Stitched Birthday Card

My niece's birthday card this year, was a stitched card.  The idea and pattern came from that fun magazine that I love so much...Stitch, Craft, Create.

The first step is to trace a design onto the card using a pencil.  Try to make the pencil marks very light.

Then, you take a pin or needle (I just used my needle as I went along) to poke little holes following your pencil designs.  Try not to make the pin holes TOO close together.  I practiced before hand and determined how big I wanted the stitches to be.  The magazine says to place the card on a self healing mat or thick cardboard to poke the holes, but I just held it in mid-air and poked the needle through.

Using a back stitch, I stitched the card and then placed a matching piece of card stock over the back side of the stitching to hide the messy back and knots.  Here is the finished card.  It was fun to do and it will be fun to experiment with different designs in the future.

Have a Happy, Crafting Day!

Prairie Village Museum Rugby Part 4

Here's a look at the saloon.

Here is the local bartender.  He wasn't very talkative.

Game of Poker anyone? 

The game room also had a piano.  When we were all resting on a bench in the "town square" and a family next to us was having a picnic at the picnic table, Poppa Bernie entertained us with some old time piano tunes.

I like these old gas pumps. 

I like this picture for two reasons.  Can you guess?  One, the old pump toppers from Standard Oil gas tanks.  Two, the Fred Allen Show banner!  I have figured this banner is most likely from 1940 because that is the first year the Texaco Show aired on CBS in the evening.

Tractor Row.  My little 3 yr old DC Boy would've gone into tractor overload if he'd seen all of these "trac-tooors".

I like the way the words John Deere are painted.  I imagine these tractors were loud, but the noise was probably a trade off for convenience.  I wonder if John Deere has a trademark on their shade of green paint. 

We met up with Gma Holly and Gpa Bernie and sat under this beautiful tree in town square.  Gma Holly brought homemade oatmeal cookies and bottles of water.  Gpa Bernie played piano in the saloon and then I walked back to the telephone operators house for a few more pictures.

Look at that beautiful blue sky!

This little writing desk was just begging to be opened, so I did and it's oh so cute inside.  I'd love to fill it with pretty stationery, my writing pens and address books.  And there's even a little drawer to keep stamps!  I especially like that there is a glass enclosed bookcase at the bottom for treasures. 

Here is the desk closed up again.  So pretty!  But I'd do something different than the dresser scarf, maybe two small doilies instead, under the lamps.

I'll close today with this picture.  This saying was painted on the side of the rail road caboose.  What a breath of fresh air!  It made we think...at what point in time did we decide that our safety is someone Else's responsibility.  Now, if some thing's unsafe, it's someone Else's fault.  Personal responsibility seems to be lacking more now than it did in the past.  If you speed down the highway at 110mph and get into an accident, it's not the road's fault...it's your fault!  If you eat nothing but fast food burgers for a year and gain weight, it's not the fast food joint's fault...it's YOURS!  Where is the common sense now-a-days!? 

 Okay, that was kind of a vent there, so one more picture to end this post on a happy note. 

This is two photos put together of the little soda shop in downtown Rugby.  The photo quality isn't great, one of my future goals is to learn Photoshop, my scrapbook program just doesn't cut it anymore. But at least you get the idea of how cool this place was!

Until next time,
Have a Happy Day!

A few days ago, I sumbled upon Susan Branch's website and blog.  I've been a fan of her illustrations for years.  I had totally forgotten about her blog!  And wouldn't you know, her blog entry for April 23 was about letter writing!  How fun it was to read!  Here is the link. http://www.susanbranch.com/2012/04/how-to-write-a-good-letter/ 
Susan Branch created a book called "Days from the Heart of the Home", that I just love.  It's a daily journal that can be started at any time.  I picked one up at a bookstore a couple of years ago and this year I finally decided to use it.  The little illustrations on every page are so happy, therefore, I only use this particular journal for happy thoughts.

She also illustrated a wonderful line of stickers and I have many of them as well.  I use them on letters, journals and in my scrapbooks.  Here is a book full of Autumn goodness that I just love.

Have a Happy Day!

A Lap Desk for Letter Writing

I'm reading the book, Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace and in the first chapter we find Besty thinking about letters and letter writing.  She corresponds regularly with her older sister who is touring Europe, and now, her friend Joe wants to correspond!  Now, "she was glad she had put sachet bags into her stationery and that she had received for her birthday a sealing wax set, colored sticks of wax and a seal with her initial on it."  and later she writes, "Joe's typewritten letters and Betsy's scented, green-sealed replies went back and forth regularly after that."

Oh how I love all the little goodies that go along with letter writing!

So, here is my lapdesk that I am so happy to have found one hot summer day at a yard sale.  We were rendezvouing at Fort Union and decided to drive over to a local farmer's yard sale.  Our motives were two-fold.  On the one hand my family loves sales and on the other hand it was an excuse to enjoy the air-conditioned comfort of the car for a bit.  I bought the lapdesk for 5$ and painted it a pretty color green to match my bedroom.



I added some pretty Brenda Walton stickers to embellish the desktop.



Here is the inside full of letter writing goodies including a little address book, a stationery folder full of beautiful papers and some flower pens.

A few years ago, Target cleranced out all of their "Shabby Chic" line of stationery 75% off (that was a happy day)!  This little box with a pull-out drawer was one of my lucky finds that day and it holds my little cards and notes. 

Another happy garage sale find is this spiral bound book to keep cards and birthdates in.  Each month has a pocket for greeting cards that need to be sent that month. 

I made this little correspondance record book to keep track of who I have written to and who I have received letters from.  Crazy?  Yeah, maybe a little.

I don't remember HOW I made it, but I know I used some of the stationery I'd bought at Target.  I do remember it must've been fun because I made 2 or 3 different little books using all the different stationery.

Anyways, so that's my little lapdesk that I love so much.  I hope you all have a Happy Day!    

Letter Writing

In one of my Victoria Magazines from long ago, Catherine Calvert wrote, "Nothing brings us closer to fascinating figures of the past than their intimate letters, mingling matters of the heart with details of the day."

 

I love getting letters.

Who doesn't smile when a letter arrives in the mail?  I'm not talking about those friendly little postcards you get from the dentist reminding you of your next cleaning.  Nor am talking about photocopied Christmas letters that we get every year from our friends and relatives that give us a quick run-down of what they've been up to.  I'm talking about real, handwritten, letters, that could arrive at anytime throughout the month or year.

"What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters.  You can't reread a phone call."  ~Liz Carpenter

I love writing letters. 

I love getting letters.

My very first highschool boyfriend and I wrote letters.  He lived twentysome miles away and we hardly ever saw each other.  Sure, we talked on the phone, but a letter was something special.  Something permanent to actually hold and read whenever I wanted.  Later, after I first moved to Minot, during my college years I corresponded with another close friend who lived in another state and also my Grandmother back in my hometown.  My Grandmother and I wrote at least a hundred letters to each other, maybe more.  I kept every one of her letters and I treasure them. 

Just a few of Grandma Eva's letters that she wrote to me from 1995-2005



I wrote to her about college life and she wrote to me about picking apples, racking leaves and life back in Epping.  She let me know right away what she thought of Shannan after I'd brought him home for Christmas.  Soon I was writing to her about wedding plans and then a few years later, baby plans, and without fail, she always wrote me back.  She wrote about everything that had happened that week, even the most mundane things like her daily trip to the post office seemed important enough to tell.  And I'm so glad she did write it all down because as we all know, time marches on and things change.  The post office in Epping is on the closure list, Grandma's now in the nursing home and her house has been sold. Those busy days of her fixing window screens and tending to the flower beds are all in the past.  But I'll always have a permanent record of what life was like for Grandma, in Epping, during those particular years.  I think Autumn will enjoy them someday as well.

"Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company."  ~Lord Byron

I love writing letters.

I love getting letters.

I love reading letters.

I'm lucky enough to have my Grandfather's letters that he wrote to my Grandmother in the late 30's.  They almost got thrown away, no one understood WHY I would want them.  What I don't think they realized is that love letters written in the 30's are much different than those written say...in the 70's.  They are sweet and innocent and tell of Grandpa's days with the threashing crew he traveled with.

Here are the cigarette tins that Grandma kept Grandpa's letters in.  Apparently, he rolled his own cigaretts.

I love letters.

But not only that, I love all of the letter writing stuff!  You know, the stationery, pens, stickers and stamps.

When I worked at Wicks-n-Sticks we sold sealing wax and Stamps.  They were fun to demonstrate to customers!

Image from the blog "Not Yet Published"

I found this desk in one of my old Victoria Magazines.  It's a tish over-the-top but still amazingly beautiful.  Imagine all the little drawers and secret hiding spaces this desk would have!

One summer, I purchased an old beat-up lap desk at a garage sale waaaaay out in the country.  And tomorrow, I will write post all about it. 

Until then, why don't you sit down and write a letter to someone dear and have a happy day.