Touristy Thursday~ Parts and Labour: Handmade Shop
With all the excitement of the Renegade Craft Fair coming to Austin, the Austin American Statesman had a 2 page article about how Austin has become part of the BIG SCENE of Crafters. It also mentioned a local business called Parts and Labour with handmades from local crafters/artists… I had to go check it out. It’s located at 1117 S. Congress Ave.
The store is full of t-shirts, flowers for your hair, jewelry, baby onesies, beautiful dresses, candles and original artwork. All HANDMADE..gotta love it! Here is some photos from inside the store.
The staff was great, very friendly, but then again it’s South Austin! I purchased this cute notebook made from an old dress pattern…Made by Crab Apple Designs.
As I was leaving I ran right into this little frog, looking a little out of place in the middle of the hot sidewalk.
Happy Hoot Hoot Crafting!, Rebecca
A Crayola Story
I love to JOURNAL…document everyday stories. I love to fill my journals with random writings, a verse from the bible, a poem, adding pictures with small captions, a doodle. I want to capture what is going on right now or even writing a ten page documentation about a trip I took that turned into a HUGE disaster….not wanting to forget a minute of it. Sometimes it’s short stories, ones you don’t never ever ever want to forget. Here is how I documented one of those stories. I found these great “filagree cards” by Doodlebug Designs at Archiver’s last week, I added a picture with embellishments on top and and wrote the story inside.
The story is basically how my daughter Brazos drew on the door hanger that holds all the colors for her class. The teacher got onto her about it, it was a REALLY BIG deal for her because she was scolded. She LOVES her teacher and would not want to do anything to upset her… so she came home with the story about her coloring on the crayon holder and that her teacher being really upset with her. I didn’t understand until the next day when her teacher text me the picture. OHHH I see. It immediately brought me back 32 years to my kindergarten classroom. I had done the same thing, only I tried to blame it on someone else 
The really bizarre thing, the offense for us both, was done with a BLACK crayon… Interesting how history repeats itself.
Small story with a BIG memory.
Hoot! Hoot! Rebecca
A Mother’s View~ Scrapbook Layout
While I was searching for a picture of me and my mom for Mother’s Day, I came across this photo from 2007. I can still vividly remember this day. I spent the weekend with my parents at their home in the peaceful hill country. The Texas Bluebonnets were beautiful that year. We drove on a little county road and found a perfect patch to take pictures. When I saw this particular picture on Sunday, it took on a whole new meaning. Here I am taking a photo of my children and my mom is taking a photo of her child. I wanted to scrapbook it to remember my thoughts…to document how much my parents mean to me… so very thankful for them!
Love this background paper by The Paper Studio, rustic turquoise wood. The camera is a diecut from American Crafts, Amy Tangerine ‘s Daybook collection. The Camera at the top is cut from the camera paper by Ms. Tangerine as well. Hand sewed the flower ribbon and beads to the paper. Added Thicker Sticker for the title and Stickles for the sparkle. Simple and Sweet!
Hoot-A-Loo, Rebecca
Happy Mother’s Day
Happy Mother’s Day Mom! Your the Greatest!!!
Mom and Me 1974
Hoot-A-Loo, Rebecca
Vintage 1963 Newspaper Tags
I recently purchased a ziploc bag full of old newspaper for $5 on an excursion to Johnson City, Texas with some dear friends. The newspapers looked old with some deteriorating, but to my surprise they were all articles in the days following the assassination of the United States, 35th President, John F. Kennedy. Not really knowing yet what I plan on doing with the papers I found some really great ads of women of the 60′s. I love this era…the chrome tables, the flip hairstyles, the white gloves… yes the list can go own.
So I started to cut these fabulous women out and decided to make tags: The process was basic: cut vintage photos, cut pretty paper the size of tags, used butterfly wings, flowers, brads, glitter glue, etc to accessorize. I used Liquitex Matte Gel to glue everything to the pretty paper, then I put a thin layer of the gel on top. Let dry. I attached a white shipping tag to the back to make them more sturdy. Then added pretty ribbon to the top!
Can’t forget about Ms. Minnie Pearl..HOWDY!
Love this hairstyle
Happy Hoot Hoot Saturday, Rebecca
Touristy Thursday~ 10 Things about The Old Bakery and Emporium
My tour today was of The Old World Bakery and Emporium or also known as the Lundberg Bakery, it is located right across the street from the State Capitol in Austin, Texas. The bakery was built in 1876 and was run by a Swedish Immigrant, Charles Lundberg. The building now serves as a gift shop on the first floor (all the items in the gift shop is made by senior citizens). The second level is full of old pictures and intersting historical facts about Austin and the Old Bakery. Thanks to Minnie Mae Maerki, she was actually born on the second floor and was able to provide LOTS of the pictures on display. Also, located on the second floor was a gallery with original art by James Cochran and Sherry Fields. They were available to purchase.
Here are TEN things I saw on my tour today:
Ladies walking in the rain, I love the look of umbrellas in the rain, reminds of the painting The Umbrellas by Renoir
A walkway with LOTS of Historical markers
Pictures of Victorian ladies with beautiful flower covered horse and Buggy
Information that taught me that photography came to Austin in the 1860′s
A picture of an elegant woman, playing golf..I think, in her long Victorian dress
Sweet handmade dresses for barbies in the gift shop
These jean pockets made into a note pad holder for your refrigerator (purchased one for my mom for Mother’s Day) My daughter loved this idea…great craft idea
My feet walking in the rain…did I tell you I LOVE rainy days?
The State Capitol in all it’s glory located right across the street from the old bakery
My expired parking meter …I hope a ticket doesn’t show up in the mail
The Old Bakery and Emporium had wonderful pictures of Austin and how it evolved from a log cabin community to a bustling city. Interesting fact: After the first train arrived in Austin on December 31, 1871, over the next 10 years it went from population 4400 to 11,000. AMAZING!
Hoot-A-Loo, Rebecca
Lemon Blueberry Bread…Heavenly!
LEMON BLUEBERRY BREAD
Found this recipe at joyofbaking.com , I tweaked it a little to give it more of a lemon flavor. here is the recipe:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 fegrees F (180 degrees C), spray a loaf pan with non stick spray. In a bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Remove 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture. Place the blueberries in a separate bowl and toss the blueberries with the 1 tablespoon of flour.
In another bowl beat the butter until softened with mixer. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. This is my small change: I added two squeezed lemons (this was the lemons I used for the zest) With the mixer on low beat in the flour and milk alternating between the two. Once mixed, gently fold in the blueberries.
Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until bread is golden brown and inserted toothpick comes out clean. Pierce the top of the loaf and brush with lemon glaze (2 tablespoon white sugar and 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, heated to dissolve to sugar). Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes, remove from pan and cool completely.
Perfect with a SPOT of Tea and a dab of Lemon Curd!
Hootalicious! Rebecca
Cook Book Makeover
I recently found this “make your own cookbook” for a $1.99 at a thrift store. Love the idea of adding my own recipes to create a personalized cookbook, but did not like the style of this one. So let’s do a makeover!
Stitched all four sides and created a book cover out of material. I used interfacing to give it more sturdiness.
Added fabric glue and sewed the edges to create a bond.
Created a template out of card stock for the Mr. Fork and Mrs. Spoon, (plan on using the same templates on future projects) Cut these shapes out of felt. Adhered them with needle and thread.
Recovered the page dividers with card stock
Before
After
Ta Da~
Can’t want to add my favorite recipes! Hoot-A-Loo, Rebecca
Touristy Thursday~ The French Legation
(Front View)
The French Legation is located on the East side of Austin, at 802 San Marcos Street between 7th and 8th Street. Found out this is the oldest home in Austin… AMAZING. This was a fancy home of its time, in Austin there were only log cabins and tents. The state of Texas at the time, was it’s own country and basically broke. So needing the funds, France was called in to Texas to help be of support. They sent a man named Comte Alphonse Dubois. He traveled from Washington D.C. to Austin with his entourage of 6 or 7 people and temporarily stayed at the Bullock Hotel. His bill after a month came in at $315 dollars (which was ALOT for that time). He opted not to pay about $100, which left a bad taste in Richard Bullock’s mouth, the owner of the hotel. He decided to have cottage built with French style, he stayed in a log cabin while his cottage was being built.
(Side View)
Before the house was completed, Dubois became out of sorts with the townspeople of Austin especially Richard Bullock. Story has it that there were pigs that ran the streets of Austin that belong to Bullock. They ravished Dubois garden and he ordered his servant to kill them, which he did. Yes this did not settle well with Bullock. About this time (1842) the Capitol was moved to Houston and Austin becomes almost a ghost town. Dubois sells his Mansion on the hill, which was not completed at the time.
(Entry way to The French Legation)
The house is purchased by a Bishop and later sold to Dr. Joseph Robertson in 1848. Dr. Robertson and his wife had 11 children…WOW! Viewing the house it was not that big, but my understanding it the eleven children were spread apart… so yes there were never 11 children at one time in the house. The house basically stayed in the Robertson family until 1940′s. Lillie, their daughter, lived in it until she was 84. She would take care of the Texas State Cemetery down the road. She also opened the house up for the public to view. After she passed the house was placed in custody of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
(Lamp Post in back of house)
The house itself had just gone through a structure stabilization. If that makes sense. Dubois wanted a cellar, I am thinking for his wine of course! In Austin houses do not have basements/cellars due to water leaks, so the house was becoming unstable. My tour guide said it was a good day to view the house because they just opened it up. YEAH! The walls were pink and and a super bright Yellow, he said these are the original wall colors. The walls were made of canvas..interesting, During some of the renovation they have added sheet rock for support. There was no furniture in the house at this time due to the renovation…. BUT the coolest thing was these hinges, they were on every door and every window. I think they look like mustaches!
(Mustache Hinges)
The creepiest part of the tour was seeing the cellar…seriously creepy. The tour guide said I could go down there and check it out, it looked like something out of a horror movie! BUT I didn’t want to miss out on seeing it. So I walked down the stairs to the cellar and yes hurried back up as soon as I could. I did make a joke and told him not to close the door on me!
(View from closed gate, looking at the interstate)
The grounds were beautiful and even though right off the interstate, it was peaceful and serene. I could see a wedding or a garden party held out front of the main house. From the porch you can see the Capitol..BREATHTAKING!
(View from front porch)
The French kitchen was the last building to tour, not the original kitchen, which burned, but something made to look of the time.
