holiday decor

Spring tulips and the Easter weekend sale at Good Juju

flowers, holiday decor
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Aren’t these tulips so springy and bright?  They have such a realistic look, everyone is surprised to find they are fakes.  My friend, Mindy, had some excess inventory and offered them to a few of the dealers at Juju the other day while we were all working there.  There were a LOT of blooms.  I have plenty to plenty to use around my space, plus took these home.

This year, due to my surgery, I haven’t set out any Easter decor around the cottage, or even anything spring themed.  I was happy to have these.

I do have holiday goods at the antique mall.

For the March sale, I crafted quite a bit of bunnies and eggs, plus had a couple boxes of vintage too.  After the sale, it didn’t look like anything was missing.  But when I went through sales receipts I was surprised to see just how many bunnies had hopped away with customers.

In retail, you need to be a few skips ahead, so March was the time to sell Easter goods.  And our First Friday sale this week is actually the holiday weekend, so those who needed decor items, most likely already got them. And their minds were turning to all the things they had to pack away, instead of planning new arrangements.

Being smart, I’d have packed my own wares away and used the real estate space for another box of stuff to sell.   But I was enjoying the festiveness and let it stay.

Sometimes my displays are more about entertaining myself than good business practices.

Oops, did I admit that out loud?

Heck, I guess a lot of what I do at Good Juju is to make myself happy.

One of the reasons that I moved into a larger booth was to indulge my design and display dreams.

Im not really missing having my home all Eastered up, since I got to indulge myself at the store.  Now, of course I do hope that shoppers will be attracted to the goods and choose a few for themselves, but I know the odds are lower this month.

And I’m still happy to be doing it.   I hope you’re enjoying your holiday too, in whatever way you do it.  We will have a quiet day, just Rich, the dogs and myself, along with that joyful bundle of fake tulips.  Maybe a walk in the woods? Probably some physical therapy exercises for my arm too.

Party number two

holiday decor, We're having a party
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I always say that the best time to host a party is when you already have one planned that week.

The house is already cleaned, extra tables and chairs have been carried in, sometimes you can even make enough food to serve two times.

That part of the plan didn’t work completely., but sorta.   I made fresh quiche for both days, but I did sautee all the veggies and meats ahead of time so I could assemble the pies easier.

For the second get together, I didn’t set the table, it was served buffet style.  The earlier Bookclub gathering was a set number of people, this 2nd one was more open ended and I wasn’t sure how many we’d have.

I’m always looking forward to throwing a bash, setting up for a party is every bit as much fun as redoing my booth at Good Juju.

We had a festive day, and a lovely group.

Angie made a peppermint pie that is now up there on my list of all time best foods.

And aren’t these roses from Beth full of holiday cheer?  Everyone was very thoughtful, and generous.

Like I said, a lovely group.

The Cottage at Christmas

holiday decor
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My holiday decor is a bit lighter this year.

As I was setting it up, I started to feel ill.

So some boxes were left unpacked.

Even in that scenario, I seem to have set out plenty, huh?

As I pack it away January first, I typically fill a tub per tree, so when it is time to set it out again, it’s all sorted into different categories.


Such as nature…

Pastels…

Handmade with vintage paper…

Sentimental or family items…

It’s a loose system, with variables.  And when I unpack, I don’t exactly use the items the same as the year before.

It makes things go a little quicker for set up, even when I’m changing it up for the season.

It also makes tear down time go more quickly too.

Set up is a full day, because I have to pause, admire, reminisce, and enjoy all the baubles.  But tear down is usually one afternoon.  My record time is under 3 hours, but that was because we had an emergency where the floor needed ripped up and major repairs handled so those trees needed to be gone.

I guess my antique dealer past is helpful training in doing a redo quickly.   Plus, it makes me happy to do it.  An enjoyable task can just zip by, huh?  Well, unless you have guys with saws and tools waiting for you to get your precious pretties out of the way so they can tear up the floor to get to the foundation.  Not quite as much fun.

Jingle time at Juju

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, holiday decor
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November’s First Friday Weekend at Good Juju was all about the holidays.

And for me at least, so is the upcoming December sale.

Opinions among dealers vary, with some thinking November is for shopping to decorate your house and December is shopping for gifts.  Which I agree is valid, the same theory holds true for selling Halloween decor in September, not October because most people have finished decorating their homes by then.

 So while a lot of dealers still have their gorgeous displays for the season and the mall is festive and sparkly, they can subtly up the non Christmas goods for sale too.

I added my crazy quilt stuffies in my own spot. Plus, if you look around, you’ll notice many of my display pieces such as bowls, plates, books, etc are normal every day pieces that I use to hold my items for sale.

I include functional or household items (as well as jewelry and clothing) in the mix.

But for me, I’m probably still at 90% ho ho holidays in the back part of my area.

Part of the front of the space is all jewelry, all the time.

But for now, there is a Yule tide glow over everything.  Simply because I adore every thing related to the season all so much.  I love making pretties , collecting old Christmas stuff, fixing it up, treasuring it, displaying it, loving it.

Will my sales in December be as good as they were in November?  Maybe not, but my set up makes me extremely happy!

Don’t get me wrong, I take my business seriously.  But I also am there to enjoy the work, doing the displays, indulging myself and my joy in styling the pieces I make or find.

There is a chance that I go a bit over the top for our two day sale……. it has been mentioned to me.

And when my love of Christmas collides with my tendency to over do- I am not just in my happy place.

I’m sliding into my domain of exhilaration!

Simple stars and roses

holiday decor, Uncategorized
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I mentioned in my last post that I’d been under the weather.  Way under.  Before getting sick, I was planning a dinner party and decorating for Christmas.  I had to cancel the guests but I was left with a sparkling clean home and twinkly lights to cheer me as I recovered.

How nice!

Well, I almost had the house decorated.   I didn’t quite have our large, white tree finished.   It honestly had plenty on  it, unless you compare to previous years.

While hanging the baubles, I’d suddenly got worn out.  So I slid the remaining tub full of shiny brutes into the closet and cleaned up the mess that comes along with decking the halls, and called it good enough.

Now, after feeling better and living with the half done tree for a week, I decided it needed a little more.  But I still wasn’t up to dragging out the tubs and going through the trouble of hanging the delicate, vintage balls.

So, I dyed some coffee filters in coffee, seemed fitting.

Then turned piles of six filters into roses, and painted the petals with glue then drizzled glitter onto them.  They were quick, easy, and were simple to tuck into the branches of the tree.

The roses were ideal to solve the issue of the tree not being quite full enough.  Or they would’ve been if I’d had more coffee filters.

I ran out.

To finish it, I folded sheet music into stars and used the same glitter on them.  It’s a nice change up for me, I’m enjoying the new look.  Don’t get me wrong, I adore vintage shiny brites and my lovingly collected, special pastel ones in various shapes took years to accumulate.

But after being sick, I just was too tired to hang them with the care they require.  So they will stay safely tucked away until next year and for now I’m happy with my hand crafted paper pretties.  Plus, it was good for my soul to have a little craft project to work on.

Happy Thanksgiving

celebrations, cottage, holiday decor
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It is a quiet day for me  on this holiday. Rich has to be out of town, and Sugarwings is with family in Missouri.  Spending two days on one meal isn’t really something I look forward to anyway, so I will not be missing that part of the holiday.

But I will be thinking of all my grand fairies, and the whole big group of people I love and wishing them a lovely day.

Since I was ill for more than two weeks, I’ve gotten extremely far behind on my prep for our next First Friday weekend at Good Juju   So I will take advantage of this solitary day to make things sparkly and bright for the Christmas sale there.

And when the day is done, I’ll enjoy my fall table display one more night before it gets a Christmas glow up to match the rest of the house.

All the while, feeling grateful for having a family to love whether we share a turkey together or not.  I hope your days are filled with caring too.  Have a great Thanksgiving!

Remaking Santas, one used to be a wizard

holiday decor
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This guy didn’t start out with a wish to deliver toys all night long in a sleigh one night a year.

His previous job was casting spells.  I tore him apart, ripped off his clothes (not in a fun way), and started gluing red velvet and mink onto him to facilitate his career change.  His old, fake fur beard was pulled off with pliers and a fresh, angora one was glued in its place.

Here is another, midway through his reconstruct.  He began as a Santa, just an ugly one.

Here is how he started.  So hairy, he can’t even find his sleigh to climb in, let alone read his naughty list.

Once he was made over, you could once again see his face through his new, angora goat hair beard. And hopefully, I made the nice list by helping him out.

I don’t blink I got a before pic for this guy.

Randy gifted me this one to redo.

No fabric for him, I was able to do the transformation with paint and glitter.

Lots of glitter!  And some white mink.

I kinda like the funky stripes on this Claus, so I just updated him with teensy mother of pearl buttons, lace, mink,  and a vintage buckle on a strip of leather as a belt.

I just love redoing these gentlemen,  and hope the changes are upgrades.

More hand made holiday goods for the November sale at Good Juju

Good JuJu, holiday decor
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Remember the two kitties I made from vintage quilt scraps last month?  I had small bits of the fabric left and turned it into stockings.

I made lacy stockings too. These are ornament size, not hanging up to stuff with presents  sized.  Well, unless you are a very stingy gift giver, they won’t hold much at all.   Oh, that’s wrong!  Stick a generous amount on a gift card and slide that in!

I also have angels under domes.

Angels with trees on teapots.

An Angel driving a floral jalopy.

Angel statues you can dress up in crowns.

A sweet lil vintage Angel gazing out of a gingerbread house window.

There are lots of gingerbread houses.

And plenty of angels.  Not to mention the deer, trees, and Santas.

Oh, and paintings too.

I’ll show more in the next post.

Holiday paintings in my booth

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, Hand painted, hand painted signs, holiday decor
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While I’ve been away from my blog, I’ve still been in the habit of snapping pics of what I’m working on.  And as usual, my main focus has been my booth at Good Juju, in the Old West Bottoms of KC.

I’m over the moon excited about my November sale’s holiday theme and wanted a noticeable way to sell ornies.  Especially after seeing just how many were being brought into the mall by other dealers.

Wow, Juju must have the highest concentration of Shiny Brites in the Midwest.   If you’re looking to add some vintage glory to your tree, uhm,  I think I know what direction to point you in.


On the rear wall of the booth, my banner is flipped over to the Christmas Cottage side. It was a quick transformation from Haunted Cottage.  The pulley system for hanging it made it simple to lower, turn over and hang back up.  I did it by myself in a flash.

Well, maybe not like a lightening flash of speed.  The canvas is 6×8’ and sorta unwieldy.   It isn’t heavy, but a little stiff and bulky.

 And big.

 I waited until I had all of my leftover Halloween goods packed out of the way and the center of the space was open and clear, then tussled with it a bit.   But the pulley process itself was super easy.

Another painted holiday touch is a couple of reindeer I prettied up with pink, white, and glitter.

Earlier this summer, I’d found a set of deer and a sleigh at a garage sale.  I sold three of the cuties with the sleigh and saved back two for my decor.  I kept the ones in the worst condition and gave them a makeover.  They were rather holy, I’m thinking from years of repairs, hanging, and stapling lights to them.  I patched holes with calking and changed the look from traditional to cottage chic with paint.

Since the glitter was sprinkled over Elmers Glue, they aren’t exactly good for yard art now.  The adhesive for the vintage millinery blooms on their sparkly heads and the old ribbon was water based too.  But after 50-60 years of living out in the elements every December, I think these gals deserved a break from pulling a sleigh in bad weather.   They can be house deer now.

Or booth deer, I guess.  I’m rather fond of them and would not be upset to give them a holiday home in my breezeway after our last day of sales, if no one else claims them.

Hey, thanks again for still reading after the kerfuffle of blog switching.  I’ll have more antique mall pics coming plus all the other stuff I’ve been making in the last few weeks.  See you around?

Hand painted seasonal banners for Good Juju

cottage, Good JuJu, holiday decor, parties
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The banners are hung!

Yes, multiple banners!  The original one in this photo stays where it is, right behind the new ones that are hung on a pulley system so they can be lowered and switched.

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 For now, it’s Haunted Cottage for September and October First Fridays.

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Painted onto the backside of the Haunted Cottage is a Christmas Cottage.

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 All I have to do is roll it down with the simple pulleys, flip it over and haul it back up.

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It’s tempting to paint a whole slew of these canvases and switch them up continuously.   This Halloween/xmas one will do me til January, and I can go right back to my original one if I want to.  That would be the practical thing to do…………….

 

 

 

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