Mitzi's Collectibles Blog

An Easy Project with Reproduced Vintage Coffee Labels

I'd like to start off the week with an easy craft project using reproduced vintage coffee sack labels.  I'm giving you three examples, which you can click on, save, and print out for your own use.  I have an extensive stash of great vintage advertising and other ephemera, and it's nice to share once in a while!

Here is the first coffee sack label for you to use:

 
I highly recommend using a laser printer.  If you have an ink jet printer like I do, just take the printed image to Staples or FedEx/Kinkos and copy it on their high quality color copier.

Now find some containers that look worthy of up-cycling.  I look around at flea markets and garage sales for tin boxes, my favorite base for this type of project.  Glass jars can also be used, or wood boxes or canisters.  Of course, if you can't find something vintage, a trip to the craft store might be in order.

Prepare the surface by washing the metal or glass and painting the wood if you wish.  With new wood, you will want to sand it first, remove the dust with a tack cloth, coat it with craft paint and let dry.  You'll notice the grain will have raised up in some areas after the first coat of paint.  Now you need to sand it a second time, then apply a second coat of paint. Let dry.  If you need a third coat (red pigment often needs a third coat), go ahead and do that.

Cut out the label and coat the back with Mod Podge (I use the matte version) using a sponge brush. Position the label where you would like it, and smooth it out with a brayer to get out any lumps or air bubbles. Coat the top of the label with Mod Podge.  If your project is on a glass container, clean the edges with a slightly damp paper towel.

After an hour or so, when dry, give it a second coat of Mod Podge.

If your container is glass, you can clean it further when dry with a razor blade.  Carefully scrape around the edges of the label so it looks neat.

 

Besides using your container for coffee storage, consider using it as a planter, craft materials storage, or gift "basket".  You could fill it with coffee related accoutrement and present it to a most grateful recipient! 

My tin example is filled with greenery from my garden.  I just put a plastic drinking glass full of water inside to function as a vase and prevent the metal from getting wet.

Here's the last label you can use for your own wonderful project!

 

If you complete your own version, I'd love to see a picture of it, so consider sending the image to me at mitziscollectibles@comcast.net

Have fun!

Mitzi

Mitzi's May Minutia

I'm gearing up for a big post this weekend, so I want to slide in a couple little things here.  First, I'd like to share this lovely graphic image from a book cover.  You can click on the image and download it to use for a Mother's Day craft project of your own:

 

For a long time my Facebook page has been getting as much attention as last year's bird nest.  Now I'm really trying to jump in with both feet and get some connections made, both on my personal page and business page.  I really had no idea how much fun it would be, and although it's another time-consuming activity, I'll go anywhere to share my passion for antiques, so I'll be a fixture on Facebook from now on.  So thanks, Mark Zuckerberg, for coming up with the whole idea in the first place!

 

Perhaps some of you have noticed that I haven't been posting quite as often as I used to.  This has not been due to burnout, lack of motivation, or a dearth of ideas.  Quite the contrary!  Actually, I just finished a four-credit technology class that was extremely challenging for me, requiring lots of time on the computer, and I just had to reduce some of my blogging time.  Now I can get back to my normal blogging routine, which has been about two posts a week, so thanks for bearing with me. 

The clock face image might be useful to you in some way, so go ahead and grab it!

 

My recent projects have included a large wholesale order of wallpaper bracelets for a new customer that is quite enthusiastic about selling them in her boutique.  If you are interested in a wholesale order, please contact me directly (my wholesale orders don't go through Etsy).  All my brass bracelet blanks are made in the USA, by the way, and the wallpapers are from my collection of beautiful vintage papers.

 

 

Soon to be listed on Etsy are these "End of the Day" bracelets I made with some carved Victorian-era mother of pearl buttons paired with newer resin cabochons.  Once again, whenever I use newer findings, I search for "made in the USA" pieces.  This isn't always easy, believe me.  I order many things from B'Sue's Boutique, a wholesale jewelry supplier who specializes in USA-made findings.

 

 

I should explain why I call my bracelets "End of the Day" bracelets.  Years ago, glassmakers used to take all the bits of glass left at the end of the day and melt them together, creating colorful ware they called "End of the Day Glass".  You will find lampwork beads, vases, and paperweights in this style, like the vase I found on eBay (below).  I thought my bracelets looked like whatever I had left over on my work table at the end of the day.

 

After the longest, dreariest, coldest Michigan springs on record, today we finally got a break.  I hope this continues through the weekend here, and wherever you are too!

 

 

Sometimes It's Hard To Be A Woman

To paraphrase Tammy Wynette's 1975 hit "Stand by Your Man",  sometimes it's hard to be a woman.  Or maybe it should be sometimes it WAS hard to be a woman.  Especially when you have a chance to get a glimpse of what life was like for women back in our mother's, grandmother's or even great-grandmother's heyday.  Oh, it's easily to romanticize those simpler times, but there are always two sides to every coin, and for the purposes of this post, I'm only looking at the "tails" side. 

What got me started on this topic was this little periodical from 1951 titled "Woman's Life".  I was struck by the sad looking graphic of the woman's face on the cover, and then when I read the featured articles I realized why she looked so glum:

 

I realize that the end of World War II was a huge transition for women in the U.S., because they had been holding down jobs in factories and now, with the men returning back home, they were expected to go back to their kitchens and get cookin', raise up some kids and keep their house spic and span, all the while looking like they were ready to go to church or a cocktail party once they took off their apron.

 

Of course, there were some that pursued nursing, teaching, and secretarial work, which were considered acceptable professions for women. 

 

Having a career and a family were pretty much mutually exclusive activities, though. Once a woman married, it was back to the laundry room for her!

 

Luckily there were modern appliances that made household duties easier, like this Lovell laundry wringer:

 

The woman in the ad looks pretty darn happy with her Lovell '77:

 

It makes me wonder how many women toiled away in their homes, forever wringing laundry without ever finding a creative outlet or something that they were passionate about.....

 

Once the bloom of youth was gone, women weren't considered good marriage material, and were destined to become "old maids", or "spinsters".

 

Women were depicted in magazines from the mid-twentieth century as being primarily responsible for the success or failure of their marriages.  Thank goodness there were companies that provided special potions and medications that would lend a helping hand when wives experienced that not-so-fresh feeling!  To illustrate this point, allow me to share this ad from "Charm" magazine, September 1948 (you can click on the image to read the text easier):

 

 

Can you believe this?  Lysol?  I didn't make this up, I swear!

 

Lysol was so economical too!  One small bottle made four gallons of cleansing formula, enough for a woman to feel "dainty" every day!

Do you suppose poor hygiene was the reason married couples often slept in separate beds, like the setup shown below?

 

Sometimes it was hard to be a woman!  But things are much easier now, aren't they?  And we can all be thankful that Lysol has withdrawn themselves from the feminine hygiene business!

 

Can you think of any more examples why it was so hard to be a woman years ago?  I'd love to hear what you come up with!  In the meantime, I have a load of laundry to fold......

Mitzi 

Architectural and Decorative Images to Share

For something out of the ordinary, I thought I'd share some fabulous book plate images that I purchased a while back.  Sometimes old architecture and design can spark an idea or inspire one to create something unique and unusual.  Just looking at the intricate details and color combinations in these images gets my creative juices flowing.  See what happens as you absorb their beauty......

First we have intricate lace weaving and embroidery, the country and era of origin was not indicated on this book plate.  You should be able to "click" on this image to enlarge it and see all the wondrous details:

 

Next we have frou frou from the German Renaissance, which occurred in the 15th and 16th centuries.  The rather stiff looking woman in the picture below is holding a little dog, which makes her a little more appealing:

 

The next image, which I love, is titled "Polychrome Architecture".  Polychrome means "multiple colors".  Many of the ancient Greek structures were quite colorful when originally contsructed, contrary to the images we have now of bleached white marble ruins.  Even the Great Sphinx of Giza, in Egypt, was thought to be quite colorful when it was completed.  What color do you think it was?

 

Last but not least we have elaborate motifs of the French Renaissance, which would date these motifs to around the late 15th century to the early 17th century.  I should note that the book these images came from was published in the late 19th century:

 

Antiquarian book dealers cringe when they see gorgeous book plates such as these that have been removed from a book.  The book itself loses so much value without the colorful illustrated plates.  Many times you will see botanical drawings, zoological examples, and other illustrations that have been removed from books and are for sale individually, like my examples were, or framed so they can be enjoyed as wall art.  I suppose I've contributed to the problem by buying these, but it did it for you, so I hope that's a good enough reason.  I think it is.....

As long as I'm on the topic of books, you might want to learn more about book values, rarity, and ever-so-important condition issues.  This link will give you all sorts of information to get you up to speed before garage sale and flea market season begins.  Rare and valuable books can pop up anywhere, so it's good to have some knowledge in this area.  Right off the bat, I know that sets of encyclopedias and old bibles aren't valuable, for the most part.  This is a big disappointment to many, especially folks that have kept the old family bible in a place of reverence for generations.  To them I ask:  Why are you trying to sell it?  It needs to stay in your family, for Pete's sake!

Now that March is here, I'm getting into "buying mode".  There haven't been many good estate sales around here, but soon there will be a few to choose from each week.  And auctions will be more plentiful, which really makes me happy.  I love a good auction!

Don't forget, the Antiques Market of Williamston is having a March Madness Sale coming up March 26 (I erroneously announced it was March 5 in my last post, which has since been corrected).  The mall will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with 15% all merchandise, then from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. with 20% off all merchandise.  Take advantage of this opportunity if you can.  I've been loading up my booths in preparation for the big sale, and I'll definitely spend some time shopping too!!

My Funny Valentines

Aren't valentines fun?  Do you have fond memories of your mom buying you a pack of valentines to write out to your grade school classmates?  I remember sorting them into piles. There would be a pile of favorites, which would go to my girlfriends, and the ones I didn't like would go to the boys!

If you would like to learn a bit about vintage valentines, Syl Turner provides a great synopsis of their history.  I learned that there are a few basic kinds of valentines that appeal to collectors.  First, there are the Victorian 3-dimensional embossed and diecut beauties that were primarily made in Germany.  These were created in the 1880's and remained popular until the early 1900's, when "honeycomb paper puff" valentines came on the scene.  Around this time, penny cards were also very popular, and postcards with valentine themes were included in this grouping.  Then, we have the fairly self-explanatory "mechanicals", which I have included in this post. Syl also mentions "penny dreadfuls".  These were mean-spirited valentines that poked fun at overweight people, spinsters, and those that were less than attractive. Naturally, people dreaded receiving the nasty little cards.  Now these are popular with collectors, which isn't surprising.  I haven't ever come across a "penny dreadful", have you?

Today I'd like to share some of my valentines with you, girls and boys.  Most of my valentines are from the 1920's.  Artists from that era often created "googly-eye" kids and animals, which really appeal to my sense of whimsy.  The first several examples here are the mechanicals, with some sort of movable part, like the little swimmer below whose googly eyes move along with her arm:

 

I love this big moonface guy, who winks when you move his arm:

 

Here he is winking:

 

I can handle clowns in small doses, like the old-timey one below, riding on a cute elephant:

 

This valentine features a mail-clutching duck on a "pup delivery" vehicle:

 

This little guy is falling out of a tree while he and his girl are picking apples. Beautiful colors, no?

 

I love the sly look on this alligator.  When you move his tail, he opens his mouth.

 

The gator has a little heart in his mouth:

 

Many of these beautifully colored valentines were printed in Germany, who excelled in all aspects of lithography and produced the bulk of the gorgeous postcards from the turn of the century too: 

 

I'm not sure, but it seems that this little tot has baggies on his feet:

 

This cop doesn't seem to have all of his faculties:

 

This little gal's eyes can be moved by using her arm, to make her appear she's looking at her watch:

  

I love the way animals were depicted in this era.  Not too cartoonish (just think of Snoopy as a comparison).

 

For those of you that know about cars, you can probably date this valentine by the style of vehicle this couple is driving:

 

Something I've learned to look for at estate sales are bags or boxes of wrapping paper, ribbon, and other gifting accoutrements, like these embossed foil stickers from the 1960's:

 

The stickers above are all well and good, but the examples below are awesome and valuable:

 

These are beautifully printed, heavily embossed foil labels, circa 1920.  I've seen packages of these sell on eBay for over $100!

 

They almost look like metal plaques, don't they?

 

The old honeycomb fold-out valentines still amuse me.  A lot of them from the 1920's or so have tissue that's faded from bright red to an orange/red color, which is unfortunate:

 

l dug up a couple Valentine's Day postcards to put in my antique mall booths.  I especially love the little cupid sitting in his office chair below left:

 
I'm working on a couple valentine-related craft projects this month, which I will post before the 14th.  I've had lots of time to work on my projects, since we've been snowed in the last few days.

Mitzi

Copycat Crafts: Framing Vintage Typography

Have you ever visited a site called Copycat Crafts?  They are pretty darn clever over there, let me tell you!  The whole premise of "copycatting" is finding a cool projects from Pottery Barn, Anthropologie, or Ballard Designs catalog and making your own version of them.  Copying the original craft project of other bloggers is a touchy subject, but I think most of us agree that copying items from an expensive catalog or shop is OK.

I was all excited to copy Pottery Barn Catalog's framed typography and submit my project to Copycat Crafts until I popped over there and found someone else had already been there, done that.  So now I ask you:  Is it OK to copy a copycatter?  And if so, shall we agree that if you copy the double copycatter (me) we wouldn't even call it copying anymore, but rather "reproducing", which sounds a heck of a lot better.

When I came upon a book full of various examples of the alphabet I became giddy with excitement.  My initial thought was to scan each page into my computer for future use, such as framing several examples and getting them up on a wall, but I didn't get around to it until I saw the Pottery Barn catalog and it jogged my memory. 

 

I took a couple of the examples of the "Ornamental Alphabets" and printed them on cream card stock, then framed them in simple document frames.  Let me stop here and do a mini product review.  Because I didn't have the proper size vintage document frames, I purchased some at Hobby Lobby for half off.  Originally $7.99, these frames were flimsy and just plain cheap.  Called "floating frames", I thought they would consist of two pieces of glass, but actually they were one piece of glass and one plastic..  I wouldn't recommend them, especially at full price.  Michael's didn't offer anything much better.  I purchased a three-pack of simple document frames and when I got home, the center frame in the package had broken glass.  The glass was very thin, and the "frame" was plastic. 

Isn't this 17th Century alphabet beautiful? 

 

I hope you are inspired to frame a couple of these beautiful examples, like this "Rustic" text, which might look good in someones man cave:

 

Or how about "Letters Varously Shaded":

 

One more example is this XVIth Century alphabet:

 

I'm not sure where my framed typography will be hung permanently, but for now I've made a little vignette in a corner of the master bedroom:

 

 My last shot is the victim of over-cropping, but you get the idea:

 

 I hope you are inspired to print out the vintage typography examples and frame them up yourself!

Holiday Postcard Images for Your Crafting Pleasure

Today I have several beautiful postcard images to share with you, all with my blessing to save and print for use in your own Christmas or New Year craft projects.  I own these postcards, but reproducing the images is totally legal, so don't feel guilty.  Any postcard first published in the U. S. before 1978 without an explicit copyright notice is considered "public domain" art (aka "up for grabs").

I introduced some cool postcard images and history in my post The Beauty of Antique Postcards before, and touched on the collectability of postcards, especially those with art work by coveted artists such as Ellen H. Clapsaddle, who specialized in adorable children like these:

 

Part of what makes antique collecting so fascinating to me is the discovery of the story behind the object or art work, giving you a greater appreciation of the item.  The story of Ellen H. Clapsaddle is one example.  She was sort of the Mary Engelbreit of her day.  I guarantee if you read this short bio of her, you will be astonished at her life story and how cruel life was to her. 

Can you make out Ms.Clapsaddle's name, in light script at the bottom of the twig in the postcard below?

 

If you've been focusing on Christmas crafts, consider folks that might appreciate a New Year greeting or banner for their mantle as a nice gift, because after all, not everyone celebrates Christmas.  New Year's Day is a perfectly neutral holiday that we can all celebrate, is it not?

I love the gathering of winter birds depicted in the postcard below, with clever layers of texture and color just crying out for someone to imitate in their own paper craft project:

 

Wow, I'm sorry I missed this bold and beatiful heavily embossed postcard back in January 2010, when it would have been more appreciated!  So this is what a New Year's card looked like about 100 years ago.  And what were people writing about back then?  Well, if you flip these cards over they say stuff like "Cold here, hope you have a Happy New Year, Love Florence and Bertrand".

 

Now this next beautifully embossed postcard is a little more subdued.  I love the touches of gold metallic ink:

 

Another lovely image, with a clock face, red roses and white doves.  The words "A Happy New Year" are a little hard to notice at the bottom.  I'm thinking this image could be used any time of the year, perhaps with someone's birthday in place of "January 1", and the message erased:

 

Artwork from this Golden Age of Postcards (1898 to 1918) was clever and colorful.  This petal-covered clock is a good example:

 

The image of a stork delivering this baby in 1910 is so convincing, it's made me a convert from the cabbage patch theory.  Here the new delivery and stork are giving Father Time the boot.  I love the dark night sky with golden stars, moon, and the planet Jupiter.  The gold ink is difficult to see, but at the bottom is the missive "New Year Greetings":

 

Next we have two lovely winter bird images and very peaceful, subtle New Year wishes:

 

When I look at images like these, I wonder if we appreciate the same things people appreciated 100 years ago?  The world is so different now, but don't we still see the beauty of a peaceful town covered in snow, or a colorful bird perched in a pine tree?

 

Last up we have the always-popular angel image.  This could be used in many ways, for Christmas or year round, all-purpose angel representation.  Once again, the missive at the bottom is hard to read, as it was printed with silver ink.  It says "A Joyous New Year":

 

So there you go, some interesting art, a fascinating artist, a little history, and thought provoking images brought to you from a handful of antique postcards.  If you took the time to read about Ms. Clapsaddle, as I know many of you did, I'd love to hear your reaction to her story if you care to comment.

Mitzi

Snuggle Up With Mother Goose

I love vintage children's books, sometimes because of the illustrations, sometimes for the opportunity to reminisce and recall an old story or tale from my childhood.  My favorite little book when I was a kid happened to be "The Wuggly Ump", by Edward Gorey, a story I was both attracted to and terrified by.  I remember seeing the book lying on a table in our house, afraid to even open it and view the terrifying illustrations:

At the end of the book, the children in the story are eaten by the Wuggly Ump, and are depicted inside of his stomach.  That used to completely freak me out!

Now, Mother Goose often brings up warm fuzzy memories, although most of us can recall a nursery rhyme that includes a little violence or something sinister going on too.  Maybe that's what makes a memorable children's tale: a spoon full of sugar, a little dollop of terror.  I've come across enough Mother Goose stories to prove this point in my piles of vintage books.  So snuggle up with Mother Goose, boys and girls!  Nobody said life is always carefree.

Her Introduction is innocuous enough:

First, Mother Goose serves up a cautionary tale about our feathered friends.  Apparently, even a small bird can alter your facial features if you don't watch out:

 

Losing one's nose is nothing compared to complete decapitation, which may occur if you don't pay your debtors:

 

A lot of animals and one unfortunate butcher had to be sacrificed just to get an old woman home in this charming tale:

 

 

Although I often do chores on Saturday, apparently Mother Goose takes a very dim view of those of us that do our laundry on the weekend:

Now that I've been called a Saturday Laundry Slut by Mother Goose, the gloves are off!  Mother Goose, will you please explain the purpose of the Death and Burial of Cock Robin?  Are you trying to encourage safe archery practices?  What a morose tale.  Is this really something we all need to hear about?

  

It goes on and on, but I'm sure you get the idea......

And what about poor Solomon Grundy, another story of a doomed newlywed?  Was that tale really necessary?

 

Here were have a short poem about a catastrophic fire with one survivor:  I'm not sure hiding under a pudding pan should be recommended to impressionable tots:

 

You've also reminded us to stop lending out our pets for transportation.  Thanks.

 

And what about "Little Tee Wee"?  Do you think the conjuring up an image of a boy drowning in a defective boat is a way to lull children to sleep?

 

Mother Goose, are you suggesting that it is OK to trip someone who clearly has a disability?  Where's the moral in "As I Was Going to Sell My Eggs"?

I always knew geese could be snippy, but apparently they can shake us and throw us down the stairs if they get irritated enough:

What child in their right mind would want to hear "Bye, Baby Bumpkin" right before they go to sleep?  Is terrorizing tiny tots worth it, just to warn them about eating pumpkin?

Bye, baby bumpkin
Where’s Tony Lumpkin
My lady’s on her death-bed,
For eating half a pumpkin

Even the illustrations in" Mother Goose Rhymes and Jingles" are disturbing.  Here's a depiction of a broken Humpty Dumpty after his historic fall, being scooped up by a shovel in an attempt to get him in a sitting position:

And thanks to you, Mother Goose, mothers all over the world have been scaring the beejeebers out of their kids with "Rock a Bye Baby" for generations.  If you were trying to instill a fear of heights in us all, then you were successful:

 

In "Taffy Was a Welshman", Mother Goose seems to be a proponent of vigilante justice:

 

And last but not least, "A Man of Words" will illustrate my point perfectly:  Mother Goose is a sadistic old biddy who has it out for humans and animals alike!

Beatings, drowning, stabbing, decapitation, falling, animal abuse, nose removal, and good old-fashioned name-calling.  Mother Goose has it all!

I rest my case!

Mitzi

Fascinating Books & Halloween Art

Have you noticed how popular old books are right now?  They seem to be coming out of the woodwork, or at least out of the library, and are showing up as props and accents all over the place.  I have a particular affinity for embossed cover books.  These Collier's Encyclopedias are right up my alley:

 

Another embossed cover book that intrigued me recently is "I Dare You", a book that was written for the young up-and-comers in the business world.  Think of the young males in "Mad Men".  It dares readers to be adventurous, take chances in life, and most importantly, stand up straight!

The author is so irritated by slouching office-mates that he states "I feel like yanking him up by the back of the neck" when a man dares to slide down in his office chair.

I like the colorful touches on the cover of "Stepping Heavenward".

Next we have Five Hundred Fascinating Animal Stories.  I love everything about this book cover.  The golden letters, the deep green background, the picture of the leopard.  And best of all, it's "Profusely Illustrated"!

Next we have a booklet from the past that should be relevant today:  "Hundreds of Useful Ideas to Save Money", brought to you by Popular Mechanics Press.

The flipside touts a book titled "The Boy Mechanic", and exclaims "It's Fun to Make Things".  I agree one hundred percent!  The picture on the book cover shows a father and son working on a ship model, and an explanation of the goings-on: "A Father Wins Back His Son".

When I saw this book, I was excited to learn some money-saving ideas and share them with my blog readers.  Well, I couldn't find much of anything relevant to today's lifestyle.  Therefore, I will show you some of the odd ideas in this out-of-date book. 

First off, let's check out this helpful hint regarding food grinding.  The fellow holding the spoon looks so serious....and why would you wear a white shirt and tie when you grind meat?

Now we have a way of securing valuables when we go swimming:  Sewing a small purse hidden behind a headband!  This is just crazy enough that it might work....but that's a pretty small purse, and I'm wondering what valuables one could really fit in there.  And where does one get "oiled silk"?:

 
Hey, now here's a tip that's helpful for those of you that are nearsighted, and lose your glasses:  Cut a piece of cardboard  and insert a pin through it to hold in front of one eye, like a monocle.  I'm sure you won't feel strange at all at the job interview with your cardboard monocle!  Next to the Pinhole Monocle, there's an even more helpful tip for picnickers:  Use an inverted umbrella hung on a tree limb to hold your garments.  In the picture below, the umbrella looks overloaded to me and in danger of collapsing on top of the little girl.  I'd recommend leaving your extra garments in the car..... 

The pumpkin-colored "Lessons on the Human Body", written in 1884 covers three important topics:  Physiology, Hygeine, and Narcotics.

Here we have a splendid graphic of a male skeleton, perfect for a Halloween art project (um, I think he's slouching a bit, don't you?)

I love the fact that the book supplies a back view of the skeleton too.  I made some tags last year that had the two views of the skeleton on them, front and back. 

Another frightful graphic from the book shows what a woman's torso looks like after years of wearing the fashionable "tight stays", the bones within the laceup corsets that were so popular at the time:

As long as we're on the topic of internal organs and such, let's have a look at this ad for the ever-popular Carter's Little Liver Pills.  This little ad is packed with info!  I didn't know that the liver should pour two pints of bile juice into the bowels every day.  I'll spare you some of the gory details, but the result of a tired liver is that age-old bugaboo, constipation.  And we know what that leads to:  You feel sour, sunk, and the world looks punk!

Wishing all of you wide-awake liver bile this weekend,

Mitzi

Bold Images From A Great Era: Art Deco

The Art Deco era, roughly the 1920's through the 1930's, was full of bold art and design, and I'd like to share a few images with you today to prove that point.

The box below is for hankies, believe it or not, and the hankies inside were quite blah compared to the box art.  This image is psychedelic, way before the psychedelic 1960's.  Bright red sky?  How unique!  I especially love the tree:

Next we have a box for a simple hair curler, with art that would tempt any young lady that desires to be elegant and beautiful.  During the Deco era, the "Marcelle" hairdo was in vogue, and the Duro box depicts the Marcelle waves and spitcurls:

 

An elegant flapper girl image from a Chesterfield Cigarettes magazine ad.  I suppose if you couldn't get your hair to cooperate enough to achieve a Marcelle, you could plop on a cloche hat and still look fabulous:

And here's something for the kids, Jumping Joan, which is the cover art for a book of nursery rhymes.  I like the candles used to light the stage, and the black cat and dog watching Joan jump.

Last we have this gorgeous cover art for People's Popular Monthly magazine, November 1930.  Once again, the colors are vibrant and rich, and I love idea the art conveys, two generations of women busily working on their project.  I hope you can share this image with a quilter or needlework enthusiast, or does this spark an idea for a craft project of your own?

 

I'm Going to Have a Very Vintage Summer

What are your summer plans?  I'm spending time with family, first by traveling to Florida to visit my parents, then hosting my in-laws at our house.  As I was pondering how to construct this post, I decided to weave in some cool graphics as I write about my plans to live a very vintage summer.  You can use the graphics in your own art by clicking on the images and printing them out.

While I'm in Florida, I'll be sure to send the folks back home some postcards:

It's possible we might drive to Chicago, and instead of using my husband's GPS system, I'm going to insist that we use only vintage maps, like this Sinclair Gasoline map:

 If we need to contact someone, I'm going to send a Postal Telegraph instead of using my cell phone!

 When relatives gather, we might have a good time playing a card game.  I'm not sure if I have a complete deck of these animal cards, but maybe we can make something up:

 

Between visits with family, we have a list of home improvement projects to tackle.  I need to find a new floor covering for our living room......maybe this rug will fit the bill.  I really like the price!

Our kitchen needs a new look too.  I'd love to try a vintage linoleum in a fancy design.  If I could only choose from these beautiful patterns:

My husband does the lawn mowing, and for good reason.  I'm going to insist that he use a vintage lawn mower this summer, like the one pictured below:

I might need to consult the experts before I consider freezing food, so this booklet will come in handy.  And when I do housework, I'll be sure to wear a tight fitting dress, a ruffly apron, and high heels:

I've always wanted to make my own ice cream, the perfect summer treat.  Perhaps one trick to making great frozen treats is Jell-O Ice Cream Powder: 

My Jell-O recipe book was written in 1920.  I love the cover illustration:

Yes, Jell-O made something called "Ice Cream Powder" that you added to cream.  It's going to be hard to find, but I know there's some out there.  I'll need to have enough frozen treats on hand to serve to my girlfriends, who might like to have a refreshing cold treat after swimming and sunbathing:

I hope you can have a Very Vintage Summer too!

Mitzi 

Cheerful Springtime Blog Post

Here in Michigan, it has been dreary, gray, and the rain has really been pouring down intermittently today.  The weather, coupled with my last blog post about the untimely death of a beautiful young woman, has gotten me in a bit of a funk that I want to snap out of before the weekend!  I though I'd throw together a post with some cheerful images of things I love.

What's cuter than Shirley Temple?  I can't think of anything!  I purchased some Shirley paper dolls which you might be able to print out and use in your art somehow, or just enjoy her adorable little face!

An uplifting activity for a rainy day would be to go to the Sun Theatre to see Bye Bye Birdie or the Flower Drum Song.  I love old musicals!  These colorful theater posters I picked up at an antique store are really fun.  They show how frequently a small town, single-screen theater changed movies back in the day (1961, to be exact).  They also note "in color" after many of the titles.  Color was a big deal back then!
 

One reason I like these posters so much is they remind me of my days in "show business", when I was a teenager.  I worked at two old-time downtown movie theaters all through high school and college.  I loved working at the theater!   Most of the time I was the popcorn lady, but I also worked the little ticket booth occasionally. 

How about some hot popcorn, Twizzlers, and "Flower Drum Song"?

Did you notice the blue and white letter "N" behind my posters?  These old letters came from a Detroit theater marquee.  I had about 12 of them and have sold all but one on Etsy.  They are so cool!  Can you imagine what one would look like with a light behind it?  The white insert was actually glass, although some had been replaced with Plexiglass. 

Acquiring a new yoyo quilt is a sure-fire mood elevator.  The one pictured below I purchased on eBay, and required quite a bit of hand sewing by me to secure some loose yoyos.  I have to give credit to the maker of this colorful piece for selecting great fabric and making a nice design, but she was a little lax in her sewing skills!

All of my goods get inspected by one of my crew, who have been trained not to step on things as you can see below:

Maybe a springtime "chapeau" would lift my spirits.  The little whimsical hat below is actually called a "fascinator".  Suddenly, fascinators seem to be very popular, both vintage and new versions people are creating.  I don't know how you could wear this around town without smiling!  There's kind of a woodland pixie kind of thing going on with this example:

 

Nothing lifts my mood better than a big, messy craft project.  I've got several in the works right now that I will be posting about this month.  While I'm away from my craft room, I have this charming pair of teddies watch over my stuff.  Old teddy bears are so lovable:

Back in March, I posted about my fabric flower brooches that were so enjoyable to make.  This month, I got out my stash of felt and tried my hand at Betz White's directions for making felt flower brooches.  I put my own twist on her version by using some vintage earrings and buttons as centers for some of them:

 

So, this post has turned into kind of a "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" composition, and just like in The Sound of Music, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad.  And what do you know, the sky is beginning to lighten up around here......

 
 

Kwik Kewpie Krafting Using Decoupage

Do you tend to accumulate unused craft supplies like I do?  II happen to have a stash of wood plaques of all shapes and sizes, mostly unpainted, some left over from craft projects that never came to fruition.  One of my favorite shapes is the oval, and I've been waiting to find an image or collage composition that would look attractive on my oval plaques, which I plan to use as doorknob hangers.  At Mitzi's Collectibles, we believe that no interior doorknob should go undecorated!

As you can see, I also like to have some sugary treats on hand when I work on a project!  So after having these plaques in the back of my mind just about long enough, I came across some flamingo pink Kewpie wrapping paper for sale at an antique mall for $5.00.  Right away I knew I'd find several uses for the images, the first of which would be getting the Kewpies onto those wooden plaques using the easiest method possible.....with decoupage!

Because the little wrapping paper Kewpie images were lacking in color, I added a touch of blue and green here and there to make sure their blue wings were visible and their floral bouquets had a little more zing.  After that, I knew I had to make a trip to Staples to use their laser color copier.  I have an inkjet copier at home, and inkjet images won't take kindly to decoupage glue, unless you treat them with spray fixative.  Today, I thought the laser copier was a better solution.  I also needed to enlarge the pictures to fit onto my plaques, so I took a plaque with me to Staples to get just the right fit.

In the picture below, you can see how much I had to enlarge the wrapping paper image:

 

Next, I had to paint the edges and back of my wood plaques.  These required about three coats of craft paint, with time in between coats to dry.  Using primer first might have been a good idea.....

Next  I coated the unpainted side of the plaque with Mod Podge (I chose the Satin version) using a foam brush, laid the Kewpie image on it, rolled over it with a brayer to make sure it was smooth, then applied another coat of Mod Podge.  Later, when the plaque was dry to the touch, I flipped it over and coated the painted side with Mod Podge too, so both sides had the same finish to them.

 

After everything was dry, I added some embellishments.  I decided the Kewpies' bouquets should stand out more, so I tried sticky backed rhinestones on one of them, and felt circles with little millinery blossoms glued to some of the others.

In the lower right corner of the picture below you can see I tried a little bit of paper doily and some tiny pom poms on one of the bouquets:

The final step involved attaching a hanger to the back.  I had some pink grosgrain ribbon that looked pretty nice, so I hot glued that to the back in a loop large enough to hang on a doorknob, then added a little gathered bit of tulle ribbon for more interest:

 
I shared the steps to this project just to give you an idea of how to use found images in decoupage art.  If you like Kewpies too, click on my wrapping paper image and print it out.  You might also find inspiration in saved greeting cards, vintage postcards, or something from a photo album (maybe a picture of a beloved pet?)  You might also look online at The Graphics Fairy, a wonderful source for vintage images.  Just use your imagination and some Mod Podge and off you go!

Happy Crafting,

Mitzi

Happy Easter From Mitzi's Collectibles

The weather here in Mid-Michigan couldn't be nicer....today it's supposed to reach 80 degrees!  That means that I will be starting on some outdoor projects that I've had lined up all winter.  I am treating myself to a one-hour, two-person cleaning by Molly Maids.  I just can't make time to clean my house when I have so many craft and antique-related projects going on.  I have priorities!

I can't let the Easter holiday go by without sharing some lovely old postcards with Easter themes.  I've found that Easter postcards are quite abundant, as compared to some other holidays like Halloween or Independence Day, and the colors are so fantastic.  I like the animals depicted too.  Over 100 years ago, the animals didn't have that cartoon/Disney/Hallmark cutesy-ness to them.  They looked more realistic, even when doing unrealistic-for-animals type activities, like a bunny pushing a cart.

Happy Easter, friends.  Have a safe weekend, if you are traveling, and be sure to take time to smell the daffodils!

Mitzi

Fun Reading From the Sickbed

Just as the weather was warming up, early bulb flowers beginning to bloom, I acquired some sort of nasty virus that laid me up for three days, the first two of which I couldn't sit upright long enough to check my e-mails or even read a magazine.  For me, that's bad.  But on the third day, I scooped myself out of bed and tried to get caught up on some reading.  I happened upon an old Harper's Monthly Magazine from November 1885, which served to remind me that I've gotten farther behind on my reading than I had originally thought. 

While reading, I came across an ad for Hale's Honey of Horehound and Tar, with the catchy tag line that reads:  "Wonderfully Remedial in all Cases Where the Organs of Respiration are Affected".  I've actually enjoyed horehound candy in the past, and I think if you want to give it a try you can probably pick some up at a Cracker Barrel restaurant.  As for the tar, well, wouldn't you just rather have a cough?

 

Next, without even Googling, I discovered that toilet paper existed way back in 1885, as the following ad for "Perforated Paper" shows.  Apparently, people had been using newspaper for, um, personal cleansing, which was causing some problems with "clogged pipes and impure air".  In fact, the chemicals on printed paper were thought to be a cause of hemorrhoids, and who am I to argue?  A consumer could choose between plain Perforated Paper or Medicated.

 

I started to get a bit thirsty after all that reading.  Maybe a nice mug of Horsford's Acid Phosphate would take care of things.  Sounds appetizing, doesn't it?  At least the trade card is attractive, I love the periwinkle color:

As soon as I feel hale and hearty again, I might like to try some of the Durkee's Salad Dressing and Cold Meat Sauce.  As the ad says, "all of its ingredients are of the purest and the best, and it will keep good for years".  Maybe ingesting four year old condiments is what got me into this situation to begin with.....

By the way, I love the Raven Gloss Shoe Dressing ad above, don't you?  What a cool image! 

Besides getting caught up on some reading, I also expanded my medical vocabulary this week.  Have you ever heard of "catarrh"?  Catarrh is mucus, basically.  Then there's "dropsy".  I've heard of dropsy before but never knew what it was.  Well, it's swelling, or edema.  It has nothing to do with dropping anything.  And many of you might already know that "consumption" is tuberculosis.

I hope you have a healthy week, friends!

Mitzi