Warning. This one's a rambler.

Thanksgiving sure shot by like a rocket.

  

I only know it actually happened because I ran the dishwasher four times in 24 hours.

(I am definitely giving thanks for dishwashers.)

  

That and because it was the one and only day in recent history my dining room table was heaped with food and the good china rather than the Mt. Vintage Christmas of things going to /coming back from the Plucky Maidens Junkfest where I was vendor.

Despite the deafening silence here, I have most definitely not packed up and moved off the internet.

My desk looks like someone has been pulling a vintage all-nighter.

In the days since Thanksgiving, I’ve been firmly glued to my chair in front of the computer, filling my etsy shop with vintage Christmas.

I only leave the house to go out and look for more.

What can I say? Tis the season.

After setting up my vendor space the night before the Plucky Maidens show, I went back to my hotel room and assembled a 6-1/2’ vintage aluminum Christmas tree and the next morning I carried it through the hotel lobby and across the property to the building where I was selling.

Can’t stop me.

It didn’t sell.  I am now really good at dismantling it in seconds flat.  

On the bright side, I listed it online yesterday and less than 24 hours later, it’s now winging its way to its forever home in Peoria.

All's well that ends well.

Beyond beadazzled

A recent visit to a local thrift store revealed a disturbing new process regarding their Christmas inventory…

I think they’re selling it by the pound.

As far as I can guess, somewhere behind the swinging doors of the mysterious ‘Employees Only’ area is a giant, roiling pit, filled with Christmas things.

From this pit, the employees pack shovels-ful of Christmas into very large, clear plastic blanket bags. 

If you have x-ray vision, it’s possible to see one of everything ever remotely related to Christmas, across many decades of décor, crammed into these bags which are then dumped onto the sales floor and left to fend for themselves.

And there I am, pawing my way through one of these bags, which is clearly marked "Do Not Open, except for you, Amy," and what do I find buried in the midst of the tangled tinsel, plastic holly and strings of burned out lights?

This.

And this.

Somehow both ornaments remained completely intact despite having been (possibly) shoveled from a pit into a bag. Could this be a Christmas miracle? I think so.

But what really caught me by surprise in that bag were these.

I can’t begin to imagine the number of hours and finger pricks it took to create these pins + beads + sequins ornaments and to me, they are shiny, tacky, gaudy, beautiful, flashy, flawless handmade treasures.

That’s right.  I’ve gone to a place I never thought I’d go:  The world of sequins.

Please send help.



I swear, it followed me home

Can I keep it?

It gets along great with my Dollar Store plates.

 And it's very quiet.

This was the best (and scariest) part.

(After unpacking, I was very happy to discover only 2 pieces were chipped and from the appearance of the chips, they happened before these pieces were tossed together to become a ‘boxed set.’)

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!



Because vintage Christmas ornament wreaths are better left to the Glue Whisperers

Some of us are born with a hot glue gun in our hand while others of us just end up with a hot glue gun glued to our hand.

Not to mention those hot glue globs and glue strings all over everything.

For me, it starts and ends with gluing two ornaments together.

With glue from a tube.

Several posts ago, you may recall being introduced to these weeble-lookalikes.

They’re slowly morphing into something more recognizable (I hope).

Last year’s model is wearing his homemade hat and humble paper punch buttons.

This year's version features luxurious upgrades including mother-of-pearl buttons and fancy store-bought top hats.

No hot glue required.

Hope you’re staying warm & cozy.

P.S. I bought the top hats from etsy seller Clear Brook Hollow but I think there are several etsy sellers who carry them. The hats measure 28 mm x 17 mm.