Christmas in the making

I've been decorating for Christmas!  Its my favourite time of year (except for the cold, snow, ice).  In fact, regardless of the weather, I can always feel the the warmth and coziness inside.  Growing up, we didn't have much, except the love of a wonderful family, and that meant more than anything.  Maybe its the memory of all that love which makes me love Christmas so much.  

Anyway, enough of all that emotional stuff! On to the Christmas decorating!  The other day I went to my local Salvation Army, which usually has bubkus!  Lo and behold, on their Christmas display table was a ton of vintage Japanese spun head ornaments!  Some were in packages, and most were loose.  In this bunch was about 10 old putz (is that what they are called?) houses.  They had priced the packaged stuff at $2.99, and all the loose stuff had no prices.  I have to tell you, I looked like a mad woman! I grabbled one of those wheeled baskets with a long handle (no buggies at my Sally Ann), and I loaded it completely with all the vintage stuff.  I loaded it so much that it fell over and things spilled out all over.  Everyone was staring at me!  Well I didn't care! I proudly (and quickly) gathered up all my spilled loot and shoved it back into my basket! After checking out the rest of the Christmas stuff, I made my mad 'dash to the cash'.  The cashier, who knows me, rang up the $2.99 items, then stared at me when it came to the loose things (LOTS of loose things).

She said ".99 each?'
I said 'WHAAAAAT?????!!!'
I have to tell you, sometimes my local salvation army charges more for some of its junk than the same new item costs at Walmart!  
Then, the cashier looked at me and said 'Okay, $2.99 for the lot?'
'hmmm....okay...' I said nonchalantly(jumping up and down and screaming...in my head!).

Not only was there about 9 or 10 putz houses, there were lots and lots of spun head snowmen, angels and 3 very pretty mica birds!  I've only found one before, and the tail was broken.  This time, I had three, practically pristine, mica birds! One pink, blue, and silver! 

Soooooo Lovely!!!

I quickly stashed them in a box in my basement!  If anyone was to break into my house, I wanted my old crap (my husbands term) safe! I didn't know what I was going to do with my new treasures, but I didn't care!  They were mine!

Then, two days ago, I was standing in line at my local Homesense (same as American Homegoods) and right by the cashiers, I found three glass and brass boxes for $5.99 each.  I knew they would be useful all year long, but for now, they would be great for displaying delicate vintage Christmas!

I think they are great!

A bit of glittery fake snow...and a vintage mica bird...and voilá!

I used one of the vintage snowmen to make a mason jar 'snow globe':

but its in a pedestalled mason jar, which my daughter bought me for wine! You can take the girl out of the country...

I bought two of these glittered reindeer heads at homesense too!  Tacky but oh so sweeeeet!

I've also started bleaching bottlebrush wreaths...

Here they are soaking in a bleach water mix. I'll show you how they turn out when their done...

Hope you are all having fun with your decorating! Have a great day!

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