Vintage Patterns and Books

While my husband was on vacation we drove to the little town I grew up in to go to the antique mall/junk store and the city wide garage sale.  We usually have good luck there and this trip was no exception.  We came home with a ton of awesome vintage finds and today I’m going to share a few of them.
I am always on the look out for vintage patterns, the illustrations on the envelopes are eye candy for me.  I love to see the differences in hair and clothing styles.  I also like them to be cheap, chances are I’m not going to be sewing any of these so size and condition are not a huge issue, I like really vintage though, 1970’s or earlier.I love the pockets and yoke details on the three skirts on the left of that McCalls 5113, the three pattern pieces of the super jiffy Simplicity 9032 are great and who doesn’t need a terry cloth tube dress?, full and half slips on Simplicity 9115 (can you even buy slips anymore?), and the last two Simpliciy 7345 and 6653 are 70’s chic and such high and modest necklines!I was super excited when I saw this Barbie pattern, those little dolls outfits are amazing and all of the pieces seem to be intact, although they are all cut out, I bet someone’s Barbie had an awesome wardrobe!  There are even instructions on some embroidered embellishment for one of the skirts.  There are 10 full outfits, the other five are pictured on the back of the patten or you can see the back views of them in this picture.This little man pattern was too precious and when I peeked inside the envelope I found another treasure, there was a letter, some clippings with appliqué examples, and some colorful corduroy fabric swatches.Some lovely sewing and embroidery books also found their way home with me.  That center one has the most delightful, kitschy projects!  I HAD to have this one, I have never seen anything like it and surprisingly some of the projects look really modern, not the windmill sculpture or the owl plaques, but the pendants are nice.These pendants are definitely unique!  I’m wondering where exactly you find horseshoe nails these days? and are they comparable to nails of 1974?  The introduction says this is the perfect hobby for a man <snort>.  Another fun fact, this little pamphlet was published right here in Nebraska!
I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my new treasures, don’t worry I’ll share some more soon, I have a whole collection of crochet pamphlets and some very interesting German magazines.

Art Journaling

I greatly admire art journaling and I repeatedly fail in my attempts.  I have the journal part down and the art part down, but when I try to put them together I fail.  I think it’s a layering issue.  I also think that I make them too sketchbooky (new word), more of just an idea and how to execute it instead of thoughts and feeling too. 

See, sketchbooky.  The left one is my sketchbook, the middle is the beginning of a collage style book for Halloween stuff, and the one on the bottom is some more just straight up sketchbook stuff, I definitely need layers!

I have a nice collection of books on the subject and I just bought another one last night, it was to visually inspiring to leave at the store.There are a lot of repetitive techniques in all of these books (packing tape transfers, watercolor washes, printing bubble wrap), but this one did have some good new ideas (a calendar and great prompt suggestions) and I really enjoy the artistic style of the journal pages in this book.  Maybe I should just work through it page by page making samples of all the techniques and see if that gives me the look I want.

I also really admire the ability of some artists to share their journal pages, it makes me wonder if they share it all or just the pretty, nice, happy, positive stuff.  I write about a lot of private things and I don’t think that I want to share all that (journaling is my therapy).  I want to get all of those feelings out on paper, but I don’t think everyone needs to read it.  What do you guys think? keep it private, share it all, or share some blurring out the private?  And if you art journal, who do you find inspiring?

Have a super crafty weekend!

Paint Chip Matchbook Notepads

As I was browsing OnePrettyThing I found these super cute notepads from paint chips and I just had to whip up my own.

The tutorial is on Craft Leftovers and I really like the idea of using paint chips, so cute and colorful.  My “chips” only had four sample colors so I had to eyeball where to score them, but they turned out fine.  I did use the brad to secure the paper, but I doubt that I will actually refill these when I use all the paper (but I promise to recycle them).  The next batch will be stapled, I think I’ll make some using those wider paint chips…do you think I’ll get busted taking paint chips from every store I go to? 

Would it be something like, “Ma’am, you’ve been here several times shoving paint samples in you purse like crazy, but you’ve never bought any paint, I’m going to have to ask you to return those samples or buy some paint.” 

Me, “I thought these were free and I’m going to paint eventually I just need to make absolutely sure I have the right color.”

“Ma’am exactly what color are you looking for, you seem to have about one of every sample we carry, perhaps if you could pick a color I could help you narrow it down.”

Me, “The lighting here is just so much different I have to have a selection of everything, the colors really change when I get home.”

Or maybe I would just buy a gallon out of guilt for repurposing paint chips…I’ll tweet if I get detained (follow me just in case) or am banned from any stores.

I Made Some Cereal Box Journals

Whenever I’m in the mood to try something new I visit OnePrettyThing, there is always something new to try.  Last week I found this tutorial for making cereal box journals.  It’s crafty, useful, green, and inexpensive.  I used several different boxes, not just cereal boxes, so my books vary in size a little bit.  For the inside I used printer paper (100% recycled) and lined paper from old notebooks.  I spent the afternoon cutting the boxes and papers to size (I made 20 of these, I imagine that making a couple would be pretty quick).  I have to say that rounding the corners is what really gives this project a finished look.  I decided to use my boxes with the printing on the outside.   I also used thread from old projects in my machine, it was a great way to use up those off colors of thread from old projects filling up my bobbins.My books have 16 pages, just like the tutorial, but I think I may be able to get 20 pages in the next batch.  My sewing machine didn’t have any problem sewing through everything, although I did wear safety glasses incase I broke a needle.  I know I will be making more of these and with the decorating possibilities I will have to leave the plain side of the boxes out next time.I saved all of the paper scraps and they will be including in another recycling project later this week.

A Swap for Knitters - Received

I absolutely adore the package I received from auntiem! Everything is just perfect.This is the full package there is a knitting bag with day of the dead fabric, yay!, size 15 needles, size 2 DPNs, The Knitters Bible, 8 skull stitch markers and holder, 8 knitted hair rollers from my wists, wrist warmers and the pattern, 6 finger cots and holder, 2 skeins of caron feathers yarn, 1 skein of denim tweed yarn, and the rest of the skein used to make the wrist warmers, some sheep magnets, and a pattern to make socks. Here's some detail shots...

The set of rollers are orange!!! and they match the ones that I have been making perfectly(pattern). The finger cots are so cool, I just started knitting a wool purse and they are saving my fingers and the stitch markers are also being used in that project. The wrist warmers are so cute I almost wish it was winter again, almost.

I love getting stuff in the mail. I have found that as a crafter I am always making stuff for my friends and family and often times I don't keep anything for myself so getting crafted stuff from my swap partners is always special.

Thrift Store Finds

I went to my local thrift store today and found some great deals! All their coats were free and I found a very nice faux sheep skin coat that fit me perfectly and it's machine washable. Here's everything that I bought, can you believe that I only spent $3.75?

I also found a great pair of coveralls, I have big plans for them, I'm going to cut the arms off and paint a vintage tattoo flash design on the back similar to this. They had some really nice children's books, there are ten of them. Most of them are board books and they're all in almost new condition.There are also two vintage floral pillowcases and these fake wood sparrows.When I saw them I thought wow, wouldn't those look great painted like this clip art. I'm hoping that the wind dies down so I can spray prime them today. I love thrift store shopping, you never know what you'll find.