In Awe Wednesday: Rainbow Ribbon

(ed) typewriter!

This1938 writing relic has been modified to type in pigment. The strokes make blended paintings!

read all about it.

Things I Throw Myself In To Thursday: High Station(ary)

When I first came to Brooklyn, I was already coveting high-ball glasses, Japanese tea sets and square collared dresses, but I had no idea of the wealth of yesteryear that awaited me across that two tiered bridge I'd so readily call home. My blatant pursuit to keep things modern with a 'tinge of vintage' has been well served here on this side of the river. 

My first year here, that first boy-of-my-dreams did me one good. He gave me a handmade card, something I've long discarded for the sentimental karma it was vibing on me, and he gave me this, blank and pure as the mind that designed it:

"I wanted to give you two, because I bought that one and then I thought maybe you'd want to keep it fresh for your card box*.... so I made you another one."

*card-box was something my mother had kept from me my entire life, withholding but also indoctrinating me with this phrase, 'When you are a grown up you can have your own card box. This is mine'. My first order of business upon arriving at Pratt was to pierce my lip but then I immediately grabbed a shoe box and carefully placed the six 99 cent cards I'd selected at the Bodega on Hall Street in its tissue lined void.

I chided the boy at the time, reassuring him that I would have loved him to scrawl upon its blank space, time will always tell. I now appreciate that I didn't have to burn it in a Pantas Hall dorm room trash can on Myrtle Ave. along with an oversized sweatshirt, a matchbook full of concert passes, and volumes of sketches he'd made for a tattoo I luckily never got. OK but that's neither here nor there, let's return to the thing. Afterall, the play's the thing. This single card incited a riot of emotion in me, and thus began my vintage collection of paper love.

Over the last decade I have gleefully thumbed through boxes at estate sales, in  friend's basements, vintage shops on the Bowery and dusty tombs of warehouses to expand this collection of paper. Here are the first few I grabbed off the top. I was going to show you my entire collection. I have roughly 50 cards that I have deemed worthy to enter my stores, but we'll save them for later, and in the meantime,
GADZOOKS!

When it comes to this collection I prefer for things to be whackjob weird. I love this bit copyright 1970 1950 featuring a magical mixer man and his bong water stew. Haha, seriously though, WTF? I love that this is a nod to the acid parties 27 Nadine surely huffed blow at two decades later.

Initially I only collected cards that had been preserved and never actually bestowed upon anyone. Now I relish cards that were given on special days. I thrill at cards that simply ready 'to: mother' or 'your favorite brother, Paul' I think they bring good-good karma into my little Court Street Penthouse.

One such card, totally enjoyable to me is this, which reads,

'Dear LuAnna, I hope you like the dress if you you dont and it dont fit you can give it to Bettie that is if it is to small or some thing love Gramma'

I love the stories that you can imagine coming with them sixty years ago. I have always wanted to see that dress. Was it awful? Beautifully handmade? Did Bettie get it or would LuAnna rather die than see her younger raven-haired half sister don its folds? sigh.

I own my own stamp company and I am lucky to have clients with infinite amounts of talent that they use to design their own brilliant cards. The intricate things they manage to make floor me and my childlike sensibilities. Oddly the thing that impresses me about my vintage collection is how simple it is. Like most in the box, this entire card is just one cotton mesh piece of paper. Somehow and some how it's managed in fairly great condition since 1952.

This card is of course my favorite. It's this style that best inspires me as it's totally Mary Blair and what more could you want in an object you own?

I sometimes marvel at the production budgets for these babies. As a licensing artist I'm hard pressed to find clients that actually want to die-cut a simple paper card. This one is so much better for it! However that talk could just be the face in the center of this flower luring me in. If faced with this little flower girl at your local Woolworths how could you resist?

Sweet.

Sitting smack on top of my vintage *card box were a sampling of the collection of 'Cards to be Given at the Coming of Age 12' Apparently there is no greater thing that can happen to you in 1955. Turning twelve is a catalyst.

There are even more of these 'Now you are 12' cards to come. They almost universally picture a cute blonde boy in some way administering to a lovely little girl at the threshold of womanhood. They make me think maybe we're not all growing up so fast after all. ;)

This one really hurt my heart and I thought it would be nice to end today's
show and tell with a somber nod to sympathy.

NOT. <-- I know that the decade of Wayne and Garth is over but I refuse to let it go...
This draw-a-tear painting is a BIRTHDAY card!

Having been working to find a foot hold with American Greetings for the last four years and being told on one occasion that they love my work but that it's just 'too cheery' I have to thank goodness that the person in charge of their Occasions department in 1962 isn't running it today.

So that's the first dip into the *cardbox. What did your mother have that you coveted. What do you have now because of it? Or, can you remember the reason why the year you turned 12 was so HUGE?! Or any other wisdom you wish to impart on me. xoxo
Happy Thursday.

Idearin'

The BestThing to Happen to Me Today!

(so far)

Although, perhaps this is the greatest thing to have happened to me all week, contending with the hour long nap I took in Madison Square Park during my lunch break, Giving Death Cab's Ben Gibbard directions, or watching this movie with some of my favorite people.
Published by Procter and Gamble ~ 1959
While walking through the streets of Brooklyn at 5:02 AM this morn - I looked at my watch - I happened upon one crazy stoop sale. After leafing around for a bit, my hand landed on a small spiral bound volume.

Now, here at She Sure is Sketchy we do our best to control our excitement. The problem is that our excitement is just so big sometimes.... As I pulled the book out of the box, I exhaled the only thing I could think to say,

"Fern was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result she now has a pig…It just shows what can happen if a person gets out of bed promptly."

As a kid (up through high school) my parents read aloud to us nightly. These classic snippets are ingrained deep in my subconscious. They pop up at the oddest times.
I'm a helping queen this morning. Here I'm helping out non-sketch blog followers and google!
Recipes upon this sacred page of awesome in which a girl and a cat think about a dougnut.
1. Clover Leaf Rolls 2. Fan Tan Rolls 3. Miss C's Easy Bread (again, awkward) 4. Sally Lunn 5. Cake Doughnuts

I was up all night drawing dogs. Seeing my light on, a friend texted this to me: "Amber, come safe my from myself." I donned a jacket at 3AM and clip clopped into the chilly Spring (yes!) air, concerned that my buddy (who worked in publishing as an editor prior to her maternity leave in May) had really lost it. Safe my from myself?! Sorry Nessa, it seems you've temporarily dropped that wordsmith ball. We carefully walked her baby, who'd wake and start screaming at the slightest deviation in stroller speed, along the streets of Brooklyn in to the wee hours. It was actually so much fun.

If being seen walking with a jogging stroller at dawn isn't trying to rid the world of injustice I don't pretend to know what is. As a result I now have a book that doesn't only fit into my vintage collection of cook books, but also highlights the use of Crisco! It's like finding an ad focusing on the health benefits of smoking! SCORE.

Yum. Tuna Chip Casserole. Heh. Heh.
1.Chop Suey ( don't cook this) 2. Tuna Chip Casserole 3. Veal Kabobs 4. Fish in the Skillet
Also, this book tells you how to cook Veal like it's going out of style. Awkward.

Ahem. Why don't I own an axe cookie cutter?
1. Cherry Pie 2. Berry Pie 3. Rhubarb Pie
Or a set of house twins that bring me pie?

As someone that lives and dies for a good pun I am so so excited by this find.
1. Dessert Pancakes 2. Fluffy Hard Sauce (what?) 3. Golden Sauce 4. Old Fashioned Sauce 5. Orange Sauce

Here's one of the best pages in this book. Golden Crispy Fries
It not only gives helpful tips to prevent scarring your kiddo's faces with boiling oil, making you a better mom than Betty Draper, but it gives you three, count them three, techniques for frying potatoes! Then it tells you how to strain and save your used Crisco for future cooking adventures!

Yay for Saturday!

Anyway, that's the best thing that happened to me today, so far. Since it's 7:45 in the AM I've feeling pretty AOK about the prospects of this blissful day. Let's start with a nap, shall we?

Here On the Street Where I Live

but not those things.

On Thursday I ran out the door on my way to work. I passed a gorgeous rimmed taxi cab. Then I passed an impeccably well kept powder blue station wagon. On the corner there were two more vintage cabs. Next I passed a red finned sexmobile convertible that audibly screamed 1959... Hmmm...

I wish I could have recorded this moment on my face. It was a wait. a. minute. face. It was an 'Elmer Fudd just realizes that the sexy cocktail waitress is in fact Bugs Bunny' face. I am thankful I live in a neighborhood where nothing seems amiss until you hit the fifth flawless vintage car.

See that little purple building on the right at the very edge of this photo? That's the boutique I live above. It's next to the old school magazine candy shop and beside the spa and bakery next door.


It's a charmed life.

Further investigation resulted in this find:

Oh i see. I see how it is.

It wasn't long until the faux subway stops started catching my eye. This is a real stop where I normally catch the R train in to Manhattan. If you were over the age of 40 you are lined up on this side of the stop wondering loudly where you can CATCH THE 'R' NOW?!
"IS THIS NOT BROOKLYN? AM I IN QUEENS?"

It has become clear to me that they are going to lie, the way films about aliens sometimes do, and call my beloved Brooklyn - Queens. Ick.

As if anything in Queens could ever be this lovely.


This is a lie too. That train station is 100% fake. They built it from scratch. Oh how I wish I could catch a train on Court. Sigh.

My favorite part of this whole ordeal was spotting the smaller details all along the streets. Where new age hipster bikes usually lounge, beautiful 50 pound Schwinns lined the walk. Newspapers with 1958 stamped on the front page were stacked on my corner. Street signs were swapped. It was like a dream. I blinked and suddenly everything just went vintage -- a skill I've practiced with little success for the last ten years.

This photo was snapped after I got back to my bedroom. I was laughing in a delicate flower kind of way with a dreamily dressed boy when finally discovered and eventually removed from set around three in the morning. I thought I was perfectly camouflaged in my yellow bell skirt and vintage pearls.

Apparently the "true extras" in this scene were scanty and were also all men. My take on that goes like this:
'BRING ME A PICNIC TABLE AND LET'S FIDDLE DEE DEE THIS ISH!'
As if 50 years ago women weren't interested in eating pizza and watching drag races?
*puts on best Alicia Silverstone face*

Anyway, the view from my bedroom was pretty great.
I would have posted about this bit of Hollywood Glamour sooner but I was busy writing to the mayor, Macys and God in triplicate to ask that the Thanksgiving Day Parade now start on this particular corner in BK town.

To give you an idea of the scope of this thing, here's a photo a friend sent me from a different bedroom window in Downtown Brooklyn, a 15 minute walk from the penthouse at 302 Court:


And here's a photo I found while reading the ahem, New York Times this morning. It is my understanding that they have a better camera than I do ;)

photo credit: Ben Russel

Long ago, during a unfortunate Toby McGuire crush, I realized that maybe I wouldn't LOVE living in the 60s. My week long stint walking home amongst some of the prettier things whilst not being judged for my persimmon pout, makes me realize that no, I was wrong. I was basically made for Pleasantville.

After hearing me rave about it for the last four days, the boy decided to try my walk-the-walk. Tonight he arrived on my doorstep with a raw chicken in a pot and his momma's recipe for Rosemary Roast Hen in his back pocket . He handed both over, pulled a newspaper from the crook of his arm and demanded I remove my shoes. OH SNAP! I'm sorry. Do not ever try to trump me. I'm from Hawaii and barefoot in the kitchen is kinda my thing.

When and where would you most like to live? I'm not going to cross Pemberly off the list, but you know, in the meantime...

Quick and Dirty - With an Olive

The Mood is Right! The Spirit's Up!

Sundays are for Coveting

Here are some things I desperately wish I had by artists and collectors who have their pulse on the power of the pin up.

Centerfold Mobile

by Salty and Sweet

Party Dress
by Tara Starlet. This canary plaid makes me want to throw on some pumps and and sit by my rotary phone.

Flirty Everyday Housewife Apron

by the ever wonderful Momomadeit,
specializing in classic aprons for classy girls. If I had this apron I'd be happier. I'd also be barefoot and let's face it, probably pregnant.

Vintage Gold Safilo Cat-Eye Eyeglasses

by Vintage50sEyewear
These are magic glasses when you put them on you get to ignore change. I want them.
I'll wear them to work and to the roller derby. It will rock so hard.

The Desi Dress

by missbracheThis is the best way to sit while waiting for the postman.

Midnight Premiere

by itsthelittlethingsut

Nothing says 'come hither' like a pair of

Circus b'zerkus handmade platform pumps

by zerkahloostrah
Yeah, that's right. HANDMADE pumps.
Mind = blown

Boyfriend Sheer Buttonup Top

by Lamixx

Girl with Toy Plane

by She Hit Pause Studios
What are you coveting these days?
listening to right this second: "Narcolepsy" -- Ben Folds