Decorating Your Home for Christmas Using Yard Sale Finds

The holiday season is upon us.  For many of us the fall and winter holiday season begins in the USA with Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer.  From Labor Day through Halloween to Thanksgiving and the winter holidays of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, we become the intense focus of retailers and advertisers.

Retailers try hard to convince us we need their products to be "good parents"  "to increase our status with friends and coworkers" "to keep up with the latest music-technology-games-health products-fashions......and on and on with any reason that touches our buttons.

Decorating our homes for the holiday season has become more stressful and demands more decisions and money than ever before.  The options and cost for lighting  can be overwhelming even to the most avid holiday decorator.  The availability and decorating options for inside your home can be just as, and oftentimes more stressful.




The home images we see in various media send a message that we must decorate our home from top to bottom in the holiday theme.  Of course the retailers offer for sale exactly what we need to accomplish this retail goal of a MacHoliday House.


     

 This holiday season you may want to decrease your decorating stress by increasing your recycling and letting your imagination guide you in preparing your home for the season.

Here are 3 of my favorite yard sale finds from this past summer that I will use to decorate my home this holiday season.

Tea is Served

One of my loves is china and porcelain, especially china cups.  This summer I focused on purchasing miniature cups.  These will be used to decorate a 4 foot tree in the dining room.  Old lace obtained from auctions will be used instead of garland.  The tea cups will be attached to the tree with silk ribbon, also gathered from yard sales and auctions.

 

Making Merry with Music

Music continues to play a large role in my life. It is not always easy to find but when old music is found at a yard sale there is usually a lot to be had for a little.  I use the music sheets in many ways. sometimes to make a border around a small picture that I then hang on the tree.

Other times I make a cone out of a sheet of music, fill the cone with dried flowers and bittersweet from my garden, Antique lace or ribbon is used to hand the musical cones from the branches of the tree. I also us bittersweet to decorate the garden arbor, benches and fence .

 Bittersweet provides lovely decoration and food for the birds.

Bedazzling Tree Ornaments


Fashion jewelry is plentiful at yard sales and flea markets.  It seems everyone has an abundance of
bracelets and necklaces with broken clasps and earrings that have long lost their mate.  Necklaces can be wrapped around tabletop trees and used as garland.

On larger trees mismatched jewelry adds nostalgic glam. Earrings mingle easily with other ornaments often hanging from bracelets.  A large brooch makes a dazzling tree topper.

Till Next Time, Stay Well, Stay Happy

auctionmom80@gmail.com

http://antiquesattheirongate.com

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Collecting Buttons Family Fun and Decorating Activities

While I am enjoying the snow this winter, mainly because I can conduct most of my business over the Internet, I have started to think Spring.  That includes thinking about gardening,decorating inside and outside the shop, and what types of new craft items I might want to add to the shop for those who like new items crafted from antiques.

My first stop was my sewing area, where I quickly became engaged in browsing through the many buttons gathered over the years.  Some gained by design for a specific project, others purchased due to the sheer beauty of them, others taken from clothes that are no longer fit for the public eye but with buttons that speak something special to you.

Buttons are mentioned in writings from the 17th Century and there is a record of John Eliot from England ordering three gross of pewter buttons for trading in the New World.

Philadelphia buttons were crafted from brass and became extremely popular in the early 1700s. Buttons at this time were also produced in crystal, glass, horn, beads, and tapestry.  Some finer buttons were trimmed with silver.

Wooden buttons gained in popularity in the 1800s.

In 1851 Nelson Goodyear patented a button crafted of rubber that was rigid enough to make a button.

Buttons of the 20th Century were largely plain with little or no decoration. Darker buttons were more desirable than light colored buttons.  Buttons made before 1920 are generally more collectible than those made after this date.  Exceptions include Bakelite buttons of the 1940s and Lucite buttons of the 1959s.

Buttons continue to be made out of various materials with great variety of decoration and styles.  Buttons can be round, triangular, square, or made to look like a flower bud.  Buttons made for children's clothing offers a fun collecting activity.

Buttons as a collection can be displayed in a variety of ways.  I have some displayed in small glass display case, others are placed in jars trimmed with vintage ribbon and line the shelf in a guest room. I think learning math is more fun when counting bunnies on colorful red buttons!

Button offer a wide variety of collecting choices and endless ways in which to display and gain enjoyment from your collection


 Button collecting can really be a family activity that is fun and requires no special knowledge or    equipment.   

Till next time, stay well, stay happy

auctionmom80@gmail.com
www.antiquesattheirongte.com