Treasure Hunting

Hello and Welcome Spring

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods? Ours is unseasonably mild, high-forties and sunny. No complaints from me, though I'm not foolish enough to think it will last....

Have you found any treasures lately? I had a ball out picking this past week and even ended up finding a few keepers.

The pretty cup and saucer is marked "Summer Glory" Royal Albert England. I couldn't resist it at $1.99. I'll grab a little bit of spring wherever I can find it....

The two small plates are Syracuse China (.49 cents each). I'm a sucker for restaurant supply dishes and have collected several sets in different patterns. I like the scalloped edge on the pink and white plate, but I rarely see this pattern in my travels; when I do it's either a lone saucer or badly scuffed.

I think I'm in love....this old bowl is so elegant and the towels are my favorite fabrics and colors. They have already found a home in my linen closet.

I spent about $30 and had some much needed fun. I picked up a few old and well-made antiques to resell on eBay and a few things to put away for the Etsy store I haven't yet opened. ;-)


Happy hunting!
Diane

Linking up at:

Cabin Fever

And a Happy February 1st To You.....

Just think.....only a couple more months of winter, depending on where you 're at. I'm ready for spring.

I'm more than ready.....in fact, I now have an official case of cabin fever. I'm dying to get outside. I want to build something. Or prop something up. I want to see how the blueberries and rosa rugosa that I planted last spring are doing. Did my trees make it? In November I planted two white pines next to the new tractor building; they're out there somewhere buried under three feet of snow. I want to hang out(side).

Tell me this, is cabin fever contagious? Check out my newest favorite website:

Cabin Porn

Meanwhile, here's a few titillating teasers. LOL. Have I got it bad.

Pine Tar Stain  100% organic. I wonder if it repels flies....

Northern Ontario. Nice framing. The floors are repurposed palettes. More about the construction at mycabininthewoods.tumblr.com.

A farm is in Skammestein, Norway. This barely looks like a photo.

A 21-year-old industrial design student built this cabin in an archipelago in Finland.

This cabin in Norway looks like it's sitting on a Bigfoot rug.

Swedish simplicity. What era do you think that sofa is from? Late forties-early fifties? You can see more images of Urnatur here.

New Hampshire. Maple sap run, the smell of new lumber. Heaven.

Best woodpile ever. Just goes to show you can be creative in whatever you do.

Think Spring!

Diane

Fun Vintage 1950s Valentines

Hello All,

Aren't these a hoot? If you're old enough to remember Valentines like these.... my condolences. ;-)

Can you guess how many 'hearts' are in the image above?  Lips, earrings, turban, etc.......I count 14, not that I'm necessarily known for accuracy!

These cards are all from the same estate. They are unused and each have a little yellowing on the back, probably leftovers that were never given out.

They are also quite large (about 10 inches tall). The upper portion on each card has a small grommet so that the head swivels and can fold to fit in an envelope.

I scanned them at 300dpi. They should print up nicely on your b&w or color printer.

What could be more fun on a lazy, Sunday afternoon than rummaging through old paper stuff? On second thought, don't answer that!

What do you do for fun?

Vintage Valentines for You

 

Hello. It's a cold winter day in the Copper Country, so I'm staying inside and doing a little housekeeping. For me that means organizing ephemera and putting things back in place after my daughter's visit over the Holidays. She likes old cards and paper, too. The hum of the scanner was constant while she was home.

This morning I found a stack of old Valentines she left on her dresser, so before I put them away I thought I'd scan a few and post them on my blog. Maybe you have a Valentine project and can use them?

All I can say is, "they sure don't make 'em the way they used to."

Aren't these 1930s Valentines adorable? I'm amazed at how the colors are still so vibrant after all these years.

And the verses are so sweet....

I have boxes and boxes of old greeting cards. I just love them. I have been collecting paper since forever.

Several years ago I made personalized gift cards using scans of turn of the century Christmas cards. I used snapshots that I had taken of family members and "photoshopped" their faces in place of the ones on the original cards.

My brother became the jolly Santa ready to descend the chimney; the rosy-cheeked girls sledding down the hill had my nieces' happy faces. You get the picture. It was trial and error, but fairly easy once I got the facial proportions right. I printed them on natural fiber card stock on a high-quality color printer. They were so cute! I think everyone liked them better than their gifts. I gave a complete family set to everyone.

This little sweetie has a red ribbon and a message in pencil on the back: To Gertrude (signed Kerttu Ylitalo 1922).

What kinds of fun and creative things do you do with vintage cards? I'd love to see your creations.  Enjoy!

~Diane

New Year's Day Flea Market 2010 - Lithuania

Happy New Year! I hope your Christmas was delightful and that Santa brought everything on your list.

I recently came across some photographs I took a couple of years ago when I spent the holidays in Vilnius, Lithuania. I hope you enjoy this Eastern Europe Flea Market.

Even though it was quite cold and lightly snowing, at the crack of dawn vendors began arriving and setting out their wares on the snow covered steps.

These guys looked a little tired. Perhaps they celebrated too much the night before.

I thought that this dealer had the most interesting selection of antiques.

If these brass lights could talk, what stories would they tell? They were quite large, close to three feet in length.

.

What an interesting assortment of Soviet-era antiques and collectibles. Very few of the pieces were priced. Because Russian was the only language taught in schools up until 1990, few older Lithuanians spoke English. That's OK, I was content to just look.

These were some of the few dealers who brought furniture. I suspect the snow had something to do with that.

A suitcase filled with binoculars.

Soviet bronze busts. The brush must have been for removing snow. Several of the vendors had them.

I wish these could have come home with me. I can envision the elegant and romantic house where they used to hang.

Lovely carving on this old box.

There were quite a few military items. German WWII knives with sheaves were selling for around $20.

I can just imagine trying to fly home with a grenade in my luggage. As it was, it took us three hours to get through security in Amsterdam on our way back to the U.S.

I really liked these primitives.

And these.

Assorted metalware on an interesting old trunk.

A view of the city. Note the empty champagne bottles on the landing.

Someone brought an old spinning wheel.

I'm not sure how these books were protected from the snow.

Ornate door hardware and odds and ends.

A leftover from New Year's Eve in Vilnius.

Christmas In Lithuania

A pretty girl selling handmade treats in Old Town Vilnius outdoor market.

Do you have a favorite Christmas? One you know you'll never forget for as long as you live?

I do.

In 2009, my husband was working in Lithuania and couldn't leave his job to come home for the holidays. Our family had never spent a Christmas apart, so our daughter and I flew over there to be with him.

I LOVE to fly, but I also think it can be excrutiatingly stressful, especially if there are connecting flights.

Because my flight originated from a small airport (CMX)--so small, in fact, that if I call there I might end up speaking directly to the airport manager--I was able to reschedule my flight to Boston and get a step ahead of the approaching storm that a day later would close and/or disrupt flights out of many major American and European airports.

As my daughter and I stood in line to board our 9 p.m. flight from Boston Logan to Schiphol in the Netherlands, the TV monitors flashed breaking news that the "underwear bomber" had just been arrested at Detroit Metro. Oh Great.

I was never so glad in my life when we finally boarded and were in flight.

Traveling on Christmas Day was super fun; complimentary wine and snacks and flight attendants in Santa caps and reindeer antlers; sleeping for a few hours and waking up in Amsterdam. How cool is that?

Neither of us had ever been to Eastern Europe. Were we in for a surprise! Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, would soon charm us with its medieval architecture, fabulous food and drink, and an attractive exchange rate that made some purchases only slightly more expensive than Mexico.

View overlooking the city from our apartment.

My husband's apartment was IKEA modern with a wood stove and a spiral staircase and had a great view of the capital city.

Anna catching up on email or playing with Photoshop.

Our VIP seating for viewing New Year's Eve fireworks.

I learned that Lithuania gained its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1990. Remnants of the occupation are most notably present in the unattractive, Soviet-built apartment buildings, some that even today remain unfinished. Not surprisingly, graffiti is everywhere, which in itself poses the question: is it art or vandalism?

Graffiti on a wall in Old Town.

Christmas graffiti on a wall near the U.S. Embassy.

More graffiti on lovely painted doors.

Except for weekends, my husband had to work for much of the time we were there. Since downtown was within walking distance, we explored the city during the day and he took us us around by car in the evening.

The main street in Old Town.

Once you get off the main streets, side streets look like this.

One of the many tunnels that connect the streets in Old Town.

A touch of color brightens dark, drab winter days.

Lithuania is known for its amber and linen. Lithuanian chocolate is to die for.

If you think of Lithuania as a country of women in babushkas (though I'm sure you'll see them in the country), think again.

In Vilnius, women young and old wore fashionable fur coats and tall boots.

This is definitely not a remnant of the Soviet era.

Vilnius is a city of stylish and slender women; I don't recall seeing any young women who were overweight.

How in the world does one stay slim with this as a temptation?

Or this?  The local beer was awesome, as was everything else we tried.

One thing you will find in large super markets such as Maxima, are aisles of fresh food, especially cheese, dairy, yogurt, bread, and sausage. We hardly saw any pre-prepared, over-processed frozen foods; a couple of frozen pizza brands was about it. Refrigerators are small and people shop everyday.

This is how you buy fish if it isn't swimming in a tank: many meats such as lamb are similarly displayed on ice and out in the open.

I think Vilnius is a cat city.....
.

We saw them on signs and buildings.

This is one of the locals who hung out by the dumpsters at our apartment building. Every morning tenants left small bowls of food for the cute little scavengers.

If you're still reading.....thanks a lot. Guess I got a little winded!

All I can say is that I love Lithuania!!! I hope I get the chance to visit again.

Next up, I'll try to post some pictures taken at an outdoor flea market held on New Year's Day in Vilnius. It would have been 'seventh heaven' for anyone interested in inexpensively priced WWII relics and elegant, old world treasures.

Until next time.....

Diane