Recent Posts
- Pumpkin Pancakes October 23, 2009.
- The Fete of Halloween September 29, 2009.
- Autumn Dept. 56 Displays September 24, 2009.
- Halloween Handiwork August 16, 2009.
- A Glorious Victorian Christmas January 2, 2009.
Most Popular Posts
Most Discussed Posts
- Hot-Water Bath Canning (4)
- Beaded Christmas Ornaments (2)
- Antique and Reproduction Lighting (2)
- Pumpkin Pancakes (2)
- Other Victorian Merchandise (1)
- Art & Collectibles (1)
- Ukrainian Easter Eggs (1)
- Welcome to The Old House Attic (0)
- Harvest Pear Centerpiece (0)
New Comments
- Muscle Force Max: thanks !! very helpful post!
- DenzelWpi: Hello there, Hey! How are you? Happy
- Tim: Generally, there should be enough water to
- Deb: How much water do you put in
- Shari: Thank you for "bein there" we've moved
Categories
- Cluttered Bookshelf
- Crafting
- Decor, DIY, Etc.
- Department 56
- Featured – Nooks and Crannies
- Kitchen Magic
- Lead Stories
- Restoration and Preservation
- Seasonal Celebrating
Freinds' Space
| WDVR-FM Radio | ||
 |
WDVR-FM is a community-supported radio station. Unlike public radio, they receive no government funding and rely on membership support. And unlike so many radio stations these days, feature live local DJs who present music from many genres. The Sound Alternative Let yourself become memorized by new age and world music on Carla Van Dyk's show every Wednesday at 3PM ET. Celtic Sunday Brunch Kindle your Celtic spirit with Walt Haake and Carla Van Dyk as they take you to Celtic lands and beyond Sundays at 11AM ET. |
|
| The Mists of Avalon | ||
 |
Go beyond the veil of time with Celtic & early music as presented by Walt Haake in podcasts of previously aired radio shows. | |
| SableHawk's Musings | ||
 |
Draw down the energies of the moon as you reflect on inspiring tales by Sablehawk that relate to each full moon of the Earth's year. | |
With moss and summer trees, a wintry village can be transformed into a lush and green summertime display. Dickens’ houses can be used, but we found that there are more pieces from New England Village that are more suited to summer and beach side displays.
Old-Time Workstation
There's a small corner in my living room that conceals my home office. Masked by old-fashioned charm, it's a fully functional computer workstation, complete with printer, scanner and other ubiquitous computing ...
Verre Eglomise Mirror
Who says you can't make a mirror? Martha Stewart can and so can we. With a little effort and patience you can use silver leaf to make an antique mirror pane and with some more creativity you can add a gilded etched pattern ...
Bake Me a Cake
We're always trying new things in the kitchen, but baking cakes is the most fun. Working with a pastry bag is much like an artist working with a paintbrush. The cake is simply a blank canvas that lends itself to limitless possibilities ...
Whether placed amongst baskets or sliding out of the entertainment center, there’s always a spot for a Dept. 56 house! By elevating houses on boxes and gracefully placing cotton batting, you can achieve the illusion of houses sliding out of a cabinet.
It is hard to imagine, but Christmas decorating can extend beyond Dept. 56. Who’d have thought! There are some interesting and lovely sights to behold around the house at the holidays.
Visitors are always surprised when they slide open the linen cupboard door to reach for a towel and instead find a lighted Dept. 56 display! No room is left untouched when it comes time to spreading holiday cheer through all parts of the house.
A hatbox is the perfect stage for a holiday fantasy. In our two versions, The Olde Globe Theatre and Shakespeare’s Birthplace steal the show. We filled a decorative holiday hatbox with empty accessory boxes and topped off with a cutout round of Styrofoam to use as a platform. To finish, we sprinkled some snow and wrapped an artificial berry garland around the perimeter.
The living room fireplace is home to Dept. 56’s Dickens’ Village. Clustering houses together and at different heights with trees interspersed can add interest and depth to a display.
The kitchen sink is a riot of holiday activity with Department 56’s 12 Days of Dickens’ Village series displayed on the window niche shelves. To add to the 12 Days theme, “Ten Lords Leap” and “Nine Ladies Dance” in the handcut paper garlands that hang above the sink area. These were made from Martha Stewart templates. The shelf decorations were made out of scrapbooking paper. We cut several sizes of trees and used a hole punch to make holes in the shelf papers.
Placing houses in a wreath is a tedious task, but the results are worth it. Here, we’ve placed the original Dickens’ Village starter set houses in a large pine cone wreath. By carefully running the wires behind the wreath and up behind the streamer of ribbon, we were able to light the houses.
Sprawling your houses throughout the home creates holiday cheer in every nook and cranny. By clustering a small number of houses together, you can create an interesting display almost anywhere — on a dresser, in a basket collection, even on top of an air conditioner box as we’ve done with the Tower of London and Big Ben.
Mr. McFeely would never believe it, nor did we, for surely a gorgeous live Christmas tree via mail order could only happen in the Land of Make-Believe. But it sure does as you can have a six, seven and even eight foot Christmas tree delivered right to your back door. Here we show you how our first mail ordered seven-foot Christmas tree was delivered and decorated.
The first time we saw Martha Stewart build a gingerbread house, we knew we wanted to make one just like she did. It was a huge Second Empire mansion, unlike any other gingerbread house.
