Calendar Girlies

Just for fun (and it really was), today I started making greeting cards using illustrations from old children’s books. The colors came out beautiful when I copied them! I’ve had the books for about a year now, and decided (in the midst of creating for Christmas, too) that it was time to get them done! After trying to embellish them with rickrack, (they looked sooo cute…) I opted for red polka dot and checked paper, as it’s less bulky for slipping into the envelope, and doesn’t drive up the cost of postage for mailing them. Ok, I know they are a bit sexist by today’s standards, but you can’t deny they’re sweet, right? I remember when I was about 8 years old, my cousin Nancy, would come over to my Grandma’s house to visit and we would actually draw daily chore pictures. We thought they were cute and old fashioned back then! Fat chance we would actually DO those chores. Even though Grandma had a clothes ringer she still used out in the garage. (That thing was painful on the pinkies!) And if we did, I know we wouldn’t have looked as wistfully thoughtful as the pink-cheeked little cuties on these cards!

They’ll be ready for the next sale at the shop (http://www.roomwithapast.com/) which starts on December 13th.

Happy Thanksgiving

I do some things very well, some things pretty well and some things, well, I just don’t do well because I don’t like doing them. Like cooking. You can see by the picture of me here, that the last interaction I had with my oven was to set the time a few weeks back. And I had to read the instruction booklet. I don’t even know if you call it a stove or an oven. It’s just a large dust-catcher to me.

Thanksgiving will be at my parent’s house this year. All the siblings in attendance will be bringing some part of the meal. When one of my sisters asked what I’d be contributing, and I answered, “Mashed potatoes” she stared at me for a few seconds and said “Oh”, then quickly changed the subject. My mashed potatoes have a history flavored with ice crystals, sand (don't ask) or lumps in them. So this year, I consulted my friend and down-home cookin’ expert, Lisa. She understands my culinary background. When we were roommates about 100 years ago, she figured out that if something took longer than a despised 10 minutes of cooking, I just wasn’t going to make it. It was she that kept us fed with homemade staples such as brownies and noodles covered in white sauce. So over the phone yesterday, and this morning, she guided through the procedure. I’ve finally ended up with potatoes not unlike I’ve seen and eaten before at many a holiday gathering (made by someone else). In fact, I think it’s a shame to eat the evidence confirming my creation! But it's time for my dish to join in its rightly place among the other dishes waiting in my mother's kitchen. Eat up everyone, because this year, they're edible!

Oh, Go Ahead and Have a Good Cry (If You Want To)!

Whenever I hear that song, Big Girls Don’t Cry by Frankie Valli, I can’t help but smile and think of my sister, Madonna, holding a hairbrush and singing along to it. She is 10 years older than me and was like a second, and funnier mother. Today is her birthday and I wish with all my heart that I could be in Louisiana with her to say “Happy Birthday”. But since I can’t, I sent my heart, in the shape of a crown, her way. I made the base with a silver leafed filigree wood, and backed it with ribbon and paper cut to shape. The medallion is a silver cupcake wrapper, backed with a blue string flower, topped with a folded crepe paper circle, topped with a precious, old picture of her in a glittered frame, and wrapped with a copper wire shaped on a jig. Silk leaves of brown and silver fan out from either side, and it all ties up with a shiny brown ribbon. I hope she likes it, and it doesn’t make her cry too much ! Happy Birthday, Madonna! I love you and miss you.

The Walls Have Ears...

…and eyes and mouths and all the other prominent features that run in my family. Not that we’re a family known for running our mouths (or runny noses for that matter).

My bedspring gallery is up on the wall (leave it to a family gathering to motivate you to get things off the floor and somewhat completed) and off to a good start. My mother and future sister in law were looking it over, pointing and grinning, so I take that as a good sign that this project is headed in the right direction. I have an old magnifying glass attached so every small grin, wink, and twinkle in their eyes can be seen on the smaller photos. I need to find some more vintage office clamps and hooks, because I have more beautiful photos and other family ephemera to put up.

Eventually those small frames (I found them at a garage sale for pennies!) will have pictures of people I know in them. The ones on the bottom row currently have great “masterpieces” in them. This guy (labeled The Jester) is going to be replaced first—he looks like Jeff Beck! And while I do like a few of his songs, I’d rather let my own family members serenade me with their ode to the past, and the future enjoyment I’ll have seeing them on my wall.