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[Ranchergal]

Thanks for sharing. Your decorations are lovely and interesting.

[123SuzyQ123]

Thank you, Susan. I enjoyed your photos, you did a great job!

[elruth]

Beautiful decorations. Rustic yet elegant. I notice you have quite a collection of glassware. Any special company you collect?

[Pagan]

Fantastic decorating - well done! I especially love your arrangement in the the first picture.

And I want to steal away your two white foxes - I'm so jealous!

[sue52]

It's beautiful and I like your Fenton glass collection.

[Susan Louise]

On 1/16/2014 elruth said:

Beautiful decorations. Rustic yet elegant. I notice you have quite a collection of glassware. Any special company you collect?

Thank you ranchergal, suzyq4me, elruth, Pagan and sue52!

Pagan, I got the white foxes at Pier One...hopefully they will have them next year so you can get them

Elruth and sue52, Yes, we have lots of glassware...sue52 guessed right...lots of Fenton! I started collecting Fenton when I was recovering from lung cancer surgery. One of the shows I was watching back then on the Q was Fenton (miss their shows now, but we don't need anymore anyway ). As with any collection, it starts with just one lone piece...

of coarse

Well, during that 1st show I watched, I ordered 3 pieces. Then I wanted to learn more about Fenton Art Glass...did a lot of reading, became a member of their collector's group, and started branching out on how I was obtaining the pieces...started going to estate sales as I was getting stronger in my recovery. It also helped me mentally by "obsessing...if you will" with collecting. It kept my mind off of all the tests I had to go through and having to stop smoking cold turkey the day of my diagnosis after smoking for over 32 yrs (of coarse I wish I never started).

Anyway, well...DH saw how many pieces I had collected within about 6 months and for our anniversary he bought a curio for me...bless his heart

Then within another year, I filled up the wall unit we had (it was one that I had in my apt I bought back in 1986 which fit our old dinosaur of a tv that we finally upgraded last year and got a flat screen tv)...blah, blah, blah. I mention all that because the entertainment center we have now was custom made to match the curio, to be able to house a new flat screen tv and all the rest of the glassware/ceramic collectibles/etc...I collected, inherited, or was given to me/us as a gift.

The 27+ yr old wall unit I/we had we donated to the Salvation Army last January when the custom made one was delivered.

We have 300+ pieces of Fenton, some various depression, carnival, Nippon, Toby jugs/mugs, a few Hummel pieces my folks gave me when they took trips to Germany, etc.

As I was collecting and time was passing, after I peaked about a year into it, I started slowing down. It certainly was an expensive way to get through cancer treatments and the difficulty of stopping smoking, but it was therapeutic and that is what mattered most...9 yr lung cancer survivor

Thankfully, I don't have the desire to collect anymore...DH is grateful too

What we like about it now is that it is candy for the eyes. I will switch the lights on in the curio and wall unit every few days or so at night...very pretty! As for cleaning....twice a year...March and November I remove all the pieces and wash each piece (90% of them)...no joke! The other 10% I wipe with a damp microfiber cloth because of the design/hand painting/decorations. All the glass shelving also gets cleaned thoroughly too.

[divine]

Your decorations are all so pretty. I especially like this tree. Did you made the bow topper?

[Susan Louise]

On 1/16/2014 Divine said:

Your decorations are all so pretty. I especially like this tree. Did you made the bow topper?

Thanks! I got the bow at Ballard Designs dot com..item #AM192. I got the one in red trim...currently out of stock. So is the plain one w/out a trimmed edge. However, it looks like the gold and silver trimmed bows are at a great sale price and still available...otherwise, you can take down the info and hope the red or plain burlap becomes available around October this year (I got ours in October when they came back in stock)...HTH

[SkylerBurrows]

WOW, now that is something really adorable. Thanks for sharing the pics, you gave me an idea for my next xmas celebration.

[DREAMON]

Lovely...I have so many of the items that you have displayed..the Santa's, snowy owls, trees, spheres...you gave me ideas for next year. You did a really beautiful display of your beautiful things this year.