Flannels and Fireside; Home for the Holidays - Our Christmas Window Display and Open House

Everything has a story and our window display at P20 is no different. 

“Flannels and Fireside; Home for the Holidays.”

 

Of course we have lots of flannels, mannequins, and love cozy plaid shirts and super soft tees… but it’s more than just that. 

 

I was already thinking about our window, when our friend Randy passed away. He built the mantle for us to use in shows and it had been in storage for over a year. I knew immediately, the mantle would be our focal point. 
 
“Flannels and Fireside.”
 

Back in the summer, I experimented and messed up a load of flannels and they shredded, because I didn’t process them quick enough… and they’ve been in a pile, just waiting for inspiration on how I could repurpose them. I created flannel rag garlands and used them on a couple of my trees. No matter our past and what we’ve gone through, we can overcome that and be something else. 
 

 

Of course we needed some trucks to carry our trees home. Brenna lent a black truck and Susann from Farmhouse Gourmet had a red truck. Angea brought an extra tree. There’s a burlap door hanger from Burlap Decor and More and wooden lanterns from p20. Jeff cut me some firewood. Brenna had a helping hand and ideas. It’s a collaboration. It’s “home” town makers and creators… and it’s reflections of our town in the windows and mirror on the mantle and memories of Christmas past…oh the memories….

“Angels appear, when cardinals are near.” Of course there’s all the pretty plaid ribbon, but there’s cardinal ribbon on one tree, in memory of all those not home this year… we know the holidays won’t be the same for so many this year and our hearts go out to you. We hope you find peace and comfort. 
 

It’s cozy. It’s warm. It’s home. It’s friends. It’s handmade. It’s memories… and we hope this holiday season will find you enjoying all of that. 

So much has happened since I last blogged... so much! In mid-August, I was able to rent the back room inside P20 as my workshop. I started moving most of my production to town (I do still make some things at home.) This has allowed me to have more room to work and organize my things, which has been very helpful. 

 The room has really transformed since we moved in (I'll do a before and after bog post soon, so you can see the difference.) The ceilings are still ugly and the floors aren't pretty, but I remind myself first and foremost, it is a workshop, so it's ok! We've got several rugs and floor mats down and don't look up at the ceiling much. 

This coming Thursday evening, November 11, 2021 is the Art Walk and Tree Lighting Festivities on the square in Gilmer, TX, so we have decided to have our workshop open house at the same time! We will have the doors open from 5-8 pm and you can come back to shop the extra flannels on the racks, before they hit the store front, we will have ornaments, mugs, and decor as well. Also, my mom, Diamond J Designs will have some of her leather work and crochet items, as seen in a few of the pictures. My sister in law, Lisa's Sweets and Such will have some of her toasted pecans and cookies available Thursday evening. If you've been to any of our shows this year, you might have tasted some of them and they are delicious. The orange glazed pecans are my favorite! 

You can get to my workshop by coming in the front door of P20 at 100 Davis St Gilmer, TX (corner of Davis and Tyler St/ Hwy 154, at the red light on the square.)

I do have a side door, that is located in the huge Live Gilmer mural painted on the side of the P20 building. We hope you'll stop by Thursday evening and see our workshop in person! 

Christmas in the Gazebo

The Gazebo is now decorated for Christmas, so grab a cup of hot cocoa and let's take a tour! 

While the Camper Christmas is a fun mix of trees with lots of pink and turquoise parked along the driveway, the gazebo is tucked in our yard and has a more traditional color scheme with red, white, black, and grey.

 Natural greenery and berries, red trucks, a couple of fun gnomes, along with some buffalo plaid ribbon decorate the setting. Of course our rustic gazebo has plenty of galvanized buckets and containers, along with a dishpan snowman! 

I painted a red truck with trees and snow on a old chicken feeder. I picked cedar, pine, berries, and pine cones at the farm and added it to the buckets and the grapevine garland. Once the holidays are past and the greenery dried out, it will go to the compost bin. 

I had previously declared that I would never purchase used Christmas lights again, but I did. I found the old fashion big bulbs at the thrift store for $2 a strand. In my defense, several strings were still in the boxes. I did buy a couple of extra strings, in case I needed to change out a few bulbs.  I mean, $2 for this style lights is a steal of a deal! 

The youpon bushes are about to overtake the old bicycle. When I planted them, they were so small in 1 gallon containers - they sure have gotten big! By next spring, I may have to rescue the bike, until then, the basket on the front has more cut greenery and a string of solar lights. 

 Mr. Dishpan Snowman has a plaid scarf and consist of 3 old enamel pans. The holes were already in the small pan and make the perfect face!

I had to make a few gnome trees! (You can find the tutorial on how I made the gnome trees, here.)

This red truck was a Christmas gift and is actually a bird feeder and house! In the past, I've had a cardinal family spend a lot of time in the gazebo and even raise their babies in the bushes beside it, so I'm hoping they come back to visit. 

Christmas in the Gazebo

I always love decorating the gazebo for Christmas! 

Christmas decorating usually comes around the time of first frost here, so it's time to clean up the yard and give it a more lively look. New lights always help! We leave the lights up all year round and it's been dark the last few weeks, therefore it was time. After Christmas I call the "fairy lights" or "party lights"! 😉

We prefer our Dish Pan Snowman, since it won't melt and it doesn't have to be freezing cold and yucky to have a snowman! Win-win, right?!? 

Cleaning up the yard, there where a few watering cans that needed to be put away for winter, but I decided to hang them on the tree instead! 

I added a few burlap poinsettias, twigs, and a red check bow and the tallest tree was decorated! I'm all about keeping it pretty simple this year  - we are on a cleaning spree and these items were all laying around in my workroom, so on the tree they went. 

The old crock and water cooler became tree stands! The rest of the trees are just prelit trees I've picked up at thrift stores over the past few years. I took the plastic stands off and they set down in the old containers. 

The bicycle basket (actually a gym locker basket) needed something. Usually I add fresh greenery or a plant, but I've been sick and just haven't gone to the woods to trim trees... Now back to the cleaning and decluttering my workroom - one garland sitting in the floor, a sign, and a scrap piece of ribbon made their way to the basket! 

There you have it, simple Christmas decor in the yard and gazebo, using items found and repurposed. If you're new around here and haven't read the story of our gazebo, you should go back and see some of the old post - the gazebo was really and truly rescued from a trash ditch and we've had fun giving it a makeover the last few years. The only thing that is ever purchased new is the lights. 

Christmas Decor Makeover

Sometimes our Christmas decor just needs a makeover to make it feel fresh and pretty again. Last week, a client called wanting to update their wreaths, swags, and order a new mantle piece. I went and looked at her pieces and home to get an idea of what she had to work with. The home had been decorated for a Christmas tour several years back and the teardrop / swags were about 12 years old. They had a great woodsy base, although new bows were much needed. She wanted to lighten them up a bit, so I added some snowy greenery and gold ribbon. She already had a large supply of feathers, berries, and some other foliage, so I used as much of what she had, as possible.

 I completed the makeover at their house and when the owner came home, she was so excited and happy with how everything turned out!

The tear drop swags hung with the garland at each post on the staircase.  

I should have taken a before picture of this piece. There was a poor pheasant setting in the middle of this nest that sits on the stair rail. Oh, he was pitiful! I used some of the elements the client had and gave it an updated look. 

They have a large stone fireplace where this wreath hangs, but said it didn't show up very well. So more of the snow covered greenery helped lighten it up come, along with lots of feathers. A snowy bird nest replaced balls that were missing their covering. Not real sure if they were originally moss orbs or what.

 She had an inspiration picture with a mantle piece with the cascading pheasant feathers, so we created this piece for them. The wreath has a very rustic, winter lodge look to me. I suggested that it could be left up all winter and they liked that idea.

We were happy to help give their Christmas decor an updated and fresh look for the holidays! 

Christmas Shows and New Items!

It's been a busy time of year and we realize we haven't set down to share here on the blog. So we thought we would play catch up today and share a few things. Over the lat few weeks, we have had 3 shows and been super busy sewing and creating, plus we've had some extra responsibilities, behind the scenes.

Last weekend we were at the Mineola Antique Fair and we had lots of fun! Here's a few pictures I shared on Facebook after the show.



The weekend before, we were at the Christmas Bazaar at the First United Methodist Church in Gilmer. My mom joined Angea and I for that show, with some of her leather and crochet items.

If you couldn't make it to one of our shows, I have added lots of new things in my etsy shop! These are some of the shirts, new tags, and ornaments that are now available.

Everyone ask us "when we sleep" and "if we are doing anymore Christmas shows?" 

Well, for several weeks, it seems like we slept from 12:30-6 ish, although this week we are catching up on some of that as well! We have enjoyed a few quieter days to work on orders, add new items to my shop, and breath a little. 

Our next show is December 8-9, 2018 at Mineola Antique Fair. We want to enjoy the holidays and also focus on adding more items to my shop and we have some Christmas decorating jobs on the schedule. 

Christmas in the Camper

Miss Gussie's Christmas Decor - 

The week after Thanksgiving, I found a little pink Christmas tree, while at our favorite thrift store. I didn't know what I would do with it, but it just called out to me and I couldn't pass it up. At first I was like "Christmas show next year... or booth space next year." Later that afternoon, it hit me - the camper needed the pink tree! The quilt I have in the camper has lots of pink in it and of course all the lace... so that's where it went! It was just the right size to fit on the tray that I leave sitting on the bed.

 As I was rearranging the camper, I was reminded of the white rag / ribbon garland / bunting / whatever you want to call it and wrapped it around the tree. It instantly made the little tree fuller and give it that shabby chic look. Another white tinsel garland and a few gold ornaments (purchased at same thrift store) and I was almost done.

  For my tree topper, I gathered a few feathers from my workroom and tucked them in the branches. I already had the pink doilies and scarf on the tray and they work great to hide the tree stand. Simple and less than $5 spent on the tree (since several things where already on hand and I've already had to rob a few feathers for a wedding bouquet!)

 Now to the front of the camper  - while it still has burlap and lace, this area has a little more color. This is where the table would have been, but it was missing when I got Miss Gussie, and I've been leaving it made as a bed, instead of the two separate benches. The front quilts have more red and blue in them, so it worked with this Texas flag I found. I originally thought about hanging the flag over the back window as a curtain, but it just didn't fit back there. I finally settled on this corner and was able to drape it without having to staple or make any permanent alterations to hang it.

A few fresh cedar branches were tucked around the camper in places. (I won't be lighting this lantern with the cedar attached.)

 Miss Gussie serves as the " Gypsy Farm Girl World Headquarters!" Sometimes (OK, a lot of times) extra inventory gets stored in the camper and such is the case with the silver platter turned Christmas wall hanging.

Because we all need LOVE...

 and to DREAM...

I've failed to get good pictures of the outside lights and tree, so here's a phone snap shot. If you saw my earlier video, you know that I prefer white Christmas lights and Jeff likes colored. We compromised and I've got white in the gazebo and inside the camper, but we've got colored lights on the outside of the camper. I've been meaning to do a camper Christmas video, but haven't got around to it, yet. Maybe tomorrow... (it's raining today)

Merry Christmas Friends! Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season. 

I know many of you are suffering the loss of loved ones, sickness, and other problems and we send our love and prayers for all of you, that this time can be the best possible under the circumstances.