Shiny Paisley and Brown Velvet Flashbacks; Small Tree Ornaments: Spikes, Spirals, Balls, Garlands and Minis

 Hello, my friends! I have a plethora of pictures to share with you in addition to today's seasonally shiny outfit. We have not one but two Flashbacks, plus I'll be showing half of my decorations on my small 4.5' Christmas tree. Grab yourself a cup of whatever beverage makes you happy, and settle in!

Yes, it's still dark at 7:40am. Solstice, please get here.  

• Blazer - Talbots, thrifted; last worn here in January with a long blanket skirtSweater - Tatyana, thrifted; last seen here (2nd outfit) in November 2019 with leopard
• Skirt - Club Monaco, consignment; last seen here in December 2019 with mustard and black
• Shoes - Cardinal Super Fine, Fluevog; last worn here in November with all the greens
• Leather trenchcoat - 1970s vintage, thrifted; last seen here on Monday

I put in a bit more effort with today's outfit.

Amp up that shine, Sheila! 

The star is this super shiny paisley skirt in its annual outfit. 

We'll have a little Flashback on it in a bit, along with the velvet blazer. 

My temperature varied in the office today. Jacket off! 

I have a couple of simple black sweaters that are great for letting "bossy" things like this skirt shine (literally and figuratively!).

Everything else that could be fancy...was!

Masked up - this is a caramel one with stars on it, from Lazy Susan's.

I stopped at Cat's on the way home to get my Book Club's next pick from her (we were distanced and masked - she basically tossed it at me). It's all wrapped up for the Zoom reveal this weekend! 

Anyway, I looked like this and flipped my coat open to waggle my shiny skirt at her. 

It was supposed to rain today, but not a drop! 

• Hat - Edward Mann, vintage 60s, thrifted
• Gloves - Roeckl, consignment
• Silk scarf - Lanvin, vintage 70s, consignment

The stuff: 

Shiny gold shoes, just begging to be worn! These are insanely comfortable. 

Gold and black bling: 

You know me, I've got to be matchy. 

• Necklace - Givenchy, vintage 80s, vintage fair
• Bracelet - thrifted, Sidney
• Metal flower brooch - vintage 60s, Mom's
• Fang cuff - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Sidney
• Earrings - thrifted
• Amber ring - c. 1996
• Silver/onyx ring - Toccara, vintage fair

For those of you who think I have little elves assisting me in these massive posts, I don't. 

"It's all me, folks."

Oh, shush, Vizzini, it is not. I'm actually just really organized! I've taken most of the Christmas photos well in advance, and have them edited/cropped/resized and sorted into folders. I work on the posts late at night, loading the photos ahead of my outfits. I often do the Flashbacks this way too - it's easier than trying to slam out a massive post before dinner! 

Anyhoo, here's the Flashbacks! 

Flashback #1: Copper and Gold Paisley Pleated Club Monaco Skirt

Back in 2013, local consignment shop Rich Rags had a smaller store near my downtown office - I popped out on a lunch break looking for an ugly Christmas sweater and found this beauty instead, scored for $20.00 here in December 2013.

It's a woven design (all my favourite prints are woven) of black-trimmed paisley shapes on a copper background, and oh, so much gold! Shiny shiny shiny! 

I first wore it right away (shocker) in December 2013, belting a brown tweed jacket with a copper leather obi. That's a solid outfit. 

I'd forgotten all about those shoes - they (along with the jacket and obi, which Vizzini chewed on, naughty thing) are long gone. 

I wore this skirt again in January 2014, pairing it with this fuzzy chocolate brown angora sweater. 

Angora and I do not get along very well (I hate the wafting hairs it sheds), so this is one of the only times I wore that sweater. The shoes were 80s vintage and felt a little too vintage. 

I nearly wore a mustard sweater for today's outfit, and am pleased to see that I had the same idea here in December 2014. 

This version of mustard sweater was too drapey - the layered black blouse under it didn't help. I wore those shoes to death - they were such a classic shape. 

I found a mustard blazer for my October 2015 outfit. 

It, along with the shoes, were victims of a rash closet clear-out of everything that didn't go with my purple hair. Silly me.

I also nearly wore this sparkly sleeveless top and burgundy cardigan today! My creativity is all a sham - as you can see, I tend to do the same things over and over. 

This outfit is from November 2016. The Sperry loafers were great...until one day, they weren't. 

This is a fairly simple outfit (note that this is the 3rd time wearing that same copper brooch) due to it being a shopping look, and mostly covered by a black leather coat. 

This was in December 2017. We saw those shoes in Flashback here. 

It's rather sad that this skirt really only gets an outing once a year - and almost always in December! 

This is December 2018, and I nearly duplicated this today (different shoes), as that's the same sweater and flower brooch. 

And here's the last time I wore the skirt, in December 2019. 

We saw that black leather cropped jacket in Flashback here. 

Mathy stuff: I've now worn this skirt 9 times, which is a respectable $2.22 per wear, but I want to wear it more! 

I've found it's quite difficult to style - it really only works with a limited palette of cream/white, black, copper, gold, brown and mustard. It looks horrendous with brights, like red or blue, although I should try some dark green. What would you wear with it? 

Flashback #2: Brown Velvet Talbots Blazer

One of the problems (ha ha) with a big wardrobe is that I forget how long I've had some of my items. I was sure that this velvet blazer was one of my very old items, however, I bought it here in September 2018, not all that long ago!

I guess I thought I'd had it longer because a brown velvet blazer is SUCH a staple garment. It's not the first one I've owned, by a long shot. 

I did not pay $16.96 for it - it was 75% off. 

So, I paid $4.25. Sometimes, when I'm cleaning out my closets and I remember that I paid less than a large coffee for a garment, it makes it easier to let go of it. Other times, I know that I'll never find another brown velvet blazer (always be upgrading!) for such a good price. 

I wore it within a week or two, here in October 2018. The blazer is a petite cut (I'm 5'4", so right on the verge), and it fits great through the body, but feels a bit short overall. The sleeves also feel short on me, so I often scrunch them up. 

I let go of that skirt when I upgraded to a better one. We saw those shoes in Flashback here. 

This was a loose and comfy look from January 2019. I'm off on a shopping expedition. 

You may remember the skirt and the shoes from Flashbacks here (skirt) and here (shoes). 

Clearly, this February 2019 look is the best outfit with the blazer - don't you agree? Hey, there's that copper brooch again! The skirt and blouse have been given away since.

The proportions are just right - the blazer looks fab belted, the colours are all balanced evenly and the boots make my legs look nice and long. I still need to do a Flashback on those boots! 

I wore the blazer as outerwear here in September 2019, and it's...just a big block of brown. Blerg.

I don't count this as a very successful outfit, but hey, at least I'm trying! We saw those shoes in Flashback here. 

The brown velvet is strictly a fall/winter thing for me, as seen in November 2019 with my dragonscale skirt (Flashback here). 

I feel good about letting go of those bootie things. Ug-ly. 

I love this outfit from January 2020 - I wore this for a trip to the periodontist (Clothing as Armour). 

The boots were Flashbacked here, and we also saw the belt in Flashback here. 

Mathy stuff: Here I thought there would be dozens of outfits, but today's look is only the 7th wearing of the velvet blazer. That's a whopping 61 cents per wear, and I expect that number will go way down over the next several years. 

Do you own a brown blazer? Is a blazer a wardrobe staple for you?

Christmas Decorations: The Small Tree - Spikes, Spirals, Balls, Garland and Minis

Okay, are you ready for some Christmas tree decorations? Today's show and tell features the "filler" on this smaller tree, and there are loads of pictures. You might want a refill on your cup of cheer! You might also want to put a warm pet on your lap...

"No moving, please."

As a professional Christmas decorator (I've done well over 500 trees and display windows, along with trees for hotels...and a yacht!), I know how to do a theme tree with all matching ornaments a la Martha Stewart, but that's not my jam with my personal trees. This small tree evolved from the large tree (i.e. all these ornaments were once all on one tree), when I decided to "branch out" (pun intended) and created a more themed display to show off my Hallmark ornaments that I started to collect in the 90s (I was/am a big Star Trek: Next Generation fan). 

I refer to this as my Star Wars/Star Trek tree, as I have oodles of those decorations, but it also has a bunch of other ornaments that go with those thematically. Remember how "it doesn't have to match; it just has to go" works for outfits? It works for trees too! 

I decided to pull out blue, gold, silver, white and clear/crystal as my colour story, so most of those ornaments were sectioned out from the rest of the collection and I store them together now. I really like strong shapes and bold colours, starting with....

My spiky star! I have three of these - one, as a tree-topper here, and the other two on the big tree. 

They came as a set of hollow spikes, that fit onto the nubs on the central hub. 

So you don't have to store them with all those dangerous pokey bits ready for little kitties to gnaw on. These were $12.95 each and I wish I'd bought more! They also came in a larger size, I recall, but they were harder to put together and the spikes kept falling off. 

When I decorate, I put the biggest ornaments on the trees first, to ensure that they get a good focal spot, and also so that they are balanced with each other and not all clumped around the bottom of the tree. It's totally okay to have big ornaments up high. 

This is a giant sun - easily about 8" across. I shove the big ornaments right into the branches, and let bits of branch stick out around them to hang smaller ornaments on. It helps create visual layers.

I have a few sun/moon/stars in my collection - the "Celestial" theme was huge around 1994 (didn't we all have that gold on blue fabric in something?? I had placemats and a vase).

This is a solid metal sun - it's very heavy - made in India. 

I like that the back is nicely finished with a piece of gold lame (lah-MAY!) velvet. This was $5.95.

Acrylics were also a really big trend in the mid-90s. They had the look of crystal/glass but without the worry about breakage. 

I like how they make the lights glow. This sun was around $5.95.

Is it bigass? Is it covered in glitter? Does it have a tassel or other gewgaw? Then I need it! 

This big blue sparkly ball is about 9" long, but is very light. I think it was around $8.95.

I'm very fond of star/spiky shapes, and the more intricate the better. 

This is a heavy-wire spiky star covered with gold paint and iridescent glitter. $6.95-ish.

I remember doing a tree covered in these cardboard geometric stars - they only came in one size, and were $5.95.

This is big (about 6" across) and was made in India. It's like a geometry lesson!

This has been one of my favourite ornaments from very early on - it's one of the first ones I bought from my store. They were $2.99. 

So GLITTERY! 

Another very spiky star, also covered in glitter. 

I'm a sucker for shiny, glitter...I must have crow in my DNA somewhere. 

This is a hand-blown glass spiky star. 

It gets its own box for storage, as do most of my glass decorations. It was $7.95.

An acrylic multi-pointed star. This was around $3.95. 

The nice thing about a vague theme is that a lot of different things can go with it, and you often see random pieces like this in thrift shops or after-holiday sales and can pick them up inexpensively, knowing they'll go with the rest of the ornaments. 

I love this big blown glass icicle; I have 3 more of them on the big tree. They were around $15 (each!), so much as I wanted more, I just bought one in each colour. 

Isn't the colour lovely? I am a big fan of this cobalt blue (you probably didn't notice, tee hee).

I have three of these beaded clear/silver spirals, and they are the most recent things I've bought. 

I picked them up at a local fair trade shop about 10 years ago for $5.95 each - a good price, so more is better! 

I fell in love with these glass spiral ornaments when we got them in and bought one (at least) of every colour. I think I have 12? They were $5.95 each. 

Cobalt blue! But wait till you see the others on the big tree...more colours! 

I also put the gold glass spiral on this tree. 

Some of the glass spirals are clear/shiny and some are matte. 

Like this blue one. 

Oooh, pretty! 

This is a plastic star - I like the shape. 

Well, the fact that it's covered in gold glitter helps immensely (and yes, I was bespeckled with glitter when I was done!). 

This is a pretty acrylic snowflake. 

I like that it has the correct six sides, as all snowflakes do - it's Science! 

This is just one random plastic glitter icicle. 

Sure, why not? I do not know why I only bought one...

You might have noticed all the twisted silver icicles in front of/near/around the ornaments in the pictures. 

They are real TIN icicles and came in this nice metal tube with cork lid. This company is still in business - and you can still buy these icicles for $15.95 (I think that's around what I paid 20 years ago, so that's a good deal) here, link 'cause I love. 

They are great for folks who like tinsel on the tree but don't want to have to pay for a vet visit because their dog/cat ate it. 

There are 50 of them in the tin and, of course, now on the tree. I noticed one that looked suspiciously gnawed-on...

I also have about six of these big blue glass balls on this tree, stuffed deep in the innards, close to the trunk. This gives the tree visual depth. I also have balls in red and purple on the big tree. 

Note the icicle in front of it - I put the icicles on the tips of the branches. 

I have a collection of plastic disco balls, specifically bought for our old kitty Othello, who liked to bat at the balls on the bottom of the tree. I have all the gold and blue ones on the small tree. 

There are three different sizes - these were all $1.95-$1.25 each. 

We used to find the disco balls under the couch or hear them being batted down the hallway. 

Othello was good at getting them off the tree. 

This is a German iridescent glass "trumpet" ball, so-called because the glass surface has been pushed into the center of the ball part, and looks like trumpets coming outwards. 

It was $7.95 and it's so delicate. I was relieved when I unpacked my glass that none of it had broken over the years. Phew! 

This ginormous handblown blue/purple glass ball was on a Christmas present from...Mom? I really can't remember!

It's tucked under the bottom of the tree, as it's heavy - it hangs with some wired star garland, like what's around my picture frames. 

This is a Polish glass iridescent "onion" ball. 

It was $5.95. I love that shape. It's clear with an iridescent finish - it's next to a green light here. 

Here's that celestial theme again. 

I love the rich sheen of matte glass balls. 

They were $5.95 each.

And I bought one in each design. 

The top sun one is the best. 

Garland! I don't like fuzzy, tinsel-style garland, so most of what I have on my trees is unique and not what you migh

This is a long gold string, with gold glass balls spaced every 6" or so. I like the look of it. I have a few more of this style garland on the big tree. 

And these next two are what we called "swags" in the business. 

Basically, two ends connected by bead garland - you anchor them by bending the tips of the branches over the beads. This is a deep blue acrylic crystal set (it was around $6.95). There's a red and purple one on the big tree. 

And this is a gold spiky star set. 

I've drawn arrows so you can see where I've anchored them on the branches. I only have one of these. 

The last ornaments (along with the tinsel icicles) to go on this tree are the minis. These are all about 1-2" wide at the most.

Glitter snowflake! Yes, please! 

Little blue cage ball. 

I know it's there, even though it's small. 

A blue acrylic star. 

Pretty! I think I have a red one, and maybe purple too?

I have 6 of these blown glass stars.

The acrylic ornaments were all around $1.95-2.95, but the glass ones were $4.95 each or more. 

I remember just coating trees in the store with these acrylics - it was a rainbow on the tree. They sold like crazy for about two years. Very trendy for 1993-5.

This one is blue - I have more of these on the big tree. 

This is a solid blown glass heart. 

It has an iridescent finish. 

Did I mention I have a bunch of these stars? 

Oh, I did? 

Are you sure? 

This is actually a lead crystal ornament that refracts light and makes rainbows.

The snowflake was $7.95. 

A bigger acrylic drop. These were $3.95 each. 

Again, I have more colours of these. 

Say, what about those glass stars? 

You have to admit, they are shiny! And iridescent! 

I also have one little hollow glass bird. 

And a glass star. 

Spiky!

And a teardrop. 

And finally, an acrylic bunch of...

Grapes. Yes, just what the tree needed. Totally on theme. 

Here's the small tree again from a few angles so you can spy the positioning of some of these ornaments on it.

You can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger. 

You might notice that the side closest to Vizzini's scratching post doesn't have very many ornaments on it. That is not by accident! 

In the next post, we'll have a look at the fancy ornaments on the small tree. I am still working on photographing the decorations on the big tree before I lose daylight (they are much harder to capture in dim light). 

"We should definitely open this door, Woman!"

Vizzini "helped" me. I won't miss any - I used to have to do inventory on my entire store, including the decorated trees, and I'm able to zero in and visually remember them all. There's a skill for the resume!

Well, that was a lot - I hope you enjoyed this look at some of my pretty things! Do you have a favourite? Do you do any kind of colour theme in your decorating?