All posts tagged: Vintage Books

Weekend Finds

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My favourite antique shop here in St Louis opens each month from the 1st to the 7th only.  This month we made a trip this weekend and they didn’t disappoint. I found a ledger which is smaller than the ones I usually see, the size is what drew me to it initially and when I saw that it was almost all filled in with ledger type stuff from the 1920’s I was sold. It contains information about mail deliveries, egg accounts and Jessie’s music expenses from 1928! I bought this fabulous chunk of vintage paper to paint on and put into art journals, but I am not sure I can.  The more I look through it, the more interesting it is!  For now, this is safe in my collection of old books. I also found a People’s Cyclopedia from 1890 without its cover but so interesting.  It is the D-L volume and full of 1890’s information and illustrations.  It still has the wonderful marbled cover pages and the inside of the bindings is revealed as …

‘I like’ Friday. Top Tips from vintage books.

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I recently picked up some excellent books from the library sale cart and the local antiques mall. Old books are among my favorite things, the covers, the advice and the illustrations.  I love the books which were obviously very fashionable and cutting edge in their information at the time of publication.  Of course some of the writing is out of date and sometimes hilarious but a lot of it is still relevant and timeless. ‘New Bodies for Old (Why, Where and How to Exercise for Figure, Beauty and Health)’ by Dorothy Nye  was written as a guide to exercise written in 1936 and it has some sage advice for would be exercising ladies. On the first page, second paragraph we are treated to the following wisdom about the ideal body shape. “It is, primarily, a figure of bone and muscle over which a silken skin stretches in taut perfection. ” No pressure then…. They use the Rockette dancing chorus from Radio City as an ideal, citing measurements to aim for –   Top tips from …

What did I do this weekend?

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It has been a hot and sunny weekend here in the deep mid-west!  It did rain last night and that was very welcome. I had a single ripe tomato on my plants and this morning when I went to pick it, it had gone, stolen, presumed eaten.  One of our furry long tailed garden friends I am sure is the guilty party.  I always try to grow lots of tomatoes to share with the squirrels but to take the very first ripe one, that was mean. Lesson learnt, when I see a ripe tomato, don’t leave it, pick it! Over the weekend  I bought a few new art supplies in the form of acrylic gouache and some basic kraft paper to make sketchbooks from.  I love the colours this gouache comes in and choosing a few was a difficult job. I bought this book from the library sale cart for a whole 25cents!  I don’t think I will use it for anything except sitting on my shelf because my grandad was a morris dancer and …

‘I Like’ Friday. The Cape Cod Edition.

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While here on the Cape I am finding lots to like! I have definitely been liking daily trips down to the beach which is a few minutes away. The weather has been everything and everywhere so the sea changes colour each time I visit. Today it is my favourite colour – Paynes grey. I always like to bake bread so why not on holiday?! We went to the local Barnes and Noble and stocked up on mags and I needed a new book so I grabbed ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’. Have you read it? Any good? I saw this book in a second hand shop and liked the look of it because it is chock full of butterfly plates. So when I spotted it in the local library (yes, I am the person who gets a library card while on holiday!) I happily checked it out. Inside the vintage atlas I picked up from the library’s free shelf. The map pages are nice thick paper and the index pages are thinner. I am liking …

Weekly Photos 2017.8/52

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1 – 2. Presidents Day was a sunny warm day and we went for a jaunt around Forest Park (along with the rest of St Louis!). 3. Following the strangely warm weather, the apricot tree was in full bloom by mid-week, unfortunately the warm spell was followed by a couple of nights of freezing temperatures, so the flowers are looking a little droopy, but hopefully they will hang on and we will see some fruit. 4 – 5. I met some friends for coffee at Rise coffee and we chatted and drank coffee with a pretty design in the frothy milk! 6 – 8. It was estate sale treasure hunting time on Saturday morning, I didn’t buy the giraffe or the amazing rainbow art (someone had bought that already), but I did get a few bits and bobs.  I usually look for paper I can print or draw on or books I can use as journals, so I found a few books and some old typing paper with a lovely texture. 9. These are some …

Art Supplies from Estate Sales.

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  Oftentimes I will get books from sales to draw in or print on the pages. I like to use old books or their pages in my journals or as a sketchbook. The giant,out of date ‘Britannica Atlas’ is going to be a big art journal. The map pages have such beautiful colours and even the print pages are great, full of columns of text. The blue book is a ’20th Century Typewriting Complete Course’ which I may use as a sketchbook or I might use the individual pages to print on or draw on and add to my art journal. The previous owner has added lots of their own notes to the pages, so that is pretty cool. I don’t often see specific supplies at yard or estate sales, so I was very pleased to spot the canvases and the masonite board at an estate sale less than a mile from my house.  I have to say that I have no clue what to do with masonite, but I heard Ali Cavanagh talk about …

Taking Stock January 2016

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Today is chilly but sunny and full of blue sky.  I have been busy painting and drawing and printing some postcards which I am excited to write and send out!  The picture above is one of them. I am going to put the kettle on for a cup of tea while I take stock for the first time this year.  Let’s see how it is going so far.  Fancy a stock take?  I have a blank list at the bottom of the post, so you can fill it in with your own stock taking. Making : Chips (fries) and egg for lunch with sriracha sauce all over. Cooking : Banana bread for breakfast. Drinking : Yorkshire Gold tea. Reading: ‘Drawing Blood’ by Molly Crabapple. Wanting: To organize my time more efficiently. Looking: At the birds bickering over the feeders! Playing: Radio 2 over the interweb. Deciding: How to get my hair cut tomorrow, just a little trim I think. Wishing: For snow. Enjoying: All the art I am making. Waiting: For the kids to come …