Collecting: Holland Chocolate molds

I received a really wonderful birthday gift from my sister- and brother-in-law a few weeks ago that I wanted to share with you. My sister-in-law, Melonie, has a small collection of beautiful antique chocolate molds hanging in her kitchen. The collection was started by her husband Jean's adoptive mother, a woman whose style Melonie greatly admires. I've always loved the chocolate molds too, and always make a point to look at them when I visit Melonie's house.

This year, Melonie and Jean gave me a fabulous gift--my very own chocolate mold! I couldn't be more thrilled, and can't wait to hang it on my wall. It's difficult to tell scale from this photograph, but the mold is about 13" x 6", which seems to be on the small-to-medium side for such molds. It's made of some type of heavy metal.

Melonie tells me that they are called Holland chocolate molds, which is misleading because they're not actually Dutch. I love the combination of the shiny and worn parts of the metal, and the repeating wells of the mold give the whole thing a very graphic quality. They're industrial meets vintage cool. I've only come across one or two of these in my antiquing travels, and never in my thrifting (but I'm not giving up hope!).

Here are some other examples from eBay, found by searching either "Holland chocolate mold" or "antique chocolate mold". I can't post the photos because eBay disabled right-click copying, but you can click on the links to see them.

• Awesome squirrel and acorn chocolate mold
• Sunrise Betke coin mold
• Oval shaped leaf chocolate mold
• Neat small Lion-shaped mold

Shipping for most of these gets expensive, since the molds are quite heavy for their size. I'm definitely going to keep looking at local antique malls because I feel a collection coming on. Since you've got to have three for a collection, I've got at least two more to buy!

Stitches for Porter

Maren's not the only one who's had excitement lately. On Friday night, Porter had to get stitches for the first time.

Apologies for rotten photo quality. These were taken at about 10:30 pm when we got home from the Urgent Care and I was EXHAUSTED.

I say for the first time, because I'm fairly certain this will not be a one-time occurrence. In fact, I wish I could say that I was shocked that he has to have stitches at such a young age (he'll be two in September), but I'm not!

And anyone who knows him? They're not shocked either. Child is part monkey, I'm sure of it.

As to how the injury occurred, I'm not entirely certain because I was standing with my back to him at the time. I do know that it involved a riding toy, a high rate of speed, and the bottom-most stair. He put his sharp little teeth into the inside of upper lip and made a nice deep gash that required three sutures. He took it like a champ--he did have to be held down by me and a burly male nurse, and giving him the anesthetic shot was not pretty but he held fairly still when the doc put in the sutures. In fact, they said they'd had a teenage boy in the night before that needed stitches who acted like a bigger baby than my two-year-old. What can I say--I've got tough little kiddos! They got that from their dad.

His lip swelled up mightily the next morning and he looked like Larry the Duck for about 48 hours, but it looks much better now. The stitches will dissolve and thankfully won't leave a visible scar. We probably won't be so lucky next time. Because there will be a next time.

I wondered how Porter would adjust with his beloved big Sissie in school all day long. Monday went just fine, but it all hit the fan yesterday morning when I tried to take him to the nursery at the rec center so I could exercise. I managed to make it 18 minutes through a 20-minute elliptical hill climb program when they called me over the loudspeaker to come get him, as he hadn't stopped screaming since I dropped him off. Usually Maren is there with him and although they didn't necessarily play together, having her there must have been a huge comfort to him. I hope he gets over this soon, because I need to get back on the exercise wagon after ice cream two-a-days and taking the whole summer off. Fall and its accompanying skinny jeans are on their way!

A Banner Day for Maren

 It's a pretty awesome day to be a 6-year-old when you not only start First Grade,

(with your new Mystery Machine lunchbox, no less)

but also learn to ride your two-wheeler that evening!

A big day like that earned an outing to the frozen yogurt shop to celebrate. I celebrated too--isn't the day you send your kids back to school the best day of the year for moms? I will admit--I simultaneously cried and cheered when I dropped off Maren yesterday morning at the school. I had my teary moment in the classroom, but didn't bawl all the way home like I suspected I might. The day without her actually went pretty quickly--Porter naps for the last three hours, leaving us only 3.5 hours before that to get anything done, which really went a lot faster that I expected.

I LOVE summer, but I'm glad for the change, glad for the routine again. It's still in the 90s here and as much as I moaned this spring about wishing for the hot weather to finally arrive--I'm ready for it to depart! I'd be perfectly happy with 85 degree temps and warm summer evenings, but 93 degrees makes for an awfully sweaty walk to and from the school. All of our vacations are over (we were gone 3 times in 4 weeks), and I'm looking forward to being home and getting some projects done, especially now that I have my precious 2-3 hours per day to myself while Porter naps.

Are your kids back to school yet? Did you cry? Cheer? Both?

Repurposing beaded earrings

While we were in Washington D.C. I stopped into a big Forever 21 store, which was conveniently located across the street from the Crumbs cupcake shop we visited FOUR times in THREE days. Most of the time I get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of STUFF in that store and have to just get out of there FAST, but this time I stopped to look at the earrings. I found this 4" long dangly pair made up of pretty purple fire-polished iridescent glass beads. I showed them to the Mister, who probably internally raised his eyebrows at their length, but bless his heart, he didn't say a word. I told him that I wasn't going to wear them--I had other plans for them!

As soon as I got home, I got to work with my needle-nose pliers and some ring blanks I had purchased a while ago. The ring blanks have a series of little loops on the top to which you attach beads on headpins.

Which is precisely what these earrings were made of! It was incredibly easy to remove the beads from the large jump rings on the earrings and thread them through the loops on the ring blank. Somebody had already done all the hard work of threading the beads on the headpins, cutting and looping them.

After just a few minute I was left with two stripped earrings (with jump rings and french wires that I'll repurpose another time) and four cute, sparkly beaded rings, all for $6 and about 20 minutes of my time. I'm feeling rather clever!

Weekend junk finds: vintage Christmas and PINK goodness!

The Mister had to work this past weekend so I scheduled a babysitter so that I could squeeze in some junking before we left town again. Maren begged to go with me, and against my better judgment I acquiesced and let her come too. I truly enjoy her company, but estate sale shopping in an old and extremely crowded house and then a craft fair in the HOT sun is probably not most 6-year-olds' idea of a good time, and you can imagine the whining that ensued. I'd love to cultivate in her an interest in old things and the art of treasure hunting, but perhaps I'll stick to yard sales and thrift stores with her for the time being.

That being said, I did still find some treasures in our travels.

The contents of this box were from the doozy of an estate sale we attended. It was very conveniently located on the way to our chief destination, and since it was Saturday morning everything was 50% off. This estate sale company prices things very fairly to begin with, so at 50% off you can find really great, cheaper-than-the-thrift store deals! The 2-quart Ball jar was $1.50, for example. It had the original zinc lid but it was completely corroded through and had to be tossed. I also found four old yardsticks for my stash. (that reminds me--I made a yardstick project! I need to photograph and post that one when I get back home next week.)

After the estate sale, we headed over to our main destination, the Summer Horseshoe Market. I attended the Spring Market back in May and loved it so much that I couldn't wait to go back! This time there were even more vendors and wonderful things to look at. Because the market is held in a parking lot, it was HOT--too hot for my 6-year-old shopping partner, which prompted lots of complaints and asking when we were going to go home. We cooled down in the misting tent (smart addition to the market!) and ate a gourmet ice cream sandwich, but we just couldn't stay as long as I would have otherwise.

I did find a few things to bring home:

The popcorn sacks will be perfect for Porter's upcoming vintage circus-themed birthday party, and the keys will go in my jewelry-making box. But this was the item that stole my heart:

I spotted this vintage pink Therm-a-Jug in the Pink Attic Cat booth, which just so happened to be the first one we entered as it's right at the Market entrance. I had birthday money burning a hole in my pocket but didn't want to spend it all five steps into the Market, so I decided to wait and if it was still available on our way out, I'd buy it. Well, we all know the Cardinal Rule of Junk Shopping: Buy It When You See It! I just knew that I'd be SO disappointed if I saw someone walking around with MY pink jug, so we headed back to Pink Attic Cat and to my relief, it was still there! It's in beautiful condition and it even works. Even though I only made one 'big' purchase at the market, I couldn't be more pleased with my treasure!

Did you do any junking over the weekend?

The Art of Wayne Thiebaud

On our first morning in Washington D.C., The Mister had to attend graduation practice so I was on my own. I headed down the Mall to the National Gallery; my first stop was the East Wing, which houses the modern and contemporary art collection. It was so relaxing to walk in the cool, quiet building (I was literally dripping with sweat by the time I reached the museum because of the heat/humidity) and take in the beauty and creativity displayed all around me.

One of my very favorite pieces was this:

Wayne Thiebaud, Cakes, 1963

by an artist I'd somehow never heard of in all of my Humanities and Art History classes: Wayne Thiebaud.

In the basement gift shop of the museum there is a wonderful children's section, full of books and kits and all kinds of wonderful things, but one little board book in particular caught my eye:

Counting with Wayne Thiebaud

I recognized it as being by the same artist who painted the cakes and was immediately charmed by the ice cream clowns on the cover. The other paintings inside are equally wonderful, and I was hooked! Over in the adult section of the gift shop, I found this wall calendar,

Wayne Thiebaud 2012 Calendar

and I'm looking forward to seeing his art in my kitchen every day next year.

The woman at the cash register noticed my purchases and mentioned that there are a few other Thiebaud works hanging a few blocks away at the National Portrait Gallery. Later that afternoon we visited the International Spy Museum, which just happens to be across the street from the National Portrait Gallery, so we had to take the time to stop in so I could see more Thiebaud.

Wayne Thiebaud, Jackpot Machine, 1962

When I came home, I immediately reserved all available books about Thiebaud, and I'm anxiously awaiting them so I can learn more about this artist and his works! Here are a few more of his paintings:

Wayne Thiebaud, Eight Lipsticks, 1964

Wayne Thiebaud, Pies Pies Pies, 1961

Wayne Thiebaud, 1971

Wayne Thiebaud, Yellow Dress, 1974

Wayne Thiebaud, Big Suckers, 1971

The subjects of his paintings and the colors just make me happy! I got an Amazon gift card for my birthday last week and I'm seriously considering buying the big thick coffee table-type book all about Thiebaud's works. His iconic paintings were done mostly in the 1960s and 70s, but he's still alive and painting beautiful landscapes today. I look forward to learning more about Wayne Thiebaud.

My first trip to the Goodwill Outlet

The other day I had my first trip to the Goodwill Outlet. It's been open for quite a while now and it's not very far away--in fact, it's just a few minutes away from a few other thrifts I visit occasionally. It's on the other side of the freeway, so I've always forgotten that it's there or worried that it would be hard to manage when I have the kids with me, which is 90% of the time.

Yesterday we were close by and the kids were in a good mood, so I decided to stop and have a look around, expecting to just pop in, get the lay of the land, and then leave. We ended up staying for quite a while and I actually managed to find some treasures!

For the uninitiated, this is how it works: there are a number of large, wheeled bins lined up on the floor. The bins are shallow, more like tables, and they are heaped high with STUFF. (you can see a photo to give you an idea over at Apron Thrift Girl). There is no rhyme or reason to what is in each bin, except for books and fabric items (clothing/linens are grouped together), which have their own bins. You dig through and if you find anything to buy, your items are weighed and priced by the pound. Every so often, workers come out and take the bins to the back and bring new ones out.

The fascinating thing was that there are people who literally camp out there ALL DAY, sitting on the various pieces of furniture they have for sale. When I walked in, I saw groups of carts scattered all over the store, covered with sheets and couldn't figure out what they were for. I soon realized that they were peoples' 'claims'. When the workers came out to remove the bins and bring the new ones, these people lined up all along the sides and once all the bins were in place, they were given the go-ahead and all hell broke loose as they started tossing through the bins. There wasn't room for their carts next to them, so they all had laundry baskets and trash cans and plastic bins that they threw their finds into, which they then transferred to their sheet-covered shopping carts. Then at the end of the day, they push their carts onto the scales and settle up.

I saw a few people that appeared to be grabbing brass and copper and anything they could sell for scrap. I'm not sure what the others were looking for, but I'm guessing that what they bought was intended for resale in some venue. At first it seemed sort of, well, undignified, the way people were looting through the bins. But the more I think about it, it seems like if you are a picker, it's the easy way to go--the stuff is brought out to you, you don't have to go anywhere to look for it! Heck, they even have a vending machine in the store, so I imagine that this routine goes on in all of the other Goodwill Outlets as well.

Lucky for me, it didn't appear that anyone else was looking for vintage or antique items! Here is my loot:

A vintage strawberry tablecloth and some vintage Christmas. I took the green and gold tinsel off an ugly blow mold candle, and miraculously the ornaments and the tree topper somehow escaped being smashed to smithereens in the bins.

A cool old crate that once held 25 lbs. of prunes. (insert poop joke here)

An awesome vintage old lady purse that's encrusted with seashells. I can't decide whether to keep or sell, but I'm leaning toward keep because the kitsch factor is so high! It has a cute floral lining and it's in really great shape.

A vintage Little Lu-Lu punch board game. I've never seen one before and I don't know what I'll do with it, but the graphics are cool. I'm guessing this is the kind of thing you might have found at a bar? There are hundreds of tiny foil-covered holes and you would have paid a nickel to punch into one and see if there was a colored ticket with the correct numbers to win you some money. Only a few of the holes have been punched, but whatever tool was used to punch/pull out the tickets is missing. I might have to research this one some more. The board itself is an inch thick, so it's nice and heavy.

I also found a big piece of fake greenery for my tiki party decor, but it didn't make it into the photos. The last thing I found was this Thomas the Tank Engine Playhut, which retails on Amazon for $39.95! I was really surprised that this didn't get grabbed in the initial rush, especially since I spotted another large Thomas toy in somebody's "claim" basket. Porter is crazy for Thomas, and this is a great outside toy for the summer.

For all of my loot I paid just over $9.00! I listed the strawberry tablecloth on Etsy yesterday afternoon and it sold immediately, covering my costs so the rest of it was basically FREE! I'll definitely be going back to the Outlet in the future--it definitely satisfied my need to hunt for treasure. However, next time, I'll either bring gloves or handi-wipes because I felt all kinds of grimy when I got out of there.

Have you ever been to the Goodwill Outlet? Have any tips for the next time I go?

Washington DC wrap up

What a fabulous weekend trip we had! I missed my kids but I'm not gonna lie--going without them was SO MUCH FUN! Our hotel was on Pennsylvania Avenue, just a few blocks down from the White House and right in the center of the National Mall so our location couldn't have been better. In fact, nothing about the weekend could have been better except the darn weather! Remind me to start planning our vacations to humid places in the fall or winter, mmmkay? I'm tired of looking like a hot mess (literally!) in all of my vacation photos. And after one day spent in 100+ temps with matching humidity, I have all the sympathy in the world for you poor folks who have been enduring that nonsense for weeks on end now.

During our weekend there was:

...learning about sneaky stuff at the International Spy Museum

...eating our body weight in Crumbs cupcakes (seriously. we were there FOUR times in three days.)

...ogling the Ruby Slippers, the ultimate pair of RED SHOES (on our 1997 trip, they were out with a traveling exhibit so I didn't get to see them, much to my disappointment)

...hanging out with Mr. Lincoln

...catching a cool(er) breeze on the hill at the Washington Monument

...discovering a new favorite artist at the National Gallery (more on him later)

...attending a graduation (The Mister really enjoyed wearing his uniform & wool beret in the 100+ heat index)

...remembering that I love this country, despite the shenanigans that were taking place down the road at the Capitol

...and generally enjoying our freedom from strollers, nap times, diaper changing, whining, and early bedtimes, in a city with FREEDOM in its very roots.

I will be eternally grateful to my parents for taking such good care of my children and for sacrificing their time & resources to allow us to take this opportunity for a weekend away to celebrate!

Headed to D.C.

We've officially hit the busy part of our summer, as evidenced by the long break between blog posts! We spent last weekend in Southern Colorado enjoying small-town pleasures with my family. I have photos to share, but I honestly haven't had the time to even download them from my camera yet! We came home last Sunday evening and went directly into clean-up/packing mode for our next adventure.

In just a few minutes, The Mister and I leave for Washington D.C. to spend a long weekend celebrating his graduation from his Master's Degree program. It will be the first time since Maren was born 6.5 years ago that we've spent more than one night away from our kids! My incredible parents have flown here to Denver from SLC to take care of the kids.

we're staying right across the street from the White House!

Yesterday morning I was thinking how much I would miss the kids. However, Porter took it upon himself to make the separation a bit easier, bless his little heart. He dumped a brand-new bottle of baby shampoo all over the bathroom floor, attempted to "water" one of my succulents with the remains of Maren's orange juice, squeezed out a tube of Carmex and smeared it who-knows-where, and puked all over himself, the cart, and the floor in the middle of the grocery store. And that was all before 11:00 a.m.! By bedtime, he was on his 4th set of clothes for the day.

I'm excited to visit D.C. The last time I was there was 14 years ago with some college roommates, and we only had about a day and a half to spend so we didn't get to see much. I will admit that I have no small amount of trepidation about the heat/humidity that we're going to be facing--the forecasted temperature for Friday is 99 degrees, and that's before you factor in the humidity! Here in Denver we've had 13 straight days of 90+ temps, but as we like to say here in the West--it's a dry heat. And really, it makes all the difference in the world. Let's just say that I've packed about 7 outfits for a 4-day trip because I'm anticipating having to come back to the hotel to shower & change each afternoon.

Be back next week with lots of photos to share!

Yard sale dresser makeover

Back in May, I purchased this dresser for $25 at a neighborhood yard sale:

I liked it for the legs, the size, and the cute little scalloped bit on the back. I'd been looking for a taller piece to replace this old dresser

which I still like, but it was just much too small for the vaulted ceilings in my front room.

I painted the new (old) dresser with some Behr paint I had leftover from another project; I believe the color name is River's Edge.

Isn't that the most lovely aqua? I did this project right on the heels of the Epic Chair FAIL, and thankfully the paint job went much smoother this time! I still think painting furniture with a brush and a roller is a pain and I still ended up with some roller and brush marks, but on the whole I was happy with the results.

I had hoped to find some fun knobs at Hobby Lobby when they had them 50% off but couldn't find anything I liked. I happened to have the perfect number of antique glass knobs in my stash--I picked them up a few months ago at an antique store because they were a steal and I figured I'd find a use for them sooner or later. If I ever find knobs I like better they'll be easy to switch.

To add some interest to the pretty but plain dresser front, I ordered some custom vinyl numbers in matte black from my friend Amy at Words and Wisdom Vinyl. I love how they look! The font was just what I had in mind. Now I'm wondering if I need something on that top drawer--I didn't order a number for it because it's only half the size of the other drawers, and I wanted big bold numbers. I'm thinking perhaps a faux keyhole might be a fun little touch--I need to see if I can get just a tiny scrap of vinyl from Amy and I bet I can cut a little teeny keyhole shape freehand.

I'm very pleased with how the whole dresser turned out and how it looks in the room! It adds a fun pop of color against the red walls. The only thing left to do is to hang that mirror on the wall--right now it's just leaning on top of the dresser, and it's hiding that cute scalloped detail that I loved so much. The mirror is an antique and it's HEAVY so I've put it off because I can't do it myself and always seem to forget when The Mister is home.

Right now I have a beachy, seashell theme for the decor in my front room. On one side of the dresser I have a jar filled with shells, a piece of coral, a gorgeous vintage rhinestone starfish brooch, and an antique postcard of a beach scene.

The silver trophies aren't exactly beachy, but I love them anyway! I added a starfish on one and my very favorite card of antique buttons that says "Mermaid Pearls" is tucked in the mirror frame.

On the ottoman I have a thrift store silver tray topped with an old book, a thrifted conch shell, a live succulent in a Target-clearance mercury glass votive holder, and an estate sale aqua bowl filled with tiny shells. Hundreds of tiny shells that Porter positively delights in dumping on my floor at least once a week. Oh well, at least they look pretty while I'm cleaning them up!

A Berry Good Summer so far

Today is July 15--the midpoint of summer, right? Last year at this time, Maren had already been back to school for almost two weeks, but this year her school has moved back to a traditional schedule so she gets a 'real' summer vacation. We have a little more than a month left until she starts back in the third week of August, but I'm starting to feel a bit panicked that our summer days are numbered and I need to start scheduling in all of the fun things we had planned to do before the summer passes us by. Next week we're spending a long weekend with family in southern Colorado, where we're going to enjoy some small-town fun and I can hardly wait!

Another thing I wanted to do before the summer passes by is get some fun strawberry-themed items listed in my Etsy shop! I got them listed yesterday and wanted to give you a heads up because I think they're fun!

wide strawberry craft ribbon

vintage strawberry applique patches

I LOVE this embroidered ribbon!

vintage unused Hallmark paper tablecloth

embroidered strawberry trim

vintage-style Strawberry Shortcake fabric

Strawberry Shortcake Berry pillow panels

Strawberry Shortcake pillow panels (sold)

The Strawberry Shortcake figural panel just sold, but the other items are still available. If you want more strawberry goodness, head over to The Farm Chicks blog, where it's Strawberry Week. You can also check out One Charming Party, where this week they've featured the most adorable Strawberry Party!

And now I think I might have to go have a snack of some of the lovely sweet strawberries in my refrigerator.