A Glimpse at Daily Life a Century Ago (and some rummage sale tips)

There are lots of rummage sales in the springtime in our area.  I suppose it goes along with spring cleaning - once you sort your belongings and find a lot that you no longer need, it's nice to donate them for a charitable sale.  My husband's parents and sister usually spend a week in late April or early May helping to run the sale at their church.  I love a treasure hunt and we always have a great time, find some interesting things and buy our fair share of unwanted items (I just tell my husband "honey, it's for the church!").

The process of setting up and running the sale takes an entire week.  By Thursday night, most of the items are organized and ready for "Friends and Family" member sale.  Here is a glimpse of the main area.  There are books upstairs along with some furniture and toys and games in another section.

This book caught my eye - I liked the pattern on the cover.

The book was published in 1909 by "The Success Company" and it contains a lot of interesting information about daily life over a hundred years ago.

 

The end papers have the same design as the cover and some of the household items shown are no longer in common use.  There are actually two volumes combined - the Household Discoveries section is about 750 pages and the Cookbook adds another 250 or so pages.

The style of the inside cover page is very typical for the era.  I particularly like the font used.

I always like to look for bits and pieces that have been tucked into an old book.  I found a few in this one.  First is this Notice with directions on "How to Open a Book."  I remember that we were taught to do this when we received new books at school.

This little note to "Kathy" from her Dad was tucked in at the page showing a hammock.  I thought his word choice was interesting and wondered about the circumstances that made him write the note.

The third interesting thing tucked inside was this Christmas card - very different than the cards we send today.

There are some line drawings that illustrate the text.  This rocking chair is very similar to some that we have in our family.

The Craftsman and Mission styles of furniture are described as "modern" - and of course, we think of them as antique!

Indoor plumbing and a bathroom is described as "no longer a novelty" and there is a recommendation that a furnace should be added before running water is added to a bathroom.

These are the items needed to do laundry and there are separate chapters for preparations for wash day, soap making, wash day and ironing day.  The next day after that is sewing and mending day.

 A separate sewing room is considered very important for a woman.

 A dressing table is also a necessity and I thought this image was sweet - the table is an ordinary table covered with a "dainty dimity" (dimity is a lightweight fabric woven with warp threads that create a raised stripe).

In the cookbook section, there are suddenly some colorful illustration plates.  These are table settings for a picnic or a meal at home.

Some yummy desserts...

and some more desserts - and fruit.

Jellies and molds for shaping them were explained at great length.

There was an entire chapter devoted to left-over potatoes!

One more thing I found amusing was in the preface to the cookbook section.  Isabel Gordon Curtis ("Mrs. Curtis") writes, "I believe that every woman should know how to cook, whether she is compelled to use that knowledge or not.  The knowing how is not unlike being able to swim:  you may spend nearly all your life upon dry land, then suddenly comes a crucial moment when swimming means life or death."

I think I'll find more interesting passages in the book and I have some ideas of ways to incorporate some of them into a crafty project.

So - do you think this is the only thing I brought home?  Not by a long shot!  I'll share a few more of my finds another day.  If you have similar sales in your area, here are a few things that are commonly found that I always look for when I go to a sale...

1.  Picture frames of all sizes and types.  Often there is something rather hideous in the frame - just ignore it and look at the frame to see if it could be useful.  I also look for the acrylic box frames that are easily scratched and end up at sales.  I use them as storage trays for stamps and other items in my craft room.

2.  Glass vases - there are usually an abundance of florist shop standard styles for 25 or 50 cents - great if you want to practice glass etching and not worry about ruining a more expensive piece of glass.  Look for the ones with straight sides to make it even easier to apply the vinyl or contact paper for your etching stencil.

3.  Any sort of craft supplies - sometimes there are craft kits that were never used that contain nice "ingredients" for a very low price.  These are often found in the "kids" section.  Old costume jewelry that can be altered or disassembled and used in pieces for embellishing a project is another good thing to look for.

4.  Books - some have wonderful covers, some are full of interesting images and information, some may be more or less worthless due to their condition but could be good for making paper flowers.  You might also find old music that can be used for craft projects - I have a huge stack of organ music that I lugged home from Wisconsin a few years ago...where did I put that?

5.  Baskets and small plastic crates for storage.  I found some white crates that match others that I have in my craft room already for 25 cents each.  Shelving units or racks that were meant to hold CDs or tapes are also easy to adapt for craftroom storage.

6.  Unusual bowls or canisters - these can also be attractive for storing things in a craft room.  I have all sorts of odds and ends collected in dishes and bowls that appealed to me for their color or patterns.  I like to have odd old things around to soften the effect of lots of standard white shelving.

7.  Interesting linens, fabrics and trims.  Some of these can be reused to cover mini albums or create embellishments for cards and pages.  I also look for 100% wool sweaters that can be washed in very hot water and felted (these are getting harder to find with the development of "washable wool").

Those are just a few ideas - you just have to keep your eyes open and sometimes a "treasure" will find you!

Thanks for the nice comments and emails about the superfine cuts I have been experimenting with.  I'll do a post with more details about the settings and tips for getting a perfect cut soon.  We have a lot going on this weekend so it will probably be sometime next week.  

Have a great Friday - check your local paper for notices about rummage sales!


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Antique Show Finds...

Every November our church hosts an antiques show.  Dealers come from all over New England with a wide variety of treasures to sell.  The funds raised at the sale are used for various mission projects.  We don't have room in our house for more large pieces, but we often find great Christmas gifts and interesting small items. 

Some of the things we found have to stay "secret" until after the holidays.  I wanted to show you a few other items that I will use for crafting.  You just have to keep your eyes open - you never know what interesting things will cross your path and provide inspiration or ingredients for your projects.

This gingham trim caught my eye - It could be used for a sewing project, cards or an altered box or tin.  The bundle of four yards was only a few dollars.

I already checked and a group of six zig-zags will fit nicely across an A2 card.  I could also use seven as a little banner along the top of a card.  (I think you'll be seeing something made with this very soon - I am going to Maine today but can't wait to get home and play around with the trim!).

One of my other discoveries was a couple of old sentimental scraps - pretty gilded and embossed frames with poems printed inside.

This ornate frame has a short poem about friendship - it says "Friendship above all Ties does bind the heart; And faith in friendship Is the noblest part."

This photo of the back shows how heavily the card is embossed.  There is a little pencil notation but I wasn't able to read it - I think it starts out "to Lizzie..."

The second card has a longer poem about sisters.  If you click on the photo to enlarge the image, you should be able to read it.

This card is also embossed around the edges.

Whenever I find old paper items like this, I think about converting them for use digitally.  I might sometimes use the originals in a project but I also want to preserve the interesting patterns for more uses.

I take clear photos on a plain background and then use the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator software to remove the background and create digital frames which I can save as new content to use in the program.  Unique items like this help to make your projects special - especially if they have actual family history connections.

Once you have made the file you can enlarge and manipulate the image in many ways.  This is a screen shot of the more ornate frame sized to fit an 8 1/2 x 11 inch page.

A photo can be added behind the frame quickly and easily - you can use the tools in the program to crop the photo to an oval to be sure that it will fit properly.

I particularly liked this frame pattern and by using two frames I was able to make matching borders on the side of a page.  The screen shot above is of the trimmed view.

This image shows how I added a frame on each side, lining up the edges to create the borders.  Only the parts that are on the actual page area will show in the final print of the page.  The page could be saved as a jpeg and then used as a smaller image to create calling cards or ATCs digitally.

I am going to Maine today - I was invited to speak at a DAR luncheon about heritage scrapbooks and digital options for recording family history.  It should be a lovely day.  I am happy to see that some of you are interested in the "virtual ATC swap" that I talked about yesterday.  I'll have to find a time when things aren't too busy - would it be better to wait until after the holidays or are you eager to do one now and maybe more in the new year?  If you are only making one for the linky party it shouldn't be too time consuming...  Please leave me a comment or email me with your thoughts.

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Another Winter Card

There are so many lovely stickers in the Reminisce Winter12 x 12 Additions, I just couldn't resist making another card.  Thank you all for the kind comments on yesterday's card.  I wanted to clarify that these cards are not my entry for the Cricut Cruise contest.  We had to do a 12 x 12 layout for the contest and I am not sure if I can post mine before the voting starts, so, to be on the safe side I will wait.  I had ordered this paper and some others so I would have lots of choices when I worked on my entry but I didn't end up using this for the contest.

I did use my Reminisce Accents cartridge for this card.  The sticker shape is just like one of the medallions on the cartridge so I measured the sticker (2 3/8 inches) and then I cut two layers at 2 1/2 inches and 2 3/4 inches for mats.  I used two shades of DCWV glitter cardstock and cut with multi cut set on 2 to be sure the cut would be clean.

Here is the location of the shape I used to mat the sticker.

I used my multipurpose tool to help line the sticker up perfectly before burnishing it to the mat layer.  This little tool is so helpful - it is almost like having a third hand!

I inked the edges of the cuts to be sure no white core would show. Then I used foam squares to mount the matted sticker to the second medallion shape.

I decided to make a 5 x 7 card.  Sometimes the A2 size just feels too small.  I wanted to have several mat layers so I trimmed one of the photo mats from the Reminisce Storybox (a collection of 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 photo mats and journaling boxes) to 4 x 6 inches.  To add more sparkle, I added a glitter photo mat trimmed to 4 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches.

The glitter cardstock is heavy and to save bulk I cut the center out of the mat - I can use this for another project.

I wanted my card to look like a package, so I "auditioned" some ribbon to cross in the front.  I chose this narrow ribbon and cut the pieces to a lnegth that I could wrap around to the back.  I used adhesive on the ribbon so it would stay in place.

I wrapped the ribbons to the back and secured them in the adhesive I had already placed around the edges of the mat layer.

For the final layer of matting I chose a journaling mat from an old Storybox collection,  The edge is the only part that shows so the lines don't matter!

 Here is the completed card base, ready for the medallion to be added.  It is very hard to see the contrast between the two lowest mats but in person the glitter layer really sparkles!

Foam squares on the medallion give another layer of dimension.

Here is a close view of all of the layers.

This flat view might show the glitter a little better than my first photo.

 Here is a close up view of the medallion.  Isn't the old fashioned image charming!

I imported the photo of fhe medallion into my StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 software and turned it into another digital sticker.

I made a similar shape with Design Studio and then added a glitter effect digitally.

 

Here you can see the close view of the digital version (left) and the DCWV paper version (right).  I will save both of these for a future project.

A few people wrote and asked me about the cut for the card yesterday.  I used a "pinking circle" Nestabilities set to cut the circles.  As  you can see in the photo of the left, it is not a perfect fit but it worked!  If you want to ake a digital version, it is simple to black out the image and copy and paste it, filling with the color or texture you want.  You can see both versions above.

I want to add a sentiment - probably with "peel-offs" but I didn't have anything appropriate in a place where I could find it!  I will add something before I send the card so anyone.

We had a gorgeous day here today but I heard that there was a lot of snow in the Twin Cities.  If you have snow to deal with stay safe!

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