Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Many blessings to you.....

I have been wanting to decorate for Christmas but decided to hold off until after Thanksgiving. It's been hard to do that, so I added a wreath to a dress form in my dining room to help soothe the decorating urge.

It's the perfect wreath for this dress form.

I recently added a cement cherub into my dining room. I found these two at an estate sale and decided to keep the one on the left. It has a pedestal for more height and the aged patina is extraordinary.

I have been so busy keeping my space at Carriage House Antiques filled with vintage Christmas. Christmas sales have begun in the store and we are focusing the specials on certain items each week.

The Shops at Ridgefield  are having their Holiday Open House this weekend of November 29. I stopped in last weekend and found this awesome pixie tree and vintage beaded ornaments at Vintage VanBorg. 

All I did was add a vintage receipt holder to the bottom.  Love it!

I bought this fabulous Victorian bassinet from Steeplechase Antiques in Barrington.  I had been eyeing it for sometime and when the price was right, I had to have it! I'm fooling around with evergreen decor and wreaths right now to decorate it out in my sun room. It is the perfect amount of chippy and rust.

Here's another angle...

I'm still fooling around with this door also. I had bought this door a few years ago and couldn't let it go. Recently I found this super cute Santa picture at Warehouse 55 and decided to put the two together. I'm still working on it but I like it so far.  It pays to hoard vintage tinsel. I can't wait to incorporate it into my Christmas decor.

I was looking for the most delicious pumpkin muffins at Fresh Thyme Market today but they didn't have them. Chocolate muffins would just have to do.  While checking out, I began talking to the lady behind me. She was buying pies and a beautiful orangey potted mum. After I checked out, she handed me the mum and said, "Happy Thanksgiving!" I was so touched and thankful that I gave her a spontaneous hug and she happily hugged me back. That act of kindness brought a tear to my eyes and warmth to my heart. Bless her for her kind actions. May we all do a random act of kindness to bring some small joy to another's life!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Happy treasure hunting! Get ready for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.

Welcome November

As I sit here typing this, we are expecting a few inches of snow. Again! Who would have thought that on Halloween we had 7.1" of snow.

At least we had some snow for the Holiday Open House at the Carriage House. It got everyone in the Christmas spirit! It was a fabulous Open House. We had people lining up a half hour before we opened. Then it was crazy busy for the first three hours. It was great!

These were from a recent estate sale that I took to the Open House. My heart always skips a couple of beats when I find vintage Christmas.

Just like it did when I found these musical ones. Those white chippy posts were an estate sale find also. I wrapped some poinsettia garland around them.

They look super cute for sitting on a mantel.

My trunk was so packed with vintage Christmas that I was taking to the Carriage House Open House that I couldn't even see out of the rear view mirror.

My space turned out really well....if I do say so....

Santa welcomed everyone coming out of a "chimney". Then vintage Christmas filled my space.

and more....

it felt like a toy store....

I can't wait now to start decorating my house for Christmas.

While at Christmas at the Farm, I found this elf for myself. I saw it across the room but since the flow of shoppers was going in one direction, I couldn't skip out of line.  Good thing no one else wanted him.

Another fun place to visit was the McNeil Mansion in Elgin. They had a Holiday Open House for the past two weekends. I finally visited it! They had the best dark chocolate salted caramel candy. I actually went back the next weekend to get more. The felted slippers, bags and hats were exceptional. So many other crafts and antiques were mixed in.

Here's the entry into the Christmas room....

There is nothing like visiting all the Open Houses or shows this time of year to get you in the Christmas spirit.  It's my favorite time of year!

Urban Farmgirl in Rockford has a fun open house. They had a great hot cocoa bar and while you're on line paying, they come around with fabulous sugar cookies. An added bonus to shopping there.

There's also a fabulous farm truck out front of the store...

Make sure to keep checking for local sales. There are still estate sales going on as well as craft shows and local housewalks. Get in the spirit of the season! I know I am.

Happy treasure hunting!