Every Door

Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door.
- Emily Dickinson

Yesterday I found the most fabulous thing at a local antique shop.  Actually I found a couple things, but this one I just had to share.  Of all the things for me to swoon over, I never knew that it would be a door stop!  This piece is made of solid wood.  Although cast iron door stops are prolific and well known, apparently in the 1920s and 1930s, wooden figural doorstops were very popular as well.

The woman selling the doorstop didn't know much about it, other than the era, as stated above.  I can tell you, I will not be using her to prop a door open.  Lol!  She is quite large, about 18" tall, and her wooden base is a bit hefty, as you can imagine.

She does not have any markings that I can find at all, and that, in addition to the chipped condition of the wood ~ makes her price, according to my research, just about right, if not a bit low.  I paid $28 for her.  But, could you have resisted ~ look at this face!

I hope your day is full is open doors leading to beautiful finds!  I am joining a bunch of parties this week, check out the rest  of the participants, or join in the fun yourself!

House of Grace Twice Owned Tuesday

http://creatingahouseofgrace.blogspot.com/2011/03/twice-owned-lovelies.html

Elements Interiors: Whassup Wednesdays

 

http://www.elements-interiors.net/2011/03/whassup-wednesday_16.html

Vintage Thingie Thursday

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday - since the letter is W, and my doorstop is made of Wood!

 http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/search/label/Alphabe-Thursday

Time Travel Thursday

http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

Vintage Plates and Pottery

It is Vintage Thingie Thursday and Time Travel Thursday, and today I am going to share some of my vintage plates and pottery.

I have a small collection and it is very eclectic.  In general, I'll pick up a piece if the pattern appeals to me, and it costs less than $10.  And really, under $5 is preferable.  I don't look for any particular pattern or maker, however, as you can see, florals really appeal to me.  (Actually, that is not entirely true.  I have a small collection of mixed vintage Bauer pottery and Fiestaware, but I'll save those for another post on another day.)

Yesterday I decided to stop by the local thrift shop to see if anything new had come in, and I found the beautiful plate above.  It is a gorgeous lusterware.  The plate is about 13" wide.  And, it was a steal at $2.99!  It was marked "Germany, Lena Jensen" so I figured it would be easy to get online and learn a little more about the piece.

Unfortunately, I can't find anything about this maker or this particular mark.  Does anyone have any information about this mark?  I'd love to know.

Here are a few more favorites of mine:

Two beautiful platters which are in my china hutch.

Calla lillies, suspended in time (and porcelain)!

The piece above is probably a little newer than the others.  But, I love the gold rim, and the cherries, of course.

Here are three mismatched pieces that go well together on the bookshelf in the family room.

Finally, I thought I would share a tiny little ceramic lidded container that I adore.  I especially like the gold handle.

Here's a picture of it, in the bookshelf.  It sits alongside a vintage hat that I treasure, and a mixed media are piece that I created a couple years ago ("Marie Buttonette") using a vintage doll.

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday, and Time Travel Thursday!

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

  http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

(Not so) Vintage Thingie Thursday!

“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made" - Groucho Marks

It is Vintage Thingie Thursday, so I figured I would share a prized collection of miniature cream bottles, that (as you can see on the far left) I now use as casual glasses.  They are perfect for lemonade, fruit punch, and root beer.  They are very sweet, and remind me of a simpler time.  The only thing is... they aren't (shhhhh!) really vintage.  The Straus Family Creamery is a local dairy farm that produces the most delicious milk products, and they are sold in the gourmet section of our local supermarkets.  

So, I figure since I am cheating on the "vintage" aspect of Very Vintage Thursday, I would share some more of my decidedly modern favorites.  Namely, dinner on Wednesday night.

First off, menu planning and shopping itself has always been a chore.  However, I was beyond thrilled when I found the website, "How Does She Do It", which simplifies the process beyond measure.  First of all, it has a database of recipes that you can access by searching for a particular dish, or you can search by category ("chicken" or "dessert" or "pasta", etc.).  You can also add your own favorite recipes.  You can then populate your own weekly menu with the dishes you want to make.  But the coolest aspect, as far as I am concerned, is that it then creates your weekly shopping list for you.  So you go over the list, and if you already have some of the items, you can remove them from the list, and if you have other staples you want to add to the list - you go ahead and add them, and then voila - you take the list with you and you ensure that you have everything you need to cook for your family for the week.  Woo hoo!  Convenient, fun, and easy peasy.  Check it out:

 

http://www.howdoesshedoit.com

Here's an example of what I cooked last night - it took about twenty minutes total, fed four with some left over for my husband's lunch today, and everyone liked it.  Chicken and Broccoli with Rice.  First, I chopped up a lb. of skinless chicken breast, brown it in a tablespoon of oil, and then set it aside:

Next, you take a can of cream of chicken soup, a cup and a half of water, and some pepper and paprika, and mix it all in the pan, over heat.  

(Love the glass spice jar.)  Archer Farms is a Target brand.  The pewter Pepper shaker (I have the salt shaker as well) are from Crate and Barrel.

You let this mixture come to a boil.

Once it comes to a boil, you put the chicken back in, and add a cup and a half of minute rice, and a bag of frozen broccoli. 

Cover the mixture, and let it simmer for five more minutes. This gives you time to set a really quick casual table:

 

And woo-hoo!  Dinner is ready!

The dish already has your protein, starch, and vegetable.  I put out a a platter of fresh grapes and orange slices, as a side dish.

And then, to complete the meal, one more modern convenience:

Yum!  Happy Vintage Thingy Thursday!  I know I cheated, but taking the time to sit down to a home cooked meal with your family is becoming less and less common, and for some - a thing of the past.  

Personally, I think the family meal is a vital part of family connection, and modern conveniences such as the website and quick recipe I shared above help to make sure that I can focus on what it timeless and important, a happy, well fed, close family.

Thanks for stopping by!  Here's a picture of me with my messy hair and apron on.  It looks like I have been cooking all day long.  Lol!

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

Keep Calm and Blog On

It is Vintage Thingy Thursday and Time Travel Thursday - so I figured I would share a little today, about our "Keep Calm and Carry On" print, which can be seen int he upper right corner of the photo of our living room, above.

Nowadays, you can find this print and variations of the print all over the place.  But the original story is an interesting one.  It's even on Wikipedia now (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On):

"Keep Calm and Carry On was a poster produced by the British government in 1939 during the beginning of World War II, intended to raise the morale of the British public under the threat of impending invasion. It was little known and never used. The poster was rediscovered in 2000 and has been re-issued by a number of private sector companies, and used as the decorative theme for a range of other products. There are only two known surviving examples of the poster outside of government archives." (For mor, click on the wikipedia link above.)

Our family particularly likes our Keep Calm print (which is a screen printed onto a canvas box frame) - not only for its bright color and soothing sentiment, but also because my mother-in-law is English, and a sweet trip to Britain is one of the first international trips my husband and I took together.

I also love the many recent variations of the Keep Calm poster.  Some are very sweet:

Some suggest financial freedom:

Some are more likely to keep you calm than others:

And given a real emergency, this one is probably the most realistic:

Hope you all enjoyed this little jog down a vintage highway.  Have a happy Thursday everyone!

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

  http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

A Child's Goodnight

Life's most soothing things are a child's goodnight and sweet music.... Thomas Edison

Last weekend, I found a dresser on Craigslist, that was offered for sale, for $35.  I'd been looking for a white dresser for our guest room - and this one looked nice and roomy.  When we went to go pick it up, it was fun to see that it had some vintage looking lines.  The carved edges were very art-deco looking.  I don't have great pictures of the dresser - but here they are, the ones from the ad:

The person selling us the dresser couldn't tell us much about the piece of furniture, but it was fun to find a paper label affixed to the inside of one of the drawers.  It read:

Little Folk's Furniture; New London New Jersey.

Needless to say, I got to researching right away.  What fun to find out that the Thomas Edison had a furniture business (really!) and that "Little Folk's" was the children's division!   I was able to find the following history (here):

"You may be wondering why Thomas Alva Edison, the revered American inventor, was doing producing children’s furniture. It started out as an adjunct to Edison’s phonograph factory. In 1917 Thomas Alva Edison purchased Wisconsin Panel and Cabinet Company, a maker of opera seats. He converted the factory to the production of cabinets for his newly patented line of phonographs. The name of the factory was changed to Edison Wood Products and it continued to make phonograph cabinets until 1927. During the Depression, the consumer demand for phonographs slowed a lot because they were considered a luxury item at a time when most people were concerned about where their next meal was coming from. Edison didn’t want to add more people to the bread lines by laying off several hundred employees, so he decided that the company should make juvenile furniture under the trade name "Edison Little Folks Furniture".

It was really neat to look up other vintage pieces of Little Folk's furniture.  Both of the decals above are from vintage Little Folk's cribs.  You can see another art-deco style piece (part of another dresser) below:

And I also thought this display of vintage Edison furniture was delightful:

I have not been able to find a furniture catalogue online, so I don't know exactly how old my dresser is.  In fact, Little Folk's was sold off to Simmons at some point (yes, the same as the Simmons as the mattress company) and they continued to manufacture under the Little Folks' name, until 2005.  However, given the lines, and the specifics of the label on my piece, I suspect it is older rather than newer. 

However old it may be, I had a wonderful time finding out more about the history of the furniture line, and finding the lovely vintage pieces and decals shown here.  I hope you had as much fun seeing them, as I did!

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday, and Time Travel Thursday!

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

  http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

Nothing Remains... except!

A few years ago, I was going to pick m y nephew up from daycare, and as I drove through the neighborhood where his preschool was located, I saw the fabulous candy machine that you see above, on a street corner with the sign "free" taped to the front of it.

After picking up my nephew, I drove past the street corner again, but this time I stopped.  I got out.  I oohed.  I aaahed.  And I was sold!  (Well, it was free, after all!)  Don't you just love the actual 'candy' sign?  It is one of my favorite parts of this vending machine.

Several years later, I have since gutted the inside (harder than you might have expected - it required a crowbar and a lot of elbow greese!) and cleaned it up.  A part  of my mini-blythe collection found its way into the candy slots, and we use inside to store dvds and vhs tapes.  Significant additional restoration is needed.  We have the gorgeous red bakelite-ish nobs that you pull to release your candy, that need to be reaffixed below the doll panel.  Also, as you can see the bottom is very scratched up.  I'd like to do something about the paintjob - either repaint it in its original colors - or - I can't help but flirt with the idea of red, or teal/turquoise.  Hmmm...

In any case!  When I was picking up the candy machine, the original owner (or, second owner I should say) came out of his house, and shared a little history.  This candy machine was originally located at the San Ramon Auto Movie - which was a drive-in theatre located in Dublin California.  The theatre operated from 1966 through the early 1980s.  According to the Cinema Treasures website: 

"The San Ramon Auto Movie was located off of Dublin Boulevard, adjacent to the 580/680 interchange. The drive-in was easily the most high-profile entertainment venue in the Tri-Valley area during the late '60's to the mid-70s. The land was owned by the Enea Brothers, who also owned drive-ins throuhout the Bay Area.

During the late '70s to early '80s, attendance lagged due to the construction of several multi-screen indoor theatres in Dublin and Pleasanton. Dublin incorporated as a city in 1982, and the drive-in sat in a high-profile traffic area. It closed in 1981 and was demolished in 1982, and was developed into a series of retail shopping centers, and most recently, car dealerships.

Nothing remains of this theatre, save for a few of the trees that lined the back of the screen and former driveway. Amador Valley Boulevard south of Dublin Boulevard was originally the entrance, which is now paved and riddled with stoplights."

Nothing remains?  I beg to differ.  Why, I have proof that a little something remains!  ; )

Here's to hoping you all have a candilicious day, on this Vintage Thingie Thursday!

If you would like to see additional entries, or blog about some vintage goodness yourself - check out Colorado Lady's blog - here:

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

I am also linked  up to: 

http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/2010/06/time-travel-thursday-1-back-to-future.html

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2010/06/under-100-linky-party.html

The Apes of Devil's Island!

I am excited to share my vintage thingy find, for today!  A couple days ago - I was perusing Craigslist's 'free' section - and there was an ad for 'a few vintage argosy magazines, dated in the early 1920s.'  Sight unseen, I hopped on that - and was lucky enough to be the first respondent.

What fun!  It turns out I am now the proud owner of all of these:

Here's a little more about the magazine:  Argosy was generally considered to be the first American pulp magazine. The first issue was published on December 2, 1882, and was eight pages, cost five cents, and included the first installments of serialized stories by Horatio Alger, Jr. and Edward S. Ellis.  In 1920, All-Story Weekly was merged into The Argosy, resulting in a new title, Argosy All-Story Weekly.  The final issue of the original magazine was published in November 1978.

The pages are yellowed and very brittle, still I am looking forward to delving into a few stories.  Who can resist the very first pulp fiction?  Besides - could you pass by a story title like this one:

I didn't think so.

If you would like to see additional entries, or blog about some vintage goodness yourself - check out Colorado Lady's blog - here:

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

Have a great Thursday everyone!  Friday is almost here...