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Sunday, December 12, 2010

Tinsel Town.....

This morning when I came back from Walmart, Tessie got her wish.....
Yesterday, I caught her in front of Ursa Minor(The Teddybear Shop),
mourning the fact that there weren't enough mini decorations to go around.

I told her that I would look, but mini decorations seem to be few and far between this year.

This little storefront looks kind of Christmas-y already. Lots of red and green trim.

I did this shop back in the early eighties, when I was working part time in a mini shop. It was a Houseworks kit. As I remember, there was another kit to extend it back a ways, so that you could make a complete shop in it if you wanted to. Since this was a very early project, my funds were limited. The fan gingerbread in the corners of the windows were made by scrounging up some toothpicks, seed beads and scraps of wood for the arches.

All of the tole painting was done by hand and the lettering is a bit crooked, but I liked it back then. No computers to do the job. One of these days, I may have to compute a sign for it.

The shop started out as a ladies' dress shop. As I kept finding bears and having them given to me as gifts, I decided that they needed a home more than a couple of dress dummies. Thus "Ursa Minor" was born.

Anyway, when I got home, Tessie had dragged Zar into her web and got him riled up about no decorations. I knew that I was in for it if I didn't come up with something for them to work with.

I found some tinsel like pipe cleaner thingies in the kids' craft department. They are called "Glitter Sticks".

The bag that you see in front of them is 60 pieces and the price was $1.49. That is going to go a long way towards a glitzy Christmas. Each stem is about 15" long.

Zar wanted to start immediately with the traditional red.

Tessie, of course, loved the purple. Only, to her, it was puce.....Her beloved favorite color from the past.

They argued for at least 45 minutes about where to start. Meanwhile, I went to work and swagged the Mid-century Mod living room with silver.

I wonder why, after all this time, Zar even bothers to try....As soon as I was finished putting up the swags, they traipsed in with the puce.

They are in there now, draping the aluminum tree with it. I hate to admit it, but Tessie was right. It's not the traditional Christmas colors, but I think that it is going to look very nice.

I am withholding my opinion until they are finished. If I go in there now, they will both expect me to take sides. I am staying out of it.

I have other things to do. The computer is all set up and working now, with the exception of the Google translator button on my task bar. The darned thing keeps giving me an error message every time I try to translate any of the blogs in a different language. I have tried several different ways to fix it....Right now, I am pushing lots of buttons and using Bing Translator....Need I say "GRRRRRR"? I just want to push one button and have the pages in English, like they were before. Admittedly, I am spoiled. Any suggestions for a quick fix?

See you tomorrow.

7 comments:

Kathi said...

Your little bear shop is just precious. May we see the inside sometime? :D
I saw those glitter sticks but didn't buy them. Hope there are still some left when I go back...
So happy to hear your computer is working. I know how frustrating that can be.
Looking forward to seeing the silver tree all decorated. I'm sure it will be beautiful!

Susan@minicrochetmad said...

Love those swags and the puce/purple is going to be very glam on the silver tree.

Google translate has been giving me error messages for a while so it might not be anything to do with your new computer.

Caseymini said...

Kathi, that is the whole store. It is only about 4 or 5" deep and it doesn't open. Sorry.

Chelle said...

Have you tried downloading google chrome bar as your search engine instead of IE? For me it automatically translates.

Mini Me said...

I love the store name!! Astronomy buffs unite!

Julia and Hywel said...

It's really pretty, I love your shop name sign.. wonky or not :) Your swags are sooo pretty, I just drape and go!! :) I had the same problem as you with the google translate and Debbie of Tiny Treasures sent me a link for Google translate. If you click on the Google Translate text under my translator box, it should take you to the page to get your code. You paste it in your gadgets section.
Julia xxx

Claudia said...

Tessie is developing good decorator instincts, isn't she? I love that little shop!

xo
Claudia