Christmas decorations 2014 part 2

On to part two of last Christmas's decorations!

Every year the ceiling is hung with vintage paper garlands and vintage paper lanterns and honey comb decorations, it isn't Christmas without them.

Here is a view of the buffet in all of its finery.

This feather tree I made over twenty years ago; it is hung mainly with celluloid items. I cheat, not all are Christmas decorations, some are fairground prizes, some are tape measures, and some are party horns. The secret is out!

There are two blown eggs hanging on the tree that I traded some tinfoil covered newspaper icicles that I made in grade five. It really is quite amazing that they are still around.

The garland is finely cut cellophane and metallic tinsel. It is quite beautiful and quite tattered in spots.

The twin to the other feather tree that I made years ago is covered with chenille ornaments and my collection of cotton batting birds with thread wrapped wire legs and feet. I have not seen any of these older cotton birds for about fifteen years and last December found a bag of birds at Salvation Army. There were six of the birds that I collect in the bag along with some more recent birds that I gave back to them to resell.

This is the best picture of the two foot high goose feather tree that I have. Unfortunately all that is visible of the little hard plastic Christmas angel is her pink tarletan skirt.

This tree is decorated with the rest of my cotton batting decorations, ceramic Hudsons Bay Department store bells, an early metal sphere, my Victorian dancing couple, she needs a crepe-papier dress, and a 1940s(?) satin ribbon printed with pointsettas and holly. The Hudsons Bay came out with a new wish bell every Christmas in the 1950s.

This pressed cardboard manger takes pride of place on the buffet every year, although there is so much to look at I don't know if anyone sees it! I have no idea how old it is but I think my mum bought it in the 40s. There are also six small putz animals and trees, some homemade on either side of the manger scene.

Every year we would decorate the main part of the buffet with a Christmas village. Last year I purchased three velvet carpets with an image of polar bears in the snow and decided to do a more simple scene showing off the carpet. The forest of bottle brush trees was put in place and three small houses were put out along with a polar bear planter with Northern Lights designs on his fur and a penguin liquor bottle. This corner was quite dark so I added the string of mini-lights.

The feather tree is pre-wired with a set of eight lights. I decorated it with some early mini Christmas crackers, a card of red and silver parcel string, and a 1940s (?) red satin ribbon. Underneath the tree is a vintage English toffee tin and a vintage Christmas hanky.

This Years Hallway Christmas Display

Hello everyone, I didn't get as much decorating done as I usually do at Christmas. We had nine days to Christmas Day from the day we arrived back from Toronto. Jet lag took its toll as well as visiting, baking, and a tiny bit of shopping. I did get the hallway display done. Here it is for you to have a look at.

Here is a full picture of the display. I found a vintage pink and white seersucker tablecloth that I had bought several years ago. I immediately thought "candy" and went on from there using bright colours and candy tins. The Santa robe is displayed on a 1920's lamp base. The pockets are filled with vintage treats and two new plastic candy toys that I bought in Toronto. That seersucker tablecloth is tucked into 75 feet of white handkerchief weight silk with lengths of hand dyed silk added for interest.

This is a picture of the lower half of the display. None of the colours are traditional Christmas colours but I am really pleased with the final outcome. I pulled a lot of the pieces in the display from my studio. I really wanted to include my snowman marotte. "Alphonse" as he is known has a music box in his head that is activated by shaking the handle to get the head turning. I love the yellow carpet with the concentric circles on it. I bought it specifically for displays.

This candelabra is sitting on top of a column by the window. The bottlebrush horseshoe wreath is vintage 1940's/50's.

This final picture shows the other column with a vibrantly painted urn filled with fake evergreen boughs, a wind-up duck from my bedroom dresser, and two vintage candy tins from the studio. I topped each of the columns with a bright yellow faux fur cushion. These bright yellow faux fur cushions are to be used in a child's bedroom. Personally I don't see why kids should get all the colour and fun in life. I love colour and with no apology.

A Little Tour of My Brain, Part 4 - Candy

My goodness, it has been a week since I last posted anything on my blog. It has been a little crazy around here. I am tidying my studio. That always takes a little while because I work on quite a few things at once, so in place of a small mess I end up with a rather larger one. Cleaning is coming along quite well.

I am going to start making a giant lunch box for a mall in town. Last year I built the two sides of a school bus for them out of coreplast plastic. They were attached to an 8' x 8' section of fence. The public was asked to donate school supplies for needy families. The mall has done this for years and last year was the best response that they had for this event. This year the lunch box that I am going to make will be used to collect non-perishable food for lunch boxes. The giant yellow lunch box will measure 6' x 3' x 5', all made from coreplast plastic.

That is the update from around here and now on to the brain tour. I love candy, not so much to eat, but to look at. The shapes, the colours and the smells are so wonderful.

This illustration is from "The Unsophisticated Arts", drawn and described by Barbara Jones, and published in 1951.

The "Holiday Candy Book" by Virginia Pasley was published in 1952. These delightful endpapers are the only colour in the book.

This is a sample of the black and white illustrations inside the book.

I picked this candy tin up about 5 months ago. I love the brilliant colour against the black background.

When we were in Thun, Switzerland, I picked up three postcards with images of candy. This postcard shows many of the different varieties of licorice available in Europe.

This postcard captures the iridescence of hard candies.

The last postcard is a photograph of nougat and chocolates, is your mouth watering yet, mine is.

I bought this tin advertisement for chocolates about ten years ago. They are so delicious that even a bee desires them.

I picked this tin two months ago on my birthday. The colours are very interesting and compared to the English tin are very elegant and understated.

Back in the 1980's there was a company in Vancouver, BC called "Edibaubles". The woman that originated the line was German. She made food for dollhouses out of a new product from Germany. This plastic modeling clay was baked in the oven. Fimo and Sculpey are so common place now. She was invited to a party and decided to make some toe rings. That as they say is history. She ended up selling all over the world. This necklace is one of her larger pieces. I found it in a second hand store about ten or more years ago.

This is a candy wrapper from a 1960's Israeli hard candy. Yes, I did keep it. I loved the colours and the overall design then and I still do.