Summer Decorating with Vintage

 I love to decorate around the house with vintage items. I change the decorations for each season/holiday. Here are some of my summer decorations.

I collect old planters. I put this Uncle Sam planter out for the 4th of July every year. Here it is filled with vintage flags.

Something my husband and I will always buy if affordable are vintage fans. We love them and use them throughout the house in the summer. Since we don't have air conditioning, these vintage fans really come in handy. Some of the fans are strictly for display, like this one. I recently found this small-sized fan at a garage sale. I love the name of it - Zero. I think it is cute sitting out for summer. The colors are great too.

 

This metal toy lawn mower was just purchased last Saturday at a yard sale. I have always loved vintage toys for some reason. I love to use old toys and children's furniture in my displays. The lawn mower is on my front porch.

Another thing I decorate with is vintage household items in their original packaging. You can find things like this at estate sales.  I found both the package of plastic forks and the pack of Ice Cream Sticks at estate sales. I especially like it when the packages have the original prices. It is neat to see how much stuff cost 40 or 50 years ago. I just sit things like this out on my china cupboard or in my kitchen and they add interest.

I also like to decorate with vintage linens. I found this amazing embroidered linen doily at a yard sale years ago. Since I have two daughters that are obsessed with anything mermaid, I had to have it. I always thought it would look cute made into a pillow or just sitting as a doily on the top of a little girl's dresser.

I also like keeping vintage books. This is an old book from 1960 discarded from a local elementary school.

Since my kids don't seem to know too much about American History - which I discovered when I asked them why we celebrate the 4th of July - I made Hannah sit and read some of this book.

This summer I joined a CSA in my community. CSA stands for Community Sponsored Agriculture. Here is my weekly share of eggs - sitting in Pyrex. I am always using my Pyrex bowls in the kitchen no matter what the season. I even change which bowls I use to match the colors of the particular season or holiday I am celebrating. That is how crazy I am for Pyrex.

I love the freckles on the eggs!

Here's wishing you a happy 4th of July and fun summer days ahead!
KayteeJane

Easter Decorations

My Easter decorations are out. I like to decorate with vintage things that I've collected over the years. These pottery planters featuring ducks and chicks are recent finds - purchased from a sweet older couple who was cleaning out and parting with some of their pottery.

Here is the whole display on top of a country cupboard in my dining room - with my egg tree, old candy tin, planters, egg boxes and postcards. The chicken print is always there - but doesn't it fit well with the egg tree?

 

I have always loved these natural egg trees since I saw the idea many years ago in a Martha Stewart Living magazine. I've made several of them over the years but always find that they are tough to store off season so I get rid of them and then remake another one come Spring.

Blown and dyed eggs that I made years ago hang from the branches.

I love to decorate with vintage postcards too. Of course these feature chickens & chicks!

KayteeJane

Thanksgiving Decorations

I love to decorate for all of the holidays. Here is what is out for Thanksgiving.

Kitchen shelves.
The great thing about open shelving in your kitchen is you can change what is on display according to color, holiday, season, whatever! It can be lots of fun.

These metal trays are one of my favorite vintage collections. I love the bright colors. I was lucky enough to find all three with leaf designs. Each of these were found at different places over several years. Collecting is fun like that. You find something you love and then from there on out you are on the lookout for another to add to the collection. When you find another it is a happy day! 

Turkey Plates:
I found these English transferware plates at a yard sale. They aren't old but I really like them. Vintage cookie cutters, an Anchor Hocking apple & a turkey candle are part of the display this year. 

These old spice tins were found at a barn sale for $1 each. I think they make great Thanksgiving decorations for the kitchen.

This vintage chocolate box was bought last Thanksgiving at an antique store in Virginia.

This tin is a new addition - yesterday to be exact! Bought at Goodwill. I like the brown and tan leaves. It is not very old, but I love the graphics. It cost $1.99.

I like to use old flower frogs to display cards, photos and other small paper items around the house. This is a recipe from my Grandma's recipe box written in her own handwriting. Grandma is with the Lord now, but when I look at this recipe I feel like I am still in her kitchen learning how to bake.

These old candles were my mom's when I was growing up. Another fun reminder from my childhood.

Some old post cards and an old (politically incorrect) flash card.

I love Thanksgiving!

KayteeJane

Spooky Cabinet Cards

Halloween Decorations continue...

I saw this idea in an antique store last year and just had to copy it. Take antique cabinet card photos and embellish them. You can usually find these for sale in antique stores for around $1 - $2 each. I'm sure some people would scoff that I use the original photograph and not a copy - but I feel like I am giving these "orphans" new life! Now each year they will have a place of honor as part of my display. Otherwise they would be sitting unnoticed in someone's attic or store gathering dust.

If you don't have any old photos to use search online for digital copies to print.

A family is transformed into "wicked" witches.

I really like this one. I cut a ghost out of vellum and placed it behind his back. Look for photos with black mats - these are great for Halloween.

This photo was already stained and faded when I bought it. Look for ones that are already browned & rough around the edges - they make the best "spooky" looks. To give your copies or better condition photos that effect use a dark brown ink pad to add staining.

How fun would this idea be if you copied pictures of your actual ancestors and embellished them? I might try that in the future.

On a side note...yesterday I posted a pic of a children's book called "The Crows of Pearblossom". Colleen asked what year it was published. The year was 1967. Thank you Colleen for calling attention to this book and the author Aldous Huxley - who also wrote Brave New World. I didn't realize that until you mentioned it. How cool!

Have a great day!
KayteeJane
  

Halloween Decorations

I finally got my Halloween/Fall decorations out. I'm embarassed to admit this but it took me an entire day to put this stuff out. Shuffling items from one shelf to another to make room for holiday decorations can be time consuming! Makes me question the point of it all...but that subject is not one for a blog about collecting!

For Halloween this year I gathered from around the house several things that are black to use as the backdrop for my holiday items. Today I am showing off what is on my living room mantle. Look around your house and use items that you already have. Things liks old cameras, suit cases, old bottles, black shoes, typewriters, old letters, black & white photos and interesting books with spooky titles would make great decorations. 

Here is what I came up with. 

I have been collecting these dime store plastic pumpkins for a few years. I don't know how old they are but something about them makes me smile. The one with the hat was bought this past weekend at an auction along with some other junk in a box for $2.

To make the Jack O Lantern sign I spray painted 2 Scrabble Game letter holders black and then added Anagram & Scrabble letters to form the word. Keep an eye out at garage sales & rummage sales for old games. They have awesome graphics that look cool on display.

An old pair of children's shoes & a black typewriter add to the "black" theme.

This little owl wears a witches hat - both items found for pennies while junk hunting.

Old clocks set to Midnight!

I like how my collection of old cameras looks. I'm thinking this display needs some fake spider webs draped over it.

I found this cute children's book about crows at our library's book sale some time ago and thought it would look nice as part of a Halloween theme. When decorating for holidays use unexpected things - like a kid's book - as part of your display.

More to show tomorrow. It is great to be back to the blog!

KayteeJane

Red, White & Blue

Happy 4th of July!

Today I'm sharing some red, white & blue on display right now around the house.

A flag serving dish by Hartstone of Ohio.

As I've mentioned before I have a collection of vintage glass soda bottles. These 3 are on my mantle right now. I love the "Smile" brand soda bottle. It says "replenish with a Smile". I would drink that wouldn't you?

I found these cute vintage reproduction Cracker Jack boxes at Walmart.

This is an old picture holder that I bought several years ago at an antique store. I love the stars.

An Uncle Sam pottery planter.

This is an old drum-major baton that I found at an estate sale. I can picture a marching band playing Yankee Doodle Dandy when I look at this.

Some of my favorite dishes inside a painted primitive cupboard.

A miniature metal chair. 

My favorite patchwork quilt. Right now it is on my bed. It isn't big enough to cover a king-size, but I love cuddling with it on chilly summer nights. 

The dress form dressed up for Independence Day.

I love chenille bed spreads and have collected several over the years. They are usually too small to cover my bed so I don't typically use them as bedspreads. Here I am using a pretty blue & white one as a make-shift slip cover for a chair. This is the underside. 

My favorite American girl - Holly Hobbie. A true American original. Here she sits on a child's wicker rocker.

Thanks for stopping to visit. I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July holiday. I plan on hitting some yard sales this weekend. Hope to be back next week with what I found.

KayteeJane