Showing posts with label retro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label retro. Show all posts

Sunday, May 13, 2012

To My Favorite Mothers

Some of my favorite mothers, from the left back row: My Aunt Donna, my grandmother Marilyn, my Great-Mother and Father, my mom Paula. In the foreground, starting from the left, my cousin Angie, my Aunt Judy and me, as Batwoman
Happy Mother's Day to you all! I wanted to take this time to thank all of the moms in my life for all of the gifts that they have given to me. I don't show my sappy-side too often, so thanks for indulging me.
My Grandma Marilyn with her mother and sisters. My grandma is the tall one second from the right.
To my Grandma Maryilyn, who gave to me the gift of gifts. My grandma was forever spoiling her grandchildren with week-long trips to Florida and Myrtle Beach. She loved giving us a vacation-like childhood. I believe she took great pleasure in watching us enjoy ourselves, knowing that her hard work as a nurse practitioner could provide that for us. She and my grandpa Eddy even had the first pool in all of Roann, Indiana put in their backyard so the fun in the sun never had to end. She is missed by all that knew her.
My Grandma Marilyn and my Grandpa John with their children, starting in the middle going clockwise: my Aunt Lottie, my Uncle Keith, my Aunt Donna, my mom
 My Aunt Donna is a mother to four incredible children who all happen to look just like her. There she is on the bottom right. My Aunt Donna give me the gift of gregariousness. She is the most social person I know and people are drawn to her friendliness and humor. Such a sweet gift.
My mom, circa early '60's. After she got this pixie cut, her older sister Lottie was so embarrassed that she told people mom had her hair cut this way because she was joining a nunnery.
 Oh, my mom. She has given me so many gifts they are countless. So I thought I'd share some of my faves. My mom has given me the gift of humor. I think my mom is one of the silliest and funny people I know. I remember as a kid all of my girlfriends loved my mom the best, which drove me nuts! They always wanted to be around her and her goofiness.
Mom and company.
 One of my favorite gifts my mom have given is the gift of encouragement. My mom is my biggest cheerleader. She is always encouraging my choices without question. When I began discovering my own style in high school, she always applauded my uniqueness. I have never felt my mom be anything but beyond proud of me. And what more could a person ask for but a mom that loves ya unconditionally?
My mom in the early 80's graduating with her nursing degree.
My mom has also shown me her gift of perseverance. She had me at an early age but still graduated with a nursing degree. She's had some curve balls thrown her way but has always come out much happier and stronger. She goes on these 30 mile plus bike races at the drop of a hat. She is someone that I admire and love so much.
My mom's older sister, my Aunt Lottie, circa mid-80's
 My Aunt Lottie has given so many the gift of reading. My Aunt Lottie is an English teacher and was mine twice when I was in high school. It's a rare occasion to actually see her face as it is usually behind a book. I remember writing stories as a kid and she would read them to the family with such enthusiasm, always encouraging me to write more. She still encourages young writers today.
My Grandma Rosie, my dad's mom, playing the slide guitar.
My Grandma Rose gave me the gift of craft. More than anyone else, I believe I have her to thank for my desire to create. She showed me how to embroider and cross-stitch. We spent summers days on her porch working on our needlepoint and summer nights in front of the telly doing the same. I even remember us taking our work out on the boat when her husband, my Grandpa Hobe, took us fishing. I think of those times often when I am in my sewing room.
My Grandma Rosie with her mom.
 A silly memory I have of my grandma was when I was a kid and she decided to dye her hair Marilyn Monroe blonde. When we came over to visit, I cried and cried, not recognizing her and wondering where my brown-haired grandma had gone off to.
My hubs Mitch with his mom, circa early 80's
 My mother-in-law has given me countless gifts. Her biggest gift to me is the gift of faith. I also love our shared interests, like our love of all things antique, crafty and artsy. She is so considerate of her family and tries so hard to make us all feel welcome and at home whenever we come to visit. I love spending time with her...she's been one of the many perks of marrying that freckly kid on the right.
Me, my brother Kris and mom
I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day. Don't forget to thank all of your mother's for their gifts to you.

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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Weekend Adventure: An Identity Crisis

"May I please get my picture taken with you?," says me, attempting to bat my eyes. "Sure, but you gotta hold my musket," says dude in the white gloves trying to figure out what's wrong with my eyes.


Yesterday hubs and I decided to take a little adventure to what was supposed to be a Pioneer Festival. But then the Civil War reenactment dudes showed up. Who were followed by the vintage car show folk, the crafty booth people, the dip-your-hand-in-wax guy, the funnel cake carts and the I-have-a-donkey-if-you-want-a-ride dude. Basically it was a festival with an identity crisis. My favorite kind.
The festival was held at Cannonsburgh Village which is in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It's a village which is supposed to represent 100 years of early Tennessee life from 1830 to 1930. On the property there is a gristmill, a school house, a caboose, a wedding chapel, a doctor's office, you get the idea. The above was the general store.
The best part about the festival was that all of the buildings on the property were open. Inside of one home I was able to see the bedrooms, closets and wedding dress worn by the former owner. The tour guides were two young girls who looked like they'd just walked off the set of Little House on the Prairie. They eloquently explained all of the details of the home and it's former occupants.
The doctor's office...if I were a patient, one look at that frightening array of torture-inducing instruments would suddenly have me feeling MUCH better.

These bottles were on display in the doc's office. They look just like the bottles that Mitch (that would be hubs) and I found when we stumbled upon a vintage landfill on one of our off-trial hikes. You better believe I loaded up my backpack with old Coca Cola and 7-up bottles.
The only pioneers at the Pioneer Festival.
Excuse me, I have a question...does one actually have to become a Hillbilly Clogger in order to obtain the petticoat-astic dress and tap shoes? If so, sign me up.
These dudes kill me. They make it look so stinkin' easy.
I was so excited to see this old loom as my third and fourth graders are weaving right now. I told them the story of the giant loom I wove on in college in my terrible textile class...and how I accidentally cut a warping thread...and didn't fix it...and got a C in the class for it. But I digress. This Loom! They will love it.
The Wedding Chapel.
Snapping creepy photos in the bedroom of one of the colonial homes. I swear the giant black moles growing on my neck and Mitch's left eye are marks on the mirror.
And that concludes our adventure at the Pioneer/Civil War/Craft Fair/Food Cart/Clogging/Face Painting/and Henna-Anywhere-On-Your-Body Festival. Next time a festival of this kind is in your neck of the woods, I highly recommend you drop by.






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Thursday, March 22, 2012

DIY: Hankie Pankie

Photo from last summer. Notice the slight tan and the relaxed I've-been-sleeping-in-for-the-past-month look about me. Hoping to get a little of that back with my upcoming Spring Break.
Okay, call me crazy, but I don't think this warm weather is going anywhere. It's been in the 80's for a week or more in these parts and I don't see any signs of stopping. Which is totally cool with me. In fact, I've gotten so excited about the warm weather I've begun the long process of pulling out my tub(ssss) of summer clothes. And, in doing so, I found this skirt I had created last summer. I thought it was kinda funny how similar in concept this Hankie Skirt (Skankie?) was to my Scarf Blouse (I've settled on Blarf).
Inspiration: anthropologie. Funny story, I was once scolded at an anthro store for taking pictures of a display. Now I'm much more stealthy.
I just about died when I saw this skirt at anthro last summer. And then I died some more when I saw the price tag. So I began thinking of creating my own Skankie using vintage hankies, not some knock-off printed-in-China ones as seen on the anthro skirt.
The hankies that didn't make the cut. To be honest, I just couldn't bear the thought of cutting into the 1952 calendar hankie...it's just too sweet.
And while I do have some vintage hankies, I knew I'd need quite a few to make this skirt. So a friend and I went on an antiquing adventure and stumbled upon a treasure trove of hankies. I only allowed myself to buy those that were under $3 which helped limit the huge selection. The best part about creating this skirt was hunting for those perfect little hankies.
This is one of the first sewing books I bought when I got my sewing machine several years ago. The directions are simple and the skirts are adorable.
 I decided to use the Swing Your Partner prairie skirt pattern from Sew What! Skirts. I sewed the hankies together, sometimes right sides together, sometimes overlapping the hankies if the edge was pretty. Once I had a strip of hankies sewn, I added muslin behind the hankies so they weren't so translucent.
Front and back of the skirt. The embroidery you see is on the belt...which is for sale in my shop.
 Then began the task of gathering. For the top piece, a strip of elastic was added for the waist. I do love me some elastic waistlines. Then I gathered the top edge of the fabric of the second piece with a basting stitch. After gathering, I pinned the right sides of the layers together and sewed. This step was repeated again for the bottom tier of the skirt. To get yourself some thorough, easy-to-comprehend directions, I strongly recommend this book. Or a youtube tutorial.
So there you have it, The Skakie. Perfect for these summery hot spring days.
Well, kids, that's all for now. I'm heading out of town to Memphis this weekend for an art teacher gathering and some hangout time with one of my favorite friends. This friend of mine is the talented one who helped me sew my first dress from a vintage pattern: http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post.html. I'll be back soonish with my What-I-Wore-This-Week post...which I'm really excited about as I've got something new in store! Enjoy the rest of your week.
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Sunday, February 12, 2012

DIY: You're Such a (Soda) Jerk!

I went and did something I promised myself I wouldn't do. I painted this here Valentine's Day canvas. I knew it would take me forever and that I'd just barely finish it in time to enjoy it...and...yet... I managed to convince myself to do it anyway. Here's how the conversation between Delusional Cassie and Sane-ish Cassie went down:

D.C. : Aw, look at all of these cute vintage Valentine's that keep popping up on pinterest! I should so totally paint one for the house.

S.C. : Absolutely not. You take forever to paint anything. Besides, it's kinda cheesy. Aren't you like thirty-seven or something?

D.C. : It's not cheesy, it's cute! And I swear, it won't take me that long, I'll just sketch it out and block it in. Piece of cake for this, ahem, thirty-six year old.

S.C.: You say so, Crazy.
After perusing pinterest for the perfect vintage valentine, I found this one. I absolutely love the girl (the hair! the red bow shoes! the heart shirt!) and the fact that she's chillin' at a soda fountain...but the rest of it was kind of lacking. I mean, I had to read the bit about being a working girl a couple of times before I got it (did I mention there is a Slow Cassie as well?). She just seemed too lonely and sad for a Valentine.
So I started sketching out some ideas. Instead of a poor working girl, I wanted a man-eatin' go-getter. Hence the fishnets and box of chocolates. And I wanted the object of her affection to be some cute -n- clueless soda jerk.
So I did some google-image-searching and found a plethora of soda jerks. After I created a sketch that I was happy with, I decided to tint and texture my canvas. I mixed up a warm yellow ochre and slathered it onto the canvas. Once dry, I sketched out my scene in pencil and started blocking in the colors.
Sadly for this dude, his flesh is a little multi-colored. Too much time in the tanning booth will do that to you, I hear. By the time I noticed his flesh inconsistencies, I was too tired of working on the painting to care.
Once I had the colors blocked in, I started going detail crazy. I decided I wanted the counter top to have a formica pattern so I attempted to paint tiny boomerangs with a one-haired brush. They ended up looking like hearts...which I kind of liked. I just had to add the fishnets as they are my favorite thing to wear. And what's a diner without a checkerboard floor? All of the outlining and lettering was done with a black paintbrush pen.
I have a small collection of vintage Valentine's that I picked up from an etsy shop last month. One thing I noticed about them is that they all have a play on words. As I was plotting and planning, I came up with the "So-da one you love is me?" My only regret is that I don't actually have him making a soda but what looks to be an strawberry shake. Oh well, hopefully the idea for that and the "fountain" reference at the bottom is still clear.
One of my favorite discoveries while soda-jerk-searching online was rediscovering this Norman Rockwell painting. When I became interested in creating art in high school, I found these sweet images so repulsive. I was just entirely too cool for nostalgic Rockwell paintings. Now, having the love for all things vintage that I do, I just adore his work. Especially when I discovered a collection of photographs that he snapped to create his paintings.
This makes me smile. Great, isn't it?
Well, would ya look at that, Sane-ish Cassie? It's finished! And hung right at the foot of my stairs for me to admire...for the next two days. Oh well. It did take much longer than expected but it was pretty fun regardless. Happy Valentine's Day!


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Sunday, January 29, 2012

DIY: Lovey Dovey

My completed yarn-wrapped heart now hangs over the mirror in my foyer. I hate that word, foyer. Makes me sound so fancy. But it sounds better than "front entrance" which is what I initially typed.

I am not, nor have I ever been, and I predict I won't ever be, sappy. When I lose my Burt's Bees, I become chappy; with a tiny amount of wine, I am slaphappy; and my middle-aged lady arms are starting to look flappy; but sappy is not a word that would describe me. Lovey-dovey, mushy, huggy-kissy sweet stuff kinda makes my skin craw, my eyes roll toward the back of my head and my finger make a gagging motion down my throat.

Supplies: Styrofoam heart and pink yarn: Hobby Lobby; baker's twine: Anthopologie, last Christmas; buttons and paper measuring tape: from my stash; vintage photos: from my mom

However, this is not all my fault. I inherited the unsappy gene from my mother. Case in point: If I tell her I lover her, more often than not, I'm greeted with a "whatever." It's just not in us to give a sap. 

So it's kinda funny that I decided to spruce up the pad for Valentine's Day. Honestly, it's because I had so much fun decorating for Christmas, that I didn't want to stop. Never mind that the floors haven't been swept in years and that the laundry is a 6' mountain of funky smells, look! I made a yarn wrapped heart!

Are they not the cutest? My mom brought me a stash of old family photos, some of people neither of us knew. Doesn't it look like he's tickling her ear and she's trying to stop him? I wonder where they are now.

And it was really easy to make. If you've been on pinterest for a millisecond, you've seen yarn-wrapped wreaths. I made one at Christmas...but this one was a wee bit trickier because of the points in the heart. If you've never tried it before, here's how I went about it: tie yarn around styro wreath and wrap yarn around it. That's it! When I came to the points in the heart, I plugged in my hot glue gun and glued in strips of yarn to fill in the gaps. It's really the easiest and most mundane craft ever. 

Another nunno-who-they-are photo from my collection. I love how she's on her tiptoes in her sweet loafers...and is he coping a feel?


When I was finished with that, the fuschia heart was rather boring. So I decided to add some blue striped  baker's twine which I double knotted in the back. I backed the photos onto matte board and hot glued the board to the frame so as not to ruin the photos. The vintage buttons were hot glued on as well. I had initially used a black ribbon to hang the heart but it seemed too domineering. I swapped it out for the paper measuring tape. In all, it looks pretty crafty, but that's okay by me. It'll do for the month of Feb.

Right under the yarn-wrapped-heart mirror in the foyer is a little table with this display. My collection of vintage children's books comes from the throw-away pile at in my school's library.
These little cupid houses have actually been up since Christmas. As if you couldn't tell. I've decided that the hearts on top of them mean I can leave them out just a pinch longer. Again, this idea was pulled from pinterest.

If you have access to clay and a kiln, here's how I created these: for the trunk, place a texture down on your table. I used a large stamp that had a wood grain design. Place the clay on top of the stamp and flatten it with a rolling pin. Remove clay from stamp and roll into a tube shape. For the roof, lay a different textured surface onto your workspace. I like to use vintage lace. Repeat the step of flattening the clay. Now, instead of forming a tube, roll clay into a waffle cone shape. Slip and score to the top. Add details and, viola! A house for cupid!
My Valentine garland. The easiest craft ever.
This is the last of my Valentine's decor, I swear. If I do anymore, my anti-sap status is sure to drop greatly. This here Valentine's garland was the easiest to make. My school has one of the Edison die cut thingies. I die cut some of my scrap booking paper (picked up a JoAnn's)  that I thought might compliment the colors of my living room. Which, as you can see, is just black and white. Easy to match.
If you've never sewn before, this is the project for you. When I got my first sewing machine about 6 years ago, I started by sewing paper. There's no fear in "messing up" and ruining expensive fabric. For this, I just pushed the heart through the machine. To make the blank space, I just continued to pull the heart so the machine would keep intertwining the two threads. Once the space was long enough, I fed the bird through the machine. Simple, right?

So, there you go. Valentine's decor for the un-Lovey Dovey set. I keep thinking to the next holiday I can decorate for...which is St. Patrick's Day, I believe. Nothing is coming to mind. Except to leave my little clay houses out just one more holiday and call 'em Leprechan Houses. That'll work, right?
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Friday, January 27, 2012

What the Art Teacher Wore #3

Running on Fumes Monday: Oui. I had just arrived home from San Francisco a mere 6 hours before the school day began, hence the hair. dress: vintage, picked up in S.F. on Haight Street ; sweater: a Lily Pulitzer find at Goodwill; shoes: my ancient John Fluevog shoes. I was so thrilled to visit one of his stores in S.F. and scoop up a new pair!
Just a little peak at what I wore to work this week. I'm so glad the weekend is here. I've been on the move traveling every weekend for what seems like a month. And while I have loved every minute of it, I'm truly a homebody. I am looking forward to sleeping in, catching up on some craftasticness (almost done some Valentines-y decor I'll share with you soon) and being with hubs and kitty. Hope you have fun doing what you enjoy the best!
Bustin' Loose Tuesday: I love this dress. I got it on the cheap because it had some holes which I thought I had mended the night before. When I arrived at school, I noticed a small one near my underarm (anyone else hate the word "arm pit"?). By the end of the school day, the lil hole had grown to a new neck hole. Thankfully, I keep my sewing machine at school so I was able to do a little mending in my office. dress: The Cactus Flower, Bloomington; belt: made by me, available in my shop; shoes: anthropologie; headband: made by Jen of Peachy Tuesday

Headband close-up. I loved it so much I based Tuesday's outfit around it! These headbands are so comfortable and unique, I am constantly getting stopped and asked about them. You must check out Jen's sweet etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PeachyTuesday

Amazon Art Teacher from the Black Lagoon Wednesday: I didn't think about it, but with the hair and the heels, I probably reach 6' hence the "yer so tall" comments. necklace and tights: Target; sweater: a Goodwill find from my college days; belt: gift from a friend; shoes: Opposites Attract; dress: my favorite vintage shop in Orlando, Paris Market. Check them out here: http://www.shopparismarket.com/

Close up of my belt buckle. It reminded the kids of Narnia.

Red Hot Thursday: I was informed by one of my second grader girls that I needed to start wearing Red Hot Lipstick. When I asked why, she said, "It will make your face look fashion-y." Er-kay. I'll have to give it a shot. sweater and skirt: Goodwill; tights and black shirt: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina

Is that you, Friday? It's me, Almost Insane: sweater: Goodwill; dress: vintage find from Orange, CA; belt: from my belt-gifting friend; boots: Seychelles; tights: lovely tights shop on etsy found here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TejaJamilla

Whoooooo's glad it's the weekend?
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