Victorian Chocolate Set on Etsy....
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
With the East Coast expecting one whallop of a snowstorm it got me thinking back to my childhood. There is nothing more exciting than a snowstorm when you are a child. First, there's the prospect of school being cancelled, a free day off. Then there are all the numerous opportunities to play. Suddenly, your boring backyard becomes a fresh new playground with the only limitation being your imagination and the temperature. There are snow angels to make, snow people to build, forts to construct, hills to sled down, and major snowball fights to be had. Just about the time you can no longer feel your fingers and toes and everyone is breathless from all the fun, it is time to go inside. The coats, hats, gloves, boots, and socks get peeled off one by one and the thaw begins. Next is perhaps my favorite part. Time to snuggle under blankets by the fire (or the tv) and sip fresh cups of hot cocoa with mini marshmallows. Here are some images from Country Living Magazine to keep you cozy on this cold, winter day. ENJOY!
Follow this link for a tasty hot cocoa recipe:www.countryliving.com/cooking/my-recipe-book/drink-recipes-0109?click=img_sr
Victorian Chocolate Set on Etsy....
Victorian Chocolate Set on Etsy....
Friday, December 18, 2009
Decorating With Vintage Ornaments
I love vintage ornaments. Sometimes I'm drawn by a sense of nostalgia or just the pure "glitzyness" of the piece.
Just this week I picked up two handmade cardboard houses that were decorated with fabric. Since the fabric was from the 70s, I'm guessing these houses are at least 35 years old. I imagine a mother and her children sitting around the kitchen table trying to create Christmas decore with whatever scraps they could find and these charmers were the result.
I just can't resist those Shiny Brites! Like an eighty-year old former showgirl, some may think they are past their prime, but I think they still pack plenty of glitz and glamour. Manufacturing of these beauties began in 1939. They were inexpensive drugstore purchases, but the gorgeous wear and patina as well as the charming images on many are difficult to duplicate and make them highly collectible. They are also very fragile, which makes it important for me to keep replenishing my supply. I will often group the bulbs by color and put them into beautiful crystal bowls. Some of the more unique bulbs get a place of honor on my gold wire tree.
Finally, there are the cherished antique Victorian ornaments. Many of today's designs are exact replicas of these gorgeous works of art. Finding and purchasing an original one of these is difficult and costly, but worth it!
Look beyond the seasonal displays at department stores. Check your parent's or grandparent's attic for these vintage treasures and add a little history and personality to your Christmas decor.
Here are a few vintage items currently in my etsy shop....
Just this week I picked up two handmade cardboard houses that were decorated with fabric. Since the fabric was from the 70s, I'm guessing these houses are at least 35 years old. I imagine a mother and her children sitting around the kitchen table trying to create Christmas decore with whatever scraps they could find and these charmers were the result.
I just can't resist those Shiny Brites! Like an eighty-year old former showgirl, some may think they are past their prime, but I think they still pack plenty of glitz and glamour. Manufacturing of these beauties began in 1939. They were inexpensive drugstore purchases, but the gorgeous wear and patina as well as the charming images on many are difficult to duplicate and make them highly collectible. They are also very fragile, which makes it important for me to keep replenishing my supply. I will often group the bulbs by color and put them into beautiful crystal bowls. Some of the more unique bulbs get a place of honor on my gold wire tree.
Finally, there are the cherished antique Victorian ornaments. Many of today's designs are exact replicas of these gorgeous works of art. Finding and purchasing an original one of these is difficult and costly, but worth it!
Look beyond the seasonal displays at department stores. Check your parent's or grandparent's attic for these vintage treasures and add a little history and personality to your Christmas decor.
Here are a few vintage items currently in my etsy shop....
Sunday, December 13, 2009
What's in a Frame?
Great frames are always a good buy. I found these two gold frames for less than $10 a piece. They would probably set me back a couple of hundred dollars at a frame shop. Since I collect art and antique prints, I know I will eventually find the perfect piece for each of them.
But frames can have many uses besides their intended one. How about getting a piece of plywood cut to fit the frame (most home supply stores will cut it for free) and painting it with chalkboard paint like the one pictured below? This was an old mirror that the owners found on Craigslist and repurposed. ( I found this one on DesignSponge.)
But frames can have many uses besides their intended one. How about getting a piece of plywood cut to fit the frame (most home supply stores will cut it for free) and painting it with chalkboard paint like the one pictured below? This was an old mirror that the owners found on Craigslist and repurposed. ( I found this one on DesignSponge.)
Another use is attaching corkboard to make a bulletin board worthy of keeping out in the open. This one is from Pottery Barn.
When you repurpose a frame you are not only helping the environment by recycling, but you are adding beauty and character to your home.
I'll let you know what happens with the two frames I found in a future blog.
Monday, December 7, 2009
To Kindle Or Not To Kindle
I love books. I could spend hours in a library or bookstore just browsing through one section. I’m not a literary snob. I love Jane Austen, John Irving, and Dr. Suess with equal passion. I’m attracted to cover art as much as the story and I always have to read the first page to decide if it’s worth my time. So in my quests to find treasures, I often find myself buying books more than anything else. I love the rough-edged pages and old, gilt ones, the leather bound poetry books of the late 19th century and the graphic appeal of the mid-20th century illustrations. I love the smell of inked pages and the appeal of fingerprints and personal inscriptions .
No one can deny the importance of books. From the Bible to a bedtime story, they are a part of our identity. There was a point in time when one’s entire education was based on the size of the library of books they acquired. It was a ticket out of oppression and a window to other worlds. Books have been burned in protest and their contents have been the fuel for wars.
So what will become of the book? All across the nation and I’m assuming, the world, little book stores have closed their doors in favor of the big chains like Barnes and Noble and Borders. But how long will these stores be around? Producing books is costly and, to many, wasteful. So with the advent of technology that allows you, for a small fee, to upload a book, magazine, or even a newspaper at home as easily as while flying 15,000 feet in the air, how long before the book as we know it becomes obsolete? Amazon allows you to store your virtual library indefinitely, allowing a lifetime of books to be contained on one small handheld space.
For me nothing will replace the feel of a book in my hands and the satisfaction of seeing the bookmark in the last page read. Whether I race to end of the book or linger on the last few pages I love to look at my books. I’ve kept and collected books that have particularly made an impact on me in hopes of giving them to my girls one day. Sometimes I leave art books laying around in hopes that one of them will start thumbing through it. How many times have you read a book on impulse? What will happen to the spontaneity of reading?
And, truly, is better than having your child pull his favorite book from the shelf yet again revealing pages with worn edges and scribble marks. It draws me back to my own childhood when I open one of my favorites and see the large block print of my name carefully drawn on the front page by my 6-year-old hand. This just doesn’t work on a hard, cold technological tool.
Still, you can’t stop progress. I guess at some point the book itself was a technological revolution. The oral stories became the written word, individual book-making became large scale printing. I know that I will continue to buy books at my local shop, one of the few still thriving, and continue to rescue old books to be preserved. But I know too that eventually the lure of the kindle will win out.
I just hope that there will always be enough room for technology and tradition in our future.
No one can deny the importance of books. From the Bible to a bedtime story, they are a part of our identity. There was a point in time when one’s entire education was based on the size of the library of books they acquired. It was a ticket out of oppression and a window to other worlds. Books have been burned in protest and their contents have been the fuel for wars.
So what will become of the book? All across the nation and I’m assuming, the world, little book stores have closed their doors in favor of the big chains like Barnes and Noble and Borders. But how long will these stores be around? Producing books is costly and, to many, wasteful. So with the advent of technology that allows you, for a small fee, to upload a book, magazine, or even a newspaper at home as easily as while flying 15,000 feet in the air, how long before the book as we know it becomes obsolete? Amazon allows you to store your virtual library indefinitely, allowing a lifetime of books to be contained on one small handheld space.
For me nothing will replace the feel of a book in my hands and the satisfaction of seeing the bookmark in the last page read. Whether I race to end of the book or linger on the last few pages I love to look at my books. I’ve kept and collected books that have particularly made an impact on me in hopes of giving them to my girls one day. Sometimes I leave art books laying around in hopes that one of them will start thumbing through it. How many times have you read a book on impulse? What will happen to the spontaneity of reading?
And, truly, is better than having your child pull his favorite book from the shelf yet again revealing pages with worn edges and scribble marks. It draws me back to my own childhood when I open one of my favorites and see the large block print of my name carefully drawn on the front page by my 6-year-old hand. This just doesn’t work on a hard, cold technological tool.
Still, you can’t stop progress. I guess at some point the book itself was a technological revolution. The oral stories became the written word, individual book-making became large scale printing. I know that I will continue to buy books at my local shop, one of the few still thriving, and continue to rescue old books to be preserved. But I know too that eventually the lure of the kindle will win out.
I just hope that there will always be enough room for technology and tradition in our future.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Generation X--Technologically Delayed
Let's go back to 1982. I was 10 years old. I was considered the family dishwasher and the remote control. "Gina, can you get up and change the channel?" We got reception on 8 TV channels on a good day, and most of them were in color. Our telephone was corded and had a rotary dial. Answering machines were new. There were tv ads for fancy recordings like the new rap-inspired, "Wait for the beep, You gotta leave your name, You gotta leave your number, Just wait for the beep..." , but most of my friends didn't own one. My parents warned me to always have a dime on hand so, in case of an emergency, I could make a phone call from a pay phone. VCRs were available for rent for a hefty fee and I got to play this new game called Nintendo at my friend Laurie's house.
Now I'm not recalling this as a "woe is me", but just to illustrate how much technology has changed since I was a kid. In high school, we would see the first cell phones on movies about high-powered stock brokers and I do recall taking a computer-programming class. We had to use words like "Rem", "Dos", and "Log". I think I used my program to add two numbers together and get the correct sum (Couldn't we use a calculator for that?). By college, we needed to hand in our assignments "printed out" using a computer in the computer lab and voice mail was a part of daily life.
8 years ago, when I left my teaching career to care for my daughter, I felt up to speed. I had taken technology courses so I could do a PowerPoint presentation, use Word and the internet. I was ahead of the curve because I used a software program to calculate my grades and created a PowerPoint presentation for Parent Night.
These days, I don't go long without logging into Facebook or checking my email and I ALWAYS have my cellphone (in case of an emergency). I frequently use my computer for research, to make purchases, to buy and sell on Ebay and Etsy, but somehow I feel out of touch. Like, for the first time, I'm really getting old.
For the most part, our parents' generation is either nearing retirement or has "underlings" to do the tech-stuff for them, but we Gen-Xers must grow and change or be left in the dust of the 20-somethings, unable to compete. As an entrepreneur, I am forced to become comfortable with Blogging, Twitter, Flickr, and My Space or become as obsolete as typewriters (yes, we used to use those, too).
My 24-year-old sister's i-phone is a permanent appendage and she is fearless with her "Tweets" and posts. I, alas, find myself reading up on 'how-to' instead of diving in. This marketing of oneself is somewhat overwhelming. I read this past week that you should own your name on the web, like "JaneDoe.com" so you can be the master of your "online image". Online image??? See, and I was brought up to believe a firm handshake and good eye contact were what made a good impression. Is "Tweeting" the handshake of this generation and Flickr the eye contact? I don't know. And, is it authentic to do these things or just shameless self-promotion? I don't know the answer to that either.
But, here I am, blogging, of all things---so maybe this Gen-Xer has a few tales yet to tell. I may be a little behind, but I think slow and steady still wins the race, right???
Now I'm not recalling this as a "woe is me", but just to illustrate how much technology has changed since I was a kid. In high school, we would see the first cell phones on movies about high-powered stock brokers and I do recall taking a computer-programming class. We had to use words like "Rem", "Dos", and "Log". I think I used my program to add two numbers together and get the correct sum (Couldn't we use a calculator for that?). By college, we needed to hand in our assignments "printed out" using a computer in the computer lab and voice mail was a part of daily life.
8 years ago, when I left my teaching career to care for my daughter, I felt up to speed. I had taken technology courses so I could do a PowerPoint presentation, use Word and the internet. I was ahead of the curve because I used a software program to calculate my grades and created a PowerPoint presentation for Parent Night.
These days, I don't go long without logging into Facebook or checking my email and I ALWAYS have my cellphone (in case of an emergency). I frequently use my computer for research, to make purchases, to buy and sell on Ebay and Etsy, but somehow I feel out of touch. Like, for the first time, I'm really getting old.
For the most part, our parents' generation is either nearing retirement or has "underlings" to do the tech-stuff for them, but we Gen-Xers must grow and change or be left in the dust of the 20-somethings, unable to compete. As an entrepreneur, I am forced to become comfortable with Blogging, Twitter, Flickr, and My Space or become as obsolete as typewriters (yes, we used to use those, too).
My 24-year-old sister's i-phone is a permanent appendage and she is fearless with her "Tweets" and posts. I, alas, find myself reading up on 'how-to' instead of diving in. This marketing of oneself is somewhat overwhelming. I read this past week that you should own your name on the web, like "JaneDoe.com" so you can be the master of your "online image". Online image??? See, and I was brought up to believe a firm handshake and good eye contact were what made a good impression. Is "Tweeting" the handshake of this generation and Flickr the eye contact? I don't know. And, is it authentic to do these things or just shameless self-promotion? I don't know the answer to that either.
But, here I am, blogging, of all things---so maybe this Gen-Xer has a few tales yet to tell. I may be a little behind, but I think slow and steady still wins the race, right???
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