Sunday, July 31, 2011

Glasses

Glasses, glasses, everywhere! You never really know how many glasses it takes to put on a wedding until you have the task of collection them all. Luckily I'm fairly resourceful and spent just a little big money on all the glasses, which include water and wine and... Of course the two most special glasses were accidental finds. The bride glass was found about two months ago when I had the winning bid on a big box of glasses. I didn't even realize one said bride until I unpacked them. Then the other day Suzy and I were at the local Salvation Army and what do I spot by it's lonesome self? A groom glass! Perfect match! :)


All dishwashed and ready to go!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Bouton...how do you spell it?

Boutonnieres. Made many months ago and finally uncovered once again. :)

Friday, July 29, 2011

Top hats

Surprises with surprises inside. :)

Saucy Love...

Last night Ben made pizza. But before that, he mowed the lawn. And before that, he defrosted some sauce. And to my delight I discovered a message. <3

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Wedding Web Page

The much outdated home page on my website needed something new. I usually work on wedding cake toppers during the warm months and since our own wedding is around the corner, why not do a wedding front page? Sigh...I love romance!

Party

Wedding Party-
Maids of honor: Sara and Suzy Hanehan (sisters)
Bridesmaids: Andrea Pamadora - Jessica Kleber - Lena Einecke (friends)
Best Man: Matt Sloane (brother)
Groomsmen: Dan Engelberg - Todd Leibowitz - Dave Richman - Evan Talbot - Adam Zwang (friends)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Starry Night

Glittery stars... to make a starry night.

My silly little sister took on the major task of being Master Glitterer.
Thanks Suzy! But please, refrain from tasting... ;)

Monday, July 25, 2011

Wedding Sneak Peek

Antique Plates. So pretty and simple. :)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Wedding Sneak Peek

Vintage and handmade necklaces made by yours truly
from vintage ribbons, flowers and beads. :)

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Surprise!

Don't you just love surprises? Especially birthday surprises? Ben threw me a surprise birthday party the first year we were dating and if I wasn't smitten by then, then the party certainly did it! Those are the memories that come to mind when I thought of this little collection of five birthday girls. They all carry hand sculpted paper mache birthday cakes on tiny little plates. They are all in my Etsy shop right now and they are all one of a kind. Happy Birthday!!

*Thanks to everyone who snapped one of these cuties up quick!! :) There are none left!*

(If you want one, but don't want to go through Etsy, just email me at vintagebycrystal@yahoo.com)

Monday, July 18, 2011

Vintage from Crystal is OPEN!

I'm proud to announce that Vintage From Crystal has finally reopened! I temporarily closed my vintage goods shop last year after I realized that I just didn't have the room to easily store all of the goodies I collected for the shop in my teeny tiny Boston studio. Now that I have a great big studio, I'm so happy to reopen all the boxes I stashed away and to reopen my little vintage goods shop.

I've been adding lots of things to the shop for the last few days. You'll find dolls, crafting materials, vintage magnets, figurines, Christmas goodies, and so much more! And I'll be adding much much more in the days and weeks to come. I hope you'll stop by to see if there's anything there that you just can't live without! :)

To shop, click here.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Puff Balls

Another wedding sneak peek:
Paper Puff Balls! Made with love, for love, out of packing paper.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Wedding Countdown!

Time is flying by in a flash and Ben and I are starting the official countdown to the wedding, which is a mere three weeks away! I don't want to reveal too much ahead of time, but I wanted to share snippets of things, just for fun and hopefully to help get me motivated to really finish up those last final details that always seem much harder to accomplish than they really are (like making earrings for my bridesmaids).

The first sneak peek is of my favorite thing...you can probably guess what it is and it's not yet finished, I've really got to get working on that!

I'll add more sneak peeks of more interesting wedding things soon! Eek! It's coming up soon! :)

Friday, July 15, 2011

Come Tour my new Living Room!

Ben and I have been living in a state of controlled chaos for the past two and a half months. It's hard to believe that time has flown by so fast while being in the new house. I've promised photos of before and after, of all the projects we've been working on, etc. Of course things always progress along slower in reality than they do your head, but we're chugging along. Most rooms still need to be painted, furniture arranged and decorated. The only room that's pretty much ready to be revealed is the living room. Our living room is actually a first floor bedroom next to the kitchen. It has a lot more wall space than the official living room, which is to the left of the front door and has nothing but huge windows, openess and a fireplace. Not a good place for an entertainment center and a little awkward for setting up a living room how we wanted it. My mom says that can be the "drawing room", which has a romantic ring to it.

This is the before photo...butter yellow walls and totally empty.

We cooled it down a bit with light gray walls and a charcoal sectional sofa. My horse barn window and cement form coffee table from Boston fits right in. A collage of old frames fills the large span of wall over the couch. Perhaps I'll eventually fill all those frames, but for now I think they look quite sweet as is.

My favorite little corner...My prized chair a little Black Forest inspired vignette of wall hangings. The closet is actually quite large and could be used as a sitting room in itself...but I think we'll outfit it with shelves to hold Ben's DVD and tape collection and other unsightly doodads.

Pieces of the vignette were gathered at garage sales and antique stores for a total of $11.


I still haven't put anything new in the end table, but when I posted about it earlier I got a lot of great suggestions from you guys. I'm thinking natural objects from outside. Little souvenirs from walks and gallivants in the woods...

Our entertainment center will soon be replaced with a floor to ceiling built-in bookcase and entertainment center. I'm still trying to work out the details with the carpenter, but I'm very excited for that! I'll have lots of room to display my collections!


And Ben's requirement...surround speakers. Sheesh. I guess it does sound like we're at the movies... :)

I'm very glad to have at least one room that feel complete, even though it will still quickly evolve into something even better. How do you think we did?

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Look what I found at Brimfield!

My mom and I spent a wonderful sunny day gallivanting around the lots at Brimfield and came home with some mighty fine treasures! One of which was a fabulous and completely decadent dental cabinet. I've been saving my pennies for years for a piece like this which I promised myself to find after we finally moved. And was this baby a steal! A girl never divulges her splurges, but let's just say that it wasn't even in the same galaxy as the same exact one that I saw at another booth for a whopping $750!

Granted that the rival piece has all the original milkglass inserts that holds the dental tools, while my drawers were empty. But since I don't plan to store my non-existent dental tools there, I'm happy I'm not burden with them and have room to stash my jewelry, and other bathroom doodads.

Oh yeah...that's what I got it for...our master bathroom! It has newly installed mirrors on the counter and backsplash portions of it, although the edges are raw and very ouchie if you touch it wrong! I need to figure something out there...any ideas?

What a beaut! I'm so proud of this find and I can't wait to get it up to the bathroom (it was too heavy for Ben and I, so now I just need to find a way to bribe a visit from my brother) :)

I also picked up this 6 foot long gate up at my friend Eric's place at the Brimfield Barn. It's fairly lightweight for what it is and we plan to hang it as a pot rack over the kitchen island. The pots will hang from S-hooks and the rails are thin enough to hang other things, like our giant vintage ladle.

I dug through the "Hardware Lady's" piles of doodads to come up with some handles for an amazing $2 dresser Ben and I bought at the auction, plus a tooth brush holder that needs a little work and lizardy towel hook and wooden plate to go near the shower in the bathroom.

I didn't exactly mean to, but it seems that I've pretty much got the whole bathroom outfitted at Brimfield! This French fishing basket will make a perfect powder room waste basket!

And I can hardly resist an interesting frame. A Faux Bois cardboard frame with a neat owl and skull print was only $3. The vintage elaborate tramp art frame was a steal at $20. I've been wanting a tramp art frame in the worst way for years but they were always just too much. I'm happy to have found one just for me!!

These tiny doodads were irresistible. A tiny bisque doll that you may be seeing again around Christmas time. A putz fire to go with my putz collection. The newest addition to my Wade England collection. Swan baby buttons and a neat celluloid flower. And an adorable baby drinking glass.

These were some of my other awesomest finds. Santa and his little cotton friend were found at different booths, but now enjoy skiing together!

Some other yummy Christmas goodies (I can't stay away from Christmas...ever!)

All of these trees were real finds too. The large ones are gigantic and were only $5 and $2 respectively. The little one on the interesting wooden base was a buck. Yay!

Some injured reindeer and a cool vintage sled.

Bell wreaths! I don't have a bubbly one so I had to pick this up.

And last but not least was my very first purchase. A pretty little nightgown that fit just right. A pretty little necklace was found later and match a pair of earrings I already have.

I'm still reveling in my treasures and my mom is too. I need to show you the amazing and adorable things she got that I am super jealous of! I'll see if I can't snap some quick photos the next time I visit her. :)

I would love to know what the best goodies you've dug up at antiques fairs are...just for fun!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Christmas in July Special Update!

Snowmen:
Herman - SOLD
Norman - SOLD
Darwin - SOLD
Moe - SOLD

Jingle bells, jingles bells, jingle all the way! Snowflakes and wooly stockings may be far from your mind right now, but here in the studio, Christmas abounds in happy heaps of tinsel, bottle brush trees and angel dust. I'm preparing for the upcoming holiday season this summer and it seems sinful to stash away ALL of the Santa's, snow girls and angels for 4 months...so I'll be offering up a handful of them now...in July! I hope you'll have visions of sugar plums in your head after looking at this lot. :)


As usual, blog readers get first dibs on my new spun cotton one-of-kind figures. Click on photos to enlarge. If you see something(s) you love, just email me at vintagebycrystal@yahoo.com and I'll let you know if they're still available. First come first served! I'll update item statuses in this post as often as I can to make it easier for you to know what's available. Items often get scooped up quickly, so make your selection as swiftly as you can, you can always add available pieces to your order later. Also feel free to include second choices if your first choice is unavailable, but make sure you label them "second choice".

Shipping is $3.50 for one item and $1 per additional item up to $6.50, then additional pieces are free. All paid orders will ship out immediately and should arrive in a few days. If you'd prefer priority shipping, which is a little faster, just let me know, it's only $1.50 extra. I send Paypal invoices via email unless you specify that you'd rather pay via check. And of course email me if you have any questions! Happy Shopping!

Shooting Star Angel - SOLD
Twinkle Star - SOLD
Gilded Angel - SOLD

Gold Angel on a Swing - SOLD
Silver Angel on a Swing - SOLD

Miss Pink Pinecone - 32
Sugar Plum Fairy - SOLD

Miss Garland Green - SOLD
Russian Beauty - SOLD
Miss Roma Green - 28

Snowman Girl - 28
Woodsy Snowy Santa - SOLD
Sammy the Snow Girl - 28

Miss. Jolly as an Elf - SOLD
Striped Stockings Kitty - SOLD
Santa on a Bell - 32

Wreath for Peace Girl - SOLD
Classic Christmas Kitty - SOLD

Let's go Sledding Girl Ornament - SOLD
Toys from the Workshop Girl Ornament - SOLD
Miss Pretty New Dress Ornament - SOLD

White Angel Ornament - SOLD
White Santa Ornament - SOLD
Snow White Girl Ornament - SOLD

Pink Snowflake Girl - SOLD
Escape on a Reindeer Girl -SOLD
Miss Town Cryer - SOLD

Ice Kitty - SOLD
Ice Angel - SOLD
Ice Santa - 28

Happy Ballerina - SOLD
Merry Christmas Santa - 28
Miss Candycane - SOLD

Miss Glass Snowball - SOLD
Miss Christmas Tree - SOLD

Escape on a Dove Girl - SOLD