My Favorite Things
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens....brown paper packages tied up with string! I love the phrase "silver white winters that melt into spring" from that ever so popular Sound of Music soundtrack song! As I thought about what to do for my winter display window, I thought about that phrase. I thought about having that phrase put on canvas. I loved the idea, but I knew it had to have a counterpart for my window to be balanced. I needed phrase for the other side. So why not "these are a few of my favorite things."
Script words are the rage on Instagram, Pinterest and in home decor and craft stores right now. These canvases are beautiful with their white lettering and light grey muddled back ground, I love how they turned out! There are better pictures of the canvases further down.
So as I contemplated this window, I thought how fun to actually design it to represent that wonderful winter song! The first obstacle was how to get raindrops on roses. I looked at the roses that have the fake raindrops (which are actually glue drops) and I just didn't like them - yuk. I also felt like someone passing by quickly may not be able to see the tiny drops on the flowers. So here you have raindrops in the form of a chalkboard sign. The large pink rose is again for those that pass by or drive by quickly, it is the pop of color. All the roses are arranged in a galvanized feeder. You can see the feeder on my Living Room coffee table in prior posts.
Another obstacle was how to portray whiskers on kittens. I had this adorable grey velvet stuffed cat pillow that I got in Cape May this past September and the proceeds went to help some local animal charity or shelter. Don't you just love a guilt free purchase! I needed whiskers though. I tried bamboo skewers but they were too heavy. I needed them to be recognizable and large. Then I tried heavy clear thread, they were too droopy. So I settled on these straw like whiskers. I had fun dressing Mr. Cat up with a bling bow tie - because that is my favorite thing - to add that extra special accessory or bling.
The mittens were a little problematic, gloves no problem, but mittens not exactly plentiful out there. I found these light pink ones at a local vintage resale shop for $3! Score! I borrowed the copper kettle. So the last thing was finding boxes to wrap in brown paper that were symmetrical for each side under the canvases.
On each side of the window I have "snow" coming down, compliments of cotton balls pretending to be snow on string! I purchased faux buffalo snow (that is what the name of it was on the bag I purchased) - it comes in one big sheet of fluff but you can tear it and do what you want with it. Under each side of snow falling is a pile of buffalo snow. It looks cool at night with the up lights shining up into the snow on each side.
Here is a full window shot that gives a good view of the snow (cotton balls uh hum) falling down onto piles of snow on each side. For those of you whom are just joining in, this is my 3rd window vignette since December. This is not a store but a window display, a 3D advertisement for Marche Maison that I thoroughly enjoy changing every couple months. This is located at the bottom of the historical Americus Hotel in downtown, Allentown at the intersection of 6th and Hamilton St.
I decided to put the seats down on the theater seats. They had been up in my prior displays. I love the warmth of the wood showing during this winter display.
I had purchased a set of three theater seats from a local salvage place. They are from the local symphony hall. They were an ugly green and I painted them cream and sanded down the seats and arm rests. I could hardly move after that - my back - argh - but it was worth the physical toll it took on me! I thought the cream backs needed something else. I decided to put a French grain sack pattern on each. We are a family of 3 so I put each of our initials on the seats. Very often authentic French grain sacks have the family initials on them. The seat here is for my daughter, Jackie O!
The canvases are so pretty. I just love them. I was just going to hang them and decided to give a little more depth by mounting them on old wood ladder pieces.
I will hopefully be offering them in prints at some point in my online shop for customers to frame or mod podge them onto canvas. If that is something you are interested in, email me or comment below.
Speaking of online store...Valentines day is right around the corner. I have found some cute decor items to add to your seasonal decor that are now offered in my online store:
Thank you for stopping by and hearing the story behind my winter window display! Looking forward to some more silver in our winter, but most of all looking forward to the melt into spring - to tulips, baby bud bright green leaves, lilacs and cute spring jackets!
Michelle
