That’s right, Maine!
And I didn’t JUST buy tacky souvenirs while there, either.
OK, maybe a few.
I will post some nice pictures later today after I get a few loads of laundry done and start going thru all the e-mail. Later!
FunFun Flea Market Finds!
I thought I would show you some of my recent antique/flea market finds!
Here’s a nifty owl that simply screams “70’s”:
Anything that screams 70’s makes me happy, what can I say?
Hankies are also happy things, so long as your not blowing your nose into them.
Here’s one for my bunny collection:
And oh, look…it’s LARD!
You don’t see honkin’ big packs of lard anymore.
Gee, I can’t imagine why.
Nowadays, they just insert the lard directly into your processed foods…no fuss, no muss!
I like stuff like this package from the past not only for it’s absurdity, but the graphics.
I will put it into my Dubois 5+10 area (a shelf of similar things).
How cute are these little guys!
Yeah, I know it’s not anywhere near Christmas, but I picked these up for my mom.
Are you reading this blog, Mom? DON’T LOOK!
Here’s something for the fall:
This will be the ideal thing to wear to the annual Apple Fest, oh yeah!
And last but not least (and not even last)…
FABRIC!
Sweet piles of vintage scraps destashed by a hoarder…let me hoard thee now!
That’s all for now…
I think I’ll be taking a blog break while summer is still here.
Plenty of time for this in the fall (not really, but you know what I mean!)
Family Fun, Dino Style!
My Wishosaurus product is featured in the September issue of Family Fun magazine.
I happened to be reading the magazine (a fave of mine), and whoa! There it was!
Thanks, Family Fun. You’ve got awesome taste!
Etsy’s Home Page…again!
Huzzah! Some of my little birdhouse ornaments are on Etsy’s homepage today…thanks to CuriosityKilled’s fab treasury-making prowess! Thanks to CK, and everyone who’s followed the link!
Here’s what the birdhouses look like up close:
HeeHee!
Here’s our remaining old girl cat, Georgia, on my desk. Obviously, she is not hanging out with the balsam pillows. Instead, she is 100% asleep and precariously dangling her neck over the side of my desk. Ironically, she is right near a Mary Blair book I was looking thru that happens to have an orange cat just like her in it. After I took this picture, I gingerly put her head back on the desk. It scared the bejeezus out of her.
Silly old cat!
There’s Just Something About Balsam…
Do you know what I mean?
These little balsam-filled pillows that you get in souvenir shops throughout New England.
The smell reminds me of childhood, as do the seemingly unchanged graphics and notable heft of the balsam needles.
Happy, happy summers!
These 4 particular pillows are sitting on a box I made for my cat Georgia. It’s sort of her “couch”. It was my attempt offering her a better place to sleep than my scanner or my keyboard.
I am happy to report that it works about one third of the time.
The other two thirds of the time she spends on my scanner or my keyboard.
Personally, I’d rather nap with the balsam pillows!
Just Peachy
Here’s a peachy feature illustrated by me in this month’s issue of Highlights High Five magazine:
Holy Cow…A New Product!
I have a new Fall 2008 product out via the FRED company (where I have been on staff for lo these almost-17 years).
I do think it came out nicely if I do say so myself.
It’s a little double-walled glass creamer called Calf and Half:
This little product has been receiving a lot of blog love. Here are some of the blogs I have found it on:
Thanks for the luv!
If anyone sees this item out in the world, do give a holler!
Good Times at the Five and Dime
I have an bit of an obsession with 5 & 10-cent stores. As a kid there were still the last vestiges of them around for me to pick thru.I clearly remember the Ben Franklin that my aunt worked at, and the Woolworth’s in Garden City and Providence (both complete with lunch counters). Too bad they’re all gone!
Or ARE they?
No, there are a few left.
One of my favorites is in North Conway, New Hampshire.
It’s just a cute little hometown version that still has an authentic candy counter:
That’s pure joy, right there.You can get yourself a little basket and fill it with various candies, then they put them into the traditional little paper bags.
So-weet! They also have all kinds of things that I haven’t seen in years- Dennison seals, those little gummed stars, dollhouse furniture, etc. And, it being New Hampshire, they have all those wonderfully tacky cedar chests and balsam pillows and the like. I really wonder where they get some of this stuff. The staff assured me that the makers still make the stuff. I guess there’s just not much call for it anymore. Thanks, WalMart!
With this image in my mind, I made a new Scrap Shack that’s based on the N. Conway 5 & 10. I love the exterior color!
In my version, there’s a bear entering the shop, and the store seems to be filled with toys.
My kind of place! I made a few of them- one for me, one for my mom, and a couple for you at the Etsy shop!
NOW, here’s one place I NEED to go:
The National Christmas Center in Pennsylvania!
Amongst the many Christmas exhibits, they have recreated a vintage Woolworth’s at Christmastime.
If you follow that link, they have a “virtual” tour of it.
Have mercy!! I am so there!
Has anyone been to this?? Do tell!
This was the Best Cat Ever.
Unfortunately, thing shave not been very rosy at Maison Dubois.
Our beloved cat Flo had to be “put to sleep” this week.
My poor, old girl. That picture was from a couple of years ago, when she was happy to just hang around in the garden. She was already elderly, though- she was born in the 80’s!
1989, to be exact- that’s when Eric and I, freshly minted RISD grads, got our first apartment together and filled it with these two kittens:
We got Flo first (which is short for Florida, based on the shape on her head). She always had a short nub of a tail, which I found adorable right from the get-go. We got Georgia (named because she came after Florida) a few weeks later.
We never thought they would live to see 19 years go by! The kids, of course, do not know life without them, so it’s been a hard adjustment.
The two kitties have always been fine with each other, though not usually all cuddly like this! This photo was taken this past winter when they uncharacteristically curled up together.
This is one of the last shots I took of Flo.
She looks like she’s had it, and she was really weary of the whole thing. Her systems were shutting down.
I know we did the right thing, but I will forever miss her wise, silent ways and kissing that little head!
I estimate she received approximately 50 billion kisses applied directly to the forehead over the 19 years.
I still wish I could give her a few more.