The 2015 Tea Towel Calendar Contest Is Here!

Last weekend I was sifting through some old envelopes to find one I could reuse and I came upon a small, white Tyvek one with a piece of paper inside. That piece of paper was a receipt from my very first Spoonflower order, dated November 11, 2010.

Included in the order was a swatch of the first tea towel calendar I ever designed, which was also my first entry into a Spoonflower Fabric-of-the-Week contest (and it ultimately placed second, which became fuel for the fire…). Finding this little bit of nostalgia was quite timely, since this week kicks off the voting for the 2015 Tea Towel Calendar design contest! And here is my entry this year:

This time around I decided to dig into my collection of vintage ephemera: playing cards, labels, seals, stars, milk caps, stamps, envelopes, seed packets, flash cards, dictionary clippings, playing pieces, price tags, receipts, and more! I combined them with some retro Dymo labels and homemade washi tape to create 12 monthly collages. They hang across a chalkboard with hand-drawn chalk illustrations, each tag attached by a clothespin to vintage string from an old toy wooden bead set. Put it all together and you have one scrappy new year!

Below are closeups of each month. I'd really appreciate your vote in this year's competition, and all of the entries can be viewed here. You can vote for as many designs as you like, and you don't even have to be registered on the Spoonflower site to do so! Thank you so much!

Vintage Matchbox Labels: Striking!

Matches? We don't need no stinking matches! Oh my! If you need some inspiration, or your daily dose of AWE, check out Patricia's exteeeeeensive collection of vintage matchbox labels from India. The images below are just thumbnails--you can see all of them up close and larger than life via her Flickr photostream. Would you say she has a plethora of matchbox labels?

Pattern Inspiration: Security Envelopes

From Kindra: A fantastic assortment of opened security envelopes and their patterns, which themselves make a pattern. I think they look like quilts, don't you?

A Whiff of Nostalgia

Several years ago I purchased my first issue of Uppercase magazine. It was issue #5, and I read it cover-to-cover that night. I subscribed the next morning, also buying #3 and #4, the only remaining back issues. Every few months the magazine arrives, the inside of the envelope filled with that fabulous fresh ink smell. I had always dreamed of being featured in the magazine, of course for my design work, but recently an opportunity came up for me to contribute in a different way.

Some of you may know that my obsession with collecting (hoarding) includes a passion for vintage stickers from the 1970s and '80s. For the first 10 years of the 2000s, right after I turned 30, I was consumed with finding and buying all the stickers I collected as a kid, replacing all those I had stuck to old notebooks and magnetic photo albums with pristine, unused stickers on their original backings. This included scratch and sniff stickers, which had to be unscratched and still have their smell. And I wasn't the only one--eBay was crawling with avid sticker collectors, especially those who wanted sniff stickers. It was a tense 10 years, watching hundreds if not thousands of listings and usually bidding at the last second to try to win. But my collection is nearly complete, and occasionally I am able to fill in some holes when I get the inkling to check out the eBay listings again.

During this time I was fortunate to collaborate with a fellow collector, bubbledog, writing a book dedicated to scratch and sniff stickers: The Vintage Scratch & Sniff Stickers Collector's Guide. It took us a couple years to compile all the information and images (working on opposite coasts while also having full-tme jobs didn't make it any easier!), but the labor of love has brought me full-circle to the latest issue of Uppercase, #17, in which I am thrilled to have contributed a short article about the stinky pieces of paper!

This issue is the "Special Stationery Issue", so inside you'll also find profiles of 50 stationers, stationery from around the world, a history of the envelope, and so much more--too much to list--on over 100 beautifully-designed pages. Oh, and did I mention the cherry-scented scratch and sniff cover?! If you're not familiar with the magazine, you can check out their website here, and even flip through this issue here. If you decide to subscribe, use the special code "CONTRIBUTOR17" at checkout to get $10 off your subscription!

Pencil Me In!

As long as I can remember I have adored pencils and pens. I have vivid memories going into the Sanrio store at the mall in the early '80s and not being interested in anything but the center kiosk filled with colorfully designed pens and pencils, organized by character, color, and even smell. And then there's a memory of viewing the Andy Warhol Retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago and then visiting the art supply store just a block down the street, its shelves filled with every kind of colored pencil, mechanical pencil, drawing pencil, marker, ballpoint pen, calligraphy pen, and fountain pen you could dream of. How to buy just one? And then there were the character pencils from the '80s, like Garfield, and pencils with rainbows or unicorns, shiny pencils... *sigh* So today I pay homage to the pencil, on this National Pencil Day, with some pages from the 1897 A. W. Faber Lead and Colored Pencil Catalog, and some fun pencil facts:

1. The pencil has been mass-produced since 1622.
   
2. On March 30, 1858, the first U.S. patent was issued for a pencil with an eraser on the end.
   
3. 75% of all pencils are yellow.
   
4. A single wooden pencil can write 45,000 words, or draw a line 35 miles long.

It's Thank Your Mailman Day: A Preview of 2013 US Postage Stamps

It really is "Thank Your Mailman Day" today, so I thought we could celebrate by taking a peek at the new stamps that will be issued this year by the United States Postal Service. These are just a few that stood out for me, but you can view them all at the USA Philatelic "Beyond the Perf" website. Some designs won't be released until later in the year; buy those available now here, or keep an eye on the ones you like by following USPS Stamps on Facebook. Which one is your favorite?


Emancipation Proclamation, designed by Gail Anderson


Sealed with Love, designed by renowned letterer Louise Fili


Just Move!, designed by Eli Noyes


Kaleidoscope Flowers, designed by Petra and Nicole Kapitza [LOVE!!!]


Johnny Cash, designed by Greg Breeding, and made to look like a 45rpm record picture sleeve

Christmas Decorations & Ornaments from Vintage Catalogs

While down-and-out last week with the heebie jeebies, I had a little bit of time to scroll through some of the pins I've made on my Pinterest boards. I have lots of Christmas catalog pins on my Showcase board, so I thought I would do a holiday-themed post of vintage Christmas décor from old catalogs. I just can't believe the intricate details in the illustrations done for the very early trade catalogs. The decorations from the 1940s, '50s, and '60s are more my style, but I am so drawn to the earlier items, too. So beautiful! Here are some of my finds... Enjoy!


1934 French catalog


1936 German trade catalog; beautiful package illustrations! (see more here)


1936 German trade catalog; organized so neatly! (see more here)


1936 German trade catalog; look at the composition--it's mesmerizing! (see more here)


1940 Sears Christmas Book


1947 Sears Christmas Book


1947 Sears Christmas Book; love the illustration of the Bubble Lite!


1952 Sears Christmas Book; neato little graphic in the center


1956 Sears Christmas Book; the smoky shiny effect is so pretty...and look at that garland of glass beads!


1956 Sears Christmas Book


1958 Sears Christmas Book cover


1958 Sears Christmas Book; look at that Candy Tree, and the Candy Church looks like it's covered in Meltaway mints...mmmmm...


1958 Sears Christmas Book; cool bottle brush tree (only $3.97!), but things are starting to get plastic...


1958 Sears Christmas Book


1958 Sears Christmas Book; note the fluffy, pink, flocked trees


1958 Sears Christmas Book


1966 Penneys Christmas Catalog


1968 Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog; at first I thought $2.88 was kind of expensive for those plastic snow globes, but looking closer I see that's the price for a set of six!


1968 Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog; those "Italian Petal" lights were popular into the '80s


1969 Sears Christmas Book; not very fond of the faux stained glass decal, but hurray for the blow molds!

For more Christmas catalog images, check out Wishbook on Flickr.