FOUND - whimsical art, vintage treasures, fun finds!

Busy May

Registration begins tonight for the workshops that Lynn Whipple and John Whipple are doing this summer.  We expect them to fill up quickly.  We are SUPER excited to have them coming - read the previous post for information - registration is through the FOUND website.

I've spent some time away from the shop lately, trying to get a little sunshine, some  inspiration and planning for the coming year. For me, getting in the car and driving  clears my head and helps me plan, so on Mother's day I headed to Illinois to plant flowers with my mom.  The color green in springtime has the most amazing variety of shades.  So fresh...the perfect setting for hatching fresh ideas.

 
 
Stopped in Chicago and went to the Matisse exhibit at The Art Institute with Laura.  We also spent some time wandering through the new modern wing, then over the connecting walkway to Millenium Park.  It's great to have a daughter in my favorite city! 

This was the back of my van when I returned earlier this month.  It took some elbow grease and time getting these things and stuff from the basement prepped and in to the shop last week.

 

Those are shutters with heart-shaped cutouts and a "as found" wicker doll carriage.  I think it would be cute overflowing with flowers.   The blue metal lawn chair is a good heavy vintage one.  I picked up two of them. 

I have 11 boxes of old bottles and tins, some of which made their way in to the shop last week.  All sizes and shapes.  When I opened a small Evening in Paris bottle, the scent immediately took me back to when I was 6 years old and my mom was getting dressed up to go out with Dad... 

Old product names amuse me.  The Dogzoff bottle has a comical illustration.  I like the simple typography on this old unopened can of Ant Food.  

We added more buttons to the stash at the shop last week.

 

Last night I returned from another trip to Chicago - this time for the Seniors Honors Gala at DePaul for my favorite daughter.  It's good to take some time off and celebrate life's accomplishments. 

No buying on this trip.  Laura and I packed lots of city fun into 36 hours!   But I did hit an interesting estate sale before I left Ann Arbor Saturday morning.  Photos of that later....

Regards,

Mary

(Win a Bunny) Hoppin' down the bunny trail...

I've spent the last couple days at Mom's house.  We've been finding some fun things for FOUND in the shops around the area where I grew up.  Meanwhile, back at the shop, our displays have decorator bunnies and nests and eggs mixed in with the vintage and handmade finds. 

Where I "came from" and what happens at FOUND seem to be intertwined.  In my head at this moment, I can hear Mom playing the organ "Here comes Peter Cottontail..." and kid voices singing, "hoppin' down the bunny trail...hippity...hoppity...Easter's on it's way". 

Lots of songs of my childhood find their way through the grey matter of my brain.  As I write, I can picture me with my sisters  in our straight with a roll of curl at the bottom hairdos and our Easter Sunday hats with the stretchy elastic strings to hold them on... "in your Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it..", we felt like "...the grandest lady in the Easter parade".  on the avenue...5th Avenue...the photographers will snap us.....  and a la, de da, de da, de da... sometimes I forget all the words. 

My dad was a la dee da kind of singer and sometime he wore a yellow jacket.  When I was looking through catalogs to order some bunnies for FOUND, I was immediatelydrawn to this bunny in the yellow jacket.  The company names their bunnies.  I looked at the reference sheet to order him.  This one was named Harold.  My dad's name was Harold!  He wore a yellow jacket.  And Mom signs all her cards to us with bunnies... I smile with a tear in my eye as I write this, remembering what a nice, fun guy dad was.  Fortunate that my childhood was filled with happy times and a dad who sang even though he didn't know the words (and kinda off key).

If you have songs of the past in your head, post a comment below.  I'll randomly select one name to win the bunny with the musical cone pictured above. (Comments of just a couple words are fine... if you can't see the comment section, click on the little blue "comments" tab under my name below.  I select a winner at random on Tuesday 3/30)

Here's to lookin' over a four leaf clover...

Mary

Halloween treats

This year Halloween is on a Saturday and there will be activities in the Farmer's Market and Trick-or-Treating in the shops.  We'll also have a free little Halloween give-away for anybody who comes in on Saturday.

 Some customers got to reminiscing at the shop today about store bought vs home-made halloween costumes.  One guy remembered putting oil on his face as a kid and rubbing coffee grounds over it for the stubble of an old man...

My mom loved halloween.  She'd dress up and go to the door with a bowl of (spaghetti) guts or (onion) eyeballs or fill a rubber glove and make kids shake her hand before they got their candy.  Believe it or not, kids loved coming to our house.  Her friend Dot's house was the probably the best trick-or-treat place in town - they gave out hot dogs!

At my house on Saturday night, I'll have a big bowl of Reeses and Kit-Kats for all the neighborhood kids.   And a pot of homemade chili to welcome my hubby back from a month in San Francisco.

Happy Halloween!

Mary

 

FOUND Blog Contest #4

Erin Stead - you are the winner of our week #3 Blog Contest!  Stop by to pick up your prize - the globe bank or a selection of 6 Ann Arbor notecards.

Here are the details for the last of our September Blog contests:  Simply write a comment about any doll, paper doll, mannequin or stuffed animal that you've known and loved.   Click on the little comment button at the bottom of this post to add your comment and you'll be in the running.  Next Tuesday after midnight, the winner's name will be selected from all who have entered.  The prize will be a $25 FOUND gift certificate AND a little surprise pack of found things.

Here's an odd assortment of dolls that I have in the shop right now.  I rescued this first little antique  dolly from an estate sale on the weekend.  Despite all the damage, she still looks sweet to me.

Do you remember when there were paper dolls in magazines to cut out? 

I'm not sure what to think of this strange little handmade guy with the purple yarn hair.  He seems vintage - I'm wondering if this was a pattern and there are more of him out there somewhere.

My favorite doll was a red-head Patty Play Pal doll that I got for Christmas when I was in third grade.  Actually, the hair was sorta orange and she was life-sized.  I took her to school and the teacher thought she was a real kid.  I liked that teacher, Mrs. Donze,  a lot...  

My extended family has a mannequin named Josephine. She's been part of the family for almost 20 years and has been to a few family weddings and sometimes travels, but mostly stays at the lake house.  She always dresses for the season and looks pretty good for her age.  I'll post some family photos with Josephine another time.

Our librarian had Steiff puppets that "read" stories to us - a bear and a monkey.  The public library in our little town was a Carnegie Library and story time was in front of a big fireplace in a room with high ceilings and huge tables.  Monkey and Bear lived on the fireplace mantel when it wasn't storytime.

Those are my doll memories - tell about yours in the comment tab below  to be entered in the final Septemberblog  contest.

Regards!

Mary

Red Pyrex Memories

To enter the Week #3 Blog Contest, scroll to the next post and click on comments tab at bottom.

Often finding something for the shop triggers  memories.  Take these red Pyrex dishes for example.   I remember eating on plates like these when I was a little girl.  It was in the days when we ate in the kitchen at a table Dad made from a door.  It was attached to the wall at one end and had a metal pipe holding it up at the other end.  The whole thing was covered in formica with chrome edging.  He also made a bench with a red vinyl cushion that three or four little kids could fit on. The high chair for the baby and regular chairs were on the other sides.  As we got older and the family grew, we moved to the dining room... by then the red dishes were just a memory. 

Now I'm thinking about Dad and how he could make something from "nothing", like that really retro table and bench.  He also built a slide for our treehouse from an abandoned side of a giant freezer.  It was the best backyard slide in the neighborhood.  We'd take some waxed paper out of the kitchen and rub it up and down the slide to make it slicker and faster.  I also remember taking waxed paper to the giant slide at the school park.  You had to go up about 30 steps on the high ladder before whizzing down that slide - they removed the slide and the merry-go-round years ago when someone deemed all the fun playground equipment too dangerous for kids.  We'd swing and slide and laugh to our hearts' content, then go home to eat peanut butter sandwiches and apples. On red Pyrex plates, of course!  With a big glass of milk and homemade cake.  Ahhh...

Mary

missing contest....and a wonderful party

If you're looking for the FOUND Blog Contest, Week #1 ....to enter or to see if you are the winner... I have a confession.

I accidentally deleted the comments on Sunday night.  Then while I was trying to fix it, I must have done something that deleted the whole darn post.  The Helpdesk at Typepad is trying to recover it, but since 22 of you entered before that incident and I don't have your names to draw a winner from, please put another quick comment on this post so I have some names to draw from. ..

Here's what I was doing  before I deleted the comments.   We were at the yellow lake house where our family gathers.   We joined hands and remembered the past, celebrated the present and looked forward to many more such occassions.  This place is very special in my heart.  We have a lot of fun here.

My brother John has 3 young children who don't remember the days of big Benedict parties at the lakehouse, when it was typical to have 100+ at the lake several times each summer.  In recent years, we tend to be scattered and visit a different times.  So John set a date and ordered a  hog to roast.  

 

Mom was very happy with the way things turned out.  She loves it when her kids come home - three generations + family friends laughed and talked and played games.

  

This is my sister Ann throwing a beanbag.  I was showing her my blog comments after the party when I deleted that contest ... It's not her fault.  She's awesome. 

Here's her awesome daughter waiting her turn to throw the beanbag back.

And here's my awesome daugher Laura. 

 

There were about 80 people having a great time. 

I won't take up more space here with all my other photos - but I'm always struck by the continuity of life in this family.  Seems like yesterday that my (now 24 year old) son was the little one in the front of the canoe.  And about 50 years ago, I was jumping off a raft with my cousins...

 

Anyone who posts below be entered to win the week #1 contest.  I will delay announcing the winner to let those of you whose comments were lost to let me know by posting again.  sorry for the inconvenience. 

Hope you enjoyed this look at what I love even more than my little shop....

Regards!

Mary

Vintage pyro-glazed glasses

 

Drinking out of a colorful vintage glass takes me back to a simpler time.  My favorite has big red flowers with green leaves.  Fill it with an ice cold beverage on a cold day and I'm chillin'.

During the 1930's through the 1950's informal glasses were made in a wide variety of styles and patterns for summertime entertaining.  Most of the sets were made in the USA by companies such as Anchor Hocking and Hazel Atlas.  The color was "pyro-glazed" over the glass.  Although this was a heavy duty firing process (also used to put bright logos on pop bottles), I recommend hand washing as they tend to fade with repeated dishwasher cleaning.

Some of the glasses were give-aways as promotional items, but the nicer ones were sold in sets like that pictured above.   They are harder to find like this, but are great to collect and use.

Little pyro-glazed juice glasses called "swanky swigs" originally held cheese spreads or jellies.  Once the product was consumed the lid was thrown away and you had a great little glass.   Today vintage swanky swigs sell for $2-$10 at antique shops.   My kids drank out of  swanky swigs with little toy animals on them at both of their Grandmother's homes - perhaps the same ones my husband and I drank from 40 plus years ago.  And I have a few tucked away in my cupboard for when anyone young at heart wants a memories along with their OJ.

Cheers!

Mary