A Trip to Paris….in 1918 with free printable downloads

My sister Phebe is the official (unofficially) historian of our clan.  It’s wonderful.  She’s compiled pictures, done the research even provided us all with Family History Books.

So I was intrigued when a large package arrived from her recently.  She hadn’t said anything and it wasn’t my birthday.

Inside I discovered scores of pictures and other interesting artifacts along with a note from my sister.

She explained that these were some of the belongings of grand-uncle Paul (my maternal grandmother’s oldest brother) and she thought I might find them interesting and that they might yield some fun, useful graphics.

There was a great collection of photos

I particularly like these jaunty fellows.

But what really intrigued me were the various mementos from Uncle Paul’s service in WWI.  There were letters, his passport, his military medals.

Apparently he spent some time in France during the war.  I spotted this fun graphic

And imagine my surprise when I opened it up and discovered that it was actually a very large, very cool, beautifully preserved map from Paris in 1918!

I haven’t done anything to it for that picture.  It really is that vivid still after (almost) 100 years!

I thought some of you might find good uses for a few of these so in homage to the great Graphics Fairy I’ve scanned and cleaned up a few of them.

I’m not sure what I’ll use it for but I thought this Christmas Telegram via Western Union was nice.  There are two versions – one that includes the Western Union graphic and one that’s just the holiday graphic (if you click on them they should open up in a separate window with a larger, high resolution image ready to download…..or not…..this is me and computers so nothing is guaranteed).

Here’s the outside of the map booklet

I think the text on the top of the map is pretty great so here it is:

And finally, of course, the map itself.  My scanner isn’t remotely big enough to scan the whole things so I had to do it in bits an pieces so it’s not perfect.

I hope some of these are useful.  And thanks Phebe!

The Knobs have (at Last) Arrived!

(I was going to title this “Knobs Landing” after the great 80s soap opera but thought the reference might be too obscure)

You may recall I got all excited about making my own knobs a while ago when I made this little project for Angelo HOME.

I really enjoyed making them so I started playing around and made these samples.

I had just used random knobs I had lying around (an odd reality of my life)

The response was great!  People started asking where they could buy them.  I was onto something!

So, eager to get going, I went online and ordered a bunch of knobs.

And that’s when the knob-train went off the rails.

So, in the hopes that you will all learn from my errors I offer the following tips for when you next order mass quantities of knobs online.

Tip One:  Egads!  Foreigners!

Did you know there are people who live outside of the United States!?

And were you aware that those people make stuff!?

Apparently I was not.  Because I didn’t realize, until long after I placed the order and requested standard, slow-boat, ground shipping that I was, in fact, dealing with Canadians.

CANADIANS!!!!

Now, I don’t want to say that they were being secretive about their….. Canadianness  but they weren’t exactly shouting about it either.  There was no big “made in Canada” banner.  Nowhere did they suggest that the knobs would be great in my“hoose.”   (I love Canada and have many Canadian friends but we must be honest here, you say “house” wrong.  And now I, a proud Ohioan will go outside and warsh my car.  Be right back)

OK, totally my bad.  Not their fault.

Tip Two:  You Might Want To Read Your Invoice

They emailed me my invoice right after I purchased.

Naturally, I thought:  “great.  I’ll totally ignore that!”

Unfortunately, by ignoring it I missed the note that gently proclaimed  “these items are not in stock and will be shipped when they are back in stock”

Tip Three:  If you don’t read your invoice and you don’t get a shipping notice you probably shouldn’t bank on making the product any time soon.

I made plans to display my new knob creations at two upcoming shows.  Told people who asked that the knobs were going to be available soon!

After waiting an appropriate amount of time for my order to arrive (albeit if it was coming from within the US and actually in stock) it dawned on me that I’d never gotten a shipping notice.  And that’s when I discovered the horrible truth:  CANADIANS!!!!!  OUT OF STOCK!!!!!!

OK. Still my bad.  I admit it.

So I waited.

…….for a month.

Tip Four:  Passive-Aggressive Revenge Fantasies  Will (Surprisingly)  Not  Solve the Problem

I was very happy when I got the “your knobs have arrived” email but rather than politely asking that, since I’d been waiting a month could they please upgrade my shipping I relied on the much more effective passive-aggressive-fantasy-plan.  I wouldn’t ask for speedy shipping.  No!  That would be an amateur move!  I would instead, in my mind, prepare a blistering online review wherein I would complain bitterly that they hadn’t even upgraded my shipping!!!!!!! Then they’d be sorry!

…….So, after 12 more days of traveling my knobs arrived.

And my evil  Canadian overlords gained points for two things.

1)      They love donuts!!  The knobs arrived in rather large Tim Horton’s box!!!!!  How can you be upset with people who order large amounts of donuts!?

2)      The knobs are beautiful!  Solid, lovely, well made and perfect.

I cannot wait to get started.

Things As Lovely as My Sisters III

I find it somewhat ironic (well, I think it’s ironic – maybe not……Alanis Morisette kind screwed up my understanding of that word) that I left corporate life to get out of an office and yet, I still spend a vast majority of my days sitting at a computer.

But rather than studying spreadsheets or legal documents I get to explore, design and play.   Much better!

Old Door Becomes a Display Table

My  stitches came out yesterday and though my thumb looks pretty bad it’s more functional now.

The return of opposable  thumbs is great because I’m in full-court prep for the big Patchwork Santa Ana show that happens this Sunday!

Image Transfer – It’s Easier Than I Thought

I have incredibly inconvenient creative inspiration.

I never seem to get creative brainstorms when I’m just sitting around trying to think about new things.  I get creative brainstorms at the last minute or when I’m in the midst of doing something else entirely.

Slip Sliding Away…….

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

So, I blogged about my “aren’t-I-clever-slide-out-utility-wall” feeling all accomplished and about 20 minutes after hitting “publish” this popped up in my Pinterest feed

Enviroholder Sliding Magic5 Postion Wall Organizer

Source Amazon

DID YOU ALL KNOW ABOUT THIS?!!!!

Nothing quite like feeling clever and then discovering you could buy pretty much the same thing for $20 on Amazon.

Things as Beautiful as My Sisters (FKA – Get Inspired)

It’s time for another installment of the series formerly known as Get Inspired and now known as Things As Beautiful As My Sisters.

Easy Extra Storage

Well, like everyone else I’m (grudgingly) putting my tax information together.

And I’m very happy, and somewhat relieved, to report that Cheltenham Road in its first official year of business (i.e. where that’s all I did) turned a decent profit!OK, it’s not a buy-a-yacht-and-develop-a-coke-habit profit but it’s enough to encourage me that I have made the right choice and am going in the right direction.

However, it also made it clear to me that, though I’ve worked hard this year, I need to work harder and definitely smarter.

So that’s the goal for 2013: Nap More!  Work smarter! 

First up – spend less time looking for things.  I need things right-at-hand.

As you know, I’ve carved out a nice work room for myself  but space is tight so I need to make every inch count and I noticed some prime real-estate at the end of my bookshelves.

See?  Something could go there!

Something organizy

 So, in a very simple move I cut down and painted some peg board and viola!

New, close-at-hand, hanging space for brushes, yardsticks and anything else I can think of to hang there.Easy! Simple!  Cheap!

I’ve been assured that my check from the MacArthur Foundation should arrive momentarily!

Get Inspired

As you know from reading this blog my family is creative, fun and totally supportive.

When I was home recently I talked to them a little bit about both how great it is to have this business and to write this blog .  But I also confessed that sometimes project  ideas were few and blog post inspirations were occasionally hard to come by.

My sisters, Paula (charming, vibrant and extremely youthful*)  and Phebe (smart, clever, creative and equally young and vibrant) came up with a great idea.  They would scour the net looking for fun and interesting ideas and put them on a shared Pinterest board.  Then, once a week, I could do a post called…..

…..well, we weren’t sure what to call it.

I tossed out “Sister Sunday!” but we decided that might make people think it was a nun convention.

I also contemplated “Stuff My Sisters Found Online When They Probably Should Have Been Working” but, strangely enough, that too got voted down.

Finally I settled on Get Inspired!

They’ve actually provided me with a lot of choices but I just want to show three of them this week.

This tin ceiling tile end table from One Shabby Old House looks terrific and gives me some great ideas for two little end table I have:And check out  this amazing Ikea makeover from Better After.  I have a dresser quite similar to this in my bedroom and it may get this treatment soon.And finally, in the “that’s insanely clever” category this magazine holder used as a shelf from Design Sponge!

 OK, I’m ready to attack the week with new ideas and inspirations.  Thank you Phebe and Paula!

*As are my other sister, Sally, my parents and numerous cousins.

 

Storage Wars

OK, I realize it’s Wednesday but I had to talk briefly about my weekend.  It was one of those where you get a million things done but don’t feel like you’re running around like a crazy person.  Do you have those?

This is seldom how my life goes and I wish I could figure out how to make it like this all the time.  I kept doing stuff and looking at the clock and thinking “how can it be only 2:00?  This is awesome!”

Actually, I had to get a lot done because the really terrific people that run Angelo Home ordered 50 of my candle blocks…..and they wanted new designs.  I  had a lot of fun putting all these together.  Let’s hope they like them.

But the title of this post is Storage Wars and I wanted to share my new favorite storage boxes (perhaps not the most scintillating blog post idea I’ve had but I hope it’s useful)

I’ve been on some kind of personal quest for the Perfect Storage Box for quite a while.   I needed durable, versatile boxes that could hold a lot, travel easily and use space wisely.  For years I’ve made due with a kind of hodge podge of unsatisfying boxes but I have found…..THE ONE!

They are called Really Useful Boxes and here is why I love them.

• They come in a bunch of sizes.
• They are super sturdy.
• They lock tightly, stack securely and…..

They don’t slope on the sides!!!!

When packing for a craft show I always got so annoyed with the sloping sides of other boxes.  It wastes space and,because they are wider at the top than at the bottom, I’m forced to layer different things together in each box so I’m always digging through boxes looking for things.Also, with my small Honda Fit where packing space is at a premium these guys fit neatly next to each other – once again no wasted space.

As an added bonus I like things that pull double duty.   So, since they boxes lock together pretty snugly when stacked, once I’ve emptied them of their contents they work beautifully as the riser supports on a craft show table.Plus the company recycles and the boxes are recyclable.

I confess I went a little berserk and bought, like, a million of them in different sizes.

I will now always be completely together, organized and calm!

I found the best selection at Office Depot (they have buy two get one free sales on them) but they are available all over the place or via the web site.

No, I am not being compensated for this praise-singing.  Just wanted to share a useful product.