...and the Stockings Were [Finally] Hung

The store may look like Christmas....

it has for 6 weeks...

HOWEVER

The Summer Kitchen Girls are

Finally getting their decorating groove on in their homes! 

This year we decorated the mantel with vintage plates, silver, candles, evergreens.... 

& put pretty vintage ornaments win some silver vases ~ lovin' this!!! 

Hoping to be back with some more decorations before Christmas!

Enjoy your weekend!!

~ Karla & Karrie

Love to see more Christmas decorating ideas?

Stop over to Ivy & Elephants as we join in What's it Wednesday!!

Let it SNOW....in Enamelware!

We think better under pressure ~ how about you?

We had 1 hour until we needed to go up to 

The Maumee Anitque Mall and take a load of furniture, accessories 

& lots of vintage Christmas.

In that pile were some ho-hum galvanized tin tubs and ladles.

Don't get us wrong...we LOVE enamelware....

but we wanted to make them

SPECIAL

Soooooo we came up with a plan!

We added "snow"

and found little trinkets and trees around the store

and glued them into place....

Tied some ribbon on them so they could hang...

making one of the cutest diorama ideas we've seen!

Perfect to hang in the house...

or we think outside replacing the traditional wreath!!

What will you make today?

Thanks for stopping by The Summer Kitchen!

~Karla & Karrie

Join us for What's it Wednesday

on Ivy & Elephants

for more fun Christmas decorating ideas!

Skip to the Loo

I just love my downstairs bathroom window...

I forgo the curtain and opt for

STUFF

So...you can imagine how much fun it is

to change it up for Christmas!

When you open up your Christmas decorations

do you ever get excited to see something again?

That is how I am when I unwrap this

vintage Santa mug 

and 

 candy canes....

 awww....

come on...how could you not smile?

Slowly but surly decorations are appearing in

The Summer Kitchen Girls' homes!

Jolly Good :)

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

 

'Tis a crazy(er) time of year for The Summer Kitchen Girls...

But we are finally trying to get a bit of holiday jingle going on at home all while we gear up for our Joyeux Noel Open House at the store this weekend.

Probably could have had much more in the way of decorating done if we wouldn't have taken the day off to shop... but those gifts won't buy themselves, right?;0)

A Homemade Christmas

I don't care...

They can have their

 fancy-schmancy

 Christmas decorations

oozing with gold and glitter....

but not me!

 

 

I will

FOREVER

take my kid's

 handmade decorations

 mixed with my treasures

ANY TIME!

 

There is nothing sweeter

than pulling out your kids decorations

and hand made ornaments

 that they secretly made in grade school

 and couldn't wait to give to you on 

Christmas morning!

 

Here's to all of the homemade Christmas gifts

that we carefully pack away every year to bring out again and again!!

 

Is there a special homemade treasure

that you have to bring out every year?

 

 

 

 

Christmas Kitsch

One more week until Christmas!

This week we thought we'd share pictures from our homes.

 

Today we've got some Kitschy Christmas to share...

 

 

Just love this little Christmas girl holding her letter....

especially love that poinsettia hat she's wearing!

 

Can't have Christmas without a vintage

Santa mug...can you really?

 

Last year we found these great vintage candy canes

and found the perfect place for them and tucked them in his hat!

 

How could we resist this dear...

and those ears!

Precious!!!

 

A perfect send off for the day!

 

Do enjoy your Monday everyone!

 

Wednesday Words

Thought we'd feature one of our

 new charms....

 

 

Sweet,

 isn't it?

 

 

But wait!

 

 

There is

 more.....

 

 

Flip

 it over

 

 

A little something

 for you all to laugh about today!

Mercury Glass Trees!

 

Lovin' our

 Fiber-Optic Mercury Christmas Trees

under a cloche......

 

How was your weekend?

Are you all decorated now?

We aren't ~ lol!!

Plenty of time....plenty of time!

 

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Come join us for a little walk....
 

 

Pretty, isn't it?

We took our Wardian Case in the store and

made a winter wonderland with some of our

bottle brush trees and some powdered snow....

 

Wouldn't it be fun

 to take a walk inside? 

 

We thought so too!

 

Join us for some

Vintage Christmas inspiration over at

Debra's Common Ground

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Words

It is!  It truly is!

What are you doing this time of year

that is wonderful?

Pillow Toss

Isn't it grand to decorate for Christmas?

{Neither of us have had a chance to get our own decorations out yet

because we've been so busy at the store!} 

One of our favorite things to do

is to switch out some of our throw pillows in our house

 for some Christmas pillows!

Here are some of our new ones we have in the store....

We love mixing these vintage inspired pillows

with our quilted holly and striped pillow...

it makes a nice mix!

How about you....

what kind of decorations do you like to toss in the mix

of everyday to create your Christmas look?

Have a fantastic Monday!

Merry Wedensday Words!

We just got another shipment

 of these box signs yesterday....

 

 

Don't they look

THANKFUL

to be together?

 

It may be a Christmas sign...

but we'll all be stuck with family tomorrow....

hope yours is more lively than this one!

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

wishing you a lovely one!

Linking Shadows

Did you ever make paper chains

when you were a kid?

We did...

and still do!

{thanks to our Bethany Lowe pre-cut packets!}

 

 

Join us for Shadow Shot Sunday 2

where we are all

Linking up

to share our love of shadows!

 

Wednesday Words

 

We love this new box sign we got in for Christmas...

We think we can all relate to how this little girl feels sometimes!

Oh Santa Baby... it is a looong story!

Wrapping It All Up!

Wrapping the present is almost as fun as picking out the gift!

We love these initials we have in the store.

They can help personalize a package....

but you can also use other fun embellishments!

Use ornaments, vintage pins, bits of nature, like sprigs of greenery or pinecones.

We like to save all of those Christmas cards from the previous year & cut them.  Then we add a little glitter, buttons, or little jingle bells onto them.  Punch a hole in the top & they are ready to sign!

.  Don't for get to think "Out of the Box" while your wrapping the box this year!

Wednesday Words

You bet ya!!

Welcome December!

Every Mother is Laughing right now...we know!

Wrap It Up!

Watch in amazement

as we take the cupboard that we painted this fall,

then take some left over Christmas wrapping paper...

And...

(here's where the magic begins!)

attach it to the back of the cupboard

(because puprple background just wasn't working with our Christmas theme...

plus we'd like to go back to the purple again...)

A perfect backdrop for little $$

Got to love it!

What can you "wrap up" this weekend?!!

Wednesday Words

New Christmas signs have arrived at the store!

A perfect reminder

for the busy holiday events ahead...

don't you think?

A Family {Christmas} Tree

Hello everyone!

Sorry that we haven't been blogging of late.

We've been with relatives from out of town 

for several days.

Recently our Grandmother Betty passed away.

She was quite the lady, and we will miss her terribly.

But, we have such treasured memories of her

that will stay with us all of our lives!

Grandma Norma & Grandma Betty were our

inspiration  for our vintage ladies that we use in our

ads and  our business cards and website.

We call the girl on the left Norma, and the girl on the right is Betty.

We often wonder what they would have thought

about being

"The Summer Kitchen Girls"

(and about all of those pictures we use for

Wednesday Words for everyone in the world to see!!!)

Anyway, inspired by family, love of pictures

(and grandmothers!)

we decided to create a Family Tree

We took vintage saucers

(you can find these easily...as people don't know what

to do with  saucers without the cups!!)

Then we photocopied our favorite pictures

and cut circles that would fit the center of the

saucer plate.

Then we put a glue dot on the center

(you could do something more permanent if you'd like to!)

Then we placed the picture on the glue dot,

centering the picture.

(do you recognize the real Summer Kitchen Girls?)

Add plate hangers and ribbons and

hang on the tree.

You'll have a living Family Christmas Tree.

Full of memories of those you love!

"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose."
~ The Wonder Years