More photos from my Christmas open house....

I must confess...I forgot to take pictures before the open house!! Although I had a HUGE head start on this year's event, thanks to my dear friend and now seasonal co-worker Colleen, who had all my Christmas finds and goodies unpacked, priced and "on deck" for me, it never seemed convenient to stop and pick up the camera. The Saturday morning before the event I inventoried and packed all the remaining Halloween,leaving most of the fall goodies for Thanksgiving. Saturday afternoon all the furniture was "set" in it's designated spot, minor adjustments occured all week. However, even with all that done before Sunday (usually Sunday and Monday are devoted to the above) my dear mother and I were just a flurry of activity right up until 4PM Thursday, two hours before the event began. So in the rush I forgot to take pictures. All of these were taken post open house. But they are beautiful none the less, just minus a few of the items that sold out.
This is the snowy entry, two huge, solid porch pillars, a gorgeous piece of fretwork/gingerbreading crowning a fabulous blue and white architectural table. The gorgeous urn was filled with the most darling white feather halos for children, they sold out, however, I was able to track down some more and they will be here this week. Perfect for those family Christmas photos!
The icy candleabras are battery powered and flickered all evening long next to candles floating in water in hurricanes. All on a mirror surround by a soft pile of flurries.
TNow onto the real reason for this glorious season. I have the most beautiful vintage and new collection of religious relics. One of my favs went home with a dear customer Thursday evening so I didn't get a photo, might have to have her send me one...:-) It was an antique liturgical altar piece with a beautiful Blessed Mother Mary statue inside. The leaded glass window below is still available and it is heavenly!

A champion to us all...

You started a revolution Stephanie, and some day we shall overcome cancer, and that day will be sooner because of you and your family's tireless devotion. Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Spielman family and their extended and full circle of friends.
10% of all my in store & online sales on Saturday, November 20, will be donated to the Stephanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research. I invite all indies to join me.

“Through her remarkable grace and compassion for others, Stefanie Spielman taught all of us powerful lessons about the human capacity for love and courage.” - Ohio State University President Gordon Gee.

Some more photos....Thanksgiving goodies!

The forgotten holiday in the retail world...Thanksgiving. Seems we retailers have to jump from Halloween right to Christmas without so much as a nod to the celebration of cooperation, thankfulness and a bountiful harvest. This year I have an entire area devoted to the feast. Some of what you will find; vintage tablecloths and linen napkin sets, Victorian napkin rings (some engraved), imported French cutting boards, pumpkin shaped candles (great hostess gift!), piles of ironstone platters, vintage salt & pepper shakers, vintage mounted & stuffed pheasants (lovely in a centerpiece).


One of the items you will find on this "loaded with bounty" table is
L'Epicurien's Cranberries cooked in Pays d'Oc wine. Served cold with cheeses, crackers, or bread, it's a true delight. Warmed up, it's perfection with duck, pheasant or turkey. The pièce de résistance would be a cranberry glaze for your turkey! Recipe below:

1 jar L'Epicurien cranberries
1/2 cup minced onion
2 Tbls olive oil
1 cup orange juice
1 cup dry white wine

Saute onions in the olive oil, add the white wine and reduce. Add the orange juice and reduce again. Add the cranberries and reduce until just thick. Serve over your roasted fowl.

Just SOME of the photos from our "Snowfall" season opener last week...

Lots more to come but here are a few...enjoy!!!
vintaged mercury finish urn with juniper available online here

Snowy woodland house, cottage or church also available online here

FABULOUS vintage dress form, complete with cage skirt, ornate base and wheels. She has been lovingly cared for and well oiled, she's better at getting around the shop than I am! She's $295 and yes I can ship.

Compotes, bowls, urns and platters corral our vintage ornaments. We collect them all year long, Shiny Brites, German made, Austrian ones and vintage Victorian feather tree orns.

Fabulous vintage folk art 2 story bird house. Love the old green paint. Looks darling paired with one of our snowy nests.


Glass glitter encrusted trees in glitter encrusted urns...stunning and available here

The windows. . .

My most favorite part of flipping the store into the Christmas season is decorating my two front windows. I think I am always drawing on wonderful childhood memories of Lazarus' Christmas windows (downtown Columbus, Ohio, sadly no longer there) and striving to make them as magical as I can on a very limited budget. Typically I spend $100 to $200 at the most on my holiday window displays. Having a tight budget really fuels the imagination!

The window on the left was to be quick and easy...uh...not so. First, a world had to be made out of chicken wire. My hands were sore for days! I finally gave up on the perfect sphere so pardon the lumpiness if you spot any. Then hundreds and hundreds of squares of bright green and blue tissue paper had to be cut and stuffed into each hole. The first size I cut was too small and I had to start over with larger squares. I worked on this at home until it was about 2/3 covered before moving it to the store (which meant "squishing" it through the front door of my house). After I had it hung in place in the window my mom and I finished the sides and top with tissue. Then I laid underneath it to fill in Antarctica. In came the strands of peace doves complete with olive branches (an on going theme for 2009, starfish on a strand, bats on a strand, etc.), tufts of blue sky floating underneath and a banner to complete the "Peace on Earth" message.

Now for the window on the right, the fairy window. As you can see I completely broke away from the all white windows this year. While I love them for all their elegance and show stopping beauty I wanted something different...change is good! So the blue and green color combo evolved. Back to my tight budget comment...everything in this window is either borrowed (fairies, live ferns and peacock sprays) or for sale in the shop (tinsel tree, birch candles, vintage feather tree ornaments, vintage glass bead garland, tinsel spools, life size owls, redbirds, lichen branches, rock candles the two seated fairies are sitting on, snowflake ornaments). The only items I purchased specifically for this window were moss, fishing line, brown paint and a graining tool to make the inside of the tree, which is cardboard. This window took about 7 hours to pull together. I probably could have done it in less time but it was so fun to keep adding little touches to be "discovered". Hidden nests, branches making the perimeter, real quail eggs, flickering birch candles to hint at tiny fires keeping the fairies warm, and a favorite vintage mushroom ornament growing out of the moss. Do you see it? If you live nearby, please feel free to bring your children, grandchildren, neices and nephews over to see it. The lights are on at night too and it's especially magical to see then. I do hope you enjoy it!!

Hey...guys...come look inside this tree! Do you see what I see? Are those fairies?

It's almost time!

please note: the shop will be closed Wednesday November 11 and during the day on Thursday November 12 while the elves work their magic! We will open at 6pm Thursday evening.

What are YOU collecting and what makes your heart go "pitter patter"?

We all know Lauri from 2Chippys squeals when she finds another butter pat. I think her count is near 260! I would LOVE to hear what you all collect, search high and low for or get crazy giddy over. In other words, what makes you squeal like a little girl when you find it? Currently (and this could change tomorrow as I am so easily distracted by something pretty!) I search for Victorian, monogrammed, silver-plated napkin rings, souvenir shell napkin rings, and ironstone plates and cups. My dear husband is so very thankful I am now a recovering cupboard addict. (We have 6 in our humble little abode - with one almost 8 feet wide)

Knowing people find beauty and joy in simple items of days gone by makes me smile. No matter the price tag, most of mine are in the $10 and under category, each of these finds has had a life and could tell a story. By bringing them into our homes and lives we become their guardians and another chapter of that rich history. These treasures are truly priceless.

So here are a few of the latest additions to my collections....and one particular item, recently acquired, that sends my heart racing! I'll save that picture for last.

Two hand painted napkin rings, one from "Thousand Islands" and one from "Niagara Falls"

Not a napkin ring but I just couldn't resist! A darling souvenir purse made out of a shell! Complete with clasp, hinge and chain. I "discovered" this gem at fellow shop owner Rosie Ullman's French Cottage Antiques in Delaware, Ohio.

Two mini ironstone cup and saucer sets I found in Linda's tent (Willow Nest) at the Country Living Fair last month. Darling as they are, more delicious was the conversation with this kind and creative soul! Oh to have more time with this wonderful woman!

Now this one is nothing I collect. I only have one other and it was made for me personally. During summer vacations on a lake in Canada I spent many an hour barefoot and knee deep in the swamp not far from our cabin. Yes, I said swamp, complete with leeches, but it was so full of frogs! Glorious frogs in all shapes and sizes! From small quick ones to huge ones with bulging bellies worthy of being entered in the celebrated Calaveras County Contest. Catching them and making new homes for them out of moss and mushrooms (redecorating even then) occupied several hours a day. One summer our neighbors in the next cabin admired my frog catching ability and began to ask me for buckets of them, offering to buy them. I declined the money, thinking they were frog admirers too and that they just weren't quick enough to catch them. I was totally focused on the fact that someone noticed and appreciated my lightening fast reflexes. I gladly obliged...never considering the fate of those poor frogs. When we were packing the car to head home they presented me with a tree fungus much like the one below. They had used a wood burner tool and "etched" into the face "Lisa, World's Best Frog Catcher". It still makes me feel guilty. So, for some unexplainable reason, when I stumbled on this one I wanted it. I have never seen another besides my "trophy" one. This new one is a tad older than my circa 1977 fungus. The one below is dated June 29, 1898.

And now...my current favorite and a return to my cupboard fetish. Only this time it's just the front of a cupboard (husband nervously smiles wondering if he is going to have to build something). But she is gorgeous enough and can certainly hold her own. Eventually she will make her way into the store, everything does. Right now she is leaning up in the corner ("Nobody puts Baby in the corner!"). Once we get our living room repainted she will hang proudly on a wall surrounded by my collection of mirrors from the 1920's (add those to the list of things I collect!). So here she is...a five foot tall 1889 European, folk-art decorated, built-in wall cabinet face. I am going to have to come up with something to put on the wall behind that little door!

Les Confitures à l’Ancienne (huh?)

It seems no matter what you say with a French accent it sounds good right? Well translate the above to English and it's just as good..."The jams of the old one". They are a new item I will be carrying for the holidays. When gearing up for a season opener (holiday open house) lots of products (new, vintage & antique finds)are squirreled away until the "big reveal" night. Oh but ladies and gents, I cannot contain my excitement for these delicious finds and there's no way I can bring myself to hold them until the November 12th weekend! I am a foodie to the core and these are oh so yummy! All natural, old fashioned French jams, cooked in copper basins with whole selected fruits, cane sugar and lemon juice. Coco Passion, Pear Vanilla, Red Currant Raspberry and Chestnut Cream just to name a few.

After watching my daughter in the marching band this evening (poor kids...in the POURING rain) we came home wanting to dry off and warm up quickly! Mugs of hot spiced cider and plates of crusty, buttery toast would have done the trick...but...a slathering of chestnut cream jam topped with delicate slices of brie would do the job even better, and did it ever! A decadent treat on a rainy Friday evening. Can't wait for morning coffee and dressed up English muffins!

Lots of other goodies arrived this week too like cranberries cooked in wine, perfect served with roasts or hearty winter fare, pumpkin cake, cranberry orange bread mix and the BEST cider mulling spices. Stop in for a sample and take home a bag full! Perfect for watching the game whether in the "shoe" or on your couch. Also, 20% off all Halloween goods is going on now!! What are you waiting for?

Rachel Ashwell - folk peasant vintage inspired

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Thornville Lions' 35th Annual Country Fair

urban farmhouse will be open this Sunday, October 18th from 11AM - 5PM during the Thornville Lions' 35th Annual Country Fair in the streets. Over 150 exhibitors of primitives, crafts and food will be on hand for you to enjoy. All fees and proceeds raised by the Lions go to their extraordinary charity efforts. Admission is free! Looks like it is going to be a beautiful day, hope you join us! (Rain date Oct. 25th)