m o o n r i s e v i n t a g e: November 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

I'll Have a Victorian Christmas

This year, I'm determined to reuse more and waste less. I was raised with the idea that Christmas is a serious sport, and traditions are not something taken lightly. For our family, that meant glass Christmas ornaments, vintage tinsel, wreaths, and tree garlands. Like other European families, we put chocolates on our tree (no candy canes allowed) and open gifts on Christmas Eve, not Christmas day. There is an overwhelming amount of citrus, nuts, chocolate, and Czech cookies that are put out Christmas eve and linger until New Years. This year, Christmas came early, and my family made Victorian ornaments on my Mom's birthday. It was so much fun, I had to be told to stop, and they turned out really charming. We used Victorian cutouts from my Aunt, and tons of leftover glitter, bells, pipe cleaners, with bits and pieces from broken wreaths, and lots of hot glue. I will post our creations soon. The ornaments also made me realize how fun it is to make homemade decorations, and that they don't have to be hokey. Growing up, kids crafts didn't go on our Christmas tree (maybe they went on the fridge, but I don't remember them there either). I remember there being a clear division between my families' trees, and those of my neighbours. If featured homemade ornaments, they usually looked like someone threw some crafts on and covered it with popcorn and candy canes.

Clockwise from top:

Cranberries ready for baking in a pretty bowl; Cinnamon ornaments and dried orange slices from Frugal Interior Design;

Tin Boxes from Sharp Studio; Bunting garland from Emily

But this year I'm planning on making my garlands from scratch. It would be great to get my hands on some vintage baubles, but I think it would be fun to do a real Victorian Christmas, with homemade ornaments fashioned from Christmas cards, and garlands with dried cranberries, oranges, and cloves. I'm not sure if the latter was actually a Victorian tradition, but it sounds beautiful, and since the Victorians were skilled at repurposing basically everything, I'm sure I can dig something up.

In the mean time, I need to get my hands on some glass glitter. My mom picked some up at a Christmas store, and I'm really jealous. It has a texture and patina that regular glitter could never begin to replicate. It's gorgeous! Sometimes you can get it at fancy gift stores, but I found it here.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

French Film and Thursdays

Skirt- Vintage, Tights- Wolford, Shoes-Jeffrey Campbell

It took me about a quarter of a second to fall in love with Rust and Bone. I haven't seen the whole thing yet, but any director who frames a silhouette with a whale like that, has my applause. I think I need a little romantic melodrama in my life and I'm watching this NOW.

I found this movie listening to an interview with Marion Cotillard on NPR this morning. There's a full review of the film here.

Too much of the day was spent inside, staring at a blank page. But I did manage to fill up a few pages by the end of the day, with mostly nonsense that needs to be rewritten. Still, Bachelard never fails to tickle the senses.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Red Winter and Cheap Wine

1. Bry's stripped dress, American Apparel 2. Erika's red pants, American Apparel 3. Hat, necklace, and bustier, Vintage

4. Wine, C'est La Vie

Lately things have been getting pretty cold. Freezing actually. It's much better to stay inside and keep warm,

but fires are hard to find around here so we do what we can with wine and cigarettes.

Next week marks the start of the Christmas season (not according to the radio, which has been playing

Christmas music since October), but December 1st is the perfect time to start calling parties Christmas.

Perhaps a Christmas Wining Party is in order.

Perusing through the LCBO online catalogue, I found these gems. I was aiming for really cheap wine.
Not "great wine under $20", because I still consider spending $20 on a bottle something of a treat. I usually look for
casual wine under $12, but at $6 its like two for one! Plus, my friends aren't picky,
and there's nothing that a little mulling cant fix. I still steered clear of wines like
Passion of Portugal Red just to stay on the safe side (I've tried Girls Night Out Chardonnay,
and I really wish I hadn't). It turns out that there are a quite a few bottles with a respectable font choice, that isn't Fuzon.

La Puerta Shiraz, Argentina-$6.10

Mezzomondo Negroamaro Salento, Italy- $7.95

Casal Thaulero Merlot/Cab- $7.25

Les Hautes de Janeil Syrah Granache, France- $8.95

Cheers!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Brick Lane Marionettes

Looking through old blog posts, I stumbled upon this.

These girls are right out of a fairy tale!

I love their suitcase marionettes. And their coats and bows and and black booties.

ADORABLE!

They are right out of a Jan Svankmajer film.

Svankmajer did an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland in 1988, which is the best Alice in my opinion, but I still need to watch Lunacy (2005) and Little Otik (2000). Perhaps today is a good day for that. It has just started to snow, and if it's anything like yesterday, it's way too cold to go outside. Here's a little Svankmajer to keep you warm.