A good ribbon is hard to find

Last weekend while browsing on Etsy, I noticed their featured seller was Rachel Rose who dyes silk shirts in a very organic, etheral way. I was quite inspired by this very blouse and wanted to try to dye my own.
However, I didn't want to spend any large amount of money on a silk shirt (only to not have my experiment work out) and tried to find some silk ribbon to try to dye first. I went to a couple of craft stores in the area (Hobby Lobby, Joann's, etc.) and they either didn't carry silk ribbon or didn't have what I was looking for. I went online to see if I could find some and I finally did, but it took a lot of searching.
Do you ever have this problem? What are some of the craft items that you would love to have but just cannot find them stocked in stores?

Anyway, it is Friday and time to celebrate! Here is today's image. Have a great weekend!

Vintage Free Font- Alphabet

One of my favorite websites for free fonts is www.dafont.com. But here is one that I had in an old book to share.

Oh Scissors! Where Have You Been All My Life?

I saw these scissors on another craft blog and I thought to myself, "Why haven't I seen these before?" I love my pricey super sharp fabric only scissors but I have noticed that they are tougher to cut through thicker fabrics. And after awhile my hands ache. Well problem no more! You can adjust the tension on these to make it so much easier to cut! I definitely will be adding these to my wish list for the upcoming holidays.

Anyway, here are today's images- silhouettes of children hard at work. Speaking of work, I have a lot to do today, so I think it's time to get started!

Free Vintage Victorian Advertisement- Pretty Parrots

Again, not quite sure about the message Arm and Hammer is trying to send but these parrots sure are pretty!

Free Vintage Alphabet- Little Folks

Here are a couple of pages with an alphabet illustration. So cute!

Free Clip Art for Crafting- Fly Away

I received this image off a very old Victorian scrapbook. I love children's illustrations!

Free Vintage Victorian Advertisement- Dental Care

Such a pretty winter scene. But I'm not sure what snow covered trees have to do with dental care.

Vintage Photograph- When Pets Dress Up

I received a 1920's set of books entitled "Boys and Girls Bookshelf" yesterday in the mail. I spent last night looking through them and admiring the great illustrations. When I came upon these photos in one of the books, I just had to share them with you. Turns out we've been dressing up our pets for a long time!
I did a quick search on Amazon to see if there were any other old books about this topic and although I didn't come up with any literature, I did have a giggle over the fact that the pet Snuggie got higher ratings than the human Snuggie.

Vintage Victorian Scrap- Naughty Kitty

Naughty kitty! He only wanted to play!

Free Vintage Victorian Trade Card- Bird and Boose

What a strange moment in time to capture. Nothing like seeing a discarded booze bottle floating by in a pretty tropical environment.

Vintage Clip Art- Displaying a Little Passive Aggressiveness

Well this is one way to keep the creeps away.

Vintage Advertisements- Hosiery

I seem to be on an advertising kick this week. Here is an ad from 1923 for hosiery.

Vintage Advertisements- Mystery Cake

This image was taken from an old advertisement for a baking contest. My favorite cake is the white one with the sprinkles in the batter. What cake is your favorite?

Vintage Advertisement- Who wears short shorts?

I just love strange old advertisements! This one is to get rid of unwanted hair. By the description, it sounds like a product similar to Nair.

Vintage Clip Art- Bees

This weekend I somehow convinced the boyfriend that we should clean the entire house. It was quite a chore but now it looks fabulous. Oh why does a clean house make me so happy?!
Here is a vintage image of the queen bee and her worker bees.


Kind of an appropriate image, I think. (My boyfriend would probably disagree, so don't say anything okay?)

Vintage 1914 Charles Williams Department Store Catalog

Oh my gosh! I just spotted this wonderful 1914 catalog at Green Paper's blog. It is from the Charles Williams Department store located in New York and is over 150 pages! There are over 3 dozen pages in color and is only $18 to download. Click here to visit Green Paper Packages to purchase the catalog.

Victorian Die Cuts- Pansy

Here is another Victorian die cut of a pretty pansy. Have a great weekend everyone! -Sarah

Vintage Victorian Scrap- Artist van Dyck

This is a portrait of the artist Anthony van Dyck. He painted some awfully pretty portraits of some important people of his time. You can read more about van Dyck on wikipedia here.

Vintage Clip Art- Seashells

Yesterday evening we had a huge dust storm. I took these photos with my iphone as it was coming in.
And of course my bf had to go outside to "experience it." I'm pretty sure guys never fully grow up.I can only imagine that this is a tiny amount of what the people experienced during the dust bowl. Anyway, we don't have a beach close by but now we have plenty of sand. I thought these shell images would go perfectly with today's sand/dirt theme.

Vintage Clip Art- Muscles

For my US readers, I hope everyone had a great 4th holiday. I apologize for not posting an image yesterday. I was feeling quite under the weather the whole weekend. However, I am feeling better today so here is today's image. -Sarah

My 5 Favorite Crafting Products

I know a lot of you out there are crafters- like me! So here is my list of my current 5 must have crafting tools.

1. Gingher Scissors

These are the sharpest scissors I have found for cutting fabric. In fact, to keep the scissors as sharp as possible, I have a pair just for fabric, and another just for paper. (Paper can dull the scissors quick. You won't notice however until you cut paper for awhile and then want to switch to fabric.)

2. Rotary Cutter

I know that I wouldn't be able to cut straight lines nearly as fast without the rotary cutter. Perfect for scrapbooking or cutting quilt blocks.

3. E-6000

The strongest glue I have found other than using a 2 part proxy glue. It doesn't take long to set and is easy to work with.

4. Self Healing Cutting Mat

Any surface can be turned into a cutting/creative surface with the cutting mat. I often like to craft on the floor in the living room and large size cutting mat makes it possible. Any small pieces of fabric or paper can just be taken to the trash and swept right off of the mat.

5. Synthropol

Are you a quilter? Or want to dye your own fabric? This chemical is perfect if you don't want any left over dyes to leech onto other fabrics in your wash. It attaches itself to the dye particle so that the dye cannot be affixed to another fabric. I also love this for when I wash my vintage clothing, when I don't know if the dyes will bleed.

What are some of your favorite products?

Vintage Advertisements- Good Manners

Where have all the good manners gone? Sometimes I feel we have lost that as a society. I love when people say "thank you" and "your welcome." I love when people hold the door open for me so I in turn do the same. I am tired of women wearing too short shorts and showing off their cleavage and looking cheap. I love watching "19 Kids and Counting" and seeing the kids all very respectful and willing to help out and learn.
Does this make me old at the ripe old age of 32? What do you think? -Sarah