Vintage Ceramic Fanny Farmer Egg Cup

I received this ceramic glazed egg cup from my Aunt Ellen in the early 1950's when I was a young girl.  The egg cup was an Easter gift when I received it. The egg cup came with a foil wrapped chocolate egg. The egg cup was from the Fanny Farmer Chocolate company. I love my little hen and every time I look at it I am reminded of my wonderful Aunt who is no longer with us. My older brother also received an egg cup, a rooster in the same yellow color.  Have any of you seen one like this before or perhaps you might have received one for Easter a long time ago.

The egg cup is marked on the bottom near the feet, Fanny Farmer on one side and Made in the USA on the other.

Below is a vintage Fanny Farmer candy box that I've had for many years. The box had been my Aunt's.

top of old Fanny Farmer candy box

one side of vintage Fanny Farmer candy box

other side of Fanny Farmer candy box..Homestead

ends of glossy paper covered Fanny Farmer candy box

My Aunt died in the 70's. When Auntie gave me this box it was filled with old lace edged doilies.

Yesterday I took one of the stray male cats to the vets to be neutered and this morning I took his brother and litter mate. The mom cat is still in the cellar and I see glimpses of her every now and again when I go down to bring food and water and change the liter box. Mom cat can't go out until the end of March. I still have the 2 little ones that were born in November to neuter and then thankfully all of the strays will be done...7 in all.

This February has been a cold and snowy one, and again for the 3rd weekend in a row another snowstorm is predicted. Oh my!! I am so tired of snow and can't wait for spring. Near the foundation by the kitchen steps with piles of snow surrounding them daffodil shoots are up about 2 inches.

Elaine

5 hole pamphlet stitch book

the front cover isn't completely decorated yet as I haven't decided what else I am going to use on it. I couldn't get the book to lie flat when I took the photo. For the cover I used a piece of double sided cardstock.

  photo of my book lying open. I added some beads to the binding, but beads look better on a 3 hole book as the holes are evenly spaced.

inside front cover..I added an embossed pocket and a little calendar.

In the yahoo group that I belong to...An Affair with Art (AAWA), Jean B. is hosting a book swap. We have to make either a 3 or 5 hole one signature pamphlet book. The mail out date is March 15th. 

I haven't made a 3/5 hole signature book in quite sometime. In fact I haven't created much of anything in a long time. This morning I decided to make a 5 hole book. I wanted to get my book finished as I will be in Florida when the book is due to be mailed out.

The book could be whatever size we liked, but no larger than a   sheet of  8-1/2 by 11 cardstock folded in half and with no more than 10 folded sheets of  text weight  paper for our signature. We are only suppose to decorate the covers, but we can add beads, pockets, tags or whatever to the book.

inside signature tied and knotted off  with waxed linen thread. I used a smaller piece of cardstock for a page in the center of my book, and also between another set of pages.

Jean was kind enough to share the following youtube videos for various stitched pamphlet books.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZpMG8FCK_0

Tips on using a hole jig and how to tighten your stitches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlvf0Idog10

Tips on using a bone folder to crease your pages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6xGwU-UoJE

Tips on using clips to hold your book together while stitching and using a phone book as a punching cradle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRcE64fY1_s

This one demonstrates the use of a punching cradle to punch the holes and including different sized pages in your signature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mndh_LmMgU

Here are some written instructions and diagrams for the 3-hole pamphlet stitch:

http://www.booklyn.org/education/ispamphlet.pdf

http://sarahnielsen.com/2009/09/pocket-pamphlet-tutorial/

http://libraries.ucsd.edu/preseduc/bookmkg.htm

http://myhandboundbooks.blogspot.com/2007/06/alright-bookbinding-101.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mndh_LmMgU                  This one demonstrates the 5-hole pamphlet stitch and using recycled greeting cards as covers.

For the more adventurous, here's the instructions for a 5-hole pamphlet stitch:

http://jacobdegeling.com/tag/5-hole-pamphlet-stitch/

If you have never tried creating a single pamphlet book look at the sites above and make one... they are fun and easy to make, These  pamphlet books can be inserted into pockets of journals.

 

Elaine

Blizzard of February 8-9,2013

This snowstorm/blizzard was the first time in a long time. We were well prepared..lots of batteries, lanterns and flashlights, food.

Friday it snowed lightly all day long, a wet snow and it didn't accumulate much until suppertime. Then the snow fell faster and mounted up. We lost our power for about 20 minutes, but then thankfully the power came back on and stayed on thru the rest of the storm. The main roads were kept cleaned but the side/back roads were full of snowy ruts, downed wires, and trees. Many surrounding towns still have no power or phone service. Home temps inside were 40 degrees..not fun. Like I wrote..so thankful our power stayed on.

29 inches of snow

taken thru the kitchen storm door Saturday. As you can see the snow was very wet.

We did lose our phone service/internet/cable TV around 12:30 Friday night, and it only came back on at 8 this morning.

The snow was very wet and heavy so we did lose a couple of big branches from the trees in our yard. The snow was so high on the kitchen steps we couldn't open the door to get out. We did manage to get outside thru the kitchen slider, but before the storm ended I opened the slider and took pictures of the back yard.

We lost a big limb off of a tall spruce tree that we planted from a 6 inch seedling that my dad gave us in 1974.

 the broken limb..that made me sad

Tom's tomato cages covered in snow...waiting for spring and planting time

side yard

bird house covered in snow with icicles hanging from back deck. Lots of birds were at my feeders after I went out and knocked the ice that had coated all of them.

red breasted nuthatch on suet feeder

this snow covered hydrangea had leaf buds that had appeared in December from all of the crazy warm weather we had...frosted and frozen now.

couldn't open the kitchen door...so I opened a bedroom window and took some pictures of the front yard. Ice covered the front of the house.

mountain ash heavy and touching the ground from icy snow. I hang my bird feeders from this tree.

view from my window

normally I can walk without bending under the branches of the huge spruce tree in the front yard. The lowest branches were so heavy with icy snow they were touching the ground.

hope when all the icy snow is melted off the spruce will straighten back up.

leaning spruce

huge spruce in front yard is usually straight and tall, but with the weight of the snow the tree was leaning towards the street. Made me nervous that it would break or become uprooted.

branches from rose of sharon  in front of the picture window

                        another broken limb..pine tree

  bare branches of apple tree covered in icy snow. We lost a branch off this apple tree.

before our driveway got shoveled and plowed out. I tramped thru the snow to get to the bird feeders and sunk to my knees in snow...not fun

Monday morning...front yard

We had crazy weather...Friday wet snow thru late Saturday afternoon, Sunday was sunny, Monday (yesterday) it rained all day so there was some melting. Today (Tuesday) it is sunny again. This weekend they are predicting another 3-6 inches of snow. I will be so glad when spring comes, and I am so looking forward to going back to Florida in March.

Elaine

p.s....this afternoon was the first time I was able to get out. I tried driving to my parents on Sunday but I didn't get far...downed power and cable lines, and uprooted and huge broken trees were blocking roads.

After lunch I tried again and was able to get thru. I couldn't believe the number of uprooted and sheared off trees in some parts of Middleboro. My sister in law just got her power back late this afternoon. My parents still have no power, but are able to have heat and lights by running 2 generators.

uprooted pine trees. Most of the downed trees were huge pines. The heavy ice/snow and high winds was just too much for these old trees.

sheared off just a few of a huge flock of turkeys that were looking for food across from my parents. So hard on the animals with all the snow on the ground. There are usually 22 turkeys in this flock.

FINALLY!!!!

I can't tell you how happy I was this morning when my husband told me that the stray mom cat finally went into the Havaheart trap. I had Mom cat to the vets office by 8:45 a.m. to be spayed. I asked the vet..what should I do...let her out in this frigid weather with a blizzard coming with her shaved belly or try to keep her inside.

With the dissolving stitches she was given we have to keep her indoors because the snow could dissolve the stitches if they got wet and she would open up. That's not good!  So, we will have to keep Mom cat in the house for awhile until fur grows back on her belly. She traveled well in the trap to the vets and back home again in the cat carrier. She travelled well didn't cry at all.

When I got her home I took the travel crate down cellar and let her loose. Don't know how long it will be until she ventures upstairs thru the cat door. I put a litter box, food and water down cellar for her. She will probably want to be an outside cat, but that's okay with me as she won't be able to have anymore kittens. We will just continue to feed her.

Tomorrow around noon they are predicting a blizzard with snow anywhere from 12 inches to 24. Maybe I will get some art done as I won't be going anywhere. This morning I went and got batteries and bottled water for my mom and dad. If they lose their power they have no water, because they have a well and the pump is electric. So there lanterns are out and generators are ready.

 

Elaine 

Giveaway...A 5 x 7 Kliban Cat birthday card

inside greeting..from a cool group of cats

You just never know what you will come across when cleaning out a very messy craft room. I forgot a lot of what I have collected over the years. In my digging this afternoon I came across 6 new. (but old) Kliban cat birthday cards that I bought in a small gift store in Vermont many years ago. If you love the Kliban cat and would like 1 card with no envelope (or at least for the moment I haven't come across the envelope). Leave a comment and a card may find its way to your mailbox. In your comment leave an email address or a blog address that I can contact you if your name is drawn.

Elaine

Seaside Library Ladies Dime novels for women

I did a google search to find out more about this publication. Here are some of the sites about the publisher and his brother, Norman.
George Munro Seaside Library publisher (1877-1893?)
http://http://punchincanada.blogspot.com/2008/08/rivals-from-nova-scotia.html
http://http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~poindexterfamily/ChristinesPages/Dimers3.html

I came across this fragile copy of Seaside Library...Jane Eyre. This was one of the old magazines that I bought at a library sale several years back for 10 cents each. I have several different copies of the Seaside Library magazines that I bought that day.
Elaine

P.S..when I find my stack of all of the books I bought at the library sale I will have a give away of one of the old fragile magazines.

First Smash Book pages

I haven't had any desire to be creative and create art in quite sometime. Don't know why, but the creative juices just weren't flowing. Last year I bought the original size Smash book and also a 12 x 12 inch Smash book but I never did a thing with them.
The other day I posted that I was going to convert a blank Paula Deen cookbook binder into a Smash book.  This binder is the exact size of the new binder Smash books that you can add pages to.
Well, truth be told...this morning I cut some scrapbook papers, got out the Mod Podge and I did cover the front and back cover of that Paula Deen binder ring binder. I haven't finished but I will post pictures when I do finish decorating the covers. At least that is a start.

Anyway, getting back to creating some Smash book pages..I decided that the first Smash book that I bought last year in Michael's when they first came out I would dedicated to 2013. Since it is still January, I decided  my first 2 page spread would be Disney. I enjoyed my quick Florida trip earlier in the month. I started by covering 2 pages in the book with Disney scrapbook paper. I then cut a few photos, brochures and added stickers and other embellishments. (calendar page, tickets, sunglasses) to use on my Disney trip pages. On the dollar bill I wrote..You need lots of these. :-)

                                                                      left side of page

 

 right side of page

This 2 page spread is a start for my 2013 Smash Book. I will probably do a page on my rescued kittens, our 45th anniversary, our son's 40th birthday, and who knows what else.
I need to count the number of pages in the Smash book so I will know how many pages I will have for each month.
Elaine

Make your own Art Journal/Smash book

I do have 2 sizes of store bought Smash books, but I have yet to put anything into them. Yesterday while in my craft room I came across a few ring binder Paula Deen recipe keeper binders that I bought in Michael's on a clearance rack. I think I paid $2 for each book that I bought.  After looking at it, I thought...why not alter the cover and make an Art Journal. There are new Smash books for sale now that have the ring binders, and I like them a lot better.

This week has been busy and I haven't had time to select my papers to recover the outside of the binder.

Below is the inside before altering. The binder came with some 4 x 6 clear page protectors for recipe cards, but they are also the perfect size to insert photos and much more. The page protectors (4 X 6) with the black outlines I bought in Michaels for 50% off along with a package of kraft paper envelopes. I am going to make my book pages from thin cardboard from the backs of scrapbook paper stacks or cereal boxes. Reuse and Recycle as much as I can.

Will add more  photos as I work on the journal.

So far we haven't had any luck getting her to go into the havaheart trap. Wish me luck on that. I have to get her to the vets as I can't keep taking in her kittens.

Here are a few photos of the 2 newest kittens I adopted from the stray mom cat.

  peeking at me thru the peep hole in the cat tunnel.

Celebrating our 45 th wedding anniversary today

How time flies. How can it be that Tom and I were married on that long ago sunny, but cold day in 1968. Just doesn't seem possible. Today it is also sunny and cold. Many times we had snow or blizzards on our anniversary, so was glad that didn't happen this year.
Since today there will be a Patriots football playoff game, Tom and I went out for dinner last night. I chose Pa Raffa's Italian restaurant, in the north end of New Bedford. Pa Raffa's has wonderful food and they have the best antipasto. Tom isn't big on salad. I ordered the regular sized antipasto, and that size can feed four it is really big. The lighting wasn't the best so the photo is dark. (after playing around with the phone today I found my that the camera on my phone has a flash.) So, now I know. :-)
I'm still learning to use my new cell phone that I got the other day. The new cell phone is very different than my old basic cell phone. I guess I need to ask a little kid how all the features work. :-) I hate reading instruction books. :-(

There is always lots to take home for another meal. The salad fills me up so instead of big meal, I ordered a hot veal parmesan sub. Yummy!!!
Hope you have a wonderful day!
Elaine