Hello! As has been widely reported lately, today is the 50th year anniversary of the night the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to a story about this event that I read in today's Parade magazine, as the show's musical director watched the Beatles perform, he predicted: "I give them a year".
Of course, he couldn't have been more wrong. The Beatles' popularity and influence continues to this day, long after they disbanded. And in honor of the band I will present the bit of Beatles memorabilia that I have.
Found this set at a church rummage sale a few years back and paid a dime for it:
Images of the Fab Four in cardboard, with matching plastic molds.
Close-ups:
Paul McCartney and John Lennon
Ringo Starr and George Harrison
Above, I've placed the cardboard Paul McCartney figure behind the corresponding plastic mold.
When I first bought these I turned to eBay to see what I could learn about this set. I didn't find any listings, but a few days decided to search eBay again. This time, I found a listing describing these as candy molds.
That just didn't sound right to me, so I tried the Internet, and came up with this site. If you scroll down to the "Yellow Submarine Plastic Model Kit" and click on the photo showing the kit's contents, you'll see what looks like the mates to my set there.
Through my Internet research, I also learned that the Yellow Submarine Model Kit has been reissued. I'm fairly certain that my Fab Four are from an original kit, though, as the cardboard pieces show a bit of wear.
I couldn't find enough information on the original kit to learn what material had been used to fill the molds, but I'm guessing it probably wasn't chocolate. Not sure if the molds are even food-grade.
Well, that's it for my Beatles memorabilia find. Maybe I'll get lucky and find some more Beatles stuff at another rummage sale sometime!
Hello! I often get compliments on my handcrafted greeting cards, but I wasn't born knowing how to make them - no, it's been a matter of "practice makes perfect". My early efforts were pretty lame compared to the cards that come out of my studio these days.
This was readily apparent when I hauled out our Valentine's Day card collection earlier this week to display as seasonal decor. For comparison's sake, in this post I'll show two cards I'd made for my husband, a decade apart.
First, from 2001:
White card stock has been decorated with a strip of art paper and eight small hearts, each cut from a different kind of decorative paper. That's it - no words, no stamps, and not a scrap of vintage ephemera to be seen!
A close-up:
See what I mean? It's a pretty boring card.
Let's move on to ten years in the future, to 2011:
White card stock again, but it's been layered with a part of a page from a vintage science textbook, a piece of serendipity paper, part of a page from a book about Victorian gardening, a heart cut from scrapbook paper and the word "Heart" stamped beneath the heart.
A close-up:
Using a page from a vintage science textbook may seem odd for a Valentine, but its inclusion paid homage to my husband being in the chemical engineering field. (He knows what a "characteristic equation of a perfect gas" is!) The pear image was used to add some whimsy, which he also appreciated. I rubbed a bit of red acrylic paint on the pear image to blend it in better with the serendipity paper behind it.
I've taken very few craft classes in my life, but one of them was a four-week ATC (artist's trading cards) course here at the local arts council. That's where I learned to make serendipity paper. In the class we decorated atlas pages with acrylic paints and rubber-stamped images to make this type of decorative paper. But with the serendipity paper used in the above card, I started with an old poster. Besides paints and stamped images, I also glued on bits of art paper and flowers punched out of an old brochure.
It's obvious that this card took longer to make than the first card, but I feel it was worth it! The crafting process was more fun and the resulting card was more appealing to the recipient as well.
But to be honest, I can't say it was mere practice alone that caused an improvement in my card crafting from 2001 to 2011. For one thing, the "show and tell" aspect of the Internet means that countless examples of creative inspiration are now instantly at one's fingertips. Back in 2001, sites like Etsy, Pinterest and You Tube weren't around, and blogging was still in its infancy.
In 2001, most of my crafting "education" came from TV shows, books and magazines that pertained to my hobby interests. In 2002 I discovered the mixed media magazine Somerset Studio. It was like waking up from a long sleep; I was truly inspired by the artistic sophistication of the works shown in its issues.
Somerset Studio's parent company, Stampington and Company, has since added more arts and crafts magazines; their website says they now have over 30 publications! Artful Blogging, GreenCraft and Somerset Life are some of the ones I've enjoyed reading.
And it was through these magazines, and all that Internet content, that I became interested in using vintage and upcycled materials in my card crafting. In 2002 I moved to a town that has several thrift stores in the area, so I've had plenty of opportunities to expand my creativity - and the supplies to help fuel it.
It's been a great journey for me, and I look forward to more crafting and creative growth in the future! Wonder what my cards will look like ten years from now?
Hello! There's a 1960's hit song called "Land of a Thousand Dances". Well, I have the "land of a thousand recipes" in my home!
Actually, I don't know how many recipes I really have, but I know it's a lot - indeed, more than I can ever possibly use! But that doesn't stop me from looking at the cookbook section in thrift stores anyway. I know there's always the chance that a new-to-us recipe lurks within, destined to become a family favorite.
The number of recipes in my hands increased last week with the thrifted purchase of this:
With around 680 pages of recipes, this is a hefty collection! It was compiled by the Tennessee-based Chapter #21 of the Telephone Pioneers of America. That's the main reason I bought the cookbook; with its Southern base, I figured there'd be a lot of down-home recipes in it.
But I also noted that this must have been a popular cookbook since over 200,000 copies had been sold. My edition, which came out in 1992, was the 16th printing.
I'd never heard of the Telephone Pioneers, so I turned to the Internet for more info. I learned that it's a charitable non-profit organization whose members - not surprisingly - come mostly from the telecommunications field. The organization was founded in 1911, with none less than Alexander Graham Bell receiving the first membership card.
Just for fun, I looked to see if this cookbook is on eBay. It is, and judging from the results of completed listings, it's apparently considered a collectible. I'm glad the thrift store folks didn't know this; I paid their usual price for softcover cookbooks.
I've been looking through the cookbook in spurts; it'll take awhile to get through it. Truth be told, there's recipe categories I'd never consider, like salads made from Jello and a bunch of other ingredients. (I despise Jello no matter how it's made.) Not going to make those casseroles that consist mainly of various canned goods either.
But there's a lot of good recipes as well - after all, in a volume this lengthy, there's bound to be! No wonder it's sold so well on eBay.
Hello! As an alumnus of Michigan State University, I am proud of its men's basketball coach, Tom Izzo. Through his determination and hard work, MSU has gained national prominence in college basketball. Yes, I know that the focus should be on academics, but I also know I'm far from alone in supporting my alma mater's sports teams. It's all the sweeter since most of my family are alumni and/or supporters of MSU's in-state rival, U-M. I've endured my share of barbs from them over the years, so it's nice to have MSU in the sports spotlight for a change.
But enough of that! Today is Mr. Izzo's birthday, so I made him a birthday card, in the school colors, of course. Here's how it turned out:
Materials used:
- white card stock
- vintage flashcard piece
- scrapbook paper scrap
- cupcake image stamped on vintage flashcard piece in green ink
- "happy birthday" stamped in black ink
I also wrote a brief note thanking him for being such a positive presence at MSU and wishing him the best throughout the rest of the basketball season.
Now, I'm not one to send fan letters or birthday cards to people who are in the public eye, but I couldn't resist. You see, at some point last year, our daughter told me about a website called famousbirthdays.com. I already knew that I share my birthday, January 30th, with FDR(yay!), Dick Cheney(ugh), and a few others, but wanted to see who else had been born on this date.
And Tom Izzo is on that list! Sounds silly, I know, but I was pleased to learn that we have the same birthday. (he's older though). I did mention in my note to him that it was through the birthday website that I'd learned of his birthday. Wouldn't want him to think I was some creepy stalker.
I'm sure he gets hundreds of pieces of mail every day, and I'm sure he has staff to open all that mail. I don't know if he'll even see my card, and I don't expect to hear back from his office. He's a busy man right now, with a Big Ten title and a NCAA tournament to take care of.
It doesn't matter if I hear back or not - it was fun to make his birthday card anyway. Happy Birthday Coach Izzo - here's to many more, and good luck the rest of the season!
If you'd like to see with whom you share a birthday, check HERE. You never know - there could be someone on the list for your birthday that you'd like to send a card to.
Hello! The weather around here has been a royal pain in the you-know-what: temps way below normal, bitterly cold windchills and plenty of snow to shovel!
But speaking of royal, Royal Hot Chocolate fits the bill after yet another heavy-duty snow shoveling session. Did you know that chocolate milk is supposed to be a good post-workout beverage? That's what our daughter was told when she ran cross country in high school - and of course, hot chocolate is really just chocolate milk served hot. So what could be better after one's driveway and sidewalks are finally cleared?
Here's the recipe - I'll list the directions first, which call for stovetop cooking, then the microwave directions I added.
Royal Hot Chocolate (adapted from Marcia Adams' Heirloom Recipes)
2 - 1 ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
4 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla
speck of salt
In top of double boiler over hot, not boiling water, melt the chocolate. Whisk in the condensed milk. Gradually add the boiling water, stirring until well blended, then add vanilla and salt. Drink immediately. Makes 4-6 servings.
Microwave directions: melt chocolate (use bowl large enough to blend in condensed milk.) When melted, whisk in condensed milk, then add this mixture to the 4 cups boiling water, stirring well. Add vanilla and salt and stir.
This recipe makes a rich, chocolate-y drink. Although the recipe says to drink it immediately, I stored the leftover amount in a jar in the refrigerator. I shook the jar well before reheating a serving in the microwave. Still tasted great a day or two later.
Enjoy!
Hello! My husband's birthday was yesterday, so earlier in the week I was trying to decide what theme I should use for this year's birthday card. For the past few years I'd used facsimiles of vintage animal images, so that was my starting point.
I browsed through 1800 Woodcuts By Thomas Bewick And His School, a Dover publication with facsimiles of images that had originally been made in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the "Animals" section I encountered an image entitled "The Roe-Buck" and thus my theme was decided. My husband was from a Sears(once called Sears Roebuck) family - his dad and other relatives worked in various capacities for that company, and one of his dad's employees became a close family friend.
And alas, because of the family connection, my husband had recently read several online articles that reported on the continuing decline of this once-thriving business. It's not been pretty reading by any means.
Besides making a copy of the "roebuck" image, I had a 1947 Sears catalog that I made a photocopy from as well (don't recall where the catalog had come from). And here's how the birthday card turned out:
Materials used:
- white card stock
- "Sears" photocopied from 1947 Sears catalog
- "The Roe-Buck" image photocopied from aforementioned Dover book
- "and" and "happy" stamped onto vintage flashcard pieces
- "say" and "day" cut from vintage children's dictionaries
- "birth" and exclamation point stamped directly onto card
- "JAN 25 2014" stamped onto vintage flashcard piece
My husband never knows what sort of birthday card I'm going to make him each year - only that it's going to be goofy. He certainly wasn't expecting a Sears Roebuck card theme, but he liked it.
Hello! My husband's birthday is tomorrow, but I kicked off the festivities a few days early by putting out some birthday decorations - the various cards our daughter and I have made him, (plus those given by others) a magazine that came out around the time of his birth, and a few other things. And, as always, I hung up this:
This thin plastic birthday greeting actually came as a long banner of three "happy birthdays". The total length was nine feet long and although very festive, was a bit unwieldy to hang up. I eventually cut the three sections apart and now display them in different parts of the house.
The banner is getting a little beat up, which is understandable since I've had it since the mid 1980's. My party-loving older sister bought the banner for one of my birthdays back then; I think it had been sold by the length at a stationery/party supply store.
I was still living in Michigan at that time, then moved out of state, first to Wisconsin, then to Pennsylvania, then to Indiana before moving back to Michigan in 2002. With each move, the banner came along and was a reminder of home when I was no longer able to be there for my birthday.
And now, today, this banner is a reminder of the sister who bought it for me almost 30 years ago. She died, too soon, on this date in 1998. I am sure she'd be pleased that I've kept this bit of birthday decor all this time, and I sure am pleased that I've done so.
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