Our Christmas Trends 2012

Natural greens with snow covered berries, cabbages and moss balls
accented by architectural urns and burlap covered bags

realistic iced branches and berries

love this wine barrel with realistic greens and berries

cutest little gilded and wood owls hide in the trees

elves busy in the gourmet food area

Our best selling strawberry jam from France

hand made one of a kind 3 foot tall angel

golds and silvers with etched glass cloches

one of a kind decorative arrangements from old pins, buttons and millinery trim

Baroque reds, greens, golds and blacks- love the new peacock!

warm rabbit fur collars on the pretty female busts

sun streaming through the store windows in the late afternoon

Yesterday the entire crew was in the store setting up Christmas.  Today is our 16th Annual Christmas Open House and we are so excited about our 2012 merchandise.  It seems our manufacturers just get better every year by producing more realistic products.  Our new green garlands are fabulous and you have to touch them to make sure they are artificial.  This year we focused on three distinctive trends -  Natural and Fresh with greens, berries, owls, elves and potted amaryllis and paper whites.   Baroque - golds, Burgundies, and lots of glitzy touches. and finally our version of an European Christmas. This year we chose Venice and adorned a tree with authentic Venetian masks, scrolls, and blown glass ornaments. Our Open House is today and tomorrow from 10 to 5.   Thanks to my amazing girls for the fabulous job setting up the store- such a talented group of ladies. 

our embellished Santas riding the sweet reindeers in the store

love his vintage button on his forehead

The etched cloches - copies of antiques - are simply gorgeous

our flocked cabbages - so pretty with berries and greens for the holidays

pretty angels on the grillwork of the center display cabinet.

Christmas Embellishments

mailing tubes covered with old sheet music and copies of old engravings

adding embossed stamps, old trims and rhinestones to give each one character

unadorned angel

"gussied up" angel

now embellished with old trims and jewels and of course a crown

love his new rhinestone and silk ruffled vest.

French inspired burlap stockings now enhanced with rhinestone details

Yes , I know it's Halloween, but our Christmas Open House is this Friday and Saturday!  When I purchase Christmas at market, I try to find a few things that we can embellish and make a little more special for our customers.  We have made the mailing tubes to look like old parchment paper and will add gold floral elements to the ends and tie into a Christmas tree with special wired ribbons.  Many of these have been custom made for a very special customer's tree, but some are still available for sale.  We will be using them with music inspired Venetian masks and a wide black and cream music note ribbon for the tree in her living room.  I have embellished them with trims from an old trim book that was discontinued, rhinestones, torn gold doilies, ribbon,  gold glitter and crests.   While it is hard to see in the pictures, they have a lot of sparkle and should be very glittery in the tree.   Simple muslin angels now sparkle with new embellishments and will be joined by the Santa elves at the Holiday Open House this weekend.  We are  closed on Thursday to set up the store and will open at 10 am on Friday morning all decked out for the  Christmas season. 

Drying Hydrangeas

 

 

With the high winds from Sandy coming last night, I decided to come home from work and cut some of my hydrangeas before they were blown away by the wind.    These endless summer hydrangeas are white all summer long and then when October arrives, they turn these burgundy and green colors.  They dry easily.  I just cut them and bring them in to the laundry room sink, where I can shake the bugs off. After making sure they are bug free, I simply place them in a container.  This time I used a French wall  basket and just tucked them in to fill the opening.  I hung them on the old shuttered mirror  doors in my hall to the dining room.  They dry beautifully and can now be enjoyed until next spring.

Easy Decadent Brownies

 

There is a lot of talk in blogland about Oreo Brownies right now, especially using the Oreos with the seasonal orange filling. Basically, you bake  the oreo in a brownie batter.  But  my favorite candy is the Reese's Peanut Butter cup, so I decided to try this concept with them.  Using a prepared Ghirardelli Brownie mix, mixed according to directions, I layered the following in a parchment lined  9 by 9 inch baking pan.  First I pressed a roll of Pillsbury Peanut Butter cookie dough in the bottom of the pan.  Next I layered a bag of Pepperidge Farm toffee chip and pecan cookies and then topped them with the peanut butter cups.  Finally you pour the brownie mix over the top and bake according to the package directions.  I lined the pan with parchment paper so they would come out easily.   Let them cool completely before cutting into squares.  If you look closely at the brownie, you can see the pecan toffee layer and the peanut butter cup.  But they soak up the batter and become a soft gooey center of the brownie.  I warmed them a little in the microwave to re-energize that  chocolate gooey-ness and topped them with salted caramel ice cream.  Heaven on a plate!  Now I have to give them away, so that I don't eat them all.  Help me please!

Just imagine the possibilities with this recipe - what's your favorite candy in a brownie?!!!  We will be joining Foodie Friday at www.Designsbygollum.blogspot.com.  Check out some great fall food ideas.