Friday 9 December 2011

Bauble intervention

I seem to have a problem. As Mr FHCS carried down more and more boxes from the loft it became apparent that I have quite a lot of Christmas decorations. I did some quick mental arithmetic and discovered I must have 250+ of the regular bauble type alone. And that doesn't include the ones I used to make my wreath last year.

Yeah, I got a bit carried away...

Stag says, baubles are macho, m'kay?

[If you want to make one, you just need a wire wreath frame, florists wire, shatter-proof baubles of different sizes, and ribbon to cover the huge amounts of wire I used you use and to make it look neater at the back. I know mine isn't exactly round in the centre, it got away from me a bit!]

I have baubles with flock, baubles with glitter, baubles with hand-painted scenes, baubles which look like mirror-balls, home made felt puff-balls, and some ruinously expensive ones from Bombki which look like traditional English Christmas fare. I bought them in the sale in January, and hope they'll survive to decorate my tree until we're all vintage. Hopefully a great-grandchild will be really pleased to have them one day. Do you ever buy modern knowing it will be a desirable antique in years to come? I don't quite understand people who  only look to the past - all the vintage we love was the thrill of the new for someone once; I want both. 

Christmas cake, Mince-pie, Christmas Pudding, Cracker

With all this sparkle, not to mention my other decorations in fabric, wood and metal, I'm not sure why I'm still stalking ebay for vintage Christmas decorations. This is my most recent batch, which probably date from around the 1950s. They are a little scratched, but look stunning on the tree, something about the quality of the glass. I love the concave ones and those which are tear-drop shaped rather than round. 

Vintage 50s baubles

Compared to a lot of bloggers into vintage I think I'm relatively minimalist when it comes to clutter and collections, but Christmas is where I happily fall down. I love the rediscovery of old favourites each December, and  find it hard to understand people who theme their tree each year, deciding on a different colour scheme and ruthlessly tossing the previous Christmas's decorations. My sister and I adored decorating the tree, and I saw my boys' faces mirroring my own as each treasure was unwrapped. I should point out here that once they'd gone to bed, a teeny bit of re-organisation may have occurred. [I do try to be one of these mothers who's chilled enough to have everything at toddler eye-level over one square foot of tree, but I'm just not, ok? I'm happy to have the glittered pinecones and toilet roll and crepe paper crackers on there, but spread out. Tastefully]. 

Shiny, sparkling, magical and fleetingly displayed so you don't get bored with them - I think they might just be the perfect collection. Ok, so that's why I'm still on ebay.

Lakota x

PS. Hello and thank you to new followers! 

44 comments:

  1. I'm totally with you on the keeping decorations thing! That's what I adored about our Christmas tree as a child. There wasn't a theme- there was a cherished colletction of decorations that was added to with one new one a year and I adored it. I don't have a Christmas tree at my home and I've always thought it's because I didn't have the room. But now I want one!

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  2. Bauble intervention? Careful, hubby might be planning one after humping all those boxes back into the loft in the new year;)). I need a coat-cape-jacket intervention but yeah, doesn't stop me trawling eBay. hehe! Yep, I think some of my modern bits and pieces might be future vintage, I'll be rockin' my grave if some little trumped up great-grand child disagrees though. I love your wreath - it looks better NOT being a perfect circle and future generations will be at war for grandma's cake baubles. xo

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  3. Bauble heaven!!!! Wow I just love what you did with them.
    So so nice to see all the lovely Christmas decorations. I was so sad last week when I discovered half of ours went down with our building. Stupid earthquakes.
    Happiness to you. v

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  4. Bauble heaven! I love the mince pie dessert decos. I agree I like mixing my decos. You would of died at the Charity shop today they had all kinds of old skool baubles. We decorated our tree with Buddy's nan vintage decorations. how's the moving casa coming along?
    Besos

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  5. Love your baubles Lakota *wink* Mine too are a mixture of new and old, i saved my nan and grandads old decs too which are not that pretty but i adore them for the memories. So comeone show us your tree... Scarlett x

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  6. Oi! What do you mean us vintage types like clutter? I have never heard such rot. Oh... wait...

    Ha ha ha!

    I also love re-discovering decs in December :) But - I actually have no vintage ones *dies of shame*

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  7. I LOOOOVE them! If I were decorating this year I would definitely be making one of those fab bauble wreaths!

    Sarah xxx

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  8. Love your point on collecting new-to-be-old-one-day...you have perfectly articulated my random thoughts.

    I want a pile of those American shiny brites, I always think they look awesome in the pics various American bloggers post of their trees, but I daresay we'll both have to wait for our kids to grow up a bit before we get gung-ho with the glass baubles!

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  9. Every year I think I should be minimalist
    I never am

    hey, this is the Incarnation we are celebrating. God becoming Man - that is mindblowing- and in the absence of the lights from a heavenly host of angels [with or without couscous hair] I feel justified in going OTT !!!

    advent belssings xx

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  10. that's a lot of baubles... i love the wreath tho and the 50s decorations.x

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  11. I totally agree, I keep all the same decs one year to the next and somehow just collect more. The tree groans under the weight of decs. I'm usually a less is more person but lose all sense of taste when ti comes to Christmas and just go bauble mad. I loooooove your wreath. I need to knock up something like this for my door. (Do you see what i did there "knock", "door"? I can't help it. ) xxx

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  12. Wow, that's quite a collection you've got. I love the idea of sometihng new being quite the collectable in decades to come. I think like this too.

    You have great taste xxx

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  13. Good g-wreath, Lakota (geddit!). Loving the bauble thang. Oddly, I was thinking just the other day that we,ve got too many baubles (cheap uninteresting ones from Ikea) for the tiniest tree in Christendom. I've got one of those wire wreath things. May have to copy. Xxxx

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  14. Love that bauble wreath, it's so pretty. I'm loving the silver deer above it, Jon got me a roe deer's skull for my birthday, maybe I should dangle something other than jewellery from it's antlers?
    Those concave baubles are the same as the ones on the family Christmas tree when I was a child, I haven't seen any like that for years. x

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  15. I decorated one of my trees yesterday, with baubles just like the vintage ones you've pictured. They've been in my family since my Mum bought them in 1959 for her and my Dad's first Christmas as a married couple. They've travelled to Germany and back, and all around England as my Dad was a soldier and we moved a lot. I remember helping to unwrap them as a child , and now they are even more precious to me. They bring tears of joy at happy memories and tears of sadness when remembering the loss of loved ones who shared those childhood moments with me.

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  16. I love your bauble wreath - it is so gorgeous and the colours are wonderful. Our decorations are a crazy mix of things that have caught our eye over the years (we really are vintage!) and nothing really goes with anything else. Isn't it wonderful? xxx

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  17. Like Vix, we had the concave syle baubles as a kid, I expect my mum still has them, she keeps everything. (I'm after her vintage button collection too...)
    I laughed at your secret bauble rearranging confession - I do the same, the kids love to do the tree but have NO idea about spacing...
    Your bauble wreath is a beauty, as is your stag's head. Bet he loves his bling! xxxxxxxxx

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  18. I'd completely forgotten about those types of baubles! They bring back memories of being a small child.

    loving the wreath, I am going to attempt one of these this weekend all being well.

    X x

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  19. What pretty Baubles you have! I really like how your bauble wreath turned out, nice colours :) A lovely collection of 1950's baubles..concaved ones are my favourite.

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  20. Love the decoration! I can´t wait for Christmas! :)
    Kisses!

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  21. One shiny Christmas coming up. Let's see all those baubles in action now - tree, wreaths, wall hangings. I'm sure we won't get bored with them!
    Love from Mum
    xx

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  22. Love your vintage decorations, they remind me of my childhood. The pudding and cracker ones are fab too. Having two kittens in the house this year I am working with modern, red, no break baubles. In my christmas box I still have decorations the girls made when they were young, but these days, the girls being 22 and 17, they don't always want them on the tree! xxx

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  23. Little bit in love with your bauble wreath, and now looking at my abundant Christmas tree balls in a new light...

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  24. those 50's baubles are to die for! totally amazing. loving your collection and your macho stag.

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  25. I remember those 50s baubles, as I am a 50s child. Every year when we got them out of the loft one or two would have mysteriously broken.

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  26. oh lucky you to have those vintage decos. Your wreath is just beautiful!

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  27. Who's says you have to many! They're all gorgeous and I think you did an excellent job with the wreath.

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  28. Wow! I love your collection of vintage christmas goodies & the bauble wreath is really awesome!!!
    I'm feeling inspired to make one too and so saving your page for the tutorial at a later date!
    Holiday Cheers ~ Lara

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  29. You have a beautiful collection,I always seam to get more and more each year I really don't know how :)

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  30. My grumpiness at Christmas does not extend to hating baubles. I was fascinated by them as a child and would stare at them for hours. I loved the noise they made tinkling against each other in the box. The ones with a Victorian themed painting on were my favourites. I cannot imagine throwing any of them out/giving them away.
    My MIL's tree is the worst. Red and gold alternating baubles carefully measured out. Nothing with a story attached.
    There's an electro album on my computer by Christmas Baubles called Christmas Baubles and their strange sounds. It's quite good!

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  31. I really did get what you said about the new becoming vintage. Your so right.
    Lisa

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  32. I may not have much love for the tree, but I do love the baubles - and you have some fabulous vintage ones there.

    You are spot on about buying new and appreciating that they'll be vintage and sought after one day. Clever you - not many peeps think like that.

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  33. I'm usually quite the grinch when it comes to Xmas as we have too many birthdays tied in with the holidays (all of us, plus loads of extended family, ugh.) But get out the baubles and I melt. I love your wreath, and the asymmetrical look makes it even more special! I have mostly vintage Xmas decor as we acquired quite a bit when we were first married -- we didn't know each other that long (so much for the shotgun theory everyone had, it didn't go off until 10 years later when our daughter was born!) and the relatives gave us loads of their old ones. They are so special as I recall each and every one and who's tree it originally hung on. Then of course there is what I acquired via thrift shops, and a few new ones that yes I do hope become future vintage as well. Love the vintage concave & teardrop ones too, and the ones that have delicate designs in glitter. Even the vintage ones where the colouring is wearing off are special and look pretty on our white tree (disgusted with cutting one down every year, I caved a few years ago... if the pink was in stock it would've been a pink tree!) When my tree is filled, I take whatever is left over and put them in bowls around the LR & DR to add a little sparkle, sometimes nestling a little tea light in a votive cup to make them sparkle more! Oo now I can't wait to get the tree up, can't do until after my daughter's slumber party this weekend though (today my wee pixie turns 12!) Thanks for sharing your lovely collection and bringing this old grinch some Yuletide cheer!
    XXX
    Suzanne

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  34. I try to balance my love of vintage with my husband's dislike of clutter.

    But we both agree that a colourful assortment of Xmas decorations with lots of history behind them is the way to go!

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  35. oh ive got bauble envy they are so so pretty and i love the bauble wreath you've made x

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  36. Oh, I share your bauble obsession, but mine is limited these days to only vintage! And they are getting so much harder to find!

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  37. Baubles are my favorite Christmas decor. You can't have too many ;)

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  38. I can't do it. I'm sorry, but I've tried.

    I can't do gay abandon.

    I wish I could but I can't! x

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  39. Confession - I am totally jealous of your collection! I haven't been able to score too many goodies this season but hopefully I will come upon a big stash someday.

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  40. i have quite the large collection...but every time i run across vintage baubles, i get them if the price is right. i justify it by me "saving" them from a possible demise of the dumpster. i know.

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  41. OMG! 250+ christmas baubles? i dont think i have more than 20 hehe...but i loveee the baubles wreath you made, how do you stick them to the wire? the stag looks cute with baubles hahaha i adore the cake, pudding, cracker ornaments u got there! i think i need to start to hunt vintage ornaments from ebay from now on!

    xx susan

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  42. You have some lovely baubles, oh I wish we had room for a real tree but hopefully next year we will have moved. I have all mine stored in the attic waiting!

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  43. Gorgeous wreath! And I love that you've decorated the stag as well!

    P.s. you can never have enough baubles!

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