Vintage Birthday Centerpiece

For the month of September, my dining room centerpiece had a birthday theme - vintage style of course!  September held four birthdays celebrated at our house - one for me, one for my dad, one for my husband's visiting aunt from Germany and one for his mom (technically in October, but we celebrated in September.)  Now that October is firmly established (and I am home from travelling to Wisconsin) it will change to to a Halloween centerpiece, but before that happens I thought you'd like to see it.

Sorry for the floor shot.  I was using all my table tops and counters for a very spread out project of organizing and pricing my items for the next (and last of the year) Cooperage Market.  My "cake" is made of ribbon rolls stacked on a petite glass pedestal plate.

For candles at the top of the "cake" are two boxes of vintage birthday candles. 

This little jar of cake sprinkles came out of my grandma's cupboards on my last visit to her before she died.  Sorting through the spice cupboard for some nutmeg for the Swedish meatballs she and I were making together, I came across this and asked to have it.  It had probably been in there for 40+ years.  Hopefully it had not been used for that long as well!

Vintage birthday cards, more candles, a tin horn, candle holders and ruffled nut cups round out the rest of the treasures. 

And last but not least, I received this book for my birthday this year (thank you Kris!) and added it quite appropriately to the display.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to any of you celebrating today!

Buzzzzzzzy in the flowers.

Even with the cooler days, the bumble bees are still buzzing around and busy in the fall flowers.  They were so engrossed in collecting nectar, I had no trouble zooming in for some close up photgraphs.

Even Honey seems to want to buzz around in the flowers.  I found her in the now empty vegetable garden.  All that is left is the marigolds that bordered the sweet corn.  Honey was enjoying the soft dirt and sunshine, thanks to a short break from the rain, and watching the bees buzz around in the flowers.  Oh puppy!!!

Vintage School Days

My mantle needed a change.  Out with the summer beach theme, but I wasn't quite ready for pumpkins and Halloween ghosts and black cats.  I opted instead for a vintage back to school theme.  It is still back to school season after all.  I'll bring out the pumpkins and ghouls mid October.

I love the little ones in this 1948 class photo from the Kendall School in Concord, MA.  Dresses, mary janes, nickers, suspenders and mini ties.  Ah a season gone by!

Autumn is in the air and the yard!

Not only does the calendar say it's autumn, but my yard decor has officially been transformed from summer to fall.  Hope you like what you see.

Even Myrtle, my vintage 1960 Fan trailer, got a "porch" makeover for fall.

I love acorns.  Finding this one nestled at the base of a vintage wagon wheel was a good reason for a photograph.

The first fallen leaves floating in the the bird bath.  Suppose it won't be long before a skin of ice greets us on a frosty fall morning.

Happy Fall!

Taking Kayleigh to Visit RPI

Last week, I took Kayleigh for her second visit to her 1st choice of colleges, RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) in Troy, NY.  Her first visit was to check the school out.  This second visit gave her the opportunity to talk to a professor in the mechanical engineering department (where she wants to major) and make a positive impression on an admissions advisor.  She will be doing the early application and we will hear by December 10th if she has been accepted.  Wish her well!!

While we were enjoying a snack together on a bench outside the engineering building, a nursing mama squirrel approached us and 'asked' for a bit of our muffin bites.  We gladly obliged her.  She came nearly to our hands to take the treat, and sat nearby eating before running back up her tree to her waiting babes.

And I had to capture these lovely blooms in a photo to share with you.  There are lovely plantings all over the campus and most were still in prolific bloom.  Such a wonderful atmosphere.  We enjoyed a lovely day together with lots of catching up on the drive there and back.  Can't believe my girl is off to college next fall!

Quick Gift Wrap

I had five minutes to quickly wrap two gifts.  I wanted them to look special, but with little time, I was not sure what I could do.  Fortunately, with my studio set up completely now, I was able to quickly grab the materials I needed and with quick assembly...VOILA!

I stamped the paper sack the gift came in from the shop with two vintage post office stamps:  'special delivery' and 'first class mail'.  I then adhered several vintage foreign postal stamps to the parcel, folded down the top and tied vintage seam binding through two holes I punched.  Gift number one, done.

Sorry, didn't realize in my rush that I did not photograph the whole package.  But for this one, I wrapped it in this fun craft paper, tied it with vintage seam binding, added a vintage photograph, two 1958 theme park ticket stubs and typed out 'RELAX    KICK BACK     ENJOY' to go with the relaxing woman in the photo.  Gift number two...done!  Four minutes flat and one to snap the photos to share with you.  Whew!  And happily, both gift recipients oohed and ahhed over their packages and I knew I had succeeded in making them feel special and appreciated.  Yeah!  Sometimes it's the little, out of the ordinary, touches that have the most impact in telling someone you care.

Making a Vintage "Autumn" Pennant Banner

You may recall that I made a pennant banner for the September Cooperage Market to sell.  I recently sold a handful of them to an antique shop in Dunstable, MA called Seasons at Calmore.  I will be making a few more at the request of Mary the store owner with a Halloween theme.  I thought I'd share with you the process of making the 'Autumn' banner in case you were looking for instruction/inspiration for making your own.

The project:

Tear pages from an old book.

I made a cardboard template of my pennant.  Pointed at the bottom with some straight at the top to allow for folding over later.  Lay template on top of torn out book page.

Fold edge of page using template and then tear off excess using fold as guide and template as straight edge to tear against.

Repeat for however many pennants you need to accommodate your word.  Here are six for the word, "Autumn."

Loosely crumple pennant.

I used Tim Holtz "Distress Ink" pad to 'age' the pennant.  Lightly glide felt ink surface over wrinkles and edges to leave behind 'age' on your page.

Using black ink and vintage letter stamps in size of your choosing, stamp the individual letters of your word on each pennant.

Flip over and fold down top edge.

Line pennants up in reverse order, cut accurate length of string for hanging, and using adhesive of choice (I have used both Vario tape tabs and glue stick) adhere flap to pennant, sealing in the string.

VOILA!!