My beautiful, vintage tree & Day 3 matchboxes...

Good morning! Hope you're into vintage ornaments as this posts features my tree & it is picture heavy! Your scrolling finger is gonna get a work-out... Sorry! But I deleted dozens of photos after uploading them so it could be worse. LOL I'll keep the verbage to a minimum though & if you're not interested in vintage ornaments, just skip down to the Day 3 matchboxes...my feelings won't be hurt, I promise!

Anyway, I love, love, love, love, love my tree! It's literally dripping w/ ornaments...most are vintage Shiny Brites, many are the Merck's Family Old World Christmas (high quality reproductions), given to me by my children over the years & some are cheaper, vintage style ornaments used as fillers. I use no garlands, bows or assorted doo-dads....just hundreds (maybe even thousands!) of ornaments w/ a handful of clip-on glass birds. For years, I've wanted bubble lights to complete the vintage look (my grandmother had them on her tree) but haven't been able to find any @ a price I wanted to pay. Last weekend at the cattle barns flea, I scored 6 complete sets for $25! Now all it's missing is tinsel (ain't gonna happen on a fake flocked tree though!) & high enough ceilings so that I can put the tree in an urn. I'd fill the urn up w/ overflow ornaments...if I only had ceilings high enough. *sigh* So it's not perfect but it's pretty dang close. And it looks better w/ the more ornaments on it so I can add more & more & more. And then some more! I can't see me EVER having my tree any other way.


click on picture & then click again to enlarge for details
My tree skirt is a beautiful beaded, vintage skirt....LOVE it! I've had it for years but never put it under the tree until now. If the dogs pull off so much as one sequin though, it'll have to be pulled up. Underneath the tree skirt is a vintage quilt made of all polyester squares (think leisure suits .... UGLY!) but backed w/ a luxurious beautiful green velvet.

The crowning glory of my tree is a crown. LOL I have a collection of vintage toppers too but I display them in other places.

This the view in the mirror behind the tree.

And the obligatory night-time shot. All Christmas trees are beautiful at night though...I think mine looks best in the light of the day, with the sun glinting off all the ornaments.

And now on to the matchboxes...today's lovely Day 3 matchbox was made by Kelly @ Cherry Kingdom ...isn't it gorgeous? And what a magical shade of blue!

Inisde is a snowman pin & a teensy-tiny paper doll. Thank you Kelly!

Inside the Day 3 box I made is a little doily, dressed up some w/ glitter, book page & a Noel star.

Here's to a very merry Christmas!

Day 2 of the advent match box swap!

Day 2's matchbox was crafted by Marie @ Spun By Me . I can't tell you how pretty all these boxes are...isn't this one sweet? Inside the vintage milk glass teacup is eggnog (spiked of course!LOL)...every day I toast to the giver of the matchbox...here's to you, Marie. Thank you!

Inside was a charming bottle cap charm.

Inisde the Day 2 box I created, I put scrabble tiles spelling out Noel.

Tomorrow I'll share some pics of my Christmas decor along w/ Day 3's matchbox...see y'all then!

Countdown to Christmas!

Today is December 1st & time to start the countdown to Christmas for the advent matchbox swap held by Linda @ A Swap for all Seasons. Linda is a wonderful swap hostess & if you've been on the fence about joining a swap, I encourage you to sign up for her next one...she ensures that everybody gets a swap, so no risk. Plus she sent a goodie bag...can't beat that!

This advent matchbox swap was sooo much fun...loved it! Here's my mini-aluminum tree, all decked out w/ the matchboxes.

This is the #1 box ....crafted by Sherry Edwards @ Sherry's Simple Blog . Isn't it lovely? LOVE the postage stamp stamp!

Inside is an altered domino...very pretty!

I've already shared the boxes I made w/ y'all but not the contents (I didn't want to ruin the surprise for any swappers who read my blog). But this is what was inside the #1 box I sent....an old rusty key, dolled up w/ a bit of bling. Wonder who got it?

I'm gonna do my best to actually make this an advent blog swap & post each day about that day's matchbox...I'm gonna do my posts 5 @ a time & schedule them so they'll be ready whether I am or not. ;)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here...I'm almost done! Did have a minor blip when I unpacked my beloved flocked tree though. The lid for the top half of the tree had developed a crack & there must be a leak in our shed, cause the bin was inches deep in water & my beautiful, flocked tree was all rusty & deflocked! :( I tried to go w/ the flow but that flocking really showcases my collection of vintage ornaments...where in the heck was I gonna find another? Hobby Lobby didn't have one, neither did Target, Big Lots, Michael's or Target. It wouldn't have been a huge deal except I have been wanting bubble lights on it for years...it was the only thing my tree lacked. And I had just scored 6 sets that morning at teh flea! Live trees are out of the question with the allergy problems some of the grands have. I thought I was gonna have to pay $200 for an unflocked tree that I hated. But I convinced hubby to persevere & we drove to Garden Ridge. SCORE!!!! Couple of hours spent looking & a couple hundred dollars spent but I have my beautiful, beautiful flocked tree, dripping w/ thousands of vintage ornaments & complete w/ bubble lights. You'll have to come back & see it...I'll be sharing it in a couple of days.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!