Christmas Snow Globes

A dear and beautiful friend of mine (who is also a vintage junkie but she's more like a vintage queen and I'm more of the junkie) inspired me to make some of my own snow globes/jars this Christmas. She displayed hers throughout her house so interestingly: on cake plates, shelves, food platters, and even on candle sticks. I loved the idea and set out to create some of my own. The hardest problem was time. You see, the looks I get when I bring one (let alone all three) of my children into an antique store is one of sheer disgust. No words are spoken yet all I hear is "You break it you buy it lady." I quickly send them a telepathic message communicating I get it, been there done that, I accept your rules of engagement, can I just get my shop on now please?!

The first project is a small plastic nativity scene that I placed into a large glass jar. I was looking for a jar with a screw on lid that I could glue shut and turn upside down, but I was not able to find one large enough to place the figure into. The glittery snow is a combination of epsom salt from Walgreens and snow glitter from the JoAnne's craft store. This simple yet charming display looked nice on my dining room table runner. I always laugh when I see snow and nativity because as we all know Bethlehem wasn't exactly a nostalgic winter wonderland. In fact, I should use sand next year... but how can I get it to sparkle?! Oh the dilemmas in life, right? For now, this will have to do. This nativity set was found by the vintage queen herself at a local garage sale. I have a parking angel I am sure of it. And I believe my friend has a vintage angel. That and wicked good style sense. I will let you know when she starts her blog and/or book, business, tv show, you get the point. 

My second project was to take figures I found in my Grandma's Christmas box and somehow display them in a snow globe. I found a vintage mayonnaise jar that was the perfect size. The three boys were actually used to place in flower arrangements. I had to remove the green garden stakes that were glued to the bottom of each figure. The boys were made in Japan and dated around the 1950s. Once I cleaned them up, I hot glued them to the lid of the jar. Then I placed the same snow glitter from the craft store into the bottom of the jar. After the boys were dried, I carefully screwed on the lid and turned the jar upside down. After this, I hot glued a small ribbon around the lid to add some decoration. I moved this display around my house a few times already this holiday season. I put the boys on a cake stand and placed chocolates and caramels all around the jar. What a lovely touch to an ordinary holiday treat!

Rooster, Pullet, Hen ...What's That Called?

Vintage Concrete Chicken Statue in Garden

My Mom always does this little game with the children that makes them laugh each time. She touches the forehead and says rooster, then touches the nose and says pullet, and last touches the chin and says hen. Then she point's to the child's nose and says "What's that called?" They know they have to answer "pullet" and then she does just that!

These same little children have given a new name to a very old chicken. We would like to introduce everyone in the Midwest to Rocksie. She used to live in my Grandmother's front yard and before that she lived in my Great Grandma's yard. I've loved her for years so she came on the moving van (along with a whole mess of furniture) to stay with me for a while. I am pretty sure that my Great Grandmother didn't intend on this becoming a family heirloom when she purchased it over 80 years ago. The china, yes, the silver, yes, the mahogany display cabinet, yes ... but a concrete yard ornament?! For some reason I think she's great. Since I can't have a real chicken, Rocksie will just have to do for now.


I decided that she would be happiest and safest in my raised bed garden. Particularly my herb garden. The lavender plant died making a perfect spot for her to stand. There are some other fun rocks in the garden as well. I thought a post on garden decorations would give some of you antique junkies inspiration on ways to use vintage concrete yard figures. The children and I made garden markers this spring by painting rocks we found on a hike in the woods. I could use a few more as we grew some heirloom items this year like the spotted romaine pictured below and didn't have the appropriate markers. I love searching for garden marker ideas. There are many creative ones out there. Please do share! Oh and just so you know, a pullet is a female chicken that is younger that one year old. Rocksie is no pullet.

Raised Herb Garden

Use Painted Rocks as Garden Markers

Every Letter Makes a Sound .... L Says Love

Knowing me means knowing I love my family. I am lucky enough to have some pretty talented and creative family members that keep me on my toes. One in particular, my partner in crime Tiffany, has a delicate and intentional ability to coordinate color and texture. She has displayed her work in fashion design shows, children's apparel boutiques, and most recently home decoration. I am always amazed at her knowledge base (well I shouldn't be surprised because she received her degree from VT) and technical skill.


Therefore, I was insanely happy to receive a beautifully wrapped gift from her. She usually doesn't miss the mark. I couldn't have realized how touching this particular surprise would be. She created adorable handmade letters that represented each of my children's first names. I was excited to display these in their bedrooms. I thought the paper she used was so charming and well selected. What I didn't realize was she used pages from children's books that belonged to our Grandmother Helen to cover the letters. Not only will these be beautiful on our walls but will be good for our hearts as well. Every time I pass the letters I think of the connection I have to past generations and how my children will have a connection through me. Although my grandparents and great grandparents are not here in physical form, their love, wisdom, and sacrifice is handed down with each hug, story, and choice I give to my children.

The possibilities for these letters (or numbers) are numerous. Tiffany creates large fabric covered letters for decoration in rooms of a house or business. You can purchase many and spell an entire name. I am going to create walls of pictures for my children and hang the letter on the wall dedicated to the child. You could also use the letters as a photo prop. I think it would be so cute to have numbers and every year have your child's photo taken holding the age they are. What memories! What ideas do you have? I think the more personal you get with the material you use the better (think grandparent's books, dresses, ties, maps, copies of pictures, you get the drift).


Now, how to get your hands on these bad boys?! Well you can order through Tiffany on her ETSY shop or you can take a stab at making yourself. I would personally go with the first choice as her attention to detail is impeccable and you are guaranteed a home run. To learn more contact her at laneybluedesigns@gmail.com. Let me know what you think!

From Oatmeal to Headbands

Finished product - adorable headband holder

I love a good craft project when it is easy, cheap, and not too dirty (yes people I am still talking about crafts here). Too many times I get lured into the master crafter projects and end up questioning my mad skills or spending a fortune to make what I could have paid someone on Etsy to make for much less. 


Therefore, when I came across this interesting idea on my friend Kerri's Facebook page, I got pretty excited.  This craft is perfect to share on this blog because it combines old "stuff" and turns it into something useful for everyday life. If you are wondering what in the world it is, you probably don't have little girls in your house or my photography skills are a bit overrated. This my friend is a headband holder. I used an old oatmeal canister, antique candle holder, and scrap book paper to do the job. 


For those of you interested I will list the directions step-by-step: 1. Visit someone else's website






See! I told you it was easy. For kicks, I will walk you through how I chose to whip this up. First I wiped out the canister of oatmeal with a damp cloth. Then I pealed the label off the canister (some oatmeal canisters do not have a label that is supposed to be pealed off so just leave it). Next I picked up an old candle holder at Goodwill for $1.99. This gave inspiration to my color palette so I found some scrap book paper in my collection that matched accordingly. I actually used one floral sheet and one brown polka dot sheet (because one sheet of scrap book paper does not wrap around the entire canister). My thought process here is you could turn the holder around and get a different look. However, option two would be to use two of the same so it looks seamless. 

After all the supplies were laid out, I took the Mod Podge and doused the paper with a small paint brush and aligned it on the canister. This can be a little tricky and if you have a type A personality, it could really get your blood pressure up. Once the paper is set and you put a little more glue over the entire thing, set it upside down to dry (reason being the top part has a small rim of plastic that shouldn't have paper or glue on it so it will save your project and counters by doing this). After this dried, I hot glued the canister on the candle holder and hot glued a plastic flower on the lid.  Done-zo. 

This isn't the best thing since sliced bread but I kind of think it's great.  The other one I made to keep at my house holds about 15 headbands and you can store bows and barrettes on the inside. The adorable headband with the yellow flower was made by the creator of the Etsy shop cheery O!. She has a ton of cute things but doesn't list everything on her site so just contact her for specific needs. The total spent on this project was about $4.00 out of pocket because thankfully I had the glues on hand. Most anyone can do this and it can be a fun project with kids. Now for the fun part ... this headband holder is free to the first person who responds on the blog! The only major restriction is you have to live close to me because it isn't worth the shipping. Oh, and I am not a perfectionist so there is a really good chance yours would turn out better anyway. I would love to hear from you!