Monday, August 31, 2015

Collecting Buttons

I have a small collection of buttons. My favorites are the carved mother of pearl but I have a lot of glass ones too. They fill up several boxes and jars. I also buy buttons to use on craft items that I sell at shows and I like to buy the more colorful ones for that purpose. Sometimes though, they just don't work so I've ended up with lots of odds and ends. Last weekend I got out my bingo cards (I admit, not an original idea) and started to lay out buttons. I had made one of these a while ago and tried to get one button in every square but that soon went by the wayside. Sewing the buttons on the cards was not as easy as I thought it would be - some of the buttons didn't come out in the correct position and some flop a bit due to their weight. But overall a fun, easy project. I had a vintage tobacco tin and the bingo cards fit perfectly. A vintage metal flower frog works great as a display stand.

Tiny mother of pearl buttons in every square
Blue themed
Shades of red
Pinks and purples
More mother of pearl buttons - belt buckles too!
Mixed bag
Buttons displayed in a vintage tin. The pin cushion was purchased from Etsy shop Namolio

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Vintage Cook Books

I have a few vintage cooks books that I purchased for the illustrations.  They date from the 1940's to the 1960's and are really pamphlets, not real books, that were published by companies to promote their products. The companies include Wesson Oil, Ocean Spray, and The Wine Institute of California.

Published by Wesson Oil


Recipes include Chicken Scrapple, Wesson Chicken Divine and Fruited Chicken

Published by Safeway Stores, Inc
Recipes include Cheese Dreams, Corn Meal Muffins Baconized and Frizzled Beef in Cream.

Published by Ocean Spray Cranberry Kitchen
Recipes include Cranberry Cherry Mist, Cranburgers and Cranberry Cheese Pie.

Published by Wine Advisory Board
Recipes include Chicken Curry in a Hurry, Sherried Rocky Road Pudding and Broccoli Luncheonette.

Are you getting hungry?

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Vintage Illustration

I found this vintage 1959 Polish book on Ebay. The title is "Children's Poems" and it has wonderful illustrations. The illustrator is Helena Winogradow-Matuszewska. I can't find anything about her in English.











Monday, August 10, 2015

New Collage

I purchased some vintage Japanese pharmacy labels (from Etsy seller ApricotCircus) in a lovely shade of lavender and was inspired to do this collage. I also used some pages from an antique Japanese book, a sample of one of my old note cards, handmade papers and vintage stamps. The postage stamps aren't Japanese, but the colors went really well.

Japanese Ephemera Collage

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Cecil

In honor of Cecil the Lion, I'm posting this tea towel by mid-century designer Tammis Keefe.

RIP Cecil