Have You Seen These People?

Have I seen these people? Yes.  Everyday.  Although they certainly don't look like THAT anymore!

27 years ago today I married the love of my life. 

After going to get my hair done, I came back home and got dressed upstairs in the attic bedroom (because it was the only room in the house with A.C.!) and I remember thinking, “This is the last time I’ll be here as a single woman”.  While most of that day is a blur (except for the fact that it was 90 plus degrees and there was no air conditioning in my parents’ car – yes, no limos back then, we just drove to the church in a regular, old car) I remember telling myself to TRY to focus and TRY to remember what was going on!  

The wedding took place at The Chapel in Akron, Ohio where Matt and I met while attending the college ministry there.  I was so excited for Matt to see me walk down the aisle.  I couldn’t wait to become his wife and begin our new life as a married couple!  We all put on the ‘finishing touches’ in the “bridal room” at the church (probably just an usher’s room or something!) and the girl I paid to come and apply all of our make-up, never showed so my cousin who was a very classy gal grabbed all of her make-up and set to work on us!  Between all of us and our ‘make-up’ kits, we all ended up looking pretty decent!  Pictures were snapped and off we went to the sanctuary. 

I remember telling my dad I think I’m going to faint – he just squeezed my arm really tight, gave me a kiss and said, “Relax – it’s going to be fine – now here we go!”  I remember looking at Matt and saying the vows and thinking -- this is IT!  I have found the one I want to be with for the rest of my life (yes, I REALLY do remember thinking that!)  The next thing I remember is kissing him and turning around to face our friends and family and hearing, "It is my privilege and joy to introduce to you Mr. & Mrs. Matt Zaubi" and heading down the aisle accompanied by applause!

After a buffet reception in the church fellowship hall we set off for the night to the Quaker Oats Hotel downtown and then drove the next morning  to Vermont for our honeymoon in my parents’ car (yep, the one with no A.C.)  -- hey, times were simpler back then and honestly – we had a blast!  

Now don’t most of us look back at our wedding photos and have that “What was I thinking!!??” moment?  That’s what I do when I look at that hat with the ‘bee-keeper’ veil!  The gown still hangs in my closet (I’m quite sure neither of my daughters will want to wear it!!) and I’m thinking it’s going to make some sweet keepsakes for my daughters or maybe grandkids (gulp!) someday ‘cause I’m pretty sure it will never make another trip down the aisle of a wedding!  

You truly have NO idea what marriage is about until you've lived it with all of its 'ups and downs'.  If you're married you know that those 'warm, fuzzy gosh-I-can't-live-without-you' feelings are NOT always there.  Love IS a choice, a decision, a commitment and without the Lord at the center -- I can't imagine how you do it!  He is the "Glue" (I'm pretty sure that name is not in Scripture anywhere) and I'm grateful that he chose Matt for me!!  And with that, I leave you with a few ‘vintage’ pictures from a warm, June day in 1984 in Akron, Ohio where our journey began. . .

And finally, while we're certainly not as old as this couple . . . I want to be like them when I grow up . . . still loving my husband and life and ENJOYING each other!

Dairy Delivery Box Repurposed

Years ago our neighbors gave us this old milk delivery box that they had used at one time as a mailbox.  I had always INTENDED to do something with it but it ended up in a corner of the garage where it remained until just a few days ago when I looked at it and thought, “Now WHY haven’t I done something with that?”.  I gingerly pulled it out of the cobwebs and other assorted ‘things’ into the yard and slowly lifted to the lid.  To my amazement, there was an old milk bottle in there!  Both the bottle and the delivery box said, “Modern Dairy Elgin” on them. 

HAD to add a pic of my puppy Ava -- checkin' out the milk bottle :)

I cleaned the can out, hosed it, let it dry in the sun and then using wire brushes, began removing the rust and corrosion. First I primed it and then sprayed it with several coats of a beautiful turquoise spray paint which really made the words on the can stand out!

Okay, one more pic of Ava (I had to leave these out when I posted this for the contest for obvious reasons as everyone I know KNOWS how I love my Ava!)

I decided this would make a perfect little outdoor foot stool so I bought a yard of burlap, a piece of foam and some clear vinyl.  I wrapped the foam in the vinyl and hand-stitched it.  I did this in case the footstool gets wet, the foam won’t mildew. Using a rubber stamp, foam ‘brush’ and my acrylic paints, I stamped the flower image all over the burlap and then wrapped the foam with the burlap and hand stitched it in place.  I used E6000 glue to attach the cushion to the lid of the box.

With the left over burlap, I sewed a ‘liner’ for the inside of the milk box.  I cut two pieces for the front, two for the sides and one for the bottom.  I stitched the four panels together and then stitched that ‘tube’ to the bottom piece.  I covered a piece of cardboard with the extra vinyl and then wrapped and stitched burlap over that to serve as a ‘base’ inside the bag.  I hemmed the top edge and to secure the bag to the top edges inside the box, I used E6000 glue to attach tiny, high-powered magnets to the four corners (since it’s a metal can, the magnets stick right to it!). I’m not sure what I’ll ‘store’ inside but if I decide I DO want to put anything in there, it will stay nice and clean.

And here is the finished project WITH the chair I made over (couldn't post the pic of the two of them for the contest!)  Next step is to replace that awful storm door and paint our front door.  Baby steps.

"Old Glory" Book

I was inspired by Christy over at “From Glitter to Gumdrops” by her adorable American flag book that she made!  I picked up a large book at my local thrift store for $1.00 and decided to give it a try and put my spin on it.

I knew I wanted to prime the entire book before beginning to paint it but I wanted to retain the yellowed pages so I covered them with paper and painters tape before spraying the book white.

 

Once this was dry I used acrylic paints to add the stars and stripes.  I used painter's tape to mark everything off but didn't press it down to firmly because I didn't want clean lines.  

I wanted to give this a little more dimension so I went back with some of my rubber stamps and inks that were slightly different in color from the stripes and added some filigree designs.  

I made sure to hold paper over the edges so I didn’t stamp on the other stripes.  I used a star rubber stamp and white acrylic paint to stamp stars on the blue background.

 

Once all of this was dry, I decided to add the words to God Bless America using a black permanent marker. 

Using a rag and some of my ink pads I rubbed beige and yellow inks over the entire piece to give it an aged look.  I finished it off by making a little tag using some free clip art (just googled 'Vintage patriotic postcards') and miscellaneous ephemera.  The handle was some twill tape I had that I stamped on using the same filigree stamps I used on the flag and of course since I have a billion old keys, I had to add one of those!

I wanted to get this finished for Memorial Day but now I'll have it ready for the Fourth of July!  I like this idea so much, I'm thinking of other things to paint on old books and make wall art -- got any suggestions??  Total cost for this project was $1.00 -- I had everything except the book!

 

And the Winner is . . .

Congratulations to "Mrs. Tiff" -- your name was randomly chosen by of course, 'Randomiser' and you've won this cute little Marble Magnet Tin!  This was in honor of my reaching 100 followers . . . looks like it will soon be time for another giveaway!  Thanks to all who participated!

 

"New" & "Found" Old Treasures

We were in Mount Vernon, Iowa this weekend to see our son graduate from Cornell College.  There are some adorable antique shops there and to commemorate the occasion, I felt I needed to make some small purchases!  I found these beautiful carved, wood furniture coasters in a basket . . . they were only $1.50 each! They are three different sizes and have a perfect indentation in the middle for maybe a tea light?  

I've been looking for some pretty, vintage teaspoons to use at my Victorian tea parties.  They had boxes of these for $2.00 each so I picked out twelve.  When I went to pay, the lady insisted I take them all for $20.00 since my son was graduating.  Several of them are stamped with dates as far back as 1887.

I love old books and for $2.00 I couldn't pass up this 1901 elementary school textbook.  There were also baskets of vintage gloves so I grabbed a pair for $2.00 also to use when decorating for my teas.

My post is titled "New" and "Found" Old Treasures because we've been doing some cleaning and organizing today and my husband found this old mailbox someone had given our son (a former neighbor I think??).  My son (the one who just graduated from college!) used to keep all of his 'treasures' in it!  It is one heavy piece of metal and quite unique.  It opens on top and also has this 'front door' that opens.  Not sure what I'll do with it but I certainly couldn't get rid of it!

Finally, we came across an envelope of old family photos my cousin had sent me.  The large one is my parent's wedding photo -- mom's dress was absolutely stunning! Layers of netting, then tiny accordian-pleated stiff fabric, then satin on top of that and finally beaded lace!  I'm going to begin a family portrait wall and get these beautiful pieces framed.  For now I put a bunch of the small photos in this glass vase (I saw SOMEONE in blogland do this with an apothecary jar but for the life of me I can't find it NOW so if it's YOU -- let me know so I can give you credit for the idea!)  I may do some glass etching on the vase this week too.  

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day and I'll leave you with some photos I took this weekend in the Mount Vernon Cemetery which was completely decorated with hundreds of large and small American flags -- it was a beautiful site at sunset!