Sunday, August 28, 2016

Ash B., A New Shop Owner In Jamestown

The brick and mortar shop where I sell my wares in Jamestown, California (formerly A Flowers), has a new name and a new owner.
Ashley Beighley - the daughter of the previous owner - has taken over, and has renamed the shop "Ash B."
The shop is located at 18190 Main Street, and I just thought I'd share a few photos I took a while back with you today.


(I need to get some pictures inside, too, I guess.)
 The shop is in an old house built back in the 1800's.
Lori is selling some of her handmade items there, too!
You can see some of them in the picture below, along with some of my greeting cards I make with antique postcards:
If you're ever in the area, stop on by!
 I usually work on Thursdays.
We'd love to see you!

Friday, August 26, 2016

Better Than Free At The Flea Market

Lori and I went to the flea market earlier this month.
I think the very first thing I spotted when we walked in were a couple of things sitting on the ground in front a gentleman's other, rather nondescript, stuff.
Oh, but these caught my eye right off the bat!
It was the two vintage wooden jewelry boxes you see below in my first four photos on this post:
I picked them both up and looked at them, without saying anything.
 The one above did not have the little "backdrop" scenes; I added those later. In fact, I know for certain that it would have originally had a mirror that slid into the back with a hand painted scene on it, because I used to have a little mirrored shadow box souvenir that was a similar idea. I added the antique fan postcard first, and then later I switched that out with the pretty floral Origami paper you see in the first picture.
 I actually really like the way it looks with both.
Here's the second thing I saw:
The little tambour-style doors slide open to reveal two additional drawers hidden inside: 
Other than the missing backdrop mirror I mentioned, there isn't a thing wrong with either of them.
The nice man said "Please take those home with you so I don't have to throw them away!"
("Huh?" "Throw them away??", I thought to myself....) 
I said something like, "Oh, no, I'll pay you something for them."
He said "No, you can have them - it saves me having to take them and get rid of them - in fact, all of the things in that box are free."
(There was a box sitting nearby. Mind you, the two things I was looking at had been sitting on the ground in front, all by themselves, looking like nobody cared about them. Well, I cared about them!
And, I guarantee you  that other people had walked right by and not even given them a second glance.)
I looked at the box and saw a couple of other things that looked interesting so I glanced very quickly through some of it.
I said, "Well - okay, but I'll give you something for it."
He said "No, you won't - I won't take your money."
We had just gotten there, so I said I would come back for it, if that was all right - and that was fine with him, so I added my two little jewelry box treasures to the box and he set it in the back for me to pick up later.
This lovely apron was in the box - not one thing wrong with it: 
And this is some of the other stuff that was in the box, in the picture below.
There was more, including two or three things that were worthless to me - but hey, he wanted to get rid of the whole box, so that was fine with me!
He had also told us that "That's one thing I can't sell here to save my life is crafting stuff".
 All righty.
 There wasn't THAT much "crafting stuff" in the box.
But, okay.
And those two vintage (Made In Japan) wooden jewelry boxes at the top of my post are absolute treasures, as far as I'm concerned!
 I LOVE them both!
"Decorating Rocks For Fun" - I'm not interested in doing that, but I have to admit some of them pictured inside are pretty darned cute!
Pebble Pleasers:
So, where does my "Better Than Free" title of this post fit in to all of this, you may have wondered?
First of all, let me tell you that over the course of my conversations with this nice flea market man, including when we were done shopping and I went back to pick up my "free" box, I offered no less than three times to pay him for my items. Because, you see - they were definitely worth something to ME.
Each time, he answered that he would not take my money. (You can ask Lori if you don't believe me - she was right there.)
So I gave up, thanked him profusely, and we left.
Later that afternoon, I took a closer look at more of the things that were in the box.
Did you notice that little blue floral cosmetic bag in the second-to-last photo?
Well, I found three dollars inside of it.
So in reality, my items weren't free - rather, I got PAID three bucks to take them away!
And that, my friends, is my story about my "Better Than Free" flea market box.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Some Of Tina's Nasturtium Paintings

When I was visiting Tina earlier this week for her birthday, I took some photos in her house.
She has an astounding collection of vintage nasturtium items, not the least of which are her original paintings and her framed prints. It has taken many years of searching everywhere she goes and also online in order to discover all of these treasures.
I just wanted to share some of them with you in today's post.
Most of these are hanging in her master bathroom.
Acrylic or oil paintings do quite well in bathrooms - you may have never thought about it - but, why not?
After all, if you have a large collection, you should be able to enjoy your artwork on the walls of every room in your home.

These paintings and pictures are not hanging in a place where they would sustain any water damage.
Her bathroom was recently redone, and it's just gorgeous!
Tina adores nasturtiums, just in case you hadn't already guessed.
This is one of the smallest:
Color, color everywhere - I love seeing all of her marvelous vintage things whenever I visit!
Stay tuned because I will be featuring another of her collections soon!

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Just Two Vintage Vera Finds

All I've got today are my only two vintage Vera Neumann finds that I recently came across at a thrift store.
A bright and pretty terrycloth apron:
It's actually in pretty darned good condition, and of course I love the colors!
And a single lovely blue iris cloth napkin:
Sorry - that's it!
But maybe I'll find some more vintage Vera soon; a girl can always dream......

Monday, August 15, 2016

Birthday Time!

It's Tina's birthday today. I am going to spend the day with her and we three sisters are going out for lunch.
How about a photo of a pretty birthday cake to help celebrate our sister's special day?
Foodarama Party Book - so that you'll know "What To Serve What To Do" - everybody needs to know these things, don't they?
There should be more than three candles on that birthday cake if it's for Tina - but I'm not going to tell you how many......
And here's another cake, simply because I love the colors and the artwork on the title page inside this Betty Crocker's Cake And Frosting Mix cookbook
Happy birthday, Sis!
(P.S.I edited this on 8/19 to add photos of her gifts)
I made her a card featuring one of these cute antique postcards she collects:
 I gave her this framed painting of the historical Red Church in Sonora:
 I framed a piece of sheet music from 1917 that featured (her favorite) nasturtiums in the cover artwork:
 And I framed a card with a photo of an original painting of the Red Church by a local artist, gave her a cute frame for a kitty photo, and a vintage Miller Studio chalkware plaque of a little girl watering:
 We had a fun day together which included our lunch in Georgetown. We ate at The Divide - and it was fantastic!
Seriously, I cannot wait to go back! We all had their divine French Dip sandwiches. Yum.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Patterns From The Past: Tennis, Anyone?? A Few Options From Simplicity

They are playing tennis today at the 2016 Olympic Games.
How about you? Do you play?
(You'd better make sure you have your sunscreen with you.
I'm just sayin'......)
Sunny Redmond looks pretty "slick in tennis whites"; she's seen below wearing a tennis dress made from Simplicity pattern number 5696 (from 1973):
That photo is from a vintage "Simplicity Fashion News" pattern booklet.
Here are the variations shown on the pattern:

I think they're all cute!
And here is the pattern front, itself:
And the back:
Or perhaps you would prefer the pattern below, Simplicity 9989 from 1972?
 Here's an option for the younger "set" (pun completely intended), Simplicity number 6307 from 1974:
And the front of that pattern:
And I'm sure you could find a host of other options to choose from, if you went searching for a vintage tennis outfit pattern.
As for me, I think I'll just stick with watching them play in Rio, thank you very much.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Some Pretty And Colorful Finds

Oh, I have certainly found some colorful and wonderful things lately!
We will start with this fabulous beaded fruit, below.
 One of them still has the "Made in Hong Kong" label:
I found this pair of candle holders at a thrift store in Camino; these are Made In Japan.
 I LOVE the bright colors on these!
And I also found the little orange vase (also, Japan) at the same place.
 I already had the ceramic trinket box - but don't they all look lovely together?
I found a vintage orange and yellow vinyl appliance cover that almost covers my Kitchen Aid mixer.
 Close enough.
And I got the canister you see in front of it (below) at a thrift store and put the vintage Meyercord rooster decal on it:
The idea was to sell it, but after I slid that great decal onto it, I decided it's a keeper, instead.
At least for now.
I found the blue and green vintage tray in the picture below at an estate sale.
 I had the other vintage items already, but I just like the way they all look together!
I got the pink tray below at the same estate sale, and I had found the fabric hanger a while back at a thrift store.
And I think they look pretty nice "hanging out" together, too!

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

I Scream For...Well, You Know

Summer is a good time to scream for ice cream, don't you think?
Oh, who am I kidding?
I eat it all year 'round.
 Doesn't matter to me if the weather is hot or cold - at least, not so far as eating ice cream is concerned!
We've been finding some different options here lately, though.
Like this one - Dreyer's Grand German Chocolate Cake Spectacular:
I found that one sometime around late June.
And yes, it was very good!
The last time I was over at Lori's, she introduced me to this one,
Haagen-Dazs Caramel Cone Ice Cream.
Oh. My. Lord.
 It is REALLY good, too!
And most recently, I decided I wanted to try this one:
Dreyer's Slow Churned Oregon Black Cherry Ice Cream.
I have been looking for a good cherry ice cream.
We buy Dreyer's ALL the time - love them - but this one didn't quite do it for me. I expected it to be, well - different, somehow than it is.
My carton had very few cherries, and I wanted the ice cream to taste of cherries, also - and it doesn't.
Not the end of the world, and you never know unless you try something, so lesson learned.
And it may be the first flavor of theirs that I was disappointed in, so I'm  certainly still a fan.
(And when I say we buy it all the time, I am not kidding. I don't think I want to tell you how many different kinds of Dreyer's we have in our freezer right now.)
If you happen to be in the mood for something more than a simple dish of ice cream, and if you feel like getting really carried away, here's a banana split recipe for you:
(Illustration by from The Lip-Smackin' Joke-Crackin' Cookbook For Kids, by Wicke Chambers and Spring Asher, with illustrations by Spring Asher and Charles Clemens.)

Monday, August 1, 2016

August - And It's HOT

So, yes, August is here!
 Hot August - you betcha!
And, as promised, I am sharing the page for this month from "The Year Around Book", written by Helen Jill Fletcher and illustrated by
Jerry Pinkney:
"August is the eighth month of the year.
 It's the hottest month of the year. We go on vacation.
 At the seashore we play in the sand. In the mountains we play in
the woods. On the farm we play in the fields.
 We try to keep cool."
We try to keep cool, indeed.
And - might I add - nothing is working very well in that quest, here lately.
With that hot summer sun up above, having some fun in the water sounds pretty darned good to me!
Here's some more "cool" sun artwork, in this photo of my vintage thermometer:

Yes, it was sitting in the sun when I took the picture, and that truly IS how high the mercury rose!
It was really only about 108 degrees that afternoon.
Oh, summer - you are NOT my favorite time of year......