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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Vintage Alphabet C is for.....D is for.....




Boy, this month is just flying by, but that seems to be a good thing 'cause it's time again for the Vintage Alphabet Party I host over at the Etsy Cottage Style blog. We had a wonderful turn out last month with everyone showing off their 'B'eautiful 'B' collections.
This month's Vintage Alphabet letter is C/D

C is for......'C'ookbooks.
Not those newfangled cookbooks using microwaves or high intensity light. Not those cookbook's using man-made sugar and oil blends or substitutes. Now I'm not saying that the new recipes and books are bad. The majority of my cookbook collection are new editions and I, of all people, know how we must cook healthy and there are those who must adhere to special diets due to medical condidtions,  but I'm talking about the cookbooks of our Mother's and Grandmother's that are filled with wonderful graphic art and comfort foods.

                           
When you see them they may be dog-eared, food spattered, or contain hand-written notes, but they give insight to the eras they were used and if a family hand-me-down, they bring us closer to the cook. 

This was my Grandma's Cookbook of the 1940's. She has wonderful little notes by some recipes and tucked in between the pages are recipes and old coupons cut from magazines and boxtops. Those snipets date  til the 70's!



Vintage cookbooks of the  depression era and the war years were filled with recipes that were cost effective and usually printed by food makers such as Kellogg's, Calumet, Carnation, Sunkist, Spry(Crisco), just to name a few. The graphic art used was upbeat in color, usually using family oriented themes.









Cookbooks of the late 40's- to the early 60's seemed to be fancier recipes and geared more to entertaining and gatherings. Graphics were color photos, exemplifying serving suggestions
This cookbook printed by Gerneral Foods is filled with 12 months of recipes and dessert tips for everyday and holidays.









This is my collection of Better Homes Creative Cooking Library. I'm not sure how many volumes there were, but they ranged in date from 1960's-70's. The ones with the colorful top border are 1963,the one that is Pies and Cakes at this end is 1968. I have nine volumes of the 1963 set so far. If anyone knows how many volumes came to a set I'd appreciate if you could tell me. I'd love to find the other volumes to complete the set.

They not only contained delish recipes, they gave great serving ideas

The pic on the left is a wonderful lazy-susan serving peice, but my fav is the coffee table on the right that serves as party central....complete with a mini grill and skewer holder! Groovey for those small get-togethers.

I love to include vintage cookbooks with my vintage apron's over at my new Etsy shop Apronation(c) 
(this will soon have more aprons available..Creativity  Still Under Contruction)
These are some cookbooks I've  found ready to be paired with a matching theme apron like the one shown below......

On the left is the 1940-50 State Apron that I hand-emboidered. On the right is the matching 1940 Sunkist cookbook printed by the California Citrus Growers.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the stroll through my yummy cookbooks.

D is for...................Vintage 'D'olls 
                                                                                           
As you can see I have a lot of vintage dolls ready to be dressed, redone, and repaired.
Some need head or an arm reattatched. Others need a new 'do'. Original dresses need to be restitched or romoved and replaced.
Some dolls find their way onto my websites........

The large 'Colonial Doll' with original hand-crocheted dress, wooden wings (new) and hand-tatted accents(edging from 1940's pillow) is from the 60's.and was originally part of a bed pillow.
The 'Hershey Doll' began life as a 1940's Storybook Doll and I embellished with wings and new skirt(originally a tea cozy and potholder set from the 40's) and vintage buttons (1930/40 celluliod)
and 'Rose' at the end comes all the way from the 1930's,,I believe she was in advertising displays..
 she sports a hand-tatted (doily) dress with a (1940-50 hankie) slip and wings (1940 hand-crocheted doily).

These are three of my newest finds.......
     A bonnie lass from Ireland                       a wonderfully preserved Marie Antoinette   

           
and this 1960 beauty that is a nightlight...I had to add the vintage embellishments..she was such a plain little thing......this is her twin

                 in different attire.

Now this is my finally entry for the Vintage Alphabet It covers both the C and D
This cooking themed Angelic Inspiration..
Hazel...  I call her....is from the 40/50's. She must've been a Storybook 'D'oll in her past life. Her dress needed some altering and the apron cried for some hand-embroidery,  she stands atop a wooden 'c'utting- board with a wooden spoon and a 1960's recipe box, but the most wonderful thing in this whole set is this
A 1940's Time for a Party 'C'ookbook filled with photos of Around the World 'D'olls, delish recipes, and great party ideas. 
So, these are my Vintage Alphabet contributions for this month. Some of the Angelic Inspiration Doll designs can be found at my Etsy site Here. The Vintage Aprons with cookbooks can be found at my newesy Etsy  site Apronation (C) or you can visite my website
I'm happy you came by to introduce yourself and it's so nice to you again! I'm on my way over to your blogs and to visit with the other party-goers at Etsy Cottage Style. If you haven't stopped by there we can go through HERE 

8 comments:

Debbi said...

wow, cookbooks, I certainly have some of those! The ones with the splattered and torn pages are the most used and loved! Love the doll collection too

black eyed susans kitchen said...

Cookbooks...what a wonderful choice. You know that I have trouble resisting them!
♥, Susan

Char said...

I love cookbooks and have amassed quite a collection of my own. I see some of your have a great patina to them, those I would love to read. Just wonderful, Char

Chris said...

Love your vintage cookbooks! My sister collects them and would adore many of the ones you showed! I would have to choose the dolls. I have collected dolls for over 50 years! They are near and dear to my heart.

deb said...

What a wonderful collection of cookbooks...I have some old ones too. Love to find them like you said, with notes or other recipes tucked inside.
Your dolls are so pretty. The crocheted dresses remind me of my Grandmother, she would crochet clothes for my dolls when I was little.
*hugs*deb

Shirley said...

I love your cookbooks and dolls. They tell a period of time which was my childhood. I have some that are packed up that I brought home, but I don't have a place that I can put them I will have to skip this time for the alphabet. I am hurried using the computer before I give it up for the evening and I have a couple of things that are pressing to get done. I will catch you next month when I hopefully have more time. Take care Your Missosuri Friend.

Niesz Vintage Home said...

That is some cookbook collection! I just love the older recipes. My Better Homes and Garden cookbook is from the 1960's and its the one I use the most. :-)

Pretty dolls, too.

Kimberly

The Summer Kitchen Girls said...

Melanie! Happy Spring to you! Love those cookbooks - they are dear - especially that one of your grandmother! How precious to have her recipes and notes!
Your doll collection is wonderful! We don't have too many dolls (we seem to have REALLY played hard with ours, mom's and grandmas! who knew that we should have saved them!)