Our best creation yet...

Our beautiful baby girl, Olive Eleanora Sloane was born last Saturday, December 21st at 10:12pm.  She weighed 7lb 7oz and measured 19.5" long.  She has been the highlight of our holiday and will continue being the highlight of our lives.  We love her so so much!!  I've been recovering well and Ben, Olive and I are looking forward to getting back in the studio on Monday (Vintage by Crystal is officially a family business now!).  So far parenthood has been awesome!  :) 

Christmas Update!

The Deer Family - SOLD

Twas Eight days before Christmas, In upstate New York.

Not a creature was stirring, not even a spun cotton stork. 

Crystal conjured her magic, to make beautiful treasures.

In hopes they would bring some joy and pleasure.

The studio glistened with sparkles so bright.

And out came these wonders of love and delight.

Their cuteness was strong.  Too strong it's true. 

Ben and Crystal can't keep them, what ever should they do?"   

They thought long and hard, not but nothing was coming

These pieces will be homeless if they don't think of something.

When all hope was lost of sadness and dread   

All of a sudden an idea struck Ben's head, 

He cheered "Yippy!" and "Skippy!" and "Hip Hip Hooray!!"

"I have a solution.  There's an update today!!!"

~~~~~ 

As usual, blog readers get first dibs on our new spun cotton one-of-kind figures. If you see something(s) you love, just email us at vintagebycrystal@yahoo.com and we'll let you know if they're still available. First come first served! we'll update item status in this post as often as we 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 in case your first choice is unavailable, but make sure you label them "second choice".  Click on photos to enlarge.

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 via first class mail and should arrive within a few days.  We send Paypal invoices via email unless you specify that you'd rather pay via check. And of course email us if you have any questions!

Happy Shopping!

Pine Cone Penny -SOLD
Dana Duck - SOLD

Little Georgie (orn) - SOLD
Miss Cane (orn) - SOLD

Mother and Child (orn) -SOLD
Stocking Stella (orn) - SOLD

Butterfly Princess (box base) - SOLD
Silver Star Girl (box base) - SOLD

Ferra Fairy (large 13.5" tree topper) - SOLD

The Zebrana Sisters (orn) - SOLD

Jack Frost - SOLD
Joe Frost - SOLD
James Frost - SOLD
John Frost - SOLD

Candy Swinger (orn) - SOLD
Snow Ball Climber (orn) - SOLD

Roof Top Mary - SOLD
Roof Top Molly (orn) - SOLD

Miss Jovy (orn) - SOLD

Kitty Sophie (orn) - SOLD
Kitty Paige (orn) - SOLD

The Love Birds (orn) - SOLD

High Chair Baby -SOLD
Miss Catalina - SOLD

Snow Flake Sarah (orn) - SOLD
Snow Flake Clara (orn) - SOLD
Snow Flake Jake (orn) - SOLD

Miss Dasher (orn) - SOLD
Miss Prancer (orn) - SOLD
Miss Blitzen (orn) - SOLD

Miss Evergreen - SOLD
Candy Cane Hugger - SOLD 

Beige Santa - SOLD
Red Wreath Santa - SOLD
Green Santa - SOLD

Miss Cinnamon - SOLD
Little Drummer Girl -SOLD
 Miracle Mary - SOLD

Peppermint Patty - SOLD
Saint Nick (box base) - SOLD
Miss Dolly - SOLD  

Miss Everly - SOLD
Miss Isabella - SOLD

Orange Santa (orn) - SOLD
Mr. Kringle (orn) - SOLD

The Snow Queen (large 11.5" on heavy glazed ceramic base) - SOLD

Owl Rider (orn) - SOLD
Santa Rider (orn) - SOLD

Miss Fanny - SOLD
Miss Franny - SOLD

Dove Angel - SOLD
Mother Christmas - SOLD

 Glittered Candy Cane Clinger (orn) - SOLD

Girl and her Everyday Dove (orn) - SOLD
Girl and her Pet (orn) - SOLD

Miss Mushroom Red (clip-on/orn) - SOLD
Miss Mushroom Earth (clip-on/orn) - SOLD
 

Wanda Hootle (orn) - SOLD
Willy Hootle (orn) - SOLD

Fox on a Stump (orn) - SOLD
Mr. Hooty (orn) - SOLD

 Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall (orn) - SOLD
Humpty Dumpty had a Great Fall (orn) - SOLD

Christmas Update Announcement!

Happy holidays everyone!  I can't believe that we're already in the heart of the Christmas season!!  I think I'm starting to hear the faint sound of jingle bells getting closer and closer.  And while Santa does a superb job  making his rounds on Christmas eve, we thought we'd help him out by creating a whimsical collection of Christmas goodies for you. Don't miss it. :)             

Blog readers get first dibs as usual and if you'd like to be notified about upcoming blog updates and special events, just sign up for our mailing list on the right side of my blog, or leave a comment with your email address.

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New one-of-a-kind pieces will be available for purchase on:
 
Tuesday, December 17th - Here, the blog - 11:00 am EST

See you here on Tuesday! :)

SOWA Holiday Market!! This Weekend in Boston!

Christmas is right around the corner!  Which means one of our very favorite holiday shows is drawing near!!  This weekend is the SOWA Holiday Market!  We are bursting with excitement to return to our old stomping grounds in Boston for one fabulous and magical weekend.  

Come say hi!  We'd love to see you. :)

 And don't forget to bring some holiday cheer!  

 Saturday and Sunday December 14th and 15th ~ 12pm - 6pm  

Thanksgiving Decorations in December...

The front hall mantel looks quite a bit different now...but before the transition from gobble gobble to ho ho ho, I snapped a few quite pics of the goodies I put out for Thanksgiving.  Things have been so crazy busy in the studio and while we're fairly caught up in orders, we're running a little behind on blog posts!  Anyway, the front mantel always seems to get the focus for my holiday decorations...mantels always need switching up and with two shelves instead of one, this one is perfect for playing around with throughout the year.  

I have several turkey candles, which are so beautiful and looks great displayed with my vintage planters.  I've got a whole flock!  But I'm just noticing now that there are no gals at this party....I think I need to hone in on some lady turkey's for next year!  ...Although they won't be easy to find...everyone loves the boys!

I have a deep passion for crepe paper and am so happy to be the lucky owner of this pilgrim pair of Japanese crepe people.  Sigh....aren't they adorable??

Another two of my best Thanksgiving pieces...a pair of vintage paper mache turkey candy containers.  Handsome aren't they?

Acorns and pinecones add to fall feel of Thanksgiving.

 And lastly, on the other mantel...my collection of the weirdest (but still cute!) crepe turkey's you'll ever see. 

They have no beaks!!  Poor things...

Ben and I had a great Thanksgiving and we hope you did too!  :)

Wall Art

I'm a big fan of things you can hang on the wall.  Typically things you hang on the wall aren't super useful, unless you consider making your environment a much more interesting, inspiring, and happy place a useful thing...which I suppose I do.  I thought I'd share some of the "useful things" we have hanging around our house!  :)

This first picture is an antique framed photo I got at a yard sale this summer.  I added black pointy hats to a good number of the school children here for no real good reason.  Aren't they cute!

 

This is Ben's prized find of the year....a mid-century school map of North America.  We saw it at a barn sale for $75 and Ben hemmed and hawed about it and decided not to get it (it was huge and despite having an entire Victorian house at our hanging disposal, we don't have tons of wall space and even less huge wall space).  After pining after it for months, Ben decided to go back to that barn and hope it was still there.  It was!  After paying the neighbor of the people who owned it, since they weren't actually there (fingers crossed it got back to them!), Ben and I brought it home and hung it on our bedroom wall.  I stare at it every morning when I wake up and must say that I'm now getting quite proficient in North American geography!

This is my prized find of the year and this guy has a similar story to Ben's map...except instead of pining for months...I only pined for a week before I went back for it.  It was at an antiques shop a few towns over and after seeing it, couldn't get it out of my head!  I don't really know any of the story behind it, but I was drawn to it because it looks like Santa Claus without actually definitively being Santa Claus.  I actually think of him more as a fisherman...who is really secretly Santa Claus is disguise....or something like that.  Plus the quality of the painting is so nice, with great detail and delicate brush strokes.  And a cool frame to boot.  He greets people now at the top of the stairs. 

This is a painting that hung in my grandparent's house.  It's quite large and has amazingly thick paint texture.  I had always admired it when I was a kid and thought "wow how much paint they must have used up to create this painting with such chunky stokes".  It now proudly hangs in our hallway. 

 This painting too was from my grandparent's.  And jovial scene...it reminds me that you don't need TV or laptops to have fun!

 I found this guy along with the school children in the first photo and gave him a bit of a makeover too with a paper hat and mustache.  ...And I named him Fred.

 And of course his friend James, who Ben keeps thinking is a girl for some reason.  I gave him cat ears and a mask. 

Hanging next to Fred and James are the bird silhouettes.  These were so much fun to make!  I have several large bird books and a had a stack of old paper of varying shades of white and off-white and traced or copied them before carefully cutting them out.  This was one of those projects that I just couldn't stop and wound up staying up really late at night...errr...stayed up really early morning?  to get done. 

You may have seen this in past posts.  This collection of frames a images hangs above the couch in our living room.  And seeing this photo is making me realize that they've gotten a little wonky over time.  I think a straightening up is in order....or should I leave them wonky and cute?

 This too is in our living room and is probably my favorite little vignette in the whole house. 

 Tramp art and an old owl on a skull illustration with cardboard faux bois frame hide an old phone jack in the kitchen.

 There's a bit of wall space in the master bath that I've been very slowly adding to.  I'd like to find a few more small landscape paintings to go with the first one...

 Some framed greeting cards in the bedroom.  I'm a big fan of framing greeting cards. 

And finally a trio of antique prints in the dining room.  I found the ship one on the right leaning against a trash can on garbage day back when we lived in Boston and other two I bought at Brimfield and have had for a while now. 

I hope you enjoyed some of our wall art!  I'll have to do another post on the rest...and I've got lots more ideas for new wall art in the new year!  Fun!  :)