vintage crafts - grace grits and gardening

Gracie Lee and the Bean Rooster

January 30, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner

Gracie Lee and the Bean Rooster is not the title of a children’s picture book, (not yet anyway). What I’m talking about is the bean rooster picture families displayed on kitchen walls during the 1960s and 1970s. Some of my younger readers may not have experienced the joy of the bean rooster. Back during the days of Paint-By-Number, when we cut paper dolls from the Sears Catalog and life wasn’t perfectly staged for Pinterest, moms and kids gathered around the dining room table to glue beans to a pattern. Every type and color of dried bean.

I thought peas looked way better on rooster tail feathers than on my plate.Continue Reading

Vintage Coffee Tin Succulents. My new fav!

July 3, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

There’s a saying in the South that if it isn’t nailed down, we southerners will monogram it. I have my own saying. If it isn’t nailed down, I’m gonna plant something in it. My newest obsession is planting succulents in vintage coffee tins. And if you think about it, the tins are already monogrammed with the company’s label/artwork. Love, love, love.

Here’s one of my favorites—Summer Girl Coffee. How perfect is this? Technically I’m a “summer girl” born almost on the 4th of July. And I’m guzzling coffee while you read this.

Look at the history on this can. “Roasted and Packed by the H. D. Lee Mercantile Company”. H. D. Lee Mercantile was founded in 1889 in Salina, Kansas. This was the first company to manufacture overalls and the zipper fly jean. Today the company makes Lee Rider but no coffee to my knowledge.

Here’s my other favorite.

I chose this one mainly for the colors and the little old Aunt Bea looking lady on the front.

I found these two tins at Long Ago Antiques on Huntsville Road in Fayetteville (one of my favorite places to shop for antiques and vintage items). Similar tins are available on Ebay, often in a group of four or five. Prices vary so look around. Tip: look for ones without lids to save a few dollars.

To preserve the value of vintage tins, I prefer not to drill drainage holes in the bottom, so I added a layer of charcoal in the bottom instead. (Buy the charcoal at your local nursery—it’s not lump charcoal used to grill.) Some of the old tins come with holes rusted in the bottom which solves the drainage issue. Succulents don’t need that much water, so I find they survive quite well with charcoal.

Top with pebbles or moss for aesthetic purposes. I think the rock highlights the plant better.

Voila! Perfect on the porch. I’m taking orders. Not really, but maybe.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]These #vintage coffee tin #succulents will rock your world. #gardenchat #growsomething @WestwoodGardens[/tweetthis]

[tweetthis]If it isn’t nailed down, plant something in it. #Vintage Coffee Tin #Succulents! @allsucculents @iPlantPerfect[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Queen, We Will Rock You

How to: Chinese Fortune Teller

January 27, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Chinese Fortune Tellers, made from regular notebook paper, provided inexpensive, homemade entertainment for my sister and me, especially on Saturday mornings while Momma enjoyed a wash and set and whatever else she did in the name of glamor at Lucille’s Beauty Shop. Yesterday’s child was easily amused, and the Chinese Fortune Teller was super intriguing. Yes, in the back room of the beauty shop (which was really Lucille’s living room), simple finger movements revealed my destiny according to color and number selection.

Life was easy.

Following the step-by-step instructions HERE, I made a Chinese Fortune Teller, even folding it correctly the first try. Of course I took pictures of my effort along the way because that’s what I do. If you are visual like I am, a picture truly is worth a thousand words.

In case you don’t remember the rules (or never knew because you are a youngster…), I’ll explain.

1. Choose one of the four colors. (My colors are pink, blue, green and yellow.)

2. Spell the color moving the fortune teller once for each letter. (Your fingers are inside the slits.) Pink = four movements.

3. Pick a number from those showing on the inside.

4. Count out the number, moving the fortune teller once for each number.

5. Pick a final number.

6. Life the flap and do what it says.

Let me just say, taking pictures with one hand and working the Chinese Fortune Teller with the other is tricky and results in blurry photos.

There are (at least) three different ways to design your fortune teller.

Activities. I made mine with activities (i.e. each flap has an activity—great for a bored kid or a more fun way to assign chores.)

Answers. You can also design yours so that the inside flaps have basic answers to questions (i.e. “yes” “no” “absolutely” “are you crazy?” – think Magic 8 Ball). In this case, before the player chooses a color, he asks a question.

Fortune. Instead of activities or answers to questions, each flap includes a more traditional fortune. “You will soon receive great news.” That sort of thing.

Decorate your fortune teller however you wish (yes, you can add bling) just remember the outside part has four colors, the inside flaps have eight numbers. Underneath the numbers, eight activities or fortunes are written.

Does any of this make sense? Hope so.

Now I must go write a letter. My Chinese Fortune Teller told me to.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Remember when fun meant playing with a Chinese Fortune Teller?[/tweetthis]

“Before you leave, the fortune teller reminds you that the future is never set in stone.”
― Erin Morgenstern

Musical Pairing:

Yesterday’s Child – Roy Orbison