Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

With the East Coast expecting one whallop of a snowstorm it got me thinking back to my childhood.  There is nothing more exciting than a snowstorm when you are a child.  First, there's the prospect of school being cancelled, a free day off.  Then there are all the numerous opportunities to play.  Suddenly, your boring backyard becomes a fresh new playground with the only limitation being your imagination and the temperature.  There are snow angels to make, snow people to build, forts to construct, hills to sled down, and major snowball fights to be had.  Just about the time you can no longer feel your fingers and toes and everyone is breathless from all the fun, it is time to go inside.  The coats, hats, gloves, boots, and socks get peeled off one by one and the thaw begins.  Next is perhaps my favorite part.  Time to snuggle under blankets by the fire (or the tv) and sip fresh cups of hot cocoa with mini marshmallows.  Here are some images from Country Living Magazine to keep you cozy on this cold, winter day.  ENJOY!

Follow this link for a tasty hot cocoa recipe:www.countryliving.com/cooking/my-recipe-book/drink-recipes-0109?click=img_sr


Victorian Chocolate Set on Etsy....

Decorating With Vintage Ornaments

I love vintage ornaments.  Sometimes I'm drawn by a sense of nostalgia or just the pure "glitzyness" of the piece.
Just this week I picked up two handmade cardboard houses that were decorated with fabric.  Since the fabric was from the 70s, I'm guessing these houses are at least 35 years old.  I imagine a mother and her children sitting around the kitchen table trying to create Christmas decore with whatever scraps they could find and these charmers were the result. 

I just can't resist those Shiny Brites!  Like an eighty-year old former showgirl, some may think they are past their prime, but I think they still pack plenty of glitz and glamour.   Manufacturing of these beauties began in 1939. They were inexpensive drugstore purchases, but the gorgeous wear and patina as well as the charming images on many are difficult to duplicate and make them highly collectible.  They are also very fragile, which makes it important for me to keep replenishing my supply.  I will often group the bulbs by color and put them into beautiful crystal bowls.  Some of the more unique bulbs get a place of honor on my gold wire tree.

Finally, there are the cherished antique Victorian ornaments.  Many of today's designs are exact replicas of these gorgeous works of art.  Finding and purchasing an original one of these is difficult and costly, but worth it!

Look beyond the seasonal displays at department stores.  Check your parent's or grandparent's attic for these vintage treasures and add a little history and personality to your Christmas decor.




Here are a few vintage items currently in my etsy shop....

http://www.hydrangearow.etsy.com/

What's in a Frame?

Great frames are always a good buy.  I found these two gold frames for less than $10 a piece.  They would probably set me back a couple of  hundred dollars at a frame shop.  Since I collect art and antique prints, I know I will eventually find the perfect piece for each of them. 

But frames can have many uses besides their intended one.  How about getting a piece of plywood cut to fit the frame (most home supply stores will cut it for free) and painting it with chalkboard paint like the one pictured below? This was an old mirror that the owners found on Craigslist and repurposed.  ( I found this one on DesignSponge.) 

Another use is attaching corkboard to make a bulletin board worthy of keeping out in the open.   This one is from Pottery Barn.

When you repurpose a frame you are not only helping the environment by recycling, but you are adding beauty and character to your home. 

I'll let you know what happens with the two frames I found in a future blog.

To Kindle Or Not To Kindle

I love books. I could spend hours in a library or bookstore just browsing through one section. I’m not a literary snob. I love Jane Austen, John Irving, and Dr. Suess with equal passion. I’m attracted to cover art as much as the story and I always have to read the first page to decide if it’s worth my time. So in my quests to find treasures, I often find myself buying books more than anything else. I love the rough-edged pages and old, gilt ones, the leather bound poetry books of the late 19th century and the graphic appeal of the mid-20th century illustrations. I love the smell of inked pages and the appeal of fingerprints and personal inscriptions .
No one can deny the importance of books. From the Bible to a bedtime story, they are a part of our identity. There was a point in time when one’s entire education was based on the size of the library of books they acquired. It was a ticket out of oppression and a window to other worlds. Books have been burned in protest and their contents have been the fuel for wars.
So what will become of the book? All across the nation and I’m assuming, the world, little book stores have closed their doors in favor of the big chains like Barnes and Noble and Borders. But how long will these stores be around? Producing books is costly and, to many, wasteful. So with the advent of technology that allows you, for a small fee, to upload a book, magazine, or even a newspaper at home as easily as while flying 15,000 feet in the air, how long before the book as we know it becomes obsolete? Amazon allows you to store your virtual library indefinitely, allowing a lifetime of books to be contained on one small handheld space.
For me nothing will replace the feel of a book in my hands and the satisfaction of seeing the bookmark in the last page read. Whether I race to end of the book or linger on the last few pages I love to look at my books. I’ve kept and collected books that have particularly made an impact on me in hopes of giving them to my girls one day. Sometimes I leave art books laying around in hopes that one of them will start thumbing through it. How many times have you read a book on impulse? What will happen to the spontaneity of reading?
And, truly, is better than having your child pull his favorite book from the shelf yet again revealing pages with worn edges and scribble marks. It draws me back to my own childhood when I open one of my favorites and see the large block print of my name carefully drawn on the front page by my 6-year-old hand. This just doesn’t work on a hard, cold technological tool.
Still, you can’t stop progress. I guess at some point the book itself was a technological revolution. The oral stories became the written word, individual book-making became large scale printing. I know that I will continue to buy books at my local shop, one of the few still thriving, and continue to rescue old books to be preserved. But I know too that eventually the lure of the kindle will win out.
I just hope that there will always be enough room for technology and tradition in our future.