I got it or not, but it is all definitely thrown in there.

The best shot of the tree... it has been so grey.  The stockings have since changed.... I will show you in a minute.

Chomp (pronounced ammmpppp, like a chomping noise) got a little Christmas fun too.

Yes, I like to decorate his bowl.  See the above reference to miniature things in glass jars... 

The tree got decked out in paper snowflakes, paper punch garland, silhouette tart tins, sparkly pipe cleaner snowflakes, glittery wooden balls. In short, no breakables.

I love real greenery just set out.  Mr. Hughes got some tree (free) clippings from Lowe's.  So I spread them all around.

Some fun vintage candleholders that the Mr. found a few years ago.  I almost painted them... I am not a red person.  I am glad I didn't though... I like the pop they give the windowsill.

Our little ceramic nativity.  Not the whole thing..... there are several animals that didn't make the cut. You should see the camels... they are totally out of proportion... of course, I have never stood next to a camel, but still.

I even added some red velvet pillows... you know... to go with the NOEL.  Maybe red is growing on me. 

The fun snow globe that leaks *no smiles*

baby hughes had some fun with it before we took it away.

Here are some wreaths that I added to the tree after it was finished... some awesome bottle brush wreaths from Scarlett's.

And this year's stockings.... well, I love them!  I made the stockings out of a test yard that I had bought for the dining room drapes and decided that I wanted our silhouettes to make them pop a little.

So I bought some sticky back felt and Mr. Hughes (really good with some scissors)

cut them out (he already had our silhouettes created, he just needed to resize and print) and I just peeled the backing off and stuck them to the stockings.

The big stars were rusty and I decided they would look better painted.  Then my impatient self didn't want to wait for the front and back and the sides to dry... so I used Rub and Buff.  

Much, much better!

This was the very first thing I did this year for Christmas.  I wanted big jars full of German glass glitter all around... well, all around out of reach.  Well, that stuff gets a little pricy when you buy it by the pound... so I got some cheapy stuff and filled the crown jars with it and stuck some tapers down in the jar (use some candle sticky wax on the bottom... the glitter isn't dense enough to hold the tapers by itself.)

Good thing I got some cheap glitter.... cause Mommy dropped a jar full of it.

My vacuum is so pretty and sparkly!

And one last thing that I got this year off of etsy and I love, adore, can't get enough of (and it is red too!)

My little ho ho ho garland on mini embroidery hoops.

I found it here.

Well, I think those mountains of laundry are threatening to avalanche.... so I better get to them!

bye for now!

ps.  A bloggy friend just suggested I link in with the Nester's tour of homes... so I think I will!
and the Shabby Chic Cottage for funsies!
And last, but certainly not least, Rene at Cottage and Vine!
Thanks for having me ladies!