For Christmas Collectors

I was raised Episcopalian... I lean more towards Southern Baptist now... and my parents converted to Catholicism... I start this blog with this as a caveat because in explaining Christmas traditions to the masses today I tend to use current movies/books/tv shows to help the younger generation "get it"... so please forgive me if my next paragraph offends you... :)

Christmas has evolved over the centuries as Christianity evolved.  As crusading Christians went out to save the wretched, they amassed people as quickly as the Borg did on Star Trek.  However, instead of simply saying "We are the Christians.  Lower your weapons and surrender your ideals.  We will add your religious distinctiveness to our own.  Your culture will adapt to worship with us."... in a truly inspired moment they DID add different aspects to other religions to their own. It's easier to get people to join you when you accept portions of their traditions right?  While keeping Christ in Christmas, they added:

• The Pagan love of trees
• The Egyptian worship of Ra's winter tradition of bringing in greenery on the winter solstice to symbolize life after death
• The early Roman's similar tradition of bringing in evergreen boughs and fruit symbolizing the near return of Spring
• The Celts tradition to bring in evergreen boughs this time of year symbolizing everlasting life

In early 16th century the Germans added candles to their trees.  In America... we took a while.  Early Puritans fought against these Pagan traditions even making it illegal to have any frivolous displays.  We can thank Queen Victoria for bringing Christmas to America.  She was pictured with a Christmas Tree in the mid 1800s and by the late 1800s decorations began arriving in America.  Of course we took it to a new level with our commercialism... I personally, have many reasons for loving Queen Victoria... and this is one of them.  I always joke I was born in the wrong era... but I digress...

There are two types of Christmas styles... the designer decorators and the collectors.  If you're a designer decorator, your feathers, garlands, and similar color balls are gorgeous... but they're not for me... and you'll probably hate the rest of this blog... 

I'm a collector.  Everything on my tree means something to me.  In fact I've collected so much that I now have 4 trees that I actually decorate among a myriad of other decorations.  I've got a bird tree filled with antique chandelier crystals, small vintage ornaments... and birds of all ages...

On another tree I have vintage figurines that I've been collecting since the mid 70s.  I remember watching my mother unwrap each of hers when I was a child and fell in love with her love of these pieces.  Together we've added an ornament or two to our trees for the past 40 years.  Our husbands shutter every December.  They tremble as they grab the dozens of boxes and bring them into our living rooms and then they smartly RUN.  This black and white panda is one from my childhood, along with the clear cat and a few more not pictured.

I love the old glass... and the old hand made ornaments... whether I made them or I purchased them.  The crochet snowflakes all over my tree were made by a master... I can't crochet a straight line let alone intricate designs like these.  The snowman I made for my Berts Big Adventure flight... It was the year Frozen was popular and I greeted each child with a snowman.  <3

If you're like me Christmas delightfully spills everywhere across your house... from vintage nutcrackers to smokers to Babushka (nesting dolls) to ceramic trees...  Ceramic trees are my latest obsession much to my husbands dismay.  "We don't have any more room to store these"... "Yes we do... I'll put them in my closet".. Yes... I'll give up room for clothes for gorgeous vintage ceramic trees... I'm THAT collector... 

While all of these pictures are from my own private collection we have multiple dealers that have vintage Christmas in their booths...  Last I looked there were still a bunch of shiny brites and vintage German candle holders (warning:  please do not actually burn the candles, they're for decoration only- unless it's outside... on a beach... where you wont lose your home and Christmas presents... trees become extremely flammable by the end of the season).  There are figurines... red and green glass and other items that will bring the holidays to your home for years to come.

With that.. and with just a few days left til Christmas... Let me remind you that the Queen is open til 3pm on Christmas Eve and then we'll be going home to our families.  We'll reopen on the 26th.  Many dealers will be doing "Christmas Only" sales between Christmas and New Years... Get away from the mall madness and enjoy our bits of history instead...

Happy Holidays!  This elf stays on my tree... he was my grandmas... may your elves learn to be good too... :)

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Forgive me my followers, I have sinned... but I held out for as long as I could... As of today, I have Christmas in my booth.  Those of you that know me personally, know I refuse to put up Christmas in my home until the day after Thanksgiving.  While the rest of you are out shopping black Friday deals... I'm in my house - a whirling dervish of lights, greenery and vintage ornaments... Music blasting (Andy Williams and Bing Crosby are a must)... and I down an eggnog or two in a happily crazed manner that few will come around in a fear that they'll be put to work too... I.LOVE.CHRISTMAS.  I'm pretty positive one of the first things I did when my husband came to my home was show him the wall of boxes in the garage that MUST.NOT.BE.TOUCHED.  The garage is his to play in, but that wall... is sacred.  It has boxes upon boxes of ornaments that I have been collecting for the past 45 years.  Every piece holds a memory for me.  My heart sings with Christmas past.  I promise to write a blog with pictures from our home so you can feel my happiness and my husbands pain lol...

Back to today...  I had to finish up the final touches of bringing Christmas to our booth.  I head back to work tomorrow and Thursday is the Queen of Hearts Annual Holiday Open House.  Years ago... like 14 or so... I used to do the Queen's main tree in Alpharetta and Marietta...  there are historic homes in Roswell that have trees solely decorated with my ornaments.  :)  But I digress, today I put two trees into the booth... While both have vintage ornaments (gotta love shiny brights), one has a theme of birds, santa heads, bells and pine cones...  What you wont find on either of those trees... is hobby lobby...  our space isn't about the "Mart"... it's about lovingly treasured old pieces of holidays past.

We hope you will love our eclectic mix... the Santa heads make us laugh.  They're meant to have a light bulb in them.  They light up beautifully.  We couldn't resist when we found them at the Alameda Flea Market in California a couple years ago.  The white birds were from an estate sale in 2016.  Someone had the same love of fat birdies that I do... I tried to pick out a few favorites and then ended up buying every bird in that house... My husband implores you to buy these... we already have one tree in our home dedicated to birds... he knows that if these don't go, I'll find room for another tree... which means another box in the garage on the wall of sacred things...  Speaking of boxes in the garage... by the time I was done today I told my husband we're missing a few booth boxes... I know I don't have everything up that should be... so if you come this week... come again in a week or two... I know there are at least 150 ornaments that we haven't found yet...

Now we all know Christmas decor isn't just about your tree... it's about other small bits that you place around your home to make it warm and inviting... Such as candles, which we have plenty... Bill made a bunch of two and three light old barnwood votive holders that just add a bit of homey warmth to your mantle or side table.  I've added a few of my obsessions as well... vintage deer figurines - I have a boat load that I place in my holiday scenes around the house...  bookcases, tables, bathroom shelves... nothing escapes me...

This year I also went crazy on old green and red glass.   From tiny little bottles, to old seltzer bottles... from Fenton hobnail pieces to salt and pepper shakers.  Sometimes all you need is a splash of Christmas colors to add the holiday spirit to a corner of your room... or in my home... clear cut crystal... and old postcards... some of which I grabbed from my collection to put in the booth for your pleasure.

There's some new pieces in the booth that aren't necessarily holiday themed... We just finally allowed ourselves to part with them.  Our piece de resistance is our triple effect gas heater... there's 17 pounds of nickle on this beauty.  I see it going into a vintage themed home - put fairy lights in it and it would glow beautifully.  We cleaned out the soot of years gone by.  We were tempted to save it for our forever dream home we're planning on building in a few years... but we finally decided that we should make room for more pieces in today's home.

Another new piece is our basket chandelier.  It had an ugly three pronged light fixture in it and I knew that it could be brought to current trends... We added the blingy chandelier to it and we love the juxtaposition of metal and crystal.

There's new - old art in the booth... chromatography and samplers.. with a few more to come in the next couple of weeks...  We've sold a few big items off the wall and we can't wait to add some more art that is stashed in our home office.

I'm going to end this quick blog with a few other photos... check them out closely and see how many holiday pieces are in each... it's all about the vignettes... find your theme and run with it... we hope you find pieces that you'll treasure for many years like the owners before them did.  That's the beauty of shopping antique... you keep these things alive in the hearts of many.

From our house to yours we hope you have a fabulous holiday season!  Come check us out at the Queen of Hearts in Alpharetta... We're Crow on Broad Street... you'll find us as you pass Joyce's china.  If you need the perfect platter you should... carefully... visit her booth too...

I Just Want to Light You Up

"I just want to light you up, Light you up like a fire, I just want to turn you on, Turn you on and take you higher"... Shawn Mullins

Now Shawn meant a different kind of light you up but I just couldn't resist using that chorus for a blog on chandeliers... I'm always happy to do a shout out for a local guy who has "done good"... Really nice guy, met him on one of my flights but I digress...  Can we talk lighting???

Atlanta is all about subdivisions. These have three or four models and 400 copies.  Each builder has their standard and upgraded features but rarely do they upgrade lighting.  Additionally, most will not put special pieces in for you.  I've had two homes built here in the past 20 years.  One lower budget and one that made me scream "TARA!" Both left me to change light fixtures as I found the time and money to do so.  Lighting can make or break the ambiance of a room.  The rooms in our house that don't require ceiling fans, all have vintage lighting to go with the other vintage decor.  Like other aged pieces it shows our personality instead of the builders designers who I never met.

I have an obsession with chandelier crystals.  I grab them whenever I see them in sales.  All shapes, colors and sizes - the only common denominator is that they are old.  I don't do new crystals.  They're made cheaper.  I love the old ones that have been taken off old broken down chandeliers and pieced out.  I used to grab them from Bandit's Down Under when Lakewood was still around.  Dave would be upgrading old beauties and I'd come clean him out of his stock.  Miss his little store in Lakewood.  Ran into him recently at Scotts and asked him where Bandit (his dog) was... His response "On the mantle waiting for me"...  Funny guy!!!  When Lakewood closed that was an end of an era for alot of us for sure...   Anyway, I keep the crystals I find in a box for future projects.  They glam candlesticks and chandeliers up with vintage beauty in no time.

A girlfriend just moved.  We went over to her house to see what she needed to downsize and she pulled these two chandeliers out of her basement.  The heavy metal one had an ugly three armed yellow globed piece hanging in it, but I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it... and when she handed me the vintage brass one... my heart started to sing...  "Yes puhlease!!! I'll take both of those babies!!!"  I had visions of where they'd hang in our booth... and pulled up pictures of my visions for the restoration to show to Bill.

Bill's job this time was to clean up the chandeliers and rewire them.  When he started on the brass piece he pointed out that the brass was too damaged to make it look right.  We decided that he should paint it a dark rubbed bronze color.  It totally brought out the design and made it pop.  We went looking for the piece to go into the heavy iron piece and couldn't find one the right size that called my name.  I figured that job would be shelved for a bit... until I went into our master bath to get ready the next day.  I turned around and saw it...  You see years ago when I bought this house new, since the builders wouldn't change the spec, I had my father (this is BB... Before Bill... my dad LOVES Bill) change out the canned lighting over my master bathtub and hung a small crystal chandelier I found at an online garage sale.  From boring to PRINCESS in an easy upgrade.  Over the years I felt that the chandelier could have been bigger but I haven't bothered to change it out... that morning I grabbed my tape measure and went running into our workshop...  "Honey!!! I've got the piece for the heavy iron chandelier!!!"


"Where?"

"In our master bath!  It'll fit.  You don't mind taking it down do you?  We can find one we like better at Lowe's or somewhere else this weekend."

"(grumble) It'll work.  Ok."

I've told you my hub is ever suffering... he loves doing projects but let me tell you what he HATES doing... changing light fixtures.  :)  Did I mention he loves me?  I'm grateful for that... he'd kill me otherwise... 

As he worked his magic in the workshop, I poured a glass of wine and sat down to work mine with the crystals on the newly painted brass chandelier.  I hung upwards of 200 crystals on that piece.  It started off lightweight and now that puppy is about 40 pounds of bling.  About halfway done I realized I had a problem.  Other dealers, you'll feel my pain here... I fell in love.  When you're a dealer, nothing other than family items are sacred.  Your decor rotates as you bring in pieces to up-cycle.  Some just can't leave home when you're done.  I finished that piece and told my husband...  "Good news and bad news... Good news... you don't have to go light shopping with me for our new bathroom piece... the bad news is we've only got one chandelier for the booth... I want to keep this one."

"So when we move, we'll take out all the antique chandeliers in the house and change them out?"

"Yup."

"Ok.  That'll look pretty upstairs."  Then he hung it for me today with my help.  OMG that thing is HEAVY... but its beautiful... see?!?  He'll totally want to kill me the first time he stands up from taking a bath and hits his head... but I'll remind him again how beautiful it is and how much I love him for hanging it... and he'll grumble again but not kill me... again...

Back to the other chandelier, which we WILL sell... The two irons were different colors so Bill had to paint them to match.  He's rewired the piece, and the crystals have been rehung.  It's a glorious juxtaposition of bling and metal.  Masculine and feminine.  We think you'll love it as much as we do.  It will be put in the booth this week.

It's a glorious fall day but we hope you will find us at the Queen of Hearts in Alpharetta.  Crow on Broad Street.  Come out and see us soon!

This is the Beauty of the Vintage Lifestyle...

This is the beauty of the vintage lifestyle... old things come with old stories, and your story just becomes the latest chapter.

I read this line in one of the many vintage magazines I grab as I'm running through the store.  I thought.. EXACTLY!!!  I love that I'm recycling, saving, up-cycling or simply just using something someone's Grandmother put in the cabinet for "special occasions"... With the exception of my Spode Christmas Rose (not the tree, never the tree... too mainstream for me) china, I use everything I have daily.  Nothing is so special that it's only saved for those one or two lifetime special moments.  I love that most of what you see in my home is something you'd never find in Ikea, Hobby Lobby or Target.  As I've said many times before, I don't get caught up in trends. 

Christmas is one of those seasons that you can walk into my home and see exactly how un-trendy I am.  I have two large Christmas trees and a myriad of smaller trees around my home.  Each tree has a theme, and the themes are filled in all vintage ornaments.  My small bird tree in my foyer... my blown glass lady figurines that I've collected since I was a child are in my living room tree... Disney ornaments (also from my childhood) grace my family room tree along with blown glass Santas.  All the tree toppers are 50's glass beauties. 

Now don't get me wrong, if you're one of those bow and feather Christmas tree people... I think they're gorgeous... they are just not me... because again, a feather doesn't hold my memories like a glass ornament from the past.  Each Christmas season I tend to buy one or two new ornaments that fit into my theme.  I've done this since I was a teenager so that today each piece has a memory for me.  I think that's why I love vintage shiny brights... they are memories from my youth.    I smile at the lanterns, bells and pine cones... and can't resist buying them.  Every Christmas in our booth I have a tree that is filled with these for sale.... and another tree that has some sort of theme.  This year the theme tree will be covered in 50s plastic Santa head light cover ornaments and white birds.  The red and white pops on the green tree.

We'll be totally gutting our booth for the holidays... to bring our house to yours...  along with the two trees you'll find vintage ruby red and green compotes and other glass ware... green depression glass candlesticks... green metal stars... deer figurines... holiday postcards... green french seltzer bottles... barnwood candlelabras and many more vintage lovelies.

I'm also excited to be finally cleaning up this beautiful baby and bringing it in for the holiday season... I think it'll fit in perfectly next to the vintage trees.  I finally talked my husband into letting me sell it.  We've been holding on to it for the past year thinking "what if we get our dream home 3-4 years from now..." and fighting the need for space in our workshop...  we'll probably hate ourselves for selling it... so once we've got it cleaned up and in our booth... if it's something you've dreamed of having, grab it quick because we're still in love with it...

That's a quick peek into whats coming to our store the first week of November.  As always come see us at the Queen of Hearts in Alpharetta.  Crow on Broad Street.  There's 71 days til Christmas... once Halloween is over it's GAME ON!

Waste not want not

"There must be a reason why some people can afford to live
well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use"... Mother Teresa

It's been a while since we've been in our workshop and even longer since I've been able to sit down and write about our adventures.  Both Bill and I disappear with our careers every summer... and maybe for a trip or two on a rare day off...  we are both thrilled to be winding down and back for the fall/winter to do this hobby/passion that we love.  

Bill and I look for different things when we're out junking.  We'll walk in opposite directions through the same places and meet back up with each other with items that the other person didn't see.  Together though, our visions match and blend nicely.  Over the next couple of days we'll blog about what we're planning for our holiday extravaganza next month... but today I want to talk about reclamation at it's finest.

We are certified barnwood and stone junkies.  We drive by a property being torn down and we pull over faster than when we have flashing red lights behind us... we grab every item that can be recycled that can fit in or on top of my Jeep.  Bought that Jeep before Bill because I come from a long line of Jeep lovers... but I tell you, since Bill, I can say that Jeep was probably one of the best purchases I have made in the past 10 years.  It's the little engine that could and we've have loaded it down beyond imagination at times.  We have a beautiful stack stone wall all around our garden from the fireplaces that have been torn down near us and a garage full of different timbers that are just waiting for the right project - like the sideboard wine bar currently in our booth.

When Bill works on a large scale project he doesn't toss any scraps from it.  He's got a large can filled with pieces of wood.  Sometime last year when I was watching my Master Mudgie in all his glory in our shop, I stared at those lovely chunky bits and an idea started to form in my head.  Bill has a love hate relationship with those moments... because it means more projects for him... and they usually start with a "could you do this to that"... and they finish with him seeing my vision and hitting it out of the ballpark.

This one evening, I saw the scraps of barnwood and thought of all the sugar molds new and old that are out there in shops and asked if he could drill holes the size of votive holders.  I had a bunch of glass holders left from our wedding... and I grabbed a few to show him what I was talking about.  His response was "Yes, of course, and would they sell?"  Then he made a few to try out in the store.  They quickly flew off the shelves.  I recently bought a large lot of silvery glass votive holders to make these pieces more "holiday festive"... and my sweet husband decided that I needed one for my birthday... so he made a custom piece with birds "two crows" for us... he's currently making a bunch for the booth for the holidays, and another custom piece for a special event coming up that I'm not talking about further in case that person reads this...  

I love that we found a way to not waste these pieces... and a niche that no one else is currently doing... it's a twist on the sugar molds that everyone went gaga over the past 10 years... and trust, each one of these pieces were from a building torn down in GA.  How cool is that for local history lovers?  Why fill landfills with trash when you can make a treasured piece as gorgeous as these?

While we are using ours on our breakfast table, we did take it outside last night for a romantic dinner on the patio... fireplace roaring (we LOVE fall), and candles glowing...  I am in love!!!

You can find these in our booth currently.  We're adding more in the next couple of days.  They have 2 to 4 holes and fit anywhere from corner tables to coffee tables to mantles to dining tables.  Imagine throwing small pumpkins and leaves around it for the fall and then greenery, vintage shiny brites (coming soon also to our booth) and berries for the holidays.

As always you can find us at The Queen of Hearts in Alpharetta.  Crow on Broad Street.  Come check us out between the 5th and 9th of November.  We'll be revamping our booth for Christmas and the Holiday Extravaganza on November 9th.  Until then, enjoy your fall, football and fun times on your patio... it's bbq season y'all!!!  With love from our home to yours...