Ohio snippets

Here's some pics from my Ohio trip in May that didn't fit into any posts I did. Slightly random, for memory's sake :)

All taken by Ruth and myself

"Um, I think this is poison ivy..."

"Just like in Ohio!"

"We are in Ohio."

"Oh yeah."

Melting lipsticks

The other day I asked you lovely readers on my Facebook page and Twitter if you had any experience with those meltdown lipstick moulds. It seems no one had used them before, and searching them online, it seemed a bit pointless to buy one to use once, and then just have it. Sitting there. Taking up space. So instead I decided to melt these down and pour the new color into an old lip pot container, which worked out great!

Luckily Lydia of The Vintage Mama suggested I use a double boiler, so the lipstick wouldn't burn. Since I don't have a set just for double boiling, I just heated water in a medium saucepan to a simmer, and placed the cut off lipstick bits in a smaller pan, and put that among the water, heating it. Worked like a charm!

The lipsticks I chose were all in red-ish, some too matte, some too dark, and most just didn't wear well enough. I also added the remainder of the lip pot, so the result was a nice, berry color with a summery sheen. Since I'll need a lip brush to apply the new color, it'll stay at home, and I'll have one lipstick in my purse, nice and simple!

.....Later edit: Tips from readers! (Because you guys are awesome).....

.....Mix with chapstick or cocoa butter for a sheer lipcolor.....

.....Pour mixture into chapstic tube, mint tin, or empty makeup pallets.....

.....Line the pan and spatula in foil, making cleanup much, much easier.....

.....For a "lipstick", create a tube by wrapping foil around a dowel or other cylinder, and pour liquid inside. Freeze it, remove the foil, then stick it in a lipstick tube.....

Bubble gum ice cream

My cousin Ruth finished middle school this week and will be in high school in the fall! To celebrate a get together was thrown at Officers Row, with yummies, kiddies, and since our family loves photobooths, set up a little photobooth type thing. I also brought my new hula hoop I decorated, which everyone got their hands on. This is the start of a very fun, very eventful summer!

Oh and Sam said I looked like Bubble Gum ice cream. I feel like bubble gum ice cream.

Shirt-Urban Eccentric Vintage

Pants-Antique expo ($5!!!)

Sunglasses-Pretty Little Things

Headscarf-Thrifted

Anatomy of a space.

Civil war photos

When these photos were released in a special Civil War Faces collection by the Library of Congress, I was fascinated by the mostly unidentified photos of soldiers, women, children, and even a few horses snuck in a photo or two. The Civil War was never something I was enthusiastic about, I suppose because, living on the west coast, we were never educated about it extensively. This summer I'm doing a bit of traveling (more on that later), and hope to learn a bit more, and maybe see some Civil War related sights.

Here's just a few portraits that stood out to me, but I would recommend checking out the entire collection, it really is interesting to look at and wonder about the people long gone. There are your expected facial hair sporting men with guns and knives, but also boys clearly not old enough to enlist, african american soldiers, women in plaits and crinolines, sailors, and dare I say a few soldier portraits that look quite a bit female.

As for the first photo: What a heartbreaker!

..........Little girl holding a photo of her father..........

..........Silly boys..........

..........My first impression was "female" but I'll never know..........

..........The lighting in this is haunting..........

.........Notice how her shears are in a special loop on her skirt..........

..........Another handsome young man..........

How to look good in finger waves when you don't look good in finger waves.

This isn't the best finger wave attempt in the world, but I consider it a success since I didn't burst into tears.

Not once!

Honestly I'm most proud of the fact that my bangs swept away so well, and that it stayed intact all day. I did get a haircut, but it's not this short, the ends are pinned to the back of my head and hidden by the beret. My square/full face shape looks a little off in such a clingy style, so I have to add height to my crown with a hat to not look squished. Since the right side of my hair had more length and wave than the left, I pulled the hat to the side, and added a pretty decorative hat pin to balance it out, pointing the pin upward to bring the eye up, again, so the overall look doesn't appear so flat.

So there you go. If I were to leave the hat behind, it would have a completely different impact.

Oh the magic of a hat.

I Capture The Castle

In school I used to use study time in classes to sneak to the library and read historical fiction.

I was quite the scoundrel.

Just before school was out one year I spent some sunny days reading I Capture the Castle, a book about a young girl in the mid 30s who lives in a crumbling English castle with her family, as they wait for her father to write another bestseller. The film adaptation is currently on Netflix instant watch, if you need a bit of 1930s english inspiration.

Images from here