Sunday, February 6, 2011

A Very Crafty Family Weekend

I decided it was about time I did something with these little wooden heart blocks I got when I bought a bunch of vintage crafting supplies at an estate sale about five years back. I also realized this week that the pink tinsel Christmas tree we use in the pink and purple guest room could also be a Valentine's tree if I made some ornaments for it...

I dug out some ribbon, some brass picture-hanging hooks and some buttons, ribbons, fabric, and trim. I cut and glued fabric and notions to the hearts, and then screwed the picture hook in the top and ran a ribbon through it.

Voila! Valentine's Tree!

Ian is reminding me to tell you that he helped me make the garland out of construction paper and 1980's era heart stickers.

Some of the members of the Autism Support Group got together Saturday afternoon to make puzzle piece scarves to sell. The puzzle piece pattern symbolizes the puzzle of autism. This is going to be our fundraiser so that we can do some things for Autism Awareness Month in April. This is a super group of ladies, ya'll! :-)

Ian also got to get his craft on at his therapeutic riding session on Sunday.
He and several other kids in the program had a barn lesson, where they learned about horse hoof care and got to make horseshoe art. Ian came home with this little goodie he made. He said, "Mom! I am an artist!"
I am linking to the Weekend Wrapup at tatertots and jello, the Valentine's Day partys at domestic fashionista and Holiday Haven.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Vintage Stuff on the Wall

If it's old and cool-looking and reasonably flat, it just might find its way onto my walls.


I got this print (which I guess is old enough to be considered truly "antique" and not "vintage," technically) at a print shop in London a few blocks from Covent Garden. They had even older prints in the shop (I was especially tempted by a map of Romania that dated from the 1500's), but they were a wee bit expensive for my grad student budget at the time. I liked this one because of its lovely pastoral subject, plus it was from Shropshire County (formerly called County Salop), which I visited on that trip. I also liked that it was printed only a couple of years after the Declaration of Independence was signed (note the 1778 date.)
My grandma's best friend after she retired made her this, and I asked my parents for it when they asked if I wanted anything from her condo after she passed away. It always makes me smile.I have no idea where this mirror came from. My mom had it lying around her house, and I needed a mirror and asked for it. The paper lining the back looks about 1950's or early 60's era. Yes, that's me making a funny face taking the picture.This is my great-grandfather's baptismal certificate. It was on the staircase of my mom's basement, all rolled up and (as you can see) not in the greatest condition because it had been in my grandpa's garage. Mom had no idea what it was, because of course it is in German. I rescued it and got it framed (my husband says we should probably get the glass replaced with UV screening glass, because the ink is getting faded.) It is a very valuable source of info, because we did not know very much about this side of the family and it has names of family members we'd never heard of before.Finally, you know you are getting old when things from your birth year are now "vintage." This is a crosstitch picture that a friend of my mom's made for me when I was born.

I am posting this to Vintage Thingie Thursday.