Love reading all your stories! Great thread. My sis & I were 15 months apart and we usually got the same thing every year. One year we "graduated" to 20 inch J.C. Higgins bicycles from Sears cira 1958 or 59. They were identical but we realized after a couple of days that the reason we could tell them apart is because my Dad, excuse me Santa had put the handle bars on Sis's bike upside down lol. Believe it or not, she wouldn't let him change them to the correct position. She liked being backwards LOL. Mother always put a lot of thought into our stockings, the best fruit and candies. Daddy always read from the same Night Before Christmas book when he tucked us in on Christmas Eve. It had this red velvet stuff on Santa's suit on the cover. My birthday is a week before Christmas and I believe that book had been a birthday gift. When you have a birthday that time of year, you get used to birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas wrap LOL. We always were involved with the Mary & Joseph manger scenes at the church, and with the Christmas program as my Dad was the church pianist. I was always Mary, apparently because I was chubby lol. My cousins were the other actors in the play each year. Nice to look back on that period, because I don't see any of them very often now. Mostly when a relative dies, or maybe a reunion once a year. And I remember the year we got Thumbelina dolls (they moved slowly when you cranked them up), my Barbie (it had 3 wigs!), and the year I got a Polaroid Swinger camera and GoGo boots, white of course, LOL. Still have that camera, and it always made terrible pics (black & white only), but my parents went to a lot of trouble to find that one, they were sold out because it was the trend that year. The way they found my camera was because my Dad worked part time that year at the Camera and Craft store, and he was the photographer for the Santa photos. I remember waiting on him at the mall while he worked. He had a full time job, and used that camera store job to buy equipment for his home darkroom. That was a fun experience too, developing film. Now it's mostly digital, but I enjoyed doing that at home when I was a kid. Ended up in printing profession myself and got more than plenty of darkroom work later in life. I enjoyed my kids each Christmas, now I'm making new memories with the 2 small grandsons. They're such a joy! Holidays hugs to you all ~tenderlee

I hung it up right away in a magnolia tree. At first I thought the silicone was bad,or maybe it didn't want to stay glued,but found out for some reason the SQUIRRELS are taking the cups off! Maybe they think they see more birdseed in it,or they like to chew the dried silicone,whatever the reason, I finally got tired of glueing the clear punch cups back on. I loved the look of the cups with the glass center of the chandelier, and I suppose I could have glued them back on and used it as a candle holder,but I am collecting tea cups and saucers to make another birdfeeder like that. Good luck in the chandelier search:) Maybe freecycle? I bought the spray paint at Walmart,so many new colors they've come out with!

Do you use the bud vases for the bottom of your teacup birdfeeders? That is a great idea. I have been using them for some concrete mushroom bottoms and I have amassed quite a few. Last time at my favorite junk store, the cashier gave me 15 vases for $3. It pays sometimes to share the crafts with the girl charging you for your "treasures". Just so you don't think I am dishonest,it is an as-is store and you can fill up your cart and she just makes up a reasonable price. This week I got all a cart full of stuff and the ones that were marked added up to $58, I got the whole lot for $12. Some of the things were too nice for crafts like a beautiful serving bowl and tray. I took them to a 4th of July party filled with fruit and gave them as hostess gifts. It made me look generous and cost about $1.

dreamgoddes, very nice, you have alot of good setups here, I'll comment on your last one specifically. I love the Victorian theme you have going here. I would remove the tall candlestick because I prefer my eye to travel down from one taller object to the shorter objects in a trianglar sort of way. Your eye travels from the tall lamp then going down to the next taller item (dish in this case) traveling on down to the other items allows my eye to travel smoothly and pleasingly. I would also put the pretty post card picture of the ladies having tea replacing the one that you have already have there on the left. (I like the gold frame mixed with the silver, it also brings out the yellow in the yellow rose in the dish). I would add back in the pretty teacup with the flower on to the silver setting. My reasoning for bringing back the flower/teacup is because (where the photo had been) the teacup brings in the theme of the flowers from the other items surrounding it on to the silver part of the vignette, the teacup is totally fitting in the theme of the tea service. I think you could remove the doily under the silver tray, the white marble in itself is a lovely background. Please let me say, that this is only my opinion, it happens to be what is pleasing to me, so nothing against what others have said. Doing a vignette is a highly personal thing, it has to resonate with you first and formost, follow your heart and a few rules and you can't fail. Great job, you really have a treasure of items to work with, a vignetters dream!