Hooray! It's Christmas!

I know for many people the day after Thanksgiving is for shopping, but for me it is the 1st day of Christmas...time to put the Christmas music on, bring out the Christmas quilt, hang the wreath....well you get the idea! 

I went looking for Christmas items on Etsy and WOW did I have fun :)

The first and most important part of Christmas for our family is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, so Nativity items are an important part of our holiday decorations....Look at these amazing Wisemen I found! 

        Vintage Christmas Wisemen

Need something festive for the table?  How about these hand created Flower Clusters...fabulous as a stand alone display item, as a grouping or hung as an ornament...(I know how special these are because I was the fortunate recipient of 2 of them...WooHoo!)

             Flower Cluster Ornament

And while we are on the subject of ornaments....I decorate one tree with only vintage items.....and there are lots of vintage choices on Etsy but these from Romania really caught my eye....I love the colors!

          Vintage Christmas Ornaments

Have any of you ever wondered how to display the cards you receive...especially those with photos of family and friends?  Look what I found...how clever is this????

                Red Metal Card Holder

Do you have any one on your list that collects Christmas pins...or do you????  Found one!  I especially like this one because it is a pine cone branch...a little different from the typical Christmas tree pin :)

                Pine Cone Branch Pin

Here is something else I found that has so many possible uses....decorating a mantel, table, tree, package, or....whatever you can think of.....tiny, glittery, Moravian stars....Hand Created!

    Green Moravian Folded Paper Stars

Need some gift bags?  Now these I love, in fact I love them so much I bought some...from my sister...because why should I spend all my time trying to create what she already has!  And the truth is, I could never hand paint those leaves...just sayin....

                        Red Gift Bags

Oh Dear, I can't forget the luscious smells of Christmas.....how about some hand made soap to put out for your guests....(I know, it is really for us but pretending it is for our guests sounds better!)  And look at the color...this looks as good as it smells :)  Besides all that...the name is great!

              Hippy Christmas Soap

Well, I think this blog is done for today....hope you.....

Have fun clicking on the name beneath each photo, and while you are in the shop, look around some...each of these sellers has other great items!

VE

~Moravian Paper Stars~

A bunch of white glittered stars

           Moravian stars actually have more points and these lesser point stars are known as German stars, Swedish stars, Bethlehem stars, or more correctly as Froebel Stars, named after Friedrich Fröbel, the German educator who invented them. (we have always called them Moravian stars though)

          A dear friend of the family would make several of these stars to go on our packages every Christmas.  These same stars that he made have been decorating my tree each year.

A couple of years ago we had some friends over and Ed came to my house and patiently taught us all how to fold them. They seem difficult at first, but once you get the folds down they are easy peasy (as Karen would say)

          I think I was first drawn to the simple beauty of these stars. I decorated some of my small evergreens outside with plain white waxed stars. We made hundreds of them to use as table decorations at a holiday gathering for the families of deployed soldiers. They are wonderful to use on packages, for table settings, and as decorations….any time of the year

              I make them with colored paper and then I use matching glitter and coat them thoroughly. I love the look of when they are simply dipped in wax, but I have a thing for glitter, so most of mine get glitterized. My finished stars measure 1 1/2” across. The smallest I made so far measure  ½” across, (these tiny ones are not glittered)

tiny 1/2" star

             Lisa from starcrosses@etsy.com  makes some wonderful Moravian stars and some really cool 3-D star ball ornaments.

beautiful purple star ball ornament, by Lisa

two color round star ball, by Lisa

       You can check out more of her stars and her shop here;                                              http://www.etsy.com/shop/starcrosses

           If you would like to make some of these on your own, this site has the best directions I found.  http://highhopes.com/3dstar.html
Just a little warning, the directions may appear confusing at first, but once you get it they are really easy to make.
(jj)