Vintage Color Palettes - Best Wishes

Vintage Color Palettes - Chinatown at Night

Vintage Color Palettes - The Bouganvillea

Introducing: Vintage Color Palettes

At the heart of so much that I love - design, decor, paper, art, vintage - is color. That's what moves me the most. It has since I was a kid and I would color in my coloring book and delight in decorating the bedroom in Charlie Brown's room in color combos that I had never thought of before. I actually remember when I "discovered" that pink and spring green looked great together. Those were some great curtains old Chuck got that day.

The first thing that made me swoon over vintage postcards was the lovely combination of colors that were on some of them. I noticed this a lot in old fabric, too. The colors all seemed different than ones that are used now. There are only so many colors in the world, but the vintage ones on old postcards, brochures and barkcloth all seemed deeper, dustier and a little more pungent. Was this because the dyes were different then or had they aged into these colors? If we could go back in time and buy a postcard new would it look like the ones we have now?

I have noticed some color palettes on the internet for modern images and it gave me the idea to finally document the colors and combos that I love about my collection of vintage postcards and ephemera.

I will post them here regularly. To start off. here are two - Fifth Avenue and Boston Duck Pond. Maybe these can help you plan some color combos for an event, room or a website. But, really it's just for fun. And if you like color like I do, I'm guessing you'll get that.

love poems

Valentines are so pretty and charming. It's so hard to pick just one. But, if you haven't gotten one or made yours yet, you might be starting to panic a bit. But, don't fear, there are lots and lots of printable valentines online. Just a search on Pinterest shows quite a few choices.

My new favorite are these printable (or ecards) created by Poets.org. Even if you don't use the image, the poems are a great thing to add to your valentine message.

This top one is great for those of us in the Pacific Northwest!

What a great way to showcase poetry and reach more people. You can see all the choices here. Also, if you are looking for a longer poem. They have a whole list of love poems here.

On a totally unrelated note. I recently did an interview with the website Twenty-Four Hours. You can find the interview here.

stand for every body

For the last few weeks I've been helping out, along with about 35 other activists, in creating images that are being created in response to a hateful childhood anti-obesity campaign that is being run in Georgia.

The campaign, called, Strong4Life, thinks images like the one below are somehow going to actually help kids.

All images and messages like this are going to do is create shame and self-loathing. Shame and self-loathing are the basis of so many disorders, including eating disorders, substance abuse and depression, something a campaign like this is sure to create. How can anyone think that this is a good way to make children or their parents create healthy self-esteem and healthy eating. It is tragically misguided and just infuriating.

Many people feel this way and a campaign was started by fat activist rebel Marilyn Wann. She invited anyone who wanted to to submit a photo and a statement about what they stand for in response to Strong4Life campaign. The photos came pouring in and she couldn't keep up. So, many photoshop users, including myself, happily donated our time to help get these images out there. You can see them all on the site I Stand Against Weight Bullying. Here are a few of the many that I adore:

Funds are being raised to buy billboards in Georgia near the billboards that the Strong4Life campaign is running. There is a donor who will give $5,000 of we can get 155 more donors to give $5.00. Over 10,000 was raised in one day on Feb 2nd, but more funds are needed. Please give if you can.

There have been many new stories and blog posts about the campaign. You can keep up on the facebook  group page. Recently there have been article on Ms Magazine Blog and Salon.

You can also find lots of information on the Stand4Everybody site.  If you would like to participate in the campaign. You can send a large image of yourself and your statement to marilyn at fatso dot com.

february

This is an illustration from a book from my childhood. This is the kind of illustration that made me long for "normal" weather as a child. Lakes never froze over in the Southern California beach town I grew up in.  February of my childhood was actually not that much different than May.

This winter has been more like a So Cal winter than a Portland one. The last couple of weeks has been sunny and windy. 

But, it is February (which I also have to look up each time I spell it) and that means Valentines Day. I just found this super sweet illustration and poem in the same A Child's Book of Poems.

Are you looking for Valentine inspiration?  If so, I keep a list on pinterest of my fave Valentines ideas. 

Happy February!

jan 31st

It's the last day of January. This month seemed appropriately long. What I mean is it didn't seem to flash by me like most do, but it didn't feel too long or anything. It felt like a month true to size (as they say in the clothing business). I was so looking forward to Winter this year. And of course, this year we have the mildest winter yet and I think it may never get very cold.  

Here are a few photos I took with my phone while I was out this last month. I need to remember to take my camera with me more. Hope your January was pleasant and just the right length for you.

good reading

I am currently reading about 5 books. I'm putting off finishing them because I am enjoying them so much, so I read a little from one each night.

One of the books I'm upset that I am almost done with is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. When I first heard of this book about a year ago I dismissed it as a fluff-kind-of- book-that-people-gush-over-but-when-I-finally-read-it-I-am disgusted-with-how-basic-and-condescending-it-is (I won't name names, because I may offend you, but this has happened to me more than once).

A blog I read mentioned that in her project Rubin gave each month a theme and focused on those things during that month. I love a theme and I need focus (so many projects!) so that was enough for me to check it out from the library.

I totally fell in love with this book. Rubin's story and approach was not what I expected at all. In fact I could totally relate to her. She admits her life is good, but felt like she could be doing life better and that was what the book is about. She did a huge amount of research on happiness and the reader gets to benefit from that when she throws in study statistics and quotes from other books on happiness.

For the month of January (do you know I need to look up that word every time I write it? Luckily there is a calendar near) Rubin focused on creating energy and had a plan for doing it with steps like go to bed earlier, clear out clutter and keep a food diary.

I chose to do the same thing for January and have focused mostly on space clearing. All month my day's focus has been on getting rid of stuff.  Since I am currently unemployed I have the chance to really work on this full time right now. I have cleaned out clothes, books, cds, records, and ephemera (which was them listed for sale on The Cedar Chest. I have donated and listed things on Amazon and Ebay. I have gone through some drawers and tackled some things on my to do list.

I am however feeling antsy that the end of January is coming and I still have lots and lots of stuff that has not been gone through. Obviously a lifetimes worth of stuff can not all be gone through in one month and I need to remember I'm being unreasonable to imagine it could. Things are definitely more cleared out and will continue to be.

I really recommend this book, especially if you are the list making kind of nerd, which is totally her approach. Even if you don't do the project yourself, the book on it's own is valuable and can open your eyes to some things. She has a very full website, too, that can give you lots of ideas.

Another book I am putting off finishing is Wildwood.

Wildwood is a classic fantasy adventure book in the tradition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and similar books like that. Wildwood, however, is set in Portland and the magical woods that it takes place in are based on Forest Park.  Wildwood is written by Colin Meloy of the band The Decemberists and is illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis. It's a very enjoyable read on a rainy winter night.

What are you reading?

january

This illustration is from A Child's Book of Poems from 1969. The illustrator is Gyo Fujkawa.  I was given this book as a little kid along with A Child's Garden of Verse illustrated by Fujikawa as well. They were given to me by a man who worked with my dad making educational films. 

I loved these books. Loved looking at the pictures and later when I could read, reading the poems. The images and style was really influential to me, which I didn't realize until 30 years later. 

There are lots of poems in A Child's Book of Poems about the seasons. Many mention the things you do in winter, spring and fall and most of these things were completely foreign to me. I was growing up in suburban Southern California. There was no snow or ice skating (unless we drove 2 hours to Topanga Ice Rink). There was no nut gathering in fall or long awaited tulips in the spring. I don't even remember that many trees with fall colors.

I longed for these signs of the seasons, especially winter, since that seemed the most foreign to me. Building a snowman in your own yard! Incredible.

In my Southern California upbringing we would "go to the snow". Dad would announce, "Does anyone want to go to the snow today" And my sister and I would hunt down our seldom used scarfs and gloves (mainly brought out for birthday parties in Topanga) and we'd all drive for about an hour or more out to the mountains above Ojai. 

Snow was something you went to, not something that came to you. At that young age I became sort of entranced and awed by these neat happenings that came along with the seasons. I still am. I love anything to do with seasonal things and winter is my favorite.

I moved further north at 18 and further more at 36. I wanted more seasons. Portland is pretty good when it comes to seasons. You get the feeling of each season without extremes.  This year the winter has been very different - dry and sunny. It's been nice. I love sunny cold days, but it isn't normal and it feels more like March than January. The plants have begun to bloom even, thinking spring is on the way.

Today it's raining and I'm loving the sound. I have the windows open so I can hear and smell it better. I did miss the rain. Tomorrow it may snow! Still so excited when I look out the window and snow is falling. 

I love the winter more each year. The quiet of January and February. The bare trees and crisp air. I think this year I will finally do my winter zine. I hope you're enjoying January, too.