shiny suitcase

friday finds - vintage travel stickers

A few years ago I stumbled into a box of old suitcase stickers at a local antique store. I sorted through the bunch and chose the ones that spoke to me, thinking they'd make a great framed collection, or just be generally inspiring with their colors, fonts and compostision. They're still a favorite of mine.

Most of them are from Eastern Europe, specifically Hungary, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia and I'd guess they're from the 1960's.

This is one of my favorites. It reminds me of Hotel Citron in The Life Aquatic by Wes Anderson. I love the little "Inter Hotel" logo in the upper right and the simple color palette is perfect.

Who doesn't love gold, gray and pink? This sticker feels so "Breakfast at Tiffany's" to me.

This has the best mod leaf design. I love the offset printing where the light blue and the red mix. Then that little single dot of gold? Wow. It would make a great tea towel or serving tray.

This last one is a personal fave. Love the pink outline of the hotel and the vertical "Rosiza". The color palette with the robin's egg blue, electric pink and gold is right up my alley.

I hope you enjoyed this Friday Find!

kaleidoscopic color

I have a child's cheap tin kaleidoscope with plastic beads and little bits in the top section. I bought it a few months ago, meaning to use it for some color inspiration. I took it out today when the sun was out to see what kind of images I could snap of the patterns inside. I was pretty doubtful about my ability to really even see anything through the lens of the camera but these are some of the shots I got of the barrel of the kaleidoscope. They're blurry and a bit crude, but lovely and illuminated in a cathedral like way.

I just shook the toy a bit in between shots or twisted the barrel slightly and I was actually pretty happy with how they turned out.

I think I need to build some patterns and palettes based on this experiment and I'm hoping to post a few of them this week.

 

 

friday finds - Fall Is Here

I'm starting a new column today! On Fridays I'll be sharing fun, interesting items I've come across in my wanderings, some bits and pieces of my collections or even ask another blogger to show some of their finds.

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I've been gathering vintage children's readers for many years. These are books used in elementary school and teach children to read, write, or explain scientific, social or health concepts. I love these books for their illustrations and for their simplicity as well as for their ability to capture and idealize a time period, especially the 1940's through the 1960's.

Today I've captured some pages from Fall Is Here by Bertha Morris Parker from 1948. It is from The Basic Science Education Series. The cover illustration above is by Florence McAnelly and the page illustrations are by Frederick E Seyfarth. This reader is clearly meant for very young students, probably kindergarten or first grade.

I absolutely adore the palette in these illustrations. The themometer page on the left in this spread shares a lot of color in common with my blog mood board.

I imagine this is an Indian Summer kind of fall day, a cool breeze with the warmth of the sun and the electric blue sky.

Some of the spot illustrations like these flowers are lovely just in themselves.

This spread is my favorite in the whole book. The energy and excitement in the left page is so familiar, the colors are well balanced with the cool blues, grays and greens against the warm reds, yellow and oranges. I think the right page is unique because so many depictions of Halloween are shown after the pumpkin is carved. You can see the science, social and health lessons here. "What's inside a pumpkin?" " What are the seeds for?"  "Have a grown-up use a knife." "Father's wearing an apron so he keeps his clothes neat and clean." Besides all of that heady stuff, I just 100% love both of these pages.

The book ends with the onset of Thanksgiving which, as I've grown older, has become quite a favorite holiday of mine. Although there are plenty of wild turkeys around, we've never wrecked havoc on a poor bird like these kids.

I hope you enjoyed this Friday Find!

 

 

 

Inspiration in the Aftermath

I've been slowly collecting children's paint boxes after finding a old orange Playtime Water Colors tin at a yard sale. I'm drawn to the texture, color and the story of use. I like that they are unintentional artworks in and of themselves, I like the predetermined ordering of the colors clashing with the overflow and spattering of in-the-moment excitement.

 

top to bottom: Playtime Water Colors Tin - Binney & Smith, Peacock Water Colors & Brush Plastic Tray - Binney & Smith, Prang Water Colors Tin - The American Crayon Company.

Family Finds

This is one of my favorite photos. It is of my mother-in-law in the late 50's or very early 60's participating in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" contest in California (likely San Francisco.)

I love it for many reasons.

one - the whole framing is perfect and I love the blurry head in the foreground

two - the man in the top hat.

three - the dollar bill on the ground

four - the people looking on

five - her genuine, youthful smile

We're hanging it on our wall right now so I thought I'd post it just for fun.

a place I'd love to visit

feeling it right now

I've got a thing lately for Navajo/navajo inspired rugs.

I love the colors, usually red, cream and grays(source)(source)

I love the geometry, they feel modern and vintage all at once. (source)

I love skill and the art in the repeating design. (source)

I love the texture and the edges, the repairs and the heathered weathered warmth. (source)

I'm not sure where this sudden adoration sprang from but I've been poking around, trying to find a rug in decent enough condition and not too preciously rare or expensive to live in our "antler" room. We've got an old rug from my apartment that may get the boot. I realize now it is the only rug in the house.