vintage finds

After my last post I thought I'd show some of my recent vintage finds from my recent travels.














These two pretty vintage hats were in great condition. The one on the bottom is from the late 1930's- early 40's. The haberdashery flowers are a luscious satin and velvet mix of taupes and muaves. The bright, springy piece on the top is from the 1950's-60s and it to contains velvet and silk flowers. I cannot bring myself to tear these apart, so I'll have to think how to repurpose them.

A several days later and a few more excursions I found this cute 1940's doll. Her cheeks are so rosy and lips a little red bow. When her eyes are open they are a deep blue with long painted lashes. I will have to fix her crocheted dress. Her hairdo will definitely need attention too! The over sized hankie is from the 30's, as you can see, has already begun being highlighted with embroidery around the leaves. I think I found my inspiration for this angel. Combine all this with the vintage hat as wings and voile'. It's not a traditional valentine color scheme, very monochromatic, but with the copper hearts and some other embellishments, she'll say 'Love'. I'll post a pic when she's completed.
Alas, the other hat will have to wait. I still have to find an inspiration for it. I'm thinking maybe flower fairyish? Have to cut it for wings...can't bring myself to put a scissor to it. Maybe as a topper of some kind with the doll..( still to be found) ....standing in the center? It's just pipecleaner and net frame..it's wouldn't support much. Getting ahead of myself. I still have to find a vintage doll and fabric to match the hat...I'm off!

Vintage Alphabet

Since this is the beginning of a new year I would like to thanks all those Bloggers and Typepad typists who have visited my website/etsy site/blog in 2008, and (who have become fast friends) for adding me to their Blog Lists and/or linked us together through their websites. I didn't think when I began a blog in November of 08 that anyone would be interested in my thoughts, etc. but you all have given me such encouragement. Again a BIG thank you

Now onto my post..........

Since this is January I thought that I'd do some blogs that contained a little vintage alphabet. So, since this is the first month the corresponding letter should be

A for apron. That quintessential hostess staple of the 30's-60's. I suppose with the arrival of Women's Lib in the 70's this little piece of material was synonymous with tying women to the kitchen, thus the ties that bind must be broke. Fast forward 30 years and several stained and grease spattered frocks later, the apron is back and gaining popularity. Just type a search for

a-p-r-o-n and view the myriad of offerings, clubs, and blogs dedicated to the lowly fashion accent.

Here are a few of my fav examples,

This frilly 50's find was just a plain cotton jane, but I hand-embroidered the pocket motif and added a couple of fluttery butterflies. Also included with this apron is a 1950 Cookie Book published by the Culinary Arts Institute. The cook book fits perfectly in the pocket.

Don't you just love the graphics of the vintage books?

My next choice is a little appluscious find. A 1940's apron with apple applique pockets that were placed over a hand-embroidered brick wall. I added hand-embroidered blossoms covering over small stains making this find just like new. In the pocket I added a 1950's Pies and Pastries Cook Book. There are a lot of interesting recipes like Alphabet Pie using Alphabet noodles or Cottage Cheese pie. You should be able to enlarge a pic to view the recipe. I have some new ideas on the worktable that I will have on my site soon. Now, Do you have a fav apron that you own or that is on your website for sale. Let's see your finds!

Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a very Happy New Year!

What a great vacation we had. Didn't go far from home, but made little jaunts to area antique malls and rides through the area countryside. It was warm on several different days, so these rides were quite pretty. Creeks were tinged with ice, trees were bear to see hawks, deer, trails not usually visible. Some trees already have buds formed, which is quite early for here. Keep a watch I'll have pics of some of the wonderful antique places we stopped. I'll also have pics of some of my finds and there will also be pics of new projects.

Back at work today. Changing displays....cleaning.....really wish it was like a website, click a button...buckets clean, click a button...christmas tree is gone,

click a button...window is changed to valentines.

(sigh) My first New Year wish did not come true..the clicker is broke.

Did you do something different for the new year, make a new year wish on the first star of 2009?

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and

Happy New Year From

Brown Gingham Creations!

My studio and Etsy shop are closed now until Jan. 5th

In the last post I showed you what we've been working on here at the flower shop. http://www.aandjsfloralboutique.com/

I began at our main display window outside and then inside at the front entryway.

(See previous post)

Today our tour our tour takes us into the main showroom (there are 3 showrooms/main showroom/sunporch/kitchen-sales area, a design studio and display case for fresh botanicals, and a separate workroom where the bulk of creating occurs.)
As we enter the room this is a turn-of -the-century buffet that is the perfect spot to display reprodution vintage Santas. They depict Santa at different time periods and countries. My favorite is the patriotic Santa in the far left corner. Standing next to him is a Victorian style patriotic Christmas tree. Flags, bunting, dried carnations, decorations...all sealed under glass. Any one of these would be a great gift for the collector.
In the center of the room is a wonderful turn-of-the-century violin-leg library table filled with holiday fare. We display not only permanent botanicals designs in this room, but fresh too. Like this delightful fresh, fragrant mix in a vintage 1930-40's Mill with waterwheel ceramic planter. We also love to take vintage items and create tabletop vinettes, like the 1950's sewing box accented by matching roses, greenery, and special finds that were inside the box such as wooden spools of thread, buttons, packs of needles, etc. Perfect keepsake for the needlecrafter or seamstress.
As you come to the front of the table an antique Berea chair sits on top with a swag of faux greens and pinecones cascading over the chair back. The seat is filled with basket filled


with holly and one of my Christmas pillows. Next to is more of my hand-work, a bowl of fragrant fresh holiday greens and a wonderful mache
rocking horse in it's holiday floral finery. In the far corner of the room is a faux fireplace, ready for Santa to come down.
It was dry laid and the hand-carved roses on the mantle were done by me. This years color combination is rich reds, muaves, golds, browns, and greens. It seems retro earthtones are sneaking back.
As I said before our displays change daily. Can you pick out the difference between the two photos?.....
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The rose bouquet on the far right corner of the mantle is gone. Well, I'd better close for now and do up some replacement designs and orders that have to go out on the next sleigh.

What I've Been Working On

Thought I'd give you a peek at what we've been working on at the flower shop, A&J's Floral Boutique(R). This is our front display window. We love the oldtime window displays of 40's to the 60's with their holiday scenes and animation. Santa is new and he sings, but Mrs. Claus is an 'animatron' from the 60's and still works. She busily knits in her rocking chair nodding her head to the msuic. The feather tree is filled with vintage looking glass Waterford ornaments depicting Santa with a globe and is topped by one of my Angelic Inspirations. The elves have just finished the mache' train and firetruck just in time. They're filled with a feather tree and holiday boughs. As you follow the wrought iron fence around to the front door,

You are greeted by Frosty. This is out on our 'sunporch', which is filled with plants and gardeny gifts, so we've decorated it with babies breath, assorted blossoms, berries, gilded acorns with oak leaves, and frosted balls. If you look real close there are little chickadees nestled in the boughs. Throughout Christmas our displays change almost daily with sales of product, so tomorrow I'll give you another peek of a different area.

Christmas tree

It's finally beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Albers' house. We had our first snow fall ( of no accumulation predicted) of about 3 inches over the weekend, so I figured that would get Jim into mode....it did. (by the by for those of you who aren't familiar with Cincinnati weather. It was in the 20's- teens over the weekend, by tomorrow it's back up to the 50's) We store our tree, lights still on, upstairs so all he has to do is come down and place in the front room. Realllly keeps the light issues at a minimum if ya know what I mean. He then brings up all the ornament boxes from the basement. I love opening them up...it's like opening a time capsule.
My fav collectible is aluminum. (This is a subject for a future post) These aluminum reflectors were inherited from my grandma. They are placed over the light bulbs and the colors are so vibrant from the plastic centers. Especially on her aluminum tree! You can place the reflectors over the matching primary color light bulb of the plastic or place on a different color to create new colors..i.e., blue over red bulb =purple, red over yellow bulb=orange..you get the idea. I also use some larger ones and to put those on my window candles.

These are a few of the vintage ornaments I place on my tree. In the 60's when I was little these types of ornaments were always on our Christmas tree mixed with the newer ones of course. The plastic yellow one has an aluminum whirligig inside. When placed near a light bulb the whirligig spins from the heat generated. They work on the same principle as those German candle carousels you see..for the life of me I can't think of what they're called, If you can please tell me. The little bell is colored glass with mica flecks for snow on the top and bottom edge.

This last picture is a plastic ornament with plastic flowers inside. These too were on my Mom and Dad's tree at home, but as I said she still uses them.I was sooooo happy to find 6 of these at the Burlington Antique Flea Market in Kentucky last year in a box of ruined ornament. (they thought the openings were supposed to be filled with a colored film...children). I have many other vintage glass balls. Some with glittered landscapes scenes others with stenciled holiday icons, and still others with birds and fauna. I mix them with new solid colored glass balls to fill out the tree. When I purchase a 'new' vintage ball it replaces the solid one.This This is the picture of the completed tree. Jim still has to put the village and train under it though. (Pic to follow). Let me know what your fav vintage ornament is or share pics of your vintagey tree.

Oops! Here are a few more Ornaments I forgot to place. The hand-blown glass and celluloid is a German creation and very old. The other two are 1940's-50's glass balls

It's That Time of Year

It's that time of year! Holiday craft show, decorating home for christmas, finishing up displays in the shop, everyday orders to get out, holiday orders to process....phew!!! Hopfully by next week things will be smooth and I can show pics of all the frenzy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This time of year is so hectic. Centerpieces for clients Thanksgiving tables, redecorating the flower shop for Christmas, getting ready for the Sharonville Holiday Craft Show on Saturday, shopping for my own Thanksgiving fare........it's time to slow down, take a breath and recall what I have to be thankful for.
The best blessings are my family, including my furry family members too, and friends, old and new, are at the top of the list. All those who have stopped at my websites, the shop, and my show booths.
The little everyday miracles throughout the year are the most surprising and oft forgotten... a flower arrives in the exact color needed, you find all the socks in the dryer, the antique mall is closing, but they let you browse till lights out. A stranger gives you the last bunch of green bananas on the display. Someone you don't know stops you to say they like your outfit or tote. You press ENTER on the computer and it doesn't go blank. I have a lot more and I know these are little things, but they remind me God is on my shoulder watching. Let me know what your thankful for.
Okay I have to get back to work. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving. If you're in the Cincinnati area for the weekend e-mail me and I'll give you directions to the Craft show.

I finally have the photos from the 32ND Sharonville Arts and Craft Show. It was an early day. Set up began at 8a and was to be done by 11a when the show opened. There was over 50+ vendors setting up all at once, but it sure ran smooth. Some people began walking by during set up . They were interested in things I and fellow vendors were taking out of our boxes. Some vendors used just tables for display, others used chrome store fixtures, and still others used covered cases. I like to use antiques when displaying my textiles. A 30's-40's wooden ironing board, from Jim's Grandma, just lends itself to the theme. The clothes line suspended between tent posts added some charm and much needed space. The table with the vintage tablecloth was a perfect spot to do some demo embroidery while people gathered.

This small cherry child's bed was a great find at little used furniture shop in Northern Ohio. Jim attached the foot board and headboard creating a display bench for my bolster pillow. It also created an entryway making it look more like a small room. Another cherry table stood behind it with more items.













The tent was located on the corner so I was lucky to have more usable space on the ground and in the air. I suspended items on decorative chain. It was a 10x10 space, but boy it felt like more.









This is Jim, my husband. As you can see he is very interested in the newspaper. He didn't even notice I was taking his pic. He was a very big help that day though. He stayed the whole time. I was proud of him, he was able to answer some questions about vintage textiles...so he must have been listening to me a little when I didn't know it. He did leave for a minute and brought Shadow, our Norwegian Elkhound, down to sit with us. He was our official greeter. He certainly brought a lot of people into the booth. Later in the day my Mom and Dad came. It was a quick tear down with their help.

And, this is me..front row, second over in the blue jeans holding the doll. I was so happy, and surprised, to have been awarded first place in Mixed Media/Fiber Arts.