Tinsel & Whimsey. . . offers delightful holiday collectibles rendered in vintage-style by some of today’s most popular Folk Artists. You will find original & reproduction pieces by Nicol Sayre, Dee Foust, Teena Flanner, Kathi Bejma of ~K.D. Vintage~ & Cody Foster. Crafted from papier-mache, architectural artifacts & vintage fabrics and decorated with mica glitter, cotton batting, aged tinsel & ribbon, and faded flowers; each sepia-toned piece has the look and feel of a well-loved family heirloom. The perfect start or addition to a collection Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, July 4th, or Halloween decorations for lovers of flea markets, “found art” and all things primitive or “Cottage Chic!"

These wonderful pieces remind me of my favorite passage from a favorite childhood book, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams:

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

I hope these well-loved Whimsies become Real to you, too. . .