Christmas Open House at Leola's

This last weekend Leola's in Ozark held their Christmas Open House. Located in Ozark, Missouri, Leola's is full of wonderful vintage Christmas decor, one of a kind pieces of great antique furniture, and vintage and new accessories for Christmas and everyday. These are just a few photos from the Open House. Their beautiful and creative vignettes can keep you there for hours. Have fun on the tour!

Be sure and come back for more Open House

photos on "White Wednesday".

Leola's was "white" everywhere!

Debra

who, what, where, when?

My camera almost exploded this weekend, due to overwork! Thursday night was Leola's Christmas Open House, and Friday morning Inspirational Home started their Open House for Christmas. It's not too late if you haven't made it. They will both be open Sunday afternoon!

Here are pictures of some of us crazy area bloggers. Dulcy, Me (munchkin), Jan, and Katie. We were all squealing like little kids at Christmas, well, hey, it was Christmas!

(somebody give me a stool to stand on PLEASE!)

Mandy was there too, but didn't get her in for the group photo. I was standing beside her in this shot, but she is so pretty, and my picture was so goofy, that I opted out of this one. I'll let Mandy shine in this one.

But I wanted to show you the cute little hat I found at Leola's. I'm not really a "hat person", but I just couldn't resist! Pam makes the cutest accessories and T-shirts, and jackets! I'll be posting photos of all of her great creations soon. But had to show you this first.

(scary close ups of me, "photogenically challenged")

Leola's white wonderland!

(Ozark)

Inspirational Home

(Springfield)

Just had to give you a little tease!

I'm so excited!...

 I just got off the phone with Anne!

You know what it's like to talk to someone

that you feel like you've known your whole life,

 but never met?

That was us!

Love ya, Annie Girl

Have a great "rest of the weekend"!

Debra

Vintage Black Friday: From the Male Perspective

Vintage Black Friday ...

is here once again, and lest anyone think I am alone

in my vintage obsessions in this family,

 I will show you evidence

that it's a "couple's thing" going on around here.

We have two levels in our house. The main level is the Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, the Master Bedroom, my "studio", and an extra bedroom that we will not discuss at this time.(Let's just say it contains exercise equiment and an abnormal amount of dust) The lower level or "walkout basement", as we call it here in the Midwest, is for all of us people who live in "tornado alley". It is a place for "family areas", the bar, a "John Deere" room (drive your mower in, storage, and workshop). And we have a guest bedroom for our St. Louis crew, bath, and my husband's office. Yes, he has one too, top to bottom, vintage guy fun! 

My husband is a collector as well, he started selling on ebay about five years ago after my Dad and Brother had both passed away. Mom had a lot of books from my Brother's interest in the history of the Civil War. Springfield, is home to a lot of rich history, as the Battle of Wilson's Creek was fought just a few miles from town.

My husband, who had not previously been interested in historical items, began finding he enjoyed the hunt with me. This is a desk in our family room that has ended up as a catch all place for a "few" of his "collectibles". (sorry, I don't dust this stuff!)

Below is a case that holds my Father-in-Law's WWII medals and dog tags. My husband treasures this, and rightly so. His Dad was in the Air Force at 20, and was a POW in Yugoslavia and Germany.

I have a few vintage cameras in a bookcase in this area; also vintage Bible Expositories, clocks, photos and memorabilia from the family.

This is a photo of my husband's maternal grandfather,

who was born at the turn of the century.

This camera from the turn of the century is in really poor condition, but I love the thought of what it might have been used for...family photos, newspaper photos...what the lens must have captured.

And this is an "Enrollment Book" for an early Ford payment plan. Cars on credit, it was a new and novel idea. It is also a bank. Ironic in today's thinking.

My husband loves antique photo frames from the late 1800's; also engravings, cabinet cards, tin types, daguerreotypes, and historical photos. At one point I was on overload and started stashing them in various places throughout our basement's many cubbies, drawers and closets. Be careful what you open. This is another subject that I won't go into detail over. Let's just say he'll be a hundred before he figures out what to do with them all.

So now I have proof to show that I'm not alone.

I have a partner in crime.

Hope you enjoyed a peek at the masculine view.

More vintage goods are available for your perusal

over at Jill's Place, Gyspy Brocante.

Have a great weekend,
 and embrace your masculine side.

Debra

White Wednesday, Little Girl Lost

With the brilliance of October behind us, I am transitioning from bright oranges and golds, and moving into more subtle tones. I'm letting go of the masses of fall leaves and foliage and starting to appreciate the later fall tones of browns, and then adding back in my whites and creams.

I found this little French girl a few years ago at an antique store in Hollister, Missouri. She captured my heart from the moment I saw her. She had been a "bust" on a pedestal, but that had broken away many years ago. Now it was just her sweet head and delicate neck and shoulders. She is so very pristine, even in her current state of neglect and disrepair.

I don't have any history on her, but she looks as if she may have suffered the same fate as Lot's wife, in the book of Genesis. She is so lifelike, she could have been turned into a pillar of salt, or in this case, plaster, I assume. She has several layers of material. I would love to know about the age and composition of a bust such as this. I'd love to hear from you if you have information on this.

My fall floral arrangement in the entry,

faux hydrangeas and stems.

And the chippy wicker settee in the Dining Room

has found a new cream coverlet.

Mercury glass globe in an iron urn in the Dining Room.

 This is just the start of my transition from fall into winter.

Please visit Kathleen over at her wonderful cottage,

 Faded Charm.

Hope you're enjoying the season.

If you live in southwest Missouri or nearby

be sure and visit Leola's in Ozark

and Inspirational Home in Springfield.

This is the Christmas Open House weekend!

Debra

Got's to have my Junkin' Monday!

I LOVE "Junkin' Monday" and I was really bummed when I had to slow down on my junk escapades this fall. Not everything I'm showing today is from this last week, but they are recent "junkin'" finds, so I may be grabbing a few things from my garage stash to show with my weekly buys.

These two treasures are a couple of my favorites, If you've been reading for a while you know I am an addicted lamb nut, anything vintage sheep or lamb, and I'm on it. Well, this is a favorite print and I wanted to show it off. I love the frame, and then I found this album not long ago. It's just so sweet and the pages are so beautifully embellished.

English cottages and lambs, a wonderful combination!

I found these next few things this last week. Red transferware is getting so hard to find, and I recently had an unhappy mishap that resulted in one of my favorite plates landing in a million pieces, so I found this pretty little scalloped edge dinner plate, which immediately became a cake stand. The pattern is "Old Vine" by Wedgewood.

Can't you just see this with Christmas cookies or cupcakes?

Yummy.

I hit the motherload of once freebie

Christmas gift tags.

 I bet I bought 25 packages. These are keepers.

And this ironstone platter I found last summer. I don't know if I had shown it to you before, but I dug it out to use and I just love the shape... so unusual.

This is the mark on the back.

 If anyone is familiar with this marking

will you let me know?

OK, I feel much better now,

I got to show off a few of my recent flea market finds!

Say "Hi" to Clara and Marcela

over at Cottage Charm and Family Inspiration.

They have a McLinky list you can click on

 to see the rest of the gang.

Do YOU have JUNKIN" FEVER?

Debra