Have a hippy Christmas!

The arty Californian community of Laguna Beach has a curiously cool way of commemorating Christmas. The perfect place for beach bums, surfers, artists and retired rock musicians, it is also the beautiful backdrop for Oliver Stone’s violent new film, Savages. Anyway, check out these fabulous hand painted Christmas decorations…

ShopCurious hopes you have a very hippy Christmas.

 Will you?

A curiously decorative Christmas...

Merry Christmas!

May your holiday weekend be filled with decorative Christmas curiosities... like mine:

I decorated the tree (a Nordmann fir from pinesandneedles.com) with a mixture of cherished vintage baubles, together with some of the hand painted wooden decorations from ShopCurious.

I managed to smash just one – unfortunately a rather lovely, old fashioned glass ball. But Henry the hoover came to the rescue. He's very busy at this time of year, what with all the pine needles and Christmas crumbs on the floor...


















































































Talking of which, my mother arrived with a curiously kitsch Christmas cake. Apparently, she won it at her golf club in a ‘guess the weight of the cake’ competition. 7.02 pounds in case you’re curious…










I took her to the Christmas Market at London’s Southbank. It was teeming with people and full of nasty cooking smells. I’m not quite sure what barbequed burgers and bratwurst have to do with Christmas? There were dozens of candy stalls, and a glut of gaudy snow globes.





Don’t you just love this time of year?

Do you?


PS Check out the latest posts at The Dabbler for more Christmas curiosities – including our retro 3D Version of The Night Before Christmas.

Arty avian Christmas decorations

‘Arty’ and ‘avian’ may conjure up images of antique taxidermy, or curious contemporary craft creations, like this surreal seagull-through-the-wall installation by Joanna Bryan-Smith...














A reminder that birds are not always cute, or friendly – and they’re certainly not birdbrained, especially when it comes to getting food:

If you prefer birds that are decorative rather than dangerous, then check out the fabulous boxed sets of partridges, baby doves and snooty chicks at ShopCurious.

















Each pretty little bird has been lovingly handcrafted in wood - and hand painted too. They look great on the tree, but are also the perfect gift to take along to a Christmas house party. And you can rest assured they won’t gobble up your turkey, either.

















Will you?

Curious folk trends

Does anyone remember the vintage BBC children’s television programme called Tales from Europe? There was a scary Soviet version of The Snow Queen – and the strangely haunting Singing Ringing Tree. I mention this because folk tales have been a major source of inspiration for fashion and home accessories designers’ forthcoming collections.

At ShopCurious, we’ve also got a bit of a folksy theme in the run up to Christmas. Our curiously colourful hand painted Babushka dolls (right) make really unique tree decorations, and would be great as an unusual gift.



We’ve also got a selection of dramatic vintage gowns for dressy Christmas parties – including fabulous, folk-style pieces from Gina Fratini and Thea Porter Couture.

Anyway, here are some little snippets of the Snow Queen - and the (not so) New Adventures of Heidi, to get you in the mood for what’s to come…

Are you?