My Birthday Epiphany

A couple weeks ago, I turned the big 3-9...which I will be doing for the next few years ;)

Actually, getting older doesn't bother me as much as it had in the past. It was bothering me when we were thinking about #2. I was creeping closer and closer to the end of my thirties and didn't want to be a 40-year-old new mom. I know, I know, there are tons of moms who do it and love it (including my own GYN-OB), but I know me, and I know my body. Another round of creating life was going to take it's toll, and I needed to do it sooner rather than later.

Well, our decision to grow, or in our case, not grow our family is now out of our hands. And with this knowledge, a calmness has come over me as I approach 40.

I think now that I have a child, getting older is some how okay. In my head, the natural order of things is complete as my hubby and I raise the next generation.

I remember turning 29. I. WAS. MISERABLE. I hated that I was coming into my thirties, unmarried, no children. I was already ten years into the career-thing, and wanted to move on into the next phase already! But God had other plans for me, (and so did my taste in men!).

It's funny how what we think we want is not what God knows we need.

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

DIY: Dollar Store Pin Boards

It was Christmas Eve, and I had one evening to come up with an inexpensive gift idea for six of my husband's co-workers. So I flew down to my local Dollar Tree, and this is what I came up with:  Framed Pin Boards.

The cast of characters to make as shown are:

• 4x6 Frame
• 4x6 Foam Craft Sheets
• Stretchable Fabric Book Cover
• Glass Beads
• Thumb Tacks
• Wrapping Paper
• Cardboard Box (on hand)
• Scissors (on hand)
• Glue Gun (on hand)
• Mod Podge (on hand)

The first thing I started was the push pins. I had found wrapping paper with just a simple star pattern, so I cut out each individual star in the round, then Mod Podged it to the back of the glass beads. The Mod Podge dries clear, so the stars show up magnified beautifully. Once dry, I used my glue gun to stick on the thumb tacks to the back. For the item pictured, I made three push pins for each frame.

Now I worked on the frames. First, remove the glass. Next, cut out a 4x6 piece of a cardboard box for the board to have support. Then glue three pieces of the 4x6 foam sheets around the edges to the cardboard. Use a thin ribbon of glue around the edges so the main portion of the board is free to be push-pinned easily.

I was able to get two pieces of 4x6 fabric out of the book cover. I hot glued it to the foam/cardboard on the back and stretched it taut. Basically, wrap it like a gift. Be sure the good side of the fabric is on the foam sheet side. Only glue the fabric to the cardboard backing.

Slide your push pin board into your frame, and secure the frame's backing back into place.

And there you have it: a very simple, yet elegant batch of gifts. I threw in some homemade cookies and starlight mints with a reindeer-decorated bottle of water for a fun mid-afternoon snack.

Well, until the next!

Cheers!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

–TYG

DIY: Magnetic Play Board!

Does anyone one remember these bad boys from the 80's?  I remember getting these as a gift from my aunt's wedding shower back in 1981. Rad. Anyway, the legacy lives on at Savers!

Well, today's craft is to make a metal and magnetic play-board for my son's new Peep and the Big Wide World magnets I had a friend make me from her new company, Creative Crafts RI. Step one was to cover the farm animals. Looks like MonkeyBoy's old receiving blankets are good for something after all! With spray mount, I just carefully glued the blanket to the tray, and trimmed around the back once all glued on.

Step two was to drill holes so I could tie some twine in order to hang it on the wall. The magnets are still strong enough to go through the blanket.

The third step was to create some felt play pieces to role play. I used ideas from the show, like Peep's can, Newton's apple tree, Quack's pond, Chirp's bush, Beaver Boy's dam, and Nelly's doghouse. Friction keeps the felt adhered to the receiving blanket, and the magnets are still strong enough to hold the pieces up.

Image Couresty of Dollar Tree

Fourthly, I wanted to store all these things in a tin lunchbox so we'd have a great road-trip toy and game. I couldn't find a solid color lunch box in such a short period of time, so I opted for a Santa tin from the Dollar Tree that had hinges. I forgot to take my 'before' shot, but the image above from the Dollar Tree is what was on the box originally.

 

I then whipped out my trusty felt and glue gun and went to town to cover Santa. 

Now he has a great little box to store his treasures!

This will be a Peep Birthday to remember!!!

Until the next!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

–TYG