Happy New Year

Merry Christmas

Wishing you very Merry Christmas and

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone will have a wonderful holiday.  During this coming week  between Christmas and New Years we will be taking our vacation!! I certainly hope the weather cooperates. We usually go for rides, antiqueing, run down to the mouuntains, go to some of the local attractions we don't usually get to see. My laptop will be close, so I may be able to post some pics,

What are going to do during the holiday

week?

Twas' days before Christmas......

Twas' days before Christmas and all through Blogland folks were scurry about hoping to create tablescapes that would  astound. That can only mean  Susan's Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On The Porch is coming!

Since our Christmas tradition is to have dinner at my parent's home on Christmas day, I decided to use their dining room as the backdrop and to spotlight their table and dinnerware. The theme is, 'Night Before Christmas'. We began this tablescape by placing the centerpeice.

                                     An old-world Santa of  paper, wool, resin, faux pine and berries, and preserved pinecones takes center stage.

A mache' toy train filled with a seasonal arrangenent is beside him.

A silver flying reindeer candlestick and vintage 1940's flocked tree stand behind Santa and a mache' rocking horse decked out for Christmas and another reindeer candlestick complete the center.

These are the holiday dishes. A 16 peice placesetting using the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' poem as it's design  and  is the inspriation every year for the table. They are a (discontinued) pattern from the 1980's.

These are  the plates.

This is the dessert plate and cup

This is the platter and serving bowl.

I used  Christmas green placemats that almost look and feel like velveteen. The vintage plate stacks next. We use them as salad plates.They are a wonderful Chrustmas red with a hand-painted gold rim. The silverware are also vintage, from  the very early 70's. They are silverplate with oak handles.

The dessert plate is added along with oversized new red glass water goblets.

To top off the placesetting, a green napkin bound by a wooden Christmas tree motif ring is added. Fresh Christmas greens are added for thier great textureand aroma.

This is a collage of the finished tablescape

Hope you use the link above to Susan's blog and visit the many other fantastic tablescapes during the  holidays. Thanks for coming by. I'll stop by soon. You all are such an inspiration!

 Before I go though I'd like to thank Susan for hosting this wonderful blog and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Decorations!?!?

I do not know where the the days are going. I see all your wonderful Christmas decorations and I feel sooo  behind, but in my defense I am doing decorations for everybody else and my own home is still quite.......everyday. But, finally  Jim got to bring our tree down.
As you can see I have only gotten to put on the lights. The tree is always the same.  Multi-colored lights, glass balls and ornaments, garland, some new more modern ornaments, but they have a special meaning, and lots of silvery icicles. Boring? No theme?  Nope. Sorry. I put on the ornaments and Jim puts up the village and Christmas train. We love the tradition, the memories, the vintage feel. Here is a look at some of the more unsual ornaments.

This is a 1950-60 plastic beauty. It has a gold color on the outside and reflective inside with a plastic sprig of pine and holly.

 Another 60's find....this gold glass ball with a stencilled duck motif. It reminds me of my Dad's hunting days. I remember the lighters, pocket watches, guncases, and shirts that were available in the same pattern.

           

Okay my weakness is anything vintage aluminum, so how could I pass up these reflectors 12  for $3!

The little whirly gig of the 40's is my fav. When a lightbulb is close to the opening in the bottom, the aluminum fan turns from the heat, My Grandma gave us one for our first Christmas tree in '93. The other one Jim found at a flea market for .75....yes seventy-five cents!.....the young couple with the booth had it in a box of broken what-nots. They thought a color cellophane filled the openings! Jim explained what it was and they were not impressed. They preferred the mid-century modern.

The little bell I a 1940's wartime find. It's clear glass with a "snow" fleck paint top and bottom with red painted middle.

This 1950-60 reminds me of my Aunt Carolyn..she collects covered bridges. The picture doesn't do it justice. the snow scene is a raised paint effect.

This is my oldest ornament from the 30's. It's German blown glass  with a celluloid Madonna and Child inside. The bottom is accented by silver glass glitter. I keep this out year-round.

I really need to get going. I have a bunch of boxes to get through and then do the outside porch...yes....outside. It might be freezing now, but here in Cincinnati it can still get in the upper 50's. A perfect spot for a snuggly blanket and some hot chocolate. I hope you come back for a tour.

What a week!

Seems we're all having a doozy of a weather week. We were at 55* this morning at 5a now it's down to 33* with high wind warnings. No snow..but they say we may get sleet and furries..tomorrow morning may be bad, unless the 20-60 mile per hour winds will blow it all away. I've been updating my website and Etsy site. Here are some of the new things I've added.

This new baby boy  and new baby girl aprons were fun to create.

This was a great find....an original 1940's Marie Antoinette Doll

These are pieces of my Christmas collection.

I had several nightlight designs for my shows, but they went quickly. This nightlight,  Blue Girl, was so fun to create and she's still available.This is my absolute favorite item on either of my sites. This gift box is filled with a vintage inspired apron with a rose applique on the pocket. A 1940's rose motif table cloth that matches the apron and 4 matching glasses of the same era. I love creating gift sets. I get to combine my love of vintage, seeking, and passing on little pieces of time.

I hope you can stop by my Etsy site BrownGinghamCreation.etsy.com and my website

http://www.brownginghamcreations.com/

Hope you're having a great holiday season!

HOHOHO it's that time of year!!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....on my blog, an Etsy, and website.! I'm still working on them though. I thought since it's been a while I'd show you what I've been working on.

For the past few weeks we've been hard at work at the shop getting ready for the Holidays. Here is our new website we designed and created ourselves and this is our new Blog.

  

As you know I've done Craft Shows this year. This is my booth at the Sharonville Holiday Extravaganza. I know it seems a bit dark, but it wasn't at all. I had a table set up in the right corner of the booth where I did embroidery while people browsed. That opened up a lot of conversation with passerbys. I try to keep the booth set-up the same every time I do it...makes it much quicker. People are beginning to remember my brown canopy and now brown tableskirt with brown gingham cloth as a sort of trademark. I did 5 shows this year. Some were great others, not so much. Craft Shows are new to me so I want to try as many as feasable. I have made a lot of new crafty friends and this Saturday, Dec 5, there is another show at the Milford High School I just found out about a couple of weeks ago..too late to enter...and there are supposed to be almost 300 vendors?! I might stop out there just to see it. I wish I knew of some craft shows in the spring and summer months. If you happen to know of any in the Ohio, Kentucky, or Indiana areas I'd appreciate any info. Well, guess I'd better close for now. Lunch is over and I have to get back to the flowers.

Just a note to say.......................

Whether your eating out at a restaurant,

at home with family,

or with friends in their home.......

whether it's turkey or hamburger......

We really have a lot to be thankful for.

Wishing Everyone a

Happy Thanksgiving

A Traditional Thanksgiving Table

Hi! You caught me setting up my Thanksgiving table for Tablescape Thursday over at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ . When it comes to Thanksgiving I'm a
traditionalist. Warn fall colors, vintage tableware, family hand-me-downs, and lots of old-fashioned comfort food. The turkey and gravy, of course, with buttery mashed potatoes, peas with pearl onions, sweet potato casserole, roasted root veggies, jellied cranberry sauce, corn, green beans flavored with ham hock (done the night before and refrigerated to be reheated. It always tastes better the next day) and top it all off with pumpkin pie. Yummmmm! Okay, we're getting sleepy thinking of all that food, back to the tablescape.







I hate to cover the natural wood of our cherry farm table. I layer with a woven table runner topped by my vintage mirror and add 1960-70 Town and Country Living placemats. The little hot pads were hand-knitted by my Mom.





I then took my aluminum lazy-susan and placed my turkey platter( new from Cracker Barrel..great vintage look) on top of it. When turkey is on the platter the lazy-susan makes it easy to turn to the piece you want.















My Amber Glass chargers go on next. They were a great find at the Longest Yard Sale. The vendor was very honest....these are reproductions of an 1800's pattern......she had catalogs to order any pattern available. They were $5 each. I couldn't pass them up, they go perfectly with the 1960's Amber Medallion Goblets given to me by my Mother-in-Law

This is how the table looked so far......

These are my Thanksgiving dishes. I found this 20 piece placesetting at an indoor flea market in Columbus, Ohio for $15.
They are from the 1930-40's. They have no mark so I've never known the name or maker. I have seen individual pieces in blue, so they must've been available in two color selections. I love the different scenes on each piece. My fav is the soup/salad bowl with the pic of the waterfall. It reminds me of a place in Cosby, Tn. (other side of Gatlinberg, Tn.) called 'Valentine's Fall'.

Add the serving pieces..................................

Yes, they are two serving pieces to go with my plascesetting

found at two different antique malls in two different states. Both were $3 each!

This 1930-40 pitcher is the only piece of this pattern I have found so far. I love the brown transferware, but it also has touches of yellow, red and blue. Almost a watercolor effect. It goes great with the turkey platter. I use it to serve the gravy.

This hand-wrought aluminum lid was a find at $1. It has a pea plant motif with a pea pod handle. I purchased an acrylic hobnail bowl at Target for $2 and it's just the right the size to serve a can of peas.

I forget where I found this salt and pepper, but it matched the dishes motif perfectly

This is a 1960-70's, pyrex I think, veggie dish.
A very colonial pattern

Blenco Amber Water Carafe

Pressed Glass Turkey,

another Cracker Barrel
find, for the cranberries

Silver is Onieda, 'Southern Garden' pattern.

Put it all together and here is the table.......................

This silk and dried centerpiece will be on the table til the real centerpiece, the turkey, appears next Thursday.

Thanks for stopping by! I am so thankful for all the new blog friends I have found this past year. Blogland would have been very lonely if not for you and I can't wait to meet the rest of you! I hope you all have a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving.

Now, let's stop over at Susan's betweennapsontheporch.com and see what everyone else is doing.