Tinsel Bright Trading Co. is open for the season.

Saturday was the first official day of Spring and the re-opening day of my friend Muriel's fun little shop Tinsel Bright Trading Co. Located in the heart of down town Gorham (just outside of Portland), the shop houses Fancy Goods and Vintage Furnishings, a little old and a little new.

I just love the front window display of the white picket fence and garden of cabbages. (The cabbages were found at the Christmas Tree Shop and then dusted with green glitter for an extra special touch). The cart in the window also showcases fruits and vegetables and is one of my favorite pieces.

Here are two views of the cart. Vintage Easter theme books add to the vignette.

Inside the store you will find items such as a vintage saddle, collection of paint by number horse paintings and a collection of porcelain horses. (Gorham is home to 4 horse riding academies, FYI.)

For something softer and sweeter, Tinsel Bright sells lovely nightgowns, soaps, perfumes and other lovely toiletries (Just in time for someone's Easter Basket or for Mother's Day.)

Vintage dishes, artwork and furnishings are also on display.

These are just a few photos of their inventory. If you are up in the area, please be sure to drop in. Hours are Thursday and Friday 11 - 6, Saturday 11-4. Muriel will love to meet you.

Tinsel Bright Trading Co.
2 Main Street, Gorham, Maine 04038
(207) 839-4852

I also just wanted to remind everyone of my upcoming giveaway celebrating 100 followers. The giveaway ends April 15th. I apologize for the wait, my work is keeping me out straight till then. At least it will give everyone that wants too, ample time to enter. It also means I have more time to add a few more treasures to the giveaway prize. This is so much fun! Thank you to all who enter.

100 Followers Giveaway Celebration Please enter by April 15th. (Click Here to Enter) Thank you.

Have a Good Day.
Sherrie

Maine Winter, After-Christmas Sales, & Holt-Howard

My backyard after 4 days of snow. It looks so pristine and peaceful. Almost makes all the shoveling we did, worth it.



Well, I have already saved hundreds of dollars with my New Year's resolutions, albeit, not conscientiously or even voluntarily so...... It has snowed here in Maine, non-stop since New Year's eve. Hearing the sounds of sirens as emergency vehicles pass my house, have kept me off the road. I know, I had made a grand proclamation of my resolutions which included not making unnecessary purchases, and 75% sales at Michael's, A.C. Moore or the Christmas Tree Shop (although think of all the money I would be saving and not the actual spending part --- are you all following my line of reasoning) admittedly these purchases would count, nonetheless, as unnecessary. Remember, my goal, replace with vintage, thrift or homemade. I already own 12 trees, 1000's of ornaments, collections of nutcrackers, Santas, and Angels. Did I really need another purchase of anything "Made in China"? But gee whiz, it was 75% off, and I could take the items, and repurpose them into something so much better. Kind of like Sandra Lee of the food network turning store bought canned goods into her signature semi-homemade dishes. Did I mention that everything was 75% off, and dare I say, maybe even 90% off at some mall stores. Oh well. I was good. Hope that you are proud of me.

This evening, after shoveling for the second time today, I decided it was time to clean out my bag, a large canvas tote from L.L. Bean. For the past couple of weeks, all mail, receipts and other important papers have been tossed into this bag, for safe keeping during the holiday season. and more importantly, for keeping the kitchen table clean for company. I had tossed in a recent Home & Garden section of the Sunday paper to be read at a more leisurely time. There was a front page article about a florist from Maine being chosen as a White House Christmas Decorating volunteer. By the way, that is a new goal for me, as lofty and unattainable as it is, but one can dream. To help decorate the White House, how cool would that be! So I sit down with a cup of hot tea and start to read the article. I go to turn the page, and there are the words, in large type spread across the top of the page "Holt-Howard's playful designs warm the hearts of collectors" by Terry Kovel. Now this is so remarkable, because I had just posted that this was a new collectible for me. Prior to Vintage Christmas Monday, I had never heard of Holt-Howard. Several kind blogging friends gave me a lesson on these pieces. I am especially keen on finding their Pixies. I had even joked about the likelihood of my finding a Holt-Howard treasure at Goodwill. I think that may have the same prospect of me being chosen to volunteer at the White House. But one can always dream.

For those of you stopping by for Silver Sunday, please scroll down to the previous post.
.

That was fun

Vintage Christmas Monday was so much fun. I loved visiting everyone's posts and feel very honored to have received some nice comments on my post. I enjoyed each one. It made coming back to work on a Monday after a holiday just a little nicer. So again thank you to our host Joan at Anything Goes Here for making it possible for strangers to meet and greet and perhaps become friends. Sometimes it only takes a comment, a kind word, act or deed from a stranger to make a day a little better ....... a little brighter. So thank you all for visiting.

A few years ago, I just didn't feel in the mood for Christmas. I have a big home and always loved decorating it ..... to an extreme as my family would say. I had 12 full size trees throughout the house, each with a different theme along with the main family tree. The local paper had even done a full page article the previous year on my home, trees and the yearly open house party that we hosted for up to 100 people. But that year, things were different. My daughter was away for her first year of college, dear friends had suffered sickness and tragedies and my business was in a slump so money was tight. I had set up only a few trees (5) and was planning on just a smaller scaled party for just the closest of friends and family. The last tree decorated was the family tree. It stands 9 feet high and easily has over 500 ornaments. Along with the green face Santa and the gold spray painted macaroni wreathes that my daughter made were the collection of beautiful ornaments from Germany that had been passed down in Dad's family for generations. I must add that this was also the first Christmas for our new kitten.

I came home from work one afternoon and found my 9 foot tree TOPPLED! It was precariously perched on the fireplace screen. Fortunately, the tree came down at an angle and was saved from completely smashing to the floor by the wrought iron screen. I was in tears. Precious ornaments were lost but thankfully not as many as there could have been. I began the task of undecorating the tree so that we could carefully right it back into position .... this time tethered in place by strong wire. The kitten was conveniently in hiding. My daughter had called home that night to say hi and was told by her father about the tree mishap. First she protested that one little cute kitten could not have toppled a tree. (That would be a later discussion.) What happened next I call the "Miracle of Strangers Christmas".

My daughter hosts an online writing group comprised of hundreds of writers from around the world. To this site she posted a request. She told her friends how important these lost ornaments were to her mother, not for any monetary value but rather the memories they represented. She asked for them to drop me a line to say hello and Merry Christmas, unbeknown to me, giving them my e-mail address. The next day when I opened my e-mail, there were hundreds of well wishes. There were cartoons, oh so cute pictures of snuggling kittens, puppies and even hamsters, poems and just simple statements of good tidings. They came from all over .... Japan, England, Australia and all over the states, to name a few. I didn't understand why I was receiving them until I read one that said "Your daughter explained what happened. I thought that this was so nice of her to do for her mother. She is a good person and a good daughter so you must be a good mom. Merry Christmas to Elizabeth's Mom." I was in tears again, tears of joy. I printed a dozen of these Christmas wishes and made them into ornaments . Years later, they still make me teary-eyed when I place them on the tree.

As Linus could have said to Charlie Brown ..... "Taking time to share a simple thought or kind word, that is the true meaning of the season." Again thank you all for stopping by to visit and share your thoughts. Thank you for allowing me to share. I look forward to next week.

Merry Christmas
Sherrie

The Tree:

Wait till you see my table!

It all started with one Goodwill find this summer, an amber glass and sterling silver cake pedestal. That became the start of what will be my Thanksgiving tablescape. Then I found votive candle holders, glasses, large bowls and salt and pepper shakers....all amber glass and all for pennies. You've got to love church rummage sales! I have already posted some of those finds. Yesterday, I stopped at Hannaford Grocery Store just as they were putting out a display of 75% off sale items. For only a quarter a piece....I got this silverware with the amber "plastic" handles....but the look of glass is there. Also on sale were these gold dishtowels for only $.35 cents each, so I got a dozen to use as extra large dinner napkins for my Thanksgiving dinner. I totally scored. When I went back to the store just a few hours later, the display was emptied. Later last night, I was relaxing with a copy of the new Better Homes & Gardens mag and I see a large advertisement for Wal-mart showcasing a table done in "Amber" glass. Who knew that my table will be such a trend setter.....I'm that good. Oh by the way, the set of 3 candle holders were from Christmas Tree shop on sale all three for only a dollar. Now that I have the bones of my tablescape in place, guess I had better start thinking about the menu.