Antique Finds: Lite-Brite

Ok, I'm trying not to feel ancient, but here is yet another fabulous find I found antiquing last weekend; Another toy I played with as a child that I knew my son would just love:  Lite-Brite.

What's funny to me is that I paid $15 for this "vintage" item, but the price tag is still on the box from Ann & Hope for $10.99. The box was really beat up and, of course, not all the black transfer designs were present. However, there was an ample supply of pegs and a couple sheets of transfers that hadn't been used yet. AND the lightbulb still had some juice. Golden!

This is a wonderful activity for fine motor skills. I feel my 3-year-old MonkeyBoy could use some more work in that arena, and the mix of drawing with pegs and light just made this "school day" all the more enjoyable. Once he got the hang of pinching the little pegs and pushing them through the paper into a hole, he had the time of his life.

Each black transfer has a pretty picture created with letters that associate to colored pegs. If there's a "P", one would stick a pink peg in that hole, and so on. Even though I don't have a complete set of transfers, they are just made of black construction paper, so we can make our own designs whenever we want with a simple trip to the dollar store!

Now, MonkeyBoy can't associate the letters on the transfers with the correctly colored peg yet. However, he does know his letters and can I.D. them. What I was thinking of doing is separating all the pegs by color and have them labeled in their own containers with the first letter of their color (i.e. "R" for red, "V" for violet, etc.). This way, he could put the "R" peg into the "R" hole on the lantern, and hopefully start associating the first letter with the color, like he's grasping the first letter of his name. (Whenever he sees a word with an "N" in it, he thinks it's for his name! Too cute!)

We worked on our sail boat all morning. I love that my son can experience the wonder, awe, and joys I had myself as a child, and that we can share them together!

Until the next!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,
–TYG

Antique Finds: Lincoln Logs!

I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I found a canister of Lincoln Logs that I had as a child in an antique store for $9,  and I bought them for my son.

This is the canister I affectionately remember as a tike. I was a child of the late 70's and through the 80's. So, yes, my toys are officially considered "vintage".

Does anyone else remember that lovely, wooden smell when you opened that can? It's right up there with Crayola and Play Dough.

The first thing my son did was put the empty canister over his head and start talking. Like mother, like son! The apple didn't fall far from that tree!

Oh, those wooden slats. These are sun-worn, but I can remember those bright, aqua-green slats like it was yesterday. I had so much fun creating and recreating all the pictures on the can, and coming up with a few architectural masterpieces of my own.

Nowadays, the roofs are made of plastic, with lots of detail. But the pioneers of yore did not put gabled windows in their log cabins on the plains. Harumph.

The bottom line, the mixture of old and new worked out great. We needed a few extra longer logs to elaborate on his existing set; there always seems to be a surplus of those tiny connector logs. The parts are still completely interchangeable; they are just two different color browns. 

Still, at age three, my son is all about mommy building, and him demolishing.

Until the next!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

–TYG

Antique Finds: Vanity Tray

It's very rare these days when I can actually go to antique markets and consignment shops. But, on this rare opportunity, my three-year-old son "allowed" us to patron two antique stores.

I wanted to share this little piece I found. It's made to look like pewter, but I highly doubt it's real pewter once you see the bottom. It's a lovely vanity tray, about 6 inches wide.

Two things appealed to me: the pewter-esque look, and the ceramic/porcelain medallion with two 17th century lovers.

I'm not an expert on clothing from that time period, but those are some pretty serious collars and tights, although, the neckline is very risqué. I'm sure this is just a novelty piece brought in by the distributor and was painted by people that didn't really know the history they were depicting.

As you can see, the bottom of the tray is obviously painted with a gold finish. This is why I believe the tin tray was made to look pewter.












The marking on the back states Manufactured By Wm. Sprague Clock Co. of New York.

My initial research turned up nothing on this company, but I did happen to find this set, which is the same plate but with a companion powder/music box on WorthPoint sold at auction in 2007. I do not have a membership for that site, so I do not know what the selling price was. This site stated the set was from the 1920's.

All I can say is I paid $8 for this tray, and am extremely happy with it. I will most likely hang it on the wall in our dining room and start looking for companion porcelain/pewter trays to hang with it.

Until the next!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,
–TYG

DIY: Fabric Toy Box

This giant microwave box was just BEGGING to become something more than the mundane existence it had been living. It's a pretty strong box; thicker than your average, garden variety because of it's previous tenant. So, with the handy man's secret weapon, I reinforced it all around. Then, with glue gun in hand, I covered it with upholstery fabric, inside and out; three and seven-eighths yards of upholstery fabric I found at my local odd lots store for just $6.

The perfect sized toy box for the extra items acquired from Santa!

I know, it being cardboard, all it will take is a very active and destructive three-year-old one leap onto it to render it useless, but for the past week, it's withstood some abuse. So, we may be able to have this additional piece of "furniture" a little while yet.

Until the next!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

– TYG