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

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?

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.

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

Cecil

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

RIP Cecil

Retro Find

I found these cool retro sake bottles at an antique mall in the middle of Ohio. I have a few vintage Japanese kokeshi dolls so I thought they would fit right in. The bottles are made of glass with metal lids topped with hand painted wood heads. They date from the 1960s and originally held flavored Japanese sake. One of the bottles no longer has its tags but the other bottle held melon flavored sake. Made by House of Koshu, they originally came in a set of 7 different flavors and were given to first class passengers on Japan Airlines flights. That would have been a really cool souvenir!

House of Koshu sake bottles and vintage kokeshi dolls

I've got the bottles for sale in my Etsy shop here

Record Album Art

Sometimes when I'm bored at lunchtime, I stop by the local Goodwill to see what's for sale. This week I found 2 fun vintage record albums.

The first one is The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and dates from 1951. The graphics are nice and would look great framed in a child's room.

The second album is "Big" Tiny Little's Honky Tonk Hootenanny. Even the name is fun! Big Tiny Little was a piano player and a regular on the Lawrence Welk show in the 1950's. His bowler hat was one of his signatures. I'm not sure the date of this album but I believe it is from the 1960's.

Lavender Love

I love lavender - anything lavender scented is a favorite. So, I've printed some designs on fabric and sewn up some lavender sachets. They're filled with California-grown organic lavender buds and are for sale in my Etsy shop. I think they came out pretty well.

Lavender Sachets

Poodles

Another find at the flea market was this vintage paint-by-numbers picture of two adorable poodles. I'm not usually a fan of this style but they caught my eye and had to come home with me. I'll be putting them up for sale in my Etsy shop as soon as I find a shipping box.

Paint-By-Numbers Poodle Painting

Flea Market Find

Last Sunday I went to the flea market and found this fabulous mid century box. I had to have it. I didn't even care about the contents - a little brush and scoop for dusting up table crumbs. The pattern reminds me of something done by Swedish designer Stig Lindberg but since neither the box or the contents are marked in any way I'll just have to wish. The cat was an ebay purchase and is done by Swedish designer Lisa Larson while the white pitcher in back was long ago flea market find.

Excuses, Excuses

Wow, it's been well over a month since my last post. Let me list my excuses.
1. Busy designing and making my sister's wedding invitations (I will share those as soon as I photograph them!)
2. Sick. I actually got an ear infection which I haven't had since elementary school. I thought my ear was going to explode. And a cough which wouldn't go away.
3. Went on vacation (and coughed my way across 4 countries in Europe.) More on that later with pictures.
4. Sick again. Lingering ear ache and sore throat for WEEKS!!! Enough already. At least the cough is gone.

So now that I am relatively healthy and not too busy, I will share a project I did last year.

As seen on papyrusonline.com

I was contacted last year by a lovely person from Papyrus who wanted to know if I would license some artwork to them. "Of course!" I said. Papyrus is the really nice stationery store that you can find in many fine malls across America. And they have a website here. Anyway, that's my design in the top left corner. They are note cards in a coordinating gift box, printed on kraft paper. When I returned from vacation, a box of samples was waiting for me. Here is another peek. Feel free to pop on over to papyrusonline and pick up a few sets for yourself!

Eco Folk Florals Boxed Notes

New Collage

I had a craft show this past weekend and as I was putting together Collage Inspiration packs to sell, I got inspired myself. Sometimes a handful of elements just fall into place.

Collecting

I have a small collection of vintage tin boxes and here are a few of them. I don't really care if they are in perfect condition. If the color and the graphics attract me, what's a little rust and dings. I just got the 1940's Jigger Clothespin tin at an estate sale. It originally came with a clothesline, clothespins and two bakelite anchors to hang the line from. Sadly, mine is empty but the graphics are really fun. (It is for sale in my vintage shop!) The other tins shown include a typewriter ribbon tin, a small round tin for kidney pills, a candy tin from Eastern Europe and a tin that once held dyspepsia tablets.

Vintage Tin Collection

Type Collage Letter A

I've been working on some new designs for my Two Hand Design shop but I did find time to do a new collage. I started with a vintage Reader's Digest book cover and layered on the type - an old receipt, rubber stamps, postage, German money and other bits and pieces.

Type Collage Letter A

Vintage Book Find

I went to an estate sale yesterday and came home with this lovely vintage book. Written by Charlotte Zolotow with illustrations by Yoko Mitsuhashi, the book was first published in 1964. Other than the cover, the whole book is printed in pink and black (and shades of both). I liked it so much that I had to scan the whole book to show.

front and back cover