Ceramic Christmas Trees

Yes, I have three ceramic Christmas trees!!  But, I didn't know it and that is a bad sign, a sign that I buy more Christmas stuff that I don't know I already have!!  The one on the right I've had for a couple of years, it's a pretty big one.  I bought the one on the left last week at Value Village, it was a really nice tree, look at that base!!  So, this morning, I thought I'd look at the the big tree and lo and behold, there's another one which I must have bought last year but I don't have a clue where!!  

But, I have no stars for the two smaller ones - I've seen them when I've been in the US before but I have never seen them here in Canada.  I've also checked on Ebay and Etsy, I think purchasing on there might be a thing of the past, the postage is ridiculous - for one little star - over $10 - I think not! I wrote to the seller, she wouldn't budge on the postage!  Too bad!!   Are there any Canadians out there who have seen them?  Or anyone who has extra stars hanging around?  

I don't think I better buy any more ceramic trees!!!  I sure do like them though!

Christmas in July

The other day I came upon a fundraiser that was running all week, if I would have known about it, I would have been there the first day.  You could donate what you wanted, I came home with some Christmas goodies, some went straight to the garbage but I ended up with a few things and for that I'm happy.

This is what I saw right away, knee huggers, well, of course, I have to buy any of these I see and a dwarf, he's pretty cute too!!  I am feeling really lazy today, I couldn't be bothered to get my good camera out, these pics are all taken with my iPhone, for anyone following me on Instagram, a couple of them have been on there already. 

More cute vintage Christmas 

The angel isn't in the best shape, but her face was so cute, I can use her for something.

Finding some Made in Japan reindeer is always good!

I just love this picture I took of this Santa - I know a lot of people out there think these Santa's are creepy, personally, I like them!!!

Not too bad for a stop on the side of the road!!

I also bought this book which even though it's a teen book, I'm going to read it.  For any Canadians out there that grew up in the 70's, they might remember this CBC television series, "Adventures in Rainbow Country" which ran in 70/71 - the thing that is amazing to me now  is that I now live in the area where this show was filmed, "Rainbow Country" is close to where I live now - it's the North Channel area of Lake Huron -   that was a world away from Prince Edward Island at the time.    I opened the first page and there were local place names, this was a fun find!!

Joining in with Thrifty Things Friday ,  We Call it Junkin and Thriftasaurus

Blow Molds were Everywhere!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I love blow molds - if you don't know what one is, well it's those plastic lawn decorations that were everywhere from the 60's through to the early 80's - now they've been replaced by the inflatables - no inflatables for me, I'll take the blow molds anyday!!

The other week I was in the lineup at Target, an older gentlemen was buying a snowman, he started talking to me how he didn't like these new figures, that he preferred the "old plastic ones" - that was all I needed to strike up a conversation with him, he proceeded to tell me about his display that he's been building for 20 years and is worth thousands - he told me where it was, last night we went there, on probably the coldest night so far! That's the reason I didn't get very good pictures, the wind was raw, it was freezing!!  He came out to talk to us when we were walking around and told us where he got various pieces - I just have to go back out there in the daylight and get some better pictures.  We couldn't believe it - there must have been 100-150 pieces of blow mold Christmas heaven!!

This is just one scene,  they covered the whole front yard - there was just everything....

This is just a small section of the snowmen - there was every size...

We wanted this one, we wanted a Mrs. Claus, we wanted a very retro Santa - there was lots we wanted.  I saw a different Santa yesterday at the thrift store  and I left it there, after seeing all those last night, I should have bought it!!

I can share all of my blow molds with you because I have a very small collection compared to what I saw last night.

The big Santa on the left was my very first one I ever found - he's a 4 footer.

I have been so lucky finding all of these and never paying more than $5 for any of them.

I found this one at a yard sale this past summer for a couple of bucks!  I didn't see this one at the big display last night, we put him on top of the shed.

We bought this back in the 80's, long before we knew what a blow mold was - he sits on top of the clothesline pole.  

Blow molds come in all sizes, we love them all!!  Not only are they outside, they're inside too!

The only blow molds I can ever remember having at home were these candles - here's Darcy back in PEI in 1989 -  I never really cared for those candles , every Christmas Dad had them tied to the front step - those are long gone but I just had to find a set of my own and I did!

I'm linking up with Thriftasaurus today.  

This is Really Christmas Kitsch!

I now own the most kitschy Christmas thing I could ever hope to find!!!  Feast your eyes on this beauty..  Click on it so you can see all it's wonderful kitschy goodness!!

I spotted this on a shelf above the clothing at Value Village, I saw it from afar, I started walking very fast, just hoping that no one would put their hands on it before I got to it.  As you can see, I was successful and now it's mine!!  I know some people don't like knee huggers and I know there are a few of my readers out there who are going to go crazy for this!!!!

The guy on the top must have been holding on a bit too tight, the star is a bit wobbly, but that's easily fixable.

There are four elves around the base.

I don't know why I like these knee huggers so much, I don't remember them from my childhood, I know we never had any of them.  

As you can see, it was a music box as well, I wound it a little and it would give off a little chime every few minutes but it's definitely not working.  It was made in Japan and cost $6.29 - I looked online and could not find anything like this, have you ever seen one?  It measures 18 inches from star to the base.

When I first spotted it, I thought about ripping it apart and using just the knee huggers, I'm not, it's just too cute the way it is!  This more than makes up for the $10 blue knee hugger that I didn't buy a couple of weeks ago!!

I'm linking up this fun find on Dawn's We Call it Olde ,You're Going to Love it Tuesday and Share Your Cup

A Little Bit of Christmas

Vintage Christmas has been hard to come by so far, surely it will pick up now that December is here.  I have a few things to share, a pretty small haul, that's for sure!! But, I'm happy with what I found!!

I have to organize all my shiny brites this week, there are just too many bags and boxes of them and now I have more to add to the mix.

This is the first Santa mug I've found this year, he's in sort of rough shape, but still cute and he was priced at only 50 cents.

This little gal has a flocked type of dress and glass pieces down each side of her dress, I bought a bag of junk to get her, there was only one other half decent item in the bag, the rest will be donated back.

I think this little angel is sweet - she came in another bag of junk that I found earlier in the week.  

I guess that bag wasn't so junky after all, as these little miniatures were in it too.  There's no markings of any kind on any of these items.

My kids had something like this Santa, I think it was an animal of some sort, you squeeze him, his hands will open and you can hook him on somewhere.  He has a great old Santa face!!

These flocked bows were in one of the bags too.  They are stiff, have hangers on them and a couple of small pin holes, so there must have been something else on them.  

These little paper garlands are pretty cute - two were still in the package - I'm not sure what I'll do with them, I know some will go in my Christmas Smash book.

Four of these song books were in a bag, the book has Christmas songs and others, some of which are very strange songs to be included in a Christmas book.  There's all kinds of local advertisements in it too.

I don't think these books were ever used so two more to add to my Christmas book collection.  The Grinch book retailed for $20 when this was sold, I saw one yesterday and it was more than that, I paid 50 cents!!

My finds were small but at least I came home with something - I shouldn't complain!!  Now, I soon need to get some of this Christmas out on display!!

I'm linking up with Thriftasaurus and Thrifter Share

Woman's Day - December 1966

I'm sharing one of my thrifted magazines with you again today - it's the December 1966 issue of Woman's Day - the magazine was 92 pages back then and did you know that was the thirtieth year that it was published?  It's the Christmas issue so you know what that means - toys, food and fashions.

Have you used used oilcloth to decorate??  It's a long time since I've even heard that word!

How about some grapes hanging on the banister?

The decorations were shiny and bright, weren't they?

This is called the "trim-the tree supper" - assorted cold cuts, coleslaw and radishes, hearty seafood chowder, rye and pumpernickel bread, sweet and savory butter, coconut-grenandine trife.  It's quite a spread!!

Molasses Sugar Cookies - I must say, they sound good!!

Nothing but Black Diamond for the fruitcakes!

This is a very elaborate plate - using Miracle Whip and cling peaches - served hot!!

You could send away for the stocking patterns.

This was actually the only toy advertisement in the magazine - look at the music box iron on the lower part of the page - that's a neat old toy!!

General Electric had some nifty items, like the new Automatic Clothes Brush, His and Her pocket Cigarette Lighters, GE Shoe Polisher...

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is spread across four pages - it says to watch for the Grinch on CBS's 30 minute animated musical color special on Sunday, December 18 - and it's still playing, after all these years.

Use Breck for beautiful hair!

Holiday Hairstyles   - use hairpieces, if you have to!

All you had to do was buy the Simplicity pattern and sew this golden beauty up, cost to make a size 12 dress, about $36.00

Oh, the velveteen dress - Mom would make me a new one every year for the Christmas concert...

And, here I am in all my velveteen glory - there are a few pictures of me with these dresses on, a different color every year - I don't know how old I am in this picture - but I do know one thing, I have quite the hair do going on there!

I'm linking my thrifted Woman's Day with Junkin Joe and Thirftasaurus