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!!

Bonus -- It was fifty years ago today...

Our newest window at the antique mall is really an expression of my love for my favorite band (and the greatest musicians ever, IMHO), The Beatles.  It happens to be the 50th anniversary of their arrival in America -- and we were inspired by that.  But we were also inspired by the colors and designs, as well as the lightheartedness, of the 1960s.  We wanted a fun window that was refreshing and sparkly during the cold months of January and February.  And personally, I wanted a window that was full of inside jokes that only true, diehard Beatles fans would get.

The other Blackbird girl likes The Beatles, but she thinks I'm a little cuckoo sometimes -- especially when I start spouting ridiculous, super-specific factoids that about 2% of the people on Earth actually care about.  "J", our window assistant extraordinaire, tried to stump me with a local magazine's Beatles' quiz.  He didn't know he was shoving a Pandora's box of ire under my nose.  They got their own question wrong!  Pete Best was the original drummer before Ringo -- not Stu Sutcliffe.  Geez, it's called Google!

I forced the other Blackbird to watch Help! before we attempted this window, and I was afraid she would liken the experience to a forced death march.  Lo and behold, though, she liked it!  I didn't push it -- secretly, I really wanted to make her watch A Hard Day's Night right then -- but we were off and running with ideas. 

 

We constructed a lot for this window.  We have four chairs standing in for the band -- one has a woven seat of neckties, one is covered in book pages (you might remember it from the Alice window), one is paint-spattered and flower-bedecked, and one is covered in duct tape.  We were going for whimsy, and a loose representation of four separate entities.  We put astro turf on the floor (reminiscent of George's grass carpet in Help!, along with his chomper teeth and "Keep off the grass" sign), and covered the wall with a blank canvas of brown craft paper.  We made "stripes" of things -- guitars, lyrics, strawberry vines (Strawberry Fields), and other images, like silhouette portraits and a Union Jack.

 

 

 

 

More fun references made their way in the window, like Paperback Writer and Across the Universe:

 



 

 

And Come Together:

 

 

And I Am the Walrus and Piggies and Penny Lane:

 

 

And a Blue Meanie stopped by...



 

Ever wonder where Pinky and the Brain got it?  Check out Help! "With a ring like that I could -- dare I say it? -- rule the world."

 









And my favorite, Happiness is a Warm Gun.  Get it? (It's OK if you don't.)

 

 

We reused our sheet sky from the Supersized Nature window.  And of course, added diamonds to that sky.  Then Eleanor Rigby stopped by...

 

 



 

If you're local, stop by and see it.  The photos don't do it justice.  It's really packed full!  I'll end with my favorite Beatles' quote..."And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."





Bonus -- A Cabin Christmas

As previously discussed, the Christmas windows are never usually our favorites.  Mainly because we have parameters that are set by someone other than ourselves.  We're not divas -- we promise.  It's just that we like to challenge ourselves to approach each window differently, and make every one special in its own way.  But with the Christmas window, we know that the tree goes there, there must be presents under it, and it needs to look "rich and full".  (Don't ask.)  But it also needs to feel a certain bit of tradition, coziness, and usually, a fair amount of sparkle.

Well, we skipped the sparkle this year.

This year we decided to do a New England cabin/camping/fishing theme, based on our love of Rock Hudson's movie, Man's Favorite Sport?.  Made in 1964, Rock is a published fishing expert who actually doesn't know how to fish.  He works at Abercrombie and Fitch, and when his boss enters him into a fishing tournament, he gets outfitted with all of the coolest gear.  It's a feast for Blackbird eyes between the sets, clothes, and camping gear!

Our other inspiration was my obsession with Hudson Bay blankets.  I wish I could have stacks and stacks of them.  I recently found a red Pendleton one at an antique shop, and I thought the other Blackbird was going to have to drag me out of the store.  I wanted that blanket to live with me -- and since I couldn't afford it, I almost decided to just stay there and live with it.  It was a red Hudson Bay blanket, people!  And made by Pendleton!

Anyway, we used the stripes and the colors as a jumping off point for the rest of the window.  We found a great wrapping paper with trees that made for an interesting background, but wasn't overpowering.  We had the brilliant idea to make our own ornaments -- it's expensive to buy new ornaments every year, but it's very limiting to use the same ones over and over.  So we went to a thrift shop, bought some ugly 1980s glass balls, and spray painted them in green and cream.  We then painted the cream ones with Hudson Bay stripes.  The tree needed a garland, so we made a traditional paper chain, but updated it by using brown craft paper cardstock, and making the loops a little skinny and more delicate.  We made wooden plaques with animal figures cut out of scrapbook paper, and little wooden house cutouts got painted with houndstooth and plaid patterns.  We raided the fishing section at a discount store, and got all kinds of brightly colored lures and spinners.

We created the artwork on the fireplace mantel with a spare canvas we had at the house, found at a thrift shop for $1 and stashed away for something like this.  Several layers of cream paint went down first, and then we taped off stripes and painted them the Hudson Bay colors.  We needed a few more decorations, so we made a wooden plaque with a deer cutout in bright scrapbook paper, a string art monogram, and a lovely scrapbook paper covered wreath with handmade paper feathers.

The presents under the tree were themed as well.  We included fishing gear, toy boats, a tiny folding sling chair with a teddy bear, a vintage plaid flannel shirt, flashlights, and a sled.

We had been stashing away cabin merchandise because we knew we wanted to do a cabin window.  And we love the way it turned out.  Rock Hudson would be proud!

 

 

As a final note, we also decided to make our window charitable for the holiday season.  Collector's Antique Mall is hosting a food drive, and we've donated 50 handmade ornaments that coordinate with the window.  While supplies last, for every 5 cans of food you donate, you can pick out one of our ornaments to take home with you.  It starts today, November 29, 2013.

 

Bonus -- What are you so afraid of??

We love to do creepy windows at the antique mall, mainly for two reasons.  One, we love Halloween and it's that time of year again.  Two, well -- let's just say we love a little dark and quirky and odd in our lives.

Since we're such collectors ourselves, we were interested in showing what a room would look like of someone who collected phobias.  We did research -- did you know the fear of clowns is coulrophobia?  And the fear of clocks is chronomentrophobia? Or the fear of string is linonophobia?

We tried to find the creepiest, weirdest things to put in the window.  Like dolls with no eyes, a metal rat sculpture on a marble base, an old dangerous-looking hackle with sharp points, black cats, and poison bottles.  We labeled everything with their phobia names, using large, old-fashioned style manila tags with twine.

The background was a find at a thrift shop -- a 1970s gold crushed velvet bedspread -- picked up for $4.  We took the fluorescent tubes out of the ceiling so we would just have the spotlights; it set the mood instantly, changing the super bright overhead lights to dim, moody lights.  Our handy faux brick panel, usually used as flooring, worked to cover the nook, acting as another wall.  We love to change the space, and make it feel different with each window. 

The real star of the window is the display cabinet.  It's got just the right amount of quirk to fit in perfectly...

We found an amazing radio that filled in the last space near the end of the window -- it sold a day after we finished the window.  Then one of the hands sold.  We know selling the items is the point of it all -- but after we've carefully curated it all, it's hard to see something go.

And here's the whole thing all together...