My Vintage Soul

Please Don't Eat the Borax Wreath

I was excited to tell you how, using borax, which according to the box, is an "all-natural laundry booster and multipurpose household cleaner," I added crystals to what had been an old and rather ordinary bottlebrush wreath. It turned out rather stunning, if I do say so myself.

And then, I had one of those maybe-I-should-Google-this moments, and learned that borax, like most household cleaning products, can be harmful if ingested. So, with that in mind, if you decide to try this at home, keep your finished wreath (and the box of borax) out of reach of children and pets.

Disclaimer done, here are the how-to's:

1. Find something to crystallize. Many sites on the Internet tell how to form crystals on pipecleaner snowflakes, creating ornaments that you can hang on the tree. I used two bottlebrush-style wreaths that I found at an estate sale.

2. Mix borax with hot water to form a cloudy mixture. I'm not sure about the exact ratio of water to borax, but for the wreaths, I used about half of the box and enough hot water to fill an under-the-bed plastic container about halfway. It's important to use hot water because hot water holds more borax crystals than cold water and heated water molecules move further apart. As the water cools, the molecules move closer together and the crystals begin to form.

3. Add the item to the borax and water mixture and wait. And wait. With the wreaths, I wanted a healthy amount of crystals but I didn't want it caked on too heavily, and I wanted the crystals just on the wreaths' fronts. I was unsure of exactly how long it would take to get that look, so I checked the wreaths frequently. For the first few hours, I didn't see much happening. And then, about four hours into the soaking, there were some crystals. Another four hours, and my wreaths were just like I wanted.

4. I let the wreaths dry thoroughly and then I attached some reflector-style flowers that I wired on. The finishing touch is a silver bow of wired ribbon.

And there you have it, science that's easy to do and pretty to look at. But, because I wanted to sell them, I'm going have to go to Plan B, and I'm not sure if there is a Plan B. If anyone knows of how to add a safer snowy look to the wreaths, please let me know. In my Googling to find out more about borax, I found a recipe for homemade "snow" that involved grating a bar of Ivory soap and mixing it with liquid starch and water. I'm not sure if that's really any better but has anyone ever tried that, and how did it work for you?

Cyber Monday in My Shop

It's Cyber Monday in my Etsy shop, starting at midnight tonight and through midnight Monday (EST). Anything and everything is 15 percent off.

 

 Then, come on back here in a few days and find out how I made this vintage-inspired wreath with something that you might have in your laundry room.

 

What's Under My Aluminum Christmas Tree

The Christmas stuff is finally hitting the thrift stores shelves, emerging from whatever deep, dark hole where it's stored the other 10 months of the year. And despite my love/hate relationship with said retailers, at this time of the year, I stop frequently, hoping to find some vintage magic.

Of course with all those ticky-tacky resin figures, it's not easy to discover treasures. Fortunately, there's St. Matthew's, which has lots of great and cheap holiday vintage. In addition to the aluminum tree (now in my Etsy shop), I found this plastic church that plays "Silent Night."

It also lights up, or I should say it did light up -- briefly -- after I replaced the batteries. And then, it went dark again, so I changed the light bulb. Still no luck. Considering it's probably 50 years old, maybe it's just done working. (Being of the same vintage myself, there are days when I can relate.) Still, I might try one of those little lights you put in the village houses and see what happens.

More great stuff (not all from St. Matthew's): Three boxes of glitter ornaments in perfectly aged shades of gold, silver and white (snow).

A classic cardboard manger, which actually has several more pieces but I was too lazy to get them out. You can see them all in my Etsy shop.

Over in the Santa Dept., there have been several finds, including replicas of Mr. and Mrs. Claus that climb candles

and shake salt and pepper.

Santa boots, big and small.

A folding box for Christmas cards and a Mid-Century linen tea towel.

And spun heads too!

Here are some closeups: Two snowmen peaking out from a jungle of corsage foliage.

And a sweet angel holding a tiny bouquet of pipe cleaner flowers.

But my absolute favorite find is this Santa on a train planter. I think I'm keeping it for myself.

Yep, definitely keeping it.

Of course I hope that there's more good stuff. There are still plenty of shopping days before Santa arrives.

 

Mr. VS Goes to a Sale

Over the years, Mr. VS has tagged along with me to an estate sale on occasion. But not until yesterday did he fully understand the estate sale process. Because I was at a craft sale, he went to sign the list for me, securing me No. 24. And then, after hearing that were tools and lots of them, he signed himself up too. He was No. 27.

And so we went to the sale this morning, where Mr. VS offered the following observations: 1. Some of the guys looking for tools were also wearing camo. Could that be a sign of the hand-to-hand combat over tools that awaited?

2. Everyone but us of course was carrying a bag. Was the bag to haul loot or was it to toss over the heads of their competitors, thereby getting first crack at all the tools?

Turns out that we didn't need the bags or hand-to-hand combat. It didn't seem like there was much to buy until I found two vintage Christmas (above) linens in a hall closet.

Now I'm debating which do I like better: The candy canes on the tablecloth?

Or Mr. and Mrs. Snowman on the runner?

Or maybe the deer and the sleigh? (also on the runner)

It's all good to me.

And Mr. VS?

He found just what he was looking for as well: A hedge trimmer, which because it's a tool and he's a guy, it's all good for him too.

The &%#$! Thrift Store

I have a love/hate relationship with the thrift store.

Naturally, I love it when there's a treasure waiting just for me. And I hate it when there's nothing but dollar store crap and I leave empty-handed.

But I really hate it when I find a treasure but I can't buy it. Why? Because this particular chain of thrift stores has a policy that if something isn't priced, forget about buying it. The clerks will never price on the spot no matter how much pleading you do. But if you come back the next day, they'll cheerfully put a sticker on it then. I'm not really sure what difference 24 hours makes but apparently it makes all the difference.

Which is how I finally came home with this Lefton Santa planter. I saw him on Thursday at an out-of-town thrift shop. It's about 20 miles from where I live but was on my way to another stop. Knowing the policy on price tags, I knew I didn't have a prayer when there was nothing more than the Lefton sticker on the bottom. The chances of me coming back the next day? Slim and none.

But never say never. On Friday, I had to run another errand that gave me the second chance that I needed. Now I only had to hope that Santa would be "in the back" as promised and that it would be reasonably priced. I was particularly nervous about that second point after I saw a vintage Christmas tablecloth with lots of stains and hole in the center at $14.99. I'm pretty sure it's still there.

But the thrifting gods were on my side when this was slapped on the bottom.

I'm considering it an early Christmas present. But would I be really bad if I wanted Santa to leave the person who came up with this policy a lump of coal in their stocking?