Old School, New Cool #2

I recently began a series based on a book I found in my local thrift shop -- It's Decorating Ideas, published by Better Homes and Gardens in 1960.  I nearly passed the book by, but I was struck by the number of decorating coincidences between 1960 and the present.  So many, in fact, that I thought it would be interesting to see what old school decor has been reborn in new cool ways.

Chalkboard projects abound these days.  I love them all.  There are so many interesting, useful, and sometimes, just downright cute ways to use chalkboard paints, including mixing up your own!  If you've just recently entered the World of Blog, and haven't seen how that's done, go here, and you'll soon be painting every surface in sight, so you can write on it, erase what you wrote, and write something else.  And so on, and so on.

I've surfed around a little and have amassed a small collection of New Cool chalkboard projects (hardly a taste of all that's out there, if you go searching):

A beautifully bordered table.......

Some cleverly organized tags..........

An entire wall of kitchen kitsch.........

A colorfully categorized dresser........

An hidden benefit in the pantry......

A nursery gallery wall.........

A shades of gray wall calendar........

Jars of careful labels.........

And a personalized clockface!

And what, pray tell, was Better Homes and Gardens promoting as decor in 1960?  Here it is, old school style:

There is nothing new under the sun!  That's how it's done, whether old school or new cool!

I'm linking up:

Love,

Sass

A Little Plannable Printable For YOU!

Y'know, for the longest time, I have been pretending that the economy wasn't really affecting me, except when the time came to fill up with gas, and then I would complain like everyone else about the ever-increasing prices.  But I haven't really been paying attention to the rise in the cost of other things..........like food, for instance.   Largely, that was because I was busy eating lunch out with colleagues and enjoyng myself in other ways.  Remember, I live alone, and don't really have to concern myself with regular meal prep like I'd have to if I had a husband or kids at home.  After about six months of not really doing a serious grocery shopping, I decided that I was being foolish by not preparing more meals in a cost-effective manner, so I set out to re-stock my cupboards.  I was becoming a regular Mother Hubbard; my stocks were low; my list was long!

Now I was poor in college and poor even afterwards, since teachers in Montana are pretty underpaid.  There were times I had to short myself and my kids some of the "I wants" in the name of economy.  But I don't ever remember getting to the end of the cart, and having to advise the clerk that I needed the store to re-stock even some of the "I needs".  I found myself getting more and more concerned as the clerk rang the total higher and higher, and finally, I had to put a stop to it.  I went home without a number of items, but with a new determination to spend my dollars more wisely.  

One thing that can and will make a difference for me and for most people is to simply plan a menu, shop to fill the menu, and cook those meals at home, carrying leftovers or a sandwich for lunches during the workweek.  I love organization, but I have to admit that, although I love to cook, organizing the shopping has never made it to my priority list.  Today, I hope to change all that.   I have created a couple of printables to get the process rolling.

You can go right here and print off a lovely menu planner and coordinated shopping list.  Of course, there's room for more options than you will sometimes need, but I allowed some room for larger meals, or company meals.  A standard dinner, of course, will usually have a meat course, a vegetable or two, a salad, and a starch (bread, rice, potatoes, etc).  While dessert is listed for each day, it's hardly a daily requirement. Here's how I intend to use these forms:

• Plan a menu.
• Shop the cupboards for what I already have and won't need to buy.
• List out the missing items necessary to complete the meal.
• Shop for those items, checking them off as I add them to my cart.

As I'm writing this, I realize that the menu is really only for dinner planning, and I guess I subconsciously left out other possible meals, because I won't need to plan for them.  Dinner is the most complex meal for me, as I usually eat oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, and dinner leftovers will be ideal for my workaday lunches.  I hope this is helpful to someone else.  I know I want to implement this right away, making my meal planning more deliberate and intentional.

Good eating!

Love,

Sass

I'm linking up:

Ginger Snap Crafts

Old School? New Cool! - #1

On a recent trip through my local Good Samaritan Thrift Store, I ran across a great book, all about home decor.  Now, I always have my eye open for a good, fairly recent book that has great color or design ideas, and I really hit the jackpot that day.  Except for the fairly recent part.  The book I got was actually published a year before I was born:

It was in beautiful condition, and the illustrations seemed, well, surprisingly current.  Solomon, fount of biblical wisdom, said it best, "There is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  Indeed, this book, published 51 years ago, is full of ideas that reflect current trends.  Also, no surprise here, it was published by Better Homes and Gardens... still going strong, still on the leading edge of home fashion. 

I bought it for a song.  It was half off the marked price of $1 that day -  just fifty cents!

The book inspired me to bring you a series of interesting style coincidences.  It is simply intriguing how many of the ideas that the book presented so many years ago are out there in the World of Blog masquerading as new cool ideas, when in actuality, they are old cool ideas.  Each weekend, for a little while, I'm going to feature a photo of a great idea from someone's blog and then show the corollary idea from the book.  I think it will be fun to see where the ideas originated and how they've been reinvented. 

I'm starting here, with Roeshel of The DIY Showoff:

If you're not a follower of The DIY Showoff, get over there and sign up.  Roeshel has amazing taste and a really cool blog, full of tips, tricks, and gorgeous full room re-dos. 

On a personal note, when I started this blog, I was fumbling around a good deal trying to link up to her DIY Project Parade, and she was extremely nice and very patient with me.  I couldn't figure out how to link up to a project and I emailed her.  She must have been sitting at her computer at that very moment, because she emailed me right back, offering good advice and even extended herself for more help if I still wasn't able to figure it out.  After that, she came to visit Sassafras Salvation, signed up as a follower, and left my very first comment.  As far as I am concerned, that's way, WAY above and beyond what's necessary to support a newbie blogger, so Roeshel is head and shoulders above the crowd, as far as I am concerned.

Just recently, she shared with us her New Cool updated guest room:

The room is beautiful, elegant, restful.  She incorporated such lovely tones of soft turquoise and orange and it all works together so well.  It's yin and yang, sun and sea, fire and water.  And by the way - that lovely rug?  It's not a rug.  You have to go there and see for yourself. 

But what was BHG featuring in 1960?  Yup, that's right. Old School turquoise and orange:

Now I know it's not a great shot - it's a picture of a picture. And Roeshel's is fresh and up-to-date. But you can still see that Solomon was right.  There really is nothing new under the sun.  You really can turn Old School into New Cool.

I'm linking up at
Funky Junk Interiors
The DIY Showoff


Love,

Sass


P.S.  I have not been paid by anyone for anything I said or did with this post.  I'll let you know if that ever changes!

Ghoulies and Ghosties Printable

I've created a fun new printable, just for you - just for Halloween.  Go here, frame it up, enjoy!

Love, 

Sass

I'm linking up at

Kojo Designs
Young and Crafty
Homemaker in Heels 
My Re-Purposed Life
At the Picket Fence  
The Girl Creative 
Katherine's Corner

Yummy Gift Scarf

I wanted to show you a little scarf I made for a friend, so I'm hoping against hope that Kate won't be reading my blog for a while.  And if she does?  Well, then, Katie - I guess the jig's up!

For this project, you'll need two skeins of chunky, yummy yarn.  I bought mine at Walmart.  And a chunky crochet hook, size I/9. It's a great little project that moves right along.  I made this one in less than 90 minutes, start to finish.

Last year, I made Kate a Mobius scarf.  If you don't know what that is, go here. Essentially, it's a closed loop with a twist already in it, so there's no way to say which is the 'right' or 'wrong' side of the scarf.  Late in summer, Kate asked for something that she can fasten more closely around her neck for real warmth.  

I've explained before that I crochet pretty prolifically, but never really learned to follow a pattern, so providing instruction for this will be pretty interesting.  Stay with me.

I crocheted a chain that seemed to fill the bill.  This scarf is about 45 inches long without the fringe.  (Kate is a good deal taller than me, and that seemed like it would work.)  So crochet a 45" chain, and then two more chains to begin the first row.  Work your way back in the first row with double crochet, skipping every other link in the original chain.  Then, on row two, place each double crochet above the gap left by the skip in the previous row, so that the placement of the bars alternates as you work each additional row. Continue until you have seven or eight rows, or until the scarf is wide enough to make you happy.  

Add a little fringe.  Again, because this yarn was so heavy and soft, I only needed three strands, doubled, to make each tassel.  I am considering adding a toggle button or a big fat button, so that Kate can button up for warmth, and not have to fool with keeping it in place.

Full disclaimer:  I am the model.  MMM was the photographer.  I airbrushed the heck out of myself, because I want you to enjoy the scarf, not my wrinkles.  

I sure don't enjoy my wrinkles.  Why would you?  But the scarf is nice, isn't it?  Do you try for the occasional handmade gift?

I'm linking up at

A Glimpse Inside
Beyond the Picket Fence
Chic on a Shoestring 
The Girl Creative 
The DIY Showoff 
WhipperBerry

Love,

Sass

P.S.  I was not paid anything by anyone for anything I said or did in this post.

Halloween Hostess Gift

I was standing in the line at Dollar Tree the other day and the Wow! shammy cloth caught my eye. It was exactly the color of pumpkins.  I thought, "Hmmm - what could I do with this, for only a dollar?"  I added one to my cart and took it home.

I thought it over, and decided a little super-simplified machine embroidery would do nicely.  I cut the cloth into six equal rectangles, then used a pumpkin outline pattern to cut six pumpkin shapes.  I sketched lightly with a pen to add  jack o' lantern faces:

Then, as you can see, I started zigzagging around each with black thread on my machine.  The stitch length is set to button holing, and the stitch width was just a little more than '1'.  I just took my time, and did all six - five jack o' lanterns, and one plain pumpkin.

Then I looked at these nice six inch pumpkins and wondered what I could do with these.  Of course, I was thinking of them as small, very absorbent dishcloths, so other kitchen paraphernalia would go well.  I hit the sales and came up with a grouping.

First, a hanging hand towel.  I don't see these much anymore, but twenty years ago, I made dozens of these for Christmas gifts.  I still love them.  They are easy to make, handy to have, and they wash up beautifully.  I bought a solid orange towel, cut it in half, and crocheted a hanger onto it.  I don't have a pattern for this.  I crochet a lot, but it's freeform or it's just a repeated stitch.  I don't know how to read a crochet pattern.  That doesn't stop me from being a pretty prolific crocheter.  I added a cute pumpkin button to the hanging strap.

 

I added some additional buttons along the bottom, as well.

I added in a ghostly jug of hand soap, and a scrubby crocheted from netting.

Please excuse the blurry photography.  My light was pretty much gone, but I wanted to get this post up and running.  I think this little group of items would be a great teacher gift, hostess gift, Great Pumpkin exchange gift, etc.  It cost so little -- less than $5 altogether.

It certainly would add a cute spooky touch to anyone's kitchen.  The color of the Wow! shammy cloth got my creativity rolling!  What kinds of things set you off?

I'm linking up at

Polly Want a Crafter

Love,

Sass

P.S.  I have not been paid by anyone for anything I did, said, made, etc.  in this post.

Guess what's coming up?

I just thought I'd tease you a little with some of the projects I've been working on.  They are very much still works-in-progress, so I'm not going to let on too much.  But have a look.  Doesn't that just get your juices flowing?

In addition to these two projects, I have a number of others coming up, as well.  Stay tuned!

I'm loving it!

Love,

Sass

Quick and Classy

I love a quick project that has great results.  I am not famed for my patience.  I want it done and I want it done yesterday, with as little fuss as possible.  And I hate to re-do anything.  Wasted work?  Grrr.

So this project was perfect.  First of all, it involved my new love, ORB.  You know what I'm talking about... Oil Rubbed Bronze.  That spray paint king of all spray paint.  It's magic in a can, I swear.  You could paint your dumpster with this stuff and the local art museum would be begging to put it in their next show.  It's not cheap, but it's worth it.  So don't go painting your dumpster.  Unless you're rich or sumpthin.

I found a mirror with a frame made from that lovely plastic they called Syroco in the 70s.  it was white with gold 'accents'.  I've previously ranted about the exotic naming of nothing more than petroleum-based molding material, but I have to admit that a little ORB and Syroco make for some lovely reveals.   I just took the screws off the back to remove the mirror, spray painted the frame, waited for it to dry, and reassembled the lot.  So easy. 

And look at the results:

Now that's a wow.

What's wowed you lately?

I'm linking up at

Miss Mustard Seed
Funky Junk Interiors
Polly Want a Crafter

Making the World Cuter
Sew Chatty
Skip to My Lou
Flamingo Toes
Sew Can Do
The Girl Creative
Embellishing Life Everyday
Tip Junkie

Love,

Sass

P.S. I have not been paid by anyone for anything I said or did on this post.  

Chico Hot Springs

My family and I all went to lovely Chico Hot Springs, nestled in Paradise Valley, about 35 minutes south of Livingston, Montana, to celebrate my stepfather's 85th birthday.  Basically, it was a gift to him and to the family from my mother. I had never been to Chico before, and it was a bit unexpected, as resorts go.  I realized, at some point, that guests are expected to truly "get away from it all", and the resort is doing as little as possible to connect them to their lives at home.  While the rooms are nice, they are not plush.  There is no phone, no television, no air-conditioning (And that part, we missed most of all). 

We gathered on a Sunday afternoon on the lawn outside of our row of adjoining rooms:  my sister and her husband, my youngest brother and his wife and two daughters, and a cousin with her husband and twin boys.  Unfortunately, one brother and one sister and their families weren't able to join us.

But it was a lovely autumn afternoon, the kind where the air is strangely soft and crisp at the same time.  The sky was incredibly blue, with nary a cloud to be seen.  The grass was soft, the company great, and the hard cider was cold and delicious.

 Chico's restaurant, despite the rustic appearance, does its best to turn out 5-star food.  For example, that night we variously dined on Oysters Rockefeller, escargot, lamb, and crab cakes.  MMM, true to his Montana guy status, had a steak.

We spent the evening swimming in the hot springs.  It was so much fun to spend time with my family.  We don't get together often, and it was a real blessing to enjoy this time together. 

Here are my brother's beautiful little girls:

Happy birthday, Fred.  Here's to many more.  Thanks so much, Mom.  I love you.  We all do, and we had a great time.

Love, 

Sass

P.S. I have not been paid by anyone for anything I said in this post. Though Mom did pay for dinner and the room.  Hmmmm.......? ;-)

Pretty Girl

I have been holding this post in reserve for a little while now.  It really was almost the first thing I did, after starting Sassafras Salvation.  I made some mistakes along the way, which, of course, is the way I often learn.  And I learned some things, which I'll share with you.

I found the lamp at a local thrift shop, the Good Samaritan.  I love Good Sam and shop there regularly. Seems like I can always find something, and lots of times I find lots of somethings.  At least once, I left Good Sam with a pickup load of treasures.  Truly.  It's fun and exciting to know that I have so many cool projects in my future.

This lamp was outdated.  Out.  Dated.  Oh, my.  I'm pretty sure it didn't sell at Grandma's estate sale.  No one wanted it, and it ended up at Good Sam, one step short of the landfill.  It's the land of misfit furnishings.  It had no shade, but I could see that it had fine bones and solid structure.  In short, it had possibilities.  I think I paid $2.50 for it.

I started by unscrewing the hardware.  That's all a lamp is, usually -- a strung-together grouping of hardware held together with screw sections.  So I unscrewed the lamp and laid out the pieces in a row.  There were a lot of pieces of all sizes.  I was very careful to lay them out in order and then take pictures.  It's nice to have the pictures to show you what I did, but my primary reason was so that could later refer to the pics and would know how to re-assemble the lamp at the end of the process.  Here it is, all strung out on the kitchen floor:

After I took the pictures, I got a couple of zip lock bags and put away the tiny pieces.  It's so easy, when there are so many little pieces, to lose a couple........ and that would just undo a project almost before it got off the ground.

The next thing I did was to carefully sand all of the brass parts.  It didn't take long.  I just roughed them up a little so paint would stick.

My intent was to simply spray paint all of the lamp parts so that they would have a cohesive look.  I wanted a softer, more feminine color, because of the filigree on this lamp base.  I had a can of the Rustoleum Ultra Cover 2x  spray paint that I had used on the deck furniture project, in Strawflower.  Left over paint?  I already spent the money.  This way, I didn't have to spend more.  This project just kept getting better and better.

I sprayed it all with primer and followed with a coat of the strawflower.  It took the paint very well.  I made a pretty bad misstep in all of this, however.  I should have washed the filigree pieces.  The half that had spent two decades upside down had no problems, but the one that was cupped upward?  It was home to webby dust and it also had a coat of solid dust.  I don't know what I was thinking, but you probably know what spray paint does to dust.  It was a mess, and I had to go back and fix things up before I could re-assemble the lamp.  I was kicking myself too hard to take pictures, so there are no shots of the mistake or the subsequent correction.  Sorry about that.  But here's the base, painted and re-assembled:

I always have an eye open for a nice drum lampshade, and I found a silk one in perfect condition.  I was so tickled.  I knew it would be perfect for this lamp.  I embellished it with some felt flowers and wooden beads, and it was the perfect hat for this tall elegant lady.

 Despite the problems with dust, she sure turned out pretty!  What do you think?

I'm linking up at
Today's Creative Blog
Savvy Southern Style
Tip Junkie
Under the Table and Dreaming
Miss Mustard Seed

Love, Sass

P.S. I haven't been paid by anyone for anything I said or did in this post.  I only include references to names, brands, and colors in case you have questions.

Welcome Wreath

I wanted to create a pretty something for the front door to welcome autumn.  This idea has been brewing in the back of my mind for some time.  It's really pretty simple, but it took lots of ribbon and lots of patience.  I bought four coordinating rolls of fall ribbon at Michael's.  They're all 1.5 inches wide and wire edged.  I chose two prints and two solids.  Of those four, two are semi-transparent and two are opaque.  I thought that the mix of colors, textures, and weights would be perfect. 

In addition, I needed pony beads.  Actually, I stood in Michael's and looked at those packages of plasticky pony beads, and just thought, 'Yuck.  No class.'  I had some faceted beads at home and figured I'd just use them.  Ha!  That's what thinking will get me.  This plan had me feeding a full width of double-wired ribbon of various weights through the holes in the beads.  (Keep in in that it's at least 100 miles away for me to go to a Michael's store.  That's Montana for you.)  I was nearly done before I started.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Here's how to make this wreath.  First, wrap a foam wreath form (I think mine was 10 or 11 inches in diameter) with electrical tape.  It's wonderful, sticky, and solid black.  A perfect base.

Next, cut all four rolls of your wire-edged ribbon into four inch lengths.  Easy peasy.  Just don't use the sewing scissors.  Your mom will kill you..........right, Mom?   {Yes, I'm fifty years old, but if my mom knew I used my sewing scissors to cut wire edged ribbon, I think she'd still have my head.  For the record, I didn't.}  Choose four fall-toned colors of pony beads.  

Here's where I went wrong.  I assumed that I'd just be able to use those little faceted beads I had at home.  But the ribbon just wouldn't fit in their freakin' tiny holes.  (Huff, puff.)  So there I was, with yards and yards of beautiful ribbon cut into four. inch. pieces. and I hadn't bought the right beads because I just wasn't thinking.  Dead in the water.  I said aloud, "I should have bought those pony beads."  I must have sounded pretty pitiful, me with my bits of ribbons and no prospect for completing the project.  MMM's mom said, "Oh, there's a bunch of pony beads back there on that shelf."  What?  Just like that?  She's not rich, but she's rich in craft supplies.  And they were perfect.  Thanks, MMM's mom - you're a sweetie.  Back to the 'How-to'.

Feed a bead onto the end of each of the pieces of ribbon, and slide it down about an inch.  After you've completed the whole lot, heat up the hot glue gun.  Carefully dab a bit of glue onto the end of the one inch end of the ribbon.  Allow it to cool a tiny bit.  I am so good at burning myself, and this project had lots of opportunity for that, but I was patient and managed not to burn myself once! When it's cooled a little, slide that bead back onto the end of the ribbon, over the top of the dab of hot glue.  If you're really slow and careful, you can twist the bead, and the glue will make sort of a tiny 'cap' like the cap on an acorn. Set it aside and allow it to cool completely.  You'll have something that looks like this:

 When you have all the ribbon beaded and glued, it's time to start attaching them to the wreath form.  My first row was the darkest solid, a nice mossy green.  I started right at the highest point of the curve of the wreath and made each subsequent row closer to the internal or center diameter. 

The last row, the orange transparent organza, is actually glued on the back, and curled forward to the front.  

When I was done gluing ribbon on, I just added a beautiful autumn spike of silk flowers that I also picked up at Michael's.  Here's the finished product.  Isn't it lovely?  Sometimes, I even surprise myself.  I love it.

And by the way, I love Picnik:

And here's a nice shot of my photography assistant (He worked very hard.)  His name?  Mr. W.  I need to protect his full identity.

What's on your door, welcoming fall visitors?

Love,

Sass

I'm Linking up at

Southern Hospitality
Home Sweet Butterfly
The DIY Showoff 
All Things Thrifty
Common Ground 


P.S.  I have not been paid anything by anyone for anything I did, bought, or said.  I included references just in case you had any questions.

New Blog Design

While thinking of something to write about is never really an issue for me, since I love to chat it up, today's post is extra easy.  Look around!  While my old blog design could hardly have been 'worn out', it sure didn't reflect me in its style.  I had simply started with whatever colors and templates I could put together to get the blog rolling.  I'm learning as I go, but I don't have the graphic design skills necessary to do the complex work of creating a fully and competently designed blog.  Someday, with much instruction and practice, perhaps.  Today, just no.

I had clicked on the design info for a number of blogs and read up on the costs of getting a custom page done, and those kind of dollars are just way, waaay too much for me.  I'm the very definition of a shoestring operation.  Enter MMM.  I knew he had skills, but Mad Skillz?  Yes.  Mad Skillz.  Don't be hatin'.

He and I sat down and started finding pieces to put together that would reflect my tastes and interests.  First, for whatever reason, I have always loved cherries.  Someday, I'll share my camper with you.  It's a 1954 Rainbow - shaped like a canned ham - and while it's vintage, I've updated its decor to something more cheerily - no cherry-ly - vintage.  And I named it the Cherry Blossom Special.  It's super cute.  Since that time, I can't tell you how many friends have said, "I saw this cherry (thing) in a store and thought of you."  Sometimes, incredibly, they buy that lovely cherry item and give it to me.  How sweet that is!

Secondly, Sassafras Salvation is about making things cherry again......in the way that vintage car lovers talk about their cars.  If it's cherry, it's as good as new.  And, somehow, despite a desperate lack of real techie-type computer skill, I figured out how to do a cherry favicon (that cute little cherry you see next to the URL in the web address box at the top.

So cherries it had to be.

MMM knows his way around a computer and used photoshop to put this design together for me.  He listened and offered suggestions, and took his time, carefully making it a perfect fit for me.  Then he went one step further and designed a coordinating banner for my newly opened Etsy store.  It took several hours and lots of consideration of various ideas.  And I love deep rich color, so it evolved as we worked.... well, he worked while I, giddy with all the cuteness he produced, just enjoyed the process.

So, no pictures this time, because the post isn't about something outside the blog, it's about the blog itself.  Look around again.  Is this not the cutest blog?  

I love it.  Thanks, MMM.  You are the best!

Love ya,

Sass