Dime Store Chic

Big Fun In Ribbon Heaven

My son said I was going to the "most boring store ever." I calmly explained to him, "it's a girl thing." He was satisfied with my answer and happy to be staying home with his friend.

My neighbor, Ann, her daughter Maggie, and I went about an hour north to Hagerstown, Maryland to the Offray Ribbon Factory Outlet Store. Now this out-of-the-way store on the end of one very long ribbon factory is the BEST place to buy ribbon. Most of what I bought was 10 cents a yard or less. I bought hundreds of yards and doubt I will ever use it all.

Here is the entrance, tucked away on Willow Circle. You'll need to Mapquest the directions.

Maggie and Ann dig through the "stuff a bag for $1.09" bin. You get a quart size Ziplock bag and can stuff it full for, you guessed it, $1.09. I know I did!

This is the majority of the store. Lots of ribbon at practically give away prices!

More ribbon...

My favorite...grosgrain ribbon!...

Aren't these curly ribbons so colorful and sweet? Like bowls of candy pasta!

And in case you were curious, here is a sampling of what I purchased at the wonderful Offray Ribbon Outlet!

I'll never use all of this, but I'll have fun trying!~~~XXOO, Beth

Merry Merry Christmas To All!

Merry Christmas to All!~~~I hope Santa is VERY good to you and that you get everything you wish for!

And if you're lucky, you might get a few surprises too!...

Have the merriest of days!~~~~XXOO, Beth

Merry Christmas from Our Neighborhood: Part Two!

Thank you for taking a look at part one of our evening tour through our Holiday hometown of Washington, DC. Now here is a bunch of holiday pictures of another part of our neck of the woods. Alexandria, Virginia is not too far from Falls Church, about 20 minutes. It is in Old Town Alexandria  where hubby, son, and I spent Christmas Eve:

As you can see, this part of my neck o' the woods was trampled on by George Washington. In fact, Martha Washington used to do her shopping here.

Martha Washington used to order "cures" from this apothecary shop.

Love these bowed front windows!

Here is the main street which leads down to the Potomac River:

We headed down the street shopping along the way! Come along with us...

This store is a designer's shop. It always has the prettiest greenery!

And a lovely entrance too:

Why Not? That is the name of one of my favorite stores! It is LOADED with all sorts of cute things for kids:

Their wondow is precious! Look in the store:

Paper Source is my other FAVORITE store!

Look at the treasures inside!:

Hubby and son like the comfy chairs in Paper Source:

We took a walk to the river:

The ducks were happy. Sometimes the Potomac River floods and Old Town Alexandria gets wetter than the merchants and residents would like. Here is a marker commerating one particular raging flood:

Alexandria loves its dogs and people walk them all the time. This store welcomes it's four-legged friends:

This is across the street from the doggie store. An original old sign:

No town built before the Revolutionary War is spared these apple adornments over the door at Christmas time. I like them though :)

Here is the Alexandria visitor center. One of many old buildings in town. Here is another. A bit grander in scale:

We lunched at our favorite out of the way place: The Pita House. Nothing like Lebanese food on Christmas eve! Pass the hummus!

The Fish Market is another favorite place to eat. Fresh oysters are a mainstay.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas!~~~I hope you and yours have a delightful holiday and share the warmth of family and friends!~~~XXOO, Beth

Merry Christmas From My Neighborhood: Part One!

Last night to celebrate my husband's 50th birthday we went across the river into Washington DC too see Spamalot!

We had wanted to see this Monty Pythion musical for quite a while and the timing couldn't be better! It is currently at DC's National Theatre which is a direct 20 minute drive from our house. As you can see hubby and son are hysterical with happiness ;) We are taking an intermission after the first act which left us in tears of laughter and for the two of them, somewhat stunned!

I took this picture from our seat right before intermission ended. Yes, that is a huge wooden rabbit! This show is hilarious! You really should see it! The French soldiers alone are worth the price of admission!

After the show we drove around the long block from the theatre, parked the car, and took a walk. I thought it was appropriate that we spent the evening in DC as my husband was actually born here. We have lived in the area for 15 years and really enjoy the many things that the area has to offer. Here is the National Christmas Tree:

We have seen this lovely tree from afar while driving down Constitution Avenue, but we decided to join the tourists on an unusually mild evening for December and get a close up look. This tree is ringed in 50 smaller trees, one from each state.

We took a stroll past The Treasury building:

As we walked around the Treasury Building, which is no easy feat as it's VERY long, our son decided to pretend he was President:

He's wearing his daddy's jacket and probably plotting on when he's President that he'll order a X-Box game system in every home. Next to the Treasury Building is this familiar landmark:

Very few tourists were out and about at 10 in the evening, but the DC police and the Secret Service were around. I guess they wouldn't like it if we jumped the fence. We just think of this house as being in our neighborhood! But next to it is this very pretty building:

This is the Executive Office Building. It was in the news recently as there was a fire in one of the Vice President's offices. I think it looks beautiful at night with the lights all around the double level of columns.

Ah well, time to head home. I snapped this picture of my car, hubby and son in front of another familiar Washington DC landmark. I have never been up inside of it. One day we might do that.

Happy Holidays and come on back later to see pictures of my favorite local places in Old Town Alexandria!~~~XXOO, Beth

Our Kitschy Christmas House~~Part Deux

If you scroll down to previous posts you can see our tacky "Woolworth's" decorated Christmas tree! In this post I plan to take you on a little tour of our kitschy and vintage-inspired holiday decor. We just adore nostagia and anything which evokes that warm, secure feeling of a childhood holiday when nothing was tacky and everything was considered festive and fun! Things are simply merry during the holidays. That's what I remind myself everyday with this banner I made from Wendy Addison glass glitter letters and white rick rack:

In 2004, my BFF Suzy and I went to a flea market near Dayton, Ohio. It was the hottest day of the year. We retreated inside one of the buildings and found the nicest man selling these:

The gentleman is the husband of the artist, Pam Moffett. Pam's work was featured in Mary Englebriet Home Companion. These are original pieces Pam amde using celluliod dogs and chenille stem people with hard made and hand painted faces. They are two of my very cherished holiday possessions.

And speaking of favorite holiday things...This boot is my most recent purchase from my all-time fave place Bayberry Cove! I have finished my two weeks there helping Debbie catch up with the tons of orders. Debbie also hired me to come in one day a week after the holidays and help her. I am soooo lucky! I love Deb to bits!

This fun set of vintage candles on our souvenir shelf are a favorite thrift store find. I just love the jaunty snowmen!

And speaking of snowmen...Deb at Bayberry Cove took me and Steph and Amy to lunch on thursday. It was so much fun! But first we all had a little Christmas party at Deb's house. Deb gave me and Steph these adorable and oh so cottony soft Nicole Sayer snowmen! I just swoon over his little melancholy expression!

These Santas came from Bayberry Cove too! Hubby and son really like them as they say they are the most masculine of all of our holiday decorations!

My BFF Suzy made this FABULOUS vintage ornament and kitschy holiday wreath! It is the very first thing I put up each holiday! You MUST go to her blog and see her other wreaths! They are just scrumptious!

These two boxes are from the Jennifer Murphy collection from Midwest of Cannon Falls, MN. I have had these adorable boxes since October when I ordered them from, you guessed it, Bayberry Cove! I love everything Jennifer Murphy designs! I am salivating over her new spring collection and can't wait until they're a part of my own collection! The little vintage angel is a mini candle holder and the trio of snowbabies are a gift from Suzy.

I still have more to show you, but that's for a bit later!~~~Have a great weekend!~~~XXOO, Beth

A Happy Elf At Bayberry Cove

Two weeks ago I recieved an email from the lovely Amy at Inspire Co. She sent it out to folks she thought might be able to help her friend, Debbie. Now, when I say Debbie Buchanan you may not immediatley recognize the name, but I have no doubt you'll recognize her website: Bayberry Cove. Debbie runs this fabulous website, which offers the full collections of such notable artists as Teena Flanner, Jennifer Murphy, Bethany Lowe, and Debbie Faust. These artists have licensed their fabulous, vintage-inspired designs through various companies and Bayberry Cove sells the complete collections in a one-stop shopping experience!

Well, imagine my surprise when I learned that Bayberry Cove is run from Debbie's basement and that basement is under a house which is two miles from my house! Miss Amy from Inspire Co. learned that Debbie was swamped with holiday orders and that her usual helpers weren't available. Nightmare for poor Debbie. She wanted desperatley to get her orders quickly out to her customers, but she just couldn't do it herself and still maintain her sanity. Amy asked if anyone could step in and help Debbie. How could I refuse? As a loyal Bayberry Cove customer and a neighbor to Debbie, I quickly said "Yes!"

So, here is a little peek into the inner workings of Bayberry Cove!

Each item is wrapped in soft buff tissue, tied with raffia, and embellished with a metal star.

My job is to wrap each item that goes into an order, tuck the wrapped goodie into a nest of paper, and top it with pretty toille tissue before sealing the box.

Everything is wrapped with care and lots of love. When the lucky purchaser opens her package it's like getting a gift! Here is a trio of lovely soft-hued bottle brush trees ready to be carefully cucooned in bubblewrap before being wrapped in tissue!

These are some of the boxes I packed monday morning. They are almost ready to go out!

Stephanie is here with me, and she does the packing too, but she also creates the lables! Stephanie is a good friend of Inpire Co. Amy. Stephanie makes the most luscious collage art and shadowboxes. Check out her blog at Doojies! On this day, Debbie was in and out with errands so Stephanie and I packed up the dozens of orders and allowed Debbie a little sanity break!

Mister Snowman is going out today too! So, back to work I go today! And in case you've ordered anything from Bayberry Cove, rest assured that it will come to you with lots of love and care!~~~~Now, I need to find my elf hat...~~~~~XXOO, Beth

Oh, Tacky Christmas Tree!

We put our big artificial tree together on Sunday! It is the centerpiece of our holiday decor! I cram it with pretty much every holiday collection we have! It has four different types of lights: twinkle, big swirl C9 bulbs, candle bulbs, and bubble lights! It's big! It's tacky! We love it! Here's a tree tour just for you!...

Tree in the day time...

Tree at night...

Vintage and new snowmen collection...

A bevvy of vintage and new Santas...

Vintage Santa mugs...

Three tree toppers???? Why not! An Elvis too...

Even dogs have their place on our tree!...

Of course there is my treasured Lucy ornament collection from Hallmark!...

I love Halloween! Why not have it on a Christmas tree? Oh, and there's a bunny! And a Valentine couple!...

And we have a bottle brush tree collection with putz houses, pine cone elves and glittery snowmen and Santas!...

Happy Holiday decorating! I'll be back to show you more of our dime store holiday whimsey and tacky FUN!~~~XXOO, Beth

A Funny Night Out and Getting Ready For Christmas

Last night hubby, son, and I went into town, and by town I mean we left our Virginia suburb and crossed the river into Washington, DC. We had dinner and then went to the Warner Theatre to see the hilarious comedian, Jim Gaffigan. His show is PG rated, very clean, and perfect for a 13 year old who loves to laugh. Our son is very clever, too clever for his own good sometimes, and a hoot! We thought he would like to see a stand up comic. Gaffigan, a native of Indiana, is a comedic icon. He's been on every late night show many times, is in commercials, TV, and movies. If he comes to or near your town, go see him! You won't be disappointed! In fact, your face will be in pain the next day from laughing so hard!

After the over one hour show, Gaffigan graciously went to the lobby to sign things and for pictures. When he saw our son, he asked him: "When did they let you out of jail?" Our son got the joke after a nervous pause, and then Gaffigan said, "You're pale like me!" Gaffigan does this "Pale Force" routine with Conan O'Brien, and makes fun of his lack of pigment. He signed his DVD for our son and a box of Hot Pockets~~Gaffigan does a whole routine on Hot Pockets that will have you falling out of your seat laughing. Then our son got his picture taken:

Do we have a young stand up comedian in the making? I don't know, but our son can only do stand up comedy to pay his way through medical school!

This morning we started decorating the house for Christmas. I'll post pictures later of our kitschy Christmas, but for now this is what I'll post today:

Our dog, Sheila, took a leap right into the box that holds our tree! She's ready!

Happy week!~~~XXOO, Beth