Merry Christmas Decorating!

Christmas decorating has always been a big deal to me. My parents love to decorate and my dad in particular always loves to get ready for Christmas. One of my favorite childhood Christmas memories is lying in my bed watching our large multi-colored bulbs shining into my room through the frosty windows as I was falling asleep. Needless to say, I have a love of those big old-fashioned bulbs (which do grace the outside of our house) and all things bright and colorful. So, if you consider white Christmas lights the elegant and best, my house is probably much too gaudy for you! :)

 

 

Our house has these fun plant shelves! They are fun to decorate but hard to photograph well!

My favorite piece here is the vintage trunk that graces this shelf year round.

 

 

Excuse the cords and toys below! One very active 18-month-old and a 4-year-old live here!

 

Our matching stockings are hand-knitted by my best friend, Savannah Sipple!

 

 

Savannah also supplied the majority of my Willow Tree nativity. I love the simplicity of this set, though I need my dream home to display it properly. One day....

Until then, the girls love to look at it and rearrange the pieces when I am not looking!

 



Our tree is all things bright! I'll have to come back and post some photos of her in all her lit glory! We do have the "old-fashioned bubble lights" on the tree and a bevy of our Hallmark ornaments!

 



 

This year, the kitchen had to be as bright as my wintery Pyrex collection! I went with lots of sparkle and some bright pink and aqua colors!

 

 

One of my Pyrex shelves: Snowflake divided dish, a snowflake space saver casserole, and a Horizon Blue refrigerator dish.

 

 

Pyrex shelf #2: Compass divided dish with carrier, Snowflake Garland Cinderella bowl and casserole, and a snowflake oval casserole.

 

This glittery reindeer was just too cute. He had to come live with us!

 

One of my other favorite finds were the pink glittery trees! They compliment the vintage vibe and are so cute! I also love my lantern filled with baubles and balls.

 

Kitchen view---my favorite piece (besides the Pyrex, of course) might very well be this wreath I made. There's nothing but a coat hanger and Christmas balls threaded on it (a really easy project). My mom added the bow for me. I was hoping to put this on the front door but it's too thick to fit between the door and screen door. Anyway, it turns out it was made for the kitchen and found a home there.

 

 

Hope you have fun decorating for the holidays! I love seeing my daughters get so excited about each item we put out. My oldest is so excited over our tree and loves to show each guest all of our special ornaments. It means so much for me to watch her and know that she'll be sharing these memories of our Christmas one day.

A new wreath and some pyrex (of course)!

Our MOPS group (Mother's of Preschoolers) is known for having great crafts (for which I cannot take any credit whatsoever). One of our first ones this year was to make a wreath using old-fashioned clothes pins. Basically, you use the inside ring from an embroidery hoop, some card board, cut and glued around that outer edge, and lots of hot glue to stick the clothes pins onto the board. I used a piece of lace I had at home to dress this one up for the Fall season. I was thinking about a Christmas ribbon until I found a Christmas ball wreath on Pinterest and got busy on that project--I will be finishing my Christmas wreath up and posting in a few days. 

Anyway, here is the lovely wreath adorning my door right now... 

On my rounds Pyrex hunting, I came across this beautiful oval casserole with the warmer/holder. I believe this pattern is call "Golden Flowers" but I can't seem to find much information about it besides that. The background color is a lovely light olive green that is very hard to photograph. 

Much to my utter excitement, we got a brand new Goodwill really close to our house! I was very excited about opening day, but I drove by and decided to forego it when I saw the crowded parking lot. Plus, I had two little girls in the back who would have made the trek inside even more difficult. So, I finally got to go a few days ago and had my first ever Pyrex find at a Goodwill! I think it's forecasting a great future for this Goodwill, Pyrex, and I. 

This very cute 1.5 quart bowl is such a pretty shade of blue. I haven't figured out which line it came from or what the lid would have looked like. It is pretty pristine and was only $3. I went back to Goodwill tonight and did seem some Pyrex and Corelle that I already have (several Spring blossoms tea cups and two creamers). I also saw a small Woodland cinderella bowl, but left it for another Pyrex lover. It has some wear and no lid. However, if I dream about it tonight. I may have to go back for it tomorrow! 

Pyrex Pick-up

This weekend, I was able to go home to Kentucky and pick up the Pyrex my sweet Aunt Ruby and Aunt Betty had been picking up for me. My darling mama had also gotten me a few pieces! 

Completed refrigerator set! I had the yellow and blue, and Aunt Ruby brought me the two red fridgies to complete my set!  

 Fridgies from Aunt Ruby 

 My mama scored these two loaf pans--one lime and the next one opal white. I love them both! 

 Lime pie plate found by mama! 

 Pink Daisy small casserole! It's a bit faded but mom found a great deal, so she got it for me! 

 Spring Blossoms butter dish--can't remember if Aunt Ruby or Aunt Betty snagged this! 

 Woodland gravy boat and dish found by Aunt Betty! Our old gravy boat is super tiny, so I am excited about this one! 

 Butterprint Cinderella 403

Butterprint Fridgie found by Aunt Betty--now I only need the two smaller ones to have a butterprint set! 

Today I stopped by one of my thrift stores and saw several Pyrex pieces: very faded blue and pink fridgies, a Verde Divided Dish with lid, and this Verde green 403 bowl. I passed on the other items, but brought this beauty home with me for $6. 

It's raining Pyrex!

The temperatures have definitely changed in our area. There's a Fall nip in the air more often now and we've been getting lots of rain. After a terrible drought this summer, we are really enjoying the rainy days. Our meteorological drought this summer seemed a very fitting image of Pyrex collecting in my area. If you'll remember, I got most of my first pieces in Kentucky. 

Well, last night I do believe my drought officially ended. It's rainin' Pyrex (yes, I am singing that in my head to the tune of "It's rainin' Men") 

Hallelujah!

My mom came to visit at the beginning of September and brought these: 

A clear bottom Pyrex bowl--not as vintage but I have 3 others in primary colors. This one is a brown/pink color, but fits perfectly in my set. I am missing the red bowl that is the same size as this one--might not match the greatest but it's the right size! 

The bowl is interesting to me because it looks brown on the outside and almost a rose pink on the inside! 

Mom also brought this teal rimmed salad bowl from the Pyrex dinnerware collection. I LOVE the size and color! 

Apparently the dinnerware was actually stamped on the bottom

I stopped by a thrift store last Friday with both girls. We found this cute snowflake oval dish for $3.00! It's in great condition and will contribute to my Christmas/Winter Pyrex collection (which consists of 2 pieces right now, lol)! 

Yesterday, I responded to a Craig's List Ad to buy this beauty. For $15, I couldn't pass her up with the cradle. The dish itself is in great shape, with the lid. The cradle doesn't look as though it was ever used. I'd be afraid to put candles in the bottom and try it out! 

This print is a mystery to me though. It's a golden grapes, but not the larger version I've found in all my resources. Pretty much all I know is that it was a Christmas 1959 Christmas promotional item (hope that's correct). If it is a promotional dish, then it simply may not have a name, as several of those patterns did not. If only we had the original box too! 

Last night, I decided to check out a United Volunteer Store near our house. A friend was kind enough to tell me she saw Pyrex at this store and the one where I snagged the snowflake piece last Friday. I found these lovelies and they were 25% off! 

Butterprint Cinderella Casserole (1 quart) 

Barbed Wire Promotional Divided Dish

I love the black and white dishes more and more! 

I also found these two jars for my mom. She loves the jars with the older glass lids and metal. These are so cute at about 5 inches tall. 

My last stop for the night was to back-track to a little shop I noticed on the way to the United Volunteer. It was very small and had a sign in the window that said "Antiques". I braced myself for outrageous prices. The name of the store is "Divine Finds" and, to my surprise, I found some of the most reasonable prices for Pyrex in my area--and also a large selection! 

Walking through the store I saw several Early American pieces right away and an Old Orchard set--this got my hopes up. Then, I saw these: 

My jaw nearly hit the floor when I saw that all 4, in wonderful condition, were priced at $35. After searching and searching and only seeing one $75 set, I finally have my Butterprint Mixing Bowl set! 

I also picked up these cute Town and Country pieces. The 1.5 quart oval casserole was only $2. I believe the divided dish was $4.  

I also couldn't resist this divided dish (yes, I have a collection of those now) in the Square Flowers print. The flowers are actually a nice Verde green, but my camera wasn't capturing the true colors today (remember that rainy, cloudy weather I was talking about earlier?). This one was $6.99. 

 I feel as though I now no longer have the right to complain about a Pyrex drought! My wish list still includes: some flamingo pink (preferably an 8X8 as I exploded our non-vintage one), a loaf pan, something in the Friendship print, and fridgies (never can have too many of those!). That being said, my wish list tends to change often--mostly when I am out actually finding Pyrex :). 

Until next time...