Simple vintage wreath project...........

Mondays and Thursdays are the days that our local thrift store, the Manna House, opens for a few hours........

Yesterday I went down there to take a break from filling Ebay orders. I had been on Monday and there was not really anything there but who knows?

I did pick up a few items that I wanted to share with you and show you an easy project I did with one of them...........

For 25 cents each I bought these 2 glass cloches, at least that`s what I think they are, and that`s definitely what I use them for.........however the thrift store always has them in the lighting section so I`m not really sure..

I also picked up the silver tray they are sitting on......it has a good weight to it and sits on little feet.

I did have to polish it some and it was $4 which is a little `pricey` for the Manna House.....Still, I do like it and can use it for many different displays...

My other purchase was 2 boxes of vintage Coby glass ornaments, at $1 a box I could not pass them up even though I have soooo many vintage ornaments..........

......When I got home I felt `crafty` so got to work on a project using one of the boxes of pink and red flocked ornaments...........

I gathered up some pink seam binding, an embroidery hoop I had in my sewing box and my hot glue gun.........

First I covered the wooden hoop with the seam binding...

Then I simply hot glued the ornaments to the hoop and the one beside it.........That is how the back looks, you cannot see the hoop from the front but if you hang it on a mirror you may so I needed the back to be pretty too.

When I got to the end I had a space too small for a ball but fortunately I had a small vintage bell in the same color scheme..........it fitted perfectly...

Now what to hang it from.....hmmm...

I went with the lace and also added a vintage plastic cupcake pick I had in my possession.......

Voila!........A cute little wreath small enough to hang in so many nooks and crannies to add a vintage Christmas cheer.......

I think with the colors and design on the ornaments it will be perfect for Valentines too!

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Cozy evenings by the fire.......

I just love it when it`s cold enough outside to light a fire.....it doesn`t happen that often here in Georgia..........but the past couple of nights it has!

Don`t you think Christmas lights give everything a magical glow? I think we should use them all year long.............

Of course there`s always candles....

~Love~

Finally, I wanted to share with you this cute drawing my son did for me on my Christmas chalkboard .........I have terrible handwriting, add in chalk and it`s even worse.......

So I asked my son to doodle me something Christmassy.........

~Cute~

Bird Cage Vignette..........

I got chance to visit one of my favorite little antique shops the other day and found this wonderful old Crown bird cage...........

It was just $16 so I thought I may be able to use it in my Christmas decorating.........I am aiming to be a little more rustic and vintage this year....

So here it is now............

I made a little vignette with it.........

Cute little angels, vintage mercury glass beads, a frozen Charlotte and one of my vintage style bottle brush trees...............

I picked some rosemary from my yard and tied it in a bundle to add some greenery...........

It has a bundle of lights in the bottom............

So pretty  

in the evening........

I think I`ll probably end up leaving it out after Christmas and changing the inside for the seasons.................A unique lamp!

Transforming dollar store finds..........

It`s amazing what you can find at the dollar store...........you just need a little vision...

Today I transformed this...

Into this......

A pretty vintage tray adorned with the cutest French New Year image................

And, not only is it a tray..........it`s also magnetic so can be used as a memo board!.........So cool

I will be listing some of these in my store shortly, probably more generic and not geared specifically to the holidays.........if anyone`s interested in pre-ordering some just let me know.

My other dollar store find was this pretty plate, I failed to take a before picture but basically it was a plain ivory dinner plate with some beading design, which is what drew me to it.

I thought this image was perfect for it..........

I then raided some of my Christmas berries (fake of course), added a couple of my 1930`s wax flowers and some vintage seam binding......simple beauty....

I went back to the dollar store today to get some more, silly me only bought one, but alas they are gone.......

Have a great week end!

Christmas stocking alternative....

I love burlap and had several burlap bags hanging around that I never got around to using...........I had an idea to decorate them for Christmas and fill them with cuttings from my cypress trees...........then simply hang them around the house......

Once they were done I hung them for the paint to dry.........As I looked at them I thought what great Christmas stockings they would make!...........So I added one of my wooden chalkboard tags for the name.............cute!

Can`t wait to fill them with goodies!

Crafting for myself....

Today I spent a little time crafting for myself..........

The letters spell out MERRY CHRISTMAS .........made from glitter chipboard shapes I found at Michaels 1/2 price, $2.50 for 20.

It so happened I had the same shaped paper puncher, so I stamped some linen card stock with Christmas music, and punched out the squares. I then stamped the letters onto the music paper and glued them to the glitter shapes..........Next I punched a hole and threaded a champagne colored seam binding thru.....voila!

I can`t decide if to make a banner on the vintage music paper chain I made or hang them on the tree............I`m sure it will come to me......

Making old fashioned paper chains is so easy..................Just go to your local thrift store and pick up an old book, music or script, whichever you prefer........Then cut strips with a paper cutter so that they are all the same size and either glue or staple them into a chain...........could not be more simple and costs pennies! You can even glitter the edges for a `fancier` chain....

Before I leave I just wanted to show you a couple of pictures of a beautiful old plateau mirror I purchased on Ebay............It is perfect for displaying Christmas scenes, trees or ornaments...

Look at the gorgeous scalloped edging.......

Happy Thanksgiving everybody............I`m off to make a Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake now!

Pretty downloads

Just a quick post today, I`ve been out of town and need to catch up on orders..........Also no school this week so I have to entertain my boys too!

Thought I would post a couple of vintage image downloads for you to enjoy.........Remember, to save them, click on the image to enlarge, them right click and select save.........easy!

Love this one! You can upload it to photo bucket or one of those sites and add your own text.........

Here is one I edited and used for Christmas tags last year......I did not get around to making any this year so here`s the image for you to do your own..........If you need help on how to make them just sent me a message and I will gladly give advice.