My Vintage Christmas

I am one of those SILLY people who absolutely LOVES everything about Christmas, maybe I should have been born a WHO! lol

From the second Thanksgiving is officially over, until New Year's Day,

I eat, sleep, think & dream Christmas in living color, sprinkled with sugar plum fairies & white twinkle lights.

I adore carefully opening up my boxes of Christmas's Past & getting a chance to see my much cherished vintage Johnson Brothers Christmas dishes & my collection of vintage 50's ornaments for the tree.

How easily I can remember back to my own childhood Christmas's so filled with magic & wonder.

I remember a pillow my Mommy had made for me. A sweet, little round pillow of Santa's face made with love out of felt & sequins.

She made a set of 6 little angels that hung on our tree, each one playing a different musical instrument. They too were made of felt & sequins & I LOVED them so much...sequins were like pixie dust to me as a little girl...pure magic!

What I wouldn't do to touch & hold & smell those memories, just one more time.

I remember getting all bundled up during the holidays & going to Belmont Shore where we would park & walk the small town Main Street, looking at all the Christmas displays in the store windows.

Then, my Daddy would drive us a little further down Pacific Coast Hwy to where the rich people lived. We would walk the sidewalks outside their homes, glancing into their world at their huge Christmas trees covered in grand lights & surrounded by beautiful presents & bows...

but it never took away from the magic of our little tree at home with the sweet homemade felt & sequined angels.

I love the words of Dr. Seuss...I too believe Christmas means a little bit more.

'Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.'

Here's to wishing all of you Sweet Hearts,

the joys & blessings of wonderful childhood memories, your very own Vintage Christmas & "a little bit more!"

I am also joining Debra of Common Ground for her Vintage Inspiration Friday post. The theme through December is to share your Vintage Christmas...how fun is that! Come on over & join in the fun, there are so many lovely links to visit. I hope you will enjoy them as well.

PS: My 400 Friends Give-Away is in 3 days!!

If you haven't left a comment yet, click here to be entered...Good Luck All!

XOXO

vintagesusie

The Gift of Serendipity & a Surprise

A new week is upon us Friends & along with that comes new Possibilities!

I believe in Serendipity.

The definition is:

1. The phenomenon of things coming together perfectly when you least expect them to.

 2. The effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.

Thus has been, my amazing 'Gift of Friendship' from Diane Cook! 

{susie & diane at marburger farms last September}

Diane found me through my blog, although I don't know exactly how she came across it.

I do know she was taken with my Disneyland post & loved the design of my etsy shop banner.

She contacted me to help design a brand for her to use on her blog rosa & josie's, for hang tags on her beautiful line of jewelry & to help promote her classes on the art of making jewelry.

It was a simple design from a vintage cabinet card she had of two little sisters holding hands.

As I played with this image in PS, there were so many things I fell in love with. The little pleats in their matching skirts, the floral embroidery & piping that decorated them, the crispness of their shirts & of course, how tenderly they held each other's hands.

 

Who could have ever imagined that one design job would make soul sisters out of strangers, inspire me to create my own jewelry, introduce me to some of the greatest talents in the art of jewelry making, get me design jobs, motivate me to travel half way across the US to the great state of Texas to be a part of an Antique Experience like no other, indirectly introduce me to The Junk Gypsy's & Magnolia Pearl, directly introduce me to my gal pal Charlene Pearl of My Heart's Ease & unknowingly change my life forever!

I couldn't have!

{one of diane's displays at marburger farms}

Serendipity, right?

So, I go to Barnes & Noble to pick up an issue of Artful Blogging that I know Diane has been featured in. As I flip through the pages & see her article, I am overjoyed for this amazing & talented woman I now call friend.

Heading towards the checkout, I grab a Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine just for the heck of it, thinking that maybe an ad I recently worked on for Jeanette at fundametal.net might be in this issue.

Again, with the magic of serendipity, what a wonderful surprise I had in store!

As I slowly turned the pages, wanting to take in each exquisite article, I saw one that caught my eye...

A Necklace Round Robin by Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studios . How exciting, I know Cindy, Diane introduced us & I worked on a design job for her ArtBliss Workshop.
Then another...

Where Inspiration is Hatched by Ricki Schumacher of Riki Jewelry. How cool, she & I had just been emailing each other about setting up a time to work on some blog design, she liked the work Diane & I had done together.

And then, there it was...

The Art of Presentation, Her Grandmother's Wedding Veil

Artwork by Diane Cook...

and spread across 3 glorious pages, were the images of two little sisters holding hands.

{diane at her booth at marburger farm}

One of Diane's favorite sayings is...

Come join me...take my hand, as we travel on this journey called life....we will learn together.

Diane is the embodiment of generosity. She can never truly know what an amazing gift
she is to me.

Serendipity...

The effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.
I BELIEVE!

XOXO

vintagesusie