Final 2009 Vintage Christmas Post

I thought I would wrap up my 2009 Vintage Christmas with shots of some of my favorite pieces. The real standout that I picked up in 2009 was a pair that has a little boy on the phone with Santa and then the other piece is one of Santa on the other end of the line. I think this is just one of the most precious sets I have seen. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to sharing my 2010 finds next year.



I just love these ceramic Christmas trees. My stepfather gave me a white one with red bulbs in 2008. I picked this one up at an Estate sale for $5 and I have a much smaller one that is white with pink bulbs. This one is neat because of the "snow" on the branches. I love the purple bulbs as well.




I have a pair of these Howard Holt pieces. I got them in a box lot at an auction. They are so cute with the separate "traffic light" that they look up at.

I also have a pair of these angels. You just slip them over the candle. I put them in the same spot every year because I just love the way they look.

If you see this piece in person, his nose is a red bulb. I am not sure why it came out looking so yellow.

This is the pair I referenced earlier. So cute!

This was a great 2008 find. I got him at the Elkhorn, WI flea market from a guy who sells some really neat vintage Christmas items. He is musical as well. You just give Santa a couple of turns and he plays Christmas music.


Here's to a great vintage 2010
Rebecca

2009 Vintage Christmas Cont . . .

I love all the whimsical Christmas figures that were created in the fifties and have collected quite a few. The little ladies are so cute with their hats, muffs and pretty dresses. I have a smaller room divider in my landing and it is the perfect spot for my collections of Christmas ladies. I also have a small collection of Christmas card index boxes. I believe you tracked addresses and who sent you cards. They fit perfectly on the bottom shelf.

Yes, there is still more to come . . .
Rebecca

2009 Vintage Christmas Cont . . .

Here are some more items from my Vintage Christmas collection.

These are plastic Santas I have picked up along the way. The tallest one by the light was one I had growing up as a kid. I think he needs a shirt. He cracks me up because he seems a bit like a disco santa with no shirt on. I have a couple pieces that are still in their original wrapper. I am torn in terms of taking them out of the plastic to display so this year they are being displayed in their original wrapper.

Here are some more items from the "Christmas Plastic" room. One of my favorites is the plastic Nativity scene. I got this at the Long Beach Flea Market in California. It is a great Flea Market and I tend to find some great 50's/60's items when I go.

In my search for vintage Christmas items, I have run across some great satin spun type of items. I don't know exactly what you call them but they are really neat. I picked up these two snow men this year at the Elkhorn, WI flea market. They were only $2. They are one of my favorite finds in 2009. I am not sure they could be any cuter and they are in great shape. I have the original box as well.

More to come, stay tuned . . .

Rebecca

2009 Vintage Christmas Cont . . .

In more recent years, I have started picking up vintage plastic Christmas pieces. There are some pieces that are just so cute. Our family room has been designated the "plastic" room for our Christmas decorating. Here are some of our pieces.

We have this great shadow box. I bought it in an antique mall in Springfield, IL. This year I put many of my elf pieces on it as they seemed like a good fit. You can see the reflection of the Christmas tree in it.

Stay tuned . . . more to come!

Rebecca

2009 Vintage Christmas Continued

I have quite a few ceramic Christmas collectibles from the 50's and 60's. Here is our Heywood Wakefield Room divider with many of the pieces. It is nice because each part of the room divider can be a small grouping of different pieces. I have Santa's, Snowmen, Mr and Mrs Claus, Noel and various pieces.

2009 Vintage Christmas

Here are some pictures of our 2009 Vintage Christmas in Madison, WI. Our white tree is not vintage but most of the ornaments on the tree are.















































This year I have really started collecting vintage handmade items. I picked up this great wall hanging for $1 at a rummage. It has the 12 days of Christmas on it.


















I got these crazy cool wisemen for free at an estate sale. The lady was so happy I took them out of the free box. Their heads are made with covered toliet paper rolls. Felt is used for their facial features. They have some really nice pieces of vintage jewelry on them. I love the "puffed" head pieces.




Like so many of my collections, it starts with one good deal on a group of items and just grows from there. I got a bag of vintage beaded ornaments at SVdP for $1.50. I was hooked. So I have started picking up beaded ornaments where I can. I also picked up a NOS kit and plan to try to make one over this holiday season from the kit. Wish me luck!







Here is a close up of some of the beaded ornaments.


















Stay tuned . . . I will be posting more pics from our 2009 Vintage Christmas.

Rebecca

Adventures in Vintage Camping

We are going to kick off our blog with Aqua Betty, our vintage camper. Aqua Betty started her life with us as Ugly Betty. We got her on eBay from a couple in PA in 2007. We live in WI so we had to travel about 900 miles to pick her up.

She is a 1968 Ken Craft and is 26ft long. She has had a pretty interesting life. She spent a good portion of her early years traveling throughout Mexico and the Southwest as home to a preacher and his family. They lived in her 24/7. She was then sold to the couple in PA and they used her as a weekend camper for many years.

When we got her she had a big brown stripe and horrible green indoor/outdoor carpet. The biggest issue was that the wife of the couple decided the camper smelled musty and put an entire box of moth balls in her about 2 days before we picked her. Then shut her up tight as a drum. She even went as far as to crush the mothballs and sprinkle them in every conceivable place in the camper. When we went to pick her up we about choked on the smell. The husband said that he told his wife "not to do it". We wish she would have listened to him. They told us everything worked so we took her to the camp ground near their home and camped in her that very first night.

Our first evening of camping in her was not a pleasant experience. First off, things did not work as they told us. We could not get running water, the toilet didn't work and the smell, oh the smell. Luckily there are windows by each of the twin beds so we both slept with our noses pressed against the window screens just to get through the night. The next morning we called ahead to our next stop and made hotel reservations.

We had her stripe painted aqua, replaced the floor, got new mattresses, new foam and fabric on the benches, new window treatments, a new toilet installed, and all her plumbing redone. But most importantly we removed every stinking bit and piece of the moth balls. They were everywhere. We had to rip out all of the insulation because it was full of moth balls. Honestly it took us almost a year to get all the smell out. It seemed to finally go away when we ripped up the old vinyl floor and installed the new floor.

Now she is Aqua Betty. We took her to the Vintage Trailer show in Montello, WI last year. It was fun to drive in and hear the positive comments. It was a real treat to visit with other enthusiasts and to show her off.

We still have work to do on her. She does not have the original Aqua frig so we want to get one that we can make look vintage. We need to fix a couple of spots in the wood that got wet and damaged before we got her and we want to have her white part repainted. But for now she is one sassy vintage camper and we enjoy camping in her very much.

Livin' the vintage life in our vintage camper

Rebecca