Kitchen Clutter

Our kitchen decor really centers around this dish rack/butcher block piece that the husband got at Kmart a decade ago.  It's a Martha Stewart piece and we love it.  It fits our space really well and corrals a bunch of our pots and pans that would otherwise be homeless.  Nothing more sad than kitchen utensils living on the street at Christmas time.  I always deck it out with my snazzy red tinsel tree and some very choice vintage ornaments. Behold:

On top of the rack only one decoration holds court.  The majestic (and new!) reproduction white feather tree.  No, this version is not made with real feathers.  The antique versions were, however.  I strung this gloriously pristine lady with a small length of vintage red mercury beads.  God, I could just look at that all day.

Dining Room Delights

I like showing off my miles and miles of Christmas baubles and flotsam.  Sit back and relax with a nice hot mug of cocoa.  Don't forget to add some peppermint schnapps!  Because, this whole thing will seem a lot less garish and weird with a few shots of liquor.

I like small things.  Little tidbits.  Odds and ends. Minutia.  Here is where I keep some of it.

This is the shelf in my dining room, near the table.  I use the pitchers on a regular basis and decorate the shelf seasonally.  The bulb bouquet in the clear pitcher on the right is my bridesmaid bouquet from the wedding I was in this November.  It lights up.  I'll say that again: It lights up.  That's right.  We were like some kind of gorgeous procession of Christmas and Disney's Main Street Electrical Parade combined.  If that doesn't blow the lid right off your mind, I'm not sure what would.  We made them ourselves and practically had a nervous breakdown with wonder at our own creation.  

If you click on the pics you can see bigger images.  I say that as a warning.  These small pictures seem kind of subdued.  I wouldn't want you to accidentally click on one in mid cocoa sip and end up spewing it all over your screen in surprise at the visual assault  you'd receive.

 This is a close up of a floral pick featuring tiny flocked red boots.  I put out quite a few floral picks this year.  But not as many as my mother who may have to go into therapy soon for her addiction.

Here is one of this year's additions to the Muppet tree.  He was found at Target.  I love the fact that he is just the right size to go match the vintage Muppet head ornaments that I have.  They didn't manufacture an Animal ornament with the original set.

A collection in process?  Three vintage toy soldier ornaments.  I can't say why I love them so much.  I think they might fondly remind me of my years in band.  Not of my years in a band, but, my years in band.  There is a huge difference.

The red shelf is a bit lopsided this year.  The teal bottle brush tree was a late addition.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to show off a few more floral picks.  Check out that plastic, glittery, fake snowy... snow...puff...thing.  And also the gorgeous green foil tree with the mercury bead ornaments.  Swoon!

 

So, in summary:

Plastic Is As Plastic Does, But Flocked Or Glittered Is Better

Matchboxes: A Christmas Collection

Merry, merry, everyone!  Things have been very busy on the Etsy front, these days.  It's hogging up all my blogging time.  But, now I find myself with two weeks off and a whole house of Christmas goodies to share.

It never occurred to me that I had a Christmas matchbox collection until I was decorating this year.  Turns out, I do.  I didn't intend to collect them, honest.  But it turns out there are a ton of them around, most with the matches still in them.  They are small, adorably detailed and Christmas themed.  Obviously I'm just going to pick them up when I see them at sales, etc.  Then, bam!  Before you know it I've got myself a little collection.

Most of them have lots of matches still in them.  And most of the matches are tipped with festive colors.  The cylindrical containers have strikers on the bottom.

Just how adorable are these, anyway??

In Summary:

I'm A Blogging Slacker

Here Comes Christmas