Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Let's Talk Vintage #64: A Vintage Happy New Year

 
Welcome to "Let's Talk Vintage!
 
This is where vintage lovers have
gathered to share their projects,
items for sale, makeovers and more...
all having to do with things of olde.
 

This week I'm offering up some antique postcards
and an old fashioned New Year's greeting
to you all... feel free to grab these and do
what you would like with them.
They are from my stash.

What are you doing for New Year's Eve
this year?


We actually have no idea!

Most likely a "home party"
with our family... maybe
a couple of friends?
Who Knows?
 
What I do know is:

As we countdown to
2016, I can truly look back and count
the many blessings of the past year.
 
 One being this fun linky party
and all of have visited, commented,
linked and shared in the joy of
friendship and love for vintage.
 
Thank you, thank you!
 
 
Praising and thanking God
for all He has provided.
 
Here's to the new 2016!
 A new focus, a new outlook!
 
**************** 
 
Now for this week's features:
 
 
 
showed us her chalkboard writing
skills. Love it, great job!
 
 
My sweet Bebe, who is seven, got a
HUGE kick out of Sandi's
Barbie house which was a Christmas
gift for her Grandaughter.
 I had to share it.
Totally rocks!
 
 
and Debbie of a Debbie Dabble
Christmas, always has the most
detailed and unique Christmas
displays in her home... thanks
so much Debbie for always
linking up each week and sharing
your house tours with us!
 
 
Remember, if you've been featured,
feel free to add this "I've Been Featured"
graphic to your side bar. Just copy
and paste!

Now it's your turn!



Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Let's Talk Vintage #63: Mini Christmas Home Tour

 
 
Welcome to Let's Talk Vintage!
 
It's the week of Christmas and I am sharing snippets
of Christmas around my house. A mini house tour,
you could say. Won't you come along?
 
It will be a quick one, I was
not able to focus too much
on my house this year due to all
of our other holiday festivities!
 
 

 
First up, our sweet NOEL angels.
Aren't they adorable?
 
I might put them on the Hubs' cake
this year. His birthday is Christmas Eve! 
 
 These were given to him by
my vintage lovin' Mother-in-Law
many
years ago. Each one holds
 a small candle. I'm hoping regular
birthday candles will fit!
 
 

Here is my mantel. Every year I use the same
lighted pine garland. It makes it difficult to
place anything fragile on there. I add
the poinsettia flowers for color. 
So, nothing really vintage here
except the Nutcracker theme. 
 
The one on the right looks
like he's had one too many.
 
 

Last weekend I looked around
and realized Jesus was not even in the room.
How could I have Christmas decorations
 and forget the most important part???
Back into the attic I went to find our
Nativity set. This one I found over at
Four Sisters in a Cottage, a couple of years ago.
It is vintage and was made in Italy.
 
I asked Bebe to arrange the figurines
and she did a great job. She made
Mary, Jesus and Joseph the front
focus while I always place them in back.
 
Sometimes we learn from
the wee ones, don't we?
 
 
 
Last year I found this sweet "church themed"
 cloche at Target.
 
 
This year I placed a vintage little
metal truck and putz house inside my own
cloche and stand.
 

I found this metal, "MERRY CHRISTMAS" stand-up sign
at a yard sale at the beginning of the Fall season.
 
Not old but it sits on top of our armoire
 in the formal living room area, which is also
host to an antique clock and old wooden boxes.
 
This Belsnickle Santa was handmade by my
friend, Patti, and I love putting them out each year.
I have three different versions.
This is the one she did in White.

 
 I managed to get my tree back up and decorated with pastel feather tree ornies and glass garland...

It was used for decorating my Mother's big birthday bash last week so this photo is from last year!

 
My all time favorites are the pastel
ornaments. I lay this vintage
pink glass wreath on top
of my apothecary jar each year
which is filled with pops
of vintage eye candy.


 
And this is one of our trees in the "formal"
living room. Vintage ornaments are sprinkled throughout 
the tree. We have another smaller tree in the other
room (where we watch TV) that is filled with
so many of our oldies but goodies.
 
 This particular room is where we all
 end up opening our gifts on Christmas Day.
 
See, I told you this would be short!
 
***********
Let's just get right to today's features:
 
 
Sharon over at Blue Willow House, took us
on a Christmas tour of the antique mall where
she is a vendor. Look how cute these
cheese graters look!
 
 
Sarah, of Sadie Seasongoods, shared this
cute vintage toy truck holiday makeover.
These are always such fun to see
 but Sarah took hers to a whole
 new level! Look at the
wooden sides and cute sign!
 
 
took us on a Christmas tour
inside her home. Loved all of her
ideas and inspiration!
 
Thank you to all and have a
very Merry Christmas!
 
 
 
If you've been featured, feel free
to right click and save this graphic
to your blog side bar or on your
next LTV post!
 

Now it's your turn: 
 
 


Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Let's Talk Vintage #62: Throwing a Milestone Birthday Party


 
Welcome to Let's Talk Vintage!
 
This is where vintage lovers gather to share their ideas, projects, collections, decorating vignettes, favorite antiques and more. We're happy to have you visit today, if you have a blog post or online vintage shop,
feel free to link up.
 
Today I'm sharing a 75th surprise birthday party we had for my Mother. My Sister and I had been collaborating together for about six months.

The day finally arrived this past weekend. 
I'm thrilled with how it all turned out...

There was a lot of "pre-party" prep that went into it.
 To help me plan I used a secret board on Pinterest.
 
Such great ideas!
 
 
 
The photo above is of the huge mess in my
dining room as I gathered and worked
on what to bring. We had the party in a
different state. It was tough!




I created a party theme or "brand" by
making a graphic on Pic Monkey.
 
We ended up choosing the one
on the right with just a hint
of the "75" in the background.
 
The picture is of my Mom when
she was a little girl. Isn't she cute?
 
 
You can see it on the favor boxes
 and throughout my displays at the party.



I grabbed frames from my shelves and
filled them with different sayings and
facts about what was going on in 1940,
the year my Mother was born.
 
I also made a digital scrapbook on
Shutterfly.com and I created a
"Trip Down Memory Lane" video
 using the Windows Movie Maker
 program on my computer.
 
I chose the song "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller to
keep with the "Born in 1940" theme. 
 
 

Finally the big day arrived and we loaded up all of that stuff ... and went over the river and through the woods!
 
I had booked the hall at my Mother's church. They had just completed a renovation and the colors were perfect together!

Somehow we turned that giant mess into this.
I had my Sister, with my niece and nephew helping, while my Hubby and Brother in Law were on chef duty.
 


I used a white milk glass punch bowl and stand, which I have now fallen in love with and want to keep! I was originally going to sell it.



Found this floral arrangement last summer on clearance at a local flower and craft store... I knew it was going to be for this party... but I also used it for Bebe's Nutcracker party as well.

 
I found a couple of these sparkling
reindeer at Christmas Tree Shops.

 
At the last minute I threw some pictures
from the video presentation I made,
 onto a flash drive for this digital picture frame.
 


I found these neat black tablecloths with silver sparkling dots at a yard sale. They were originally supposed to be curtains for a girl's bedroom and she didn't want them.
 
I just cut the tabs at the top off which left me
with this elegant table covering.
 
The silver "mercury glass" Christmas trees
were found at a thrift shop in
the Adirondacks. I may have also
found the black and silver wreath there, too.
 

 
I used every silver plated vintage
tray in my arsenal, most found at yard sales.



My mother's favorite flowers are daisies so we HAD to have some in the mix. She also prefers tea over coffee so we had some specialty flavors on hand as well.

 
 This idea came from Pinterest. It is a large poster board, folded in half like a card, which reads on the front: "75 Reasons We Love Jean."

Everyone who came to the party signed it and left a sweet comment for my Mom. It was so cool!


We were all exhausted but so happy to be
able to have this special day for my Mom.
It was truly a wonderful party. My Mother
said she never had anyone do this for
her before.

************

Thanks so much for coming along
with me! I'd like to apologize
for my lack of interaction with
my LTV posts and postees these
past couple of weeks. Between the
Nutcracker performance, this party,
and keeping up with holiday
sales... I was running short on time.

I'm looking forward to visiting
everyone this week!



Here are this week's features:


Brooke of Creative Country Mom shared this wonderful vintage ice skate display.


And what a neat idea this is! Diana of Adirondack Girl at Heart came up with these sparkly Christmas Trees made from toilet paper roll tubes! Amazing!


and I just loved this vintage Christmas porch display
from Old New Green Redo!


And Cecilia of My Thrift Store Addiction
shared this adorable tea time table scape
using vintage jadeite. All inspired by thrift
store finds!

 
If your blog was featured, feel free
to grab this LTV button for your blog side bar!


Thanks so much everyone! Love the Christmas themes, which we will keep on doing for this week and next.

I can't believe Christmas is next Thursday!
I haven't even finished decorating!

Now it's your turn!



 
Linking with:
 
Vintage Charm
Pink Saturday
 


Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Let's Talk Vintage! #61: A Look Inside a President's Home Part 2

 
Welcome to Let's Talk Vintage!
 
This week I'm taking you along to
the home of our 15th President,
James Buchanan. Today is
part 2. You can also see last week's
LTV post, here.
 
Last week you saw the first floor.
 
Today, the upstairs. 
 

This is Harriet's room. Remember she
 was the President's niece turned
First Lady. He was the only
bachelor President we've ever had.
 
Her room was my favorite
on the second floor.
 

I'm sure it would be yours, too.
This doll is so unique.
 

Check out her "sitting" area.
 
She could pull a cord and it would
ring the bell for the servants.


 
This is the President's bedroom.
Nothing too exciting.
 


This was interesting though.
A "hat" tub. Now there's
a vision I don't want to
think about!


 
This little inlaid box on the mantel
caught my eye though.
 
The other two rooms upstairs
were for the President's
nephew and the house keeper.
 
Interestingly, there was a
door for access to President 
Buchanan's room
from the housekeeper's room.
 
Or was it for access to her room
from the President's?
 
Hmmmm.
Not sure but, well, moving on!

Check out this awesome collage below:
 
 
 
 
In the museum next door they have this most
amazing display of antique purses.
And yes, Rita, I thought of you when I snapped
all of the photos!
 
 
And, because I've never seen one before,
an antique Louis Vuitton trunk.
There was another inside the house that
was much bigger as well.

Hope you enjoyed the second half of my tour of
President Buchanan's home... I love seeing these
old places where the history comes to life.

Now let's take a look and see this week's LTV features:



Bernideen, of Bernideen's Tea Time,
 kicks it off with this most
amazing photo of her living room,
all decorated for Christmas.
Lovely!


And Bluebird1959 shared
some amazing holiday
displays....

One More Time Events shared
her post for a "Welcome Home
Christmas" tour. Love the
black and white kitchen displays!
 
 
If you've been featured today,
feel free to right click
and save this button
 for displaying
on your blog side bar.
Now it's your turn: