Thursday, December 31, 2009

Fresh, new numbers...






{Some thrifted finds~ my favorite sweater, Ralph Lauren blanket, and some silver bracelets really in need of polishing.}

Comfort and peace to you in the coming year!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

The Morning After... And Lime Green Saturday

I'll be hitting the thrifts and the dollar store for after Christmas bargains....

Putting away the decorations... or at least, starting...

Drinking some of my "Christmas present" coffee and then relaxing....





What about you?

Update~ I didn't find one thing at the thrifts... Oh, well.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

More favorites from Vintage Christmas Monday~ Number 5



I started the Vintage Christmas Monday blog party with a photo of some of my vintage christmas tree candleholders so I think it is appropriate to end it with some more.

The candleholders have a weighted star on the bottom to keep the candles upright on the tree. Very important, don't you think?




Look at these cuties from Deirdra Doan.



A family bear in a vintage sewing box adorned with goodies from 52flea.



A very large charm made using a vintage French encyclopedia definition of "Noel" by A Storm Inside My Head.




Pretty blue ornaments with a decorated dollar store candle by 612 Riverside.




Finally, visit Panoonieville. What is Panoonieville? Hop over to Gypsy Fish Journal to find out for yourself.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

A few favorites from Vintage Christmas Monday~ Number 5



Look at this lovely skier girl from Bella Dreams.



A little Anthropologie love from What Now???



A fine forest of vintage bottle brush trees from Rebecca for Vintage Living.



A tour of her friend Ginny's holiday decorations from Carole at Maynard Greenhouse.



An adorable vintage skating outfit from Glam and Glittery Thoughts.



There are several more posts about my own vintage Christmas collections following this if you would like to see more of what I have collected over my years as an antiques dealer.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A Vintage Feather Tree with some "make do" ornaments

A pre-WWII German Feather Tree. Usually referred to as "Turkey Feather Trees", but I have also read that goose feathers were used.

The feathers were dyed... most of the time green, but I have seen other colors.

The old "rule of thumb" in the antiques world was that their value was $100 a foot. I haven't kept up with pricing so I don't know what it would be currently. This one is 2 feet tall. They came in tiny 3 or 4" sizes all the way up to 6 to 8 ft. tall.




{Next to the base are other bases I have found... just in case I found some feather trees lying around in basements needing bases.... not likely anymore!}



On the tree is old spun cotton millinery fruit that I made into ornaments.

The carrots are my favorites. There are two "good luck" pickles on there too.




I originally I had almost a VAN full of vintage spun cotton millinery fruit! I bought the remainder of inventory of the Bonita Fruit Company~ the midwest distributor of spun cotton fruit.

The nephew of the owners called an antiques store I was working at asking if anyone there was interested in some spun cotton fruit. Instead of saying "Are you kidding?" I said " I think I might be interested!"




I made an appointment for that day and three hours of loading later with me hyperventilating with excitement I had the largest single purchase I have ever made in my antiques career. I was the "Spun Cotton Fruit Lady" for many years.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Vintage Christmas Monday~ Number5

This is part of my spun cotton Christmas ornament collection...

And a few other things.





Spun cotton Christmas ornaments were made in Germany.

The insides are like Q-tips. They have a painted coating sometimes glittered.

They need to be stored in a dry location. Moisture damages the coating.




And this little oil lamp was on my Grandmother's and my Mother's trees before it came to me.

It is my favorite childhood ornament.




This metal house is a Christmas tree light cover. Bought at an Estate Sale.






I will be hosting a one time only Vintage Valentine blog party so if you think you might be interested leave a comment and contact info, and I will be back to you. I haven't picked a date, but I have picked a theme~ Vintage Valentine Cards, of course. A Vintage Valentine Card Party!

Anyone want to take on coming up with a button? I made the same request last time and look what we got! If you want to try your hand at a button just be sure to include "Vintage Valentine Card Party" and my blog address: thepottingshed-anythinggoeshere.blogspot.com/

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Mercury Glass Birds



Vintage Mercury Glass Swans and Storks {I think}.

Made in Germany.

Not as fragile as they look. I have knocked them around a bit over the years.




Estate Sale finds...

Bought over the years in twos and threes. Now there are 10. The biggest is one of my most recent purchases. All a dollar or two each.

Some of them have holes where real feathers once were. Long gone when I found them.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Vintage Kugels

I thought I would show you my vintage kugel collection.





I have two cobalt blue and one lime green that are 3 1/2" in diameter. Two smaller gold ones.



And 15 matching 2 1/2" silver ones! All of them are Estate Sale finds purchased over the last 25 years.

Kugels are heavier than regular glass Christmas ornaments and have a different kind of top for the hanger. {Enlarge the photos to get a better look at the tops. This is something that is important if you are looking for vintage kugels which can be expensive.}

If you want to know more about kugels read this.

Continue reading if you want to see more of my personal vintage Christmas collection
.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

A few favorites from Vintage Christmas Monday~ Number 4

Today I am going to share some of my favorites from this week's Vintage Christmas Monday...

but first I am going to share another of my vintage christmas treasures.

At an Estate Sale I was able to buy thousands of these little matchbook sized boxes of Vintage Christmas SEALS {What we now call stickers.} from the 1940's.

You can see the seals inside some of the boxes.




And on to some of my favorites from this week's party.



Some vintage kindergarten artwork from Peggy's Mixed Up Art.


You can see the milk carton peaking out from under the house. Look at the cute snowman.




Look at this collection of vintage santas from Paint, Decorate, and Design on the Cheap.




Wonderful Knee-huggers and friends on a white tree from Georgia Peachez.



What a wonderful alternate "tree" to decorate in your front yard from My Grama's Soul.

My Favorite Vintage Bottle Brush Tree

I found this little 14" vintage bottle brush tree around 20 years ago.

Of course, it was in a basement at an Estate Sale... that is often where the Vintage Christmas stuff is..

That or one of the bedrooms... or attic.

I am always on the lookout~ all year long~ for Vintage Christmas.




All of the ornaments and candle holders were on it when I found it.



Including these teeny Santas



And this cute little basket of spun cotton fruit.

{It is sitting in front of an oil painting of fruit with some of my antique tin lidded general store jars.}

What Vintage Christmas items have you found at Estate Sales that you just LOVED?



Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Tiny Treasure

Most of my collections have been Estate Sale purchases. I am a "cheap availability" collector.

When it is no longer "cheaply available" at Estate Sales I stop collecting it.

Antique bears have been one of those things no longer "cheaply available"...

Until last week when I found the first "cheaply available" antique bear I have found in last 10 years.






{He is tiny and inside is a perfume bottle! Isn't he cute?}

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Vintage Christmas Monday~ Number 4

Here we go for another Vintage Christmas Monday.

The kugel below was my best and favorite vintage Christmas Estate Sale find this year.

I found it in a local basement...

Along with the antique ironstone cake stand underneath it.

The cake stand is small and the kugel is large! A winning combination!





{Kugels. What are kugels? They are heavy glass ornaments first made in Germany in the 1840's. First imported to the US in the 1880's.

They were suspended from the ceiling and were known as Friendship Balls. Later they morphed into the lighter weight Christmas tree ornaments.}

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Vintage Christmas Monday~Some more favorites

I did some more hopping around Vintage Christmas Monday~No.3 and found some more treasures for you.

If these are some you missed~ stop at their blogs and read the rest of the story.





A wonderful Santa picture from What Now?



A BIG, BIG stuffed Santa from Monkeybox.




An extensive collection of bottle brush trees from Gypsy Fish Journal.



And a cute set of Nimblenick postcards from Postcardy.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

...Tied up with string

I am still working elf-like getting ready for the holiday..

Dreaming up Christmas glitz...


Waiting to see if the BIG snow storm hits here...

Drinking coffee...

Catching up
with the rest of the Vintage Christmas Monday posts...






Loving the colors of these old ornaments...





Michaels had cinnamon scented pinecones on sale so now it even SMELLS like Christmas!

What about you? What are you UP TO today?

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A few favorites from Vintage Christmas Monday~ Number 3



There were so many interesting posts I think I will do a couple "favorites" posts. My favorites aren't based on THE best~ it is more what I connect with when I am reading them.

Here are some of mine this week~




From Rebecca for Vintage Living we have one of her lovely store vignettes.



"A beautiful mess" is how is how Vacuuming in High Heels and Pearls describes her great stash of ornaments waiting to be used.



See the sweet story of Crissy Mouse played out at The Sunny Side of the Sun Porch.



Find out what you {and your sister} can do with those unwanted sweaters at Vintage Modern Girl.




See Christmas-au-natural at Dreams Intertwined.



A new twist on wreaths using copies of vintage holy cards at Just A Girl.



A drawer of vintage Christmas cards lead to one fabulous lampshade at Ready for the After.




Another un-PC vintage memory from Fiona and Twig.



How to combine vintage with new for a stunning garland at Bella Dreams.


Visit them to read all of their Vintage Christmas Monday post...