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!!

On the Radar -- Back in the Saddle

We Blackbird girls have subscriptions to tons of home decor and fashion magazines, but we haven't had a bit of time to actually sit down and look at any of them since probably last spring.  I'm sure you're aware we've been busy -- since, dear readers, the blog has been sporadic, at best -- but not taking the time to look at our monthly dose of the great-big-world-out-there, in the form of Harper's Bazaar, Martha Stewart Living, Vogue, Country Living, and our other fave publications, is just downright sad.  So excuse us for not noticing that the rest of the world has been trying to tell us that the biggest trend for Fall 2014 is Equestrian Chic/Horsey Blue Steel. 

Yeah, we didn't see that McQueen's doing it (see above).  Or Tory Burch (that's horse tack hardware in the print):

Or Alexander Wang:

Here's Massimo Dutti:

And it's happening in the home:

Here.

Nope, we were oblivious.  Until we went out junk shopping in August.  And in one antique mall, found 28 riding helmets in 28 different booths.

From The Curious Moose on Etsy, here.

And we kept seeing other equestrian-themed things, like these two items.  Sorry, these are last two we saw.  I didn't start taking pics until we had already passed a zillion other things, and I thought, hey, maybe I should do a blog post about this.  Hmmm....

 

Then we found this lamp, in need of some TLC.

We glammed it up a bit and added gold leaf. 

Now available in our shop in Liberty, NC!

 
So, how can you get on this trend bandwagon?  Here's a few finds from Etsy that I fell in love with --

Vintage hankie from Girl Makes Goods, only 2.99!  Here.

Vintage paint by number, from Southern Gilt, here.

Vintage corduroy, from The Selvedge Shop, here.

Our 1940s silk scarf, with saddles and horsehoes, here.

Our 1970s Gucci saddle scarf, here.

Or go all out and wear it all -- and buy vintage, of course!

Check our Pinterest page for links to these items, all found on Etsy.