Christmas Morning 2012

This is the first Christmas we have spent at home in 5 years. It was Elsa's first Christmas so we decided to stay in town. Here is how I decorated the table for Christmas morning brunch. 

Haakon and I made Oven-Baked french toast with glazed apples and in all the excitement I forgot to take a picture. It was so easy and tasted fabulous!

Earlier this month, I found 3 Libbey Christmas tree glasses at SA for 49 cents and was really disappointed it wasn't a set of four then last week at BFM I found one lone glass in the exact same pattern for a quarter! Now I have a set of four ~Love it when that happens! All I need now is to add a juice glass caddy to my thrift list.

I was delighted to find these 4 appliqued Christmas placements at SA for $2.99 less 50%. Don't they look great layered on top of my recently thrifted Christmas tablecloth!

Two of the placements have Santa putting on his boots and the other two have a poinsettia and candle motif.

Here are the Santa napkin holders I found earlier this month with the addition of sweet festive napkins. I found this set of 4 napkins for $1.25 at BFM.

I switched up my feather tree for my Santa Blow mold I thrifted back in November and some Holiday greenery I picked up on Christmas Eve on clearance. 

Here we have Haakon with his very first Archie comic! He was super excited to find one in his stocking.

Hope everyone had a Merry Thrifty Christmas! See you in 2013!!

Heading over to Sir Thrift A Lot's Thriftasaurus!


Until we thrift again...

AJ

Elf Tree

It's Christmas Eve and I thought I would share with you our 4th and final Christmas tree! I have shared with you our Star Wars tree, Aluminum "Princess Pine" and our Feather tree so here is our Kirk Elf tree. It measures just under 3ft and is decorated entirely with Santas, some new and some vintage.

Before            After

Here are a few of my most treasured Santas...

My sister gave me this Santa. It is hand carved out of wood from Germany.

The following four Santa ornaments are all blown glass from Czechoslovakia. I purchased these from Saks Fifth Avenue 10 yrs ago.

Vintage flocked Santa

I found another brand new in box lighted angel originally from Zellers. This one is silver and flashes!

Here is a close up of the tree skirt I found this week for a $1.50 from BFM. I just love the lettering and graphics.

Elsa's first visit with Santa! We waited over 2 hours and she's still smiling!

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Until we thrift again...

AJ

Let it Snow!

Oh the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful

And since we've no place to go

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Yesterday we received over 30 cm of snow! School buses were cancelled and it was perfect snowman making weather. Haakon, Elsa and I took full advantage of the sticky, wet snow.

Here is our snowman! Complete with a thrifted broom I found at ONS for $1 and a Lululemon scarf I got for free last year at their annual warehouse sale! I purchased the snowman making kit in Florida from the Target's Dollar Spot after Christmas last year for 30 cents. They had heaps of them (wonder why??).

Here are some snowman sightings in and around the city of Ottawa.

Love the button mouth!

Great idea to add straw for hair

Reminds me of marshmallows

Twins!

Found this Snowman blow mold last week at SA for $1.99.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

For more outdoor decorating ideas head over to the Pickled Herring for the Scandinavian 12 Days of Christmas. I'm guest posting today about Nordic Ice Lanterns.

Until we thrift again...

AJ

All I want for Christmas are some Vintage...

Toys! Over the past couple of weeks I've thrifted some really cool vintage toys and books that any boy or girl would love to find under the tree this Christmas. Do you remember playing with any of these toys?

The Fisher Price Chatter Telephone from 1961. Growing up I had this toy and remember it had a yellow pull string so when you pulled it the eyes would blink. 

 Tupperware "Busy Blocks" from 1971. This set contains 26 alphabet hinged blocks and each block comes with a miniature figurine that can be put inside so kids can snap, stack and learn their letters! This set is in amazing condition and surprisingly contains all its pieces. I couldn't resist its $2.50 price tag!

Ahi Ding Dong Express Tin Toy Train from the 1960's made in Japan. Unfortunately its not in working condition but makes for an interesting display piece.

Tupperware O Ball Tuppertoys Shape Sorter with shapes. We also had this classic toy which Tupperware is still making today.

This original Tinkertoy Big Builder System is from the 80s. "Tinkertoys -- the easy building system for little people with big imaginations." 

 A Mattel 1963 Barbie Doll Case Blue Vinyl Storage Closet Wardrobe Trunk.I was/am a huge Barbie fan so I was excited to find this doll case at GW for $1.99.

These 3 vintage Christmas themed Golden Books are so cute! Frosty the Snowman, Santas Toy Shop and Jingle Bells. I'm on the hunt for a copy of Rudolph to add to my holiday collection.

Did you have a favourite Christmas toy growing up?

Heading over to The Thrifty Groove for Thrifty Things Friday. 

Wishing Everyone a Merry Thrifty Christmas!  

Until we thrift again...

AJ

My Feather Tree

A couple of years ago I purchased a table top Martha Stewart feather tree from Sears. What I most love about this tree is how versitile it is. It's feathers are white and it's perfect for any seasonal holiday. 

This tree is displayed on my harvest table in my kitchen. This year I decorated it with some recently thrifted vintage ornies.

I replaced the ornaments the tree came with, with these beauties! Paid $1.99 for the box at SA.

I found this golden angel at SA for 99 cents. It was missing it's original lights.

I threaded the ornaments through each feather branch replacing the need for ornament hangers.

Dimpled ornaments

flocked ornaments

I have never seen one of these sweet Christmas tin buckets before. It's made in Hong Kong by the New York Tin Company. Paid 49 cents for this!

I thrifted this vintage table cloth last week for $3.99 at SA. I love the bright cheery colours and kitschy graphics.

This is my first knee hugger elf! I bought him two years ago at SA for 99 cents.

"Only 5 more sleeps!" ~ Nookah the Elf

It's Vintage Thingie Thursday so I'll be joining The Coloradolady for all the vintage Christmas fun! Hope to see you there...

Until we thrift again...

AJ

Vintage Ornament Wreath

So I finally thrifted enough vintage ornaments to create my own Georgia Peachez inspired Christmas wreath. Over the past month I’ve been scouring my local thrifts in search of vintage ornies for a DIY wreath project! Success~ I managed to find 9 boxes and paid $9 for the entire lot. Unfortunately most of the boxes were heavily damaged or covered with packing tape...my local SA goes a little crazy with the packing tape! But I was able to salvage the middle box which is my favourite of the bunch. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet?

After acquiring all my ornaments I headed off to Michaels with a 40% off coupon in hand to purchase a foam wreath. I was shocked at the regular price of $17.99! 

Georgia Peachez suggests wrapping your foam wreath in tinsel first and it just so happens I had two brand new packages of feathery blue tinsel I purchased several years ago from the Bay after a Christmas. I was surprised to see that this tinsel was made in Canada! 

Once I covered the foam wreath in tinsel I attached a wire hanger *this is a very important step as it's very difficult to attach one once all the ornaments are hot glued on.

Looks cool with just the tinsel.

Next I glued larger ornies around the perimeter of my wreath and proceeded to fill the entire wreath with 86 glass balls. FYI you will use several hot glue sticks!

I found this new in package Christmas decoration from Woolworth's for 50 cents at BFM and thought it would look fantastic on the wreath.

It's 2am and Voila! My finished wreath complete with a sweet angel, 3 Santas and an Elf!

Linking up to It's a Very Cherry World for Rednesday!

Until we thrift again...

AJ