The Wreath is Made!

I've been stocking up on any cheap shiny brites that I see for at least a year now, in the hopes of making a wreath, they were pulled out of the tote yesterday and wreath production started.  Gary and I did it together, I recommend having an assistant as it's not an easy thing to do - positioning, glueing and holding.  It took us a couple of hours.

I used a green foam wreath form from Michaels, I've seen them done many ways, but my method was to wrap it in ribbon and then start the positioning. Also, you should put your ribbon or hook on before you get started - we used a hook.   We did the inside first and then the very outer layer.  I removed all of the little hangers at the top before I started.   I read on many other blogs, have a lot of glue on hand, you will use plenty.  It gets easier after you have those top rows down, then you can just glue as many on as you want.  I also used some extra things that I think, made it look just a little more special.  

I don't know what I would have done if he had dropped this work of art!!!

And, here it is, finished and hanging on the wall - I'm so pleased with it!!!  

Today I'm linking with Nifty Thrifty Tuesday and We Call it Olde- every ornament on the wreath was thrifted!

Red - The Color of Christmas

I finally have my corner shelf  decked out in all the beautiful red shades of Christmas - but when I was setting it up, it seemed like I had a whole lot more vintage Christmas than I did last year, I didn't think I accumulated that much but apparently I did, so much that my husband made me another corner shelf yesterday.  They are just the greatest shelves, that will make two in the livingroom, one in the kitchen, and two in the gameroom.  If you want a closer look, just click on any picture!

  Here it goes - the top shelf..

Every item on this one is thrifted except for the reindeer and the Santa and the chimney, the chimney came all the way from Holly in Newfoundland!!  It's so cute, this is the first year on the shelf for it.  I've had the deer since the 70's, my penpal, Carol was from Red Deer, Alberta she sent that to me at her Mom's urging, it has been in the house at home, now it's here with me once again.  Carol and I have been friends ever since, actually, she just sent me a new bell for the "Red Deer".  I was asked if he was a Dream Pet, I don't really know anything about Dream Pets, although I know I do have one that I'm sure of - this one is made of a rubber or faux leather material - Carol says that the city was selling them as a way to promote the city.  Were Dream Pets made of this material?

Not so many thrifted items on this shelf - the Santa and the sleigh belonged to Mom, it was made in Japan.  The Santa and sleigh behind it belonged to my great aunt, it has the original sticker on it, Thames, hand painted, made in Japan.  Everything else was purchased except for the classic Night Before Christmas, a trade from Molly, we did a fun trade back in the fall, check out her blog - We Have No Enemies

This shelf is pretty well all from home - the Putz houses, bottlebrush trees and little guys at the front were all Mom's - I found the knee hugger this summer at a yardsale.  

I am going to do a little video on Instagram some day soon of the music box in the back, it belonged to my grandmother, I still have the original box, it holds a candle but there is no room for that on here. It's the cutest thing, it plays Silent Night and was also made in Japan, as is the Santa.  I actually finally have a couple of Gurley candles, I have never ever seen one of those around here, I had to order one on Ebay, I was that desperate!!   Last year I found the little mouse, it's a Josef Original.  Thanks to Erica, that's Golden Egg Vintage Erica for her creations at the front, so very cute!!

Erica is so good to me - I love the Annalee Santa in the sleigh.  Everything else is thrifted in this pic.

My only new item on the bottom shelf is the plastic Santa and sleigh.  The little girls  with hair are all Napco, made in Japan.  I bought those years ago on Ebay, I guess another "Jill" owned it, her name is written on the bottom!  I didn't know at the time that I had found a Bradley doll, but I guess that's what she is.  

I have become crazy for all this vintage Christmas red, I decorated the tree yesterday which I used to do with mostly primitive type ornaments - wood and dark colors, I used none of those this year, everything is shiny and bright now!!  I'll be sharing some of my other vintage Christmas shelves in the days ahead but today I'm linking up with a special party - Vintage Christmas at Organized Clutter and also Thriftasaurus.

This shelf is close to the corner shelf - I changed it up this year and made it about the lights, because I found myself with quite a few boxes of lights!  I just hope there is no door slamming though or everything on it could come crashing to the floor!  I like it!

Have a great day - hope you're displaying a little bit of vintage Christmas too!

Shiny and Brite

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I thought I'd drive to this flea market  or  "flee" as they spell it - I'd been there once at the beginning of the summer and got a couple of things.  I was hoping to come home with something and I did - six boxes....

of old Christmas ornaments!!  I found them in a bin, I asked if that was the price - yes, she said - $1 each - I came home with 87 vintage ornaments - some of the boxes have the original price tag from the old Canadian department store, Eatons - the price back then was $1.15 for a box.  This was one of those times when you want to get out of there as fast as you can.....  Wouldn't you??

There are three plastic ones in this box, the only ones in the lot -  I think my Grandmother had those - they would spin.

Look at the little red barrel on the bottom

I see numerous ones that I already have of Mom and Dad's 

There's all sizes and shapes - balls, teardrops...

I didn't want to make a collage, they're just all so pretty.

Beauties - every one.. and not one broken...

I started researching them a bit this morning, I discovered  eleven of them have "Poland" inscribed on the top or "pike" as it's called.  These appear to be quite collectible.  How lucky was I??  Many of the others have Made in USA.

A little bit more Christmas - 25 cents for these

I walked up the stairs where everything good is, like the dishes, the Christmas ornaments, the furniture -this was the first thing I saw - a 2 1/2 quart Friendship casserole - that is just a piece you never see, not around these parts anyway.  I paid $10, it was worth it, it's in perfect shape.

These are the greatest for crushing nuts - I have a new version of this, it's on it's last legs, the top part comes apart every time I use it, I've been looking for a new one the same for a year at least, now I have a vintage one - made by the Androck Company in Canada.  It was $1.

They  had lots of old retro chairs - I didn't buy any.

More chairs

Apron Thrift Girl is back - so I'm linking up with that great site for Thrift Share Monday and for the first time, with my fellow Canadian - Sir Thrift a Lot and his Thriftosaurus Thrift Haul.  It's Wednesday, I have something to share for Rednesday this week.  I just discovered The Blue Eyed Owl - check out her link up party - Thrift Score Thursday.  Cottage Market also hosts a linky party - Junkin Joe Vintage and Thrifty Finds - it's always find to find new blogs and read about all the fun treasures that people are finding...