Finally...Christmas Decor at the Cabin

Finally made it to the cabin this past Saturday to put up a little holiday decor just for fun...actually because I was really missing the cabin and didn't want it to be lonely during the holidays!  No matter that it has been without holiday decor for most of its 73 years...I bonded with the place during the two years I lived there...so it was up the canyon on a whirlwind, single-handed rustic holiday staging event.  I had dog walking duty at 9 a.m. and again at 6:30 p.m. and it takes about 40 minutes to drive each way.  I would have enjoyed a more leisurely approach...I felt as if I were going down a checklist and marking things off...

Thing One...Load the car, including my boon companions, P.E. and P.E...Polar Express and Panda Express...

I found them the first time I went to the Golden Community Garage Sale in Golden, Colorado, in the fall of 2010, if I recall correctly, so the cabin was their first home after they were donated and turned up at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.  They wouldn't miss a trip to the cabin!

Thing Two...After unlocking the cabin and unloading the car, check the temperature...

Thing Three...Start a fire...

...where there's smoke...took awhile to get this hunk of cast iron warmed up so it would draw...

Thing Four...Check to see how things had fared in my absence...Obviously some high winds...this picnic table bench ended up in the neighboring meadow...

...I thought if water could expand up when it froze, it wouldn't break the container...Wrong!  Riven.

Thing Five...Check for signs of wildlife...No signs of mice inside...outside the neighbors had turned over the fox dish and put it back under this bench...the foxes had left their standard "thank you" even though there was no food...

...I don't know if they do this to mark their food or really do acknowledge the hand-out, but I righted the bowl and filled it with kibble before I left...

Thing Six...Go for a walk, visit the creek and cut greens...OK.  More than one thing...I'm multi-tasking at this point...Love this footbridge and bench in the background...

 ...and these patterns that freeze in the ice...

 ...Just a bit of open water...

I went off trail, cut from the bottom and made sure there wasn't a cabin in the immediate vicinity...

...On the way back to the cabin, the wind came up and it started snowing lightly...

By the time I got back, the ice in the water in our makeshift reservoir was melting.  Most wood stoves used to have a water reservoir attached to the side away from the firebox as a ready source of hot water, but they always collected mineral deposits and eventually rusted out, so it's hard to find an antique wood stove today that has a reservoir and this pan serves the purpose...

The two bears were enjoying the view...

Thing Seven...Put on some Christmas music...

Thing Eight...Eat lunch...

I brought chicken soup, oyster crackers, some cheese and an apple.  This Nissan brand thermos I bought at Goodwill for $2.99 really kept the soup hot.  The remaining soup was still steaming when I got back to the apartment...

Thing Nine...Start decorating!  I had seen this clever Christmas tree made out of galvanized containers on Laura's blog, Finding Home lauraputnam@citlink.net via google.com...



...This woman is so clever.  You really need to visit her blog if you've never enjoyed it.  When I saw this photo I realized I had everything I needed at the cabin to make my own little "knock-off"...

...I interspersed my galvanized containers with some of the greenery boughs I had just cut, hung my upholstery webbing vertically and tucked in some Christmas ornaments.  This is in the middle of the kitchen table...It doesn't meet the criteria for a well-designed centerpiece...one low enough you can see over it or high enough you can see under it, but it sure looks cute...

Here are some of the other little holiday touches I quickly tucked here and there...Two canvas cats in a birch bark sleigh...

...the cabin gnome about which I blogged last post.  Very out of focus.  Sometimes I wonder about myself.  I had about ten shots of the cats and took only one of this guy...He is without stache.  If anyone thinks he looked better with it, I'll have to take it and the glue gun with me next time I go to the cabin.  It's currently lying on my kitchen counter here at the apartment!  I love the fact that his boots are super heavy so he sits very well balanced wherever you want to position him.

 A metal "Welcome" bear sign...

An outsized moose ornament hanging from the old canary cage hanger...

  

A throw I bought two years ago in Mount Ayr, Iowa... Looks holiday cute on the rocker...and doesn't go too badly with the colors in the pillow...Got the little stockings in Golden...

A little cardinal in a ski hat tucked among greenery in a Scotch plaid bottle carrier...A bit of North American wildlife!...

Some tea cup ornaments and an Eiffel Tower tag hung from the twiggy branches of a lamp base...

...A quick greenery and pine cone arrangement in a little sleigh that has a Scandinavian look...

Another greenery and pine cone arrangement with some faux berries in a small copper pot...

...This was supposed to be one of the surprises, the galvanized Christmas "tree" being the first, but I chickened out....

I had thought it would be really fun to put these lights on a timer and have them come on for a few hours in the evening as if someone were still living in the cabin.  I had budgeted for a single string of brand new cool LED lights and after pricing a timer at Michael's at around $9, stumbled across an identical timer at Savers and bought it, I think, for  $1.99.  I had an industrial strength extension cord at the cabin for my power tools, so thought I'd feel comfortable having these lights plugged in.  Then I found there were no instructions with the timer and I couldn't figure out how it worked.  Then I read the instructions for the lights which, of course, advised not to leave them unattended and stressed that nothing, including fabric, should be put over them.  To be safe, I thought I'd have to take the curtains down and my family has always kept the windows covered for security purposes when we're not there.  I finally decided I was literally playing with fire and unplugged the lights before I left....still a fun thought.

Whew!  Done!  It seemed as if the hours had really passed quickly...I decided I should start back about 5:30 p.m.  By the time I got everything cleaned up and the car loaded, the clocks in the cabin read 5:45 p.m.  Then I got in the car, looked at the car clock and realized I'd been operating on  "Cabin Time"!  I hadn't been back to the cabin since the autumn time change and had lost an hour the minute I stepped inside.  It was only 4:45 p.m.  

I got caught up in the traffic leaving the ski area, then we all got caught up in a stately procession led by an RTD bus, which apparently had become disabled halfway down the canyon then had been set right by a tiny tow truck.  There was the bus, followed by the tow truck, followed by two cars, then me, then everyone who had been skiing.  We snaked our way down the mountain at a steady 40 mph, but I got back in good time to get the car unloaded and take Kooky for his walk at 6:30 p.m.

What a day!  But I'm glad I did it.  I think the cabin is happy and I know I'm happy thinking about it adorned for Christmas...and if the angels from Connecticut are seeking a staging area before going on, I can vouch for this place as a safe haven....a little heaven on earth...and they're welcome.  Teddee

Preparing for the Trip to the Cabin

I went to the Boulder Goodwill twice on Saturday during the most recent 50% off sale, both times looking primarily for stuff for the cabin.  I had dog walking duty at 9 a.m. so was there the first time just as they opened the doors at 8 a.m.  I had seen some drapes earlier in the week that I thought would be ideal to incorporate into the long-planned bed drapes for the cabin bunk area.  If you've followed my blog for long, you know that draping the bunks has been on my mind probably since I moved to the cabin in the late summer of 2010.  This is the best shot I have of the bunks taken last spring when I was still living there...

I have ample fabric in the smaller black and tan check I used for the curtains...

...but when I saw these draperies...

... I thought the great big checks would really be fun for the bunk curtains...however, they were $9.99, so I turned my back and told myself that if they were still there on Saturday when I could get them half off, I'd buy them.  Otherwise, tough luck.  I'd just have to make do with what I had.

When I pulled into the parking lot, the doors were still closed and people were waiting in line to enter.  By the time I parked and got out of the car, the doors had been opened.  I walked in, grabbed a cart, went quickly to the drapery/fabric section...and didn't see them.  I started pulling the hangers apart and there they were.

The fabric has a nice hand...rather heavy with a nice suede feel.  Right now they have tab tops, but some of the tabs have been removed from one of the panels.  If I don't need the tabs for length, I'll just use the hem as my tunnel and remove the tabs.  If I need the tabs for length...well, I'll worry about that if it comes to pass.  These will be the outer curtains.  I still need to make the inner, shorter curtains to cover the top bunk which is just used for storage.  I have the curtain rods and the hardware that hangs from the ceiling so I'm almost ready to roll on this project. 

I don't think I'll try to do it when I go up on Friday, though.  I'm only going to be there for a few hours and I just want to have fun and decorate the cabin a little for the holidays.  

When I returned to Goodwill Saturday afternoon, having attended to my dog walking duties, I seemed to be drawn to more things for the cabin.  

I found this cute little forest gnome that I thought looked just right for that rustic environment...

...he needed a little tlc...he'd had moss or something glued to his legs and arms and the tops of his boots and this had been knocked off, leaving scabby areas, and his little basket needed refreshing.  Today I did the necessary moss grafts and added moss and berries to his basket and his boots...

  

I discovered in the process that he had a little ladybug under his hat brim...

 

Then I decided to comb his beard and mustache.  His mustache came off and I could see he had a nice smile...

...boy, he looks at least 20 years younger don't you think?  So now I have to decide whether to return him to his original old-man-of-the-mountain look or leave him smiling.  I see he has a little residue there that will need to come off if I leave the mustache off.  He has the pale lip of a long-time mustache wearer who just recently shaved!

So, what do you think?  Stache or no stache?  Teddee


 

More Decorated!

Preface:  I am going to the cabin and decorate a little for Christmas!  Crazy?  You betcha.  I can't wait.  I was planning on driving up for the day this Friday, but the forecast is for, are you ready...snow!  Not much, but the precipitation is going to be accompanied by temperatures dropping from 33F degrees to 19F by nightfall, making for what could be a rather exciting trip back down the canyon...and my snow tires are still in my backseat where they are staying until the old S.S. check arrives next Wednesday and I can go someplace and have my tires switched out.  So I'm staying put for now and will drive up toward the end of next week.  I've set aside some of my most rustic decorations and have one or two really fun surprises planned and will be blogging about all!

Picking up where I left off in my last post about my Christmas decorations here at the apartment, here are some shots of where my burgeoning supply of decor spilled over into the bedroom...

...the bedroom is the only room that has not escaped the ongoing "rage for white."  Some of the photos on the "white blogs" are so deliberately over-exposed you can't even see any detail.  Maybe that's the idea.

I made this arrangement in this pressed tin box last year hoping I might be able to sell it at a consignment shop in Nederland.  The shop specializes in clothing, so the proprietor had little interest or ability to showcase floral arrangements or any of the decor items I took in...everything was relegated to a high shelf in a back room.  Any customers who wandered back there rarely thought to look up at the shelf along the ceiling for product!  And if they did they only saw the underneath side!  At any rate, I retrieved this at the end of the season when it hadn't sold.  The little white birds and dangling amber jewels, purchased at Michael's I think, look right at home on top of the white chest of drawers along with the white cast iron candlesticks, the pierce-work lidded dish that's filled with dried herbs, the sea-shell sconce, and a shawl I've had for years that's there because the paint on the side of the chest of drawers needs retouching!  The two keys sticking up at right are actually hooks I found at Jo-Ann's last year.  They were in the sale section and were tacky chalky pink and blue but have been painted a lovely satin cream and are awaiting a final assignment. 

The tray of objets below was moved from the top of the chest of drawers, where it usually resides, to make room for the floral arrangement.  It is now on top of the steamer trunk with the addition of a couple of bark apples I found at some thrift shop, forgotten now, and some dark brown feathers, barely visible at lower right, purchased at Hobby Lobby...

Another floral arrangement I made last year that didn't sell at the consignment shop...

...is in behind the tray.  I love this basket with its metal feet and handle and beaded inset.  The arrangements are in small red and white pots so can be easily removed.  I probably will keep the basket no matter what I decide to do with the arrangements.  Right now, this looks tres romantique illuminated by the little lamp with the red shade!

With the goal of using every bit of Christmas decor I had stored, I made space on top of the steamer trunk for the smaller of the two trees I'd found out on the patio at the Boulder Goodwill...

I stuck some sprigs of longer-branched greenery into this one, something I wish I had done on the larger one in the living room since it gives these skinny trees a little more texture, and loaded on the remaining ornaments, icicles and a string of pearls.  I found a string of indoor lights after I had this tree dressed, but it has 100 bulbs and I think I'd have to take everything off and start over to use it on this tree.  It might be fun since I could try that decorator-recommended method of covering each branch starting at the trunk and working out.  I'm not sure how motivated I feel, but it is only December 5!

Here's a cute little arrangement, another one that didn't sell last year--good thing I can take rejection!--that I gave to another resident here in the apartment building.  She is a cancer survivor and wears pink all the time, so I was pleased she was happy to accept it...

I was so enamored of these little doll carriages many years ago when they were a hot item in all the craft stores and snapped this up when I found it at Goodwill.  It seemed to be calling out for a little-girl-pink color scheme.  I think I found all the elements at Michael's.

That does the bedroom.  

This is what I ended up putting out in the hallway...

...the lighting out here is horrific and the hallway narrow enough I couldn't get far enough back to get a good shot.  I created a high table by stacking a plant stand on a table.  I wanted it tall so I wouldn't have to cut off the brocade table cloth.  The over cloth is a silk drapery panel...

...I got both at Salvation Army for $1 each.  I guess I must have been thinking that if I had to face Pepto-Bismol-colored walls every time I leave my apartment, I might as well play into the color scheme.  I wonder who picked out this color?  The second floor is even worse.  It has a very gray-toned lavender paint that makes everyone look ill.

This is the wreath on the door...

This was fun since the plastic ginko-leaf wreath, that I snagged at Goodwill on a 50% off Saturday several weeks ago for $2.99 if I recall correctly, was not Christmasy to begin with...


...but got transformed with an infusion of pine sprigs from the two greenery picks I was able to afford at Hobby Lobby...have you checked out their prices?  Whooee!  Many of the things I have lusted for there recently in the way of garlands and wreaths, both fall and Christmas, are way in excess of $100.  I guess the Chinese are getting savvy.  Hopefully the people who are actually crafting the product are getting the lion's share of the money.  I digress.  

All of the ornaments except the butterflies came from the Salvation Army and I paid 25 cents each for those on a 50% off day...

  The butterflies were among my stored Christmas decor and I have no idea where I got them but I'm quite sure they were a thrift store find.

The "tree" on the table...

...is made of two tear-drop swags I got on sale at Michael's several weeks ago when their Christmas stuff was already being marked down 50%...


...I was having trouble finding any little trees at the time...the thrift stores hadn't put out their trees yet...so recalled this trick that I learned while working at Jo-Ann's in Scottsdale, Arizona, one Christmas season.

First you wire the two swags together...

...I highly recommend that you cut the loops first!  I cut mine afterward and ended up with only one "stem" to stick down into the pot...my usual monkey do, then monkey see...At any rate, you need to wire the swags together both top and bottom and hot glue the wire in place...

Here's the urn already prepped with floral foam (I like to build the foam up so it's above the container rim)...

 ...covered with green moss...

Blogger lesson...never take a single shot of anything!  This photo was so out of focus I had to play with the brightness and contrast and just pretend I meant it to look this way...

After I inserted the swags, stem side down into the moss covered foam, I beefed them up with some of the most inexpensive picks I could find at Michael's the same day...these were 99-cent picks so I got them for 45 cents each...

...then slathered on the icicles and some rather Japanesey looking pink and yellow jeweled picks I'd had for two years wondering what I was going to do with them...

I think they look like Geisha hair picks.  I lowered the little watercolor I had purchased earlier in the fall and topped it off with a crown I'd found at Goodwill here in Boulder...

...all part of my more is more decorating philosophy!  

Does this crown look a little too much like these old Standard Oil Crowns?



Photo courtesy of Primarily Petrolian

Also seen here, which are a fond memory from my Midwestern childhood (Can still hear my Dad saying, "Give me a couple of bucks of regular.")!...


Photo courtesy of Shorpy Historical Photos
 
Oh, did I say I was having fun?  All for now.  I have a few more things in the works.  I may still be doing this on Christmas eve.  It wouldn't be the first time!  Teddee