jane's apron

thrifty september

Technically, most of the items I'm sharing today are not from a thrift store.  They are the goodies I bought at our church garage sale I mentioned a few weeks ago (old neighborhood = good stuff at the sale).  If you just like the pictures, here they are...

...if you like a slightly boring commentary, I can do that too: 

Starting at the top are some vintage books and a cute pyrex dish.   I love vintage cookbooks with spiral binding and the other two will  make good collage material.

Next is a set of funky dishes.  They are marked Staffordshire Midwinter "Hollywood"...I think they'll make cute storage in my yellow/black bathroom.   

The next picture is set of tiny stuff...small Buffalo China milk pitchers (my kids use them for milk with their oatmeal), sauce dishes from the old TWA airline, and some crafty goods...hangers and tiny toadstools.   The cookbook was one of a big series...I bought vol. 3...the one with cookies, candies, cakes, and caffeine.   

Last up is a set of vintage candy jars.  We are not the kind of people that can keep jars of candy around the house...the thought of candy anywhere in the house haunts me until it's gone.  So, I think I'm going to save these for Christmas...filled with cookie cutters and maybe, just maybe, some gumdrops.   The jars are sitting on a cute vintage table runner.

Just one more photo to share from yesterday's half-off sale at my thrift store.  I loved how these items looked when I had them on the counter at the store...so I took a picture of them at home.  The cutest pink sewing basket, a vase of vintage button "flowers", a nice big platter with pretty flowers, some pilsner glasses, and a Martha Stewart Baby magazine that I took an idea out of for a baby shower this weekend...score!

banana bread pie

I know this category is called "easy bake" but this recipe is almost too easy to make...a little dangerous.  It's called Banana Bread Pie because it's a little like banana bread and a little like a custard-y pie.  Serve it warm or cool, with ice cream or whipped cream...you can't go wrong.

Banana Bread Pie

2 very ripe bananas

1/2 cup biscuit mix (like Bisquick)

2 large eggs

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1 Tbsp. butter; melted

1 tsp vanilla

Place bananas in a large mixing bowl and mash with an electric mixer until smooth.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well blended.  Pour the mixture into a 9 in pie place and bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes.  The pie should be caramelized on the edges but still a little soft in the center.

friendly village

I'm a Fall girl...the colors, the change in the weather, football, my birthday.   And, of course, 3 ft. tall bags of kettle corn, pumpkin spice lattes, caramel apples (or, even easier, a piece of caramel and a bite of apple). 

When I registered for wedding gifts so many years ago, I skipped over the china and went straight for the ironstone....combining Johnson Brothers Friendly Village and Rose Chintz.  I still love it.   The Friendly Village pattern is a Fall classic...and like all of those other Fall goodies, I don't think I will ever get tired of it.   

some favorites

1. thrifting weekend, 2. botones, 3. memory 04, 4. EC - Les Fleurs, 5. baby's house, 6. fun plates, 7. noritake lustreware, 8. new suitcase, 9. junior deluxe, 10. just like candy, 11. Vintage Aprons & Vintage Chairs, 12. Garden of Verses (1964) 4, 13. cinderella, 14. paper suitcase, 15. angel 7, 16. My new model, 17. new from the studio, 18. breakfast nook, 19. Owl Stationary, 20. flowerpillow, 21. new stitched house picture, 22. bird:number pillows on bed, 23. Sweetie, sugar bunny, 24. airport chicks, 25. McCall's 7045 Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

We are having some technical problems with our hard drive this week and I can't get to my photos so I'm posting some flickr favorites today.  I could look at this mosaic over and over again...it amazes me how grouping different pics can lead to something that goes so well together.   See that memory game in the middle of the top row?  I used to have that game when I was little...so 60's with such cool graphics...must have been a early influence huh?  Not to sound like a crazy old lady but...why don't toys have real artwork on them anymore?

I've added a few Sweet & Sinister Silhouettes to my esty shop so be sure to pick one out if you see one you like.  Have a good weekend everyone!

project helpers

I have to warn you that this is a bit of a boring and technical post but I wanted to share some resources for anyone that might be interested...

First up are postcards that I had made for my sister.  She's in the PTO and is in charge of birthdays for the school staff.  I wanted to try a digital design for this project and found this cute kit at designer digitals.  They make it very easy to buy a design for either personal or commercial use.  This particular kit is from Katie Pertiet.   I designed the layout in Adobe Photoshop and then sent it off to overnight prints.  I added some colored envelopes from paper source...one for the postcard and one for the gift card.  An order for 100 birthday cards...completed pretty easily. 

Next up are invitations for a baby shower that we are having for a girl in our neighborhood. I also designed this one in Adobe Photoshop using a vintage maternity sewing pattern I had.  I ordered these from vista print because they offer printing on cotton paper and because you can order smaller quantities.   Vista was a little more wacky than Overnight (lots of weird offers, higher shipping costs) but the paper and print quality are very good...I would use them again. 

sweet hostess

I had a chance to work on my Sweet & Sinister Swap projects last week and had just a few too many ideas.  I'm liking the constraint of working with only three colors and the added bonus of using that weird orange and black vintage-y crepe paper garland I picked up at Target last year.  Our swap hostess is Kari from Artsy Mama and I really like her hanging collages so I made one just for her.  Kari hangs her collages on really cute french laundry hangers (I'm going to have to get some of those)...I put this one on my orange front door. 

I traced one of my vintage sewing patterns in a black silhouette, added a witch hat (with a flower)...a little sweet, a little sinister.  I had such a fun time making this collage and know that I can't just make one...so I'm going to make a few more this week and put them in my etsy shop on Friday morning. 

i've moved

The first thing on my "to do"  list when the kids went back to school was to move my crafting stuff from here down to our sun room off of the kitchen.  I had to get rid of a lot of extra stuff but I love getting rid of clutter and organizing my supplies.  I managed to fit everything in this old secretary desk and in my other thrifted dresser.  I do most of my work at the stainless work table in the kitchen and it is so nice not to run upstairs in search of supplies.   Plus, I keep it all a little neater because it's right in the middle of where we live. 

I love thrifted storage...it's cute and cheap (have you been to The Container Store...yikes!).  I found the set of three vintage picnic basket tins at our church/school garage sale for $1 each...right now they are stuffed...perfectly functional storage.   

The St. Ann Garage Sale (in Normandy) is this weekend and I'm excited like a kid at Christmas.  Our neighborhood is loaded with old houses full of old stuff and a lot of it comes out for this sale.  I've bought bags of vintage ornaments, jadite, glass storage jars, vintage flash cards, and the coolest lawn chairs ever.  Last year, I was seriously tempted by the cutest pink floor buffer but the idea of me actually buffing my floors was insane...that would never, ever happen...giggle. 

sew busy

A good design happens with very little effort...simple, easy, and fun.  A bad design takes a lot of time and is just plain frustrating.  It doesn't matter if I'm working on a card, a collage, or anything else...I can tell right away if something is "right".   

While in the middle of a frustrating clipboard-making session, I put everything down and walked away from it (for a few minutes anyway...I can't walk away for long before trying again).   When I came back, I had an idea to simply put the front of a pattern envelope on a clipboard.   This one has the "patterns not returnable" stamp on it.  I don't usually go for "cutesy" phrases but I put a "sew busy" tag in this one...and I still like it...it makes me laugh.   I might just make one that says "sew flippin' busy" because that's how I've been feeling lately.   

kitchen squares

I've been practicing taking better pictures of the inside of my house...a little closer, a little more detail.  I decided to take "as is" pictures in a room.  Even if the rest of the room is a mess, there's still something I can focus on.  This set of 4 squares is from my kitchen.   

a mix of vintage and new cookbooks...the "Stay Slim for Life" is from 1958 and is actually not too wacky although the "ideal" weight is a little harsh.

that's a framed version of one of my apron postcards.

I keep a messy basket of recipes on my counter and use clothes pins to  keep the ones I want to try right away...clothes pins are holding all kinds of papers around my kitchen. 

I have a small collection of storage containers with vintage decals...the big cracker jar is one of my favorites...found a set of two at an estate sale a long time ago and have put them to use in lots of ways ever since. 

an inspiration book

Like everyone else, I get quite a few magazines and am always tearing pages out for "later"...but putting them together in some sort of form just never seems to happen.   When I saw this vintage pleasure post about inspiration books, I loved it...thrifty, easy, and cute.  I bought a book at the thrift store (it's a nice new one with those "uneven" page edges), removed the dust jacket, and added a pretty paper to cover the binding.  And the best part...did you know that a crop-a-dial will punch through a book cover?  I punched a hole in the front and back covers and added a big eyelet.  I don't have a ribbon in it yet but, when the book is full, I can tie it closed.

After putting the outside together, I went through my pile of  loose "inspirations" and glued them into the pages of the book....no filing system, no order...just a little surprise on every page.