The Incredible Shrinking Webster....

The other day I purchased a HUGE Webster's Dictionary.

I see them in antiques and collectibles stores everywhere. They are usually either in too nice of condition or too expensive to use for crafting purposes.

Last week, I found this one for the low-down bargain price of $2.00. Two whole bucks!!!

Two!

The red embossed cover is beautiful, but the binding is duck taped and nailed together, so it's fair game for re-purposing.

I have two walls of masonry block in my craft room downstairs. They are currently painted creamy white. Very boring, if you ask me. Not because they are creamy white, but they are painted block. UGLY! And very cold - even in the Summer.

If I paint them a dark color, it'll just make the daylight basement even darker. What to do???

Well, for two bucks, I'll be experimenting with covering the blocks with dictionary pages. Then layering up with the shelves, frames, etc... that make a craft room, well, a craft room.

I've seen the pages applied with full strength liquid starch to various substrates, like wood, so this will be an experiment at best. I've never used starch before. If that doesn't work, I can always resort to Mod Podge or White Glue. Any words of advice are welcome at this point....:)

Moving on.

A woman told me the other day that words, like wren and beaver, are being replaced in student dictionaries with words like texts and email. How can that be? I guess, the BIG dictionaries are too expensive to print.

What would Noah Webster say about this?

This picture is from the front of the large dictionary.

It makes me wonder what words have been replaced and/or removed altogether since this HUGE dictionary was printed.

Take a look at this little Webster Handy Dictionary. What words were left out? Several, I'd say.

A.J. gifted me this little one a couple of years ago. He's a boy on the same page (no pun intended) as me. He knows how much I like old books and pages for crafting.

This is the writing on the inside leaf. Mary Alice Joyce from Forty Fort, PA.

Do you know who this is???? Your aunt, sister, mother, grandmother, niece???

Neighbor? Friend?

One word I hope NEVER gets removed from the dictionary - student or otherwise - is FRIEND.

A true friend cannot be replaced!!!

If you are visiting from Treasures from the Heart. Welcome to my blog.
Barbara Jean and I have never met in person, but it's only a matter of time before that happens, as she only lives up the road a couple of hours. I can't wait to stop by her new store for some Tea and Treats!!!

April 23. The 42nd Birthday Suit.

Yeah! Like I'd show that!!!

Or think you'd WANT to see that!!!

Instead, how about I share a few birthday HATS!!!

"Do you think this one is TOO BIG?", asked Birthday girl.

"Yeah, maybe. But, I kind-a like it!"

"How about this one?",  asked Birthday girl.

"Maybe a little TOO small?"

"Ooooh, I think this one is just right!", exclaimed Birthday girl.

"I think you're gonna get LICE!", noted Birthday girls friend.

"Ha, Ha, Ha", laughed Birthday girl, as she pretended to scratch her head...!

Keys to Friendship....

I'm off to spend the day with two of my friends, Kristin and Janice. 

They are celebrating my birthday with me. 

A day early. 

We're going shopping/window shopping in Jacksonville. 

Then, lunch at the BBQ joint I love so much. 

Then, possibly a movie and dessert.

The weather is supposed to be Sunny and in the high 60's - low 70's today. Nice.

I'll leave you with the "keys" to friendship.

Staying in touch. Even if by email, text, or by phone.

Be a good friend. 

Stay in touch - before you lose touch.

My friend, Kay, sent me one of those "polls" yesterday. You know the ones. The one we roll our eyes at.

Fill it out and send it on! Life's too short not to. Get to know your friends better. 

Laugh. Play. Be silly in your responses. 

Even your very best friend wants to know the "little" things you never mentioned before.

Communication. 

It's a key to all friendships.

Here was my response....

***warning: it's a bit wacky in alignment - cut and pasted - and blogger won't re-align it without me typing it all again...SO......

Three  things about me:

    Please don't  break the cycle: It is fun to learn different things about our  friends.

                                                               

Three  Names I go by:

                                                           1. Tina/Honey/Sweetheart - Phillip

         2. Mom/Mommy/Mama - Kids

         3. Boss-ette/Chief/The-Eye - Work

Three places  I've worked:

         1. E.B. Effects and Design Company

         2. State Farm

         3. Scrapbook connection

                       

Three things I like to watch:

          1. Clouds rolling in over the river/valley

          2. Lighting/Wind Storms

          3.  Time-lapse photography of flowers, bugs, weather, etc....

                             

Three Places  I've Been:

         1. Climbed up a rope of a small cliff. Hiked across recent Earthquake damaged terrain. Then up the side of another cliff, ending at a huge crevice of landslide (where the ocean was pounding through the opening), determined to find a letter-box in Hana, Maui, Hawaii while all my boys waited for me in the rented van in a parking lot.

         2. 150' under the South Pacific Ocean in a Submarine (in Maui)
         3. Driving my car 115 mph across a desert highway in California (by myself)

Three people  who e-mail me regularly: "texting is not e-mail"

          1.  Phillip - mostly cc's of work emails

          2.  Clients

          3. Blog comments from various readers

Three things I  love to eat:

1. Anything chocolate

2. Mexican food

3.  Fritos and bean dip (is that considered Mexican food?)

Three  people I think will respond

             1.  Janice
             2.  Lisa

3. Kristin????

 Three  things I am looking forward to:

      1.  Closing escrow on the building in Medford, so we can get out of limbo and move on with our lives! ... and very shortly thereafter, going to retreat in May with my friends....and maybe, just maybe, creating something else that will be chosen to get published....My secret "greedy" goal is to create  something that makes a cover issue....

2. sharing our 25 wedding anniversary with friends and family - whooping it up with a BIG party!!!!

3.  Meeting my three sons' love-of-their-lives, someday...and getting to share in that whole experience of becoming a larger Schiefer clan......(no rush boys, I'm only 41!!! at least until tomorrow!)

Happy Spring.

Today, I was wondering what "official" calendar day was the start of Spring.

So, I Googled it. 

WikiPedia said it was March 20. 

O.k. I know April Showers bring May flowers, but I really wish our Spring was a little less cold and wet.

Here is a picture I took of our house - from the inside of the car!

Too wet outside, but kinda makes a fun photo!

Made these little blocks out of leftover wood. Painted them with cream acrylic paint.

Stamped, with black Staz-On ink pad because it's waterproof, the seasonal trees and letters onto white tissue paper. I've found that by stamping on the tissue first vs. stamping on the blocks direct, makes for less boo-boos ie: incomplete stamped images, double-images, off-center images...

Affixed them to the blocks with Matte Finish Mod Podge.

Each of the four sides of 6 blocks spells out SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER.

Each of the four sides of the first - 7th block - has a tree to represent.

I numbered the bottom of each of the six letter blocks 1-6 so they are kept easily in the right order.

Simple. Easy. Peasy.

I kept them simple. I could have distressed them. Painted the trees. Edged them in brown. The sky is the limit.

Most of you probably have already seen this, but just in case you've been under a rock...

I found this a few weeks ago.

Let's give credit where credit is due.

I just love this!

So much so, that I tore apart the old box spring that was in the new guest room (we went ahead and bought a new box spring to go with the new mattress because the old one we planned on using did not offer enough support and made the mattress too "bouncy")

Now, I have 80 bed springs, just like that! I should have a build-a-bed-spring-wreath party!

I'm linking up to Re-Invented's Trash to Treasure Tuesday...on a Wednesday....
Be sure to stop over there and see all the goodness that's linked up.

Happy Spring.

 

It's a Fisher Price Birthday.....

I mentioned in yesterdays post that my friend, Janice, made me open four tissue-wrapped birthday presents early. I opened one at a time to find the cutest Fisher Price toys to add to my ever-growing collection.

We decided we'll need to build shelves in my craft room/studio to house them all. They will definitely add some vintage color and FUN!!!

First up....

This little farmer and his two-wheeled tractor. His back wheels are missing, but the graphics are wonderful. I just love the old Fisher Price toys for their colorful graphics and interactive designs.

The farm animals, his plaid shirt, his denim over-alls, and the cute little straw hat, folded just so on the one side. 

 Missing wheels or not, this toy is such fun eye candy!!!

...and I can't help but be reminded of the "nut" guys Phillip and I made while in Kauai.

Next up, is Huffy Puffy the little train car.

So very cute with its wooden wheels and the engineer holding his lantern.

How about this little race car? 

It's a newer piece with plastic wheels.

But NO less adorable.

...and a close-up of the driver. I'm sure he won a few races in his day!!!

I saved the best for last....

 Do you remember having one of these as a kid?

 Can you guess what it is?

Did you guess it was a Music Box Teaching Clock?

It STILL works like a charm, too!

This is the back of it showing all the hours.

And if all that wasn't adorable enough....

One side of the clock shows each quarter-hour.

Twelve.

Three.

Six.

Nine.

Isn't that the sweetest little girl you've ever seen?

On the other side...

what else, but?

The Four Seasons.

Spring.

Summer.

Fall.

Winter.

Thank you, Janice. I didn't have any of these toys in the collection....Now I do.

'Round Here.....

A couple weekends ago, I took a bunch of pictures of things 'round, here.

It's amazing how many round things you can find when you take a closer look.

So here's a simple, random tour of round, here at our house

The beautiful Spring day - NOT! A whopping 34 degrees!!!

The 1...2...3...4...dial on the old typewriter I bought for Phillip a couple Christmases ago.

The ribbon spool. They don't make 'em like they used to.

An old egg beater gear. Thrifted this a couple of weeks ago. Not only for the patina, but also 

for the red wooden knob and handle. It matches the other red wooden utensils in my kitchen.

I finally scored a vintage Bingo game! I've been looking for one for ages. Yes, they are all over Ebay, but I can't seem to bring myself to pay 3x's the cost of the item for shipping....Or pay upwards of .25 cents each for the numbered markers. Yeah, I guess I really am cheap!!! This one my buddy, Bruce, alerted me to a few days ago. The entire game. Markers, numbers, and all the cards I will ever need. Thanks, Bruce!

A mini-chest of drawers. All of about 16" tall. Eight drawers. Purchased this a few years back for Phillip to store his pirate treasures in. Silver, gold, diamonds, rubies...Yeah, I wish...!

This is one of the side medallions.

Clock Face. This little gem was gifted to me about 6 years ago, by my high school friend and maid of honor, Ginger (who will be my neighbor soon!). Our house had a set of shelves inset in the stairwell wall and she was helping me collect little clocks to fill the shelves with.

The very heavy metal base of my vintage floor lamp. I still need to re-wire it, but I love the patina, the weight and it's milky-white glass lamp shade. I haven't decided if this is going in the guest room or the entry way.

This is the knob of the Fisher Price Happy Birthday music box I got at Sally's last year. I love Fisher Price Toys. I have a little collection of them.....

The top of an old wooden spool I found several years ago.

The rusty old wheel of a race car I found - fun to look at and display in the house.

Keys of the old typewriter.

More of the keys. (Just look at that dust!) That's vintage dust!!! LOL

A round clay plate I found, once upon a time. It has a chip, but I like chips....and salsa...Oh, that's another blog post.....AND....a round wooden game ball. The red line is the only paint left on it. It's very heavy!

A steel egg beater I picked up a couple weekends ago. It has a stamped Pat. April 14, 1863 or 1903 date on it that I can just barely read. I need a magnifying glass...This is the gear end.

This is the beater end.

Not sure if this glass orb is a float or what....It is very thick and has a flat bottom. Do glass floats have flat bottoms? If not, what do you think this was for? Decoration? There isn't any marking.

Lastly, this is my newest acquisition. A vintage scale. I spied it at an antique store here in town the Saturday before last, when Janice and I were bumming around. The store was just about to close, so I put it down and left, not having enough time to ponder it. 

Well, I pondered it all Saturday night, all day Sunday, and all day Monday. I figured it would be gone, but on my way to the grocery store after work, I noticed the store was still open. It closes at 5. It was about 1 minute after. The sign was turned to Closed, but the door was still open. I parked. Popped in. Spied it again. Slapped down a $20. and left with change. Yippee!!!!

I got home. Cleaned it up. Called Janice to tell her about my purchase. Then she chuckled and told me she was going to buy it for me for my birthday.....how sweet of her. 

So instead of gifting me the scale, she surprised me yesterday with an early-pre-birthday gift. Actually, there were FOUR - count them - FOUR gifts...AND she said she has the REAL birthday gift that she's saving to give me on my birthday....! I wanted to wait, and would have waited. I like surprises and have the patience of a mule for getting goodies. Janice, however, has a heart-of-gold and loves to gift-give NOW, NOW, NOW!!! So, I opened all four, tissue wrapped bundles...and you'll never guess what I got......

see ya tomorrow.....