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You are here: Home / Archives for Vintage by Crystal

Day Two Hundred Eighty-Two

December 20, 2020 at 9:37 am by Claudia

Two of my Vintage by Crystal Christmas beauties on the piano.

This is the first year that I haven’t purchased any new ones. That’s not to say I won’t in the future, but display space is at a premium here (they live in the pink cabinet in my office, which is full.) Plus, I’ve been buying miniatures and that’s where my wee bit of discretionary income has been focused.

Speaking of miniatures, if you didn’t read the comments yesterday, you didn’t see that I ended up ordering the Beacon Hill. I found it on Wayfair for less than it was listed for on the Greenleaf website. Plus, they ship quickly. It should be here on Wednesday, but with the way thing are going lately, that’s questionable.

When I wake up in the morning, I usually look at something I was excited about the day before with a jaundiced eye. I don’t know why that is, but it happens more often than not. Groggy, no coffee yet, congested? Who knows? So this morning, I wondered why the heck I bought it, it was going to be an enormous project, where would I put it – there is absolutely no spare room here, what makes you think you can build this monster…etc. The good news is that within about 10 minutes, I see things more clearly. A sip of coffee and feeling a bit more awake helps. Now I’m excited again. By the way, I’ve learned to ignore those first-thing-in-the-morning thoughts. I just wait them out, knowing sanity is on the way.

Don is incredibly supportive (he’s literally surrounded by dollhouses here at the cottage) and he was the one who pushed me to go ahead an order it. Plus, my fellow dollhouse lovers; Helga, Megan, Andrea (all of whom have their own Beacon Hills) and Barbara urged me on, giving me quite sound reasons why I should do it.

It’s a gray day today. I figure if we’re going to have lots of snow on the ground it should be sunny. Unfortunately, it isn’t. I think we’re going to get some snow showers later this morning.

I found the mini Christmas accessories I had been looking for. They were wedged in the back of a drawer. I had a moment of panic that in one of my vigorous “clean everything” phases I might have thrown them out.

Caroline will be self-isolating this year, as will so many of us. She’ll light a fire in the living room, then she’ll come upstairs to the den to open her presents, most likely while she’s on a Zoom call with family. Sound familiar?

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Filed Under: Christmas, dollhouse, miniatures, Vintage by Crystal 34 Comments

Up On the Rooftop

December 23, 2019 at 10:11 am by Claudia

Is everyone calm? Or are you feeling frazzled? Or somewhere in between?

I’m fairly calm, though a teeny bit of frazzled has appeared as I have to go out today to get one more thing for Don. I’m feeling better, but still not tip-top (neither is Don.) This thing hangs on a while, but I think the worst is over. So I have to get one more present and that should be it.

We had our usual wrangle this morning over how many presents we’re giving each other. I keep saying that the vintage dollhouse is my present – it is!-and he doesn’t have to give me anything else. He wants to make sure he’s giving me the same amount of presents that I’m giving him. Then I reiterate that this year is different. I have my present and it came early. Finally, I said if he wants to give me three little things from the dollar store, that would be fine. Sigh.

Yesterday was sunny and much warmer and today it’s going to hit 50. Crazy. But I’m not complaining!

We watched It’s a Wonderful Life  last night. My favorite Christmas movie – no question. Cried my eyes out, of course – that never changes. I’m not a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies, nor of modern movies like Elf, though I saw it once and can appreciate it. They just don’t make our list of Must-See Christmas Classics. I think the only more recent movie that we love is A Christmas Story. We also watched Miracle on 34th Street  the other night. The black and white version, of course. Same goes for It’s a Wonderful Life. I don’t think any movies should be colorized if they were originally shot in black and white. Everything; the sets, the lighting, the camera work, costumes, was executed with the highlights and shadows of black and white in mind.

I love TCM and I’m grateful to Ted Turner for that wonderful channel, but not for his mission to colorize movies that were part of that great era of filmmaking.

I have to get going. I always forget that it gets dark so early, so I want to get out there and take care of my errands soon.

Added: If any of you follow Susan of the blog Ash Tree Cottage, please say a prayer for her. She has been in the hospital fighting an infection and in the course of her treatment, doctors found a renal mass that might have spread to her liver. Susan is a longtime blogging friend. She and her husband David need our prayers. Thank you.

Happy Monday.

 

 

Filed Under: Christmas, Don, movies, vintage, Vintage by Crystal 40 Comments

Potpourri on Saturday

December 21, 2019 at 10:39 am by Claudia

• Still frigid here. Between the massive amount of snow we got on December 1-2, the snowfalls that have turned into sleet and ice, and the now frigid weather, we feel like we’ve been through a long winter already, yet winter doesn’t even start until today! It’s surreal. Tomorrow is the day we’re looking forward to. 45 degrees. The ice that has been here all week will finally  start to melt. The good news is that the predicted sleet and freezing rain for Monday has disappeared from the forecast. Thank goodness!

• I felt much better yesterday. Today, not so good. And so it goes with a cold, right? I just have to be patient (not my strong point.)

• We watched White Christmas  last night. I love that movie. It was the first of our list of holiday movies that will take us through Christmas Eve. That scene in the inn when Dean Jagger comes into the  room in his old uniform and we hear “Ten-hut!” and all of the soldiers start to sing “We’ll follow the old man, wherever he wants to go…” makes me cry every time I see it.

• In the mail yesterday:

Starbush Santa – the Vintage by Crystal creation that I snagged in her latest blog sale. As always, her work is exquisite. How she comes up with so many different creations every year, every holiday, I don’t know. But I am and will always be a huge fan of her work.

• And a screenshot from a Little Z video sent to us this week. He likes to tell us jokes and was just about to launch into one when I inadvertently took this shot (I’m glad I did.)

He’s so beautiful. And funny, and incredibly smart, and a pistol! We are in love with that boy.

• I’ve started reading The Seine; the River that Made Paris. I’ve been missing Paris lately so it seemed like the perfect time to read it.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: Little Z, Paris, Vintage by Crystal 26 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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