Scenes from a Retro Housewife Vintage Bridal Shower....

The Farm Chicks inspired this: sprinkle-filled desert cups with the tea lights inside...believe it or not, the sprinkles were not affected by the candles burning for over three hours! I had some really good friends that helped me set up and make up the displays, I enjoyed the hours we spent together Friday getting the room set up and ready!

I scattered jump rope rhymes around with the little vintage displays....

(Click any photo to enlarge)

My old ironing board was put out for a display of fun old dishtowels, some repro-feedsacks, and other laundry items...

These little fingertip towels were found at a garage sale this summer....


An old laundry basket with folded rag rugs inside...


Used the leftover postcard invitations to scatter around on the tables...

The Lord gave us a beautiful, sunny (but cold) day!

The jump rope rhymes were too cute with the bride and groom's names inserted...I remember long recesses at elementary school learning the jump rope moves!

Salvation Army tea set...

Sam's Club bakery did a wonderful job on the cupcakes with mini rosebuds to match the teacups...got way too many and had to send 'em home with anybody who would take some!
Too much is better than too little, is my motto.

I was channeling MaryJane's Farm all the way....

This was a display my older sister brought to contribute...a gorgeous basket with one of my favorite Martha Stewart dishtowels and baking supplies and vintage baking tools, LOVED IT!


It seemed like everyone enjoyed getting into the theme of the shower, and making the displays, and talking about the linens and vintage items on display, inspired conversation was what I was hoping for...it really worked!

Autumn's new old dishes in a tote, ready to go home with her. On the top are vintage magazines and catalogs to browse through...

I enjoyed putting the displays together and letting everyone enjoy the old embroidered linens I've loved finding at garage sales and thrift stores over the years. I was thinking about it today that I've collected more embroidery than I could have ever done myself! I wonder sometimes how the women back then had the time to do all the hard work and chores and caring for large families PLUS doing fine needlework like this!

Scrabble tiles are FUN to decorate with...don't pass by those at garage sales!

The bride opens all her goodies....

This gift basket was put together by my sister who is a florist, it was a specialty basket of all things Italian/gourmet!

All the aprons I had (and a few that I borrowed) were taken and worn by all the guests who wanted them...it was so much fun!

We forgot to take pictures of all the gorgeous food! The baked potato soup was a big hit and the Olive Garden salad, too! The chicken salad sandwiches were delish.

I used vintage ad copy for guests to choose their name tags to wear...

It was all fun and the bride loved and enjoys with all of us, the vintage and retro items which made it even more enjoyable and rewarding! She was sweet this morning with a little thank you gift of six vintage cloth napkins in a beautiful mint green color linen that I can't wait to use for Easter dinner and cuter than cute bracelet made of a vintage pin (I can't wait to show you that in another post)!

So worth all the work to see Autumn happy and enjoying it. Great memories were made which is what it's all about! And now our best wishes to the bride and the groom in their new life to come (in June!) and setting up their first home and all the special joys that the first year will bring!

(Special thanks for all my "helpers", from nieces to sisters and friends, it was a big job and all your help made it possible. THANKS again!)

The Magic of Ordinary Days

I want to make a movie (and the book is really good, too!) recommendation to you...and all of us who love anything vintage will love this sweet movie: it's an unexpected love story from Hallmark called "THE MAGIC OF ORDINARY DAYS". It's set in WWII, and the set design is wonderful and the costume designer outfitted a gorgeous looking cast: the clothing is beautiful and the countryside, the automobiles are all wonderful to look at, the outfit Livy wears in the opening scene, (the one shown on the movie jacket) is stunning, is that hat gorgeous, or what? Anyone who loves that period or lived through WWII, will enjoy this movie.

And, for those of us who love farms, farmhouses, small town-living and cooking, there's plenty of that in here, too. I've included the information about the movie from Wikipedia, so you can read that before you decide to try to find it, it's not easy to buy , but look here, too. But, it can be accessed to watch in several parts on YOUTUBE. Watching it in parts on Youtube won't be the same as snuggling in a chair with a blanket and your sweet doggie and a bowl of popcorn! Skeet Ulrich and Keri Russel are perfect for these two leading roles.

It is a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it, it's right up there in my view, with the SARAH PLAIN AND TALL series; something you'll enjoy watching again and again and share with your friends and family. Read here about 2009-10 movies planned for by Hallmark.

The Magic of Ordinary Days
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Magic of Ordinary Days was a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation based on a novel of the same name by Ann Howard Creel and adapted as a teleplay by Camille Thomasson [1]. It first aired on CBS on January 30, 2005. It was directed by Brent Shields [2] and produced by Andrew Gottlieb [3], Cameron Johann, Jim O'Grady, and Richard Welsh (Executive Producer).

Set in 1944 Colorado, The Magic of Ordinary Days is the story of a young woman, Livy Dune (played by Keri Russell), who became pregnant before marriage. Her father, Rev. Dunne, decided to deal with the situation, by arranging a marriage to a shy farmer through another preacher. The groom, Ray Singleton (played by Skeet Ulrich), lives on a remote farm and is very different than Livy. Ray focuses on what is close to him: his family, his land, today. Livy thinks on a much grander scale: the world, ancient civilizations, far away places.
Ray's farm utilizes the help of Japanese Americans from a nearby Japanese American internment camp to help work the farm. Livy befriends two well-educated Japanese American women who were working the farm, Flora and Rose (Tania Gunadi and Gwendoline Yeo). She finds comfort and familiarity in their friendship. Livy is polite and civil to her new husband and his sister Martha (Mare Winningham), but she harbors feelings for the father of the baby, a World War II soldier, and feelings of guilt for the pregnancy. Ray, however, is caring, patient, and supportive of Livy, but the fact that she does not want him hurts him deeply. Slowly over time, the two come to understand and love each other, and appreciate that though they are different, neither is better or worse than the other.