Glitter Houses

Grab a cup of tea and a Christmas cookie and sit back for a bit. I have quite a few nice things to share with you today!

Ya'll know I love old things. Anything with that 30's/40's feel to it is my style. Shabby Chic Cottage is so soft looking and soothing on my nerves! And of course, I love my glitter!!!

I decided a few months back, that because of what happened last year on Christmas Eve (my birthday), if I was going to put out any Christmas decorations at all, they had to be new and they had to be pink. I told my husband that I can't deal with a real tree this year. I can't tolerate the smell. Anything that smells like a pine tree takes me right back to last Christmas Eve when I had lightening bolts & fireworks shooting off in my brain and that is an absolutely horrible memory for me. He agreed that we would not do a tree this year.

So instead of my normal Christmas decorations that I usually put out, I made some new things for this year. I'll start with my pink pinecones:



I bought a bag of cinnamon scented pinecones at WalMart and a can of pink spray paint. I took them over to my mom's house and told dad that I'm spray paint challenged! Ha, ha, ha! I'm just not good with it! So dad sprayed my pinecones pink. When they were dry, I sponge painted them (by hand) and piled on the glitter! The little angel was made by my mom quite a few years ago. I always put her on the top of my tree. I decided she would look cute with the pink pinecones. The tablecloth on my coffee table was another of my mom's projects. Mom made this about 3 or 4 years ago. She also made the pink crocheted doily.

The pink pinecones were fun and are very pretty but my absolute treasures are my little Glitter Houses and Bottlebrush trees:



I have always loved little Christmas Houses. My grandmother had a set when I was little but after my grandfather passed away, they seemed to disappear. I would have loved to have them.
I found some at flea markets over the Summer but the colors were very bright. I remember my grandma's house were soft and pastel. So guess what? I decided to make my own!

The original vintage houses were called Putz Houses. Named for the company in Japan that made them. They were quite inexpensive, found mostly in dime stores from what my parents tell me.

Anyway, I gathered up some little bits & pieces from my craft supply stash, got out my cardstock and my glitter and had myself a good time with these!

Here's more:







Yes, my snow is pink! I put some quilt batting down and then I covered that with some pink tulle. I arranged my houses and the trees and then sprinkled some chunky glitter around them.

I made the trees too. Well, sort of. I decorated them. I bought the white ones and piled the glitter on those. Then I glued the tiny shiny glass balls on them. The green ones were in with my Christmas decorations so I pulled those out and did the same.

My mom made several houses too. I have mom's in my garden window. Mom's theme was "candy-land". You can kind of see them all in this photo but my favorite is the gingerbread man house:



Isn't that sweet? I have some pink trees with the candy houses. I found those at Hobby Lobby. I didn't decorate them. They already had pink glitter on them so I let them be. Kind of surprising for me, huh?

Anyway, that's my pink Christmas. I did hang my vintage Christmas towels on the doors of my Hoosier cabinet and I have another embroidered tablecloth that mom made on my kitchen table. But this is all I can handle for this year.

I must say, I loved making these houses more than I enjoy making cards! The wheels are turning!!!

There are more photos over on my Flickr site. Just click on one of the images to head over there and see them all.

In other news, the drawing for my Mason Jar filled with Christmas Tea Cookies will take place tonight when my husband gets home from work. If you haven't entered yet, there's still time. See this post for more details.

Here is the Mason Jar filled with my homemade cookies:



And here it is decorated with one of my handmade, glittery labels:



I will announce the winner in tomorrow's post.

I thought you would enjoy seeing this lovely angel ornament that Mary Anne sent to me:



Isn't she sweet and beautiful? I have her hanging on the mirror of my antique dresser. You know, I have met so many lovely and talented ladies in blog-land, gifted people that I never would have had the chance to meet had it not been for my computer and my blog.

Which reminds me, I'd like to ask the following ladies to drop me an email:

Sheila
Sandy G
Ann F
Cheryl
Jan

You have all left multiple comments for me but I have no way of reaching you other here. Please email me so I have your addresses for replies.

Finally for today, and ya'll know how much I love this (not) it's snowing outside:



This is view of my backyard from my deck. I will spare you all my complaints.

Well, I'm off to stitch on my Garden Quilt. Updates coming tomorrow.