Kitschy-Kristmas!

People have been festively decorating for holidays since the beginning of time. From bringing tree branches in to ward off the winter blues, to fresh flowers in a special vase at valentines and even summer fruits and fall harvest to display and decorate the table. During the holiday season, no matter what you celebrate, decorations are always a big part of any festivity.

In these thriftier times making crafty fun and repurposing vintage finds is all about celebrating the simplistic expressions and a draw back to the nostalgia when things seemed so much simpler through the eyes of a child.

I came across a few great finds this holiday season to brighten your home and maybe even give you some inspiration to celebrate in a simpler lifestyle. These delightful vintage silky-sheen ornaments are perfect as they are but are also ideal and simplistic enough to embellish with ribbons, beads, buttons and family keepsakes.

Postcards are fun to collect no matter what the season and these sweet-faced angel ornaments are just darling. But the retro-showstoppers for me are the vintage Santa mugs in their original packaging. So retro sweet they ust make you want to believe in flying reindeers no matter what you celebrate. Enjoy my finds and remember you can always send me some of yours to share.Happy holiday thrifting,

Michelle

http://www.etsy.com/listing/87386914/vintage-ornaments-darling-angels?ref=v1_other_1

http://www.etsy.com/listing/87385845/vintage-ornaments-red-satin-sheen?ref=ss_listing

http://www.etsy.com/listing/87387654/vintage-party-favors-sweet-santa?ref=v1_other_1

http://www.etsy.com/listing/87381147/vintage-christmas-card-greetings-from?ref=ss_listing

Black Friday fall-out ...

Some of you experienced the infamous Black Friday consumerism experience first-hand yesterday but for a lot of thrifters/pickers it was just the day after turkey and the day before Saturday morning treasure hunting. No matter where you live, the weekends are full of yard tag sales, swap meets, auctions, thrift store hunting and general poking around hoping for that one great find. Whether you are a novice junker, an avid collector or a serious career picker the weekends are not for resting but they are for fun!
Some of the hottest trends right now are household mid-century kitsch. Vintage funky finds may lack the sparkle of a pristine antique treasure but are twice the fun and much easier to live with day to day and perhaps why the popular draw to all things retro!
Collecting to enjoy your treasures is one way to go – but living with your great finds and using them daily seems to fit the current up-cycling trend for a good reason. Reusing an old home-grown find is not only recycling at its best by saving it from the landfill but also cuts down on you not buying off shore mass-produced trinkets no one really needs.
Some great ideas to slip into your kitschy kitchen and put to work are vintage canister, glassware and melmac is always a hit.

Happy Thrifting!
Michelle

http://www.etsy.com/listing/85715927/vintage-household-kitsch-set-of-4-yellow

http://www.etsy.com/listing/79351169/vintage-kitsch-retro-sweet-icecream-set?ref=v1_other_2

http://www.etsy.com/listing/80804462/vintage-kitsch-rare-melmac-speckaled

These great finds are all for sale in my kitschy shop http://CndnPrairieAntiques.etsy.com

Welcome to Thrifty Diversions

Many of you have followed me over the years. First as customers in my antique store, Inktiques, and then onto my blogs and into my now four and counting online stores full of vintage treasures. What started out as my own collecting hobby, grew into a full on store for many years and now continues as a small empire online via my desk. My busy world of professional writing and my busy hobby of a love for antiques and vintage have always crossed over. So much so that my store Inktiques was dedicated to antiques in the ink world! Even though the store is now closed as I moved cities and lifestyles, I am always avidly collecting, writing daily and as thrifty as ever.

The growth of one online store after another started of course with my love of vintage and collector books and all things collectible in the ink world, Inktiques. Living in wide open spaces brought about my second love of collecting retro vintage from the prairies and my second store evolved, Canadian Prairie Antiques. I have always had a love of vintage clothing and when I opened my own cottage in a small town I also opened another online store of beautiful dress up clothing naming it for my LandLocked Cottage. Naturally a crafter and quilter myself I couldn’t not collect all things vintage in the crafting sewing world to share with you all and that is how my fourth store came about, Writers Craft Too.

Now it is time to rein it under one (web) roof and give the shops a friendly front door to pass through on your way into discovering all that I find and share when I step away from writing and head out for some Thrifty Diversions! I look forward to sharing my great finds, my knowledge as an avid collector and dealer and my adventures at estate clearing. The most exciting news is of course it was only a matter of time before my writing and my picking crashed together into a future book on the thrifting lifestyle now in the works.

Welcome through my front door here at Thrifty Diversions and onto discovering my mall of e-shops, my blogs, my vintage treasure hunting and my joy of writing about it all!

Happy hunting,

Michelle