Tropical

Sunday Postcard Art has a nice theme this week for those of us trapped in the frozen tundra of the Midwest: tropical. I had a head start on this one with a scrapbook paper I had recently bought that had a tropical theme. 

The trees and the word "paradise" are on the background sheet. I added the birds and flowers and the word "vacation."

Nice little escape! Enjoy!

Wacky Pack Wednesday

Considering we're over twenty degrees colder than the average for this time of year, I chose a timely Wacky Package for today. This is an old one. I doubt a company would even spoof cigarettes today. Kool cigarettes used a penguin in their advertising years ago. I had to look that up-- I've never smoked.

Have a "kool" day!

Vintage Listening and Betty's Plate

It still seems to be off-season for thrifting in my neck of the woods. If the weather ever improves, maybe thrifting will too. I did find a few LPs last week. You can't beat the old album covers. I listened to all of them. Only one song has a skip. Not bad. First up is the soundtrack from Hello Dolly. Great music and how about that mod cover design? It was released in 1969-- figures.

Two children's albums. Would you believe I already own the Disney one on the left? Had it since I was a kid. Like the title on the one on the right?

Can't pass up Elvis, can you?

The Frankie album is a double set. A nice design too; it has bio info and photos on the inside. Oh, Jim Croce, he died much too young.

This cute plate was handmade and/or hand painted. You can barely make out the imprint "Betty 1978" on the back. Pretty design.

So am I the only one who still has a record player/turntable/stereo/phonograph? And what do you call it?  At least I didn't say "gramophone."

Linking to Sir Thrift-A-Lot today.

Have a pleasant day!

Monday's Muster #8

Here is a collection you probably don't see everyday, camel figurines. I started this some 30 years ago for no reason other than I just wanted to have a collection. It didn't get too far as camels are harder to find than you might think. I also kind of lost interest as I got older. However, I did just add one last fall from an estate sale (the brown one on the far left).

The camels below originally belonged to nativity sets. The one on the left is plastic, probably from the 60s or 70s. I got it free from a thrift shop a few years ago. It was for sale around Christmas but wasn't marked. When I asked the clerk if she knew how much it was, she sort of hesitated then handed it back to me and said "Merry Christmas." The colorful one on the right was made by Avon (yes, "Ding Dong Avon Calling" Avon).

The one on the left is brass. The two in the middle are Christmas ornaments. The ornament on the right is made from those craft clothespins. The camel on the right is the one I just bought last fall.

Some smaller ones.

I display these at Christmas. They make a nice little grouping.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fog Capades

Last Tuesday I posted atomic type icicles we had in my area. Two days later we had some warmer weather and driving rain which lead to monster movie type fog. You know, the kind you can actually see blowing by. Rather strange for February.

Arthur didn't seem to notice too much.

I know we're all in the same boat, and I know this is not an original statement, but it's been one heckuva tough, long winter. Spring can't get here soon enough!

Thanks for reading!

Small Offering

We all know what a winter this has been (and continues as such). When I stepped out a few days ago, a pretty blue color caught my eye. Color? Outside? In February?? It was a blue jay feather in the snow. The camera (or the human taking the picture) didn't capture the blue very well. It was a nice little reminder that spring, birds, flowers... are not too fay away. I hope.

Have a pleasant day!

Wacky Pack Wednesday

Another newer Wacky Pack this week. Topps probably came up with this after the popularity of the Toy Story movies. A pretty funny take.

Need I say it's supposed to be Mr. Potato Head? Doubt it.

Enjoy your day!

Ice Capades

I've lived in Illinois all my life which at this point is a considerable amount of time, but I have never seen icicles like this.

Believe it?  All of those pictures were shot last Sunday.  And what sort of weather did we have on Monday? Guess.

I think I'd like to move. Hope your day is a good one!

Monday's Muster #7

Have you ever heard of cigarette cards? I never had until about 15 years ago. These first were issued in the late 1800s, usually in a series, kind of like baseball cards for adults. There were many subjects such as animals, movie stars, athletes. Some are worth a lot of money. Most are not, and there are even reproductions out there. Some of mine are repros. I don't collect them for the monetary aspect, I collect the dog cards because I like classic dog paintings. I've bought cards that I like. Plain and simple. By the way, these are pretty small; naturally, they fit in a pack of cigarettes. 

These are a little on the larger size; a little smaller than a baseball card.

Some newer ones are photos.

These are reproduction cards drawn by the well known author and artist Lucy Dawson.

I think the blue cards on the right are rather unusual.

Very common size, about 2 1/2" x 1 1/4".

These are by another famous artist Arthur Wardle.

Most of them have breed information on the backs. Interesting.

Collections like these are nice-- they take up very little storage space!  I keep most of them in a jewelry box drawer. A few I have on display.

Happy Presidents Day!

Etsy Changes

I mentioned awhile back that I was thinking of opening a second Etsy store. Since the shop has grown, I felt the handmade items were kind of lost in the vintage items while the vintage items were kind of cluttered up by the handmade items. I hesitated, thinking I'll never sell another note card without the vintage wares driving shoppers to my creations. It is also a little more work, and who needs that? But I came to the conclusion it was worth a try. I can always go back to one store if it doesn't work out.

So I am keeping the handmade cards, tags, bookmarks, and whatever else I create in Lydia's Post.

While the vintage finds will be offered in my new shop Lydia's Post Vintage.

Some of you, including myself, are probably thinking, "Gee, how long did it take you to come up with that name?" Not too exciting or clever, I know, but I did a little research. Easy to spell, easy to remember shop names are best. I agree so "Lydia's Post Vintage" made sense.

Do you sell online? Have more than one store? What do you think?

Happy Etsy-ing!

Hit and Miss

Well, ya win some, ya lose some. My thrift finds this week are an odd mix of things, and two of them turned out to be duds. Care to guess? One is pretty obvious, but the other is hard to see.

Here is the first dud. This "old" case, as it was marked, has magnetic closures so it can't be that old. I kept looking at it in the store, going back and forth in my mind if it was vintage or not. I decided it was so bought it. Then decided it wasn't when I got home. Oh well. I might be able to sell it on Ebay. If not, it would make a good photo prop.

Here are a couple photos in those cookbooks. Food photography certainly has changed. I haven't had any luck selling these in the past, but if I find a few more, I can make a "lot" of them. They also are fun to use in collage projects if I'm stuck with them.

I've seen these letter holders painted bright colors on Etsy. All laziness aside, I plan to leave this as is. I know I'd never pick the right color.

The figurine is a Norman Rockwell collectible from the 1970s. These depicted subjects from his paintings.

Some wide 70s ties in patriotic/Bicentennial colors. Here is dud no. 2: the red striped one I shot laying across had a rip in the back that I didn't notice until I got home. I thought I looked at them carefully enough in the store.

Still found a few interesting things. As my mother was fond of saying: that's life in the big city.

Enjoy your day-- and look at those thrifts carefully!

Linking up with Sir Thrift-A-Lot.  Take a peek.

Working On...

The theme this week at Inspiration Avenue is "Show and Tell." They are inviting folks to show their latest projects and, of course, tell a little about them. I've been working on Easter cards and tags. I bought two wonderful scrapbook papers from Splash of Color last year.  Really nice images. I still need to add ribbons and trims.

As long as I had the camera out, I also made deviled eggs that day.  Kind of Easter-like.

Maybe I have Spring on the brain!  Have a nice day!

Valentine's Day 2014

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Hope you have a lovely day!

Wacky Pack Wednesday

A newer and pretty funny Wacky today. We all know this is supposed to be Special K cereal, right? Notice Kellogg's was changed to Killjoy's? Ha, ha...

Hope you have a good laugh today!

Valentine Cards

For all the cards I make, I rarely make any to give to my friends and relatives.  I dunno-- kind of seems like you cared enough to spend the very least. I doubt people really think that, but... However, this year for Valentine's Day I did make cards to send. Since I had old Valentines given to me and my mother by cousins of mine, I decided to copy those. Do you think they will recognize Valentines from 40-60 years ago? Probably not, but I bet they'll get a kick out of it.

And I'm pretty safe in showing these as very few of my friends and relatives read my blog. I see that is rather common in our Blogisphere.

Have a happy day!

Monday's Muster #6

Of course, I had to come up with something related to Valentine's Day for today's collection.  What better than Valentines? Below is a sampling of a shoe box's worth. The bulk of these have been mine since... do I have to admit... the late 60s and early 70s. A few I have purchased over the years too. 

All sorts of themes, shapes, and sizes.

These two are quite large.

I must give credit to my mother for saving these when I was a kid. Sometimes, Mom does know best!

Enjoy!