saturday morning vintage

merry christmas!

Enjoying some down time in Northern California with lots of family, plenty of shopping, and a few treats.  Hope your holidays have been filled with the same!

Congrats to Leslie and TheVintageMouse - winners of the "12 Days of Christmas" giveaway!  Hope you took lots of photos to fill your mini journal.  I'll be in touch today and mail your packages out right away.  Thanks to everyone who entered and spent some time enjoying the holiday season with me!

New posts coming with the new year!

on the twelfth day of Christmas.

Decorating for Christmas has been one of the funnest parts of being a first time home owner.  Most of our home decor is pretty simple, but we tried to infuse some Christmas cheer everywhere we could.  Take a little tour.

My favorites:

• The paper garlands around our dining area.  I cut the paper strips and convinced Lance to put it together while I cut out paper snowflakes.
• Cut out near the entryway filled with red, white, and silver bottles / bowls / candle holders.  Easy way to incorporate vintage pieces I already had into our Christmas decorations.
• Pine cone wreath that took three tries to hang up.  Over the door hook - fail.  Stick-on hook - fail.  Old fashion ribbon - success (so far!).

 

Thanks for joining me in celebrating all the goodness that the holiday season has to offer!  Forget about the crazy malls and your schedule overflowing with plans.  Enjoy what makes this time of the year special for you.  For me that's finding just the right gifts, decorating with red and green, and spending all kinds of time with my family.  12 more days until Christmas Eve!

on the eleventh day of Christmas.

[Let's just pretend this got posted on Day 11.  The holidays are a busy time!]

One last giveaway for the 12 Days of Christmas!  Actually this is two giveaways in one.  Like the first giveaway, this prize was inspired by my Christmas journal scraps.  The red and green paper scraps were perfect for mini journals.  Each mini journal has a vintage inspired flashcard cover and 30 or so pages.  I'd use one to keep organized during the holidays - write shopping lists, jot down gift ideas that pop into my head, and such.  That, or turn it into a pocket sized scrapbook.

Want one for yourself?  It's easy to enter.  Just leave your name and your favorite part of the holiday season - the baking and treats, putting together the perfect present, listening to Christmas music everywhere you go... 

The not-so-small print:

• Open to everyone, international friends included.
• Entries accepted through Saturday, December 18 at 12 noon PST.
• Two winners will be chosen - one journal per winner.  Good luck!

 

on the tenth day of Christmas.

Thanks to everyone to entered the giveaway, and a big congrats to Kerry A!  I'll be in contact with you this weekend to send a Christmas Scrap Pack your way.  If you weren't luck this time around, don't worry.  There will be another giveaway by the end of the 12 Days of Giveaway...  And it might include some mini journals... 

 

[1] 5gardenias, [2] eclu, [3] plytextiles, [4] claychic, [5] BeachHouseLiving

A few Christmas inspired Friday Favorites to start off your weekend.  A little Christmas is on our weekend schedule:

• Decorate our Christmas tree
• Finish up some Christmas shopping - almost there!
• Visit some much talked about Christmas lights around town

Whether or not Christmas has made its way into your weekend plans - have a good one!

on the ninth day of Christmas.

On the eighth day of Christmas I had a really long day at work and elected for an early bedtime over the blog - oops!  Sorry about that.

Lance and I started a new little tradition this year.  We headed down to Target with $20 each and the challenge to pick out the coolest gifts for charity.  Neither of us has any young family members so we don't spend much time in the toy isles making the trip all the more fun. 

Our picks said a lot about each of us.  I went up and down the toy isles, but ended up in the arts and crafts section for most of my purchases - crayons, markers, colored pencils, and a journal, of course.  Lance let his game nerd out, and ended up with dominoes, a card game, and yes, even a Rubik's Cube.

Hopefully some little artists and gamers will be thrilled with our nerdy gifts come Christmas morning!

 

on the seventh day of Christmas.

I'm not much of a Christmas card sender, but if I was I would totally send one of these to all of my friends and family.

luludee

 

P.S. - Happy Birthday to my beyond awesome brother!!

on the sixth day of Christmas.

On the sixth day of Christmas it snowed in  San Diego!  Okay, not really.  But I did my best to make it seem like that.

 

• I started with a large vintage bowl, pair of scissors, pencil, and some typing paper.  I chose typing paper because (1) I had a big stack of it available in my stash and (2) it's lightweight and semi-transparent. 

 

• After lots of folding, cutting, and unfolding I had big pile of paper snowflakes!  You probably learned how to make paper snowflakes in elementary school, but if you forgot how you can find a good tutorial right here.  

 

• I originally planned on hanging the snowflakes by some clear thread in our living room, but kept eyeing this large window in our entry way.  It's big and plain and could use some Christmas cheer so I decided to plaster the snowflakes all over it.  In total there are 43, I think.  I lost count along the way

 

 

• I'm still not sure if it more closely resembles a retail shop window or a kindergarten classroom window, but I love it either way.  It was fun and inexpensive, and makes me feel so much more festive every time I walk through the door.

 

on the fifth day of Christmas.

Save 50% off everything in the shop.  Enter 12DAYS in the Coupon Code box during checkout.  Valid on Sunday, December 5, 2010 from 8am - 8pm Pacific Standard Time only.

on the fourth day of Christmas.

Top: thiefandbandit, Primele, 26olivestreet, BROOKLYNrehab;  Second: chia83, bayousalvage, TortoiseLovesDonkey, Kainkain;  Third: H20works, littlebrownbird, uncommon, luckylittledot;  Bottom: polkadotHOME, mushroomandmoss, CaptainCat, experimentalvintage

 

P.S. - Be sure to check back tomorrow for a coupon code that will save you lots and lots!  For one day only.

 

choose-your-own-adventure prize

Awhile back I hosted a giveaway I liked to think of as a "choose your own adventure" giveaway.  I asked each person entering to pick any three words, and if you won I would search thrift stores / flea markets / estate sales for a prize that fit with your three words. 

Nicole was the lucky winner, and her three words were Dennison, ledger, and sewing.  I was a little worried because, while Dennison labels and ledger books are two of my favorite things, they don't show up very often in my vintage pursuits!  After lots of searching and a little help from my personal stash (so I cheated a bit...) Nicole's prize is on its way! 

Her prize started with a collection of vintage buttons picked up here and there - a necessity for sewing.  Vintage buttons are one of the first vintage collections I ever started, and something I can spot a mile away at a thrift store!  I gathered up a pretty group and stored them in an empty Dennison label box.

I was worried about finding a ledger book, but came upon these sweet little journals.  Each is about 4"x6" and the best part is that the paper inside is ledger-eque!  Perfect.

I struck out on the Dennison labels.  No matter where I looked I couldn't find any so I went into my own stash.  I included one of each of the labels I've found over the years. 

At this point I realized her prize started to look like a mini journal kit, so I figured I'd finish it off with a bunch of vintage papers.  I cut a big stack of vintage papers (including lots of ledger paper and some pages from an old sewing book) down to 4"x6", the perfect size for the mini journal.

Here's her prize all bundled up and ready to go:

I think it would be cute to make into a little inspiration journal, or maybe a cute scrapbook on your favorite things.  I have some extra mini journals so my mind is already spinning on what sort of kit to put together with these...  Any suggestions or requests?