In Vintage Style . . . . Decorating The Mantel

Here is a bit more on dressing the interior of the home in vintage style. I love these mantles and there are all sorts of ways to dress them up. I don't have a mantel but I may take some of these ideas to dress up my book cases.

In Vintage Style . . . . Decorating Doors and Windows for Christmas

Want to know a perk to having ones own space? You can decorate any way you want. . . No limits except what your preferences are. This year I get to host Christmas for my folks and naturally I plan on doing it in true vintage style! I mean why not? Most of my wardrobe has that vintage vibe and my house (which is still in progress) will have it as well. . . So that means my Christmas décor will follow suit. To feed my imagination and to find some inspiration I made heavy use of my 1940 Better Homes and Gardens magazine,  my copy of A Very Vintage Christmas by Bob Richter, and a new magazine from Better Homes and Gardens titled, appropriately,  "Christmas Ideas". As much as I love that vintage vibe I wanted to make use of some modern ideas as well because  . . . well . . I live in 2019. From these publications I was able to get lots of great ideas and my antiquing adventures brought me even more ideas and treasures to put to good use . Although most of my tree ornaments will be home made (expect lots of tutorials this month!) I was able to find some great vintage and antique ones that I will be displaying with pride around my home. Of course, I will be showing you how I displayed them. For this post I am sharing with you some of the vintage decorating ideas that have really tickled my fancy this year. . .Some of these I will definitely be trying out and some maybe not. I have found so many great ideas and to put them all into one post would be too much. . .So, I have decided to break them down into themed posts. This one is all about doors and windows (which I am sure you figured out from the title), inside and outside the home.

Door and window decorating. . . To start here are some of the door and window ideas that really caught my eye. Since my home is a small one, and anything I use I will need to store once the season is over . . . size will be of great interest to me. . .That is why I am loving these wreath alternatives. As much as I enjoy a nice, big, and full festive wreath I am afraid that is not much of an option for little ol' me. Instead, these little swags are right up my ally. Made of bunches of greenery and bits of ribbon and ornamentation these items I think will store really well once the season if over and next year I could dress them up differently.  I don't know about you but I see lots of potential . . .

Dressing up a large window or even a small one? Here are some creative ideas from 1940 for dressing up your windows with ornaments, swags, lights and so much more. If you  are into shiny metallic mini instruments, angelic lace adorned angels, or floral arrangements enhanced with lights, or just a single candle sitting in your window then the 1940 edition of Better Homes and Gardens is for you and here are some ideas putting those bits and pieces to good use. I love the variety of ideas this magazine has and below is a selection of some of those. You will see that these can be used with windows of all sizes so have fun!

Inside and out the decorations just so not quit! I do not plan on decorating the outside of my home but for those of you who are here are some very vintage ideas! These include adding a festive wreath around the mail box, adding some animal friendly garland to a bird feeder, filling a window box with large ornaments, and adding a very large ribbon to the front of the house!

50s Style Ornament Tutorial

I was inspired to make this little tree ornament based off of an ornament in my A Very Vintage Christmas book by Bob Richter. Inside is a sequined and beaded  tree that his mother made in a social group in the 50s. I have admired this ornament for a long time and I decided to make my own version. Mine is more extravagant than hers but that was because I ran out of green sequins and needed to fill up the gaps with beads and other charms. I guess, long story short, plan before your craft :)
To start, I needed a tree shaped a foam to serve as my base and to do that I took and egg shaped foam and chopped off the larger bottom bit to get a flat edge. Then I shaved off the sides to smooth them into a rough tree shape.

 One I had chopped my tree (get it ? . . . I chopped my tree) I could get to decorating it with my green sequins, beads, and other bits and pieces. I even saved a piece of gold trim to serve as my garland. I have my box of pins at the ready as well and a dab of glue. As I pinned on a sequin or a bead I dipped my pin a bit of glue so that it would stay put.

 I started with adding my green sequins as I intended to do the whole thing in green sequins and then add in the beads as more decoration . . . When I was about half way I realized I did not have enough green sequins and di have to move around my first green sequins. to fill in my gaps. I did start with a pattern but then I decided to place them at random . . .

 Once I had enough of my trimmings on I added my tree topper and base. To do the topper, I had a little plastic angel that I glued to a jewelry thing then I pinned a large ribbon loop to serve as a means to hang my ornament. I did not cut my ribbon but instead, once I had my loop and had glued and pinned on my topper, I looped my ribbon around my tree pinning it at the bottom. I then snipped off the extra ribbon or "garland".

 For the base, I took a long triangular jewelry thing and added a bead and then a long pearl topped pin. Dabbed with glue, I pushed in my tree base and tada. My tree now had a base. As you can see, I ran out of green sequins entirely here and di not do my bottom (ooops).

There you have it, my little sequined tree. Although I am kind of sad that I was not able to make it look like the one in the book, I know that this little tree is all me. . .I made it myself and I am sure I will fondly remember it as a reason to make sure I have all the supplies I need before I start. As a final note, this ornament turned out kind of heavy so I will have to make sure that I place it on a sturdy branch.

November in Review

Ah November, its the start of the holiday season and the weather is starting to get wintery (sometimes but that's Michigan for you). This month was an interesting one for me and was really busy. Partly because I am planning ahead for December's blogging posts and for 2020's posts as well. First, lets look over this month starting with the garment posts. I started to wear my winter attire this month featuring richer colors, wools, furs, and more. I started off with a rich blue dress with bead work and embroidery paired with a navy blue velvet bonnet and tan coat. After that my tired and true wool dress, my striped jacket suit paired with a fur jacket and then a bold plaid 50s style dress.

 On the accessory front, I showed off some new hats and shoes this month but I was all about my floral corsages which took a turn to the berries as well. For the corsages, I showed you three of them - a large creation, a smaller white flower one, and then a more non conventional red frosted berry one. I am so excited about these simple (or over the top) accessories and I have plans for more as well which I am keeping under warps right now and may save them for spring. I will give you a couple of hints - tulips and recreating one from a period photo dated to 1946.

Aside from fashion, I did a few research posts as well including a post about cosmetics in Nazi Germany and I did the last installment of the German Photo Album show and tell which was all about the last wedding in the book.
Looking forward to December, I have lots of craft and tutorial posts planned out all about decorating, making home made ornaments with a vintage flair, and more. This year I get to host Christmas for my folks and naturally I am doing with a vintage twist (naturally!). I have been collecting vintage ornaments as well for my tree and that will be a post all by itself.

Glad to be in Plaid

Today I am so glad to be in this warm plaid topped with a black velvet vintage coat and furry tilt topper. I made this dress from a fabric that I found in the thrift store and I almost passed on it! Can you believe that? I was not a huge fan of the color of the plaid but I could not pass up for the amount of yardage there was all for under $20. In the end I, this plaid has really grown in me and I think this will be a fall/ winter staple.

The pattern that I used was a re printed Butterick pattern that was in my stash. It was one of the first patterns I had purchased when I as getting into vintage. It is a nice wardrobe staple with a classically full 50s skirt and bat wing sleeve. Add in the cute cuff and collar and this is a nice and stylish frock. I added silver buttons to the cuffs (decorative) and then functional ones down the front.

The skirt here is super full and is worn now without a petticoat. I thought it looked quite nice without one but I do plan on tucking one underneath the dress for future wearings. Also with this look are my green pumps and cranberry red seamed stockings. The fine leather belt was a thrift store find.

When I was making this dress I was afraid that it would have been awfully itchy to wear but I found that wearing this dress my worries were dashed. It was not nearly as itchy as I thought it was going to be. In fact, I think the more I wear this dress the more comfortable it will become.