Vintage Christmas - Ad Nauseum?

Is there a such thing as having too much vintage Christmas crap around the house? I don't think so! This year, I actually did a little less of the vintage thing only because I got a small tree this year (trying to save a little dough) and too many ornaments would take down the tree! Not to mention I have a young cat who finds these items irresistible and since she could probably jump almost to the top of the tree, I thought it wise not to put some of my best breakable vintage ornaments on the tree. Speaking of my nosey cat (Abby), she managed to get her tail in this Santa picture to the left. It's always got to be about her!

Anyway, I decided to take pictures of some of my vintage Christmas items that I've acquired over the years. Most of my glass ornaments I got at a church rummage sale, and the rest of the decor is mostly from various garage sales. The only Christmas item pictured here that I got at the Sacramento Antique Faire was the one-foot tall light-up Santa and for practically nothing...Probably because it was freezing and raining that day, and he just wanted to get rid of what he could and go home! Also, you may recognize some of the items from my last post. I decided not to part with the vintage Christmas stuff after all!

I decided to keep the two candelabras that I found at a garage sale the other week (only one pictured here). I've always liked these fake candle sticks, and the orange color of the bulbs is a bit mesmerizing. They're also very bright...When my husband walked in the room the first time I turned them on, he was like, "Whoo, is that the sun!" My son also liked them, so I've kept them both (plus they were only a $1.00 each). I've had to mix up the bulbs between the two sets in order to get one fully working candelabra! In front to of the candelabra pictured is a vintage plastic Santa in his sleigh and his six reindeer. (I thought there were eight reindeer - I guess they weren't concerned with accuracy when making this one.) I found it a few years ago at a garage sale. It also came in its original box! I actually have one other I decided not to put out this year.

I also found this trencher (for $3.00) at the same garage sale as the candelabras. I had bought it knowing that I would probably keep it. I love the way the vintage Shiny Brites that I've collected over the years looks in it!

Here's yet another find from my last excursion. These Santa light covers were found at an estate sale. I think I paid a little too much for them, hence they're staying in my collection for now. Plus, I like them, of course! Abby (our cat mentioned above) particularly likes them too because I find them all around the living room.

Here's a vintage glass tree topper I found several years ago at a yard sale. This picture sucks...sorry!

Anyway, I thought I'd share a little bit of my vintage Christmas decor this year. There is a vintage set of Shiny Brite ornaments that I decided not to keep, which are currently for sale on eBay. It's a beautiful set of 12 ornaments, I'm guessing from the 60's, with the "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme. Each ornament is a day. A really neat find! Click the picture below to go to our eBay store.

Well, I'll close for now...Thank you for reading!

Happy Holidays to all!

~Jeannie

Got Wine?

Since I didn't have to spend all my energy doing Thanksgiving dinner and entertaining this year (we went to a family friend's house), I decided I didn't want to just sit around the house this holiday. My mother- and father-in-law were in town, and we decided to hit the local wineries in Clarksburg just a short distance from our home. In the 10 years I've lived here, I can't believe I've never been to this particular location. Beautiful scenery, great wines, and it took us no more than 20 minutes to get there!

We visited Bogle Winery, which had the most beautiful grounds and free wine tasting (always good), which seems be pretty much the norm when you avoid the pricey Napa/Sonoma area of California. We bought a 2006 Ghost Du Roam there. We also stopped in at the Old Sugar Mill, which really is an old sugar mill that houses several different winery's tasting rooms. It was one room after another...You could get really snockered with just this one trip if you weren't too careful! We got a 2004 Petite Sirah from Heringer Estates and a 2006 "Lockwood Oaks" Cabernet Sauvignon from Todd Taylor. We splurged on the Todd Taylor one since he only made 214 cases of this particular wine. He was there in the tasting room too. My husband made sure we visited this tasting room merely because he and Todd share the same name. When you know nothing about these wineries like us, I suppose that's a good enough reason to pick one to visit! I ended up being the one who really liked his wines, however.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some pics of our short but lovely excursion; a bad but fun excuse to spend a lot of money on wine!

My husband and son at Bogle Winery

Beautiful vineyard that's changing colors in Clarksburg

Old Sugar Mill

My attempt at being artsy-fartsy at the Old Sugar Mill

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! If you would like to avoid the mall crowds like we did this year, be sure to visit our online store for some great holiday deals!

~Jeannie

Day of the Dead Collectibles

It's barely October 1st, and I'm already looking forward to Halloween! I'm not sure what changed for me, but I used to hate Halloween...You'd think it would be the other way around; that I would love Halloween as a child and hate it as an adult but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm not sure exactly why...I guess primarily it's watching my son have fun with the holiday and making it special for him. I'm also just more fascinated with the holiday than I was previously. Being a lover of the state of New Mexico, and in particular the town of Santa Fe, the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos), which is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, is noticeable there and just about anything that reminds me of that town is comfort to me; thus my fondness for the Day of the Dead figures and my growing collection.

So, in the spirit of Halloween and my fascination with the Day of the Dead figures, I thought I'd share some that I've collected over the years, including this Paper Mache skull I found at the Sacramento Antique Faire. How old it is, I don't know, but I liked it and I got it for practically nothing. All of my Day of the Dead figures rest on my mantel in the family room. My grandmother took one look at them and shuttered. I think her exact words were, "yick." I understand that other people don't understand it. I've told people about my little collection and most don't get it. Nevertheless, if those little buggers weren't so expensive, I'd have more! Luckily, my husband seems to like them too. In fact he bought me the surfer, shown below. We were both Southern California beach bums, and he surfed nearly every day back then...when we were young and didn't have a care in the world!

Pictured above is the first of the collection. My mom got it for me in Santa Fe on one of her excursion, which she did not take me on, thank you very much! It looks like he's hitting the bottle, but to be honest, I'm not sure.

I just love these mariachis. I think I need a horn player though, don't you? I bought these on one of my excursions to Santa Fe. I think I'd already spent so much money on these two, I didn't want to spend more for another guy in the band!

Here's the surfer skeleton that my husband gave me for Christmas a couple years ago. He got it from a fun, local Sacramento store called Zanzibar that has a great selection of these guys.

I figured by this point, you're tired of looking at my collection one-by-one, so here's a picture of the rest all together. My mom got me the nurse (?) and the kitty (I love cats), and my husband got me the Keith Richards look-alike.

If you're interested in finding some vintage figures, my best suggestion would be to go to eBay, although I would imagine it's hard to know if you're getting something that is truly vintage or not. Either way, you're getting a piece of handmade folk art. No two are exactly alike. I've also found them in different online stores by just doing a little Googling, but those tend to be even more pricey.

If anyone knows of a good resource for Day of the Dead items online, I'd love to know where!

Ta-ta for now!

~Jeannie

Happy Holidays On The Corner Fans !

It's that time again - time to somehow get creative with gift-giving even though you've got a million and one things to do in the next month and a half! The holiday season can be great, but to probably most of us adults, it can also be stressful (not to mention expensive). That's why we try to make your shopping experience at On The Corner fun and easy. Best of all we offer some of the best shipping rates you'll find anywhere, so shopping for the holidays doesn't have to be too painful!


Below are some great holiday entertaining and gift-giving ideas:


* Chillier weather is already here, so keep warm with our selection of fun, yet stylish, Western-inspired blankets from Moda recently featured in Country Home magazine (see pics below).

* Make your home warm and inviting with the most wonderfully scented candles, made of clean-burning soy wax.

* Know someone who loves books and vintage stuff! Make sure you visit our On The Corner Bookstore for some hand-selected vintage titles containing wonderful pictures and interesting facts about your favorite vintage collectibles.

* Like to entertain? Having guests over this holiday season? You'll love this vintage-inspired "Noel" apron!


* Depending on where you live, it can be hard to find fun, western-styled items, particularly those with a vintage touch. If you have visited our online store before, you might have noticed that we love the West and have dedicated part of our store to Western-inspired products. So be sure to stop by and see our nostalgic collection of vintage-/western-inspired products.


* We absolutely love vintage and vintage-inspired items for babies and kids. If you're hoping to find that perfect gift for a new mom that is both functional and uniquely stylish, stop by and check out what we've got for the lil' ones!




Recent press in Country Home magazine, which features a similar blanket in our store, also made by Moda Home.

Happy Fall!

It's been a long time since we've posted something new! So sorry for the neglect, but it's been hectic around here as I'm sure you can imagine. We're just starting to gear up for the holiday season...Can't believe summer is already over!! It's going to be the first day of October this Monday, so we're starting the Halloween decorating now! Oddly, as a child, I never liked Halloween much...Maybe because I was a bit of a chicken and didn't like the dark, I'm not sure! Now that I have my own child and no longer scare easily, I absolutely LOVE the halloween season. If you've read my About Us page on our website, you'd know that I'm an absolute lover of the West and in particular, Santa Fe. Maybe it's my love for this area that has sparked my interest and love of decorating with the Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) paper mache figures, particularly this time of year. There's a macabre yet humorous tone to some of these figures that is fun yet still a little spooky. To learn more about the Day of the Dead, click here. This Mexican holiday is actually a remembrance and celebration of those who we've loved in our lives that have passed on and is celebrated on November 1st & 2nd.

We're exited to say that we're getting a variety of new products in very, very soon and you'll not want to miss 'em. Plus, you'll want to get a jump on your holiday shopping at OnTheCornerVintage.com with products you won't find in most stores! Also, if you haven't already noticed we just added a new category to OnTheCornerVintage.com, and that's our 'Sweet Scents' for the home and body!

You'll aboslutely love these decadent, yet affordable and natural products to keep you and your home swellin' sweet, like our Apples & Cream soy wax candle pictured here. This wonderful, fresh-baked apple pie scent is perfect when entertaining guests for the holiday season. Best of all, because they are made of soy they burn much cleaner than parafin candles.

Inspire the vintage decorator and collector in you at our new On The Corner Vintage Inspirations Book Store where we've hand-selected some great titles on all-things vintage! You can even subscribe to Country Living from our site for only $12.00 for the whole year and get great decorating ideas for the holiday season!


Thank you for reading our post and stop by again soon!!

--Jeannie

Happy 4th of July!!

This is absolutely my favorite holiday - not just because I get a day off of work on a beautiful summer day - but because it's our day to celebrate this great country we live in!! Fireworks are always fun too! We've been busy decorating the house in patriotic colors to get ready for a small dinner party with family. And while I was cleaning the spider webs off of the patio furniture, my 6-year old son was more than happy to line up all the fireworks that we'll be lighting for this evenings festivities.

It's only the morning and I'm already looking forward to dinner. My husband is going to be cooking up a great recipe for baby back ribs, and I'm going to make a salad recipe that I found in the July edition of Country Living magazine! There's great summer recipes in the back of this month's issue that I can't wait to try. I get inspired just by the pictures! I will write again to let you know how it all turned out.

Be sure to check back soon because we just received our shipment of wonderful home care and self care products, from yummy hand and body lotion to heavenly-smelling lavender laundry powder, all from a great company called Sweet Grass Farms...These are absolutely the best smelling products I've ever tried and best of all, the ingredients are all natural!

Well, I'll be off to enjoy the rest of my day off, and we wish everyone the safest of holidays!!

It's getting close to that time of year again! SPRING!! I'm far too anxious, not only for the longer/warmer days, fun outdoor activities, blooming flowers, and green lawns, but also the garage, rummage and estate sales that are soon to come! I love that Saturday morning rush I get just before I leave the house to hit the sales! Slap on some clothes, run a brush through my hair, grab a granola bar and some water, and I'm off! If I happen to come upon a church rummage sale, then I'm really in heaven! Once at a church rummage sale, I found two big boxes full of vintage Christmas items and in wonderful condition; best of all, I got them for a really great price! Among us vintage-goers you will often hear that it's the thrill of the hunt we like most about our hobby (or business as it may be). It's amazing how sometimes you may be wishing for certain item, sometimes obscure, and low-and-behold, you actually find it! It feels like the stars lined up, and that vintage-collector sixth sense kicked in, guiding you to your