Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Eye Candy and Inspiration!

I took a rare day off today to meet a friend for a visit to the National Christmas Center, in Paradise, PA, and have to say I was completely overwhelmed....Room after room of holiday eye candy (and some major nostalgia too, hehe!)

Since a description can't possibly do this place justice, I'll share a few photos - taken by a friend since I forgot to bring my camera (thanks, Barbara!) I'm going back in a couple of days though, so don't be surprised if I post more....

Does anyone remember the days before dollar stores? The days of five and dime stores? Here's one wall of an entire room decorated like the Christmas department at Woolworths, circa mid 1950's:


And a few photos of "Tudor Village" where you walk through a story where fairy tale creatures (some animatronic) make Christmas come alive:




And Santa's Workshop:



And one of soooooooooo many display cases, this one featuring vintage baking goodies:


Big thanks to Jen of Gypsy Mare Studios for recommending the visit - it was absoltely amazing, and sooooooooooo inspiring!

I also met a fellow knitter there - Wendy, who recently opened a new yarn shop in Lancaster, which is on my list of places to visit SOON (like I need more yarn, hehe)...

Just a couple more weeks of Christmas/Yule/Holiday work (still mixed with the wicked and whimsical of course) then it's back to Halloween full tilt....The ideas are spinning around in my head faster than I can write them all down, nevermind paint them - thank heaven for notebooks and sketchbooks, yes?

That's about it for now...Look for something new tomorrow evening on eBay.....

Until then,
~ Carolee

10 comments:

Jennifer MacNeill said...

Heehee:) I told you so:)

Monkey-Cats Studio said...

Wow Carolee, thank you for sharing the photos! It was inspiring.
Laurie

vintagepaletteart said...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I want to go there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THanks Carolee for sharing your day with us! Can't wait until you go back to see more pics!!!

Holiday Hugs! *Lori

Anonymous said...

Oh take me with you next time!! Such a magical place!! Thanks for sharing!
~ Iva

Sheryl Parsons said...

What gorgeous photos Carolee! I'm so jealous of you and Jen! Thanks for sharing....

Sheryl

Sandra Evertson said...

That was Fabulous!
And love the new blog banner! That Poe piece on it is Wonderful!
Seasons Greetings and Holiday Cheers!
Sandra Evertson

Kathy Hunka said...

Oooooooo what a fun day! Lots and lots of eye candy! You lucky duck! Glad you had fun!
Kathy

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you had never been there before. My Mom's photo as a child under the tree is there, as is one of Ron in his Hop-a-long Cassidy cowboy outfit! It was one of our favorite places to take out of town guests. I'll be I've been there 12 or more times. It was featured on the travel channel last week and Jim has added a lot of new things since we were there the last time. The lifesize Nativity is so life-like, I expected to hear Baby Jesus cry!

vintagepaletteart said...

HI Carolee, you're gonna love me for this but.......

I've left you an award on my blog, so you must stop over and pick it up! It looks like an award that you should have! =o)

Holiday Hugs, Lori

quitethecrow said...

Hi Carolee...your field trip looked like a lot of fun. Thank you for your kind comments you left on my blog.

You asked for my ebay name...bmine!

Yes, NC is beautiful and I especially love Asheville. I try to get over there as often as I can. I'm about three hours from there.

I was tagged by Nancy Tobin, and thought of adding you to this offer. Here are the rules, if you'd like to join in...

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