Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Monday, January 26, 2015

Smoke Break


Don't bother Mommy right now. Make yourself useful and mix Mommy up a cosmopolitan!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Hang On!


PB's Birthday planning and prepping months are under way!
See the outcome in March!
Until then enjoy some vintage fun images and feel free to caption them!

Monday, January 12, 2015

Game Night!

 We love collecting and playing vintage board games!  Here are a few we have gotten over the last few months, including some we got for christmas.  I have used images from the internet of the games because it so time consuming to take proper photos and these get the idea across enough.
First up we got the Colombo detective game (1973) for christmas.  We all love Colombo, PB included!  PB even got a tan rain/trench coat and bubble gum cigars for Christmas

 We already had a Cootie game (1949) and it is the same make as this one.  But I found it for only a dollar at an amazing estate sale and could not pass it up! Now we can have 8 players!

I also picked up this 1967 Spirograph kit for one dollar at the same estate sale.


We have not yet played this Finance game (1958).  It seems to be like Monopoly though.


Clue 1949

Clue 1963
Clue is on of my favorites. We have The Simpsons version but happened to find these two within a week of each other.

Careers!  1956
12 pages of instructions but once you get it, it is a super fun game! 
You choose different career paths such as going to the moon and mining uranium!

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Let's Go Fly A Kite!




Hubbs got me this awesome vintage 1964 Mary Poppins 45!
I had a very Disney/Mary Poppins/ Dick Van Dyke christmas this year!

I got the documentary "The Boys" about the Sherman Brothers, the geniuses behind all the wonderful Disney music.  I got the movie Saving Mr. Banks.  I got The Dick Van Dyke Show on DVD.  I also got some Disney park collectibles from the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I also got Pee Wee's Playhouse seasons 1&2 on DVD. Not Disney, but if you play the six degrees of separation it works! Paul Reubens to Tim Burton to Disney!

More giftables coming up!

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Narwhal Friend


For the past 5 years I have always handmade PB at least one gift for christmas. He really looks forward to it and it has become something special between us. As I preparing for this post I was going to put links to past gifts.  Then I realized that I have never really posted them.  Odd....So, I have decided to play catch up!

This year I made him something near and dear to his heart:


He asked for this Narwhal shirt as part of his new school clothes this year.  He would wear it every day if he could.

So for his special gift this year I made him his own narwhal!
The fabrics I choose are special too.  The main grey striped fabric is from one of PB's favorite t-shirts he outgrew a few years ago.  If you look you will see all the fabric dingleberries on it from being worn and washed so many times.  The black and white fabric I used for the 'horn' and belly are from another of his outgrown t-shirts as well.  We tend to be sentimental over most of his shirts and save them for reuse (as seen here).  

Because I am a thrifty gal I looked all over the nets for a free narwhal pattern to no avail.  But!  I did find a free and cute pattern of a whale at Wear the Ducky Tie.  I just made a 'horn' up myself and added it.

DIY Guitar picks


For PB's 9th christmas handmade gift I made him custom guitar picks with his band logo on them.  That year he got a guitar for christmas. Him and his step dad have been 'band members' together of a few outfits over the years.  This design is for their band "The Skreaming Skulls".  I found an image of the logo PB had drawn for the band and made the picks out of shrinky dink material.

To get everything the right size I just enlarged to about 250%.

T shirt blanket

For PB's 8th christmas handmade gift I made "this is the one.. the one I will be remembered for" as said in Ed Wood by Johnny Depp about Plan 9 from Outer Space. I made a duvet cover/sleeping sack blanket from fleece.  
The top of it features a bunch of PB's favorite and outgrown skateboard shirts.  I cut out the designs and then used several different thread colors and stitch patterns to make rough edged borders which I then sewed down randomishly.

When PB first open this gift he did not like it and it really hurt my feelings.  But strangely enough this blanket has become a big deal to him.  He calls it the Double Slunk which is kinda like a snuggie for two.  Last summer we all made cheesy "Ronco" inspired commercials for fun and his featured his blanket..."The Double Slunk saved my marriage!". He and I snuggle inside it together on the couch and he always brings it on trips.

It is my Plan 9....

Suitcase Play Set

For PB's 7th christmas handmade gift I made him something else for his GI Joe mans.  I saw the idea on the nets but it was for dinosaurs.  It starts as a regular old suitcase that you remove the interior lining.  
Before
A couple of the mans (with a back pack!) were working on some push ups beforehand.


After
Then I transformed the suitcase into a take along wilderness play set! It is constructed from spray insulation foam painted with green spray paint! After it all dried I used a metal scrapper to flatten some of the areas.  I then added foliage, moss and rocks. I made a collapsible tent from the bottoms of PB's out grown camo pants turned shorts, seen on the left.  For food I found some of those cute mini Japanese erasers.  If you look closely in his lap is a little tin dish of tamago and soy sauce.  The little tin plates are empty jelly samples from Cracker Barrel.

Everything packs up inside and can be taken on the go!

My favorite item I made for the playset was this little camp fire.  It is a few twigs and moss hot glued to a cheap battery operated tea light but it really looks magical when lit.

GI Joe Back Pack



For PB's 6th handmade christmas gift I made him several backpacks for his GI Joe man dolls.  They had gear they needed to carry on their adventures!  I made them from tiny pockets that I cut off a pair of pants.  I did post about this one here: stuff from stuff

Sk8 Shop

This was the first handmade christmas gift I made for PB when he was 5 years old.  He was really into Tech Decks and skateboards at the time.  I bought a plain white tin container at a craft store, unevenly spritzed it with black spray paint, and then printed out older styled (like ones I had on my first car!) skate stickers to apply all over it.  I then filled it with little containers with magnetic backs to hold all the little screws, nuts, and wheels needed for fixing and changing out the boards.  I also used an inexpensive little photo album to make a 'Sk8 Shop inventory'.  He had a slug of these boards so I took photos of them and put them in the book to help him keep up with them.
That year I also made him a skateboard with his own face on it!  I bought the board for just a couple of bucks,a generic tech deck, but a perfect size.  I took it apart and put a printed out photo sticker of him on the bottom.

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

New Year's Cheers and Jeers


I am glad to be on this side of the holidays now.  I have gotten to where I dislike Christmas... yes, I said it.  You all may be only thinking it but I am going to be the bold one and put it out there. Let me clarify a wee bit. The cons have started to outweigh the pros.  I love Christmas as it pertains to my house and the members inside it.  It's all the other expectations and requirements beyond our property line that I have it in for.  I guess I am a Scrooge and one day it will probably come back and bite me on my green grinchy butt.  I think the biggest issue I have with Christmas is the guilt involved.  I always feel I didn't get/do/make/bring/contribute/buy/steal enough or the right things.  And it's not because I really haven't, it's just that Christmas expectation crap.  I am even now feeling guilty for saying all of this.....
Blah!  I think I am going to go polish off those christmas themed oreo cookies I bought on clearance last week to self medicate.

Anyway, I am glad to be on the other side of the holidays and moving forward.  That being said PB said he wants the christmas decorations to stay up for the rest of the month and I am not in the mood to take them down.  This is the same kid that when he was 2 requested his Creature from the Black Lagoon Christmas tree stay up for 6 months and yes it did.  
I also have several gifts (handmade and/or vintage) to showcase in upcoming posts.

And! As mentioned in my 'About Me" section in the far right hand corner, PB birthday party planning/prepping months are here!  I generally post lovely vintage images with minimal wordage and love when readers comment with their own "Caption This" contributions.

Here's one for you!

"Betty, no one wants to hear you karaoke Beastie Boy's 'Fight For Your Right To Party' every 15 minutes!  Save it for midnight!" 

Your turn!