When I wrote the post titled Three Generations, a reader from across the pond, Catherine, responded with a very kind comment and mentioned that her great-grandmother had been an antique dealer and that's where she acquired her antique-dealer gene. I'd love for you to read Catherine's story about her beautiful great-grandmother, so visit her blog Vintage Frills.
In other news, another lovely reader named Laurie contacted me a while back and had some things to sell. She was from the Lansing area, and we met at the Antiques Market of Williamston here in Michigan. I don't often buy directly from friends or individual sellers because I get a bit uncomfortable, worried I might offer too little for their items and upset them, or end up over-paying and regretting the purchase myself. In fact, I usually start sweating bullets the minute the transaction begins! Luckily, Laurie had an idea in mind for each of the items she had for sale and everything was totally agreeable to me. That made it so much easier!
I'd like to show you this delicate celluloid fan with flocked accents that came in a little fur-lined box I bought from Laurie. It could be sent as a postcard in its little box over one hundred years ago:
Moving on to a recent auction, I bought a wonderful framed picture of a little girl with her china head doll. Here's the photo:
I had to take the picture apart because the glass was dirty on the inside. I discovered a note on the back of the picture, indicating that the little girl was "eight or nine years old" with brown hair and blue/green eyes. The dress was "made by mom", dark green, and the beads were gold and black. Well, that was helpful, but they failed to write her name! I wish I knew her name...
A while back we talked about "ruby flash glass", which is not to be confused with "cranberry glass." I was digging in my basement yesterday and came across a set of beautiful cranberry glass that I'd like to show you. Cranberry glass was popular in the Victorian era. The coloration of the glass is throughout the item, and cannot be removed:
Ruby flash can be scratched off the surface of the glass. In fact, that was sort of the point of it. That's how the souvenir sellers could write the names and dates on the items. But not all ruby flash glass is this dark, and that's where people might get it confused with cranberry glass. Some ruby flash glass is almost pink, although all of my examples are deep ruby:
I've been spending a lot of time on Facebook, probably a little too much, but I learn a lot there while I keep in touch with friends and other business people. A book was recommended in the Blogging Your Way alumni Facebook group, of which I'm a member, and I take their recommendations seriously! It's about food styling, but I'm sure I can take what I learn and translate it to photo styling of crafts and vintage items. I ordered it the very day I learned of its existence:
While I was on Amazon, they somehow talked me into buying a second book. They have a way of doing that, you know. I'm planning on spending some time soon perusing these books, and I'll give you a mini-review soon!
If you are wondering what the Blogging Your Way class is all about, the link will tell you the whole story. I can recommend it from personal experience because I took the class in the winter of 2009. I had already started my blog, but wanted to improve it. The class helped me by leaps and bounds! The fabulous Holly Becker of Decor8 fame and Leslie Shewring of A Creative Mint were the instructors. If one of your goals for 2013 is to start a blog or improve your existing blog, I would recommend "BYW" without hesitation!
If you read some of my posts on my other blog, Mitzi Made It, you might have seen my Purse Embellishment 101. Here's a purse I bought that needed a little help, in my opinion:
I just added an enamel pin. So easy! But doesn't that make a huge difference?
I'm such a fan of celery vases and spooners. I always look for them at every estate sale and auction. Lately I've been lucky, and I've found quite a few in a variety of patterns:
Two more examples:
I've been on quite a buying spree lately, and came across a book that my mom used to read to me when I was a kid: Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr and The Red Shoes byMaj Lindman.
I always loved the illustrations in the book, and even remember being fascinated by the chimney sweep, thinking that coal-covered people lived in chimneys:
If you find a wonderful old book from your childhood, wouldn't it be fun to color copy the cover and frame it in a vintage frame as a memory for yourself or the person that used to read it to you?
The example below isn't a real frame. I doctored this up in FotoFlexer. I'm just learning how to use the functions, and as you can see in the upper right corner, I'm not proficient at all of them, and the image lost something in translation! I'll keep working on it...
And one last thing! Before Christmas I posted a tutorial for a bulb reflector wreath. I was certain the inspiration came from shopping at our antique mall, and finding the flower-like bulb reflectors. Well, later I saw my creative friend Laurie at Magpie Ethel's lovely bulb reflector flowers and realized I had probably seen those before, and had them in the back of my mind. I just want to give credit to Laurie, because she's a friend and I NEVER copy from others without giving proper credit!
I hope you are enjoying some time with family and friends during the holiday season!
Mitzi
