Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all..... and thank you for following. I enjoy writing this blog, and hope you enjoy the read!

"A happy New Year! Grant that I

May bring no tear to any eye

When this New Year in time shall end

Let it be said I've played the friend,

Have lived and loved and labored here,

And made of it a happy year."

 ~ Edgar A. Guest

It's the hap-happiest season of all......

 Last Christmas we had no snow in Minnesota and it was hard to get into the holiday spirit.....this year we have lots of perfectly wonderful fluffy snow and I LOVE it! (I know, my Southern state family does not get it either!).

Nostalgic Summer world headquarters is all dressed up for the holidays...and here's a peak at what we've done:

 We decided to have two table top trees this year...and I love them!

There is lot's of mercury glass, vintage ornaments, sprayed on frost, and candles!

Also greens, holly, ribbons, and sparkly ornaments!

Snow babies, Santas and snowflakes!

And everyone is bundled up in cable knit and parkas! Isn't this little vintage girl doll in her big green coat sweet!

I love mercury glass...and this year I made a few pieces with Krylon mirror paint and 99¢ goodwill glass jars!


Thank you to everyone for following my blog...I do appreciate it....and from all of us at Nostalgic Summer we wish you the happiest of holidays..and a New Year filled with love, prosperity and joy in every new experience!

 Lily and Audrey finding joy in this experience!
 
 "It's the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It's the hap-happiest season of all"
~Edward Pola & George Wyle

Happy Birthday......December!

This last "Happy Birthday" post brings the end to another year and this series. I have enjoyed learning and writing about all twelve birthday months and hope you have enjoyed reading.

So here goes....Happy Birthday December!

If you were born in December you are loyal, generous, ambitious and patriotic. You love attention, to socialize and are fun to be with! You have a good sense of humor and love to joke.

Holly is your flower and the Druids believed that holly, with its shiny leaves and red berries stayed green in winter to keep the earth beautiful when the sacred oak lost it leaves. Holly was the sacred plant of Saturn and was used in the Roman Saturnalia festival to honor him. Romans gave one another holly wreaths and decorated images of Saturn with it.

Your birth colors are grey, maroon or teal.

 Your traditional birthstone is turquoise it was first mined by the Egyptians in 6000 B. C. Native Americans and Persians value turquoise for its decorative and ornamental beauty. The Navajo believe that turquoise is a part of the sky that fell to Earth.

 Turquoise is regarded as a love charm and is believed to relax the mind and protect its wearer from harm. It is also a symbol of good fortune and success, happiness, peace and patience. Turquoise rings, in particular, are thought to keep away evil spirits. Many believe that wearing a Turquoise will aid in healing as well as bring understanding, wisdom and kindness.

 December's mystical birthstone is the black onyx. The myth of the origin of onyx says that the goddess Venus was resting on the banks of the Indus River. As she slept, Cupid used the point of one of his enchanted arrows to give her a manicure. The parings of her nails then fell into the waters of the sacred river. Since the nails were of heavenly origin, they sank to the river bottom and were metamorphosed into onyx.

Here are a few famous people who share your December birthday: Bette Midler, Britney Spears, Tyra Banks, Ozzy Osbourne, Brad Pitt, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Happy Birthday December! And a big thank you to everyone who followed the Happy Birthday series. Stay tuned next year for a new fun series coming to Nostalgic Summer.

"The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown,
Of all trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown."
~A Christmas Carol

Christmas....Nostalgic Artifacts Style!

 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas......

 Now that Thanksgiving is over it's time to turn our undivided attention to my favorite holiday *Christmas!*

And there is no better time to update you on what's going on at Nostalgic Summer's sister shop Nostalgic Artifacts than now!

So here's a pictorial on "Christmas Nostalgic Artifacts Style".......*Enjoy

Large Bottle Brush Tree Music Box

Vintage Brass Skies with Poles Brooch

 Gold Mercury Glass Candles

Christmas Wreath Rhinestone Brooch

Vintage Christmas Cards

 Victorian Era Tin Christmas Tree Candle Clips

These and many other wonderful Christmas items are available at Nostalgic Artifacts. 

 

I hope you enjoy the Holiday season as much as I....and remember to "Shop Small Business" this holiday season!

 

"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas." - Peg Bracken 

 

 

 

A Few Of My TAG Favorite Things......

It's time for another installment of "My Favorite Things", and this time I'm introducing you to some very talented artists from The Artisan Group.

I joined The Artisan Group (TAG) about a year age, and am amazed and impressed by the energy and talent that is TAG.

TAG's mission is "to introduce Hollywood to the best of the handcrafted movement. We do this by providing owners of artisan businesses the chance to introduce their products to celebrities, industry leaders and members of the press through participation in major award show gift lounges." 
 
 And our leader, Valerie Propst Guerrero does a tireless job of fulfilling this mission.

So here are a few of my favorites from this great group:

 Love the Carnival photos by Maleah Torney. Check out her Etsy Shop.

Who doesn't love a monkey hat? This one is from Christa of Makinitmama.

And these recycled book page flowers from Kelly Mitchell of TheWriteStuffDesign just make me smile! :-)

Don't forget to order custom invites for your holiday parties! I love the selection at PalmBeachParties.

It's a very cold winter here in the north and this wonderful White Chunky Cowl by Sandee of Sandeeknits may have my name on it!

I hope you will check out these and all the other great TAG shops on Etsy......and remember to shop small business this holiday season!

Pickin' Oklahoma Style....

"Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain."
~ RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN
  
My brother and sister-in-law moved to Oklahoma a few months ago and last week my mom and I went for a visit. It was a perfect long weekend, we relaxed by the pool, ate way to much and I talked them into doing a bit of antiquing. 

 Here is our tour guide, my brother George, at the entrance to one of the great shops Oklahoma has to offer.
And here's what we found inside!

 Believe me I was drooling!  
And to make it even more interesting the woman who owns and sells all this great  vintage jewelry is the woman George and Jean (sis-in-law) bought their house from!
(You know I asked if she left any boxes behind!)
  
Here is another sweet little shop we visited:

  Friday night my sweet niece Kristin and nephew Brian (AKA: FGS) came over from Arkansas for the weekend.
We visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

   I was impressed, moved and humbled by the love, care and detail that went into this beautiful remembrance of 
"those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever." 

Check out The Oklahoma City National Memorial here

 Stay tuned for....."Pickin' Oklahoma Part Two"  
I'll show you all the goodies I found, and what I've done with them!

  

Happy Birthday.....November!

"November comes, And November goes,
With the last red berries, And the first white snows."  
 ~ Elizabeth Coatsworth 

 A little birthstone history, fact, lore and legend.

If you were born in November you are unique and brilliant, careful and cautious, you are a dynamic personality who is determined, inquisitive and you know how to keep secrets.

 The Chrysanthemum is your birth flower, it is one of the most honored flowers in Asia. In Japan chrysanthemums, called "kikus", are exchanged between friends as a symbol of the virtue and incomparable value of their friendship.

Your birth color is claret red and like you it is Intense, Passionate and Transforming!

 November's traditional birthstone is the citrine. It is believed to promote happiness and be useful against depression. Citrine is known as the "healing quartz". This golden gemstone is said to support vitality and health while encouraging and guiding hope, energy and warmth within the wearer. 

The modern birthstone for November is the topaz. Courage, fidelity, wisdom and serenity are the characteristics of the Topaz. These gems are associated with mental clarity and focus and many believe that those who wear them will experience a reduction in mood swings and worries.

Here are a few famous people the share your November birthday: Sean "Diddy" Combs, Sally Field, Bonnie Raitt, Lou Ferrigno, Leonardo DiCaprio, and our own Nostalgic Summer Model...GG!

 Happy Birthday November, Happy Birthday GG and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A few of My Favorite HandmadeMN Things........

 Saturday I participated in the HandmadeMN Fall Market.  I meet so many great artist and handcrafters that I thought I would introduce a couple for this weeks favorite things.

My booth was in the lower level and my "next door neighbor" was Robin Wieskus of East Ashley Studio. Robin is a talented watercolor illustration artist and I love the simplicity of her theme. Robin elevates an everyday object to the status of art object!

Here are a few of my favorites from Robins Etsy Shop

 Love me a vintage dress form!

 And skeleton keys....you can never have enough even when they are watercolor illustrations!

Here's a peek at Robin and her great booth at the market. Her vintage display items were wonderful.

 Check out Robin's Etsy shop for some great holiday gift ideas.



One of my other favorite vendors was Anna Downing of Seven Scruples. Anna makes cold process, small batch, handmade soap, and her shop, Seven Scruples is packed full of wonderful handmade soap, bath and body products. 

Here are a few great items from Anna's Etsy shop:

 Bon Bons...this one is Calendual and Sweet Orange, smells so yummy!

A fantastic gift set!

And soap of the month.

Here's Anna and her wonderful booth at the HandmadeMN market. Anna also had great re-purposed displays!

 Check out Anna's Etsy shop for more great gift ideas!

I had so much fun at the HandmadeMN market and meet such nice people, if you were there and stopped by a "Big Thank You" for checking us out!

Here are a few photos from Nostalgic Summer's booth:

 

"The shortest distance between new friends is a smile."
~Unknown