A Drawer Full of Memories

It's Vintage Christmas Monday again! I thought for sure I'd have all my Christmas stuff out (or at least enough out, because I'll seriously never be able to use it all, unless we move into the Biltmore), and would have more material to post last week. I am fighting the urge to just drag everything out an once, and have been doing it little by little this year.
In my last post, I showed you my yarn cabinet, and now I want to show you the treasures inside.


This drawer is full of my collection of vintage greeting cards and postcards. I've picked them up at estate auctions and just love them. I've got them sorted by holiday, and love to look through them. I don't use them nearly enough beyond propping into a flower frog for a holiday. But I love knowing they're there. They contain friendly greetings and expressions of love between people I've never met. I can't imagine the messages, let alone the beautiful artwork, ending up in the trash.

Here's a closer look.


Several years ago I did use some of the cards for a decoupage project. I cut the actual cards (yes, now I would scan and print copies) and Mod Podged them onto a lampshade. I trimmed it with the red beaded fringe for a little jolly fun. If I were doing the project today, I probably would go for a little less boudoir of a trim, but a little beaded fun is okay once a year, right?




This little Santa was a surprise in a box lot from an auction. His sticker is not readable, but I am sure he's from the occupied Japan era. I have a similar Santa that's larger, and I like to put candy canes in his bag.


Visit Anything Goes Here to read more blogs feature vintage Christmas items.

Yarn Cabinet

I bought these antique cabinets at an estate sale. They were display/storage cabinets for spools of yarn/thread. I cleaned them up, replaced glass and mirrors, and have had fun playing with the display space.


Here they house my collection of vintage Christmas figurines, nesting dolls, Mexican nativity and grandma's depression glass.


This is just some of my vintage ornament collection.

Elves

Here's my collection of vintage elves atop a bathroom shelf. Some of them kind of creep me out.

A Month of Vintage Christmas

I went through a phase where I went to estate auctions. A lot. I even dated an auctioneer and enjoyed the perk of early access to the lots a little too much. I was fueling my passion for vintage Christmas ornaments at a time when I had disposable income. I love love love them. And I have a LOT of them. Way more than I can use each year. Now with two little ones, I am cautious about getting them out. But I love them still, and would like to share them with you all month.
I was away from home this weekend and haven't had a chance to put away all the Thanksgiving and fall decor, so I'm going to start with some pictures from my archives.


This large brandy snifter is from my wedding. We were married on December 28th, and decorated for Christmas. It held red and silver balls then, but I like the Shiny Brites much better!


More wedding leftovers- the lighted garland lined the aisle. The first year in our house, I hung it at the ceiling (where I am still waiting for crown moulding) and decorated it with vintage ornaments.


This brown has replaced the green walls in the other pictures. I removed the glass from an old window and stapled in chicken wire. It gives me a littl peace of mind that little hands won't be able to reach my pretties.

Visit Anything Goes Here to read more blogs feature vintage Christmas items.

Thanksgiving/Fall Decor

Living in a small and cluttered house, I usually feel overwhelmed about holiday decorating and skip it. Unless last year's decorations are still sitting in a tub in the corner, and then it's easy to put them out again. Just kidding (kind of). When my oldest son was about four, he started asking me to decorate for holidays. I've made an effort to decorate for the holidays on our living room's massive built-in fireplace mantle. Here's a super-old picture from before pets and kids. I think that's the last time my house was clean!

I've decided that the least I can do is switch out what's in my frames for the holidays. For Halloween, I printed vintage postcards that looked great, but now that it's Thanksgiving and I haven't found time to sneak a nice color print or two at work. The other night I found myself with some free time and decided to dust off the sewing maching and embroider fall designs for the frames. I am quite pleased with the results, and ashamed that it was so easy.

This is actually a piece of scrapbook paper with a fake leaf glued to it. My son picked it up somewhere and carried it home for me.

Something's a little off in this vignette. I'll worry about it next year.

The smiling pumpkin is actually
stitched right onto scrapbook paper!

Mach Madness

One the way to school one day, five year old Owen asked me, "If you're still alive when I'm a grown up..." and I wondered if he wanted me to live with him, maybe take care of his children, but he finished with "will you bring me sandwiches when I work on my race car?" He thinks his life will play like the Speed Racer movie.

So it came as no surprise when Owen wanted to be his favorite racecar driver for Halloween. I ordered his costume from halloweenexpress.com months ago. And then I stopped thinking about it. As Halloween approached, I began to rack my brain for a good complementary costume for younger brother, Corbin. I worried that other characters from the series would be too obscure for most to recognize, and decided to just dress them both as Speed. And then I stopped thinking about it.

With Halloween just a week or two away, I decided to paint an old yard sale Little Tikes car like the Mach 5. I used Krylon Fusion spray paint, and was a bit disappointed at how many coats it took and how easily it dinged. In Krylon's defense, many of the dings occured before the seven day curing period.

Here's the car before (photo courtesy of Craigslist- I forgot, as usual, to take a picture of our car).

And here it is debuting as the Mach 5.

From Ready for the After

I bought white shirts at Old Navy for each boy and appliqued the Speed Racer M on the front. I use the term applique loosely, because although I've done it the "right" way, zig zagging around the edges, and I have the fancy schmancy machine that will do it for you, I still prefer to iron on and just straight stitch around the edges. I only use Heat-n-Bond ultra, and never have a problem. Sometimes I will iron on, wear, wash, wear, etc. and then finally stitch down weeks later (sometimes longer). Fraying is minimal, but I do like the finished look of the straight stitch. I also made them little red ascot scarfs, which made my heart melt.

Now can someone please tell me how it is that I can make two Speed Race shirts and ascots, paint a junky plastic car to look like the famous Mach 5 race car, but I can't, for the life of me, make my firstborn smile on command?

Chalkboard Picnic Basket

Here goes my first project post! I've been holding onto this "Before" for at least 10 years! I've moved it across four states and kept it in a paid storage unit. Most recently it housed odd spools of Christmas ribbon. Sadly, I didn't stop to take a before picture before transforming this basket into my kindergartner's art basket.

I had actually started a project with this basket right after I first acquired it years ago. I went through a very heavy hand painted wood phase (á la this lovely cheery cherry napkin holder and salt shaker). Fortunately, I have come through the other side of this painting phase and am better for it. Anyway, I had painted the top of this basket white and then taped it with painter's tape so I could paint red for a checkered tablecloth effect. Get it? Picnic basket. Checkered tablecloth. I am sure there would have been some ants on there, too.

I needed something to store my son's art supplies to keep my one year old out of the crayons, markers and play dough. I thought of this picnic basket gone wrong and dusted off a can of chalkboard spray paint. My son loves it and can easily access his supplies. I love the texture it adds to my living room.

Here's what his art supplies were stored in before- one of these green cardboard Ikea boxes. Great for storage, but not so sturdy for carry around by a little one. This is also a Before of my next project- straighten up my beloved Ikea Expedit shelf.

A Lifetime of Befores

I have been mulling over starting this blog for a while. In line with the rest of my life, I loved the idea but did nothing. Today I start taking actions, be they baby steps, at least they're movement.

I feel like I am surrounded by an entire album of before shots. I even see a before when I look in the mirror. I have been inspired by all that I'm seeing in blogland and I am ready to start creating my own afters.

I am going to make a commitment to be as real as possible in my befores. Right now my house looks like something from a tv show like Mission Organization or Clean House. Seriously. But that's a whole other post.

I am going to start with taking part in a couple blog parties. I think the regular posting and party dates will help keep me motivated and gaining momentum. Come back and visit again or follow me to see how it goes! I've got plenty of befores- I'm ready for the afters!