The windows. . .

My most favorite part of flipping the store into the Christmas season is decorating my two front windows. I think I am always drawing on wonderful childhood memories of Lazarus' Christmas windows (downtown Columbus, Ohio, sadly no longer there) and striving to make them as magical as I can on a very limited budget. Typically I spend $100 to $200 at the most on my holiday window displays. Having a tight budget really fuels the imagination!

The window on the left was to be quick and easy...uh...not so. First, a world had to be made out of chicken wire. My hands were sore for days! I finally gave up on the perfect sphere so pardon the lumpiness if you spot any. Then hundreds and hundreds of squares of bright green and blue tissue paper had to be cut and stuffed into each hole. The first size I cut was too small and I had to start over with larger squares. I worked on this at home until it was about 2/3 covered before moving it to the store (which meant "squishing" it through the front door of my house). After I had it hung in place in the window my mom and I finished the sides and top with tissue. Then I laid underneath it to fill in Antarctica. In came the strands of peace doves complete with olive branches (an on going theme for 2009, starfish on a strand, bats on a strand, etc.), tufts of blue sky floating underneath and a banner to complete the "Peace on Earth" message.

Now for the window on the right, the fairy window. As you can see I completely broke away from the all white windows this year. While I love them for all their elegance and show stopping beauty I wanted something different...change is good! So the blue and green color combo evolved. Back to my tight budget comment...everything in this window is either borrowed (fairies, live ferns and peacock sprays) or for sale in the shop (tinsel tree, birch candles, vintage feather tree ornaments, vintage glass bead garland, tinsel spools, life size owls, redbirds, lichen branches, rock candles the two seated fairies are sitting on, snowflake ornaments). The only items I purchased specifically for this window were moss, fishing line, brown paint and a graining tool to make the inside of the tree, which is cardboard. This window took about 7 hours to pull together. I probably could have done it in less time but it was so fun to keep adding little touches to be "discovered". Hidden nests, branches making the perimeter, real quail eggs, flickering birch candles to hint at tiny fires keeping the fairies warm, and a favorite vintage mushroom ornament growing out of the moss. Do you see it? If you live nearby, please feel free to bring your children, grandchildren, neices and nephews over to see it. The lights are on at night too and it's especially magical to see then. I do hope you enjoy it!!

Hey...guys...come look inside this tree! Do you see what I see? Are those fairies?