My mama knitted me a new hat (with ear flaps!) to match my coat. (Sorry about the flash. I forgot to turn it off.)
Phone Photo Friday
12/10/2010
3 Comments | 
Art: crafts, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: cell phone photography, Phone Photo Friday | 
Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Shiny Brite in the Mailbox
12/09/2010
As I was brainstorming ideas for our Christmas cards this year, I decided that the Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments poster design could translate to a postcard. (Hopefully I’m not spoiling the surprise for anyone … I mailed these out on Monday so, my family and friends, you should be receiving one soon if you haven’t already!) When I ordered these from the print shop I decided to get some extras to sell in my Etsy shop. Have you bought your Christmas cards yet? I’m selling these as sets and as individual cards. 🙂
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: graphic design, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: Christmas cards, postcards, shiny brite ornaments | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Wishing You a Shiny Brite Christmas
12/08/2010
Last year I was inspired by the old cardboard boxes from my Granny’s Shiny Brite ornaments and I decided to make a small Christmas poster. This year I have a few available for sale in my Etsy Shop in case anyone else would like to add one to their holiday decor. Sold out! If you are interested in one, leave a comment. I can order more from the printer, however it may take a couple weeks to get it to you.
1 Comment | Art, Art: graphic design, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: Christmas, poster, shiny brite | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Shiny and Bright Christmas Tree
12/07/2010
Every year at Christmas I love to unpack and admire the Shiny Brite ornaments that I inherited from my mom’s mom a few years before she passed away. Jason and I have come up with a few creative ways of displaying them the past several years. (Three examples here.)
This year we decided to copy our mid-century modern loving friends in Cincinnati and get a vintage aluminum Christmas tree on eBay. We don’t have a color-wheel light for it; maybe we’ll get one next year. It’s so sparkly and shiny just on it’s own. I love it!
I think our Shiny Brite ornaments look so at home on it’s metal branches.
1 Comment | Art, Art: mid-century design, Family | Tagged: aluminum tree, christmas tree, ornaments, shiny brite, vintage | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Merry Christmas from My Mid-Century Modern Life!
12/06/2010
I’ll be celebrating Christmas for the next few weeks on this blog, mid-century modern style. I hope you stick around. It’s the most wonderful time of the year … though I could do without the cold weather! 🙂
Jason and I got an early Christmas present from my parents this year: a fresh balsam wreath. It’s lovely and it smells like Christmas. We had it hanging in the house for the first few days so we could enjoy the smell but it started shedding a lot so we moved it out to the front door. Isn’t it lovely?
1 Comment | Art, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: Christmas, evergreen, mid-century modern, wreath | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Phone Photo Friday
12/03/2010
Two cameras at one time.
1 Comment | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Me | Tagged: cell phone photography, Phone Photo Friday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
A Baby Shower for Eliza!
12/02/2010
Two Saturdays ago I hosted a baby shower for my sister-in-law and my little niece, Eliza (with lots of help from Ginger’s friends and Eliza’s grandma and my mom.) Baby girl is due around Valentine’s Day so we decided to go for a love-hearts-valentine theme. I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have but thankfully our dear photographer friend, Beth Rose was there with camera in hand. Here are some pictures I did take.
One of the food tables, before guests arrived:
(Do you love IZZE as much as I do? Just fruit juice and carbonated water. And it’s pretty, too!)
Tables set up before guests arrived:
The favor and craft table. We had two crafty activities: a hair accessory making station and a bunch of handmade Valentines and a mailbox for welcome notes and prayers for baby Eliza.
My beautiful sis-in-law Ginger, the mom-to-be!
Guests:
We played two games. The first one everyone had 5-10 minutes to sculpt a baby out of playdoh. That’s all the instructions I gave. Once everyone was done, I asked Ginger to select the most realistic, the funniest and the most hideous. The other game we played was baby shower bingo, where partiers mark off items on a pre-made bingo card as the mama is opening her gifts. I downloaded the bingo cards free from here.
In the hallway we set up a photo “booth” with silly props to encourage ladies to pose in front of the camera. It turned out to be a lot of fun. These photos were taken by Beth Rose Goin:
Ginger and me:
Ginger and her sister Crystal (Eliza is the one with the glasses and mustache):
I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the photos BR took. But not as much as I’m looking forward to meeting my baby niece in a couple months! It was a really fun time and most importantly I think Ginger felt the love for her, Eliza and dad-to-be Daniel from their friends, family and co-workers.
3 Comments | Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: baby shower, Eliza, Family, framily, niece | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Our Little Focus
12/01/2010
I took a picture of our car. While we were in Pigeon Forge in October amidst the beautiful trees I had an impulse to take a photo of our car. We’re not car people and we’re not in love with our car; it just needs to get us where we’re going. So, we didn’t really have any intentional pictures of it.
This little green Ford Focus has taken us on a lot of journeys; about 150,000 miles worth. She was Jason’s and my first big purchase (read: first big loan), six months after we got married. This car drove us from Erie to Nashville and back many times before our move in 2004. It drove us up to my parents house in Pennsylvania for holidays, to my sister’s wedding reception in Philadelphia, on vacations to Virginia Beach, Hilton Head Island, Cincinnati and many a day trip to Atlanta. The weekend of this photo it took me halfway across the state to spend a much needed 3-day weekend with my husband. It has carted many friends and family members around to work, to church, to homes, to stores, to the airport and back. It’s carried amps and guitars, groceries, lumber, straw bales, 100s of pounds of rocks, loads of IKEA purchases, packages, luggage, dogs and moving boxes. It’s had it’s share of problems through the past seven years but our little vehicle has been good to us.
In the season of thankfulness, I’m extending some gratitude to our little engine that could:
Dear Green Meanie,
Thanks for running strong these seven years, for carrying us and our treasures all over the place, for stopping on a dime and taking off fast, for not quitting us even after two hit-and-runs, for turning sharply enough to parallel park in one try, for chugging along despite your bolted-up rather than truly fixed back windows, missing lug nut cover, cracked and dented front fender, dashboard stickiness from many a drink spill, and overdue oil changes. You’ve been the setting for many kisses and fights and important conversations. You’ve been sung in, slept in, kicked, washed infrequently, snowed on, rained on and hailed on. You’ve been worth ever payment we made, the chili cheese fries we ate in celebration of paying you off, and for every dollar we’ve paid for repairs and maintenance. Yes, you’ve been a good little car.
This year you got a new battery, a new alternator, a new driver’s side mirror, a new fender, new tires, new brakes and some other new parts I can’t remember the names of. Now, please accept this long overdue tune up as a token of our appreciation … and continue on for the next seven years!
Sincerely,
Your Drivers
Leave a Comment » | Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Me, Other | Tagged: car, Ford Focus, gratitude, thanksgiving, vehicle | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Busyness
11/30/2010
Sorry for the lack of posting lately. (Has anyone even noticed? I’m sure you’ve all been busy too.) My amazing husband has been home a little over a week and I haven’t figured out where to reinsert blogging into my schedule. I’m still soaking up all the evening and weekend time I can with him. We had a great Thanksgiving. Jason smoked a 13 lb. turkey (it took 8 hours!) and we enjoyed all kind of deliciousness and fun times with his parents, my parents and a sweet family of 6 from our church (including a precious 2.5 week old baby girl that I had the privilege of holding for a wonderfully long time.) We put up our Christmas decorations, tore out some walls, chainsawed up some bushes, polished the cloffice (it’s almost done) and caught up with friends and family. It’s been a good week.
How was your Thanksgiving?
1 Comment | Art, Art: Cooking, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason | Tagged: thanksgiving | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Pinecone Garland
11/24/2010I saw some pretty fall decorations on Design*Sponge last week: first these Emily Thompson Wreaths:
Then these Bird for Bread fall garlands:
And I was inspired to gather a few of the many, many pinecones that fall from our giant pine tree every fall to make my own fall garland.
I purchased some bright blue spray paint for another project (more on that later) and I had some white spray paint on hand. I could have made this a DIY post but it was really so simple.
I laid the pinecones out on newspaper and spray painted them: 6 of each color. Spray one side, wait an hour, turn them over, spray the other side. Then I used some thin wire (string would have worked) and twisted it loosely around each end of each pinecone to make a chain.
I had some command hooks (the ones intended for Christmas lights) already up on the ceiling so it was a snap to hang my garland. We’re having Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year so I thought it would be fun to do a tiny bit of fall decorating.
Our big pine tree is not only pretty but useful, too. It provides shade for the front yard. We use the pine needles for mulch. We’ve used the pine cones for decor and kindling. But, I’ve never used the pine branches for anything. Maybe this year I’ll try making a fresh pine wreath.
Anyone ever done that? Do you have any suggestions?
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: crafts, Art: interior design, Art: modern design | Tagged: fall garland, pine tree, pinecones, thanksgiving | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
myMCMlife.com 