Greetings! I hope 2024 is off to a good start for you.
I’ve realized that since I began using Instagram last January, I’ve been posting a lot of the decorating photographs, which I used to post here on the blog, over there. But I know not everyone is on Instagram, so I’m going to begin to also share some of the images here, where there’s more room to chat a bit more about the items in the displays.
So, here are recent photos of a few spots in our home decorated for winter. Long time readers will know that I love thrifting, therefore a whole lot of the items in these shots are from the thrift store. Nothing else gives me the thrill of a great thrift store find!
We’ll begin with the snowmen! Something that the vintage/collecting community does on Instagram is give people a theme to consider when setting up their items to be photographed, and I’ve enjoyed playing along with many of them. For “Snowman Sunday” participants were asked to include a snowman somewhere in their shots. This has been going on for the months of December and January, so with three weeks of January already passed, here are my three contributions.
↑ This thrifted ceramic snowman is in our corner cabinet, along with my slowly growing Canadian green glazed pottery, all also treasures for the thrift store. I also moved some of our Wedgewood china (in the pattern Amhurst) to this cabinet, as I’ve always thought it had a cool wintery look to it.
The vase was made by Blue Mountain Pottery in Collingwood, Ontario, which operated from 1953 until 2004. I estimate this piece was made in the 70s.
↑ This jug is by Evangeline Pottery from Quebec, and I estimate that is also from the 70s. The crystal paperweight belonged to my husband Nick’s favourite aunt, who has now passed.
↑ This cornucopia vase is a newly thrifted item. It’s a souvenir piece, marked “Ville de Quebec” in gold gilded writing on the other side. The bottom is stamped with “Canada Ware”. It has a small hole in it so can be hung on the wall like a wall-pocket, or displayed flat like this.
↑ This next snowman is on the second shelf of the same corner cabinet. I found the framed print at the thrift store a couple of years ago. I liked it when I saw it, but knew nothing about it. After a bit of research, going off a sticker on the back that says “Winter Wheat, Sparta, Ontario”, I was able to determine that this is a print created by a local(ish) folk artist name Lucy Ogletree. Sparta is a town located 2 1/2 hours west of Toronto.
“Winter Wheat” was a place people would visit for a charming outdoor experience, presented by Lucy Ogletree and her family. I say “was” because, unfortunately, it burned to the ground a few years ago. I’ve seen photos online of enchanting sculptures set up amoung the trees.
The doily is one that I made following this free pattern from the “Yarn and Hooks” site, switching to green thread for the final round.
The third snowman is displayed on a wooden shelf made for me by a friend of my older brother when I was about 14. I think he’d be surprised to know I still have it in plain sight today!
↑ I’ve had the three aluminum jugs since my early 20s. They were all found within a year or so, at different times and different places. I find that interesting now, because I’ve never come across another one like them since.
↑ The snowman ornament was recently found in one of those grab-bags the thrift stores offer. There was also a vintage Santa salt shaker in the bag, so the snowman wasn’t the reason I bought it, but when I got him out, I found him cute enough to keep.
That’s it for the snowmen! Now for the “cubby shelf”.
Nick made this shelf way back when, before we’d met. To give more context to its age, he spent the early years of his career in the radio business and the shelf was designed to hold vinyl record singles. The djs would pull their selections from it before heading into the booth.
For years, we used it for our cd collection but when that technology changed, it was cleared out for me to use. We were laughing the other day, that when he made it in his early 20s, he would never have expected that it would, one day, hold his wife’s granny treasures!
The white squirrel on the top shelf was a gift from a new friend, given on the evening that we were meeting each other’s spouses for the first time. She and I met serendipitously in a line up and have recently celebrated our 11th Friendiversary. Here’s to Julie!
Thank you for reading. xo Loulou
