Cameras and Photos from the Past

I was thumbing through an old copy of Good Housekeeping today.  We are talking old!  1927 old!  I was looking for old advertisements for laundry products for a project I am working on, when I stumbled on an ad for an Ansco camera.  It was a sweet find - the first time I've found an ad for one of my favorite collectibles.  I love old cameras.  They are all so different, small pieces of art in themselves.  Here is a peek at one of my camera collections.  (The other small collection is happily displayed up at our cottage in New Hampshire.

I especially enjoy the camera on the bottom shelf.  I found it complete with its original box and instruction booklet.  What I love even more than the cameras, is the black and white photos they once produced.  Yes, you can set your digital camera on black and white, but they don't hold a candle to the real thing.  One of my favorite things to look for at estate sales and antique shops is old black and whites that seem to tell a story, even though I don't know the original story behind them.  I enjoy displaying them and looking at them, as well as using copies of them in a line of greeting cards I produce to sell.  (I'll post a picture of these soon for you to see.)  I have a large stash of photos in an old travel case and several in old photo albums, but my favorite way to display them is on old clothing hangers.

They are just so much fun.  Here are a couple of close-ups of a couple of fun ones I like.

I also am lucky enough to have some old black and whites of both Fritz and I as children as well as some of our parents.  Those are prominently displayed under glass at my computer desk.  And yes, that is a very old telephone on the left corner, and yes it works and yes, we still use it.  Love the ring.  By the way, it is a novelty for my girls to show their friends.  Most have never seen a rotary dial phone before, let alone used one.  It's rather humorous to watch.

More of the Studio

Here is another little peek into the studio. I am currently working on many, many projects for a big antique market sale next weekend. As a result, my studio is very messy and there is not much I can show you that is not untidy, to say the least. But here are two happy items. One is a grand old typewriter that I use to make labels and captions for the greeting cards I make. I have a stash of vintage typing paper as well, so what I type looks authentically aged. There is something about the rat-a-tat-tat of typewriter keys striking the paper that is so soothing. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to type out a term paper on it, but it makes small projects so much more satisfying.

The next thing to show you is this fun old lamp from the 50's.  The shade is metal so light does not shine out, but rather down in a warm circular glow.  It is perfect for shedding light right where I need it on my projects as I work at the table.  Around the base of the lamp are a few of my "frogs."  These vintage metal items were put in the bottom of vases or bowls to support flower stems when making a flower arrangement.  Today, they serve two purposes besides being interesting to look at.  First,  they are great for holding pencils, scissors, etc. at my work space.  Second, years ago my grandma introduced me to the acronym of "FROG."  F for 'fully,' R for 'rely,' O for 'on,' and G for 'God.'  So my flower 'frogs' serve as a reminder of where to keep both my heart and my head and to not get to caught up in the 'stuff" of my studio.

If you look close on the back left, you'll see the original rubber "frog"
my grandma sent me many years ago.

The lamp and frogs are sitting on the base of what I think is a lap desk from the early 1900's. It is painted black and was meant to be used as a chalkboard.  Behind the lamp is an upright part of the desk, with little racks to hold supplies and a roll of 'important things for children to learn.'  I currently have it displaying the alphabet in cursive and print.  It's a fun piece of history given to me by a dear friend for my last birthday.

I look forward to being able to show you the main studio, but will have to wait until after the mess is tidy.  Another day!

Our Family Vacation in Maui

Well, last week was spring break for Massachusetts schools and we took an overdue, well deserved family vacation to .............MAUI!!!!!  It was great!  More travel time than we'd like, but well worth it.

We stayed at a resort right on a beach.  They had fabulous gardens, water features, a fun network of swimming pools complete with tasteful water slides, the only water elevator in the world and a rope swing, a wonderful restaurant, great beach, great service and a spacious, lovely room with a lanai with cozy seating overlooking gardens and ocean.



One view of the resort paths, gardens and buildings.

 

Adults only outdoor lounging area with both pool and beach access.



The resort buildings are open to the outside gardens and accessible by paths and stone steps.



This is a view of the beach associated with the resort.

 We spent some of our time on the island exploring other beaches.  one was a black sand beach.  The cliff next to the beach showed 1000's of years of erosion, revealing the black lava stone underneath that was responsible for the black sand.


Black sand beach.

 

This was a beach called "Big Beach."  Indeed the beach was big in length, but the biggest thing that impressed us was the 5-10 foot high waves breaking on the shore.  We did not venture in, but enjoyed watching them crash and splash as well as watching the crazy surfers who were mostly wiping out, but all seemed to be having fun.

 

Sunset at Big Beach.



As you can imagine with any tropical paradise, the island flora and fauna is breathtaking.  I love the flowers that bloom profusely everywhere.  Here is a very small sampling of those I captured on film.

It was a great visit enjoyed by all four of us.

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter.  We had a lazy day here.  Our church has gotten large enough that they held two services Saturday evening and two Sunday morning.  Heidi and I volunteered to watch toddlers at the earlier Saturday service and then met the whole family for the later service.  That enabled us to sleep in a bit on Sunday and enjoy a leisurely brunch and a nice dinner later.  We used sweet vintage dishes, glasses, silver, and linens.  It was lovley and special. 

The message shared by our pastor at the Saturday evening service was very powerful and will stick with me for a long time.  Essentially, he spoke of the dismay we all feel when things don't work out how we expected - the prime example being how dismayed and heart sick the believers and followers of Christ must have been when He was taken from them through crucifiction.  However, His promise to come back was fulfilled three days later when He rose from the dead.  God was not finished when the crucifiction happened, just as He is never finished in our lives.  We can be sure that the sad and bad things that happen in our lives are not the end.  God is still working.  He never abandons us.  That's the very simple summary.  If you are interested to hear the whole sermon, our church records them and they are available to hear on the website (usually by the Thursday following the day of the sermon).  You can find it at http://www.crosswaycc.org/.  Click the 'church family' box, and on a sidebar there will be a link to sermons.

Anyhow, enough from me - hope your day was relaxing and full of hope for the future.

A Tiny Peek at my Studio

It was a long time in the making, my studio that is. When we moved into our home 14+ years ago, it had a large unfinished basement. One of our early improvement projects was to divide it into three spaces: a storage room, a finished space where the windows and walkout are and a wood working/utility shop. Initially the finished space was a den of sorts with love seat, computer desk and kid toys. Two twin beds in the closet could be hauled out for company. Next the computer moved into a built in and the love seat and twin beds gave way to a guest room set up with a queen bed. Around the corner was a small space for my sewing and crafts. Finally and most recently the space has been entirely transformed into my studio with plenty of space for sewing, multimedia crafting and supporting my small antique business. It is a very happy space, one I appreciate and enjoy every day. Thought you might enjoy a little peek. Over the coming weeks, I'll show it all to you. For now, I hope you enjoy what you see.

This is a vintage dental office cabinet that I refurbished by removing lots of rust and repainting with a green and black theme that went well wit the black counter top piece that was in great shape. Each drawer is brimming with goodies I've collected over the years to use in projects. It's so nice to open a drawer to find what I need rather than searching through boxes on a basement shelf!

The drawers have so many happy treasures inside. This one is full of vintage cards from children's card games, lotto games, etc. I love the graphics on them.

These vintage goodie organizers were once used for displaying candy (the one on the left) and drill bits (the larger one on the right). They were perfect for holding some of my small treasures that are so easy to misplace. Now, I can find what I want at a glance. Well, that's your peek for now. More later!

Time to Put Out the SIgns

Now that spring is here and snow won't be settling on things and ice won't be freezing , I can put some of my signs around the yard. The top sign resides by the front door and happily, come summer will be overflowing with pink impatients. The lower sign is by Myrlte's door. For those of you who don't know, Myrtle is my vintage 1960 Fan trailer. (I'll share pictures at a later date). Unfortunately, I can't seem to find my favorite sign. I know I've seen it a bunch of times this winter in storage, but now that I am ready to put it out, of course I can't find it. It's a sign I made from lisence plate letters that says "FARM GIRL" and hangs in my garden. When I do find it, I'll share a picture. Have a happy day.

It's Really Spring!!

Hey, it really and truly is spring!

Look at these lovelies that seemed to

spring up and blossom almost overnight.

My garden is so happy, and so am I!

Seeing tiny miracles like this always serve to reaffirm my faith.
What a gift God gives us. A seemingly lifeless orb gets put in
the ground during the cold fall days and sits dormant in the freeze
of winter, yet springs forth life when the spring warmth comes
again. And not just green shoots, but mini masterpieces of color,
light, scent and intricate design. All I can say is, "Awesome,"
and "Thank you, Lord for surrounding us with such richness, even in
the smallest of surprise packages!". HAPPY SPRING Friends!!!