A Shiny Bright Christmas - 2016
This year, Christmas has been an on-going, work in progress. I will admit that it took way longer than I anticipated, to decide on a theme. But you know, sometimes life just gets in the way!
I've always loved old Christmas movies from the 40s and 50s, vintage Christmas cards, decor, and all the bright colors. There's something so nostalgic about that time. The bright colors were and are so cheerful.
I stumbled upon an old Christmas card of a reindeer with a cute little bird, resting on it's nose. Vintage ornaments hanging from his antler's, it was everything I loved about that time period. I loved the use of bright pinks and blues so I decided to base my theme around those colors. I tweaked the colors of the reindeer Christmas Card and had a 3ft x 4ft canvas made.
Next it was all about finding the right ornaments. I had a surprisingly difficult time finding the right pink and blue ornaments and just the right gold. I wanted more of an amber gold vs., the traditional gold that's available everywhere. Luckily after scouring the shelves of Home Goods, Jo-Ann's, Target, Dillard's and finally Etsy, I was able to complete my tree, rounding it out with some beaded garland, that I used last year.
It was Etsy that lead me to Shiny Brite ornaments. A little history below...
“Corning adapted their process for making light bulbs to making clear glass ornaments.”
"The Shiny Brite company produced the most popular Christmas tree ornaments in the United States throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Max Eckardt established Shiny Brite ornaments, working with the Corning Glass company to mass-produce glass Christmas ornaments. Eckardt had been importing hand-blown glass balls from Germany since around 1907, but had the foresight to anticipate a disruption in his supply from the upcoming war. Corning adapted their process for making light bulbs to making clear glass ornaments, which were then shipped to Eckardt's factories to be decorated by hand. The fact that Shiny Brite ornaments were an American-made product was stressed as a selling point during World War II. During its peak, Shiny Brite had four factories in New Jersey, located in the cities of Hoboken, Irvington, North Bergen, and West New York. The company's main office and showroom were located at 45 East 17th Street in New York city.
Shiny Brite's most popular ornaments have been reissued under the same trademark by Christopher Radko since 2001." – Wikipedia
I used a combination of original, vintage Shiny Brite ornaments from Esty in combination with beautiful recreations from Christopher Radko. To tie it all together, I added some pink florals, pink grosgrain ribbon and faux-snow shavings.
All photos ©2016 Jonathan Stiers
