Santa Swigs

Check out these super cute glasses I got at the flea market for 2 bucks for the set (four of them).  As you turn the glass around to view each scene it tells a little story...

Ending badly for poor Ol' St. Nick!

I also found this single glass at the flea for a quarter!

ATOM~ It's A Wonderful Life

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mom and I were invited to decorate three aluminum Christmas trees in the infamous ATOM ( Aluminum Tree and Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum and Research Center) in Brevard, NC this year.

Here is my It's A Wonderful Life Tree...ATOM Style.

Scientific Classification
Genus: Silvercus
Species: Moviemous
Common Name: Hee Haw and Merry Christmas (It's A Wonderful Life)
Arborists : Mary and Mary (my mom and I)

For this tree we had the addition of  'gifts' covered in vintage 1940's wrapping paper under the tree.

So there you go... If you can't make it to the actual show then you at least have had a virtual tour of the trees we did this year!

Also see our ATOM styled The Andy Griffith Show and "Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly" trees.

ATOM~ Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mom and I were invited to decorate three aluminum Christmas trees in the infamous ATOM ( Aluminum Tree and Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum and Research Center) in Brevard, NC this year.

Here is my Buddy Holly tree...ATOM style.

Scientific Classification
Genus: Silvercus
Species: Bigblackglassus
Common Name: Deck The Halls With Buddy Holly (Happy Holly Days!)
Arborists: Mary (me)

The only thing that we added additional to this tree were plastic sprigs of fake holly and some small reproduction record album covers for under the tree.

The decoration placement on the tree didn't turn out looking uniform but for that fact, it makes this tree more along the lines of what ATOM really is....the aesthetically challenged part of it.

Here is an image where you can see some of the decorative paper I put on the back of an ornament off to the right.

I love this image of Buddy Holly in a photo booth acting silly!

Also see our ATOM styled It's A Wonderful Life and The Andy Griffith Show trees.

ATOM~ The Andy Griffith Show Tree

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mom and I were invited to decorate three aluminum Christmas trees in the infamous ATOM ( Aluminum Tree and Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum and Research Center) in Brevard, NC this year.  The curator makes 'scientific cards' to go under each tree, which are kinda fun.

Scientific Classification
Genus: Silercus
Species: Mt. Airyious
Common Name: Andy Griffith Tree
Arborists: Mary and Mary (My mom and I )

The primary tree I spent a lot of time plussing up was The Andy Griffith Show Tree. When I made the TAGS tree ornaments back in 2011, I had a few other ideas after the fact that I decided to make happen this time around.  But first, I'll show the 'regulars'.

Here are the new additions I made:

A "Just Call The Man!" ornament with a deep freezer and mouse trap image juxtaposed.  For die hard fans they will remember that a mouse trap was put in the freezer because a mouse had climbed in there to keep warm! I like when Gomer sticks his hand in it accidentally and says to Opie "Tell yer Pa' he got a nibble!".

The other new ornament I made is a reproduction Christmas card from the Christmas TAGS episode where the Hubacher brothers send Andy and Barney a holiday card from the state prison.  I found an image of a vintage Christmas card that said "From Our House To Your House"...I was thinking the "Big House"!

I found a slightly usable image from the internet of the boys but had to redo the text and wording myself for the interior.

(image from the TAGS episode)

Another idea that I had was 'presents' under the tree that referenced several different episodes.

Seen above to the left are sticks of dynamite for Jimmy the goat from his owner Hud.

There is also a huge rock from Ernest T. Bass to his beloved Romena.

Some 'elixir' for Otis from the Morrison sister's flower makin' machine.  Only for special occasions.

And a box of Miracle Salve to Opie Taylor Sr. from Dr. Pendyke.

You could be the one to win that pony!

See our ATOM styled: 'Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly' and It's A Wonderful Life.

ATOM!

Image source: Seasons Gleamings

As I mentioned in several posts previously, I have been devoting a great deal of time to being part of a national touring apron museum show with helping to curate it and being the showcased apron collector.  The thing I hadn't let slip yet is that I have also been busy preparing to be a part of ATOM or Aluminum Tree and Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum  !!

I have been a huge admirer of ATOM for quite some time (see our 2005 visit).  The guy who started it, Stephen Jackson, is quirky and clever (example: A Tammy Faye Bakker tree with makeup putty knives) and a true inspiration to me.  The "museum" has always been his vast collection of oddly decorated aluminum trees that he sets up at different museums near his hometown of Brevard, NC since 1991.  However for several years a few years back he did not host the museum at all, at least I couldn't find anything about it.  I would search it out online but nothing came back until last year.  The Transylvania Heritage Museum in Brevard has taken over a part of the permanent collection from the original curator, Stephen Jackson.  I quickly called my mom, who is also a fan of ATOM and told her that ATOM was going to be up in a town a couple of hours away from her.  She high tailed it to Brevard for their opening reception...which was also appropriately a tacky Christmas sweater party as well.  She mingled with Stephen and the new curator, Pat Childress,  and by the end of the evening she had it set up for she and I to decorate THREE of the trees for the 2015 showing!

Our trees.

We choose three themes from past years that already had ornaments: The Andy Griffith Show , Buddy Holly, and It's a Wonderful Life.  However that doesn't mean that there was nothing to do or prepare for.  Some of the ornaments had to be repaired. Some had to be completely made to ensure we had enough. All of the backs of the paper ornaments had to be covered with decorative paper because before it was just exposed packing tape and manila folder. We also wanted to add several new pieces/ornaments to each tree.  I will be posting on all of this post haste.

At the opening "sneak peek' reception this year they had a few cute handcrafted items for sale I wanted to show.

These aluminum tree branched reindeer antlers on a headband. You better believe I got me a pair.

And these chocolate silver coated candy pop trees. 

It took us several hours to set our trees up and in the mean time Hubs and PB got to help decorate one of the permanent collection trees: Rock n' Roll Tree.  They even got credited for their work on the description card...only Hubs was called Jeff, which is not his name but rather funny.

ATOM has a huge following from the local newspapers and publications around Bravard and Charlotte.  My mom and I have been mentioned in several of them for the trees we did.

As it stands right now in this moment in time, I have two museum showings that I am a part of, actively taking place!  As I have said earlier I have been very busy.

If you are in the area of Brevard, NC check out ATOM!
 There are about 20 more trees in the show decorated by other people.  One is a Star Wars theme and very well done.

Transylvania Heritage Museum

189 West Main Street

Brevard, NC

(828)884-2347

Wed-Sat., 10-3:00pm

November 28-Dec. 19, 2015

O' Little Town of Deathlehem

Yes, I absolutely snagged that line from MST3K's Christmas offering of Santa Claus.  But when you see our decorating theme this year it will ring true.  Just look at this creeper Santa I got recently at the thrift.  Tell me it doesn't invoke fear of murder.

I am soooo far behind on posting..I mean really behind.  I still have more Halloween and more Cave City to share along with a fun trip we took during the summer that has yet to make it up here. They all will have to wait till next year because christmas is right around the calendar corner and I am in my "I f*%king hate christmas" mode right now. 

So without further ado, let's get this nightmare started.

Dick Van Dyke's 90th Birthday!

Happy 90th Birthday to one of my most favorite famous persons,

Dick Van Dyke!

December 13, 1925

Last year I wrote a post about my admiration for him and about Hubs getting Dick Van Dyke to send me a signed birthday card.  

I decided to send Mr. Van Dyke a birthday card last year and again this year.  

Here is the front.  It is made by Threadless.

"Just like sprinkles...you make everything more fun!"

Here is the inside, altered by me!

I made him into an ice cream cone with loads of sprinkles everywhere!

Funny, funny man!

PS:  Dick Van Dyke just released a new book all about not acting your age!

Frosty Freezer Wonderland

I came across this image above awhile back and wished that they still made these adorable ice cream christmas trees.

Guess what!? (and don't peek!)

Recently I found the trees!  along with some big mouthed ice cream snowmen! at Target!

Of course the 'serving suggestion' on the front of the box is better than the real life versions.  For my picture I had to scrape off the original sprinkles the trees came with because they had blended into a nasty shade of brown.   There is nothing I could do to help out Frosty, he was a bit odd looking from the beginning!

Still fun though!

I love me some ice cream novelties!

Apron Strings: Ties to the Past {Part I}

You are cordially invited to an exclusive showing of Apron Strings: Ties to the Past, a virtual tour from the comfort of your chair!

As I mentioned in a past post, I have been heavily involved in putting together a museum exhibition focusing on aprons.  Part of the show is a nationally traveling exhibit from ExhibitsUSA, which will be a separate post .  The other part of the exhibition is a spotlight on a local collector...which just happened to be me!  All of the items contained in the cases are from "my collection". I also assisted in designing many aspects and plans for the show (such as the flyer seen above). The museum's curator knew I had an interest in curating along with some past experience from doing my fine art degree exit show. 

  

So let's get this apron party started!

This is the view coming into the space.  "I" greet the visitors with a raised rolling pin.

Another view showing part of the left side.  (There are many more views in upcoming posts.)

I did a total of seven cases.  I was going with an idea inspired from vintage embroidery dish towels where housewives set each day for a particular chore.

I will take you on a tour of the cases, each day of the week!

~*Cleaning Day*~

The largest case in the exhibit I loosely based on the theme of cleaning.  The mannequin is wearing a scarf on her head, hence she is cleaning. I don't own any vintage cleaning apparatus deals or packaging...yet.  So that's as far as 'cleaning' went.  (Except for me cleaning the cases.)

Other items in this case are kinda a hodge podge of cookie cutters, a cook booklet, a vintage apron sewing pattern , and of course aprons!  In each case I chose aprons with colors or styles that looked well together.  This case has a black, yellow, pink thing going on.

To the right you can see the apron I got several years ago which has attached potholders to the sides.

~*Sewing Day*~

The sewing day case is my favorite.  I think it turned out looking the best and is able to be viewed from all angles.  Trying to design cases to be viewed in the round is a real challenge.

I really like how there are so many different areas of the show that can be viewed from all angles.

I love the bakelite foot pedal from the sewing machine so I left it exposed.

The additional items include a 1950's Singer Sewing Machine, several wooden thread spools, packages of rick rack, and an instructional paper on making a 'Curvet' apron.  I really like the color combo with these aprons.  You may have noticed that  a non-vintage apron made it into this case.  The Lime Head Cutie was an apron made by me as part of the Tie One On Sew-a-Long.

~*Ironing Day*~

The Ironing Day case was my second favorite designed.  It can be viewed from all sides as the Sewing Day case.  I was also going for a child's play additional theme.  I was able to borrow from the museum's curator (she collects vintage toys like I do!) a vintage child's ironing board and toy irons to really set the look.  

I also included in the case some of the doll furniture from my dollhouse.

I put two children aprons in this case and a few smaller ones draped across the top of the ironing board.  See the gingham apron better in this post.
  

You can also see the little itty bitty pie tin  and the spatula and mini food box from my Easy Bake Oven party. There is my little plastic dollhouse.

 Also used Fluffy Ruffles.  I thought it really worked well having aprons, a mom and daughter, and then a doll dressed in an apron too on the cover.   Off to the left is a reproduction I made of vintage paper dolls that featured them in aprons with specifics of ironing day, wash day, cleaning day, etc. on each page.  Talk about working perfectly! Example:

I printed out extras of the paper doll aprons and kinda scattered them on the floor of the case.

~*Wash Day*~  

The Wash Day case was one of two that were part of the preview show.

Seen in this case are vintage plastic clothes pins and an apron sewing pattern.

The blue-green floral apron can be seen better here. 

In the wash tub, but not seen in these photos, is a birthday apron that was made for me from vintage sheets.  It is more visible from the back of the case.

~*Baking Day*~

This case is based on a Baking Day theme.

I included vintage rooster canisters, cookie cutters, a hand-knitted pot holder, and a Vogart embroidery pattern featuring fun designs for kitchen towels such as "Stubburn as a Mule".  

~*Marketing Day*~

Let's go shopping!

For this case I included some vintage food packaging and green stamps.

Another view.

~*Hostess Day*~

Although 'Hostess Day' is not an official day of the week activity, I thought it still could work.

In this case are several hostess-ish aprons, a vintage dress, vintage paper coasters with an illustration of a woman wearing an apron, hostess and party cook booklets, plastic floral party picks, and a punch glass.

This case gave me the hardest time designing.  I think it had to do with it's size.  It is very wide but not tall.

Here is a weird down shot of it.

I can't begin to tell you the amount of work that I put into designing these cases and show.  I spent so much time scouring through my things, some packed up in storage and hard to get to, looking for the perfect thing.  I wanted every case to have some item that was kinda scattered to fill the case floor space properly: cookie cutters, coasters, green stamps, paper dolls, wooden spools, and clothes pins.  Some of the displaying items I used from the museum, such as the mannequin,  I had to rebuild her boobs with one of my own bras.  I had to clean all of the cases and apply a 3 part scratch repair solution to the top sections because they were in bad shape. I spent several hours writing my bio and a whole day doing the photo shot of me with the rolling pin along with photo editing.  Lots of work but I am very proud of how it turned out.

Up next is the feature aprons from the traveling exhibit!

See here for part 2 and part 3.