A Tour of My Christmas Booth
Today, my Mom and I went to my space at Morgantown Market to get it ready for the holiday season.
Everyone, meet my Mom.
As you can see, I clearly look nothing like her.
Our Christmas decorating couldn't have come at a better time because next weekend, Morgantown Market will be hosting a Holiday Open House to give shoppers a jump start on their Christmas shopping.
If you aren't local to the area, or just want some ideas, I thought I would give you a tour of my booth!
Lets start on the left and work our way around. I have my Chateau Grey Cabinet staged with an assortment of German brushes.
These honey dippers are just as sweet as they look.
I have a bunch of ostrich feather dusters clustered in my ironstone pitcher. Trust me, these are the BEST dusters ever! I used them to clean up some of the mess we made while we were staging.
These two sets of Timbali Craft tea towels are a fantastic color match to the cabinet, and would look just darling in a kitchen. I'm so proud to carry Timbali Craft items. The women who create Timbali Crafts are all volunteer cooks at community based feeding centers, called Care Points, throughout Swaziland, Africa. Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS rate, and lowest life expectancy in the world. The Timbali women help to feed more than 2,500 children every day! My church (Calvary Chapel Chester Springs) has adopted one of these care points and the money generated from Timbali sales helps to keep these Care Points in operation. So if you're in the market for unique handmade gifts that give back, these are an excellent choice!
I made this burlap wreath by hand and strung some lights behind this white window.
Marc and I actually used this in our wedding to hold our table place cards.
I tucked some more Timbali goodies into the drawers of my cabinet including wristlets and purse pouches. These are great for holding your cellphone, keys, and credit cards if you don't want to carry a big 'ol purse.
The German brushes are proudly displayed in a wooden tote in front of my wooden clog (which is proudly serving as my business card holder). The 4-pronged brushes are designed for horizontal mini-blinds. Those 4 feathered fingers get after dust and dirt like a champ! When they arrived at my door a few weeks ago, I had to test them out and sure enough, they worked perfectly.
For tougher jobs around the house, these scrub brushes will do the job with their stiff bristles. One end is tapered, allowing it to sneak into the tiniest of spaces.
Moving down the line, my Edison record cabinet is still looking for its forever home. I ran out of Christmas-themed smalls to stage it, but I plan on taking care of this on a second trip. Stay tuned for some lovely accents!
Next to the record cabinet, I opened my red cedar chest to show off the lovely wood inside and to give a pretty background for my vintage sled.
I draped more Timbali goodies across the chest too. There are bags GALORE as well as table runners and placemats (sets of 6).
The bags range in size from smaller shoulder bags for everyday use to huge market bags that work great as reusable grocery bags.
Aren't those colors and patterns just so eye-catching? These would make fantastic gifts that keep on giving. Who else would have the same bag as you while walking down the street?
I grabbed my biggest boxwood wreath and Mom wrapped it in some red wooden bead garland to make it more festive and we hung it on the sled.
My booth is shaped like a lowercase letter "b". I have a long aisle and a square space off to the right. In the left corner of my square area, I have my bespoke blue milk painted record cabinet. This one would hold your actual records as opposed to the player itself.
I flanked the white window sash with two wooden candlesticks, which would provide the dreamiest mood lighting at your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table.
Some of my ironstone goodies are here as well including a sugar bowl, small pitcher, butter pats, and a chamber pot with lid.
The chamber pot is the perfect storage piece for an assortment of twig orbs that are dusted with snow.
I have just one medium boxwood wreath left with ribbon, so if you had your heart set on it, you better act fast!
I put this JOY sign inside the cabinet to draw your eye down to admire all of the cubbies inside.
In the corner, Mom and I set up her/my/the booth's Christmas tree. This pre-lit 4 footer was in her office when she worked at our local university and then it came to me when I moved into my first 800 square foot apartment. (That's where my business name comes from b-t-dubs. I had 800 square feet of space to decorate with hand-me-down furniture on a budget, and that's how I got into furniture painting!) I love that this tree is now gracing my next small starter space, even if it means that Marc and I won't have it in our apartment this year. (Or maybe that just means that we need to get a real tree this year!)
I have ALWAYS wanted a woodsy, rustic, woodland, natural inspired Christmas tree, and now I have one! Mom and I had a ball hanging these on just about every branch. I used a small section of our burlap wedding runner to wrap the bottom of the tree, making a loose "skirt".
All of the sweet tree ornaments are handmade (not by me) and ridiculously adorable.
There's a red fox,
a snowy owl,
a red rooster (and his black and brown brothers),
prickly little hedgehogs, reindeer,
bird's nests with eggs,
moose with metal antlers,
snow-dusted acorns,
and a big twig orb to top it off!
Mom and I strung burlap garland all throughout the tree which further adds to the rustic feel.
The last piece in my space is my tricycle red dresser. It's all festive now with a litany of holiday delights.
Up top, I painted this window sash with some of Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in Boxwood. This color green is super gorgeous and plays off of red perfectly. I gently hammered in some upholstery tacks and strung up my German glass glitter ornaments that I made. (More on them in a minute.)
On the dresser top, I have more twig orbs nestled in an ironstone tureen I scored at a local auction along with two metal bells.
Tall wooden candlesticks and rough cut fir trees flank either side of the boxwood window sash, creating symmetry.
My metal buck head is adorned with a medium sized boxwood wreath. It is seriously the most perfect fit for him!
We even hung some glass glitter ornaments from his antlers, which makes him look like he has earrings!
Ok, so on to these German glass glitter ornaments! I picked up some of Miss Mustard Seed's German Glass Glitter in 14 Karat Gold, Tiara, and Fallen Snow and whipped up these ornaments. I'll to a tutorial post soon. The biggest difference between German glass glitter and regular craft store glitter is that the German kind is actual tiny shards of glass. The sparkle is out of this world and the texture is unreal.
Don't they look so cute all strung up? (Please excuse my mis-labeling on the gold ornament. It's 14 Karat Gold, not Fallen Snow. I think that was the point where my coffee was wearing out...)
Just look at that sparkle! Fallen Snow is the perfect name for this color!
Here is the Tiara color. It's a sparkly silver that is just to die for.
This is the end of our "virtual" tour, but if you want to get a jump on your holiday shopping, see my space and all of the other beautiful booths in person, and get into the holiday spirit, swing by Morgantown Market this week or come out to their Holiday Open House. We would love your support!
