Life Magazine - Time Machine

I love looking at old magazines. They are a fun step back in time. And while the articles can be fun to read, for me anyway, it's the ads that really tell the tale.

We went to an estate auction recently and one of the boxes of crap treasures we came home with had a 1954 Life Magazine in it. I'm going to reap a few blog posts from it, as it's a great issue all about fashion, but I'm going to start with one about the ads.

 Get a load at that price! $2.95 for the set. Do you know what complete sets of those Anchorglass Mixing Bowls sell for today? Ones in good condition bring over $100.00.. that's some appreciation rate!
 I love how the two women in this Briggs and Statton lawn mower ad are both mowing the grass in skirts. 

 What a fancy dress for admiring the new window air conditioner!

These just made me giggle. From the lady in the flamenco dancer dress who's constipation worries are over, the innovative step stool that lets housewives "work relaxed", and the woman who dreamed she flew a kite in her new Maidenform bra!

 Here's two more things we can all be thankful for. The invention of a better toilet bowl brush and the 10 key calculator!

Do you eat open face hot dogs with a knife and fork? I guess you'd have to! And how fun is this Libby's Pineapple juice ad?

 Never forget... if you want to win the boys, stay sweet as you are! And of course that starts with Listerine mouth wash! heheh

      
 I guess some things were lost in translation over the years. I'm not really sure how shrinking cotton causes you to be "swept away".. and besides.. when your waist is as small as your neck do you really need to worry about your clothes shrinking?

The "48 states" caught my attention. It wasn't for another five years after this magazine issue that Alaska and Hawaii joined the union and we became 50 states. 

 Due to my watch fetish I had to pay homage to this old Timex ad. I just don't know why the pups look so sad. They're advertising watches! What's there to be sad about?

And I guess after an evening of watching the little woman hang the wallpaper, she could go to the kitchen

where she could sit on her step stool and relax while she cooked dinner using her "pride and joy" Wear-Ever pots and pans! 

Thanks for stepping back in time with me. I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did. 

Have a great week :)

I'll be joining DebbieDoos and other fun parties this week, check out my Link Parties page for the complete list.

Technicolor Tuesday - Purple

It's Technicolor Tuesday here at Show Me Crafting. 
Tomorrow is my sister's birthday and purple is her favorite color. So in honor of Susan, let's party in purple!

Gorgeous Dress! If I only had the figure to wear it! Or the sewing ability to make it!

 Purple Yams. Did you know there was such a thing? They make purple ice cream with them.

 Purple Chair. I always wonder if this type of furniture is comfortable to sit in.. or just pretty to look at...

 This purple crab is prettier than the ones that were all over the beach in Biloxi that summer on vacation.. I wonder if my daughter would be just as terrified of pretty ones like this?

 Cute purple shoes!

 My Grandmother had a purple ceramic cow that sat on a shelf outside her kitchen. I think it was like this one.

 A selfish plug... One of the vintage sewing patterns up for sale in our Etsy shop :)

Since I've recently started bike riding, I thought this was appropriate.

I'd be remiss if I didn't include a purple heart, especially today. God bless our troops. Thanks for protecting us, for fighting for us, and for keeping us free.

Thanks for stopping by :)

A Bag For My Bike

With Labor day coming to a close it's time to bid adieu to summer time. We didn't get to take an official vacation this year, but Mr ShowMe and I did take up bike riding. We've had quite a lot of fun with it. My bike's an old hand-me-down, but I really like it. It has a sort of retro vibe and of course you can't beat the color!

It didn't take too many trips out on the bike with my keys and other personal effects crammed into my pockets that I decided I needed a bag for it.
My intentions were good. It's not as if I don't have a lot of wonderful fabric in my stash. I searched the web. I even picked one bike bag as my favorite. 

Tamara at Etcetorize posted this lovely bag that she made for her bike and even provided a tutorial to take out all the guess work. But before I got that far I ran across a ready made zipper bag that I received from the airline both times I flew to the Philippines with my job. 
They gave us these bags with toiletries in them. I had one from each of my trips there. They aren't really big enough to use as a travel bag, but with me being a bit of a pack rat, of course I still had them. 
I hand sewed on strips of some nylon strapping that I had and added Velcro on each. 

It turned out to be the perfect size for the front of my bike. The fabric will be more water resistant than anything from my stash would have been any way, and it's plenty roomy to hold my keys, cell phone, Kleenex and inhaler for my allergies, and even my camera. 

So on one hand I cheated, but on the other hand I recycled something that I didn't really have a use for otherwise. Maybe I'll embellish it with fabric flowers or something so I don't feel like a complete sell-out! (But if I do that, I'll stick to embellishing just the bag on my bike. I don't think Mr. ShowMe would find it as aesthetically pleasing on the one I put on his bike! hehe)

Did you have any fun adventures over the summer?

Thanks for stopping by! :)