Happy 100th Birthday

Yesterday my dear Aunt turned 100 years old. Awesome! Her children threw a large birthday party for her. She was very active in her church and much loved by all. It was so warm to see how many people care about her.

I was also thrilled to have a chance to visit with my cousins. I am the youngest cousin and even though I live rather close to many of them, I don't have a lot in common with them because of the age difference.

What most relatives said they remember about me was that I was the "shy one who sat in the corner and read books". That wasn't me!!!! That was my sister! I was the shy one that was always climbing trees or falling into fish ponds or digging in the dirt. At the time, my cousins were exciting teenagers and no one wanted to hang out with a shy little kid. Many were getting married around the time I was old enough to remember them. I always felt and still feel out of step with my relatives. But at least now I'm not as shy and am totally enjoying the fact that I look and feel a lot younger than any of them. Most of my cousins are grandparents or even great-grandparents. And I no longer climb trees or fall into fish ponds but I do still dig in dirt.

The one thing that many relatives responded to was a gift that I made for my Aunt. I created a small scrapbook using about a dozen photos that I had of her over the years. Note: everything, except for the photo developing, was free or thrifted.

For the cover I tea-stained some thrifted lace and used a piece of die cut Vintage Lace cut from old sheet music. I used my Silhouette to cut the typeface using a font on my computer.

For the flowers, I cut three Tattered Pinecones and created flowers instead of pinecone. Behind the flowers I hot-glued strips of real vintage 8mm movie film as ribbon.

For the inside pages, I did a variety of techniques to embellish each page. Because the album was spiral-bound, I could not include heavy or large 3-dimensional embellishments. On some pages I die cut the ends of the page using the Ornate On the Edge die to allow the paper on the next page to show through.

My relatives were so thrilled to see all of the photos. In fact, they were so thrilled that they have volunteered me and my first cousin once removed {my cousin's son} to be the family historians to document all of the family stories.

So I am no longer the "shy cousin sitting in the corner reading books" instead I have been promoted to the Family Historian. Actually this will be fun because I really like my cousin's son and we have a shared interest in our family's genealogy research. And I am probably closer in age to him than to his mother; my cousin.

This is linked to:
Between Naps on the Porch, Cherished Treasures, Crafts Keep Me Sane, DIY Home Sweet Home, Homemaker on a Dime, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Rook No.17, Sew Can Do, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff and The Southern Institute

Thrifting Close to Home

My Aunt turned 100 years old today. Yesterday we had a birthday party and family reunion for her. Because of this party I just went to a few garage sales in my local area.

My favorite find were these lovely vintage suitcases that are in wonderful condition. They are a matched set in a tweed pattern.

I also found several vintage Christmas candles. I love their mellow discoloration. My favorite is the little gnome at the bottom left.

This is a lantern candle that is supposed to burn down and glow behind the decals.

A cute set of candles in the shape of Santa face mugs.

Most of these candles will be in my Stuff to Treasure store. You can also click on the Facebook link to the right and follow my store to be the first to see when new items are added. I will add the suitcases to my store as soon as I find a box large enough to use for shipping.

The last item I found is really odd. It is an old figural milk glass Christmas light bulb made in Japan between the 1930s to the 1950s. It is in the shape of a mushroom or acorn that looks like a house. On the "roof" is a large snail with a human face. Not only is the ornament odd but it is odd that I even bought the thing because I hate snails. This is going to be a gift for my sister who collects odd Christmas ornaments. This just might be one of the oddest ones she will ever have.

I hope everyone had a fun day thrifting. Tomorrow I will share the gift that I made for my Aunt.

This is linked to:

Coastal Charm, Her Library Adventures, Hey What's For Dinner Mom? and Mod Vintage Life

Digger Box of Treasures

I took a day off from work this past Friday to prepare for a mini-trip out of town. But before our trip could begin we needed to hit a couple of local Friday sales first. By the time we got done with the sales it was almost time to hit the road for our trip. This is the reason I was able to just share a teaser photo of the box of treasures. Well, here are the detailed photos of what we found.

My favorite find were these three glass, baby vanity jars. I love the illustrations on the jars. The images are of a cat, dog and rabbit. The lid handles look like they are from the Art Deco era.

Keeping with the Art Deco theme, we found these three vintage scarf clips. I love their style. I have to do some research to see how they were actually worn.

This hand mirror is probably from the same period as well.

We also found some vintage household items. First, an old, chippy, baby scale with cute illustrations on the face.

Two Westclock clocks; one is a Big Ben and one is a Baby Ben. I love the industrial look of the Baby Ben clock. Both clocks are sturdy metal.

A couple of old galvanized cans with spouts. Can't you picture these filled with flowers!

I think this is an old hub cap/cover for Essex Motors, Detroit.

I found an odd "bracelet" that someone had sewn on old metal buttons.

This is a vintage Boy Scouts of America metal First Aid Kit.

And I found a nice stack of wooden cigar boxes. The one on the bottom is designed to look like a book. The two red ones on the top each hold a single cigar with a clear hinged lid. There must be some interesting project I could use these for.

This is a lot of household stuff but I haven't even gotten to the decorative items yet.
One seller gave me this old antler for free. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this but I just liked it.

I added this Avon bottle to my resting deer collection.

We found three ceramic figurines all marked "Japan". I'm not a big fan of clowns but this one looked so old and has real lace at the neck and hands. Plus the face is very cute and happy.

I like old dog figurines. I found this German Shepherd. It is marked Made in Japan on the bottom.

Well, that's it from the Digger Box of Treaures. I will start adding items to my Stuff to Treasure store as soon as possible. I've also started a Facebook page to keep people informed when new items are added to my store. I haven't had a chance to do much with it yet but I'm working on getting everything coordinated.

I hope everyone had a fun thrifting weekend.

This is linked to:
Coastal Charm, Her Library Adventures, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, House of Grace, It's a Very Cherry World, Mod Vintage Life and Very Merry Vintage Style

Friday Treasure Hunt

I went to two sales today. Friday sales are always interesting because you often meet dealers in line and some will share bits of useful information.

I don't have time today to highlight all of the treasures I found so I just took one photo as a teaser. There is a lot more at the bottom of this box. I will share more later.

Happy treasure hunting!

A Belated Thank You!

I just have to share a beautiful vintage card that I received from Lisbet, a wonderful online friend in Denmark.

The photo doesn't do it justice because the illustration is so beautiful. But not only did Lisbet send me this card, she also included some postcards which I think she designed. Plus I am saving the Danish postage stamps and enjoying the beautiful way she wrapped everything.

If you get a chance, check out her blog or her design site or even her blogstore. There is always some kind of amazing visual treat on her sites. And half of the fun is reading the Google translation or guessing what it says. Beautiful design is a universal language.

Lisbet - Mange tak! {I hope that translates as "Thank you!"}

Thrifting to the Grand Prix

My Dear Handyman wanted to go to the Long Beach Grand Prix and I wanted to go to some estate sales. We compromised and stopped at some sales on the way to Long Beach.

We found some interesting items that can be used for various projects. I am remodeling my office space at work and had my eye out for items to use as vintage storage. I found three wire baskets, one to act as an in-basket and one will hold various scrapbooking papers.

I also found this vintage record holder that could also hold paperwork.

I love these tiny cork-topped glass vials filled with seed beads. They are only about an inch tall.

We found some nice old Tonka trucks that will probably go into my Stuff to Treasure store shortly.

This is a very retro Mid-Century Modern, patent leather, ice bucket by Georges Briard. It is in such great condition.

In a box buried in the corner of a room I found lots of old film and recording items. There were some old 8mm film reels, old metal Kodak film canisters and some old home recording records from the 1940s. One old records is labeled as "Jack Benny and Rochester".

That was the "thrifting" part of our day. Then we were off to the Long Beach Grand Prix. The weather was absolutely perfect in Long Beach although the cars were a bit noisy. The race is held on what is normally regular streets in downtown Long Beach. We watched the American Le Mans Series.

In the photo above you can just see the Queen Mary circled in the distance. 

Viewing from turn 6

Some Long Beach landmarks visible behind the racetrack. The International Towers {condominiums} on the left was featured in the movie Letal Weapon II. The building near the center with the green roof is the Villa Riviera {also condominiums} built in 1929. This building survived the Long Beach earthquake of 1933.

Above is the Long Beach Arena. The entire wall surrounding the building highlights various sea life and is the world's largest mural painted by Wyland.  

 The view of the ALMS race at turn 10. You can see the Wyland mural in the background.

Inside the arena building were various vendors. I don't know if you can recognize this man but it is the guy from the TV show Storage Wars. He was there with all kinds of "Yuup" souvenirs. Now I like to think that these reality TV personalities are just "acting" their parts but in my opinion, this guy appears to really be like his TV persona. He would not let you take a photo of him unless you bought something from his booth. He had signs that said nothing in his booth was free. I can understand the need to post this because there were so many other vendors giving away freebies which gives you an idea of the quality of items he was selling. So to be on the safe side, I put back his business card.

It was a fun but exhausting day. I found lots of treasures and enjoyed a day at the races. I hope everyone had a good day thrifting.

This is linked to:
Apron Thrift Girl, Her Library Adventures, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, It's a Very Cherry World,  Mod Vintage Life and The Thrifty Home

12 Tags of 2012 - April

I had a lot of fun creating my April tag for the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012.

This tag was a bit of a challenge in a couple of ways for me. I need to watch more of Tim's videos regarding how he blends inks. When he blends colors they all look so pretty and bright. When I blend colors I tend to get shades of mud. My other challenge was trying to include thrifted elements in the design.

I began by die cutting a tag using the Sizzix Tag & Bookplates die. I used the Fancy Frame Texture Fades to create the embossed pattern in the background. Next, I applied several colors of Distress Inks.

I die cut the bird and branch out of Grungeboard using the Bird Branch die. I trimmed off the bird and inked it separately. I glued the branch to the tag and then used pop-dots beneath the bird to raise it above the branch.

The leaves on the branches are vintage floral leaves that I had thrifted. I used Distress Ink on them to make them look a bit more weathered.

To create the title, I printed the word "Spring" on cardstock then die cut it with the Tattered Banner die. I inked it, folded it and used pop-dots again to give it dimension.

As a final detail I used a thrifted chain, a Trinket Pin and a thrifted amethyst bead as a decorative touch.

This is linked to:

Making the World Cuter, Rook No.17, Singing Three Little Birds, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tim Holtz and Vintage Wanna Bee

A Little French and Hawaiian Spring Fever Sale

With this being the Easter holiday weekend, there weren't a lot of garage sales to choose from. We planned on going to only one estate sale. It was the third day of the sale so it had been pretty much picked over. We did manage to find a few treasures.

My favorite find was this group of Anysetiers Du Roy French Provence spice jars. They are probably from the 60s or 70s. They are still manufactured today but the newer ones have printed words, UPC codes and hang tags instead of the paper and wax seals on these older crockery jars. I love the mellow color of the crockery and the hand-written French words.

We also found a vintage Hawaiian board game that was made in Hawai'i. The box just looked so retro.

I also found more buttons and this scrimshaw bead with a picture of a baby seal carved on it.

We were done with this sale quite early and the day was so beautiful that one of our errands was to get new plants for the garden. We discovered an independent nursery nearby and I just had to share this photo of the colors of Spring.

I hope everyone had a nice day of thrifting. Happy Easter!

This is linked to:
Brambleberry Cottage, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Her Library Adventures, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, House of Grace, Junker Newbie, The Colorado Lady and The Thrifty Groove