Peter Max

You know me - I'm always finding something else that I had stashed away for years. Another recent example of that is this Peter Max Wrangler label. Obviously, I saved it simply because it was Peter Max! Too neat to throw away. Story of my life. The only thing I could think of was that I did have some jeans in high school that were bright red with white pockets and waistband. I remember wearing them to the El Dorado County Fair.
So, I did a little research on eBay, and look what I found - these sold recently for $73! Whoa.
I didn't save the jeans, but I DO still have my Peter Max Poster Book!
With all of the posters still intact inside - like this great one "don't smoke cigarettes".....
And this one he created for NBC:
Oh, yes, I am awfully glad that I saved so many of the things I did. I just wish I had MORE Peter Max stuff!
I love Peter Max.

Then And Now # 42 - Knudsen

Knudsen produces great dairy products, and some really great recipes can be found in some of their vintage cookbooks, like this one from 1953:
Here's another one from 1957:
On the back, a look at the products from that year:
Their ice cream offerings in 1959. Yum:
Another booklet from 1961:
And yet another look at their available products in that year:

The coffee cake that we have every Christmas morning is from one of those great old recipe booklets. It's fabulous. And I do use their sour cream, shown in the ad below from 2008:

And the "Now"? How about this current magazine advertisement:
Another "Now" would be this cottage cheese, which is in our refrigerator right now. I LOVE it - I always have some on hand. It's one of my favorite things to have for lunch, with some canned tuna or some turkey:

As a matter of fact, I will probably have some for lunch today!

My Stationery Stash

When I was much younger, and I wrote a lot of letters, I LOVED stationery. I decided way back then to save one example from each and every box of stationery or note cards that I bought, received, and used. The Betsey Clark stationery box that I showed you the other day held them all, and I got them out of storage recently and took a look through the box. So, that's what I'm sharing with you today. The card with the adorable kitten on it was, if I remember correctly, my very first one. And how cool is this round paisley paper?
Another round one with bright and pretty flowers, and I love the owl! I tried to include the envelopes in my scans, if they matched or coordinated with the card or paper.
If you don't see a special envelope, that means they were just plain white. Here's a cute Raggedy Ann, and others with bright, pretty colors:
As you can see, I loved roses even back then:
Lots of roses:
And some with cute little critters:
A little bit of gingham, and even some strawberries:
And there were a few more that I didn't include today.
I really got a kick out of seeing all of these again. And I remembered most of them. My sister told me that a couple of them were hers. I must have begged her for an example to include in my stash!

Needlepoint Roses

I found all of these at different times, in different places. This first one was just the needlework, glued to cardboard, which I got at a weird little "sale" that was set up on a table next to a gas station here in town years ago. I managed to find a frame that fit it perfectly. I love the gold thread woven into the backing:
And then when I found this framed piece, it just seemed to me that they belonged together:
And I don't even remember where I got this one - I just loved the pretty roses:
And I picked this one up at a thrift shop. It needs an oval frame with a vintage look- haven't found the right one yet:

I think I will pick up just about anything if it has pretty roses on it! I can't resist them.

Betsey Clark

Okay - so you knew this was coming - I showed you a calendar from 1970 - so how about one from 1980? Remember Betsey Clark?
Her little waif-like children were so adorable. I love how there is a calico border around each page:
When I found the calendar, I also found this little coloring book:

I had colored just a few of the pictures inside:
I didn't even remember that I had this little book:
So sweet:
And this is the top of a box that held Betsey Clark stationery; you see a sample of the paper with the box top:

There is more to come about my old stationery in a future post.
(All of these items are from Hallmark. I've mentioned before how much I love Hallmark!)

A Very Happy Fourth To You!!

And may you have a wonderful 4th of July holiday...
.....that is full of sunshine and sparklers and love for our great country!
I'll be watching the Boston Pops play Stars and Stripes Forever tonight (CBS, 9pm PDT), just like I always do! It simply doesn't feel like the 4th to me without it!
I do wish I could see some fireworks, though. I hope YOU get to!

What's Penny Wearing? #2

Penny is ready for a flag-waving Fourth tomorrow, wearing her vintage red star-spangled shirt that belonged to my mother-in-law, and a denim skirt that belonged to me! (She's a bit upset that she couldn't find her blue bandanna - but she does still have the whole day to look for it!)

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!

I Love Strawberries!

LOVE them! Almost every day, I have been having strawberries from our local farmer's market with my yogurt for breakfast. It's my favorite breakfast (although I also love blueberries, but they are more expensive here.) Here they are in one of my latte bowls from Anthropologie. Underneath everything you can see the lovely tea towel I received recently from Twyla:
A lovely illustration from an old book:
Strawberry sherbet from Farm Journal's Freezing and Canning Cookbook:
From The Kerr Home Canning Guide (1948), canning or preserving strawberries:
And, last - but not least - Strawberry Shortcake from Better Homes and Gardens Dessert Cookbook (1960):
YUM.
P.S. Today marks my 600th post on this blog! I have actually posted every single day for over a year now.
Surely, I will run out of things to say at some point....

Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens

Just us chickens today! In the form of: pages from a vintage book that belongs to my sister, an orange chicken from Sweden that is painted in the Dala Horse style, and a ceramic chicken made for holding cheese cubes or olives on picks:
Another page from an old children's book - Mrs. Hen has decided she doesn't need a new hat after all, a good lesson in frugality for her chicks in these tough economic times:

Cookie cutters for when you want chicken-shaped cookies:

Bouillon that I bought only because I liked the chicken on the box, a page from a 1967 book "Hors D'oeuvre" (published by Determined Productions, Inc., same as the Zodiac Calendar ) , and a sandwich pick:
And three more chickens - these were here in the house:

And if you would like to hear the tune that inspired the title of this post, go have a listen here - it's a catchy little ditty!

Lucky Me

I received two special packages recently. Don'tcha just love good mail? One was from my friend Faith in Michigan and one of the things contained within was this lovely ceramic box with a red rose on top. It is right at home here among my other "rosy" collectibles! She also sent me some great vintage Melmac plates with roses on them, and some cute little critters. Thank you, Faith - that was very sweet of you!
And I felt very lucky indeed to have won the giveaway over at Two Crazy Crafters! Look at what Twyla sent me! She included some extra special surprises, too: a gorgeous Christmas card featuring my beloved cottages, a pair of shoe stretchers, and some of her adorable handmade crocheted cherries - for me AND my sister! Thank you so much, Twyla - I love it ALL. You are very generous and thoughtful, and I am so happy we have become friends through our blogs.

AND - my sister picked up the little chippy white and green shelves for me at a thrift store on her way over here last weekend. Thank you, Lorlore!

A Few Doll Clothes

Let's begin with this sweet robe. Quilted, with pink roses! Now, I would dearly love to have a robe exactly like this one that was big enough to fit ME! I would happily wrap myself in it every morning:
A sweet little handmade dress in green:
And another cutie in blue. These were part of a small collection I bought years ago from a friend at work:
And I found this lovely Madame Alexander Swiss doll dress at a thrift shop for $1.00. I only have four Madame Alexander dolls, but it's nice to have a change of clothes for the little ones!

I'm still a little girl at heart, who loves playing with her dolls and doll clothes.

Betty Crocker Cookbooks - Again

In a previous post, I showed you my collection of the smaller format spiral bound cookbooks from Betty Crocker. Today's post is about the larger books which were published later. (These measure 8 & 1/2 by 10). The New Boys and Girls Cookbook, 1965:
Dinner In a Dish, 1965:
The Hostess Cookbook, 1967:
Family Dinners In A Hurry, 1970:
and The Do-Ahead Cookbook, 1974:
I just love these vintage cookbooks. There are at least 7 more in this format that I haven't yet managed to find. I'm still looking...... I'm always looking...

What's Penny Wearing? #1

Penny is ready for a rock concert on a hot summer day, wearing her vintage bright floral halter top (from my MIL), and my very own (and very worn and faded) denim skirt:
Rock on!

A Few More Thrift Finds

I left some things out the last time I posted about my recent thrift finds. I don't know about you, but I very rarely find gorgeous antique postcards at thrift shops. And they are usually priced at $3 each and up when I look through them at antiques shops. My sister spotted them first, but I got some lovely ones, and also found this rainbow iridescent lustreware saucer:
And a couple of days later, I found these two vintage paisley scarves and a crochet-covered coat hanger:
And I also was lucky enough to find this gorgeous paisley rayon fabric remnant. There is enough to make a blouse out of:
Too bad I'm not much of a seamstress.

My Room , Circa 1970!

I don't have very many pictures of my room - but here's one that I did find. I forgot I had this. I should have included this photo in the post I did about antiquing furniture. The green desk and chair you see here were painted by my sister. She was already out of the house and married by this time, but she hadn't been able to take her desk yet, so I was using it. She also painted a lamp and matching bottle/vase green with colorful flowers, and made a pad for the chair out of flowered fabric that matched - and she entered the whole set in the county fair.
On the desk, some of my favorite possessions: my first record album (Sounds of Silence) is leaning against the wall, my Little Bunny Kiddle with orange hair, my big-eyed Margaret Keane postcard, a little cardboard jewelry box, a pretty box of Kleenex (I STILL like pretty Kleenex boxes!) And on the wall, I had a Zodiac poster, and I think the owl notepad holder was probably another Counterpoint item. There's a Seventeen magazine on the floor, along with a tiny wicker wastebasket and a little patchwork pillow I made. And do you see the flower calendar hanging on the wall? Well, I kept it. Yep, found it packed away in a box.
And while I'm at it - this piggy bank is something I had way back then, also. I just found him packed away in a box, too.

I've mentioned before that I really like blue and green together.
Just another little one of Heidi's blasts from the past.
You can see the problem here, right? It started way back then - when I really like something, I don't want to part with it.
Sheesh.

The Great Gatsby

I went to see The Great Gatsby in 1974 when it came out. I loved the film adapted from the great novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Loved the settings, the costumes, the actors - in fact, that movie began my obsessive decades-long crush on Sam Waterston! (Yes, I do watch every episode of Law and Order.) Years later, of course I had to buy the VHS version of the movie:

When I was still in high school, I was buying The Saturday Evening Post magazine because of my fascination with Norman Rockwell. Many of the issues at the time still featured his cover artwork and stories inside about him. This happened to be one of those I acquired back then, with a photograph of Mia Farrow as Daisy on the cover:
I bought the paperback version of the novel in 1974, as well:
I don't believe I ever purchased the soundtrack album - although I would love to have it! For now, I'll have to settle for these two pieces of sheet music from my collection - these two songs were included in the film:
But the song that I most associate with my memories of seeing this film for the first time back then is "What'll I Do?" by the fabulous Irving Berlin.
I love period films, and I'm glad I have this one. I think I need to watch it again.
"What'll I do when you are far away, and I am blue, what'll I do? What'll I do when I am wondering who is kissing you, what'll I do?
What'll I do with just a photograph to tell my troubles to?
When I'm alone with only dreams of you that won't come true, what'll I do?"

More Birds

Question: What happens when you have SO many collectibles that you couldn't possibly keep track of them all?

Answer: Sometimes you find a little box squirreled away in storage that contains part of your collection that you have not laid eyes on for about 15 years!
Now what? My cabinet already has birds packed in like sardines.
Um - no - I am NOT going to part with them. I think I may have mentioned before that my birds and my deer are probably my favorite collections.
Guess I will just try to fit them in somehow. Where there's a will, there's a way.

The Gold Country Girls Have a Booth!

We did it! We all went in together and we have rented a booth space at Mountain Treasures in Sonora, California. Here's a picture before we got started (obviously):

And we are still working on getting things moved in gradually:



When it is more filled up, I will try to post some more pictures of it. We are excited!

Happy Father's Day

Here's wishing a very happy Father's Day to all of the fathers in our family - and in yours - and all of the other wonderful fathers out there!
Sure do wish I had my Daddy here so I could give him my love in person.
But, all I have are photographs and memories.
So many wonderful memories.

I'd Like To Introduce To You: Miss Penny Lane

Miss Penny Lane has recently arrived here on my doorstep via UPS from New Jersey. Perhaps I should have named her Miss Moneypenny, because she cost me a Pretty Penny. I had already purchased her when I found Evelyn Rose - don't worry- they are getting along famously.
This Jersey girl came ready and willing to earn her keep. She will be happy to work as my model for clothing, vintage and new. I will photograph her and then show you her wardrobe in a series of posts on my blog. She may also do a bit of traveling - not too far. We don't want for her to suffer too much wear and tear - she already has a couple of "issues" - I wasn't too happy about that for the price paid, - but , well - nobody's perfect!
Her frock today is an apple green and white vintage sun dress that belonged to my mother-in-law. 60's, I think? Watch for Penny in upcoming posts. I think she'll be happy here.