First Bit of Decorating

We are hooked on the "door shelf" - you could look a long time for a cute little corner shelf like this - it's the greatest idea!   Gary bought the door used, made the shelves, painted and all I had to do was load up the shelves, but you know, that's not so easy - you stand back and something just doesn't look right, I did this numerous times.... I could still be moving things around!  This is my second shelf, he also made one for Carla which she took home this weekend, I think he should go into shelf production!!  This is also the first Christmas decorating I've done, except for buying a Poinsettia and I guess that doesn't really count... 

I think this is perfect post for Rednesday - bet there's some Christmas posts over there already...  I am also linking up with Vintage Thingie Thursday , Share Your Cup Thursday and Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop  If you haven't entered my vintage Christmas draw - please come on over and enter here.

I've probably blogged about most of these items, I found a lot of them in the past year and brought quite a few from home.   I've never made a vintage shelf like this before - I love it!  You can click on for a closer look at any picture.  I just want to stare at the shelf, it looks so pretty.

I didn't have a Santa knee hugger, he just arrived this week, some things you just have to buy online.

Putz houses from home

I love the music box, it belonged to my grandmother, it should have a candle in the middle but I didn't get around to buying that yet.  I blogged about my little "hair ornaments" last year - if you want to read it - well, here it is

Don't worry, this is not the music box I'm giving away, the other one is packed safely away in the closet.  I love the Santa with sleigh, this also came from home, it was never my Mom's, I think it belonged to my great aunt.

Shiny Brites in Pyrex, I like it!!  I used Mom's old corsage and a Christmas hankie from her collection too.  

I blogged about the doll a while ago, I didn't know what she was, turns out she's a Bradley doll, from the 70's.

So many people seem to have this same blow mold!    

I'm Having a Christmas Draw...

It's time for a Christmas draw and it's not just any draw - it's a vintage Christmas draw.   Please leave a comment to be entered - if you're not already a follower, now's a good time to start...  The draw will be open to all residents of Canada and the United States, sorry, international readers - it would be just too heavy to mail...  The lucky winner's name will be chosen on December 4th..

I've blogged about most of these things over the past while - I want to share them with someone out there who loves vintage Christmas, just like me...  The showpiece is the music box which plays Jingle Bells - I found two - I don't need two!  It's sweet.  How about a Shiny Bright??  Or a vintage corsage, still in the box.  If you're looking for some great Christmas recipes, you'll be all set with Good Housekeeping's Christmas Cook Book, copyright 1958.  Don't these sound like Christmas - Fluffy Fig Pudding, Holiday Kringel, oh, I think I want a piece of Jingle Cake....

Good luck and thanks for visiting my blog and to my regular readers, I so appreciate you reading my posts and leaving comments - it makes it all worthwhile!

Vera and Christmas

My dry spell for finding Vera's finally is over, for now, anyway, I found six scarves on a thrift shop table, all in a jumble with winter hats, scarves, mitts, I was happy to find one, I just kept digging and ended up with the six, it was my lucky day for sure.. I bet they all belonged to the same lady.   I also found quite a few for resale that day, but that would just make too many scarves on this post and it might be just a bit boring for some people so I'll switch to some little Christmas items I found.

Ladybug Vera

Another Ladybug

A colorful one

These two both have the ladybug, the scarves are the same pattern but different colors, they're sheer scarves

Sheer

Carol had doubles, so she sent this beauty on to me - thank you!

I found these at a junk thrift shop - I didn't notice until I got home that half of his ear was missing  - he was such a nice size but not much good with a broken ear!.  The plastic Santa still has the tag on, it was made in Hong Kong.  The corsage is in the original box - also made in Hong Kong.  

Have you ever seen a stocking like this?  It's vinyl, sort of ugly, actually - I think I'll be listing it and probably some of the other items, as well.   It's in perfect shape.

I don't want to wash this as I know it will really fade,  it's so bright - and still has the tag on it, it was made in Canada.  Notice on the 4th day, it has colley birds, not calling birds as we normally hear - a colley bird is a type of blackbird

I'm undecided on this little guy - sometimes he's cute, sometimes, he's not.  He's a Josef  Original, the tag is still on the bottom.  What do you think of him?

Today I'm linking up with Thriftasaurus, Junkin Joe, and  The Nifty Thrifty - check them out...  And, Apron Thrift Girl is back....

For-Get-Me-Not

Fred didn't want to be forgotten at home - he glued his picture on the front of the card.  Fred was attentive to his family, he was going to write again on Sunday...I wonder what he was doing in Nova Scotia.....

The card was postmarked from Amherst, Nova Scotia, 1910 - I found this old card at home in with a box of pictures.   

It's Wednesday and that means Rednesday

Mom's Crumb Cake

I haven't made a crumb cake in years, this is one of Mom's old recipes - it's such a basic recipe, so easy , so tasty and smells so good when it's cooking.  This was the first time I ever made a cake in my round Pyrex Pink Flamingo Cake Pan, I like it!!!  I'm linking up with the Weekend Potluck at The Country Cook and also Strut Your Stuff at Six Sister's Stuff

Crumb Cake

2 cups flour

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup butter 

Mix together, remove 1/2 cup for topping

Add:

1 cup sour milk(use 1 tbsp. vinegar to make sour milk, let sit for 5 minutes)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 egg

1 cup seedless raisins

1/2 tsp. salt

Sprinkle reserved 1/2 cup of crumb topping on top of cake.

Bake at 350 for approximately 45 minutes.

A Week's Worth of Stuff

This was definitely the best thing I found this week - but I can't identify it - I blogged on the Pyrex Collective and put it on Flickr, nobody knows the pattern. It's a JAJ piece of Pyrex, made in England - and so pretty - it'll be great to use for Halloween next year.  

$3 was the price on this beauty.

I don't think these "mocha spoons" were ever used - I found some forks in the summer and had no trouble selling them

I seem to be picking up any older and cute Christmas books - for those future grandchildren, I guess.....

Russian Roulette - The Game of Chance, Bluff and Daring.  It was never used, the money is crisp, the chips were never punched out.

Flinch - never heard of it before...

I bought the Santa and runner for $1 - the sticker on the bottom of the Santa reads - Brinn's, Pittsburgh, PA, Made in Japan

What's the chance of finding two music boxes, the very same, in the same week.  Well, I did.  I only paid 50 cents for this one - I'm going to have a Christmas draw in a couple of weeks... This cutie could be coming to your house.  She plays Jingle Bells

As you can see, I didn't get the twelve ornaments, it says they are made in Poland, some are in the box, some say Slovakia.  The music box and these ornaments came from the came shop, 50 cents for the box.

I can't help myself, more Christmas books!

I always like to read a Christmas book or two around this time of the year, both second hand and both probably read once.

This sweet little Care Bears plate from the 80's is going to my friend, Holly.

I don't need any more tins and it's not even vintage, I bought it at Liquidation World,it looks it though, and it was so cute, I had to buy the smaller one too.

How often do you get a gift for browsing in a store.  It happened to me yesterday, I was  in the Christmas section at Sears, a clerk passed me this gift - candy, pretzels, cookies and tea - how nice is that......

Junkin' Joe is back and I'm linking up here.  I'm also joining the party at Share Your Cup Thursday

Nov. 12 - Minnie's Birthday

My mother in law would be 80 years old today, she left us 46 days ago, coming just a month after my own Mother passed away, it has been a very emotional time.     Sunday's are different now , as that is the day we would usually talk and if she didn't hear from us, you can be sure she would be calling and saying - "just calling to see if you're still alive up there". And, no matter how many times we would say, it was meal time and we were eating or Gary was gone to golf-still she would call at that time.  What we would give to have that call again now.... 

Times were not always easy for Minnie, but through it all, she raised five beautiful children, and was so proud of each one of them!   She was  always so happy for any of us to visit and then when the grandchildren started arriving it was all kinds of new fun,  she loved them so,  she was Nannie Minnie to thirteen grandchildren and one great granddaughter.  We won't forget the games played, the beach, digging for clams, the summer vacation sleep overs....

Gary with his Mom, in the 70's

I've known Minnie since 1974 - this must have been taken in the late 70's -isn't that when perms were all the rage?  It looks like a helmet!!

Christmas from the late 80's - Carla is in position on Gary's lap, Darcy is on his grandmother's lap and William is heading for the tree.  We had such great times...

Minnie is second from the left - she will never be gone from us because Carla is, as they say, "the spitting image" of her grandmother at that age - this would have been the early 50's.  What fun those girls must have had.

I think about her every day......

Mixed Bag of Goodies

Finally, the shelves are beginning to fill up at the thrifts with Christmas, you have to look long and hard though to find anything good - there is just so much junk and dollar store merchandise that they are often trying to sell for way more than the original price.  I did find something nice  and I'm sure all of us that are on the hunt for those vintage decorations will start to find some neat things in the weeks ahead.  I imagine there'll be some Christmas goodies over at the Thriftasaurus Link Up - check it out!  I'm also linking up with The Nifty Thrifty and Thrifty Things Friday

I think this was probably under priced at Value Village,   I paid $3.99 for this sweet little music box that plays Jingle Bells - it has a wooden base, made in Taiwan, imported by Giftcraft.I wonder if it's Napco?  She's just in perfect shape, not a chip and not faded at all.  

50 cents for this guy 

The Wonderful World of the Music Box, Bells and Chimes - I tried it out, nice....

I read that Christmas stitchery kits are popular for resale on Ebay, I saw this so figured I might as well give it a try.  Last week I had eight scarves listed and not one sold...that is not good at all!

JAJ Pyrex - it's a different style of bowl, it has a little lip on one side -  it's about six inches across, the price was $1.99

A Prince Edward Island mug - of course, I had to buy it!!  

Four Vera's - the one on the left I found at Value Village, the rest I bought on Ebay, three ladybugs, all nice.

Vintage Ads for Rednesday

I wanted to do something for Rednesday, old ad posts are always fun, not much text, just pictures, these are all from my old magazines.

Oct. 1952 - I wanted to include this on a Halloween post but it didn't happen, so here it is. This is such a great cover.

Every Woman's 1952

Every Woman's 1952 - makes me think of Mad Men!

There were surely no shortage of cigarette ads - Every Woman's, 1954

I remember Mom having this box of spaghetti and the little can of sauce in the box - Woman's Day, 1966

Family Circle, 1968

Family Circle, 1968

Family Circle, 1972

I've never had Manwich in my life!!  McCall's, 1979

Canadian Living, 1979

Family Circle, 1981

Susan Lucci in all her 80's glory - Good Housekeeping, 1985

I'm also linking up with Share Your Cup Thursday