Tag: old-fashioned (page 1 of 1)

Easter Bonnet

Never saw you look quite so pretty before

Never saw you dressed quite so lovely what’s more

I could hardly wait to keep our date this lovely

Easter Morning…

 And my heart beat fast as I came through the door.

For in your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it

You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.

When my Mom was a little girl, my Nana made all of her and her sister’s Easter outfits herself. They all had a new dress, new coat, new white gloves and a new little Easter bonnet for Easter Sunday.

When my sister and I were growing up, my Mom did the same for us. We always had a new outfit for Easter. I love that some things never change. Your Easter hat says so much about you. I couldn’t wait to get to church Easter Morning to see what hat Mrs. S. had on. She was in my Nana’s altar society and her hats were straight out of a Hollywood movie of the 1950’s.

In perusing Flickr, I came across a few Easter Bonnet clad ladies of yore and I thought I would share them with you. What is it about that brand new Easter outfit and hat? Enjoy!

(Flower embellishment: Pugly Pixel Freebie. All images found on Flickr)

Bringing the Outside In

It is always nice, but especially, at this time of year, to bring the outside, indoors. I can appreciate that it is not always easy for some of us. I live in a very tiny cottage and there is not always space to have what you want.

This idea, however, would work for anyone. I saw it on the lovely One Pearl Button Blog. Everyone has bits and bobs laying around the house they can use. It doesn’t have to be an apothecary jar, it could be a giant old jam jar, or your Nana’s favourite mixing bowl. It could be old plastic farmyard animals that are laying around, your children don’t play with any more, instead of the cupcake toppers.

It is simply, just a little way to bring the outdoors in, to create a whimsical world and bring a smile to your face every time you see it!

Go to Alli’s site for further information.

Wee Wonderfuls

A few months ago while reading the lovely Hillary Lang’s site Wee Wonderfuls, I saw this picture:

I was in love. I commented along with many others who were all hoping she would share this adorable pattern with us. She wrote back to tell us, that she would and it would be so much better than just a pattern it was going to be a book:

I was ecstatic and rushed to Amazon UK to see if I would be able to pre-order. I didn’t think I could wait to get it into my hands, after seeing some samples of  the absolute cutest, sweetest, vintagey-est, lovely little things that are held within those pages.  There is a nice old-fashioned feeling to these dolls, like the dolls you played with when you were little. Look at this lady for example:

I see her in my future, sitting on a shelf or a desk, smiling as she watches what I am getting up to. On Friday, Martha Stewart’s Craft site did a small feature on Mrs. Lang and with her permission was kind enough to share a pattern from her book.  The pattern is: The Mermaiden.

And, I can’t wait to try her, I have the perfect fabric in mind for her little tail. Never having tried my hand at free-motion quilting, I am looking forward to giving this project a go.

This is the only pattern I have yet to see in full, unfortunately Amazon UK has not yet received shipment of this wonderful book and so my patience must win out, because it will be another 2-3 weeks before this wee lady has her wee book! In the meantime I can just dream about all the wonderful things held within those pages…

*Click on The Mermaiden image to be taken to the pattern
(All images copyright Hillary Lang, Wee Wonderfuls)

Lawnlite

Ha Ha Ha, I want furniture that “laughs in the face of weather”. My Grandparents had some lawn chairs like this and every year they were taken out of the garage, with the smell of salt & sea on them from the previous year and packed up in the back of the car as we headed to the beach.

We usually headed down in two cars to the beach house, a trip that seemed to take forever before you could smell the pluff mud in your nostrils, and start to see the water through the pine trees.

Our fishing gear was always tucked away in my Grandpa’s car underneath the chairs that he would use to sit on and direct us with some fishing advice from the back porch.

There was a creek that was fed from the ocean behind the house and if we weren’t swimming in it, we were fishing in it. My Grandpa would hold fishing competitions between us and inevitably, someone would catch a puffer-fish and he would come down and help up us take it off our line and toss it back.

Summers at the beach with my grandparents, held a magic to them, a place where time stopped, where even after a year in between visits to the house, we fell into the same routines of swimming, playing good old-fashioned board games, reading musty smelling books left on an old bookshelf, listening to beach music and just enjoying each other’s company.

To be little again and enjoy the company of the ones you love away from all the hustle and bustle of the real world, to just get lost in the magic of the beach…

(Image: Found in Mom’s Basement)

Red, White & Blue

The Fourth of July is on the horizon and I have my whole menu planned for the weekend festivities, except for the most important part: dessert! That, for me, is the hardest thing to plan, there are just too many choices.  I could make my Strawberry Shortcake Cake, or good old fashioned ice cream sandwiches made from fresh chocolate chip, oatmeal or sugar cookies and filled with vanilla or strawberry ice-cream.

I spotted these goodies on the Martha Stewart site. I love the cookie spoons, although I would probably break them on purpose so I could munch away on my edible utensil and then get another one.

I also loved these jam stars. However, I would feel wasteful to not use all of my dough when I have smeared it so lovingly with jam, I would probably use my scraps up by cutting out some little circles or mini stars to go alongside the bigger ones.

It would also be tempting to make a mile high Pollyanna Cake, like the ones they baked for the Church bazaar. That is an old Disney favorite of mine. It is one of those movies that you better make sure you have something sweet in the house to eat when you watch it, although, unless you have one of Tillie’s (the Harrington’s cook in the movie) cakes you will be sadly disappointed with whatever exists behind the doors of your cupboards.

That does it! I think I will make my Nana’s marble cake with chocolate frosting! I just might have to make two, one for me and one for everyone else…

*Click on the Martha Stewart Images to be taken to the recipes for those mouth-watering cookies!

(Images: Sugar Cookie Spoons & Jam Stars: copyright Martha Stewart; Pollyanna: images found on Flickr; Pink Flags & Circle Labels: a Pugly Pixel Freebie)

The "Bobbi"

I think we might all need need a new “do” for summer and this car to go along with it, what do you think ladies? I’m loving this Rosemary Clooney, “White Christmas” bob, too cute!