Use Vintage: Frame a Vintage Mickey Mouse Book Page for Disney Lovers!

I've collected several very old paper mat frames for framing photos or using in my journals and collage work. But, a little bell rang in my head the other day and I found a new something to display in them!

I'm working on a Disneyland gift for a dear friend in California; she wanted something for her home that she could display.  I have a vintage Mickey Mouse book from the 1920s that is coming apart at a rapid rate, so I just have pages left to share. Hello! Put a page in one of the old folders and it can be displayed with any kind of Disneyland memorabilia, even current pictures taken in the park!

I don't believe it's any surprise that I had to make myself one, too, to put next to our own family picture at Disneyland last Halloween. I wish we were there to trick-or-treat this year, too, but this will do for now. I used another page in my gold frame behind our photo so Minnie would be smiling on us. Isn't she cute?

Do you have any old ephemera you would display like this? Old postcards would be darling in a frame next to a recent trip to the same place. Print your photos and visit my shop if you need some neat travel ephemera to display along side them!

Use Vintage: Accessories for a Man Cave

Sometimes it's hard to get a man on board to pick for vintage, or for any kind of decor for that matter, right? My husband is very patient when it comes to what I use to decorate our home, including what I hang on the walls or place on shelves. His only gripe is when I yank a piece of furniture out from under him. Haha! (That just happened a week ago.) Man Crates, asked me how I would decorate a man cave, and of course I said, "Vintage!!" So, here we go!

I've been looking through my vintage collection from estate sales and visits to thrift shops to see what might be an easy fix for the man that wants a masculine touch in his man cave (AKA living area if you have a small space), but also allows his lady to match colors and styles, specifically vintage, in our case.

For his end table, a vintage Popular Mechanics is just about right for anyone. Ha! Look at that. This issue is about making your home a show place! Perfect for his lady to scan through as well. Vintage melmac ash trays are great for catching car keys and his pocket contents.

If he has a drink or two on occasion, these 1960s cocktail glasses and a recipe booklet make a fun decor piece that will strike a conversation or two. And, you could also frame a few old labels from liquors in these vintage gold frames.

Decks of vintage playing cards are neat sitting on the coffee table, which, in our case, is a vintage army trunk.

Blankets in the room don't have to be pink and rosy; you can find old afghans at many estate sales and they come in all kinds of colors! Or, if you prefer, old 9-square quilts are a favorite at our house.

For the walls, a paint-by-number can fit any taste, especially since they range from mountain scenes to puppy dogs to pretty ladies salsa dancing (although a bit feminine, it can still work for a man).

If he likes to travel, you can't go wrong with old postcards or brochures from the 40s or 50s of his favorite places to visit. They would look swell in a frame or just laying in a piece of vintage pottery on the coffee table.

Fishing ephemera would be a hit for many men as well! 

I chose most of these things because they will not only appeal to your man, but to the ladies as well. Vintage fits any personality, because there will always be memories.

These can also be easily transitioned into your vintage room for your guy! Let me know if you are working on a man cave of your own and what you choose! This would be a fun link-up if you'd like to leave yours in the comments! See you next time!

Nifty (and Thrifty!) Ways to Use a Butter Dish Lid

I couldn't pass up these two butter dishes at an estate sale this weekend. But I couldn't find the bottoms, either. Still, as pretty as they are, I started thinking of all kinds of ways to use the lids as storage in my paper room and in other areas of the house. (I always need storage options.)

If you are a paper crafter, use it to store old labels or washi tape. Washi tape fits perfect in a re-purposed butter dish lid!

If you are a hostess or a cook, use it to hold your favorite recipes and they are handy to reach for.

If you are a seamstress, rick rack packages fit perfectly in a butter dish lid!

Here are a few other ideas:

• fill with four or five cookies and wrap in cellophane, tie a bow, and give to a friend that needs them!
• place sugar packets in them for a tea party (thank you to our reader, Amy, for that one!)
• use it for a place to drop your keys or change on the counter
• and, if all else fails, put little pats of butter inside (If your family is as excited about yeast rolls as mine is during the holidays, they won't be noticing the bottom is missing.) 

I also think of using it as packaging and pretty Christmas hostess gifts and all kinds of trinkets you could hold in a small receptacle like these. 

Do you bring home things with missing pieces sometimes? Don't overlook them when you're out and about. I bet in a few seconds you can find something to put in it. Happy thrifting! 

P.s. I just updated the shop with some vintage Christmas cards and other fun things. I also have the loot from a math professor's estate coming up! 

Twenty Second Peek Inside My Vintage Paper Party Box!

I've never posted my own video on here that I remember, but thought you might like to see one of my FAVORITE boxes of paper. It will all be in the shop soon...after all...only 15 more Fridays until Christmas. You're welcome. :) Next time, I'll show you the wrapping.

Let's Pretend: Bring Back 1950s Bridge

"If you would like to be known for the parties you give, there is really no secret: just invite congenial people and entertain them graciously. It sounds easy and it is--when you know how." Betty Crocker's Party Book, 1960.

For a long time, I've been wanting to invite friends over to play bridge, if I only knew how! So let's pretend tonight that I do, and plan a bridge party from the 50s. Shall we?

source

Of course, it starts with the dress, right? Mill Street Vintage on Etsy is one of my favorite shops to dream about. This dress would be perfect for a gathering of ladies on a Sunday evening.

You can find this dress here.

And then you need pretty playing cards! I love these from A Backyard Creation on Etsy. 

And tallies, too! Especially cute kitty ones you can find in my shop! 

 Find them here.

What about food? Party Chicken Salad with Grapes sounds yummy and light. Here's the recipe.

Party Chicken Salad with Grapes

Toss Together 2 cups cut-up cold cooked chicken and 1 cup cut up celery, 1 tbsp. lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Add 1/2 cup mayo and carefully fold in 1 cup halved green grapes. Arrange mounds of salad in lettuce cups or in tomato flower cups. 6 servings. (from Betty Crocker Party Book mentioned above)

You can serve it in these pretty Pyrex hostess bowls.

Punch is always good. Try this:

June Punch

4 c. sugar

4 c. water

2 c. strong black tea

6 cans frozen lemonade concentrate, undiluted

2 cans pineapple juice (5 cups)

2 c. cut up strawberries

1 gal. water

2 qt. dry ginger ale

Make syrup by boiling water and sugar for 10 minutes. Add tea and fruit juices. Chill 2 to 3 hours. Add remaining ingredients. Pour over ice in punch bowl or ice in cups. 60-70 servings (whew! I'd cute this recipe in half. From Betty Crocker's Party Book mentioned above.)

Top it all off with these cupcakes from Kevin and Amanda (P.S. If you haven't cooked from their web site before, do it. Yum. Everything.)

source

Then a hostess gift is needed for sure if you are going as a guest. How about a unique little cookbook or some pretty napkins tied with a bow? 

Play and laugh with your friends and call it a night a few hours later. Drive off in your 1957 Chevy and then head home to your husband, who, in all his glory, has the kids in bed and a nice cocktail ready for you when you come in the door. What a night! Want to come to my bridge party? For real? Let's do it!

Pretty Wrappings for Old Papers and Vintage Gifts

I came home with a pretty stack of ladies' handkerchiefs, starched and folded and ironed into neat little squares. I threw them in the wash with bath towels and spent a bit opening and pressing them again, letting my mind wander as to what to do with them. There are so many tiny details on these pretty linens that they should be shared and not tucked away.

Sew Somerset  is one of my favorite magazines to read, because it combines paper and fabric, and being a reborn seamstress lately, I love them both so much. I have many friends who do, too, and I began thinking of ways to package paper gifts with these pretty little hankies.  Here are a few ideas.

Place your ephemera or paper in a clear sleeve with a cardboard insert so that it remains somewhat rigid. Wrap the sleeve like you would a gift, using a handkerchief as your "paper." Tie a silky bow of vintage seam binding around your gift and create a simple shipping tag to label it. Any friend would adore something as pretty as this!

I left the pretty edges of this one out; they are too sweet to cover up.

Place your gift in a paper roll such as from paper towels or bath tissue. Wrap the hankie around the roll and secure both ends with silky ribbon, yarn, or small bits of baker's twine. You could add a tag and use a vintage Dennison seal to embellish (I just listed some in my shop!) Wouldn't this be pretty packaging for tea bags and a silver spoon?

What other ideas do you have to use hankies for wrapping? They are always in abundance at estate sales, so don't pass them up next time you stop.

Speaking of, we will have hankies and lots more vintage for any style at our Miss Henny Penny booth at Loot Vintage Market at Texas Motor Speedway, September 26-28. We'd love for you to stop by and say hello if you are in the DFW metroplex area!

Kickin' It Old School: Finding Report Cards and School Ephemera from the 1920s and Beyond

Hello hello! No excuses...but I'm here. :) It seems that since we only have about two weeks of summer before the teachers head back to school, that I find more and more vintage school supplies at estate sales. Plus, I'm planning to be The Teacher From the Black Lagoon 1950s, so I've been busy researching and reading old Better Homes and Gardens and etiquette books and collecting vintage clothing for ME to wear to school.  Wait til you see my OOTD posts. I'm so excited!

I've also started a new little business with my sweet friend, Katie, from school.  We now have a shop: Miss Henny Penny, where we hunt down the vintage and bring it to you.  There are exciting things happening with that right now...we are working on parties of the yesteryear...you tell us the decade or theme...we bring the goods.

(teacher's hall pass for my room! yay!)

If you are in the DFW area, we will also have a booth at the Loot Vintage Market in September at Texas Motor Speedway!  WOOHOO!  We are super excited about that one, and don't you worry...Feed the Birdies will be there, too, with some swell papers. No way am I giving this up, or this little space. It will always be near and dear.

(I'll fight somebody if they try to take my Ticonderoga pencils. P.S. Didn't Mrs. Payne look nice in her school photos? She had two...what's up with that?)

It's a good thing I took pictures of these when I did. My cat threw up on them today and ruined the lot. Hmph.

Don't you wish report cards still looked like these? "George is a lovely student but..." He could use careful study habits to raise these grades, too.  What is he thinking? Uh Oh. Not a strong S.

I loved finding these old camp "reports" and the student's American Red Cross swimming card. I wonder what her bathing suit looked like? Very modest, I'm sure.

Then there was this school yearbook that I grabbed at the last second off a book shelf at an estate sale.  It is from 1922 and I really can't tell if it is college or high school.  I really believe it is college.  Here is Grace's picture; she must have cut out her beau. I wonder what that story was.

When I opened the yearbook I squealed like I had found money. It wasn't money. It was her report cards. From 1922-23, you guys. What a neat piece of ephemera. Look at her classes and her grades, and notice she took multiple levels at the same time (junior, senior).

Domestic Art and Domestic Science. Love.
Here is her senior class roster, although she was but a lowly sophomore when this yearbook was printed. Don't you love all of these names?

Here she is. Second row. Far right. From Hope, AR. And I guess that Zeb was her beau. Is that who she cut out of the picture? Oh, I bet it was. He must have really broken her heart that summer. 

They look much older than high school sophomores; I bet this is a college. It's also an agricultural college.

I still have so much to share. Lots of neat textbooks and elementary findings with really funny drawings. It's amazing what an abandoned box in a garage will allot you. Don't forget to dig! 

How to Preserve Old Paper: 1959 Traditional Cat Scrapbook

Get ready to say, "AWWWWW!!!" and then quick...find a kitty or a puppy to snuggle.  The owner of this house must have been my mother in another life; it was a fantastic estate.  Her house was full of cat things and books...and then she combined the two and made a scrapbook out of cat pictures from books and magazines.  The most epic find of the year.  Fifty pages or so of kitty goodness.

I initially thought that it was probably created in the 70s, but after further investigation (thank goodness she didn't glue down every single inch of each picture), most of the pictures seem to be from the summer of '59. Wait, that's a song, right?

The amazing thing is that there is not near the yellowing I would expect in something this old.  I am guessing the black pages in the book were high quality in that time.  Good.

Here are my thoughts on preserving it. First, I took it out of the original cover (I should have taken a picture of it before I pitched it), because it was pretty fragile and then my own cats had a hay day from the smell when I got it home and added a few more injuries.

Next, I removed the ends of the pages with the holes in them.

Now, the fun part.  I think I will put it in a 12X12 pocket album with a ring binding.  I believe the pages will fit perfectly in the page protectors and, if not, just a little trim on the edges will do the trick.

I don't want to cut the pictures off the pages nor do I want to try to remove them; they are too fragile and would tear.  Also, if I cut one side, I'll ruin the other; the pictures are pasted on both sides of each page.

A friend of mine suggested that each picture needs its own quote, and I think she might be right, so I might add a little here and there and make this whole process a group effort.  I have several witty friends that won't let me down when it comes to a narrative.

I'm not sure if I want to add any kind of embellishment, and, for that matter, any other pages in between. But that is an option.  What would you do?  Mix old with new and make it a fun journal?  A friendship journal? Oh, I may be getting myself into something big here.  Crazy cat ladies unite.  I'll be sure to show you the finished product! Happy estate sale shopping, my friends!