Old & Rustic Beer Mug

For some of our projects we look around in the house for objects that we can transform, redecorate and update.  That’s the case of this rustic mug that looks very much like a beer one and that I thought I would try to enhance a little bit.   This is the result: 

I have collected some coasters from various Pubs of Great Britain and one in particular was the perfect choice for this project.

 

The coaster had a different image on each side, so I decided to use both.

For a final touch, I painted by hand (also in a rustic way) a small branch with leaves in some parts of the border of the images.

Glasgow’s Old Advertisements

We found in the Flea Market at Tynemouth RailwayStation a very small V.P. Street directory of the city of Glasgow in Scotland, containing some old but cute advertisements that I share with you today:

Hope you like these advertisements.   Enjoy yourself working on your projects.

Thank you very much for visiting and have a wonderful weekend,

Erika

Antique Chopping Board Transfer

We recently bought a small and cute wooden chopping board at a local dollar store and I thought the perfect way to decorate it was with the method of image transfer.  As a chopping board is a kitchen/restaurant utensil, I chose the antique graphics in the same related theme and here it is the finished project:

The graphics are from one my favorite books of Dover Publications about “Old Advertisement Cuts” which I love very much.

I simulated a stripped awning of a French café by painting it with acrylic paints in red and white colors; and transferred the “Beurres & Fromages” (Butter and Chesse) vintage sign on top.

The transfer was done very easy in 24 hours with the wonderful Mod Podge.

1951 Fashion Drawings

As this week’s project is related to sewing and patterns, I thought it would be appropriate to post some fashion plates.  These are two beautiful and elegant fashion drawings from a 1951 Spanish magazine. 

Hope you like them and use them in your projects.

Thank you very much for visiting and have a wonderful weekend,

Erika

Vintage Sewing Kit

You know when you were a child, your parents would share something funny about you with friends and relatives?  Well, in my case it was about how I used to bend the needles in the sewing class at the primary school.  I must admit nothing much has changed since then as I still have poor sewing skills and definitely I still bend the needles, hehehe!  But finally it does not stop me from having my sewing kit always ready.  I decoupaged a nice box for my sewing materials with a 1950's look on the lid.  Here it is:

The ladies belong to different old sewing patterns of the 50's.  This decoupage project was made following the more traditional procedure we use in the workshop.  To read the standard step by step, please click Here.

I added also an image of an old sewing machine, a mannequin bust, buttons and other embellisments.  

Retro Greeting card from Romania

One of my uncles studied in Romania back in the late 1970´s and he used to send beautiful greeting cards to my grandparents every year and I would like to share today one of my favorite ones:

It’s beautiful right?  I think it would go nice to use it as a story book cover.

Thank you very much for visiting and have a wonderful weekend,

Erika

Old Stamps & Envelopes

I recently found in one box at home some old envelopes and letters that belong to my granny.  The envelopes have old panamanian postage stamps that I thought it would be nice to share with you today.

 

These stamps would go well as ephemeras in vintage projects.

Thank you very much for visiting and have a wonderful day,

Erika

Vintage-Style Recycled Tin Can

At home we have a pile of used tin cans of milk powder and nutritional supplements that we do not use anymore but that I want to recycle them so I won’t throw them out.  Also I was in need of a container to store the cotton balls I use to clean my face and then I thought it was a good opportunity to use one of them.  Here it is the finished project:

For this project I went with a vibrant mustard color combined with raw sienna and a touch of gray.

I used the three colors at the same time, to create an uneven background.

 

The images are two black and white portraits of vintage ladies to which I have cut the background scene leaving only the silhouettes.  

 

To decorate the background I used stencils and vintage stamps.

 

The inside of the box was painted in white and the lid in black. 

Retro Cream of Wheat Advertisement

This nice advertisement of cream of wheat is from a Spanish magazine of the 1950´s.   The top image says “they will love it” and the bottom image says “you will be amazed at the strength and extra energy it gives”.

These graphics could be used in kitchen related projects. 

Thank you very much for visiting and have a wonderful day,

Erika

1800´s Colombian Newspaper Cover

Last month I posted some graphics from an Old Phone Directory that I found at a National library.  That day I also found a copy of an 1838 Colombian newspaper with a nice header graphic and texts in the cover that I would like to share today:

 

The name of the newspaper is “The National Flag” and the issue is from Sunday, October 14, 1838, Bogotá, Colombia.   

Here there is a close up of the main graphic, and also some the texts:

 

These graphics would go well in projects using image transfer methods to create a text background. 

Thank you very much for visiting and have a wonderful day,

Erika

For Coca Cola Lovers

I am a Coca Cola lover, for me it goes awesome with meals, with pop corn, with a piece of cake, and many other things, but my favorite combination of all times is a can of coke and a bar of snickers while watching TV, ahhh it’s perfect, is it not?.  My choice is always Coca Cola and if for some reason it is not available, then as second choice I drink any other of the flavors of Coca Cola Company.

I know few other people who love coca cola like me, and my friend Marcia is one of them.  One day she asked me to make a box for her inspired in coca cola.  I gladly did it and here it is:

A Vintage Coca Cola box decorated with old and retro advertisements.

With a photo editing software I placed the coca cola advertisement images on top of an old photo template I had, simulating the old Polaroid films for that vintage/retro look I was searching for.

I also used some old cameras and ephemeras to complement the design. 

I decided to paint the background black, so the images would stand out.