Abundant Curiosities

Fun Ideas

2012-01-21T09:16:00.009-05:00

Do you have things all over your refrigerator? You know what I mean by things, right? Just ...things!

I have a calendar the size of Texas on mine to try to have the space to fit in all the stuff I need to do each day with three busy kids. I solved the problem of having too many other things on my fridge by doing something with an antique frame, some chicken wire, and some spray paint.

I didn't have to take out the glass from the frame 'cuz someone had already done that chore before I found it abandoned. Abandoned, I say. Who would do that to a frame with so much carved wood detail and so much potential left in it? This frame is big I tell ya, about 4 feet high and 2 feet across. The wood is about 8 inches wide! Anyway, I staple gunned some chicken wire to the back side and then spray painted the heck out of it all, including the frame, and now it is in an awkward corner of my kitchen that I never quite knew what to do with anyway. It holds my photos, notes, recipes, reminders, and whatever else seems to find its way into our life and needs a place to be seen. I hold them on to the chicken wire with old wooden clothes pins. Mine are naturally weathered as I use them on an actual clothes line and treat myself to a fresh batch each spring. Lucky me!

These very vintage Valentines you see above are available in the shop as a collage sheet you print, and would be fun to tuck on your own chicken wire frame or on a fridge in your house...or you could craft with them if you have the time. Time. That is something which seems to escape me these days. Extra time anyway. How 'bout you?

That's why I am doing my crafting by virtual idea sharing so you can do what I wish I had time to do. *sigh*

These are sweet little 1920's images which my mom saved. She saved everything. Some things I am glad of, others, well we won't waste time on all that. They are now a collage sheet too and couldn't you picture the little heart shaped ones cut out and glued to some dollar store paper doilies and then added to a wide ribbon to hang vertically? That would be sweet indeed.

I have lots of themed collage sheets and cowboys and cowgirls is just one of them. How fun to throw a themed party and have these as decor and table extras!! You could make them into place cards or napkin wraps. Shrink their size to make cupcake toppers by cutting them out in small squares and glueing back to back on toothpicks, wah--lah, instant Martha whatever her name is!! Or play tricks on your printer by making some in a mirror image, cut them out right along the edges of the images and then glue them back to back on cord, ribbon or fish line and make a kind of mobile to hang at all different levels to twist and turn. Super fun!

Circus is just one more of the many collage sheet themes, besides fire fighters, policemen, and space-- just to name a few. I could really imagine a bunch of different circus images cut out and glued along a sheer ribbon, or bias tape ribbon, or that super duper great twisty kinda striped baker's/butcher's twine stuff...and then hang it all along a wall or in an archway like a banner bunting. And look at these-- you could play with the image and then add your little one's name to the hearts to make an adorable nursery bunting...or use them for a shower party set up!!

Click here to check them out.

On to the new year...

2011-12-26T10:29:00.003-05:00

Soon we are on to the new year.
Hope your holiday was a merry happy Christmas time.
Ours was nice with lots of love, laughter, and blessings.

We built a big puzzle and watched old favorite movies on VHS and DVD together last night.
Tonight maybe some old 8mm and super 8 movies of our family shown on a projector against a pull down tripod screen.
Memories -new- are fun to make, memories -old- are fun to revisit.

winter song

2011-12-12T20:23:00.003-05:00

A sweet image that is about 70 years old. The colors in these old illustrations are just different somehow and they warm my soul. Hope it warms yours too, and maybe ignites a spark for a great craft idea in which to use it. Have fun.

Are you going to be ready for the happy Christmas holiday or are you going to say enough is good enough? Don't be too hard on yourself.

still around...

2011-11-28T21:08:00.002-05:00

Betcha wondered what became of me? Maybe not?
I am still here.
Life is busy. Busier every year.
I am enjoying the ride but wish some days it all went at a slower pace.
Any ideas how to slow the spin of the Earth?
Looking forward to Christmas. How 'bout you?
I have been reading blogs... far more often than writing on my own.
That's obvious.
I have some great new (vintage) photos to list as digital scan purchase. Hope to get to those SOON!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T18:53:00.014-04:00

(both images above are from an antique primer)

click for crow source

click for source for all the following antique images

ooh, scary

a distant relative of ol' Drac?

spirit fog?

the hatters, mad?

just back from the scary attic

spooked

lonely hollow music played

Happy Halloween!

Life takes me along

2011-10-31T01:04:00.002-04:00

I have been so very busy that I find I have been away from the blog for almost a complete month. I needed to stop in and type up some words. Anything to prove I am still plugging along.

Some days I feel like this....
A stick in a stream being pulled along and trying desperately to avoid the rapids and rocks.

I thought of this example in the car one day when I was being the usual family taxi service, a responsibility I seem to be sentenced to for now. Don't get me wrong, I want to transport my children to the places they need to be and also want them to do some fun things too. I just feel like I am always last on the list of priorities.

I will always be my (now adult) special needs daughter's transportation when she can not utilize the county's para-transport system bus. I hope to someday find a reliable person to take my place in this if not all the time at least some of the time. It is a real tie down to my schedule and life. Please don't think I do not absolutely love her. Any parent of a special needs child knows what I mean.
Transportation is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to responsibilities and time it all takes to run the many parts of her life that she can not now (or maybe never) handle.

Lots of my so called friends have proved to be "fair weather friends" and have decided they just can't understand what it is like to be in my shoes. I don't ask that. I just ask for them to listen, as I listen to your joys as well as challenges and sorrows with your own children.

Lots has been going on in my own life and in our house too.
I have gone on strike (again) with some household duties--I am only one person, after all-- but most of them seem to be un-noticed anyway.
We have had to do a major home improvement project- not by voluntary choice, I may add, and the timing is pretty bad.
I have been without my job since July 31st, since my boss suddenly died.
I have been without my uncle since he died. He was my boss.
I cared for him 5-7 days per week in his home for 5 years, also including being his driver and companion for all his transportation needs, and doing all his shopping runs by myself, alone.
I will tell you this: It is hard to have a relative as an employer too.
I am still missing 6 weeks of pay and mileage allowance.
My only other uncle died just 5 weeks after my boss uncle.
I spent some treasured quality time with him in his last few weeks.
I miss them both so much more than I had ever expected.

Now that the frost is covering the neighborhood each morning, I realize that I did not even have time to use my clothes line this summer. Now it's time to stack the firewood closer to the house. The clothes line will be there next summer, waiting.

I find I am not such a fun person these days. I think of all the creative thoughts I had and things I did.
I will get back to all that some day soon.
Just not now.
Life is taking me for a ride down that stream, at a very fast clip.

Flash Back-simple memories

2011-09-01T23:09:00.004-04:00

Now that Summer is getting closer to its end and changing looks, grass grows more slowly and the crickets and cicadas are being extra noisy especially at night, I find myself being reminiscent of times when I was a young girl.

--getting on the bus the first day back to school, deciding where to sit
--new stiff shoes, maybe with a heel
--the smell of a new box of crayons
--weekend slumber parties with friends, playing board games until way past a normal bedtime
--doodling in a spiral notebook using lots of different colored pens and markers, while listening to the radio
--flowered cotton pajamas, sweet smelling from the laundry line
--playing outside using imagination for hours, without a care in the world
-- lying on the floor next to the sleeping cat in the patch of sun shining through the window, wondering how she makes that purr sound

Memories are such a strong therapy when grown-up-ness gets too hard.

vintage dishware birds

2011-08-31T18:08:00.005-04:00

Franciscan Bird n Hand pattern is a great, timeless pattern in striking black and white crisp graphics. Made in the late 1960's, it is a discontinued pattern of dishware and now sometimes, other than plates, the specialty serving pieces are a rare find.
Whether you use the creamer for cream when company is invited over for an evening of conversation and coffee,

or maybe for pouring your favorite warmed syrup at a bright early morning breakfast of blueberry pancakes,

or even just display on a shelf to admire, this is a classic item to bring joy to the owner.

Find it at a special price by clicking HERE.

Myrtle Must Dream

2011-07-15T23:15:00.008-04:00

I have launched, after lots of thought and many nights of staring at the ceiling in the dark (which is where I do some of my best thinking), a new adventure which I hope will bring joy to collectors and artists alike. A place to showcase all my old, vintage, retro and antique photos.

Myrtle Must Dream is a place to search for images that speak to you.

A place to find just the right image to fill the thrifty frame you found last week with a sweet baby's first photograph done in a gorgeous pin-tucked long christening gown.

A place to discover a relative you wish was in your family tree like the man with the spectacular pocket watch and watch fob.

A place to fill that ephemera crafting supply need with maybe a portrait featuring a marvelous milliner's fashion. Or maybe you need a virtual uncle who traveled to the tombs of the Pharaohs to complete your altered art travel journal.

You always dreamed of filling your long hallway with mismatched frames showing off vintage bridal fashions?

This is the place to look, and bring a cup of tea along, you may be there awhile once I get going with listing all my photos I wish to share!!
I am just getting started, with the first 2 photos being found by clicking here. They are
Gertrude Amelia = along the path to Grandmother's house
and
Elmer Dean = frog in my pocket

Many treasured moments found in ordinary daily lives were preserved by many types of cameras over the years, and none of them had a delete button.
Think of the stuff we delete because it is not "perfect".
A shame. Especially for those that come after us 100 years from now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have to give a shout out to a wonderful person who has a super fun shop dedicated to just vintage photo digital downloads:

(click on the name) Gerushia's Digital Downloads to go there and see!

You also have to see her one of a kind art! Click here to see her blog. One of my favorite pieces is her art titled "An Unexpected Visitor" in her post from June 15th.

recycle

2011-07-06T12:17:00.003-04:00

If you are not into recycling you think the items in these photos are just junk. If you do recycle you will say, "Hey!, Why didn't I think of that?!"

These photos are at a fun store we go to as a road trip that has all types of things that can be used again, from the obvious fabric pieces and scraps and mat board and frames and vases and ribbons and beads...to the not so obvious- the kinds of things that usually get sent to the trash- but if you use some imagination they can become art supplies.

My son has been in a recycling club for 2 years at school. His main job each week is to empty the big bins of paper from his assigned classrooms into the outside paper recycle hopper to be made into more new paper. They also have craft/art days too, where they make things from recycled items. There are both girls and boys in the club so they have made many types of arts and crafts. Everything from making their own homemade paper to creating beads from junk mail to thinking up new ways to use things as is that you may not have thought of as compared to what they are usually used for.

My oldest daughter is involved in making art at an art gallery, and many sculpture-like art pieces are from recycled items. The gallery, which is open to the public and sells art made only by young adults with disabilities, is in a beautiful historical building. During our first tour, I walked around with my mouth hanging open because I was so impressed with both the set up of the gallery and the art itself. My daughter could not stop smiling. The art, both 2-D and 3-D, is priced from just a few dollars all the way up to $400. Many business owners buy things for their offices, and private owners for their homes. We knew this was the place for our daughter to blossom and took the long, red-tape-paper-work steps to have her apply to be one of their artists. (I'm certain if you have a special needs child/young adult then you know what this all means at every step of their life! Paper work, waiting, denial, approval, more paper work...) My daughter has had one of her drawings chosen to be professionally matted and framed to be offered for sale in the gallery. We are so proud!!

But back to the story about this store where anyone can go to buy recycled items as art supplies... don't you love the idea of the "trash curtain" in the top photo? I think it would be fun on the edge of an outside porch or playhouse. It is colorful and waterproof and I even thought it could include some jingly things to be kind of a wind chime when blown in the breezes.

The soda pop flowers are a great thing to do with kids at a party and they could take them home and add them to their garden or room as an accent. I especially like the silly polka dotted flower. Don't think I've ever seen one in nature like that but I do love polka dots on anything!!

Take a look around and see what you can reinvent instead of sending it all to the trash.

times and other things...they are a changin'

2011-05-15T13:10:00.010-04:00

I enjoy a good vintage ad.
Don't you?
Let's look at this one here, shall we?
Let's take a closer look. This looks like an attractive enough woman in the year 1963.
Agree?

Let's take an even closer look. Apparently standards in body image or clothing sizes --or maybe simply just vocabulary--have changed in that many years. Their catalog says "fashions for larger women".

Really?

Did they accidentally use the wrong models' photo shoot for this cover?

Ok.

Let's go in for some details here. Maybe I am just a little confused. Little. Maybe I should say slight.... er, maybe tiny. Oh crap. Let's get on with it.

38-60.

Are they talking about their tablecloth measurements for their dining room table? They certainly aren't talking about these models.

Ok stop, to be fair, the hourglass silhouette that girdles and bullet bras gave these women may have a disillusioning effect on the over-all look of a dress. But still--I think this represents models with 38 as the high end measurement category.

False representation? Cause to starve yourself to compete?

You decide.

Also, does anyone still use the vocabulary word= hose ?

Sorry, the time has expired (a few decades or so) to send for your free style booklet.

" for S _ _ _ _ Women" !!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way, scroll all the way back up and look at the ad below the one just discussed. It's pretty cute. Care to narrate your opinions?

dreams

2011-05-07T08:07:00.001-04:00

I have the tea ready to pour into beautiful, hand painted mismatched cups, a hand embroidered linen cloth on the table, a dainty crystal plate of School Boy chocolate dipped cookies (I'm not a baker) and there is a yummy apple cinnamon pie scented candle burning. Soothing low volume music drifting though the air. For sale: original art by me and some talented people I love. One area displays wonderful old vernacular photography of people from a hundred years or more ago along with vintage unique handbags/pocket books/purses and vintage soft cotton petticoats and pinafores-you know the kind- with pin tucks, lace and white on white embroidery (no velcro, no siree, just the tiniest little mother of pearl buttons as closures). That's what I would do if I could have a dream brick and mortar shop!

products

2011-04-23T09:33:00.004-04:00

I was sorting through some old recipes torn from magazines and newspapers, saved by my grandma, in an old discolored manila folder. Grandma has been gone since the '80s. I am not one to use recipes. I like to make up my own ingredients and measurements. Actually, I am surprised that my grandma had this file because she often-maybe always- cooked and baked the same way= by the way it looked. I had some favorites that she cooked or baked, and as a teen (thinking I should harvest her knowledge for using myself someday) I asked her several times if she could write it all down for me on a recipe card.

[Recipe cards. Remember those... before you could Goo--e anything you ever wanted to know about anything?]

Her reply was, "I don't know how I would write it all down, sweetie. I just put it all together until it looks right."

I do have a few recipe cards that each of my grandmas wrote, as well as some my mom wrote. I cherish them more now for their handwritten nostalgia than the instructions they explain. Recognizing the beautiful and individual style of their handwritten script makes me smile.

As I looked through the tattered contents of the folder, I started mindlessly throwing the magazine and newspaper recipe scraps in the waste basket. Surely I would never use them, fire hazzard they were and all that...

Then I suddenly stopped and thought about the great things on those pages that surround these age old recipes. Time capsule-like graphics of products we still recognize dressed in newer labels and those super looking old colors that don't exist anymore in advertising (or book illustrations). I am sucked in by those vintage ink colors every time!!

These old product paper ephemera scraps are fun to use in collage or ATC art for backgrounds. Have fun with these. Compliments of my thrifty grandma, who saved everything and taught my mom to save everything and ...well...you know.

Click on image to enlarge it.

Paper Posies for Springtime

2011-04-20T08:20:00.010-04:00

This is a project I completed with some of the hand made, one of a kind, Paper Posies I made. It is a canvas covered, magnet backed photo frame. I laid out and glued down a free form pattern of randomly squiggled lines of vintage cotton rick-rack and clustered a grouping of blue shades of Paper Posie flowers in the bottom corner and flowing outward. A very fun project.

Here I took a sweet little tossed aside vintage oil painting and rescued it out of a very ugly frame by adding twisty wire and a vintage ribbon tied in a bow. Paper Posies were added to the painted flowers to give it a 3-D effect. You could do this with just about any picture, painting or card for a bit of "pop"! This one is actually available HERE.

This was a past project that I sold but I have also done this same thing to keep for myself. It is fun to glue Paper Posies onto vintage (or new) rick-rack. It can be used as a garland (you could even glue the Posies back to back so they show no matter how the garland twists!) or to attach onto a lamp shade for trim (you don't even have to glue it on permanently--just wrap it around and glue the ends together... if you are like me and you like to change things often!) or to dress up a boring or thrifted/painted up photo frame or to drape over the top of a mirror in a powder room or maybe over a little girl's vanity. It would also be great to add to a wreath! I'm sure there are oodles of other ideas if you let you imagination run free.

I used some to make a cute little last minute tag for a gift and also a birthday card that you can see and read about HERE.

You can see some projects done by my friends using my Paper Posies HERE on an ATC and HERE on a faux cupcake, of all things. Really, you have to see how cute!!

I once had an order for 100 custom made Paper Posies flowers for a shop owner to use in her glass display cases as props. That was hard work, but fun!! I took them "on the road" as a work in progress while my car was getting "road worthy"...a very funny story indeed. You can see them HERE, and WOW!! they look pretty cool photographed all in a big group!!

The Paper Posies featured in the below 3 photos, along with many more, can be found and purchased HERE for your own projects. Don't wait!!

I hope I have provided some inspiration. These flowers work great for crafting of all sorts- altered art, collage, ATCs, card making, scrapbooking, etc...
As well as for decorating- add them to lampshades, photo frames, mirrors, window shade hems, baskets...the possibilities are only limited by your imagination!!

beauty and treasure

2011-04-16T11:39:00.004-04:00

You never know what you may find at a rummage sale, garage sale, yard sale, estate sale, tag sale-- or as the people across the sea call them= boot sale.

I had long ago purchased, for 50 cents, a tiny wooden frame with silver paint very worn from what I believe to be many decades or maybe even a century of wear. The tiny size spoke to me even though the picture featured inside did not. Many times that is the reason I purchase--for the frame and not its contents.

The frame sat, neglected, tucked away and almost forgotten in a box of other frames. In searching through things to sell or donate, or to find inspiration to finally art again when the time presents itself to me, I became reacquainted with that tiny frame with touches of remaining silver paint. Since I had a RARE moment to myself (for a change) that did not involve being behind a bathroom door (!), I thought I would empty the unwanted contents of the frame.

I found this scrap of artwork hiding between the front image which was not going to be kept and the backing paper! What a thrill! I immediately smiled. I immediately wondered about this beauty as I held the fragile paper in my hand. Who drew it? How long ago? Was she a real person or the imagination of the artist?

The torn edges on two sides were wonderful. The discoloration almost magical the way it forms an oval around her. I was so excited that my 50 cents had revealed such treasure beyond the tiny wooden frame.

She had, all this time, waited patiently for me to rediscover her after rescuing her from the sale.

You just never know what your "thrill of the hunt" thrifting adventures can reveal to you.

Use her in your art! Help her to live on --whether she was someone real or an image in some long ago unknown artist's imagination. I wish I could give the artist credit, being an artist myself.

Please play nice and do not sell her as is without making her over in your creative endeavors.

2011-04-15T09:51:00.006-04:00

I am overwhelmed. Busy. Appointments. Meetings. Deadlines. Needing to clone myself. I say "no" to a lot of things but there are things now that can't be said "no" to. (Yep, I know, don't ever end a sentence with the word to.) Anxiously awaiting time for the "fun" me to be able to do things again. Right now it is the "mom on a mission" me trudging through the days on the calendar, yet they seem to go by much too rapidly.

These beautiful roses are a vintage scrap I am sharing with you. Make something beautiful with them. I will live through your artfulness until I find time for my own.

A little list of things that bring joy:

*pretty pink flowered vintage cotton pillow cases, all soft and nice from hundreds of washings

*my favorite perfume softly lingering many hours after being applied

*very old and extra tattered books in a pile that is not a neatly lined up stack

*a beautiful milk glass bowl with lacy edge that cost just 25 cents filled with brightly colored oranges

2011-04-14T09:53:00.003-04:00

In case you were wondering... I am still here. I'll write soon, I hope. Lots going on. Lots.

Just stopping in to give you something to create with for your crafting and art enjoyment. Click bear to enlarge image.

Have fun!

buffing and polishing

2011-02-14T11:35:00.003-05:00

Just a quick note to say I am busy trying to buff and polish the house...or at least pick up all the stray Legos, and crayons and markers, plastic army guys and Spiderman and Batman, and figure out what to do with all the school papers that come home (enough to surly wipe out entire rain forests)...in preparation for some first time guests who will be paying a visit this week for meetings. These meetings are more stuff to help prepare my E. for all things "special needs adult child" after her graduation from 13th grade this summer. We are on the countdown for her big graduation and for trying to get all the ducks in a row, as they say, to provide the best future for her. Anyone want to come help me? You can wear your string of pearls and apron if it helps you work faster/better. I am hoping it will help me!! Wish me well. Hope you can create something fun for yourself with the above vintage image.

happy hearts for you

2011-02-11T08:59:00.005-05:00

Maybe you could make one of these into a tag that would be cute to put

on a bag of candy for your best friend.

Do you have a Friend you can tell anything ...

a friend who always sticks by you

and doesn't laugh and tell you you're crazy?

Everyone needs a friend like that.

Enjoy!

altered vintage book pages

2011-02-07T10:07:00.018-05:00

I have been finally doing some of those ideas stuck inside my brain; the ideas rolling around waiting for time to be put to use.

The items shown would be fun as part of a collage or decoupage or altered book project... or super cute as a framed display.

I have a love affair with vintage books and if they are falling apart I still love them. What to do with a great book that is not whole anymore? Alter the pages! This page is from a vintage French book and it needed a smashing fashion image print to make it live on, reinvented, to be loved for years to come. What caught my eye was how she is clutching her gloves. I always clutch my fashion gloves like that when I am rushing into the grocery for a gallon of milk--- well, don't you?

These next few pages are from a vintage Honey Bunch book. Have you ever read Honey Bunch? The covers of these books usually are simply adorable themselves. The text on this page is about how Honey Bunch is in a department store with her mother and aunt where there are beautiful fur scarves and muffs. The print turned out better than I expected as the word muff is just under the image of the muff. So cool.

This book page talks about a sweet little dress and describes it in detail. This dress print is not identical to the one described but is sweet none the less, yes?

This page talks about a rag doll...thus I used a Raggedy Andy print. These altered book pages were so fun to make and they are one of a kind due to the fact that they are the original book pages and not copies.

On the page below, the story tells about snow and a snow plow "running up and down the trolley tracks". A very precious red snow suit fits this page well. Don't you love the bonnet style hat and the spats style leggings?

Here we have a story line about a baby carriage and I was lucky enough to have an image with that theme in my ephemera scraps collection to print.

Then I got this idea to print some of my original colored pencil bird art on some vintage French grammaire book pages. They are actually antique pages as they are 100 years old! So fun to do this and now my brain cogs are really spinning!! I have to find time to do all the others I have figured out in my mind. Stay tuned!

If you care to take more of a peek, the pages featured in this post are available HERE. I will list more, very soon I hope.

hearts for you

2011-02-05T10:26:00.006-05:00

Some little vintage Valentine images for you to use in your art. These two had some tape on them ...you can fix them up for some creative usage I am certain.

I am not 100% sure, but I would guess that zebras are not the #1 most frequently used animal on Valentines. Here are some I'm sharing for you. Aren't they cute, too?

You can decide what to do... because if you are a cheapy like me you are reluctant to drain your ink cartridge on such a solidly dark background. See what you can come up with, you are smart, I know!!

Flash Back- Baby Boomer play and safety features

2011-02-04T11:24:00.004-05:00

(Sorry= this collage sheet is sold out) What did kids do for fun back in the Baby Boomer days? Back before every play activity required being plugged in? Lots of things!... and most of them required some very high tech stuff= actually talking face to face (no texting) and a little imagination (no video game program to drag you along for the mind numbing ride), and come to think of it--activity/movement was also part of our daily play (no sitting on the sofa all day, Mom wouldn't allow that. And we didn't want to anyway. We would have thought of that as punishment)!

We played jump rope, hop scotch,ring around the rosie, red rover and tag. We played cowboys and Indians. We played cops and robbers and used toy guns. And by the way, none of us acquired records as hardened criminals. At least no one I knew, so maybe I speak for myself here on that point.

But of course we also survived lead paint on our cribs, so that says a lot, and just imagine, that was coupled in with the slats most likely being spaced inappropriately, yet we survived babyhood somehow. Oh, and what about no helmets while tooling around on a banana seat bike or... how babies started traveling around town and the country with no such invention as a baby car seat--even in the family convertible, for gosh sakes!!

(find this vintage print ad HERE)

...or when we were a little older-- the station wagon, hanging out the back window. That was great, the wind in your hair. The "way back" is what we called the rear facing back seat in the station wagon. We always fought over that seat. Do you remember singing along to the old jingle, "See the USA in your Chevrolet"? Dinah Shore sang that one. Heck, the adults didn't even wear seat belts, it wasn't a law yet. Do not get me wrong, I think baby car seats and seat belts are very important. You young 'uns have to realize that life and knowledge and technology was different back then. People wanted to be safe, of course, but there were not all the same safety research experiments done and laws that are put into place to protect people, like in the 21st century. I am no car expert but it seems to me our family car was built like a tank. Was yours, back in to 1960's and 1970's? You Boomers know what I mean. What did you do with your time as a child, if you were born before cablevision and the internet?

rough diamond

2011-01-31T07:08:00.008-05:00

Finally got N's hair cut yesterday at one of those discount hair cutting places. I had been cutting it at home for several years, since he stopped going with my friend's dad, Mr. S., to the old style barber shop.

I used to help my friend's parents with transportation. Then Mr. S. passed away and Mrs. S. moved 3 hours north into Mi. to live nearer to her daughter, my school friend. I miss them both, I miss them all.

N. has fond memories of sitting with mostly senior men at the barber shop which was like a time capsule, frozen in time. N. had history there as well, being that his very first "real hair cut" as a toddler was done there by Mr. Larry, with Mr. S. looking on. N. was concerned that this new experience would be too girly. After all, there was no smell of that tonic stuff they put on your hair or the "tickle brush" the barber whisked your neck off with. Thankfully I saw his look of relief when another gentleman walked in to wait for his cut.

N. wanted his hair to be "cool". My definition of his current look- "homeless long"- so it was time for a compromise; I would not cut it at home this time since he swears I cut it too short. I was all for "cool" but not when I could not see his blue eyes. Not when he was constantly flinging his head to get it out of his eyes. Not when he was "parting the curtains" of his bangs...that was really not a cool look, I commented incessantly. Not when I truly wondered what the teacher must think of me and my obvious neglect. That's the one that escapes a 10 year old, but not the mother.

I am happy to report the young lady did a bang-up job (haha, bang...bangs!) and my boy looks "way cool"! Maybe it is alright after all to have a young lady cut your hair instead of a stodgy old barber... or your mom.

You can borrow the photo above for your crafting pleasure. Please play nice and don't sell as is. Click to enlarge then right click and save.

What do you think of this gentleman's hair style? I love these diamond shaped cards. This one has a slight irregularity in the photo cut on one side. Adds to the charm, I think. I also like the aged grunge on the border. If anyone out there has any more of these "on point" photos, I am interested in buying some more for a project of my own...or if anyone has come across some freebies for crafting out in the free images world, let me know.

birdie

2011-01-28T08:41:00.006-05:00

Oh how birdie images like this make my heart skip a beat! I am so inspired by this to do some new colored pencil art. I especially like this color combination with the tarnished silver. *sigh* You can see why it caught my eye if you click HERE to see my tarnished silver collection.

One can come by their collections in the most curious ways, as was the case for mine!

This bird image was found as a button to link you to Cute and Cool Blog Stuff at Marie's Freebies. Go check both places for images...even the blog background graphics are beautiful.

promises to keep for tomorrow

2011-01-28T07:43:00.007-05:00

Yesterday was a day when my serious face had to keep telling my smiling face to emerge. A very long meeting about all things "special needs adult child" with 11 people around the table and 2-3 others popping in at different times. The kind of meeting that takes a day or maybe even two for any one's brain to digest. Mental films of what everyone offered to the mix replaying through my memory and questions now thought of after the fact. That's the way with these things, I suppose.
The possible job interview process for E. moved along with another phone call yesterday and the promise of another phone call today. Seems they are trying to coordinate at their end. Keep your fingers crossed a while longer for her, would ya?

We had lots more beautiful snow and the weatherman says 2-3 more inches before Saturday. I see, in our weekend ahead, some fun sledding on the big hill. (ephemera image from The Feathered Nest blog, free images)

Picked up my 2 brothers at the airport. They had just spent a week at dad's. My brother said, "What a difference a 5 hour flight makes.", as we drove through the white-out conditions and the snow blew and swirled across the highway before us.

Finished the day with a little escape out to a restaurant with a good friend for a delicious sandwich (Which I ate without the bun. Too much bun! Don't you hate that? The inside stuff is the good stuff anyway!) and cup of chili. Amazed at how much snow had covered the car in only the time we ate. As everyone else around us grumbled about the cold and snow, I ventured out into it with a warm smile. I love the snow.

So, 5 days crossed off the calendar for this busy week and 2 more to go. Today, phone calls and paperwork to do along with buckets of other things to get done. One thing to figure out is what to do with the bathroom door. The original 56 year old knob has been remachined several times and we were told has lost its "future fix potential". No easy trip to the hardware section as the placement on the door is apparently unique, therefore modern knobs will not function properly and blah blah blah...so, maybe a new door? The duck tape we put on this morning doesn't look good, that's for sure. The joys of home ownership, right? I ask you, where are the guys from that public television home improvement show that fix everything start to finish, neat and tidy, inside of 30 minutes?

Tomorrow, maybe some sledding...oh, and that Greek food I promised myself.

nicely aged

2011-01-27T01:11:00.004-05:00

For your art projects. This is a lovely color, aged page, fallen from a nearly 100 year old book. Beautiful for an altered art project or tag or...

Click to enlarge then zoom in, and then right click and save.

Please play nice and do not sell image as is.

smoothing my ruffled feathers...

2011-01-27T00:30:00.005-05:00

...so as to not be like this little birdie in my colored pencil and ink art. Once again, my day was filled with back to back action. Mid day, my meeting with my mentor of all things "special needs adult child" was changed from a meeting to a phone call instead. She succeeded in calming my frazzled worried mom soul and soothed my mind of the many scattered thoughts of the future unknowns. Again. She saves me more than she could ever know. She "gets it".

Later I was thrilled to have a phone message for a job interview opportunity for my daughter. The timing was like serendipity. Please pray or cross your fingers, or both. So hard in this economy for a young adult to get work when there are family heads looking for jobs below their qualifications if only to remain the proud bread-winner in some capacity. It is much more so a difficult task to land a job as a special needs young adult.

So, I cross off the 4th day of the week. 3 more to go. Smiling on the outside and the inside today. I keep reminding myself: Worrying about tomorrow only takes today's peace.

very vintage

2011-01-26T10:56:00.006-05:00

Digital scans for your crafting enjoyment-

You'll find them when you click here

hanging in there

2011-01-26T07:36:00.006-05:00

I'm still hanging in there...kinda like the spider in my watercolor and ink art shown here. My special mentor in all things "special needs adult child" is like the lady bug, all balanced and poised. The door is like the unknown that lies beyond today. I am hopeful the door will open to wonderful opportunities.

Yesterday went well with meetings and paperwork and such. 3 days crossed off the calendar for this busy week. I am still smiling, that's a good thing. Today should be ok. Tomorrow...well let's just say tomorrow will take care of itself and I will be glad to have come out the other side!

I might just have a treat this weekend to celebrate wading through it all. My treat, you ask? Nope- not an alcoholic beverage , I am not a drinker. Nope- not ice cream or candy. My treat is Greek food. Yup! I really like Greek food. It is my comfort food. Weird huh?

What's your comfort food treat?

a string of pearls might help the process along

2011-01-24T23:15:00.009-05:00

A crazy, ugly, busy week ahead. Sunday and Monday crossed off--5 more days to go and then I will celebrate-- living through this hard week anyway! All the endless paperwork, red tape, hoop jumping and denial/rejection letters that are part of the required mess to prepare a special needs adult child for life past the 13th grade. June is getting closer on my calendar pages. Have to get my ducks in a row. In the meantime I will wear a smile and take it one day at a time. Maybe if I don some pearls it will all work out somehow. Everything is better when wearing pearls. At least it always seemed to work for those old time TV moms. Couldn't hurt.

for your art creations

2011-01-23T19:31:00.007-05:00

Some fun old greetings to use in your art.
Have fun. Click images to enlarge & then zoom in.
I love globes. I collect globes. The vintage ones are really cool because they have names that have changed, I have 3 globes that are this way. This puzzles my kids. "Why would a country change its name?", they ask. Little moments of history lessons come at the most unexpected times. Grab them! I like the look and feel of old globes better than the new modern models. The colors always seem so different on the old spinning worlds, for some reason. My old ones mostly came from the curbside, tossed away and unloved but still full of charm and decorating and educational purpose. Now I notice they are going for a high price at antique stores and on line too. I like that mine were free!
Don't you love the scene of the cozy fire side? We have our daily fire roaring extra hot today...it was just 4 degrees outside when I woke up. That's too cold even for me, the winter-weather-lover!

thoughts of my day revealed

2011-01-20T18:14:00.014-05:00

It is snowing again today in northern-most Ohio. I love it. I am happy when it snows. I love winter. As long as it is cold there might as well be snow. Snow makes everything look bright and clean. I can do without the melting dirty slushy snowy left-over part of winter, though. Give me everlasting white pretty snow!! Please.

My favorite weather spans from any month it starts to snow {which around here can be anytime after late October} until any month it stops snowing {which around here is usually around late March but has been known to happen as late as early May!} I know I am in the minority in my love of cold and snowy days.
I don't ever get cabin fever...although I don't stay inside "the cabin" ever...I go out in the snow! 'Cuz I love snow!
I don't get cold outside. It has to be below 20 degrees for me to wear a coat. People who know me and see me wear a coat say, "It must officially be cold, Amy's finally wearing a coat."
I never wear a coat/hat/gloves unless A) I am going sledding or building a snowman or B) if it is below 20 degrees. Honest. To just go away anywhere in the car or run errands I don't wear a coat, just a sweatshirt or a couple layers of long sleeve shirts.
It would be heaven to me if I lived somewhere that never went above 70 degrees.

Here's my definition of hot weather, at least here in Ohio: 1. humidity, 2. gross soggy clothes, 3. mosquito bites. YUK. YUK. Super YUK!

I was hoping to drive to my favorite recycling scrap art store today. Ran short on time after all my other tasks. To drive there in the snow would have taken longer than the usual 20 minutes or so and they would have been ready to close up shop 10 minutes after my estimated time of arrival. That's no fun! I need to lose all track of time when I am in there digging around, not keep track of time. Hello!, that's the whole point of getting lost in there, thinking up things to make with unusual stuff, while escaping the outside world.

They have more arts/crafts/sewing stuff there than I could ever list. You can fill a plastic bag slightly smaller than a grocery sack for $5. Yipee! I limit the purchase to just 1 bag and I try to stick with a rule that I take at least 1 bag of stuff to donate to help the cause, the "only bring home same/less than you take out" philosophy.

PS- my mom mobile is just slightly newer than these in the above illustration.

When I did finally arrive home, deciding the rest of my running around out on the snow/ice covered streets would wait until another day, I was met with something that I hate when it goes on and on and on. Barking dogs. My barking dogs. I hate barking dogs, especially when they are mine. Barking for a purpose is ok I guess. Barking just to bark is so annoying to my ears I find I want to crawl out of my skin!! UGH! The dogs were put in their kennels. Ahhh. No more barking! I can stay calmly inside my skin. *deep breath*

PS- don't call anyone to report me. They had shelter and water and food. They bark endlessly year round despite the weather and temperature, just to try to "separate me from my skin"...and sanity!

A night ahead will look almost like this when my dear husband comes home from a long day of working way too hard for his adoring family. He doesn't usually have a suit and dress shoes on to lounge in the chair, though. He is more likely found in a pair of sweats and flannel shirt and socks. Oh, and we only get the Sunday paper. He finds lots of other things to read during the week. He is a sitcom junkie too. He says laughing at silly shows helps him wind down from a day of work.

I, myself, hate sitcoms that have laugh tracks (or canned laughter, as some people call it). Have you ever really listened to a laugh track? It is crazy dumb sounding. Remember when shows like I love Lucy were filmed in front of a LIVE audience? The people in the TV studio inserted the REAL laughter at the right times. After live audiences were a thing of the past they decided they needed to have laugh tracks since the home viewing audience might not be suave enough to know where to insert their own laughter without prompting. UGH! Go ahead and close your eyes while watching a sitcom sometime and see what I mean about it sounding crazy dumb. Almost as bad a barking dogs making you want to climb out of your skin, but not quite as bad. *insert laughter here*

Oh, and the toys scattered on the floor are true to our home scene. Always.

I do enjoy sitting by the fire which burns at our house from about October through April (see above reference to snow-month-spans in northern-most Ohio). I however do not wear a dress and high heels to lounge. My jammies would be more like it. Any chance I get. Usually right after dinner. N. would not be wearing shorts in front of the fire either. But he would be found among a pile of Legos on a regular basis. Have you ever stepped on a small stray Lego with shoeless feet? Go borrow some Legos if you have to and try that one for a treat. *insert sarcasm laugh track here*

PS- don't you love to look at old illustrations and compare your present day life to the life-style that once was?

old postal days

2011-01-18T21:22:00.006-05:00

Isn't it fun to share images with other altered art fans? I think it is. These are both over 100 years old and are post cards. I can't resist much of anything with forget-me-nots, they are so delicate and cheery. This post card is embossed. Take a look at the second post card...talk about a sign of the (old) times! I don't think the card stores would be pushing the sales of this image today. Still, it is fun and interesting as a vintage paper ephemera conversation piece. Check out the face in the smoke puff!!! Click to enlarge images and then zoom in, then right click and save. Enjoy!

vignettes

2011-01-13T08:15:00.006-05:00

Collections... under a sepia tone world map clock. White ironstone pitchers. Thrifted red books with great old covers that feel better than any modern-ebook-thingy can ever feel.

Pheasant feathers in a vintage small crock. Birch. More vintage red books.

Rustic cottage sign (more about this one later) against brick.

And the tell-tale signs of 3 children living in this house. Need I say more??

snow scene

2011-01-12T11:09:00.004-05:00

A nice vintage 1950's image to share with you. I love the snow on the tree branches. The original image is flocked.

colors

2011-01-12T10:57:00.007-05:00

These flakes are all hot pink and pastel pink. I was commissioned last year to make them for someone for a breast cancer awareness event. I had never dreamed of doing pink flakes before this and was pleasantly surprised at how attractive they looked. I had only imagined white flakes. I wonder if I should make more? And how about other colors too?

flake frames

2011-01-03T09:37:00.006-05:00

I found some small wooden frames to make over for gifties for my friends for Happy New Year packages I put together. I am not ever organized enough to get things all done before Christmas so why not a Happy New Year gift??

First I started by painting them black.

Next I put some crackle medium on them and then painted them white.
I put some of my miniature (about 2") hand cut snowflakes in them, matted on scraps of black cardstock. It's always good to use up scrap sizes of your paper stash!

I thought I would like them on the metal easels that I had painted white (in the photo above), but I opted for just using the fold out easel stand that comes on the backs of the frames instead. The metal easels will be used for another project I'm sure!!

Then I decided the frames needed something else, so out came the sanding block and I gave them a more weathered and distressed look.

I put them inside some cello bags all wrapped up in some tissue paper and tied with raffia, along with some other hand cut snowflakes kept nicely flat for packaging in the cutest little zip lock bags I found at the dollar store- they had little blue snowflakes printed on them. I just love finding goodies like that when I am not even looking for them. Sometimes the dollar store can be quite a bit of crap, but then every now and again you hit the jackpot!

I am considering making up some of these frames with miniature hand cut flakes to offer in the shop. As soon as I find some time... 'cuz remember, my friends got Happy NEW YEAR gifts and NOT Christmas gifts. *Ugh*

By the way, this is the tag I put on the outside of the cello bag where it was tied with raffia.

Christmas is past

2010-12-31T14:29:00.025-05:00

This is what it looked like a few weeks back, before I decorated the hutch with vintage Christmas stuff. My kitty, always willing to check the area out for me. This is also what it looked like again last night, after all the vintage Christmas was packed away for another year.
How 'bout a look around at what it was like for the holiday here.

We had a sad and unusual Christmas because our sweet 16 year old Calico Kitty was a terribly sick old kitty. (Not the kitty in the first picture above.) Her condition seemed to deteriorate very quickly over just a few days. I couldn't imagine letting her suffer all holiday weekend long and we did not want to put her through all kinds of testing/medicine etc not knowing how much longer she would have quality (?) of life after all that, so I made the tough decision to call and find out about having her put to sleep. Never an easy thing to do emotionally and apparently also not easy to do on a holiday week/weekend....I called 5 places. Five! Everyone said I could either call back Monday after Christmas or come in Monday after Christmas. Then we finally found a vet that would help our poor kitty. We had a kitty burial in the yard, on Christmas, complete with cat nip mousy and a sprinkling of cat nip in the grave. A day my A. will not soon forget. The kitty always waited for A. to come home from school and I swear that cat knew the sound of her school bus. A sweet kitty who will be missed.

We had a good Christmas together as a family, other than our circle of life experience. Good food, good memories made, the warmth of a crackling fire in the fireplace and the promise of what our faith brings us.

I love the photo above and am thinking I will offer it for sale as a print. Don't you love those old Christmas bulbs? Speaking of bulbs...We had one of those compact fluorescent bulbs blow out that was in a lamp . You know the ones that are supposed to last about a gazillion years and are so much better for the environment? Well it was pretty scary. It was only about 6 months old and isn't left on constantly either. It blew and made all kinds of rainbow colors in a quick flash. I knew we couldn't just throw it away in the trash. I took it to our nearby home center and they said they would take it although they were not required to. I talked for a few minutes with this man about how many of these (I think they have mercury in them or something bad) will end up in the trash/land fill and not be properly disposed of. Sad and frightening too. The man said it is going to be interesting in years to come. I think I agree.

We did end up having a real tree once again this year, vs. an artificial one, after a lapse of several years. Boy did I miss a real tree. Love the scent! Our tradition each year was to go to a tree farm the second weekend of December and cut one as a family outing. I miss that tradition, but the tree farms all became more pricey than our budget would easily allow, so sadly no more trips to the tree farm. This year we headed to the big box home store to buy a tree that was probably cut back in Sept. or something crazy like that. Anyway, we could afford it as it was cheap enough, with the help of our rebate coupon we were redeeming from a previous purchase for a much needed home repair- (adventure, as we like to refer to it)-and it really was a cute, tiny tree, after all.

On top of the table by the window it looked like a tall proud tree from outside. We did fool the neighbors, until they came inside and our secret was revealed. Look closer and you will see one of our traditions...

We always put my stuffed animal squirrel from my childhood tucked in among the branches.

We ended up having to take down the tree early as it was very dry and we did not want to burn down the house. You know, since it was probably cut back in Sept. or something and all the drinks we gave it were not enough to refresh it for long. We would ordinarily leave it up until Epiphany. Since I had to take the tree down I disassembled the rest of the decor while I was on a roll. On to the new year!!

Where did the time go?

2010-12-31T13:40:00.002-05:00

Do you ever get incredibly bored with my tiresome theme running through this blog? Time...or lack there of, or the swiftness if time. Here we go again! Where has the time gotten to?

Christmas vacation from school for my 3 kids has flown by before our very eyes on the calendar. In a few more days it's back to the old routine and getting everyone up at 5:45 a.m.

{On a side note, we are not allowed to call it Christmas break or Christmas vacation at school anymore. Not politically correct it seems. We have to call it the winter celebration. Don't get me started!!!!}

(Image source: The Feathered Nest blog, free images)

My kids desperately wanted to go sledding. We had snow and plenty of cold. Wind chill ratings of single digits. I was tied up with this and that and thought we could do our sledding this weekend as we don't really plan much for New Year's Eve and the weekend in general. I love to sled right along with the kids. I'm sure they think it is lame to have their mom trying to act like she is young, but heck, I don't much care. I love sledding.

Nope. It is not to be, and I have sad children. We have 50 degrees today and guess what else. Pouring rain and thunder!!!!

In Ohio.

In December!!

abandoned

2010-12-22T09:11:00.004-05:00

You will never guess in a million years where I got these dishes.

There are a lot of them, too.

Go ahead.

Guess!

Someone's trash!

The trash.

Can you believe it?

I think #1 they got rid of them because they are not dishwasher friendly and #2 I believe they hoped someone would come grab them off the curb before the trash truck came along because they were in several neatly packed boxes with a few representative pieces displayed on top of the opened boxes, kinda like a curb-side-department-store-wedding-registry-display.

I know they are not very Christmassy but I just may set my Christmas Eve table with them.

Yes, in case you are wondering, they have been properly disinfected.

You just never know what you will find if you keep your eyes open... and your mind open as well.

time

2010-12-21T09:25:00.005-05:00

As a holiday treat to myself, and the family too, I decided it was time to have the clock repaired with some money I earned by cleaning at a friend's house (maybe I should find someone who will help clean mine! ). The clock once belonged to my mom and it was in disrepair, in need of a new spring for the pendulum. Everyone missed hearing it chime.
It was serendipity that school had a 2 hour snow delay the morning when the repairman was scheduled to come to the house. N. loved watching the repairman as he worked. He looked like he could have made a great Santa, no fake whiskers required!!
They talked and enjoyed each other's company, the older: about how he got started repairing clocks as a boy along side a neighbor... and the younger: about how he likes to build motors and other inventions with Legos and Tinker Toys.

After the repairman left, N. was anxious to decorate the clock. A no-no I am sure after he carefully balanced it and all, but we couldn't resist. First try was to use these snowball looking lights. It came together nicely and then...no light when we plugged in the string. I hate that, don't you? The next thing was to start again and this is what we ended up with.

N. has been collecting nutcrackers since he was a baby so he has amassed a surprising group in 10 years, mostly as gifts and a few found here and there from garage sales. He can spy one on a table of hundreds of miscellaneous thrifty things in 2 seconds flat!

N. did the display of books in front on the floor and was very excited to have them be a part of the whole grouping. I am sure the clock repair man did not have this in mind when he was doing his precision work. Don't tell him, ok?!

When Christmas is here...

2010-12-14T09:47:00.003-05:00

{Click to enlarge then right click and save.

Use for your crafting pleasure.}

I have been enjoying all the Christmassy decor shown on lots of the blogs that I visit. I have been snapping a few pics around our place lately and I promise to show you some soon. N. has even been capturing some Christmas spirit around the house with the camera too. He is pretty excited about his Christmas house. What do you remember about Christmas at your house as a youth? I remember my mom always seeming so calm and organized. I can't find that calm mom costume to put on right now. Maybe it is hiding in the back of that closet I have not had time to get to. Hmmm. Yeah, that's probably it.

red and white cover

2010-12-13T11:17:00.005-05:00

I love old magazine covers. This one is from Feb. 1960.

I adore anything red and white and so this one caught my eye and made me smile. Hope you smile when you see it too.

Are they ice skating? Maybe not, but if they are, hopefully it is at an inside skating rink! I would have on a lot more than this, that's for sure. Guess warmth doesn't matter when you are dressing for a photo shoot, right? The hats are cute, don't you think?

I tried to make a big skating rink in the yard 2 years ago. Fail. Not the correct plastic liner.

Maybe a smaller one this time? I don't know. I'll let you know if I attempt building one.

It is 4 degrees here today, plenty cold enough to freeze just about anything!

Flash back- the family car

2010-12-11T09:20:00.003-05:00

Image is found here.

Do families have the time or money to fill the tank and just go out for a Sunday drive anymore. I love those memories. *sigh* Simple activities from days long gone by.

Saved from a 1960s Look magazine, you know, the kind with the very big pages? Great colors!

candy ribbons

2010-12-07T09:02:00.006-05:00

Image is found here.

I am still here. Just busy with life's things that happen

.. you know "the things"...

Lately, just trying to keep up has been like when you're a kid and you run beside the spinning merry go round and try to desperately jump solidly on. If you just kind of jump on you have to hold on for dear life so you won't fall off. Sometimes you get dragged along for the ride until you finally get a good hold

and succeeded to climb on for the ride.

Here's to not getting dragged along for the holiday hubbub ride!!

PS= I had some holiday cheer the day I found ribbon candy in the store again this year. Actually my eagle eye boy N. spied it.

vintage fashion

2010-11-30T07:40:00.006-05:00

If you like vintage fashions then these are right up your alley! A woman dressed in her best attire from a day of long ago. Check out the hat!

Newly listed here. Take a peek if you care to. (Update: These did not last more than a day. Some lucky person is the new caretaker of this lovely batch of photos. Thanks!)

Wanted? and Wanted...

2010-11-27T13:35:00.006-05:00

FIRST-THE WANTED?

I have these 2 pink adorable Pyrex bowls and have had them displayed rather than using them. I don't bake, you see. I know, I know...I could use them for other purposes as well. I have chosen to just use them for display with my other pink thrifty things on my hutch. It was time to change the display {and besides it was wayyy past time to dust!} so I have moved these into a box. I wonder if anyone out there would like to buy them and have them at their home? As you can see, the larger of the 2 is more faded and has some less than perfect areas. Must have been used more by the owner before me than was the smaller sized bowl which is brighter and in better condition.
Let me know if you have any interest.

NEXT-THE WANTED
Now on to the next photo below... every year about this time I become nostalgic to the point of frantically surfing the internet to find a few of these elves that I can actually afford.

My mom had a set of them -maybe 6 or 8 when the set was new- from the 1950's. They were made in Japan by Napco or Napcoware and are called spaghetti trim figurines. I grew up in the 1960's and 70's seeing these decorate our home every Christmas time. I loved to unwrap them from their newspaper cocoon one by one out of the big carton box and try to guess or be surprised by which one it would be based on the shape inside the paper. Then I would spend the next few weeks rearranging them {probably to the point of my mom wanting to tie my hands behind my back!}.
I have found them but not in my price range and when they are in my price range I do not win the bid. I search and search. So I have also put the word out on my blog several times over the past few years to see if anyone has any they would like to sell, one piece or a whole set.
Let me know.
Do you ever long to replace something you grew up with? Tell me what it is...maybe I have it sitting unloved in a box and it would be happier at your place.
Stranger things have happened!!

Flashback- board game and vintage play!

2010-11-23T10:56:00.010-05:00

Remember this game? If you are of a certain age you will.

I never had this, always wanted to own it, always wanted to play it at my friend's house. She was bored with it because she did own it and the novelty of wanting to own it had worn off for her. Isn't it like that with a lot of toys/games?!

I liked the commercial and thought it would have been like being a movie star to be picked to be in a commercial like that. You can watch the commercial when you click here.

Do you ever think of how modern (I use that term "modern" loosely, as the 1960's are now retro, aren't they?)day toys or other items would translate into life 100 years ago or more? I do, but maybe I am just strange that way.

So here we go with this experiment...

Maybe these pictures would be

behind the door on Mystery Date... interesting mustache, too mustachy for me

a dapper young fellow

a proud man in uniform

a little too old- and a little too whiskery- for me, and what does he do with that stick?

another fine dapper young fellow

a man about town sort of fellow

a sensible, kind-looking sort of fellow, maybe he is a romantic

What do you think? Would you open the door on the vintage board game to your date being

a dream or a dud?

All vintage photo images where found here.

A plate full

2010-11-23T10:42:00.003-05:00

This cute and unique novelty card was made by Hallmark and was given to my dad by my mom in 1950, as you can see by her writing at the bottom. It does not open and is indeed like an actual small paper plate with ribbing along the edge and all.

Maybe you could clean up the signature area and make something fun for your vintage Thanksgiving decor.

click to enlarge image

Cute little images

2010-11-20T12:50:00.003-05:00

I think these are adorable, don't you? The colors are wonderful.

I have been sorting some of my mom's cards she saved. She saved everything, and I do mean ev er y th ing!! (Say that with drama)

These were from the late 1930's/ early 1940's, when she was a young girl. She saved many cards from the late 1940's when she and my dad were dating and first married. The colors are different somehow on those old cards. It makes me love them so much. I like color. I notice color. The innocent yet slightly risky humor on some of the 1940's cards is of interest too. If you have ever been lucky enough to look through any you may know what I mean.

Have fun with these images.

Click to enlarge then right click to save.

sweet and serene

2010-11-10T09:21:00.002-05:00

An old piece of ephemera in my own collection to share with you for your art. Of course I love it because it has a little birdie.

Please play nice- do not sell as is without altering it in some way. Thanks.

Click to enlarge then right click and save.

How to dress a thrifty chair and new blog found...

2010-11-06T10:23:00.013-04:00

( My chair waiting to be dressed.)

How to dress a thrifty chair...I am not sure if I mean that to be a statement - or- a question. The chair pictured above is my chair. I have 6 of them. They have been living with me for a few years. They were adopted from the curb of another neighborhood in my town. They looked so sad sitting there on the curb. I could see they had potential. They were so glad to come live with me. They have been dressed in many fabrics for their cushions.

By the way, the chairs have always been painted in a creamy white and they are kind of chippy which comes naturally at my house with anything painted around 3 kids. I was shabby chic before it was chic.

(My chair dressed in blue.)

I recently dressed them in some beautiful light blue faintly striped damask fabric. Lovely, but I am just not loving it right now in my home. Luckily the huge roll of beautiful light blue fabric was a $2 find at a garage sale so no kidneys were sold for the benefit of dressing the chairs.

Looking at the photo below it is a shame I did not have them dressed in blue for the blue tablecloth theme last November. Although, I did like the contrast of the dark plaid, instead of everything blue and matchy-matchy!

(My chairs dressed in dark plaid. Coincidentally, this was November of last year and now I am itching for a new look in November again!)

Back to trying to decide what to dress them in... I am thinking of maybe some neutral fabric or pillow ticking possibly. I am yearning for a calmer neutral color scheme. I don't think I will do the light blue table theme this year and besides, the tablecloth might be handed off to live with someone else. Hey!, Maybe someone else will cut up the table cloth and make seat covers out of it?!

The best thing about fabric and seat covers is they are NEVER permanent. You could change them with the seasons or the days of the week.

If you have the time!

I just found a blog that I think I will visit again. Soon, and often. A blog that shows lots of before and after shots is my dream. I was thrilled to find this one.
Now I need to find the time to read through all the old before and after posts of that wonderful blog I found!! I have been painting thrifty find furniture for years now and have been wanting to paint more of the pieces of thrifty find furniture living with me. They have been begging, I mean patiently waiting, for a coat of artsy paint. But that all takes time. (See previous post about time!)

clock as an enemy

2010-11-04T07:31:00.005-04:00

Lately the clock has been my enemy. It ticks much too quickly each day. I need more tick tocks in an hour and in a day to do everything. Most people say that means things are simply over scheduled.

Simplify.

I like that word.

I have yet to master it.

People say to wait until you have grown kids. Then you have too much time and you wonder what you will do with all your time. Problem is, by the time my kids are all grown I will be too old to care. I thought having kids later instead of sooner was smart. It was smart for when I was younger. When I am older, not so much!

So here are some activities and thoughts that have been occupying my tick tocks of life.

1. We survived a 12 week stretch of high school football season, which at our house means marching band season for my 14 year old daughter. Before that, we lived to tell about 4 weeks of marching band camp. I have to say it went by super quick overall, and I actually had lots of fun. Wish I could have been at 2 places at once so I could have gotten all the other things done that I missed while sitting in the bleachers. I somehow found the tick tock time to sew a fleece backed school colors patchwork quilt to use at the games. It will be an investment in the 3 more years of bleacher sitting that are in my future. I'll hint of frustration and let you stew about the stories of camera batteries that went dead at just the worst times or when the battery was charged all day long----- but left at home!! Maybe I can master the battery thing now that we are on to Symphonic Band for the rest of the year.

2. My oldest daughter E. (18) who has OCD and Asperger's at the high functioning end of the Autism spectrum is now a paid employee at 2 (yep, two!) places. It all happened in a short 3 week time period, after months and months of filling out piles of applications. I was so worried that she would not find a niche in the working world of people who actually get a paycheck (she has infinite volunteer hours under her belt). I knew she could but I was worried the world would not think so. Besides bursting with a universe size feeling of pride, I also now have added responsibility. *tick tock* Essentially it is like I am the one with 2 paying jobs (on top of my own paying job which can flex anywhere from 8-30 hours a week, and on call 24/7 assisting an elderly relative with Parkinson's and dementia). You see, I am the transportation for my daughter. There's that need for cloning myself, again. Oh, and my poor old almost 15 year old car is still chugging along and has stopped counting how many trillions of times it has gone in and out of the driveway!

3. I am trying to pack away the Halloween decor and look forward to dragging out the Thanksgiving decor and on to Christmas. Here is how it goes at my house. The kids want it out. They dig and randomly succeed in making a mess of the decor by pulling favorites from the storage tubs. The rest just sits until mom takes over to do the rest. Thus, this is the year I am paring down and saving ONLY the favorites to be packed away for future seasons. The rest just takes up space -- and time! Here's a secret revealed=We have not had a Christmas tree in the house for about 4 years now. I was just on strike and didn't want to repeat the many years before when the kids wanted it ALL dragged out. They dug through stuff making a jumble of red, green and metallic but nothing really got accomplished as far as decorating the tree...and don't even get me started on the way everyone disappears when it comes time to take it all down and pack it away!! Soooo...I just didn't do a tree. It was guilt ridden tick tock time for a while but liberating too. The other day I announced casually that I want to have a Christmas tree. My daughter said, "Who are you and where is MY mother?" Stay tuned for the tick tock result of that promise on my part. Maybe my clone can do it for me. Oh, that's right, I don't have one. I need to sign up for a text alert to know when that is available....only I don't text. *Geeez*

4. I am threatening to pack away all the glass dishes, plates, bowls and cups and buy the cheapest paper products I can get my hands on. Maybe I'll get at least a month's worth supply of tick tock time saving on yelling at the family about washing the dishes or having to do them myself. Sorry I won't be very "green" about saving trees and all, but you could look at it like this= I would be saving my septic tank/leach field from all the dish soap that is usually going into it in the "gray water" and I could put the used paper products on my compost pile to rot and be tilled into feeding my Victory Garden next summer. That's green. Now if I could just get my clone to do the weeding while I spend my tick tock time transporting a daughter who may, by then, be earning more than me because I am not at my job because I am using my tick tock time taking her or picking her up from her jobs in a, by then, full 15 years old car.

But...I may end up with even more pride in my pay employed daughter, some great photo memories of my musical daughter, less holiday storage tubs overall, a clean counter top free of piles of ignored dirty dishes, a healthy organically grown garden, and maybe some extra tick tock minutes added to this old mother's days.

I hope my clone has a nice personality.

Flash Back- An ad about Christmas toys from Santa

2010-11-03T08:54:00.004-04:00

I got this roller skating doll for Christmas from Santa when I was almost 5 . I loved her so much! Wow! I was so excited and spent many happy hours with her. I remember years later the batteries in her back compartment leaked all over and I think my mom got rid of her. That same Christmas I received a toy pay phone (remember pay phones, before there was such an invention as a cell phone?) that was blue and had pretend coins to insert to make different Disney character voices speak to you. I felt so grown up when I played with that one. Do you have a toy from your memories that you think of when the Christmas season is approaching?

featured collage sheets

2010-11-03T08:44:00.004-04:00

castle goodies

holiday time people

vintage flowers

Just $2, all sheets can be seen here.

featured photos

2010-10-29T07:58:00.010-04:00

Cemetery art is very unappreciated. I love to drive through the cemeteries and look for the art that may be seen by others but quickly dismissed and viewed as gloomy.

It's in my blood, shall I say, since my great grandfather was a sexton (grave digger) in a Catholic cemetery in the dawn of the 20th century. Remember that those were the days of a shovel and sweat and blisters- before heavy equipment like a backhoe or Bobcat!!

You can read his amazing story here

My son, N., is named for him.

Also, a cemetery employee had the advantage of job security and they were usually very appreciated, as most people were glad to have them do a very essential job that they themselves knew they were not born for.

Iron workers (blacksmiths) and stone carvers were essential employees of the old cemeteries as well- all done with sweat and blisters- no modern technology and machines.

The Visit

(Living creatures explore an ancient headstone. There were many different symbolic images carved into cemetery markers. This one meant "heaven bound".)

" They're coming to get you Barbara"

( Now for any of you who have seen the movie this may strike a shiver in your soul.

"They're coming to get you Barbara." But this photo would be fun to use as a background for an altered art project about ghosts...

they could be friendly ghosts, right!!?
As I stood in this spot I was reminded of the beginning of the movie ...and that quote, although being in a cemetery does not scare me.
I actually do not think that cemeteries are that spooky. I know that's weird. I have two cousins that have worked in one for lots of years. I have a very distant relative that owned some funeral homes until they sold to someone else. My late father in law used to drive an ambulance for a funeral home when he was a young man. My favorite link to the whole cemetery scene is my great grandfather.)

Weeping

(Wonderful craftsmanship and countless hours of work withstanding the test of time and hundreds of years of moss and such clinging to the stone. This statue is fascinating and surreal and thought provoking. It must have cost a lot all those ages ago. It stands out because the other monuments are more plain and traditional. Someone must have been loved very much and missed an awful lot! Many of the markers are so old that you can no longer read the info (even if you do a rubbing with paper and crayon over top of the engravings). Many of the ones you can slightly read are in German. Some are whole families and a great number are infants. Imagine the harsh Michigan winters and other seasonal elements weathering these markers for a hundred years and more! It is high on a hill and the wind whistles through the trees and across the old weathered tombstones. In between the wind's sounds there is nothing but "dead silence", sorry couldn't resist.)

The Iron Gate
( A proud man crafted this ornate gate and fence.)

Gobbled Up
( Time and nature do not stand still. The tree needed room to flourish and grow. This is one of our absolute favorites- the tree has been slowly eating up the tombstone while life goes on as usual outside the gates of the cemetery, year after year after year.)

Life Goes On

(A busy modern day farm is a neighbor of a graveyard now home to many past centuries' farmers- a profound silent reminder of the circle of life.)

All photos are found here .

genealogy rant-blame the caveman

2010-10-21T09:53:00.001-04:00

Maybe it is because I am not very techno savvy. I try to fake it but I possess no real modern gadget talent. Enough to make it through a day {barely} in 2010- yet not up to the standards of, say a Harvard or Yale student born way way after the 1960's!!!!
Maybe it is that I just need more to worry about. Who knows what the reason is for today's rant...
This is what is on my mind. I am a genealogist- a family tree maker, preserver of family facts- for the non-genealogist types out there.
What will future genealogists face when they try to piece together a family's history of important and not so important, yet no less interesting, pool of info and supporting documents? I say they will face a lot of deader than dead ends. I could save all my concerns and worrying and just assume that in the future no one will even care about family facts and history. Yeah, that's probably it. Too busy riding around in their flying cars. Shopping on the moon.

(Pictured at far left is my mom's sister, second from left is my mom, others are cousins. 1930's original photo that you can hold in your hand and touch in real life.)

Modern picture storage has become to some or most people, putting their new and even vintage snapshots on either a USB flash drive, CD, memory card or on an internet archive site.

Here is the impending potential problem for that...Flash drives, CD and memory card files can become corrupt and then are simply lost information. Gone into the nowhere zone. Forever. They can also become broken. Just broken. A memory card can even be vacuumed up [after all we do like our modern, super, suck-up-almost-anything, vacuum sweepers. "What was that noise I just heard? Humph, probably just a stray Lego again!"]

or lost inside the deep recesses under sofa cushions never to be found again.
Don't laugh! I once read an article about someone who did an experiment over a period of months. While doing his normal driving around he kept watch for sofas and chairs out at the curb. He stopped and, bravely without embarrassment, sliced open the upholstery with a utility knife. He found hundreds of dollars in both coins and paper money along with many other valuables such as jewelry and even flash drives and memory cards. Lots of the items found where simply under cushions or in the side deep recesses where most dare not reach into. I assure you he also wore gloves to protect himself and his health while doing these hunts. Amazing to consider overall.
Do you ever stop to think about the fact that it is super ultra cool to be able to hold thousands of photos on such a tiny piece of technology yet all those thousands of images can be lost just as easily?
Here's the other problem with photo technology and its future fate. What about the technology that reads these things becoming obsolete? I don't need to draw a picture of that implication to you , do I?

And the photo storage web sites? Well, they all have names and passwords and sign in info to help keep them protected yet that is the same thing that will keep your great grand-daughter/or son or great-great niece from seeing it. Understand? It will be of no use to the future members of your family after you are gone. Heck I can't even keep up with all my own ID #s, passwords, user names, etc, etc. - let alone make sure they are all left for future generations to find and use. And you are always supposed to keep changing them too, for security.
Security. Now there is still another problem. Long ago you did not have to worry about identity theft like these days. Info was readily available to genealogists. Nowadays we have to be so careful about every little detail and the safety of those details. I can say with much certainty that the generations to come will not be able to piece together a fully detailed family tree due to the plague, which is today, identity theft.

All info will be so well hidden and tucked away. Maybe only criminals and hackers will be the true genealogists of the future??!!!

Modern document storage. That subject will sound like the same rant here today on my blog...
We are encouraged to scan and keep digital files of documents instead of keeping actual papers, new and vintage. Purge the paper, we are told. The same problems occur as with photo saving technology.
Also, you can't display great-great grandma and grandpa's marriage certificate from 1896 on the wall in its original gold leaf frame or touch the linen paper of great- great aunt Pearl's nursing school diploma from 1902 when it is on a flash drive or CD. Yes I know, you will say, "You can just print them out on your handy dandy modern printer."
Sorry. Not the same!!!!! Just not the same. And if you think it is then you are a wannabe genealogist. Sorry.

Here is my conclusion. I am willing to admit I am probably in the small minority here with my crazy opinions. I am just saying that printed photos-modern and vintage- have their purpose and value in this world.
Paper (ephemera. see my side bar for definition!) has its purpose and value.

No modern convenience technology can ever replace that.

The worst roadblock I have ever had to overcome in researching genealogy facts is that of fire destroying records from back in the 1700's in a church in Germany. I can't blame that on technology...unless I blame the cavemen for discovering the the modern technology of fire.

carving

2010-10-21T08:21:00.008-04:00

(the fun at our house)

Let the Jack-o-lantern

carving begin!!

How's Halloween going?

2010-10-14T09:51:00.006-04:00

(1940's Vintage Halloween image to use for art)

How is Halloween going at your place? Around here it is not going exactly as I had hoped. I am slow to get out all the decor that I wanted to unpack and put around the house and outside too.

Maybe I should have let my son N. put out the pretend graveyard in the front yard at the beginning of Sept and not worry the neighbors would say "Wow are they crazy people?!" At least it would have been up, right? At this rate we may be just putting it all up at Thanksgiving time and the neighbors will be saying "Wow are they crazy people?!"

I have, however, made some progress with unpacking a few chosen items and sorting through some more other Halloween stuff. I have fallen out of love with quite a few Halloween decor things that I just went through the motions with, year after year, unpacking and packing back up again with not much excitement. I decided it was time to donate/pass them on to someone else who will love them more.

I am getting to a point in my life where I am looking at a lot of the "stuff" around me through those kinds of eyes. Do you have things you keep and you don't really know why when you stop and really think about it? Time to take action to correct that situation.

While we are on the subject of sorting... I have also decided that (most) of the cook books and loose recipe clippings around here are best in someone else's space. I do not use them. I am a throw it all together from your imagination kind of cook. I use recipes more for (my VERY occasional) baking and not so much for cooking. I do enjoy old cook/bake books for the illustrations more than the recipes themselves. The old paperback pamphlet kind are especially nice pre 1960's. The colors are just different.

Hope you get all your decorating done. Hope it looks great at your place. I will still try. Back to sorting, for now...

( vintage ephemera-- who thought up this pumpkin/donut idea??)

whoooo

2010-09-20T11:02:00.005-04:00

Owls seem to be everywhere in the fabric store lately, have you noticed?

Here is a nice wise old friend from an antique image to use in art.

Enjoy!

free label

2010-09-19T01:05:00.007-04:00

A label I invented-

would be fun to use one

to decorate an old recycled bottle

for your very own Halloween apothecary.

Those were the days...

2010-09-18T17:07:00.006-04:00

before computers, when learning did not require being plugged in and powered by anything...other than our brains!!

Great for collage, scrapbooking, altered art, tags, book marks, display...

or learning!!

Find 'em here.

saving my treasures

2010-09-16T08:22:00.004-04:00

Go ahead and laugh and get it over with and out of the way.

Go ahead.

I'll wait.

* sound of a little whistling tune*

I am so technologically pathetic because I am feeling extremely proud that I learned something new last night. What was that something?

My A. taught me how to take my treasures, I mean pictures and scanned images (all bazillion of them), off my computer and save them on a USB. If that wasn't incredibly exciting enough all on its own, here's the even more happy dance part...she even taught me how to organize them into folders.

My folders even have folders.

*happy sigh*

I know what you're saying now that you are trying to really catch your breath from your second bout of hysterical laughter.

"Everyone knows how to do that, what's the big hairy deal??!!"

Well ----I didn't know how, so THERE!! I am fully aware that I must have been the only one in the whole universe who didn't.

I have lived in constant fear of my computer taking them to the land of crashed images. Somewhere in the great nowhere, where they float aimlessly lost for all eternity never to be retrieved again.

So now I have a cave of treasures also known as a USB.

Now if I can just get over the constant worry that either the USB will become corrupt/obsolete somehow or that it will be physically lost. It makes me crazy that you can have 1,000's of images on something so gosh darn small.

And don't even get me started on my camera memory cards and all the worries attached to them. Geez!! I can report I have been burning my memory card onto discs. I figured that out on my own, *back patting!* but then I think about how all my kids favorite game discs or movie discs seem to get scratched and them they are *poof* no good anymore.

Maybe I should make 2 discs of each memory card for insurance, do you think?

Heck, why not just make 2 or 3 copies?

Treasures?

I think all this saving technology is all just a new way to make me go crazy.

I think I'll just go listen to my soundtrack from the movie Grease on the 8-track player. Hope that doesn't become obsolete *wink*

PS- We still do have my husband's first stereo system he ever bought. Think corduroy bell bottoms and the 1970's. We really do play 8-tracks in it (not sure, either, if that is fascinating or pathetic.). I have to say, it has killer sound, beter than our newer stereo("Newer" is all relevant here. That one is already about 14 years old!!).

cross your fingers

2010-09-14T09:11:00.007-04:00

We will know by the end of the week if E., my special needs daughter, has been hired for a real life paying job at a local fun spot (I don't want to reveal the exact place!).

She went yesterday to her first ever interview . So cross your fingers! Please.

In the meantime she will continue to go to school for her 5th year of high school, while spending time on her volunteer work at the rescue horse barn where she has helped for 6 years, and also volunteer 5 days a week at the memory care unit of an Alzheimer's living facility where she has helped for 1 year.

She is a smart girl who has issues she has faced bravely. I am proud of her -always.

Cross your fingers. A prayer wouldn't hurt either.

I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE: The interview went surprisingly well, but was very short which I thought was not a good sign. She did not get the job, but I am still very proud of her. It is all a learning experience anyway!

Halloween is coming, roses are fading

2010-09-13T08:31:00.010-04:00

Surprised that this post isn't filled with little pumpkins with silly expressions carved into them and cute little witches? That's because I am getting ready (hopefully soon) to unpack the Halloween storage tub any minute (when I find a free minute).

In the meantime, I thought I would snap a few pics of how my bathroom has looked for the end of summer. Thrifty antique roses postcards and tins. The postcards are fun as some have writing on the back. The tins remind me of being at my grandma's house. Did/does your grandma have tins?

Grandma kept lots of things in tins. One for buttons, one for zippers, harvested from clothing that had been retired. Did you ever have a grandma or great grandma who harvested zippers or lace or buttons off things? Do grandmas still do that today? Maybe not so much as those depression era grandmas. I have been known, now and again, to buy a 25 cent shirt at a rummage sale just to harvest great buttons !

My favorite use of tins at Grandma's house was when she would layer homemade cookies in between layers of waxed paper. Mmmmmm! Except the ones with red and bright green dried fruit in them like what goes in fruitcake. Those cookies, not so good. I guess even Grandma couldn't hit it out of the park every time!

Don't you love finding freebies like rose paintings and sweet cherub prints, that all seem to get along together well-- even though they were not found together when acquired?

Fun how that works, huh? So this is how my bathroom has been greeting its visitors of late. But now it is time for a more whimsical seasonal change. The kids are looking forward to the Halloween novelties decor slightly more than they anticipated the roses theme.

PS- I am dragging out the traditional Halloween stuff for the kids' benefit. I have a few black and white and very glittery things that I made and some gifts I was given a few years ago that will be my favorites again this year. Think crows! A little "Martha look" and Alfred Hitchcock mixed together.

Flashback- toys

2010-09-09T23:29:00.006-04:00

I still have these two soft stuffed product premium toys. I loved the stuffing almost out of them altogether when I was a little girl. Isn't it funny, I never realized I was missing anything like an Ipod or DS or Wii? Duh! They didn't exist when I was a little girl. And guess what? I was happy with my silly little green guy and long nosed bird. Did you have any premium offer toys?

I used to have these crazy, almost scary lookin', finger puppets of the Monkees. Don't know what ever happened to them.

I found these pictures on ebay a while back and they jogged my memory of pulling the stretchy little leggings over my fingers and making them dance around in their mod boots and sing Cheer up sleepy Jean or Take the last train to Clarksville...

If I remember correctly they also made these in the Beatles characters too. Do you remember some or did I dream it? Did you ever have any of these 1960's puppets?

What did you grow up with that was wayyyyy cooler than and Ipod or Wii?

kid art

2010-09-08T08:36:00.004-04:00

N. drew this on the front of a homemade thank you note for one of his birthday gifts.

I love it!

How about you?

What's in a name? Find out at the end of the story...

2010-09-08T07:56:00.007-04:00

Anna has been sewing. The torch has been passed. My fabrics and sewing room supplies are finally getting some attention and love after sitting dormant for far too long. I do not have time to do all the projects that swirl in my (creative?) mind. It warms my heart to see her doing what I understand. Sew. She was at my side all the while I was sewing for my own business when she was a tot. Did she pick up the skill by association?

Although I have enough fabric in this house to circle the world, Anna wanted some specific polka dot fabric and so we went to get more fabric. More. Oh well, it was a good cause. She picked out this multi-colored polka dotty fabric with a brown background. Back when we redid her room (when she packed away all her little girl treasures in an effort to have a more teen looking lair), she wanted this kind of fabric for decor purposes and we could not find it anywhere. Maybe she is a girl who is ahead of the trends.

She also picked this fun fabric for the lining. Lining? I thought she was going to just make a simple tote. Silly me. I told her the lining choice is an example of "inside humor"!! Bad pun, I know. It is hard to tell from the first photo but one of the polka dot colors is the same blue as the lining. She drew it all out on paper and then started measuring and cutting. That's my girl. Who needs a stinkin' store bought pattern anyway?! She made it with gusset sides and bottom and even put interfacing in between the layers for stiffness.

Now she carries it to school instead of a back pack. Last night she also sewed a small drawstring back pack to carry her gym clothes in so she does not have to go all the way back to her locker (at the other end of the building) because her class just before gym is right next to the gym. The fabric for that one is another different kind of polka dots.

Do you think there is a business in her future??

The funniest part of all of this ties in to me giving Anna my Montgomery Ward sewing machine (I have other machines too from my sewing business which ended when she was a pre-schooler). It was my first real grown-up purchase...well after my 10 speed blue bike I bought with babysitting money and the stereo (with ultra modern 8-track player) I bought with my first 20 or so paychecks working about 6 hours a week. I was so proud of it, the store name prominently displayed on a small metal plate on the front. I kept it so clean and shiny that I am sure I did everything short of waxing it like a male waxing a first sports car.

This is how you know you're old= Anna said, "What the heck is Montgomery Ward anyway?"

random images to use

2010-09-06T23:07:00.008-04:00

Some ephemera to use for your art.

Click to make larger then right click to save.

Tween?

2010-09-03T07:38:00.015-04:00

My baby boy has told me that 10 is almost a teenager. Really? I don't think so. Don't rush it. Please. Plenty of time for growing up to be a responsible adult person. Responsible for earning your own way no matter how much you want to blow off going to work, responsible for all the bills in the mail box with your name on them, responsible for figuring out life and where it will lead you.

For now my dear son, please please be responsible for earning the title of happy kid, responsible for running to the mail box in anticipation of the major league ball cap being there we ordered for free, being responsible for enjoying each day of being 10. Please. Trust me on this one.

N. chose to have an ice cream cake. I was planning on hiring our neighbor to make him an incredible, wonderful decorated cake like when he was little. I was too busy with all those pesky grown up things to give her enough advance notice, so a trip to the Dairy Queen it was, to purchase a last minute substitute. There's always next year, right. Maybe we have passed the days of Spiderman or putting Hot Wheels monster trucks on top of a cake anyway. *sigh* I liked those days.

The first day of 4th grade started off without a hitch. I had to do the required sequence of photos (child abuse photo sessions as they are referred to at our place) that we do each year. Click here to read a silly post about 2nd grade. First a shot of the happy student. He is always the tallest boy in the class as they changed the birthday cut off right before he was ready to start kindergarten, so he had to wait another year to board a yellow bus for the first time. (side note: Thankfully we are blessed to have a wonderful friend who takes N. each year to buy his school supplies and anything else he needs and provides hand-me-down clothes that are pristine! [Wish I had hand-me-downs so fine.] She takes care of N's shopping for me 1. because she wants to, 2. because she can, and mostly I surmise 3. because her baby boy is becoming a grown man, himself. )

I am certain that by 6th grade he will be sharing the same shoe size with his daddy. Not sure about sharing the style choices. Daddy is not that hip. (I love you, sweetie!)

N. and his "friend-girl" J. are in the same classroom this year, first time since kindergarten. I am slipping a note to the teacher giving her a heads up on seating arrangements she may find helpful. It's in everybody's best interest. Talk, talk, talk. Click here to read about last year.

So as I think about my boy trying to hurry the growing up process (I am smelling the "manly" body spray he has just applied to himself as he gets ready for the 3rd day of school) I am reminded of an "N.-ism" from when he was little enough to not know what being a tween meant.

At bedtime he blurted out our standard good night phrase with a kiss before I had the chance to do the same.

He told me, "Good Night, I love you, Don't let the bugs eat you."

He meant, of course, "Good night, I love you, Sleep tight don't let the bedbugs bite." (Bedbugs? Ewww. Too gross if you really think about that one too much anyway. I'm just sayin')

I think you're too young to be a tween anyway, buddy. For your mom's sake please humor her need to slow down these years. As much as I love to try to imagine you as a handsome grown man with your own bills in your own mailbox, I kinda like you being shorter than me (not hard to be) and still wanting a good night kiss.

Oh and for the record...I got a kiss {in the house} on the first morning of 4th grade but he wouldn't let me wait at the bus stop and kiss him when the bus pulled up. *sigh*

Flash Back- 1955 Card Party

2010-08-15T12:35:00.002-04:00

This is a republish of a post I did long ago. Hope you enjoy it!!

I grew up around women playing Pinochle once a month.

Of course, my older brothers remember the 1950's card game parties...I didn't come along until much later. But the Pinochle card game gatherings continued on for 40+ years:

beyond the life span of my Mom.

The "gang" that were dear to me growing up were my mom, my future mother-in-law, and my future aunt-in-law.

Back in the 1950-1960's, you would require a necklace to match your dress or skirt and sweater, in order to attend the card party. This necklace is actually my mom's that I put on the scanner to show you. I'm sure she had the matching clip on earrings too. They are gone- who knows where.

Now every good mid-century hostess would wear a pretty apron like one of these to serve the refreshments at the card party. My brothers and I always wondered why Mom bought goodies for the night she was hosting the party that WE NEVER had. We would pray and wish that the ladies would be on a diet and be unable to eat all that Mom had purchased- and thus, leave some for us...the starving, neglected kids. Haha!!

There were some traveling sets of favorite pinochle cards that went from house to house. I found this image that would be typical of the kind they would use in that era. My mom had special bathroom towels that only came out of the linen closet for card club night!!

I always remember not being able to go to sleep on card party nights. My bedroom was the connecting wall to the living room where the ladies would all be "cackling" (as my brothers called it) until late hours. Plus, how can one possibly go to sleep when worrying if there would be pound cake with syrupy strawberries and Dream Whip, or lemon squares or Sarah Lee triple layer cake left over??!!!! Or how about the soda pop? WE never got pop!! Mom never bought it until card club night!!!

My sweetie also has the same kind of memories of card club night at his house. His mom (my late mother-in-law) would take the sheets off the sofa and the wing back chair and put out the card club night throw pillows and have special desserts. He remembers sitting on the stairs peeking through the little window opening into the living room at his house along with his siblings. They would spy to see if their mom had served all the dessert they had seen in the kitchen which was NOT TO TOUCH!! Oh the suffering of little children!

Aren't you glad you didn't have to be the one wearing something like this under

your card club night outfit??????

How about these contraptions of torture?! Comfort...my ---... (rhymes with lass)!!!!!!!

These are actual tally cards from the 1950s. Notice above it says "boobie-me". Did that lady get the "boobie prize" because she wore one of those 1950's bullet bras?????????

The 3 photos above show some more tallies from the 1950's.

playing

2010-08-07T10:41:00.005-04:00

We have some upcoming fun planned in the good ol' summer heat. Plenty of things to do to make memories that can be called upon, in those school days to come, when there is enough homework to occupy the brain for hours and hours. Memories of laughs and care free days are just the thing to tuck away in a school brain to be taken out for a little mental escape now and then.
Hope you are making summer memories too!

me, and the floor waxer...

2010-08-04T21:10:00.000-04:00

I ran away from home recently one late night. You read it right. I did.

Sometimes I do this. Sometimes I need this.

Sometimes no one notices. Darn. I hate that part!

Where to go that late? What is still open?

I ended up at one of those "big box" stores.

Not many places are open all night.

It was me and the floor waxer.

Well, and a lonely cashier and some semi-truckers out in the parking lot -asleep- waiting for morning, to make their deliveries.

I walked around for about 2 hours. Truth be told, the music is pretty good in the middle of the night and the noise of hundreds of shoppers is missing.

There were lots of clearance racks filled with summer stuff and great deals, you know, since they have to make room for the back to school and even the Halloween stuff- ALREADY!!!

I should have shopped for myself, not the family. I was trying to run away, after all.

I bought a few things and went home.

I wondered the whole time if anyone would question me the moment I got in the back door or the next morning.

Nope.

Everyone was asleep and never knew I was even missing.

Nothing was ever said.

No one even thought to ask, "Where did this new stuff you bought for me come from?"

Nothing. No comment.

I ended up returning most of what I bought. Wrong size, didn't like, etc, etc.

Morale of the story:

1. make sure everyone KNOWS you're running away

2. shop for yourself

3. maybe the floor waxer man has a few good stories to share and could become a new friend

TICK, ICK!

2010-08-04T20:30:00.003-04:00

My dog had a tick. It was on the side of her face- and UGLY! It has been a couple of years since we had to remove a tick from one of the dogs. This time it was on the BIG dog-- the one in my post from the other day that left the prize underfoot.

I figured this old piece of ephemera showing a cute little dog was better than a picture of a BIG squirming dog having a tick removed.
You you agree?

a yarn...I mean...a story

2010-07-29T21:01:00.006-04:00

The planets must have been aligned or else I just got lucky or something. Whatever it was it made me giggle and smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
I had a small crochet project I had started. Don't get too excited it wasn't anything masterful, just a straight back and forth afghan wannabe. I came across this long abandoned item in a bag along with the extra yarn. As I wondered- what was I thinkin' when I chose that color- it suddenly came to me. I needed to donate this to the local senior center for someone else to love and make it useful in some way.
It made it as far as the car and there it rode around town for a few weeks as I ran the kids here and there and did my errands, hoping to be in the area of the senior center some day.
Hopefully sooner than later.

On Wednesday I drove right by the senior center and forgot the bag was still my very patient passenger. A block or two later I suddenly had a jolt of memory hit my brain and I turned the car around.
I went into the senior center and walked up to the front desk and asked if I could donate this, as I opened up the bag to give the nice, white haired lady a peek.
She replied with a smile, "Oh honey, go in that room over there.", pointing to the door across the lobby.
I walked through the door and was met by a room full of about 10 more white haired ladies all chatting and sitting at long tables covered with yarn. They all became silent and wanted to see what was in the bag.
One sweet lady said, "Oh bless your heart. Is that for us?"
To which I replied, "Yes and you can tear it all out and use the yarn for something else if you wish."
She said, "Heavens, no! It is beautiful. We will finish it and it will go to a nursing home. We meet once each month to socialize and make afghans to donate."

I walked out the front door with a skip in my step and wondered how I ended up there on that day. The day they gather to crochet and knit.
Hmmmmm. Curious.

warning - be sure to have a well lit clothesline area at night....

2010-07-29T00:37:00.007-04:00

I love the smell of laundry dried on the line...

The other day, after doing a long stretch of many loads of laundry in between my phone "ringing off the hook", as the saying goes, I remembered that I still had one more load still out on the line. It was now after dark.
I was tired and ready for the comfort of my pajamas and a few chapters read in my current library book.
I surrendered to the fact that the maid wasn't going to go out and pull the stuff off the line since she has never done that in my whole lifetime. (As a matter of fact she is quite invisible!!)
Out I went in my flip flops (or flippies, as we call them at our house) to retrieve the laundry from the clothesline. I was just taking the last few items down and tossing them into my laundry basket when under my foot something went squisssssshhhhhhhh.

Have I ever mentioned that our Rottweiler/Shepard mix dog weighs about 220 pounds? No toy or teacup sized cutesy dog at our place, no sir-ee! Well let's just say, everything about her is BIG. Everything!

I don't love the smell (or feel) of that...

meany mom, silly dreamer mom...

2010-07-21T20:02:00.008-04:00

I am all for kids being kids on Summer vacation. Swinging up to the clouds, reading under a shade tree, spitting watermelon seeds, covering the driveway with chalk art...
But when it means I get stuck doing all the chores I get a little cranky. Call me crazy. There needs to be a balance between free time and slave time, er, I mean chore time.
Let me tell you about my mommy fit or as I like to call it, tough love tactic.

It usually goes like this....

"Can you kids pick up after yourselves? I spent hours picking up your stuff and putting it away and never had time to even think about starting any of the 100 things I had/wanted to do!"

Then it turns into...

"Pick this stuff up or I am throwing it out the front door."

I'll bet you think I am all threat and no action, right?

Once when Nicholas was watching DVD after DVD, video after video but never put any of them away where they belong and they sat for a few days in random places (like just about every flat surface and the floor too) all over the room, he found out that I back up my promise.

Out the front door they all went in a pile. And it was going to rain!

He went out on the front porch and gathered them all up and put them where they belonged.

Wouldn't it have been much simpler to cut out the stage of bringing them back into the house and just put them away in the first place when they were already in the house BEFORE mom has yelled and griped about it??????? Hhhmmm????

I think my voice is completely tuned out to their ears.

I had been asking and then telling and then ordering the kids to take their turns at washing dishes. I do the dishes about 70% of the time and my husband does them sometimes too, but with 10 hands in the family capable of washing it seems fair to have all 10 hands help. Are you with me on this one?
So this is how it went...

If you do not wash these dishes before you go to bed I will take them and throw them out and empty the cupboards too. Guess what? They didn't wash. So out on the back porch went all the dirty dishes in a laundry basket and I emptied the clean ones out of the cupboards--cups, plates and bowls and silverware drawer too. EMPTY. I loaded them in laundry baskets and hid them.

Next morning the dishes that were dirty got washed. Not by me!

Now I am doing phase 2 of the dishes plan=each person will have 1 cup, 1 plate, 1 bowl, fork, knife and spoon. Each person responsible for their own, clean or dirty!
Maybe after a probation period the dishes can all come out of hiding and return to the cupboards.

My hope is a total boot camp type rewiring of their habits and I will have some willing dish washers. What do you think my chances are? Stop laughing. Please!

Don't get the wrong impression. I have good kids who usually help...
Maybe it is the lure of the blue sky and fluffy clouds or the breeze under the big tree or that water melon tastes best for only a few short weeks or the calling to be another artist like Bert from Mary Poppins.
I'm just saying...
The Dixie Cup dispenser is looking even more attractive.

will that be paper or glass?

2010-07-17T11:36:00.007-04:00

Maybe I should be like this retro Dixie Cup mom in this ad, instead...

I do drink out of fancy glass glasses and eat off fancy glass plates all from thrifty buys so they can be broken (which they inevitably are! ) without any big financial loss. That way I can say, with hoity toity attitude, to the family as I wield the broom and dustpan, "I can't have anything nice with you kids around here!"

They just reply, "Mom needs to go hunt down more cheap pretty glassware!"

Do you think they have caught on to the fact that I actually enjoy the opportunity to hunt and gather pretty things on the cheap????

It is funny when my kids take a shine to one certain cup or bowl in the thrifty mix and claim it as their own. When that piece gets broken it is a whole different story.

back on the line

2010-07-16T23:05:00.005-04:00

My new clothes lines are out under the tall pines and have been nice enough to hold my loads of laundry loads to sway in the hot summer breezes and save me some dollars on the electric bill. Well not really. I am spending the money on the central air conditioning instead, so either way the electric company still gets it. At least my laundry smells sweetly dried in the 100 degree heat index heat of northernmost Ohio.

Forecast calls for a whole solid week ahead of weather in the 90's and horrible seemingly-Ohio-rain forest-humidity!!

Now go ahead and call me crazy, but I actually enjoy hanging wash on the line. But this week I will hang the laundry a little faster to get back inside and enjoy the air conditioning!

team spirit and ratty old views of unknown lives

2010-07-16T22:32:00.006-04:00

Wonderful stories are inside the heads and hearts of all these girls. Can you begin to imagine how much fun they had together and the laughs they had? Secrets and dreams shared?
I really like this photo and I can't bare to part with the original so I have made copies to offer in the shop. You can get an actual reprint photo or you can get it as a digital down load by email.

Maybe you fancy old images with a little tattered, ratty personality? These original photos below are just the ticket! This one is nicely faded around the edges and her fur is pretty interesting and how 'bout that hat? She looks like she may have been the boss of the union between man and wife. What do you think?
Or, maybe they ate breakfast in silence each morning while holding hands across the table for 58 years, she sipping her tea with toast and he eating a poached egg with bacon as he reads the paper, folded and creased, next to his plate...the radio playing jazz, softly in the background from its perch on the shelf above the stove.

This original photo is charming and will fit just about any story you dream up to attach to it. Maybe they worked their fingers to the bone only to lose their farm in the dust bowl in old age. Maybe they had 6 kids and all 3 that survived to adulthood became college professors in the next big town over the mountains after leaving the small one room cabin that Daddy built from trees cut near the river.

You can click on any of these photos- you will be taken to them in the shop.

hall pass

2010-07-16T22:21:00.003-04:00

How fun to share this one with you. I love silly old papers like this. It tickles me that this kind of stuff survives into the year 2010. Ephemera- paper items meant to be used and thrown away. Thanks goodness this wasn't.

Check out the year!!! It is 192_ (meaning the 1920's, guys!!! Isn't that just the coolest?)

Click to enlarge then right click and save.

Have fun ...and play nice, do not sell as is.

salted peanuts

2010-07-04T20:52:00.004-04:00

(from Crimes of the Heart)

Have you ever seen that movie? I watched it again a few weeks ago. It is silly and a little sad. I love the big old house and the big pitcher of fresh lemonade and the sisters being crazy together. I don't have a blood sister, although I have 2 people in my life I consider sisters.

I am also intrigued by the salted peanuts being put into a Coke. I have always wondered what that tastes like and have wanted to someday try it.

Pat commented on my last post about salted peanuts in Coke and it brought it all back to me...I need to try that!

I commented back to her that it must be a strictly Southern thing as I do not know anyone around here who does it. I also mentioned in my last post that I am not a pop drinker, as such.

Maybe I will make a date to try salted peanuts in Coke-- soon! I do wonder though, does the taste experience change if you don't do it with a glass bottle of pop?

Oh dear!!

2010-07-01T21:38:00.005-04:00

I don't know about this vintage ad. Is it real?? Sometimes the good ol' days weren't so full of good ideas.

At our house, my N. is somewhat of a popoholic. We have limited him to just a small amount of pop on the weekends only. His sisters never seem to crave pop. N. would drink it daily if he could. YIKES- not on my parental watch!

I am a water drinker. It is much more thirst quenching, in my opinion, and much healthier of course, too!

My sweetie is a diet Coke fan.

When I was growing up we never had pop in the house except when there was going to be a party like Christmas time or a summer cook-out or some other occasional grown-ups gathering. Any other time it was just not around the house.

What is your pop (or soda or cola) philosophy?

Pride!... and maybe sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree

2010-07-01T01:08:00.007-04:00

I think you may want to skip this post.
Skip this if you are annoyed by a mother proud of her daughter's achievements.

At the end of the school year I attended an award ceremony for all the 8th grade students.

I was anxiously awaiting the name of my daughter to be called and since we are in the last part of the alphabet it took some patience.

I clapped hard and loudly for each of the other parents' students as their names were called, so much so that my hands actually began to hurt.
But that is what you do because you are truly proud of other parents' students, you show support for your child's classmates.

Then they called my Anna's name...
7 awards.
Seven.

I was thrilled beyond words, for all her hard work and dedication had paid off.
She is a kid who never has to be told to do her homework.
Never has to be asked, "Do you have homework?" or "Have you started/finished your homework?"

But then they announced that there would be an additional award presented to several students.
About 220 are in the 8th grade class, and names of about 6 students were called out to receive a Presidential Academic Excellence Award.
Anna's name was at the end of the list- last part of the alphabet, remember.
She kept an A, 4.0 grade point average in all classes for 3 years + a rating of excelled or advanced in all state testing.

Some days you have these snippets of sheer joy that give you a little shiver that will never leave you, memories frozen in time.
That was what happened to me.
I was over the moon with pride and was rendered speechless as all the parents around me clapped to the point of their hands beginning to hurt and congratulated me on Anna's achievement.

As for the old "apple tree" saying...I was a hard working B, C, and sometimes an occasional A student.

As for my husband, he jokes that his grade cards have all disappeared for a good reason.

Maybe sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree.

x-ray vision and magic scissors

2010-06-18T19:21:00.005-04:00

This is the last installment in my "share the museum trip" posts...

Don't you think it would be fascinating to x-ray the old oil paintings and see what they painted out? Painters used to- and still do- recycle their canvases for economy or for correcting boo-boos or for just plain not liking the first attempt at a creative urge with the brush.
The painting above was painted over and, as it says below, they suspect it was the childrens' mother sitting in the chair that was painted out and the dog put in her place because she died before the painting was finished.

My thought was... wouldn't you want to keep her in the painting even more in that case? For the young children to remember her... since in those days there were no Polaroids or digital shots of her? What do you think?

I am sure you all know this story...Sampson and Delilah.

See the scissors in her hand?

script from long ago

2010-06-18T19:11:00.004-04:00

All these are in my own collection and I am sharing them with you for use in your art.

Please play nice and do not sell as is.

click and enlarge then right click and save

Notice- the first one says "...the bear won't see his shadow."

Is that the ground hog, do you think?

beauties in paint (with no stains on their shirt)

2010-06-14T10:39:00.010-04:00

Some more things to see at the art museum. I am really itching to go back again. I think I will take my sketch book this time to capture some of my favorite areas. I can not draw people but I can still sketch my favorite corners of architecture and frames and furniture and other non-people things around the beautiful museum building.

Tell me if you like any of these paintings. I'd love to hear which is your favorite.

Again, I love that the fabrics look so real. The detail of the sheen of the fabric or the brocade trim or the lace...

Thank goodness this style went away!! I don't think I would do well wearing this style collar!! Would you?

My kids always tease me that I need a bib when I eat 'cuz I never fail to splash or drop something on my shirt. I would definitely not be able to eat or drink in this collar!! Could you begin to imagine the laundering these required? Maybe they were never laundered...that would be even worse!!

posts

2010-06-11T22:49:00.007-04:00

Some ephemera to share with you ....

Old paper holds my attention, especially old postcards but they have to present a certain look, not just any postcard will do. There are millions... zillions of postcards out there and many are just not my cup of tea. I get so excited looking through a little pile of them or sifting through a box full with the anticipation of finding one to make my heart skip a beat. I especially love birds and tiny flowers, full blown roses and forget me nots.

Have fun with these images. Most of them are from about 100 years ago.

Please play nice and do not sell as is.

A few more days

2010-06-02T07:43:00.005-04:00

It won't be long until I hear, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do!" My kids have a few more days of school until freedom. A summer of endless hours to be kids.

Looking back, I realize I loved that feeling. It was as though the whole summer was stretched out ahead of me with endless possibilities, hours of doing fun things, lazy things, memory making things. No homework, a relaxed bedtime curfew, and every day is like a weekend. Remember that feeling?

(image from "Runaway Ginger" 1949)

I keep telling my 3 to enjoy the kid-ness (a made up word) of the time they have. Time. It is a gift that goes away with adulthood. Do they listen? Probably not. I am certain my mother told me the same thing just as generations of mothers before her sprinkled these pearls of wisdom. It's only when you are (supposedly) grown up that anything your parents say means much.

I admit freely that I really hate when one of my kids says, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do!" I mean, really? Biking, running, sleeping in, swimming, fishing, daydreaming, friends, reading, Popsicles, watermelon, road trips, games, fireworks, sparklers, cook-outs, music, the porch swing, the hammock, slumber parties, camping, etc, etc.....

I could stand a little bit of that kind of boredom, how 'bout you? How do you plan to be bored this summer vacation?

Paint magic

2010-05-31T23:55:00.005-04:00

I thought you might like to see another one of the paintings that caught my eye at the museum during my visit. I don't know about you, but I sure enjoy seeing the paintings that make you swear they must be real to the touch (but DON'T touch! What ever you do DON'T touch!!). I refer to the fabric and feathers and pearls and everything....so real. How do they do that??? I am fascinated to no end.

I admire painters of many types, but to be able to make me think of the textures and 3 dimensionalism of these images is in my opinion, MAGIC! The stitches, the gathered fabric, her hair...

What is your favorite thing about this painting?

Click to enlarge for more detail.

free

2010-05-31T23:48:00.002-04:00

Here is a little ephemera scrap from my collection. It is about 100 years old and cute as can be. I love the garden gate. I wonder what kind of song he is playing on his fiddle? So, have fun with it in your art- just remember-please play nice and do not sell as is.
click to enlarge then right click to save

dictionaries

2010-05-30T01:00:00.002-04:00

I collect old dictionaries. Books from pre-spell-check days.

I especially am drawn to old tattered, well used copies with the thumb indents along the edge or fancy colored page edges, and also old illustrated children's editions. There is something about the soothing colors in the old illustrations. My buying rule is that it can't cost more than 50 cents!! Some of my favorites are throw-aways from people who love computers more than books.

What do you collect from pre-computer days?

free to you

2010-05-30T00:49:00.004-04:00

Here are a few photos I took in the past that you may be able to use for something. If you like, you may take them.

Please play nice and do not sell as is.

buttons

2010-05-30T00:30:00.001-04:00

UPDATE: this group has sold. Thanks!

UPDATE: this group has sold. Thanks!
UPDATE: This group has sold. Thanks!

Amazing what you can accomplish during a marathon session of The Waltons DVD watching with a box of buttons and fun vintage images at your side!!! (I still want to swing on their tire swing and sit at their table and eat apple pie!) I may create while watching Family Affair or The Partridge family next. I'll let you know.

Take a peek at the button listings!!

bridge photo

2010-05-30T00:25:00.001-04:00

This vintage photo reminds me of the story told in the movie

The Bridges of Madison County. It is dated on the back 1934 Newark Ohio.

free to you

2010-05-29T12:30:00.003-04:00

I love this image of a relaxed picnic. It is a scrap of ephemera from the 1920s and I had to share it with you!!!
Click to enlarge then right click and save.
Please play nice and do not sell as is.

beauty, fun and unusual

2010-05-29T12:10:00.001-04:00

A beauty from New York.
Look at those curls!

And those shoes! And the details on the dress!

Don't you think these two girls are asking for you to give them some added hats?

OK...Now who thought this was a good idea for a day's outing?

This definitely falls in the bizarre category! "Martha do you want to sit by the head? No thanks Eva, you can. I'll sit by the tail if you don't mind"

All these are in my Etsy, as digital scans so you can print them out and create with them... or just put them in a frame. Click on the photo you adore above and you will be taken to that photo scan in the shop.

Hepburns

2010-05-28T23:36:00.005-04:00

Are you an Audrey or a Katherine fan?, Hepburn that is. I am both an Audrey and Katherine fan. I like many, many movies done by each of these women who share the same last Hollywood name. Lots of people have seen "...Tiffany's" but do you like her in "Sabrina"? I love that movie. Lots have seen "Guess who's coming to dinner" but do you like "Desk Set"? I love that movie!
I love them all!
What is your favorite Hepburn movie?

Book from 1941 with super wonderful colors on the cover.

Birthday wishes

2010-05-28T13:27:00.007-04:00

Some images for you to use in your art. As always, please play nice and do not sell images as is.

The violets birthday postcard is dated from 1913!! Violets are one of my favorite flowers.

I have been celebrating my birthday week. I did not receive as a birthday gift a magic genie lamp like in the first image above. If I did I would have wished these 3 wishes... a bigger kitchen with more drawers and counter top space, my pre-5 pregnancies body, and a maid!!

Oh, back to reality. *sigh*

I had a good birthday... and I still don't feel any older than 30 in my mind...and that was quite a few birthdays ago!

more art...

2010-05-23T23:35:00.011-04:00

...from the walls of the DIA. So many wonders to gaze upon. I was enjoying every minute of the visit. Hope you enjoy the tour I bring to you!

This one with the jester and monkey is a little creepy- but I do like the bright colors. My kids agreed it was a little creepy but they laughed at the monkey's clothes. I enjoyed the fact that the clothing and carved marble seemed so real.

I love religious paintings.

This of course is a classic and we are lucky to have it in the museum to visit in person.
You can click on any painting to make it bigger. Enjoy!! Such treasure there, for sure!

Tell me which one speaks to you, I'd love to hear.