Bonus -- It's time for the Christmas windows!

So I know I've been a real slacker when it comes to the blog, especially with the window posts.  We've still been doing the windows at Collector's Antique Mall in Asheboro, North Carolina -- we just haven't been sharing them with you.  So for that, I apologize, offer as a gift to you our newest window, just in time for Christmas.

If you've read our blog before, you know that the Christmas window is not necessarily our favorite one to do.  We have more parameters and limitations with it than we do with a normal window design (the tree goes here, it must be rich and full, blah blah blah).  But we really enjoyed this one.  It came together quickly, there was tons of silver tree junk in storage at the store, and we could use our trusty black and white tiled "floor".  And there's always lots and lots of glassware at the store to use. 

We suspended plastic glittery snowflake ornaments in silver and white from the ceiling, and filled the wall with black, silver, and white framed mirrors.  We wanted it to SPARKLE! and SHINE!  And it does. The effect doesn't translate all that well in photographs, but standing outside at night looking in, it really twinkles.  So pretty.

Balls and tinsel and picks galore!

The tree is so full of stuff, I was afraid it would fall over.  We found a gajillion silver picks and we used them ALL.  We also had tons of that cheap silver tinsel garland (can you see it?  it's kind of buried in the tree), and we debated about using it -- will it look like cheap silver tinsel garland?  But it's kitschy, and I LOVE KITSCH, so we went with it.  And I swear, it made that tree looks expensive.  Who'd have thunk??

We didn't go overboard adding presents under the tree.  Just some carefully curated items, mostly chosen for their colors and designs.

We loved this doll for her white hair and patterned dress.  And the dominoes are freakin' cool!

So we've done a Christmas kitchen, a traditional living room, our Hipster Cabin Christmas last year -- but we'd never done a table and chairs.  We found this great white iron and glass mid century patio table and mixed it with two traditional black chairs.  We were selective with our red accents, and mixed crystal, painted wood, milk glass, and steel for the other pieces.  We think it looks pretty awesome.

We've wanted to use this checked bedspread for a while now.  It was perfect here.

Crystal Christmas tree and Santa says "Hi!"

This has deer heads for handles!  Perfect!

We finished the whole window with angel hair tinsel -- another kitschy classic.  But it's so sparkly, and delicate!  We put it EVERYWHERE.

And the piece de resistance is my disco fringe silver tinsel wreath I made.  Did you see it?

You can make one too!  I started with a Styrofoam wreath base, and used silver bead garland and angel hair tinsel from the dollar store.  I used my handy glue gun to glue random lengths of the bead garland to the top, and I did two layers.

Then I took hanks of angel hair tinsel and wrapped it around the form, hot gluing the ends in the back.  I kept adding it until it was full, then I went back over it and teased out some loose ends for that fringe-y effect.  It was very messy, but you know, whenever I make anything, I make a huge mess.

Messy, but sooo sparkly!

And here it is installed!  Merry Christmas y'all!!

Junk Love Monday: Holy Silver Tinsel Tree, Batman!

applenapps.com

So, you watch Charlie Brown struggle with the meaning of Christmas. You take that journey with  him when he finds the lonely little puny tree. You fall in love with that single red ball. But let's back this thing up. Was that a smorgasbord of shiny tinsel trees that Charlie passed up? Why, Charlie? Why????



Part of the danger of working at an antique mall is the fantastic items that come in, and instantly go out, before a lowly sales clerk has time to count the pennies in her piggy bank. One of those items is the silver tinsel Christmas tree. Every year, we get a few. And every year, they get purchased before we have our chance. The top predator in the tinsel tree food chain is...the pom pom tree. The Blackbird girls LOVE silver tinsel pom pom trees. But, they usually sell before we even know they were in the store. So, imagine the gasp that issued from me when I turned the corner and saw one the other day. There was no question. We had to have it. And at just over 5 feet high, it's just the right size! (Size matters plenty in a house as packed as ours....) At the store, we tested a color wheel on the tree, because you have to be scientific about these things. Our procedure involved 1. plugging in the color wheel and aiming it at the tree; 2. pulling up the two comfiest chairs we could find; and 3. gossiping in the glow (as we would at home--you have to be realistic about these things) for approximately ten minutes. The colors were great, but the wheel got so hot that it burned our fingers. We had visions of the cat knocking over the wheel into something flammable, followed by me running through the yard with a flaming silver pom pom tree in search of the nearest hose. So, we just got the tree. Now, let the assembly begin!

In a laundry basket for transport purposes.

Sorting time!

Assembly, part 1 and 2.

Our plan for tree domination is nearly complete!

We had plans to purchase a colored light bulb to put in the lamp nearest the tree, but found something so much better: a color changing LED bulb. Because it is LED, it doesn't get hot. Also, it has a remote control (cue bluebirds of happiness). And...(drumroll, please)...it slowly rotates through 768 different color shades (which is more colors than even exist in the world!!!!). Okay, so it was the most expensive light bulb we've ever purchased (and is now a treasured fragile object), but a $35 light bulb is still cheaper than  a vintage color wheel and new house after the old one burns down, so we still feel justified. Plus, just look at it!         

    
We pulled out the vintage ornaments, plus some cool newer ones, and put on the the Charlie Brown Christmas Album for the decorating of the tree. There are some particularly special ornaments that got prominent spots, and we stacked ornaments down the branches to make the tree look rich and full. We also tested the fancy light bulb periodically, for scientific reasons, of course. Then came the moment when the cat crept up on us and tried to jump over our miscellaneous piles of tissue-wrapped ornaments, causing an avalanche and three heart attacks in the process (the cat wasn't happy with the end result of his maneuver). Luckily, there were no casualties.

The light bulb is in an inexpensive clip light fixture that plugs in, but the bulb is a little heavier than a standard one, so we had to use our brains to engineer a very rigged, and currently un-pretty, setup that would allow the light to aim at the perfect spot on the tree, without being too close to anything breakable, and clipped in such a way that it is less likely for the cat to knock it over and break our $35 light bulb (or something else, like pottery, which we have a whole lot of). So, the light is clipped to a stiff cardboard tube that was in a roll of fancy wrapping paper. The tube was inserted into my vintage metal cage hat stand, and the hat stand is tied to the end table, the chair, and the metal record stand, and then wedged in between the sofa and chair. Don't you love our fancy ribbon? As I always say, if you've gotta rig something, you might as well make it sparkly and blue....

And so, Christmas time is here. Happiness and cheer. And an awesomely sparkly treeeeeeeeeeee! (I'm pretty sure that's how the Peanuts gang sings it.)

On the Radar -- Blue Balls

OK, so the blog title's a bit vulgar today.  But I had to do it.  Forgive me.
 

Sweet Paul magazine, Winter 2012

When I decided to talk about blue Christmas decorations, I couldn't go with the more obvious (and cliched) "Blue Christmas".  So, I went with the most Blackbird-girls-esque title I could think of -- and there you have it.  Blue Balls.

When we lived in Raleigh, we loved a local newspaper called The Independent.  It's one of the things we miss most about living there, along with Carolina Alehouse cheese fries.  Anyway, there was a hip, modern home decor store in Cary that ran a holiday ad in The Independent.  It read, in large letters, "We have blue balls."  And then underneath, in smaller font, it said, "and red balls and green balls and gold balls..."  It developed a life of its own with us as an inside joke, and every so often you may hear one of us say, "I love blue balls."  Please don't think less of us.  We know it's bad.

And again, sorry for the vulgarity.  But it is what it is.

We really do love them, though.  Our tree is pretty non-traditional (more on that in a later post), and we embrace the entire spectrum of colors.  But blue, especially turquoise and aqua, will always have a dominant role in our decorating for the holidays. 

From christmasdecorated.com

We were really excited to see soooooo much blue this year!  These are just some images to inspire you, and we really hope you give blue a try. 

From centsationalgirl.com

From Pottery Barn

From pampai.com

From Sweet Paul Magazine, Winter 2012

And don't worry, we'll show you our blue balls soon!  Stay tuned!

Bonus -- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Although we like to try new things in our window displays, the Christmas window at Collector's Antique Mall is always, at its core, based on tradition.  The tree, while it looks different each year, will always be in the same location -- partly because of practicality (that's where the one outlet is) and partly because that's where the Christmas tree goes.  And it will always be a green tree with not-for-sale ornaments, mainly because it's just too freakin' hard to get that particular ball on the very tippy top right (no, my right) branch for Betty Lou -- especially when you have to navigate through all of the merchandise on the floor under the tree.  But hey, we did lobby for colored lights last year, and we got them!

However, just because it's traditional (sometimes a four-letter-word to us, if you know what I mean), doesn't mean it can't be different.  Last year we went for a 1930s kitchen setting, and this year, we felt a wee bit Scottish.  We rounded up all the plaid we could find and threw it in.  Tartan bunting on the tree, tartan tins, plaid blankets...you get the idea.  We also found a little Scottish man-doll in a kilt.

I made a wreath, and accented it with broken vintage brooches and earrings.  And we found some cool deer pieces in the store:

We went for some vibrant gift wrap wallpaper, and a gorgeous wooden dresser.  FYI, when we see furniture like this, the Blackbird girls say, "That is some 'good wood'."  Also, notice the men in kilts on the wall.

So, Merry Christmas everybody!  (whew, glad this window is done...I need to do some shopping now...)