Vintage Snowmen

From my collection of vintage Christmas, these two little snowmen, just a couple of inches tall, are some of my favorite pieces. The smaller snowman has a peel off sticky label on the back: he was meant to be attached to a package as decoration. The larger snowman is made of mica-covered cardboard with a spun cotton head, and carries a pipe cleaner candy cane.

Vintage Santa Claus

This tiny Santa, about 3 inches tall, has the same molded plastic face as the Christmas elves posted yesterday, and dates from the same time period. I believe those are supposed to be candles he's holding.

Pine Cone Elves

These little Christmas elves sitting on pine cones were made by the millions from the 1940s-60s, and can be found today in lots of variations.  Some are singing carols, some are working on toys, some are reading books...these are two of my favorites. Made from cotton batting, chenille sticks, felt, paper, cardboard, and plastic, the elves measure about 3 1/2 inches tall.

Merry Kitschmas!

Happy December! We've come to one of my favorite times of the year: Kitschmastime! I rabidly collect vintage Christmas decorations from the 1940s-1960s, the kitschier the better. This month I'll highlight some of my favorite pieces.

These are some small ornaments and decorations that I wired onto a vintage bottle brush wreath.

 

 

A plastic snowman that looks a bit like Jimmy Durante,

along with a rather creepy elf. 



 

A super-cute cotton batting and glitter snowman,

just 2 1/2 inches high.

 

More Christmas kitsch to come this month...

"Black Friday" Finds

As much as I love hunting for treasures, I don't really go in for the day-after-Thanksgiving "Black Friday" shopfest. TVs, video games, appliances, and all the other electronic gadgets that seem to be the focus for shoppers that day don't really appeal to me much, and you couldn't pay me enough to be in those crowds. Instead I sleep in, then eat breakfast while watching the news stories of riots at the local Walmart. Fueled by Captain Crunch cereal and self-righteousness, I then go the opposite direction, visiting my favorite little independently owned shops in small towns.  My goals are chiefly: 1) supporting them, in an effort to avoid nothing but Walmarts in our future; and 2) seeing how they've decorated for the holidays.

So yesterday found me in a little "County Store" in a remote area, as far from the malls and big box places as I could get. This particular store, housed in several old farm buildings, specializes in holiday decorations along with some local crafts and baked goods. Occasionally, an antique toy can be found in its densely packed display cases, too.

And this trip didn't disappoint: I spotted this little doll's legs sticking out from under a pile of tinsel. Just a tiny 3 1/2 inches tall, this dollhouse doll was made in Germany between the 1890s-1900s, and is still wearing her original clothes.

Other finds included these old Christmas ornaments. The 3 inch snowman is made of cotton batting, and dates from around the 1930s-40s, while the chenille Santa is likely a bit older.

Who needs Best Buy's "door buster" deals when there are things like this out there, just waiting to be discovered?