Curiosities we must bring back.

As I sit here watching the snow fall in Southeastern Kentucky I am reminded of a favorite snow time activity. Children old and young see snow as an opportunity to grab a sled, or even a piece of tin roofing or a garbage can lid, and set sail down one of the many rolling hills we are blessed with in the Appalachia's. I can even remember once using a small plastic kiddie pool to speed down the rather steep hill behind my neighbor's home. This weather always makes me long for something I have never experienced, yet always wanted to. It's something I have seen in movies, and read in books, but I've never actually had the pleasure of experiencing a sleigh ride in a horse drawn sleigh. I know some larger cities offer the service in winter and for weddings, but not here in good ol' Southeastern Kentucky. Maybe it's offered in the Lexington area, where they are famous for horses, but not here. It just seems to me there would be little danger in getting to your destination in a horse drawn sleigh -- which is very unlike the machines we call automobiles. Yes, I wouldn't mind getting out and traveling in the snow, but only if one of these were provided with a very gentle horse to guide me.

I don't pretend to be a connoisseur of antiques and it's not my life's ambition to become one, but I have a fondness for anything old... anything that may tell a story or makes me wonder how other families may have enjoyed its presence in the home. In the last year I have been to a handful of estate sale auctions and road side yard sales in search of the perfect little find. Unfortunately most of the things I covet most have been well out of my price range. Sure, my boyfriend and I have gotten a few treasures, including a piano from the early 1900's for 20.00, but the items I have wanted most have slipped by me as the auctioneer recited prices higher than I had to spend. Two of the estate sales I attended were for members of the family. Both of them were my great great aunts. At one auction I desperately wanted my aunt's hall tree and secretary desk, but I was happy to walk away with a couple antique mirrors and a kerosene lamp. My other aunt, whom I was very close to as a child, had a carnival glass set I wanted, but again the price was out of my reach. From that auction I left with a handcrafted baby bed my great great uncle had made and a small side table I gave to my mom. 

My aunt had a secretary desk very similar to this one. Can't you see why I would loved to have had it? Imagine the stories this wonderful old desk could tell. The many letters that were written on that small flip front desk. The papers and envelopes that were stored to the left. The whatnot the lady of the house may have sat on the little shelf under the mirror. So many imaginable stories. I hope to one day have one because I still believe in the art of a handwritten letter or card. Ask my friends... they will tell you I still send greetings by snail mail.

This is a hall tree. This definitely is not what the associates at Pier One are trying to sell you as a hall tree. This is a thing of beauty and artisan craftsmanship. This is where the man of the house should hang his hat and sit to remove his worn out work boots. My aunt had two hall trees, both were smaller than this, but just as beautiful.

Another day, another blog, and I will share with readers (when I happen to gain any) the cat turd hunting treasures I have gotten, and of course, explain a little more in detail just what cat turd hunting means.

Today I'd like to focus on antiques I'd love to have, but currently don't have the money to buy. :) I'm not a fan of most mass produced objects. Sure those particle board book shelves from walmart come in handy when you're running out of room, but where's the craftsmanship? Where's the ornate designs to make it one of a kind? In a word, they are boring. Sure at 30.00 bucks you can't beat the price, but they are cheap, fall apart within a few years, and honestly don't look very good. Do I have them? Oh yes I do and as I said they come in handy. I have them, and they work, but that doesn't mean I have to love them.

Take baby furniture for example. I understand safety precautions and updating items for the safety of a child, but does everything need to be plastic with Winnie the Pooh stamped on the side? When I think of plastic I think of all the uneven little surfaces that can catch germs and food. In some ways I am a germaphobe and while I don't have any children yet I still think about how I'd like to decorate my child's room... you know... just in case. Let's a take a look at what lovely child's furniture looks like.

 Are these beautiful strollers very practical? Not really, but could you imagine being the mother who lived in town and took their child to the mercantile in one of these? They are very lovely, but I'm quite sure they aren't going to fold down and fit into the back of a minivan. Still, I would prefer one of these over the plastic monstrosity with cartoon characters plastered all over.

I love baby cradles and these are two of the prettiest I have seen in my short research this morning. They don't look very dangerous to me, and although they would need closer inspection, from the photos themselves I see no reason why I wouldn't allow my baby, again if I had one, to rest in either of these antique cradles. Even a far more primitive design I found largely outweighs the current plastic models in overall style.

High chairs. I  vaguely remember the high chair I had as a baby and it was wooden. The same could be said for my red outdoor porch swing. They were not plastic, they were wooden, and they were lovely. I wish more of my baby furniture had been saved, but I also understand the concept of not keeping things one no longer needs. I still have several of my baby dresses and my rocking chair, which I love, but no longer do I have my crib or high chair. Again, in a house full of people I understand having to let go of things that are no longer needed and not having these items will give me the opportunity to perhaps someday shop for the antique variety. Please understand that pinched fingers are gonna happen with any kind of high chair that has a removable table top. I just happen to prefer mine in a oak, cedar, or maple.

Waterfall bedroom sets. My mamaw had a later model waterfall bedroom set, probably 50's or 60's, but my favorite waterfall sets are more ornate, older. I think it's becoming obvious that I really enjoy the more Victorian style of furniture that is unfortunately really rare. There's just something regal about the waterfall sets. The dresser could double as a woman's vanity. Reproductions cost almost as much as the antiques so if they can mass produce boring dressers why couldn't they reproduce one of the waterfall variety? Just saying...

 

You know what would go perfectly with the waterfall bedroom set? A lovely chifferobe. Before the time of cookie cutter houses, and unimaginable walk-in closets, families relied on furniture for storage. You had a chest of drawers for clothing, chifferobes for undergarments and maybe bed linens, and a dresser for smaller treasures. You didn't have very much clothing so you didn't need a walk-in closet. It was a far more simple time and women didn't need 50 pairs of shoes. Think how desensitized we have become to material belongings. Sometimes I wish that I lived in another era where technology and material things didn't matter so much. To heck with the Kindle... I prefer holding onto a good sturdy book. Would I take a Kindle if it were given to me? Of course, but that Kindle would not stop me from buying real books either. Moving on... here's a very nice chifferobe.

One of the many things that are readily available at most estate sales are steamer trunks. Before mass production of the automobile, or the invention of the airplane, people traveled quite rarely because it took so long to make even the shortest of trips. Think back to when people had to travel to Europe only by ship. The trip would take weeks so when you traveled you had to literally take most of your belongings with you. Even with the invention of the steam engine trips were not taken frequently. Todd and I use a steamer trunk his mom and dad have lent us as our coffee table. It still has some of the original travel stickers on the sides. The inside is dingy and musty, but I absolutely adore it and wouldn't sell it for any amount of money. So even though I have a steamer trunk in use I would love to find one that has all the individual compartments inside. They are much more rare and so very interesting to me. This one was lovingly decorated by the lady that once owned it. Can you just imagine the places she could have seen with this trunk in tow?

Last, but certainly not least, I'd like to introduce two kitchen items that I have always adored. The first is the icebox. Not very practical in today's time with the invention of refrigeration, but they make very lovely accent pieces which can be used for storage. The other is something that only the privileged likely had in their home... the tea cart. I love antique tea pots so it's safe to say that I would like the tea cart to go with them. Imagine the spoiled, silly women eating petit fours and having tea from the cart during their weekly tea luncheons. Perhaps I'm overly romantic because of all the period piece movies I enjoy and the Victorian Literature I was forced to read in college, and then loved despite myself, but I love the idea of girl friends gathering for tea instead of overly cooked food at the local grill. Now tell me that these two items aren't beautiful?

I hope to someday have the means to fill my home with some beautiful finds reminiscent of the items I showcased today. Unfortunately, my style is quite expensive whether I would have to buy the items antique or as a reproduction. Right now I can barely afford the 30.00 particle board bookshelf at walmart, but there's always the lottery. I suppose I should need to buy tickets to win. Now where is that horse drawn sleigh to whisk me off to the convenience store?

Will you be my Valentine?

My desire to craft began with Valentine's Day 2010. I have always enjoyed decorating for Christmas and had tons of Christmas decorations, but come February I realized I had none for Valentine's Day. I scoured the local shops, mostly walmart and various dollar stores, but they really didn't have much of a variety when it came to Valentine decorations. I  don't live in an area that has many specialty shops so I realized my shopping had run it's course and there would be no Valentine decorations for my apartment. Sadness.

That's when I got inspired. My mom has always had a crafty spirit and often saves things she thinks could be used in crafting projects. It just so happened she had saved a couple chocolate heart boxes from a previous Valentine's Day. I grabbed them and sent her after crafting supplies while I brainstormed. She came home with two bags full of shiny hearts, pretty ribbon, and various paper items. I grabbed the glue gun, some scissors, and printed some Victorian images from the internet. I pondered, and snipped paper, and crumpled ribbon, and eventually I walked away from my first crafting project with two valentine wall hangings and a vintage valentine bucket that I put a small electric candle inside.

Front View

 

Back View (Notice the vintage valentine's in the pockets.)

 

Hanging View. (The garland around the door was another Dollar Tree find.)

And thus began my new found love of crafting. I've found another easy way to decorate your home for various holidays, which I absolutely adore to do, is by simply printing a holiday themed image from the internet and placing that image inside a frame. I personally prefer Victorian images, but you could use any that were themed for the current holiday. 

 

I purchased the frame at the Dollar Tree, but it only came in black or brown. I enjoyed the vintage design of the frame itself, but not the color. I thought it was nothing a little paint couldn't fix and for one dollar you can't really go wrong. So once home I found a picture I liked, printed it off, and chose a complimenting color for the frame. I painted the frame with a dry brush to create a slightly antiqued, shabby chic look so that just a smidgen of the prior black coloring shown through. I added a hand crocheted doily, my vintage crafted bucket, and a small heart candle to complete the look.

 

This frame was given to me from a friend. It has the old, antique look I love, and I change the pictures inside depending on the current holiday. This is the valentine version. I promise the frame itself isn't crooked, but I can't say the same for the photographer. :) Again, this is an easy and inexpensive way to decorate your home for any holiday and the best part is that the entire project was free! Victorian images are easily accessible on the internet and because the Victorians loved postcards and paper ephemera there are hundreds of images to choose from. Simply choose your favorites and get to framing.

Fast forward to Valentine's Day 2011. Within the past year I have created a handful of designs for various holidays, but today I'm sticking to the Valentine designs. Never fear... I will likely share my prior projects at a later date, but for now I'll focus on one holiday at a time.

In keeping with the Victorian theme I love I printed several different block images of the valentine variety for a simple and easy block project. I purchased three small styrofoam blocks from the Dollar Tree and covered them in tissue paper for a smoother finish. You could use any color tissue paper because the block will be completely covered, but I used red. I cut the block images to size and used Mod Podge to adhere the images to the different sides of the tissue covered blocks. After the blocks dried I took a paint brush and painted thin strips of tacky glue to the edges and covered them in chunky red glitter. (For future projects I promise to keep a conscious effort to take progression photos.) This is the end result.

 

After finishing the blocks I moved on to one of my favorite Victorian themed crafts to make... paper tussie mussie cones. They are simple crafts to make and can be filled with small treasures, trinkets, candies, or the intended flowers. I have used them in gifting baskets before, but mostly I make them to use as decoration. You can find various size tussie mussie templates online by using your favorite search engine. I tend to make smaller tussie mussies to conserve paper. Of the size I tend to make I can get 4 tussie mussies from one standard size piece of scrapbooking paper. Just follow the steps for creating the cone shape and grab whatever you'd like for decorating. For my Valentine tussie mussie I used my mom's Cricut to create the Happy Valentine's Day wording and tag on which I glued the Victorian image I printed from the internet. To embellish I used white feathers, two types of Valentine themed ribbon, and a small metal tag on which I glued a vintage floral image to hang from the bottom. Presenting my tussie mussie....

I cannot, and would not, try to take credit for the following craft. Most crafts can be interpreted from images or things we have previously seen, but putting your personal touch on them makes them somewhat original. I can't personally say I thought of the tussie mussie idea, but I can say the above is an original of my own creating. The following craft is not an original of mine. I got the idea from a vintage crafting site and printed off the images and templates they provided. I used two images of my own, but the others were provided to me on the crafting site. My variation uses red tinsel, not plain cord as the site suggested, and golden vintage buttons, not plain beads as suggested. They called the hearts, Kissing Dangles. I made them to hang in a very small window in my apartment. I covered the hearts in Mod Podge to create a sturdier finish. Overall I think they turned out well. (Ignore the dirty window. lol I was so excited to take a picture I forgot to clean the window first.)

Last but not least I created a 3D cupid valentine box. I took a a heart shaped box I had purchased at the Dollar Tree and covered the bottom portion with a piece of iridescent valentine ribbon because I didn't like the original foil look of the box. The top portion I covered in simple white tissue paper. I cut one long pieceof tissue paper to attach to the side edge and cut a frayed design with scissors. To compliment the top line of the fray I added a piece of silver tinsel. To finish the top edge I used a piece of simple red ribbon. For the 3D design I printed the cupid on textured scrapbooking paper for a vintage feel. I used an X-acto knife to carefully cut the outline of the cupid from a full postcard design. Under the paper heart doily I added a piece of pink paper for contrast. I glued the cupid to a fanned piece of valentine tissue paper, again for further contrast. Once I had the major portion of the centerpiece completed I had to stand the image. I used heart picks, with long bamboo handles, purchased at the Dollar Tree to support the image from behind. To cover the support I simply fanned pieces of tissue paper and covered the columns. It isn't nearly as pretty from the back, but at least it has a more finished look. (I will try to add a picture of the back later.)  To complete the desired look I embellished the top with small paper roses (printed on the same textured paper as the cupid and cut out with the X-acto knife) added a scrapbooking tag with the word "love" and secured to the bottom of the cupid image with ribbon. An outline of fine grain silver glitter covers the top edge of the box and a Happy Valentine's Day banner printed on the textured paper completes the top view look of the box. Here are a front and top view.

 

Front View.

Top View.

So how does it all come together to create one cohesive look?

I purchased this shelf at a local hometown festival in the fall. It has the shabby chic/antique look that I am constantly looking for and it compliments my crafts nicely. The "Home Tweet Home" hanging is one of the few mass produced Valentine decorations I have found that I liked. I purchased it in 2010 at K-Mart. The small Valentine frame, with a picture of my sweet cats, was another Dollar Tree find from 2010. I'd also like to recommend the Lemon Icebox Cookies candle shown here from the Swan Creek Candle line. They can be found at various retailers or online. It smells delish. :)

This is the small window I mentioned earlier. You can see one of my first Valentine hearts hanging in the top left hand corner and of course the Kissing Dangles in the window. On the sill I have some simple blocks, a small Valentine basket I'd gotten years earlier from a co-worker, and a candle. On the outside you can see my small Dollar Tree bird feeder. I think it's important to help feed the outdoor critters in the winter. :)

Because I hadn't intended to create a crafting blog until recently it never occurred to me to take progression photos. However, now that I intend to continue with this blog I do hope to remember to take progression photos to help anyone that may like to try their hand at any of the crafts I make. Remember that I am an amateur crafter and I am certain that anyone could easily make any of the crafts I present on this blog. Most of them will use simple supplies, like paper, and a lot of the supplies will be purchased on the cheap at places like the Dollar Tree. If you'd like any further instructions on something I have made here please don't hesitate to ask. Happy crafting folks.