box o tubes

I've come to accept the fact that I'm kind of a hoarder when it comes to cool looking things that I think I'll be able to use for something someday. I think my dad is too, which is why there has been a staggered release of cool things from our garage lately. He finally realizes he can't do anything with whatever it is, puts it somewhere to eventually go in the trash, and then I spot it. And then I say, "Oooo whatcha doin with that?" And he says "Throwing it out. Unless you think you can use it for something." Such an enabler. ;)

The most recent find was a box of old school radio tubes. Not sure what I could ever possibly do with the tubes themselves, but the boxes were too fun to pass up on. Honestly, I don't even know what I could do with the boxes either, besides just displaying them somewhere. I thought of maybe unfolding them all and making a sort of framed collage with them.

So I have no idea what I'm going to do with them. Maybe I'll scour the internets for some crafty things to do with radio tubes or old boxes. I have a problem. I think it's a crafter problem. We see things and go "I can make something with that!" And then hold on to it for years because it's either too good to use in the projects we think of, or just some crazy thing that looks cool but isn't really going to serve another purpose. Meh, who knows. ;)

Thanks for all of the suggestions to my fifty dollar yarn problem! I loved reading them all and think I might look into the hat idea, or maybe just make scarfy accessory type thing. I'll keep you posted! Thanks also for the congrats on my passing the tests! It's a huge weight off my shoulders!

Today I have the house to myself so I think I'm going to do some yoga, start some laundry, and bake something sweet and bread-like. Exciting, minus the laundry. :)

Hope you're having a great week!

february call for sponsors

I do apologize for the silence around here lately. I've essentially started a new job where I'm on call and never know when I'll be home anymore so a lot of my plans got tossed to the wayside. But I'm adjusting, and a few lovely ladies answered my plea for help on Twitter by telling me about how they plan for the unexpected and the magic of scheduling posts.

So February is a new month and I have a lot of fun posts planned and a blog schedule that allows me to have posts ready for when I have to run on a moment's notice! I think I'm getting this working lady thing down, which is good because come Fall, I'll be a five-days-a-week gal while I do my student teaching.

Anyway! This leads me to my February call for sponsors! I already have some new great ladies lined up along with some familiar faces and I'd love to add more! Check out the sponsor page for all the details of swapping or purchasing an ad space. It's a good month to advertise your V Day projects, shop items, recipes, and more!

Oh, and if you like the vintage valentine above, click here for the original post and the pdf downloads of some old valentines my Grandmom let me have! Just print on some cardstock and cut! I might try to update them soon because I created better images of the photos since then. :)

Have a great weekend!

kutztown

Whew! Last week was a busy one. I went to Kutztown with my family on Tuesday, me and Charlie's five year anniversary was on Thursday, and my mom's birthday was on Friday. We haven't totally celebrated our five years yet since it fell on a Thursday and this weekend was busy but we at least wanted to spend Thursday night together so we were with each other on the actual date. We'll celebrate for real on an upcoming weekend and do a bunch of our favorite things to celebrate a pretty decent milestone. I also have a fun gift in the works that I'll share later!


The Kutztown Folk Festival is something I've been going to with my family for a few years now. It's a fun little Pennsylvania Dutch fest where they have a bunch of German food, crafters, music, and a farmer's market.

There's some pretty talented crafters there but I like to go for the antique section. I would be stoked to walk out of that place with everything in sight. There are amazing finds for a steal! There's everything from antique tools, dishes, and furniture, to vintage packaging, cameras, and jewelry.

This year I picked up a vintage blue glass ball jar for myself. It was the only one there and I've been wanting to get my hands on one for a while.



As part of a housewarming gift, I got Charlie this vintage movie camera to go with his ever-growing vintage camera collection. I was so happy when I saw this one there because I knew he didn't have a movie one yet. 15 bucks. Mega score.


It's from 1956 and seems to be in perfect working condition so hopefully we can find some film for it and have some fun!


It has all of the original paperwork in the box and lens caps and everything. The woman who sells these takes amazing care of her things. All the original packaging is pretty immaculate for being almost 60 years old.


We picked up some jams and preserves at the farmer's market and I spied a stack of packaged honeycombs and had to grab one. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet but I was fascinated by it and will find some sort of use for it. Any suggestions? I've actually seen a recipe or two that called for a honeycomb, but can I find them now? Of course not.


My mom also grabbed a jar of honey and asked the guy if it was local. I laughed a little, having a flashback of the restaurant scene in Portlandia. :)


Other than that I've been helping Charlie get his new place together which is coming along nicely. We hung some artwork last night and it's looking cozier by the minute. Hope everyone's summer is going well. Who knew it was July already?! Jeeez.

candy

Here's a small collection of vintage candy dishes and tins from around my house that I thought I'd share since they've got some pretty details. :)

This first one is an old Whitman's tin. Don't you wish things were still packaged this way? It's got a little wear to it but I think it just adds to it's vintage charm!


Here's a pretty little dish made of glass and silver. It is busy holding hershey kisses at the moment.


This is my favorite. The colors are amazing. I kind of wish it was a fabric print. The only thing I know about it is that it was made in England.


And this is another silver and glass guy. I love the little pear handle on top!


There's so much character in vintage things. Can't wait to find more!

Happy almost Friday. :)

vintage valentines

Like I briefly mentioned in the last post, I thought it'd be fun to do some Valentine features during the week leading up to Valentine's weekend. I'm kind of bummed that V Day is on a Monday this year, especially because I have a math class from 6:30-9:30pm. :( Bummer. So this year Charlie and I will still spend V Day together but do our actual celebrating this weekend.

Today I thought I'd start off with some vintage Valentines that my grandmom had saved from years and years ago. The first in the bunch are some kiddie ones. Remember the kind you used to get in elementary school with a lollipop or chocolate attached? Yea, those were the days.


Here are a few cute ones for the parents. I love the old illustrations!


Here's another kiddo one with one from my uncle to "Mommy".


Quite a few of these have dates inside ranging from the 50's to the 60's. I think the little house one is my favorite. It's dated 1955 inside. I just love that illustration. So much so that I took the liberty of photoshopping out the message and left it blank so you could write your own if you felt so inclined. :)

I made pdf's of some of the cards and took out some of the specific family-related messages so that they could be customized. So if you want to give a few vintage Valentines this year, look no further! Just click the links below to download the pdf's and put whatever text you want on them. Then just print them out on card stock, cut em out, and give em to the one you love!

Just moved in or purchased a new house with your sweetheart? You could, for example, do a little something like this..


Have fun with it!

Click a link below to download the pdf.
4 kiddo valentines
bouquet of flowers ("mother" removed)
doggie couple (words removed)
little detective
1950's house (words removed)

Enjoy! Hope everyone had a great weekend! :)