Project -- Vintage Felt Applique Tree Skirt

Christmas day has passed but working on next years felt tree skirt has begun! I have spent the past few years collecting vintage goodies to design and construct my own vintage felt tree skirt. I've aggressively sought out vintage felt, trims, sequins, beads and spangles just for this project. I have never done any felt applique and have been waiting years to give it a try. Here are some pics of what's happening. I've decided to just enjoy designing and completing the ornaments without too much planning. Later on I'll just pick and choose which ones will make it to the skirt.

Half of the fun of making something in a new medium is learning about the process. I love the research and planning stages.

I will finish the red/gold today.  I am just doing whatever comes to me.  I want to enjoy the process and not fret too much over the design.

Vintage Pink Christmas Tree

This is my little 4 foot Evergleam crimped aluminum tree dressed in pretty pink vintage ornaments I have collected over the years.

Bunny from my honey in 1996.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Holiday greetings from my little Corgi!

Vintage Ornament Wreath - Mother Goose

I picked up those country fabric ornaments at the thrifts for the past couple years, some are really cute.   It was kinda a struggle, I'm my own worst critic.  But I went for it and I like it.

Craft Session

I gave my hubby this retro style rocket ornament for Christmas some years ago, but it's too heavy for the tree and won't stand on its own.  So that was remedied today by putting it into a diorama. All the other materials used with the exception of the felt are vintage.  I scour the thrifts for vintage craft supplies!

Around my House - Signs of Vintage Christmas

I'm not treasure hunting so much at the moment as I have all these other things going on.  It is all I can do to post!

I'm still in the process of reorganizing the office/library. There are dedicated spaces for me like this counter high work bench with shelves.

Unpacked my vintage glass tree garland.  Arranged some for a photograph.

The new shelf above the office desk. We are both excited to have these out year round in the future.  

Some of my most recent thrift store finds. This year is the year for netted balls.  I've never found any before and this year I've found them on three occasions. I love these glass bead snowmen with spun heads --found these tie on tags in a couple bags of ornaments. The tree is 2010, but very cute retro style bottle brush.

My collection of glass pine cone ornaments. I've collected these here and there over the years.  I unpacked them today.  

Favorite Vintage Ornaments

These are some of my favorite vintage ornaments collected over the years.

Catching up!

I'm busy as always.  I'm going to post pictures of what's been happenin'!

Yes, it is November 25th and my tree is up.  I had not intended on putting it up so early, but I needed to test the new rotating stand I found at the thrift store.

I told my husband I can no longer pack and unpack boxes and boxes and boxes of holiday decorations into the coming decades.  It's just too much work.  I told him I would divide his library into two spaces (since he took a bunch of books to work and there is more shelf space).  This is his new compact library.  Took me a day to get this space about 85% completed.

I've had some customer jewelry requests.  This earring pendant set is made with shards from a Pyrex Family Flair platter that was received broken by the collector. It is wired with 14/20 gold filled wire and embellished with yellow jade and pearl beads.

One of those pretty little vintage corsages hubby found in a bag of junk at the thrift.

Custom box I made for one of the Pyrex ornaments I sold through my shop.  I had some scrap vintage paper and the ribbon I found recently at a thrift.

A couple winter themed items I found at the thrifts--JAJ Pyrex Gaiety covered casserole and a single small glass with a great design.

Made a big batch of blue cabbage in the vintage cookware I love and June Rose JAJ holds a tortilla Espanol.

 Some Christmas goodies, I'm trying to be very picky about what I pick up these days.

I finally bit the bullet and purchased the cream and sugar set for my Grant Crest Tempo dinnerware.  It's just not the type of thing I am likely to ever run across locally.

Some thrift store finds.  The Temporama coffee mugs were a great find.  I picked them up for one of my traders who picked up a Franciscan Starburst creamer for me.  I try not to pick up Pyrex unless it's something hard to find or highly desirable, but I still have a problem leaving refrigerator dishes behind.

Crafts - Felted Wool Bag and Pyrex Christmas Diorama

This time of year I start getting the desire to sip tea and do some type of needle work in the evenings.  I started looking for wool yarn for felting at the thrift stores again as I haven't been looking for a while. Making a black shoulder bag has been on my list for some time--well, years actually. I knew I would have to find a yarn with white fibers in it because there was no point in trying to fight my corgi's fairy saddle from ending up as part of the design! haha! Dug in my collection of vintage buttons for just the right one.

I was prompted to make a Pyrex 501 Diorama for someone. Here is my naughty snowball throwing Santa.

Thrift Store Yarn - Felted Wool Bag, Vintage Button

I am so not into clothes, jewelry, purses etc.  My favorite bag that I carry when I'm in my jeans is a felted bag I make from wool yarn I find at the thrift stores. My summer bag looks like it is at its end and so I needed to make a new one.  I made time to whip this one up.

One of the reasons I love making these bags is that I can make just the right size and shape that works for me.  I'm petite and prefer smaller bags.  This one is made from 6 different colors of wool yarn. It is sturdy and stands up on its own.

Bag before felting aka fulling.

I've been collecting vintage buttons over the years. I look for oversized colorful ones just for a handful of special projects like this.

Vintage Christmas Finds - Great Start!

We've been keeping our eyes open for vintage Christmas stuff at the thrifts.  We aren't going out so much now so hitting this little gold mine was such a treat! And the prices were fantastic!  Lots of smalls which I really love.

Pyrex 501 Dish Dioramas - Pinks!

I absolutely love making these small decorative pieces!  These vintage Pyrex 501 refrigerator dishes are so cute just in themselves. 

Christmas Crafting - Diorama in Pyrex 501 Delphite Refrigerator Dish

I could make these little dioramas forever.  Hardest part is thrifting the materials. The little scene is in a delphite blue dish.

Christmas Crafting - Pyrex 501 Red Diorama

Bits and pieces of crafty stuff I've collected over the years make up this little scene. Vintage tree,  pixie, cotton felt, mica, glass ornaments, foil ribbon to make package, acetate ribbon and even a piece of the styrofoam  base still has the original 5 cents price stamp in ink on it.

Christmas Crafting and Pyrex

I had to switch gears to do a little Christmas crafting.  I've been collecting supplies for years and last year did very little crafting at all as I was working on Pyrex pendants for exchanges.  I need to get some of this out of my system and yesterday I finally tackled a project that has been in my head for over a year.  This is the first of my vintage Pyrex dish dioramas. Most all the materials are vintage from cotton felt to mica and ornaments. I scavenge thrift stores for materials including old decorations that are in bad shape, but their materials are recyclable.

Hazel Atlas Roosters Ornament

I still have a bunch of vintage glass shards to work on, I'm trying to do a piece or two a day.  This piece is from a Hazel Atlas mixing bowl.  I traded whole Pyrex to get the shards of this bowl, it was totally worth it. Had a lot of fun making the ornament and digging through my hoard of crafting supplies I've been thrifting for years.

Getting Crafty - Pyrex Shard Art

It's been a week full of shards and making beautiful things out of them. I've had some shards going on a year and I'm finally getting to work with them.  It's very satisfying to create something beautiful from a sadly broken vintage Pyrex dish.

Necklace pendants.

3" inch ornament.

Christmas Tree Ornaments made from Vintage Pyrex Dish Shards

I can't put off making some new creations, even if that bathroom is still half painted!  These tree ornaments are made from the shards of a broken Pyrex 575 space saver dish. The broken dish was sent to me by a fellow collector.

Pyrex and Fire King Shards for Ornaments

I always have a long list of things I want to do, things I want to make.  I have so many requests for my pendants and ornaments and  I don't have enough time to actually make them on demand. Holidays are a great occasion to make things available to people--so I'm starting to rough out some shapes now.

(glass pictured came from dishes that were accidentally broken and sent to me by fellow collectors(

Food and Vintage Ware

Love my vintage dishes...

Grain free Pizza on JAJ Pyrex June Rose

Spaghetti sauce in JAJ Pyrex Harvest

Seafood stew in JAJ Pyrex Harvest

Grain free grilled salmon and cheese on JAJ Pyrex plate

Grain free herb muffins and soup in Fire King and Glasbake Lipton mugs

Preparing tomatoes for baking in Pyrex pan 235 and meatloaf in pixie 700.

Omelet in Royal China Celeste bowls.

Grain free salmon puffs and zucchini in Franciscan Duet.

Grain free quesadilla on Grant Crest Tempo plate.

Grain free turkey meatloaf on Syracuse Jubilee.