Just Some Sweet Eye Candy!

Well, I know I mentioned a secret project that I'd show you, but it isn't quite done yet!  It's waiting on the hubby to finish some things up, and there's no telling how long that may take...!

 

 So anyway, I thought I'd show you this little dollhouse I hung on my wall a couple months ago.  I've shown it to you here before. It's one that doesn't have a very attractive front, but the inside graphics are adorable.  Since that previous post, my collection has grown (ahem!), and I don't quite have the luxury to take up shelf space with it anymore, although I'm not quite ready to let it go yet!

 

 So I decided to hang it on the wall and display some of my larger scale doll furniture inside!

 

 These pieces are more along the scale of Madame Alexander or Ginny dolls, and are a bit too large for a normal dollhouse, but they were too adorable to pass up when I saw them on Ebay!

 

 I just adore the bedding on that bed, and the matching chair upstairs!  And don't get me started on those rose decals- I swear you could put a vintage decal on just about anything, and I'd pay money for it!

 

It's a happy little place where I can gaze while I'm working in my studio, doing art.  Oh yes, I do still do art, even though I haven't shown you for a while...  I'll have to take some photos soon!

 

After Christmas Re-Decorating

Hello, everyone!  Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!  I've been busy around here with the kids finally getting back to school, and me getting back to whatever it is I do all day! After Christmas, I always get a little frazzled trying to put the house back together.  Christmas decorations put away, new toys (both kid toys and grown-up toys!) worked into the rooms in which they belong...  It all stresses me out until I can get things the way I like them!

 

So anyway, since my Christmas décor was pretty "busy" (especially in our family room), I felt the desire to simplify a little bit when I was re-decorating.  I ended up taking out a lot of the pieces that normally hang on my wall (mostly my own artwork), and keeping things much more simple.

 

 I kept the doll dressers on the shelves all white, so they felt more unified, and hung a couple plants instead of sitting them on the tabletop.  The metal orbs (how much do you LOVE the giant turquoise one?  Thank you, HomeGoods!!!) all clustered together feel like just one element, and balance out the dollhouse nicely.

 

 I had to keep the three vintage puzzles- love these so much!

 

 And of course I had to keep all the books for my kids to read.  How cute are those vintage illustrated dictionaries on the right side?  They're so pretty all lined up!

 

 This little set are I think my most favorite doll furniture pieces- I also have a bed that matches, but it wouldn't fit in here!

 

 Here's a closer look at that turquoise orb- I'm so in love with it, I think I may have to marry it one day!

 

 

Then, moving on to my sofa table...

 

 This actually didn't change all that much- I mean, how could I ever move those colorful dolly dressers?  They were just made to sit on that shelf, weren't they?

 

 But I did want to show you the new aqua shelf/drawer piece I got at Hobby Lobby...

 

 I was in search of something to put here that would complete the "tablescape", and brought this home, thinking it may work.  There are little shallow shelves on the top that I figured I could fill with something.  Well, how perfectly do they hold those vintage books???  It was kismet, I tell you!  I always love to use vintage books in my decorating, and these is the perfect way to showcase them, while also storing them!  In fact, I think the turquoise orb may have to wait in line, because I may have to marry this aqua shelf first!!!

 

 

And here's the view of the fireplace wall...

 

 As I've said before, we plan to put some large distressed cabinet doors over the cubbies on either side of the fireplace SOMEDAY, but just not sure when that's going to actually happen (it's a honey-do project that has been on the list for a while....).  For the past year, I haven't really tried to decorate those cubbies for that reason, but I decided to move our photo albums onto the shelves for the time being, just so they're not bare!

 

 And here's what I did above the fireplace.  I took the barnwood (that I used in this post) and hung our family portrait over the top. I found the wooden architectural pieces (on the top) at an antique store for $4.  They work beautifully! 

 

 All the decorative elements (except the topiaries) came from Hobby Lobby- how I love that store!

 

I've eyed this pink shadowbox frame at H.L. for months, but didn't buy it because I wasn't sure where to put it.  After I was done putting all the other elements on the mantle, I still felt like it needed another pop of color, and then I remembered this frame- I changed out the paper in the background, added this little vintage Knickerbocker doll, and now it looks perfect!

 

So, what have you been working on recently?   Soon I'll show you a secret project of mine that is almost finished.  In fact, I think I'll go work on that right now!  Have a great week!

 

 

 

Around Here...

This is the scene at our Christmas tree at least once a day, with ornaments knocked to the ground every time!  I try to appreciate the humor while I'm picking them up off the floor....!

 

Santa has been apprised of the Lego sets each child wants on Christmas morning.

 

And we're doing our best to keep in mind the true meaning of Christmas!  (I found this beautiful vintage nativity trio out thrifting.)

 

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday this year!

 

Christmas Dollhouse!

 First of all, I'd like to say thank you to Kim K for inspiring me to create this Christmas dollhouse!  Although I've decorated the outsides of dollhouses before (see this post to see this year's dollhouse), I've never done anything to the insides of any of my houses for the holidays.  But Kim does such an amazing job decorating her dollhouses for every holiday, I thought I'd give it a try.

 

And I'm so glad I did!  It was such fun finding ways to decorate-I looked around at the things I already had, and found most of what I needed.  But my other great source was searching thrift shops in their Christmas section!  Christmas ornaments are perfect, because so many of them are miniatures.  A couple more small purchases at the craft store, some quick projects on my sewing machine, and I had plenty of items with which to decorate!

 

 Since I already had this dollhouse displayed in the room where our tree is, it was the perfect candidate.  This one is the Keystone I showed you here.  It was mostly furnished, but I did borrow some items from other houses to complete it for Christmas.

 

 I tried to add decorations to every room, just so that it all looks festive!

 

 Anyway, now I'm going to shut up and just let the pictures do the talking.  I'll start the tour up in the bathroom (this family has so much Christmas spirit, they even have decorations in their bathroom!) and end in the family room where the real festivities are taking place!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, it really was so much fun!  I can't believe I didn't do it sooner!  I hope you enjoyed the tour, and if you haven't seen Kim's blog before, be sure to check it out- she has the most amazing vintage Christmas decorations (as well as every other holiday!) and adorable dollhouses tours, too!

 

Vintage Felt Projects, & A Fun Vintage Find!

 

 When I last left you, this was how my wall and Christmas buffet were decorated.  Well, if you know me, you won't be surprised to know that some things have already changed...

 And here it is now!  If you don't want play "What's Different?" and scroll back and forth between the two, I'll go ahead and tell you what's changed.  Yesterday, I needed to kill a couple hours, and took a trip to an antique mall.  I found three new/old Santas (sweet-faced ones that I don't have) and three new/old stockings!  So I pulled out a few of my least favorite Santas (they're on Ebay here, if you're interested!) to make room for the new guys, and hung up the stockings.

 Here's a closer look at the stockings.  The three in the middle are the new ones.  The four little ones were found thrifting, and the one on the right is one I "made".

 And a closer look still.  I adore the pastel colors of Adam's stocking, and can't get over how cute the name "Tootie" is!!

 And speaking of adorable Christmas felt projects, I told you I'd show you a little of where some of these projects started out. 

 Here is how I found the advent calendar at the thrift store.  Cute and adorable, but a little dark, and lacking "oomph"!

 

 And here is how the large white stocking from up above started out.  A grungy, crusty burlap (not the pretty kind like is popular now!) wall banner.  I also loved these angel banners, but again with the gross, dirty burlap- yuck!

 I also had several different vintage tree skirts and other felt projects that had seen better days as well (sorry-forgot to take pictures of those).  So I removed all the main images from their backgrounds, laid them out on my floor to start getting ideas and a color theme, added accents here and there, and voila!  I had a collection of new/old wall hangings!

Here is the advent calendar again.  Bye-bye dark green background, hello fresh cream background!  I also added the aqua and turquoise pieces of felt to work with the color scheme.  I have to say that I LOVE how it came out- it was pretty cute before, but I find it so much cuter now!

 

The grungy burlap angel banners were transformed to this.  I have them hanging on the insides of my front doors. 

 

The longer burlap banner was turned into the stocking you see here. 

 

 Old tree skirts and stockings turned into these hanging Santa banners, and if you'll notice, I used the tassels from those burlap banners on the bottoms!

Oh, how I love vintage felt!! Can't you tell??? 

 

 

 

Now another thing I put into the title of this post was "A Fun Vintage Find".  Take a look below to see what it was!

 

A PINK Harold Gale Santa!  I've lusted after this Santa before at antique stores, and he goes for quite the pretty penny.  Currently on Ebay, he runs between about $85 and $150.  Do you want to know where I got him?

 

Can you believe it??  I swear, I NEVER find anything good at Goodwill anymore.  But after spending a couple hours at the antique mall, spending "real" money on vintage Christmas decorations, I decided to stop at the Goodwill on the way to pick up Avery.  And there he was, in a big bin of unsorted items.  I guess I was in the right place, at the right time- hurray!

 

And doesn't he look so at home in front of the pink Christmas tree?   I think it was meant to be....!