Tag Archives: Grandma’s Attic

It’s Spring…. Really!

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“In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.”
–Mark Twain

Montanans love to say, “If you don’t like the weather, wait another ten minutes.”  This is especially true in the spring.  No matter the snow flurries of the past weekend, I still see signs of peonies popping through the earth!

I thought I would share a vintage advertisement from my stash of Saturday Evening Post magazines found literally – in my grandmother’s attic.  I love these old magazines and the nostalgia they inspire. This one was from the ’50′s. Unfortunately, the pages were too big for my scanner, but you get the idea. So, here’s to grandma’s attic, but equally as important, here’s to spring!

spring

A Place to Hang Your Hat….or Coat….or Scarf…..

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The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.  ~Thomas Babington Macaulay

Check out my handmade yardstick coat hanger!  I ran across this project idea in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine, and I instantly loved the look of it, so I set out to collect as many vintage yard-sticks as I could find.  Ultimately, I was hoping to find them all from our local hometown businesses, as well as the small towns where my husband and I grew up, as that would be more sentimental.  However, they were hard to find!  I did find several at some consignment shops from far-away places, but they still had some unique and interesting “patina,” so I picked them up from $5.00 – $10.00. With help from my in-laws, I was able to get one from the Coast-to-Coast store in my husband’s small hometown in Eastern Montana, and of course, I found one in Grandma’s Attic!  (I’m always giving thanks to my Grandma for her collecting spirit!)   I found some antique black coat-hooks on E-Bay that came from an old school.  I love the look of these, because you can see flecks of different colors of paint and a few chips here and there.  We took a board and cut it just slightly larger than the layout of the rulers and painted it with several coats of black spray-paint.  This way it peeks out just a little around the perimeter and “frames” it.  The black also highlights the lettering on the yardsticks and the hooks as well. We have enough yardsticks to make another one, and we’re going to hang them side by side on the long wall in the entry-way at Camp More (the cabin). I think it’s going to add a lot of character to the room, not to mention, it will give us a place to hang our coats after we come back from snowshoeing!

ReMake It…. from books, of course!

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“Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a songbird will come.” –Chinese proverb

At The Creative Connection Event in St. Paul, I took a class from Tiffany Threadgould who just published a unique and thoroughly inspirational book published by Sterling called ReMake It!  So, this post is part book-review, and part show-and-tell.  In her class, Tiffany taught us how to do several of the simple crafts from her book, and we had a blast whipping up paper beads, envelopes, gift bows and coasters.  All of the crafts were “green,” but they were much more than that…. they were cool!  They had a hip graphic vibe and could be tailored to fit into any person’s design style.  Personally, I am in love with words, letters, and anything that has to do with books. As a result, this book, and Tiffany’s ideas, really appeal to me, as many of them were made out of old magazines and book pages.  I also have plans to try making a button bracelet, a case for my cell phone from a men’s necktie, and a t-shirt skirt – SO CUTE!  Her book is full of great pictures and easy templates to follow, so many of these projects can be as sophisticated or a simple as you want them to be.  I would definitely recommend picking up this book to use with children for school art activities or craft time!

So, after I returned from the Event, I decided to turn my inspiration from her class into my own unique art.  I went to the local library’s book sale where they were selling thousands of used, donated books to raise money for the Friends of the Library group.  (I brought home a LOT of books, which I have just decided is a sickness I will have to live with.)  I took graphic images from these books, mostly used children’s stories, and cut them out to create note-cards.  Then I went out to my stash of old Saturday Evening Post magazines in the garage (once again, thanks Grandma) and used some of the pages to create envelopes for the note-cards. (Both of these ideas are outlined in Tiffany’s book.)  Together, the cards and envelopes are a visual delight of vintage images, type, words, and graphics.  I’m going to fill them out and get them in the mail.  I hope the recipients enjoy receiving them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Buckle Up!

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Collecting has been my great extravagance. It’s a way of being. I collect for the same reason that I eat too much-I’m one of nature’s shoppers.   Howard Hodgkin

I was scrounging through my messy garage for some wrapping paper when I stumbled upon a box of “goodies” that I gathered from my grandmother’s attic.  Yes, I have one of “those” grandmothers.  Even though she is no longer alive, she has left us with a treasure-trove of STUFF.  Ever the pack-rat, she filled her house and attic to the brim with what many considered to be…. junk.  I, however, have a fondness for junk, and am loving the fact that she couldn’t throw anything away. I found an old coffee can full of cast-off belt-buckles.  No doubt, she was planning to do something with these.  She was one of the original recyclers.  I just thought they looked cool lying together – like a picture.  I’m brainstorming a way to display these properly.  Ideas are welcome….