holiday favorites

i have already gathered a pile of red, pink, and cream colored treasures on my desk to start working on valentine's day projects but i have to post my christmas favorites before i begin the next holiday!

this is my old blue planter i fill with favorite vintage things and set out on my desk right at hand for decorating packages and gifts. the tiny bottle brush trees are only 1 1/2 inches tall and they have been so fun to use to dress up my tiny paper houses from japan.


i remember my mom staying up late on christmas eve making doll clothes for me and my sisters. it seems i inherited this tradition. i wanted to finish olivia's stocking for her as a surprise on christmas morning so i was up past midnight stitching away. when we finally began filling the stockings and setting out gifts the snow was falling thick out in front of the house and we saw a fox scurry past in the snow and head up the mountain. a little magic!

i still use this stocking i got when i was six, so many memories attached to this funny thing. it has a bit of a chunky shape, but i like being able to tuck in an orange and some small wrapped gifts. i traced the shape for olivia's stocking and used some of the same designs for decorating.


when i was a girl we used santa mugs like these on christmas morning for our hot cocoa and blueberry muffins. i was so excited to find a set of six with a matching pitcher for my own family to use this year. then just a couple weeks later i came across a set of tiny santa mugs only 2 inches tall.


my friend candice put together this gorgeous present for me! it is an old bread tin with the most wonderful vintage images on it.
tucked inside was a collection of vintage holiday gifts. this bottle brush tree and wrapped tape measure.


and then these beautiful ric rac earings. martha steward did a feature on vintage ricrac a couple of years ago and showed how to make these flowers. really lovely with the pearl centers.




kari surprised me with this stocking at silver bella! she used vintage wallpapers and trims to decorate the stocking in such a funky style.


then i got this big box from cassondra. she mailed me a fantastic wall pocket to hang all my christmas cards. perfect colors don't you think?



our family exchanged small gifts this year. we could make them or buy them but the rule was only spend $4.00 on each person. the kids came up with the best things. hannah wrote and illustrated a children's book for me called 'henry the ugly christmas tree'. it is so fantastic, we couldn't believe it. marina made everyone a little painting and used the free downloadable tags from the small object and decorated each one.







this is one of the star ornaments i made to give away this year packaged up with a tag made from a page copied out of my nostalgic book of days. i shrunk the original page so i could print 8 to a page then cut out each one and added glass glittere where it was on the original image.



i am glad we are knee deep in snow as i want to hold on to these holiday memories for a while and the blanket of white makes me think christmas will be here again soon.

julie