We're number one!

Well, those masks were quite a hit! Right now, the one and only hit on Google for "ski masks of terror" is this very blog! I know I had seen the masks in other places, so I did a bit of looking around.

A blog called "ThreadBanger" did a round-up way back in '08 of all sorts of scary masks, including these. She linked to a Craftster user who actually made one in '05! oh man.

The Museum of Kitchy Stitches posted the masks, and even included a reader-submitted photo from a later issue of the magazine with a poor, poor boy wearing the mask that his mom proudly made!

Glen found the instructions for the boys' mask at Handmade by Mother - happy knitting! 

Apparently, Swapatorium blog posted the masks and the instructions, but the blog is now by invitation only, and I don't have an invitation :(
Sadly, the only other photo I could find of a modern incarnation of the masks is on a blog that has been hacked.

Last year, CraftStylish had photo and instructions for another set of creeepy ski masks, from '92.

If I knew how to knit (and one day I will learn), I would make up a bag of these and stealthily donate them to all the thrift stores in town. :maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh:

The grande finale

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, I present to you now the final post of my Christmas craft countdown! Taken directly from the pages of McCall's Needlework & Crafts Fall-Winter 1965-66 - 

SKI MASKS OF TERROR!

"Pompon ski mask, made in one piece of knitting worsted on double-pointed needles. Boldly embroidered later in cross-stitch. Separately knitted red nose piece."

"Bright and bold pom-poned head covering for the cold. Knit-on dickey is neat and draft free."

"Warm little Indian wears his feathers knitted over pipe cleaners, his war paint of duplicate stitch. Knitted nosepiece sewn on."

"Girls' face mask is knitted around, has no seams. Warms neck as well as head. Fringed yarn bangs and pompon "hair" are amusing."

 

Since nothing could possibly top that, Feliz Navidad!

Christmas Ideas for 1962

* The holiday hilarity continues.

We move on to 1962, same sort of stories, even the same price!*

Let's start with decor, shall we?

"The balls shown here were purchased in a West Germany store."

This is on the inside of the front cover - a credenza! Those hanging ornaments do look nice. According to the text, to make the porcupine baubles on the bottom, "completely cover a plastic foam ball with tissue paper and add some jeweled toothpicks to form the porcupine." Jeweled toothpicks? Like the ones with the shiny paper on the ends? Looks good from here, but I can't imagine that would work upon closer inspection.

"They're easy to do, yet attractive to display."

Gosh, I never would have guessed that this elegant decoration is made with only four items: metal foil paper, small tree balls, wax paper cylinders and rubber cement. Uh, sorry, actually I would have guessed that.

"Designers show modern ways to do old things."

Yowza! "Rich purple spray paint covers this regional pine tree ..." - just imagine how good the living room smells with that in it! 

"For glamour, add electric lights in tree center."

This tree is a chicken wire cone with pieces of 8" tissue paper poked through the holes. It is kinda pretty, but it would take for-ever to put all that tissue paper on it. Then after Christmas you have to take all the paper out? Oh, right, no recycling, just toss it by the curb and it will disappear!

Awww, it's a Pride tree for your table top!

On to crafts. Again, not alot to work with since most ideas were either not bad or had muddy black & white photos. 

Here's a couple of handmade gifts "for the teens." (the underlining is theirs, guess they wanted to emphasize that it's not for kids or adults.) The shirt above is made by adding embroidered tape to a slightly-altered white sweatshirt. It's not so bad, and I bet it's comfortable as all get out.

Another not-bad idea, an embroidered blue workshirt "to be worn with blue jeans." So don't wear it with a prom dress.

Time to eat!

Ladies, sit back down, this time is for the boys. I'm jealous, 'cause their spread sounds mighty tasty. And look at the dreamboat who's serving!

Rowr!

I'll leave you with an easy yet showy decoration to make yourself!

(you'll have to click to get a good view 'cause the image is too wide)

The finished product is pretty, 

but they lose me somewhere between steps 4 and 5. Here's a piece of paper that looks like a spider, add staples and BOOM beautiful paper snowflake star!

Guess I'll be buying all my gifts this year.

Coming up next time, exciting winter crafts from McCall's Needlework & Crafts! You won't want to miss it, trust me.

*I looked it up, and BHG still puts out a Christmas Ideas magazine but it costs a wee bit more now. Since BHG's website is hard to navigate, I browsed the internets to find some clue as to whether the inside is the same in 2011. This year's issue featured the Christmas decor of several bloggers, but I haven't found any clues to craft ideas yet.

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!

Cozy and warm

* Hi and welcome back to my holiday craft extravaganza! Since it's chilly outside, let's cozy up with some fur!

Copyright Harold Mangelsen & Sons, 1972

We're animal lovers so we'll stick with Fantasy Fur!
My first thought upon seeing the cover: "maybe they shouldn't have open flame right above what is no doubt a highly flammable material." Google doesn't give me any info on what the fur is made of except it's "a fascinating material."

Not many clear photos in here, but there are a couple of doozies.

Here we have a snowman (fur over three styrofoam balls), an Angel in the Cloud and a Nativity Scene through the Windows - yeah, in the center of that furry ball is a 1 1/2" tall nativity scene.

Christmas Morning, Deer in the Forest, and another accident-waiting-to-happen candle holder. I think that deer is giving me the evil eye.

yup. Thanks for the nightmares!
There are also instructions for making an angel mobile, Santa's boot, more ornaments sans nativity, and a furry green wreath.

There's a warning in the front of the book:

in a nutshell - don't blame us if your projects look nothing like this! 

Fantasy Fur Christmas was published by Mangelsen's of Omaha, NE, and surprise! they are still around, but now operate as "a retail store, wholesale supplier/manufacturer of Halloween products, and haunted house." Quite a combo, but no more fantasy fur.

Not for them, but next time on this very blog we'll meet Sweet Lil' Stinko :)

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!

Aunt Nan's Chocolate Cake

especially for Angela!

p.s. I was going to sell this cookbook on Etsy, but if you're interested send me an e-mail at luluk_670 at yahoo.com :)