ask and ye shall receive

* Last post? When I made a comment that at least the bone necklace wasn't in focus and in colour? I SPOKE TOO SOON ...

from McCall's Needlework & Crafts, Fall-Winter 1965-66

"Beads and turkey bones for a cowpuncher necklace. Trim the bone segments with fake pearls, string with wooden beads. Links of orange seed beads, gold beads."

From the same issue that brought you ski masks of doooooom!

* Stay tuned as I finally scan my way through one several stacks of vintage magazines.

Christmas Ideas for 1957

* There's still time to make something special for Christmas!

Most of the craft ideas in BHG 1957 aren't that bad, and therefore not worthy of my mighty scanner. But look how much fun the Westons are having with their crafting!

"For large star, stick two sizes of pencils into half a 4-inch plastic foam ball."

I love Mrs. Weston's skirt - I bet she made it herself. And the stars on the chimney are pretty keen, at least from this distance.

The decorating fun starts with the front door. That is one fabulous door tree! But how many people could re-create that without having an illustrator for a husband ;)
How could you possibly top a door tree like that?

With a tree made from wood triangles, with ornaments resting on the platforms! They say "wood tree," I say "irresistible to cats tree." Hmm, actually that would be cute, with catnip and rubber ball ornaments, little feathered bird toys ...

The "Japanese tree" is made from paper parasols painted gold. This would be great in the tiki rec room :) or out on the lanai. One last look at the fireplace - 

as decorated by poor but glittery cowboys. I can safely say there isn't one thing I like about this decoration.


The BHG Christmas Ideas book is chock full of adorable illustrations.

Glen and I looked just like this when we decorated the house last week!

Here's Marilyn and the Jazzercise ladies working on the Monterey Recreation Centre!

And the Hodgins of 4 years ago (Dexter's in the next room practicing the fiddle) setting out another delicious dinner.


Speaking of dinner ...

It's a smorgasbord!* Ooh, I see meatballs, and an apple salad, and deviled eggs. Oh dear, what's that with the eggs.

"Jellied salmon with deviled eggs, pickled shrimp, herring in sour cream, anchovies, sardines, pickled beets, cucumber pickles." I, uh, I gotta run! I haven't finished my shopping yet!

And I didn't even make it to the ads! They are worthy of an entire post of their own.
Until next time, don't sniff the markers! 

*up here all buffets are smorgasbords, even Chinese food buffets- cracks me up.

Fake fur part deux

* And now, as promised, uh, 2 weeks ago, more fun fur!

Copyright Craft Course Publishers, Incorp. 1971

These aren't specifically Christmas themed, but what great gift ideas! And you, yes you, can make them!

It's so easy, with just a few supplies, including some "now" colour fur.

"You can make a Merrie Monster pajama hide-away" - that blue thing? That looks like it's had some mind-altering substances? Will NOT be hiding, let alone touching, my pajamas. Or anything else for that matter.

Fake fur wrapped around a pop bottle makes a "perfect dresser pet." I beg to differ. Once again with the creepy stare. 


Creepy stare down!

Sadly, again not very many photos of a good enough quality to post. But I'll finish the post off with a look at the "dynamic duo" of these craft projects, Cliff and Eleanor Zimmerman!

Until next time (whenever that may be, but hopefully before the 25th), peace!

Let's get crafty

* It's time once again for one of my occasional "I'm gonna post more often" posts. Blame the chemicals in my brain for my spotty blogging record.

* Only 5 weeks until HTYCODWFYB - how's your shopping going? Me, I love receiving homemade presents, and making them. Doesn't mean I do make lots, but I always intend to. Need ideas for crafts to give? Let's drag some magazines off my shelf and see what we've got!

I don't remember where/how I got this one, but it's got everything from crafts to recipes to home decor.

And here I thought unusually decorated trees was a new idea. According to the description, those are "heavily flocked branches" - oh yeah. And the fruits are carved Styrofoam balls covered with tissue paper. I hate to think what fruit would look like if I had to carve it.

Too cute! He's made of felt. They also have instructions for a lion made of terry cloth.

Teenie bopper doll! Instructions not included in the magazine, send $3 for the pattern. Sneaky.

I know I said I liked homemade gifts, but you can keep your aluminum foil in the kitchen thankyouverymuch.

and stay away from my toilet seat! Sheesh, you wouldn't think you'd have to spell that one out.

Baked goods are always a great gift (well, unless the recipient is allergic to gluten and you find out too late). These are Lucia Buns, "traditionally served in Sweden on December 13, the day of St. Lucia." yum!

Here's the recipe, with suggestions at the bottom of ways to bend the bread. Is it just me, or are some of those Cthulhu-esque? Tasty tasty evil.

That's all for this magazine - stay tuned for more craft ideas from the swingin' 60s!

Five towels agree ...

* Let's talk about chores! And embroidered towels! what fun!

Srsly, as I may have mentioned I've been on a real embroidery/cross-stitching kick lately. I'm working on one cross stitch, and planning 3 embroideries, including some kitchen towels. I've been collecting vintage patterns for a year now, so I have quite the selection to choose from.

Especially popular/common are day-of-the-week towels. So I started to wonder, do they all say to do the same chore on the same day? Let's see!

Across the board, Monday is the day for laundry.
The funny thing is, I realized that I do laundry on Mondays. Got it from my mom, who also does laundry on Mondays. So I asked her why - it's because her mom did laundry on Mondays. There ya go, passed down through the generations.

Is there a  GIANT cat looking through the window?!?

Everybody also agrees that Tuesday is for ironing. Guess it makes sense to iron the day after doing laundry.

Wednesday the towels start to disagree (not a sentence you get to type every day). Aunt Martha says Wednesday is the time for a notepad and pencil to dance - I'm gonna assume that means go grocery shopping. But everyone else agrees that Wednesday is for mending.

Thursday is the day for grocery shopping to everyone but the colonial girl and Aunt Martha. Martha says Thurs is for mending, and the colonial girl goes visiting. Hmm, the colonial girl never goes grocery shopping, guess she just eats at other people's houses while she's visiting.
(I love this design because we have a local grocery store called Thrifty. I stitched this onto a reusable tote for my mom-in-law.)

On Friday, Gretchen the Dutch girl leaves the pack and bakes, while all the other towels (and my mom and I) clean.

Saturday Gretchen and the other towels reverse - Gretchen does her cleaning and the kitten, bees and colonial girl bake.

Aww, little baby bee sleeping in the hammock!

Sunday everybody is back to agreement - in a manner of speaking. The bees and kitten relax in hammocks, Gretchen picks flowers, Aunt Martha's newspaper funnies sit around and laugh, and the colonial girl goes to church.

To sum up, the towels agree on Monday, Tuesday and Sunday. Other days you are free to do your own thing.
Hope you enjoyed my Tour of Towels! If you'd like to see more, check out Vintage Embroidery Patterns and New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns on Flickr.

p.s. I am sorely tempted to do something ... horrific with this one ;)

filled with goodness!

* I finished my Halloween candy boxes and handed them out Monday. Some photos of them didn't turn out, but the ones I'm most proud of are:

Oh yeah, Necronomicons made of paper mache and tissue paper! I should have taken photos of the inside as well, but I forgot. Here's another one of my candy boxes (with a peek of the other two in the background):

* Speaking of unspeakable horror, check out this meat hand! Truly, truly disgusting and creative.

* I bought some Burt's Bees soap bark and chamomile deep cleansing cream and it smells just like Bazooka gum! Which is entirely appropriate for this time of year - I remember many a Halloween getting those little pink rocks of gum. My favorite candy was always chocolate: M&Ms, Kit Kats, peppermint patties. My least favorite was Sugar Babies, or anything super chewy that sticks in the teeth..

* Woo hoo, 6 followers! Welcome Lille and Muza-chan!