A Cool Find

The weekend we went to visit my cousin, Stacy, we did a little shopping at an antique mall.  While I was astounded by the selection of items, I was equally astounded by the prices (it was located in Decatur—an Atlanta suburb).  Wow!  I think I’ll stick closer to home for the bargains!

One item we were willing to drop some high dollar coin on, however, was this:

Any ideas?

Well, if you were able to identify the case, you probably going through a similar phase of life as we are:

“middle aged* with the ability to travel”

*with a 20-something’s mentality

It is a mini liquor cabinet in a travel case . . .

 

I was really proud of myself when I found a different case (albeit empty) in the same shop—was already toting it around, claiming it as my own, when Darren said he had found a better one. 

“Do you even know what it is?” said my smug-little-self.

 

He said he did and instructed me to follow him.  So follow, I did—passing numerous booths with interesting content in an effort to humor him. 

Of course, he had found this one--complete with four stainless cups, two stainless shot glasses, a stir-spoon and a horn-look, bakelite handle bottle opener.

 

What a find! 

 

All of this made and brought to you by:

 

Note the fancy, schmancy snap

Bakelite is tricky—looks like the real thing (horn) doesn’t it?

Our drink du jour . . . an Old Fashioned made with Rye Whiskey.  Oh, and thanks to my cousin, we’re now Maraschino cherry snobs . . . only Luxardo will do!

We actually didn’t use the Orange bitters—we used Angostura® bitters.

Here’s the recipe I followed and we all agreed was the best we had (taking a reflective bow as I type this) :

2 oz bourbon whiskey
2 dashes Angostura® bitters
1 splash water
1 tsp sugar
1 maraschino cherry
1 orange wedge

Mix sugar, water and angostura bitters in an old-fashioned glass. Drop in a cherry and an orange wedge. Muddle into a paste using a muddler or the back end of a spoon. Pour in bourbon, fill with ice cubes, and stir.

Read more: Old Fashioned recipe http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink407.html#ixzz2Musfda4c

(Mixer’s notes:  I actually used Rye Whiskey—the one in the pic above—and only one slice of a Clementine orange.)

Well, I hope you don’t think less of me for this post!  Rest assured we “drink responsibly;” it’s one of the many reasons we love living within walking distance of our favorite restaurants.

thanks for your indulgence.

Winter Vignettes or “How I beat the post-Christmas decorating blues.”

It is a well-documented fact that many of us dread the post-Christmas “blah” that is our home décor.  For many folks, it is the dread of the process of preparing our Christmas decorations for another 11 months of storage—that is part of my issue.  The larger dread, however, is due to the seemingly stark appearance of my house once I’ve stowed all of the greenery, lights and ornaments.

I guess that’s why my post-holiday decorations have begun multiplying and taking on a life force of their own.  I have started using many of the items I would normally display or store in our china hutch and making them a focal point.

I have also started collecting pictures with winter scenes—anything with snow will do.  This includes my every growing collection of vintage photos of children dressed in their snowsuits or finest winter coats.  (Credit for this idea goes solely to Auntie Bliss!)

My winter Santos fairy takes center stage on our living room mantel.

This year I’ve added a frosty bird’s nest or two, some pinecone candles and faux bare braches with hints of frost, as well.  as I’ve mentioned before, my velvet pumpkins are always on display, as evidenced here on the mantel . . .

. . . and here on a side table . . .

I am not a big fan of using hearts in my decorating.  {I blame this on the fact that I had started setting-up our first household  when country-style decorating was at the height of popularity, thus explaining my aversion to ducks and geese, as well.} I will, however, make the exception for vintage hearts and any hearts embellished with real glass glitter!

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I am making a concerted effort to carve out a little time in my schedule to nurture my creativity.  I’m finally acknowledging creativity takes many forms (more on that later), but the form I am referring to at the moment is that which requires the use of scissors, glue, ephemera and other bits and bots; thus, the decorative bottles seen in this vignette.

I used these great bottles, which formerly contained a very nice bourbon, and decorated them with pages of a very old music book, vintage Valentines and ribbon.  My dining room table has been a wreck for two weeks as I disassembled Christmas, sorted through end-of-year papers and periodically applied Mod Podge  and tied ribbon to these bottles.

For my final winter offering, I will leave you with this . . .

I hope you are enjoying your winter décor as much as I am enjoying mine.  I’d love to hear about the ways you beat the doldrums, so please share.

Again and always, I thank you for your indulgence.

The Woodland Tree

It took a while for this theme to catch-on, but last year it was the first one to look bare.  This year, we added even more to it and I adore it—I love this tree! 

a tight shot of some of the ornaments, starting with this darling bird on a frosted pinecone . . .

the clip-on birds have been a long time favorite of mine . . .

an ivory frosted ornament with glitter trees . . .

the red berries are a lovely contrast to the ivory frost on this ornament . . .

a twist on the classic silhouette  ornament, this glitter moose scene is a great addition to any tree . . .

okay—this one is a little out of focus, but I wanted to be sure to include it—you know I love my for cloches.  This “good luck” display of mushrooms is adorable . . .

 

also out of focus, but beautiful none the less, this sparkle encrusted acorn is a beautiful adornment . . .

a beautiful glass ornament with a (surprise) bird image . . .

owls are still very popular—who wouldn’t love this guy  . . .

(note the shredded paper garland—it’s fabulous!)

another staple for our holiday decorating—the vintage inspired house ornament . . .

robin’s eggs with gold leaf add a bit of sparkle for the holidays . . .

these green mercury glass ornaments are my favorite addition this year . . . okay, ONE of my favorite . . .

stay tuned for three more!

thanks for your indulgence!

The Hodgepodge “Trees of Christmas”

It’s been pointed out that I haven’t posted pictures of any of our trees this year.  Well truth be told, we have the same trees each year or, at least, the same theme for our trees; this way we can help you build on your own themes each year.  
We call this the Wendy Addison (aka:  the glitter) tree because she designed a majority of the ornaments.  I love this tree (get use to hearing that . . .)
Starting with the garland . . .

add a clip-on glitter top mushroom . . .

a glitter nest with aqua glass eggs . . .

a quail  . . .

a glass ensconced image ornament . . .

then, of course, a glitter snowflake . . .

our best selling glitter bird . . .

words . . .

a wire wrapped mushroom . . .

another disc ornament . . .

a new ephemera bird this year . . .

a cone with a bird image . . .

another glitter bird in her nest . . .


then the set of three glitter birds . . .

the you need to choose your topper . . .

use this beautiful tree topper as intended or as a decorative centerpiece. . .

and finally, a pair of artichoke finials and—you guessed it—glitter bird eggs make a lovely vignette!

Did you get enough glitter?  well, just wait, that’s not all!  we have at least four more trees to go!!!
Thanks for your indulgence!