How the 1950 Home Looked in 1900

House of the future
In 1900, Otis T. Mason predicted that we would no longer need stairs because of the introduction of a pair of small elevators, which, being perfectly automatic, would require no attendant.

Now that the end of the world has come and gone—again—we really must get serious about planning.

It would help if we could just get a good idea of what will happen in the future. Unfortunately there seems to be a shortage of dependable predicting these days.

Some will argue that forecasting in the 21st century is particularly difficult because of the rapid rate of change. American politics, technology, and society have all evolved so much in recent years, it’s nearly impossible to see what will happen next. But, as this 1900 article shows, it’s possible to make some fairly reliable predictions even in the middle of disruptive times.

Americans at the turn of the century had seen change on a scale we might appreciate today. The U.S. was just starting to realize the global power of its wealth. Progressive politics was changing government and society. And technology was introducing such epoch-defining products as the telephone, the automobile, the phonograph, and the motion picture.

Yet even in this unprecedented age, Otis Tufton Mason managed to accurately predict home life in the future. A curator at the Smithsonian Institution in 1900 (like John Elfreth Watkins, another uncanny predictor) Mason’s “The Dwelling House of the Twentieth Century” described some of the features of the American home in 1950.

• Central power: Electrical energy “comes in a single current through a heavy wire from a distributing station, and on the premises is split up as required for heating, for lighting, for cooking, etc.” A network of copper wires runs through the home, hidden behind moldings and decoration, to carry power for lights, heaters, and appliance throughout the house.

• Central heating: Instead of shoveling coal into a furnace, homeowners would only have to “set the automatic governor of the heating apparatus at seventy-two degrees, let us say, and the temperature of the whole establishment is maintained at that point for months.”

• Central air conditioning: Cooling will be just as common as heating. It, too, would be “perfectly automatic” so that a single control would keep the temperature always at the same point.

• Modern lighting: Rooms would no longer be illumined by a single, bare gas jet in the middle of the ceiling, leaving one part of a room bright and the rest in relative darkness. Instead, electric bulbs would provide shaded and indirect light for “a warm and cheerful glow” throughout a room.

• Better food packaging: Women would buy groceries in “insect-proof packages” and store perishable food items in a electronically cooled storage compartment.” (This was still the age of iceboxes; the modern refrigerator wasn’t even developed for another 13 years.)

• The energy-efficient kitchen: No more smoke, coal, ashes, or fire that needed constant tending and feeding. “No time is lost in kindling fires. … When a meal is to be prepared, the current is turned on by a twist of a button, and immediately the electric range is ready for service.” And many kitchen chores, like mixing and beating, would be performed by electric appliances.

• Modern furniture: The massive, Victorian-era furniture would be long gone. In its place, would be tables, chairs, and dressers made of the lightest material possible so they can be easily moved and will take up far less space. (They will also decorate their homes with “photographs in natural colors.”)

• Cleaner roads: Automobiles—vastly superior and safer—would replace horses, eliminating the problem of manure, which bred flies and spread disease.

• Environmental concerns: Homeowners would consider the air and water around their home as part of their property, and would regard other people’s smoke or pollution “as an infringement and a cause of action for trespass.”

Mason was certainly not infallible. He predicted homes would be cooled by “liquid air” instead of refrigeration. Homes would not include cellars because occupants no longer needed storage space for coal or firewood. Most Americans would still rely on domestic servants and use elevators instead of stairs.

Still, more than 60 percent of his predictions proved correct—an average any modern forecaster would be proud of.

Classic Covers: The New Year’s Diet

Around 45 percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. And No. 1 on the list? Lose weight! But as celebrated Post covers over the years show us, this is nothing new.

Reduce to Music

 Reduce to Music Frederic Stanley August 2, 1924

Reduce to Music
Frederic Stanley
August 2, 1924

 

Reduce to Music was the third of 17 covers Frederic Stanley (1892-1967) created for the Post. But his work might never have come to fruition if the self-taught artist hadn’t been willing to take a big risk.

Young Stanley, who worked as a mechanic by trade and created art in his free time, carried some of his paintings to New York with an ultimatum attached: If the paintings sold, he would devote his life to art; if they didn’t, he would remain a mechanic at his brother’s Massachusetts Buick agency. As it turned out, his brother soon had to post a vacancy. Not only did Stanley sell his work, he returned home with a contract for three more pieces.

In the mid-1940s, Stanley took a break from his successful career to recover from meningitis. Penicillin—only recently available to the public—saved his life, but the illness took its toll, and for a year he made no attempts to paint. When he returned to his canvas, he focused on portraiture of prominent citizens. His first client was H. Nelson Jackson, a wealthy physician, who along with Sewall K. Crocker became the first men to drive an automobile across the United States in 1903. Stanley was working on his final portrait of the Governor of Florida at the time of his death.


Former Figure

Former Figure Amos Sewell January 26, 1957

Former Figure
Amos Sewell
January 26, 1957

 

“Ah, the lighthearted, light everything-else years when Mrs. Portleigh was constructed like that!” wrote Post editors of this unforgettable 1957 cover. Since the editorial staff enjoyed noting foibles of cover illustrators, they added that artist Amos Sewell (1901-1983) “borrowed that dress form in Westport, Connecticut, and walked to his car with it under his arm, and nobody gave him the raspberry. In artist colonies people evidently become shockproof.”

At the time San Francisco-born Sewell painted this cover, he had been living in New York for more than 27 years. But he certainly took the long way from San Francisco to arrive in the Big Apple: via the Panama Canal, he worked on a lumber boat to pay his way to the big city where he would launch his career as a commercial artist. After arriving in New York, he studied at the Art Students League and at the Grand Central School of Art under renowned artist and instructor, Harvey Dunn.

Sewell produced hundreds of story illustrations for the Post and its sister publication, The Country Gentleman, often depicting children. Beginning in 1949, he did 45 Post covers until 1962, when the magazine turned to mostly photographic covers.


Soda Fountain Dieter

Soda Fountain Dieter Stevan Dohanos January 30, 1954

Soda Fountain Dieter
Stevan Dohanos
January 30, 1954

 

The life of Stevan Dohanos (1907-1944), the artist of this 1954 cover, reads like a classic American rags-to-riches success story. He was born third of nine children to Hungarian immigrants, and worked an odd number of jobs before settling into the steel mill where his father was employed.

In fact, it was at the steel mill where he began selling crayon-colored copies of famous artists’ work to fellow employees for $2 to $3 a piece. Copies of Norman Rockwell’s early Post covers quickly became his best sellers. Later Dohanos reflected on that time in his autobiography American Realist: “I did not know then that years later I would produce art for the famous Saturday Evening Post and Rockwell would become a personal friend.” Nor had he dreamed that, like Rockwell, he would become one of America’s most successful illustrators.


Working Out

Working Out Kurt Ard March 14, 1959

Working Out
Kurt Ard
March 14, 1959

 

“Every boy has a spell of yearning to resemble Hercules or Tarzan or some other bulging being,” wrote Post editors of this 1959 cover. “To accomplish this he yearns for fairly expensive gadgets, scorning his father’s theory that a superb body can be built with a snow shovel or a spade. … Kurt Ard purchased those awesome exercisers, but you needn’t feel sorry for his model—the expanded springs were fastened to the studio walls and all the lad had to exercise was his face.”

According to the editors, Danish artist Kurt Ard (1925-present) sought modeling volunteers “in the streets, parks, or by posting ads in the papers—and one day a lovely girl named Ulla answered an ad. She became his best model, then his best girl, then his wife.”

Working Out was one of seven covers Ard created for the Post. He sold his first magazine illustration in Scandinavia for $1.43 when he was 17. By age 31, he had more than 1,000 illustrations in Europe’s top-flight magazines.


No Desserts

No Desserts Constantin Alajalov March 12, 1949

No Desserts
Constantin Alajalov
March 12, 1949

 

Russian-born artist Constantin Alajálov (1900-1987) was discussing cover ideas with a Post staffer while dining in a New York restaurant: “I was thinking of doing one about a stout lady in a cafeteria,” Alajálov said. “She’s on a strict reducing diet, see, and she has to carry her tray past a long line of fancy desserts.”

From concept to reality. The result of that dinner conversation was this entertaining 1949 cover accompanied by an amusing quip from the editors: “The plight of the stout lady is agonizing indeed, but not much more so than that of our representative as he ate with Alajálov that night. Our man was on a diet, and Alajálov is one of those slim people who can eat their way through the richest dishes on a menu without ever gaining a pound.”

Considering how brilliant and lighthearted Alajálov’s covers are, you may find it hard to believe that the illustrator began as a government artist, painting huge propaganda portraits and posters during the Russian Revolution. By age 21, he had made his way to Constantinople—at the time a refugee haven—where he sketched portraits in bars and created murals for nightclubs, managing to save enough money to pay his way to America in 1923. In New York, he was still painting murals, until he landed his first New Yorker cover and shortly after the first of many for the Post.



A Year in Review: The Top 10 Stories of 2012

Year in Review: 2012

It’s been a great year for the Post, editorially speaking. We’ve covered a broad range of issues, from hot-button political topics like the wealth gap and social security to unique finds in our archives on mysterious crimes, the Titanic, and Rockwell paintings.

Amidst the trove of content we’ve provided our readers in the last 12 months, 10 stories had more traffic on our website and social media than all the rest. Here are the Post‘s top stories of 2012.


    1. The Cholesterol Conundrum

Statin drugs benefit some people immensely but are taken by millions more. If you’re at low risk for heart disease, taking drugs to lower your cholesterol may be doing you no good. Is it time we took a second look at statins?

Sharon Begley examines the pros and cons of the statin pill push, and finds that many doctors are staunchly against their widespread use.
Read more »

    1. The Boy in the Box: Still Unsolved after 55 Years

Despite a half-century of inquiry, the circumstances surrounding the death of an 8-year-old boy are still a mystery. What makes this case even more bizarre is that this boy, by all accounts, never existed. To this day his name, birthplace, and even his lineage are unknown.
Read more »

    1. Classic Covers: Rockwell Kids of the ’40s

Thinking of taking the plunge? That’s exactly why director Steven Spielberg keeps this Rockwell painting in his office.

Historian and archivist Diana Denny divulges interesting facts about the models, the climate of the era, and Rockwell himself.
Read more »

    1. From our Archives: How You Can Survive an A-Bomb Blast

This 1950 article claims that, in the event of an atomic bomb, “there are protective measures you can take—and proof that the blast is not always so fatal and frightful as you think.”
Read more »

    1. The Organic Food Paradox

As consumers increasingly demand organic produce, and as massive industrial farms rise to meet their needs, will it spell the end of the family-run, lovingly tended, earth-friendly farm?

Barry Yeoman analyzes the challenges and pitfalls grocers and small organic farms alike face in the wake of the growing demand for healthier foods.
Read more »

    1. Rockwell: The War Years

In honor of Memorial Day, we gathered some of Norman Rockwell’s most iconic art from both world wars.
Read more »

    1. The Inevitable Tragedy of the Titanic

One hundred years after the Titanic sank, we explore the Post‘s 1912 editorial on the great tragedy. Were the British and American governments to blame for the 1,500 deaths? Our coverage explored the oversights, shortcomings, and outrage in the wake of the ocean liner’s horrific end.
Read more »

    1. Social Security

You’ve heard the rumors. Here are the facts. The Post examines the timeline of social security from its advent, parsing why it was started, what it aimed to do, how it helped Americans, and why there’s such a fuss about it in the current political climate.
Read more »

    1. America’s Painful Divide

The country is polarized and embattled to the point of dysfunction. What will it take to bring us back together?

A self-described “one-time liberal atheist,” Jonathan Haidt discusses the differences between conservative and liberal worldviews, how he came to understand the other side, and asks whether or not this country can find a tolerant middle ground.
Read more »

    1. America’s Grand Hotels

Betsa Marsh took Post readers to the somewhat forgotten land of stately, grand hotels, where unlike today’s varieties, the opulence comes from the resort’s history and refined elegance, not its glitz and glamour. To stay at any of these lodgings is to venture back to another, more genteel time.
Read more »

Innovations in Heart Health

Heart Health

Miniature electronics that power smartphones and gaming consoles are sparking new innovations in cardiology. Wireless devices monitor the heart 24/7 to save lives in specialized hospital units. Now, the sophisticated gizmos are standing watch over heart patients after they go home.

Today’s tiny implants monitor blood flow or heart rhythm, among other key measures. Then, when something goes wrong, the device signals a medical professional and alerts the patient to seek help immediately. Research proves that implanted heart failure monitors reduce hospitalizations and improve outcomes. Pacemaker and defibrillator monitors with wireless communication features routinely perform checkups without a trip to the doctor’s office.

On the horizon: an early warning system to detect heart attacks before symptoms occur, ensuring the best, most timely treatment possible. Clinical trials of the AngelMed Guardian device (the ALERTS study) are recruiting patients at nearly 80 study locations nationwide.

Room at the Inn

Joy to the Word by Norman Rockwell (December 6, 1930)
Joy to the Word
Norman Rockwell
December 6, 1930
Get this framed at Art.com

Returning home to New York from the Philadelphia offices of The Saturday Evening Post in 1930, Norman Rockwell was a happy man. Editor George Horace Lorimer had OK’d the artist’s sketch for the December 6, 1930, Christmas cover.

Lorimer’s initials “GHL” gave the artist the green light to assemble models and start the painting as soon as he arrived back in his studio. The illustration was to feature the word “Christmas” below two 16th-century guards breaking protocol by dancing in the snow while observing indoor festivities at a roadside inn.

But as Norman positioned props and began the project, he noticed that his two models—Walter Botts and Rockwell’s ex-brother-in-law and close friend, Howard O’Connor—weren’t enthused about the idea. Truth be told, Rockwell’s own passion for the project was also waning.

With the Great Depression now in its 10th month, American citizens were struggling. The revelry in the proposed scene seemed wrong. Rockwell decided to change the idea, and he invited his models and his wife Mary to speak up. Mary underscored how inspirational her husband’s covers were to American families all across the country, how it was his responsibility to lift them up in hard times. Then Walter chimed in with the story of his parents’ hospitality. They were innkeepers in Sullivan, Indiana, providing shelter and food to homeless job-seekers.

That story triggered an idea. Walter would pose as this lone, cold, 16th-century guard standing outside a roadside inn, peering through a depressed arch window at those celebrating the Christmas season. The focus shifted perspective from the haves to the have-nots. When the message reached Lorimer, he quickly approved the change.

Editor’s note: We’ve gathered 114 spectacular Christmas illustrations by Rockwell and other beloved artists from The Saturday Evening Post in a special 128-page holiday edition of the magazine on sale now!

Jimmy Stewart’s Finest Performance

Jimmy Stewart
Maj. Jimmy Stewart talking with the crew of a B-24 named "Betty." Photo courtesy Library of Congress

No movie is more closely associated with the Christmas season than It’s a Wonderful Life. For many people, it is the essential holiday movie, and the role they most closely associate with Jimmy Stewart.

In many ways, Stewart was very much like the character of George Bailey—the congenial, folksy manager of the Bailey Building and Loan Association. But there was far more depth to the actor than his movie roles suggested, as Post readers learned in December 1945. “Jimmy Stewart’s Finest Performance,” written by Colonel Beirne Lay Jr., showed a side of the actor that had been largely kept out of the press: Colonel James Stewart of the 445th Bomber Group.

Despite being overage and underweight, Stewart was able to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941 on the strength of his flying experience. He’d received his pilot’s license in 1935, and already had 400 hours of flying time by the beginning of the war.

The armed forces were glad to sign up celebrities. Young men were encouraged to enlist when they saw famous musicians and movie stars in uniform. But the military was careful to keep the big names away from the shooting. A celebrity killed in action might discourage potential recruits. So movies stars, like Robert Taylor, Henry Fonda, and Mickey Rooney, served in uniform but saw little, if any, combat.

Clark Gable was one of the few exceptions. After enlisting in the Air Force, and completing the training, he served as a gunner on missions over Germany in a B-17.

The odds were against Stewart ever seeing combat. He was a particularly valuable property, having just won the Oscar for Best Actor after his performance in The Philadelphia Story. But Stewart was determined to fly in combat, and continued his training throughout 1942. It was only when the rest of his training unit shipped to Europe and he remained as a trainer-pilot in Boise, Idaho, that he realized the truth.

Jimmy Stewart, D-Day
The Big Moment: As operations officer at a B-24 Liberator base in England, the then Major Stewart distributes the flight forms to heavy-bomber pilots for the all-important D-Day mission. Photo courtesy The Saturday Evening Post.

Fortunately, he was able to get his commander to intercede and get him a commission with a bomber group flying B-24s. In October 1943, his unit arrived at its airfield in Norfolk, England. Over the next year, he flew 20 missions into Germany, dodging intense anti-aircraft fire and Luftwaffe fighter planes in the most intense, and costly, air combat ever seen.

According to several accounts, Stewart wasn’t just a good pilot. He was exceptional. The Air Corps, recognizing his flying skill and ability to command, gave him the lead in several of the 1,500-plane raids into Germany. He helped plan the bombing missions and often conducted the briefings for pilots, where he would use his skills as a performer to liven up the sessions and keep the aviators’ attention. Walter Matthau, then a sergeant with the squadron, would sit through Stewart’s briefing because they were so entertaining.

He was also careful and meticulous. He would sit through briefings twice to make sure he had heard all the details.

Jimmy Stewart
Just back from Germany, Stewart reports on the mission. Photo courtesy The Saturday Evening Post.

But he wasn’t immune to the fears. Colonel Low knew how the pressure mounted on the pilot-actor with each mission. Stewart began suffering from recurring nightmares, and his digestion was so upset he often lived on just ice cream and peanut butter.

He admitted to Low that, in February 1944, he was convinced he would die in the next day’s bombing run. But he took off anyway, fought his way deep into Germany and returned, bringing himself and his crew unharmed back to the base.

He returned to Hollywood in the spring of 1945. The first acting job he accepted was the role of George Bailey—a nice, idealistic guy who selflessly puts his life on hold while he takes care of others.

You might gain a new appreciation for Stewart’s acting talent the next time you watch It’s a Wonderful Life and remember, one year earlier, he was flying through fierce anti-aircraft fire and seeing his comrades shot out of the sky. Yet he still seems the boyish character he’d always played. You can’t even tell how his hair had been tinted to cover all the gray he’d picked up since The Philadelphia Story.


Read more about Stewart’s military experiences in “Jimmy Stewart’s Finest Performance” from the Post archive.


Classic Art: (Nearly) Forgotten Christmas Art

Beautiful art deserves to be remembered and enjoyed. We’ve found Christmas illustrations from Country Gentleman and Ladies’ Home Journal magazines, which were sister publications of the Post for many years.

Romantic Skate

Romantic Skate Manning de V. Lee December 1, 1937

Romantic Skate
Manning de Villeneuve Lee
December 1, 1937

 

While searching the archives for holiday covers, we’ve come across many joyful Santas, bustling shoppers, and even post-holiday scenes. So, it’s not often that we find a romantic Christmas cover in the bunch, but this 1937 illustration by Manning de Villeneuve Lee (1894-1980) fills the bill admirably.

At the time this sentimental cover was created, the artist and his wife (Eunice Celeste Sandoval) had been married for 25 years. Together they created children’s books; Manning Lee did the illustration and his wife wrote them (under the pen name Tina Lee). They also created artwork for Jack and Jill, a children’s magazine from the same publisher as The Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman magazines.


Main Street at Christmas

Main Street at Christmas Peter Helck December 1, 1944

Main Street at Christmas
Peter Helck
December 1, 1944

 

From the 1920s through the 1940s, Helck was a successful magazine illustrator and advertising artist, writes Timothy Helck, a grandson of the artist, who maintains a website dedicated to his grandfather. The website shows examples of Peter Helck’s work, including complex industrial scenes for National Steel and beautifully executed automotive paintings done for Esquire magazine in 1944.

Helck created two other covers for Country Gentleman; both, appropriately designed for the rural American magazine, were farm scenes. He did 20 illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post, and many of these were for fictional stories on auto racing. Helck, who grew up in the late 1890s and had followed auto racing since its infancy, authored and co-wrote several books and numerous articles on the subject. Some are still available today, including 1961’s The Checkered Flag and Great Auto Races and Grand Prizes from 1976. The Grand Prix History website gives an interesting overview of Helck’s lifelong involvement with the sport.


Drum for Tommy

Drum for Tommy Norman Rockwell December 17, 1921

Drum for Tommy
Norman Rockwell
December 17, 1921

 

Norman Rockwell did 35 Country Gentleman covers between 1917 and 1922. One reason he stopped in 1922 was the high demand for his work, a heady situation for an artist only in his mid-20s. In addition to The Saturday Evening Post covers (between 6 and 18 per year during the 1920s) and inside illustrations for Ladies’ Home Journal, Rockwell had a growing stable of advertising clients, including Interwoven Socks, Jell-O, and Edison Mazda Lamps, among several others. In the 1920s, he also began illustrating calendars for Boy Scouts of America, the beginning of a 50-year relationship with that organization.

Although his Santa covers for The Saturday Evening Post (which started the year after this 1921 cover) became classics, this jolly old elf is less well known. It is the only Country Gentleman Rockwell Santa.


Baby’s First Christmas

Baby’s First Christmas Haddon Sundblom December 1, 1929

Baby’s First Christmas
Haddon Sundblom
December 1, 1929

 

Artist Haddon Sundblom (1899-1976), who was born in Michigan to a Swedish family, was best known for the classic Santa Claus he painted for Coca-Cola ads from the 1930s through the 1960s, he was also well recognized for pin-up art in calendars. In fact, his last assignment was a Playboy cover in 1972.

Because of the popularity of his later work, it is easy to forget Sundblom did anything in his pre-Coca-Cola days. But his earlier work, like this 1929 Country Gentleman cover, “Baby’s First Christmas,” should be remembered for its impressionistic style. His technique was inspired by, among others, artists Howard Pyle and John Singer Sargent, and is described on Leif Peng’s blog as “first stroke,” using the fewest strokes possible to depict a subject. Peng shows several beautiful examples of Sundblom’s paintings using this technique.


Simeon and the Christ Child

Simeon and the Christ Child Ladies Home Journal, December 1921

Simeon and the Christ Child
Marion Boyd Allen
December 1921

 

In the Gospel of Luke, God promised Simeon, a righteous and devout man, that before his death, he would see the Christ child. Simeon took the child into his arms and blessed him. From Rembrandt to children’s illustrators, the biblical scene of Simeon and the Christ child has had many manifestations. We recently discovered this image in our archives from the December 1921 Ladies’ Home Journal.

This beautiful rendition of Simeon is by Marion Boyd Allen (1862-1941). Also well established as a portrait painter, Allen preferred the vertical format to horizontal, even for nature scenes. The website McDougall Fine Arts shares an intriguing story about Allen’s landscape painting.


Ernest Borgnine’s Italian Pevronatta

You’ll need a very large, sturdy pan for this veggie-laden recipe, but it’ll be well worth the effort when you taste this flavorful pasta sauce. The recipe calls for 10 green bell peppers, but you can reduce the number of peppers for a milder dish.

Ernest Borgnine’s Italian Pevronatta

Ernest Borgnine(Makes 6 to 8 servings)

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pan or Dutch oven, cook sausage and ground sirloin over high heat until well browned.
  2. When meat is cooked, add peppers, mushrooms, onion, and garlic.
  3. Cook until vegetables are tender.
  4. Stir in spaghetti sauce, parsley, salt, and pepper.
  5. Stir wine into spaghetti sauce and heat to boiling over high heat.
  6. Reduce heat to low; cover partially and simmer 20 to 25 minutes, or until thickened.
  7. Skim off and discard fat.
  8. Serve with pasta.


See also, Shirley MacLaine’s Gourmet Lamb Stew.

Reprinted from Jay Christian’s Hollywood Celebrity Recipes © 2011. All rights reserved. Available on Amazon.com and hollywoodcelebrityrecipes.com.

Help for Dry Hands

Dry Hands

Hands can get chapped when washed and exposed to air—warm or cold. While no single treatment delivers a quick and permanent cure, here’s help to safeguard your skin’s natural moisturizers and keep hands healthy all year from Barbara R. Reed, MD, Clinical Professor of Dermatology at University Hospital Denver, and dermatologist at Denver Skin Clinic.

So you did all that, but you’re still having chapped hands? First, apply cream. Then, slip on damp cotton gloves. Finally, cover hands with latex gloves or a plastic bag, and wear for a few hours during the day or at night. For significant redness, try an anti-inflammatory cream such as Cort-Aid or Cortizone several times daily. Last resort: see your doctor.

Beaded Friendship Bracelet

Beaded Friendship Bracelet

Handmade jewelry makes a beautiful and unique gift. And if you’re willing to do a bit of research, you can find quality materials at reasonable prices. I purchased the beads for this tutorial at a local shop that offers me great discounts because I’m a regular customer. Besides showing company loyalty, buying your supplies in bulk may also offer great savings on beads.

I’ll be using my bargain beads in the tutorial below, but feel free to use different colors and shapes to give your friendship bracelet a personal touch.

Beaded Friendship Bracelet

Materials

Tools

Directions

  1. Decide how long you want your bracelet to be and add 6″. Cut your wire, making a knot close to the end of the wire on one side to act as the bead stopper.
  2. Using your bead board or towel, lay out beads in the pattern you want for your bracelet. String all your beads onto the beading wire.
  3. Beads on bead board for beaded friendship bracelet

  4. To attach the clasp, string on a crimp bead and half of the clasp. Turn your wire to push it back through the crimp bead. Check the fit of your bracelet and add/remove beads as needed.
  5. beads, crimp bead, and magnetic clasp on wire

  6. Using your fingers, grip and bend the beading wire at the clasp and push the crimp bead up against the clasp, but not too tightly. You want the clasp to move freely once it is secure. Continue to push the wire through the next 2 or 3 beads, trim wire to leave no tail, and push all beads snug against the crimp bead.
  7. beads, crimp bead, and magnetic clasp on wire

  8. Using the “tooth” of the crimp pliers, press the crimp bead to flatten the crimp and crease the center. Move the bead to the next hole in pliers and gently press to fold and round the flattened crimp. Your wire is now secured.
  9. crimp bead in crimp pliers

  10. At knotted end of wire, use wire cutters to clip off the knot. Repeat the crimp and clasp process.
  11. cutting bead wire with wire cutter

  12. Do not bend the beading wire at the clasp until you have pulled the wire through the next two or three beads and pulled the wire snug with the remaining bracelet beads, eliminating any excess wire in the length of the bracelet. This time you will have a tail outside the second or third bead from pulling the wire tight. When you have secured the clasp, use wire cutters or fine point scissors, if you wish, to remove wire tail.
  13. hands holding beads, crimp bead, and magnetic clasp on wire

    Congratulations on your new creation!

    Beaded Friendship Bracelet


Christmas Crafts

Create your own gifts and holiday decor this season with these easy Christmas crafts.


Ball ornaments

Decorative Paper and Bead Ball Ornaments

These beautiful, decorative balls are so fun and easy to make using decorative paper punches.


Decorative Gift Card Envelope

Decorative Gift Card Envelopes

Use these cute little gift card envelopes to adorn your holiday packages.


Button Snowman Gift Tag

Button Snowmen Gift Tags

Recycle your buttons and scrap card stock into these festive, easy to make snowmen gift tags.


four fabric-covered cards

Fabric-Covered Greeting Cards

You can use these decorated greeting cards at Christmas or year round. It’s a great way to use up some of your left over fabric scraps!


Clothespin Santa Ornament hanging in Christmas tree

Santa Ornaments

Decorate your Christmas tree or holiday gift bags with these adorable handmade Santa ornaments.

Fabric-Covered Greeting Cards

four fabric-covered cards

This is a little tutorial on making fabric-covered cards. I’m sure you can find lots of uses for these, maybe even using them as gift cards with your Christmas presents. Plus, it is a great way to use up some of your left over fabric scraps.

I am demonstrating making small gift cards, but you could easily adjust this technique to make larger greeting cards. This idea is adapted from a tutorial on Etsy, which you can access here. The main difference between the Etsy method and mine is that they used Modge Podge to make their cards, which I found messy and not as effective at keeping the edges adhered. 

Fabric-Covered Greeting Cards

Materials

Tools

Directions

  1. Cut the fusible web slightly smaller than 8 ½” x 11″, then adhere it to the wrong side of your fabric scrap. Trim roughly. Then remove fusible paper and adhere fabric to cardstock.
  2. Take a ¼” off each long side, and ½” off each short side,  You will be doing some more trimming after the next step. 
  3. Fold the piece of paper in half, short sides together, parallel to the grain.
  4. folded fabric-covered card stock

  5. The direction you fold paper is actually very important as to how smooth the fold will be. That is because paper has a grain line, much like the warp and weft in a fabric weave. If you fold parallel to the grain, you will get a nice, smooth fold with little to no resistance. If you fold against the grain, you will get resistance, and the paper may actually break or tear on the fold. You can test which is the right way to fold by gently bending the sheet of paper in both directions. The wrong direction will feel more resistant to your fold.
  6. Open your first fold, and use the middle fold line as a guide. Fold again in the same direction, one short side to the middle as pictured below. Now cut through both thicknesses along the middle edge. These trimming steps are to make the card even on all sides. It is hard to make the edges even if the card is trimmed first and then folded. Trust me, I’ve tried.
  7. You will now be working with half of your original sheet of paper, folded in half. Slice this strip into 2″ pieces.
  8. cutting fabric-covered card stock

  9. Repeat steps for the second side of the piece of paper.

You could also print on the cardstock before adhering fabric, as I have done on these little thank you cards. And you could trim the card edges with a decorative blade to get some nice effects. I’m sure you can come up with more ideas for this technique. Maybe add some stitching or embellishment?
  10. business card with fabric-covered back


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Button Snowmen Gift Tags

Button Snowman Gift Tag

Recycle your buttons and scrap card stock into these easy snowmen gift tags!

Button Snowmen Gift Tags

Materials

Tools

Directions

  1. Cut white card stock into a 2 ½” square. With hole puncher, make a hole in corner. Pull string or ribbon through. Cut red card stock smaller than the white piece, and punch or cut a 2″ circle.
  2. With double stick tape, tape each piece in place.
  3. Cardstock for Button Snowman Gift Tag

  4. Cut a small black felt hat that fits the button you are using for the head.
  5. Tie a small red bow from string or ribbon.
  6. Using a smaller button for the snowman’s head, place the buttons on the green circle, turning the smaller button (head) so the two holes are sideways, and the holes on the larger button (body) go up and down. Glue in place with tacky glue. Then, glue on hat and small bow. With the white gel pen, draw stick arms and small hanging heart on the paper, next to the body button.
  7. materials for Button Snowman Gift Tag

    I think they are cute enough to hang on the Christmas tree, too!

    Button Snowman Gift Tag


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Decorative Gift Card Envelopes

I like to send a thank-you card and my business card or magnet with orders I send out, and these are perfect. You could also use these little gift card envelopes to adorn your holiday packages.

Decorative Gift Card Envelopes

Materials

Tools

Directions

  1. Cut your sheet of paper into quarters (each will now be 4.25″ x 5.5″).
  2. Cutting paper for Decorative Gift Card Envelope

  3. Using the edge of your cutting mat for sizing (or a ruler) fold short edges so that they overlap in the center and width is reduced to 2.5″.
  4. Folded paper for Decorative Gift Card Envelope

  5. With wax paper underneath to protect your work surface, run a glue stick down top overlap edge, and bottom long edge. Fold short overlap edges to center, and then fingerpress to secure glued edges.
  6. Folded paper and glue stick for Decorative Gift Card Envelope

  7. Now fold bottom edge up about a half inch, run glue along the inside, and press to secure.
  8. Decorative Gift Card Envelope paper and glue stick

  9. All that is left to do now is edge punch the open end of your envelope through both layers at once.
  10. Decorative Gift Card Envelope and cut tool

    Voila! You will probably want to make a bunch because they are easy and fun, and they look fab!

    Decorative Gift Card Envelope and cut tool


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Decorative Paper and Bead Ball Ornaments

ball ornaments

Making these beautiful balls is so fun and fast using decorative paper punches! Every year I like to have a holiday party just for the girls, and what would a party be without a party favor? These are this year’s party favor!

You could use a bowl of the flower balls to match your home’s decor. I love them just in a large glass bowl! It’s a fun and inexpensive way to add color and texture to your coffee table.

Decorative Paper and Bead Ball Ornaments

Materials

Tools

Directions

  1. Start by choosing your paint colors, and paint foam balls. I find it’s easier and faster to stick a toothpick into the ball, paint the ball, and then stick it into foam sheet or cardboard box to dry (the toothpick hole will be covered with flowers). You do want a good coat of paint, but remember you will be covering it with flowers.
  2. painted styrofoam balls

  3. While the balls are drying, start punching your shapes from the card stock paper. I tried to count them when I was making this 3″ ball, and I had around 80 flowers. The number of shapes you punch will depend on how close together you want to put them. Since I was making about 75 covered balls, I just punched each of the colors I wanted to use, and put them in bags. When I ran out of a certain color, I just punched more.
  4. covering ball ornament with punch-flowers, beads, and pins

    Tip: I found velum paper works well—I used velum paper for the snowflake balls, shown below—and it’s a beautiful look. It comes in colors like red, gold, and silver.

    Think about choosing different punch patterns: hearts, snowflakes, two different sizes of flowers. What shapes do you have?

    Christmas ball ornaments

  5. Pick your bead color, slide one bead onto the pin, and stick it on a punch shape. Now, I just pushed it right into the ball, but you could dip the end of the pin in Tacky glue if you felt like it needed it. Since I was making so many, I found it easier to slide the bead and flower on, make a bowl full of them, and then put them on the balls.

    sticking pin in ornament

    I found the sequin pins from Jo Ann Fabrics for 99 cents for 300, and of course I used a coupon. But any thin, straight pin will work. You just have to make sure the bead you use as your center will slide on and stay on. I also found that if the card stock was super thick (like some of the heavy glitter ones from Michael’s) it was too hard to punch and way too hard to push a pin through—just thought you should know!

    Remember, it’s up to you to choose how close together to put the flowers. It gives you a different look when the flowers are on top of each other. If you do not glue the pin into the ball, it’s no problem to move the flower pin around, which you might need to do when you are fitting in the last ones.

  6. To make a hanger, I’m using an eye pin (which is used to make jewelry), but it works well for this project. You can also use wire. First, slide the seed bead on, then a flower. Dip the end of the pin in Tacky glue and push it into the ball. Tie fishing line or ribbon onto the pin, and hang your ornament!
  7. sticking eye pin in ball ornament

    Did you know you can get the foam in oval or egg shapes to use as Easter eggs? How much fun! How about making a topiary? Cover one or two large balls with flowers, wrap a wooden dowel rod to use as the stem, and place it in any vase or pot. Could be so pretty for a baby shower or a bridal shower center piece.

    Ball ornaments


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Mae’s Street

Winter Street

It was late. Mae finally put on her nightgown and sat down in her favorite chair by the front window for her nightly cup of tea. The snow had started falling a short while ago, and already everything was blanketed in white. The flakes were so big and heavy, she could pick out individual flakes and watch them as they fell and melded in with the others. She loved the snow. She loved the way the earth fell silent and sounds were muffled and distant. She loved how the glow from the streetlights shined like halos around the lamps and illuminated the snowflakes as they fell. It was a perfect Christmas Eve. Silent night, holy night, all is quiet, all is bright, she thought.

This was Mae’s street. She felt like she owned the entire street, along with her neighbors, whom she loved—each and every one of them. Eighty-six years she’d lived on this street. She remembered herself as a little girl watching in wonder from the same window—from the same chair—the snow falling in great soft sheets as it covered the roofs of the same porches and steps.

At one time Mae’s parents had owned all the land on the block where she lived and several blocks beyond that. As a child she’d watched as the land was subdivided, houses were built, and families moved into new homes with the excitement of starting fresh. She had watched as concrete for the sidewalks was poured and streets were paved. Her first friends had lived on this street, and they spent long summer days playing hopscotch down the sidewalks and hide-’n’-seek through the construction sites.

All her childhood friends had grown up, married, and moved away. But no matter. New families had come to the neighborhood. She was always the first to knock at their doors with a pie or a plate of cookies, ready to share the stories of the neighborhood. She wanted them to know they had moved to a special street—a kind street.

As Mae looked out at her street this Christmas Eve she marveled how, when buried in snow, everything looked almost the same as it had when she was 9 years old. Without the snow, the houses showed the weight of their 80-plus years. The porches sagged, and there wasn’t a house on the street that couldn’t use a good paint job. The families had changed, too. Betty Olson was raising her grandson—her daughter had married a scumbag and was now hooked on meth. Next door were the Sanchezes, and Mae could hear them screaming at each other most Saturday mornings. There was a permanent path across her lawn where the children cut the corner on their way to school. She didn’t mind. She’d been there. She knew what went on inside people’s houses. Life was hard. For a kid, cutting a corner across an old lady’s lawn is kind of fun. Sometimes she yelled at the kids to please use the sidewalk—only because that was kind of fun, too. She liked how they waved at her and blew her kisses. Sometimes she got the finger. That made her chuckle. Those little ones thought they were so tough! In the summer when she was in her garden, kids stopped by, and she let them pull carrots and eat peas. She always made sure her cookie jar was full. She loved her street.

As was her tradition, Mae had been up and down the street today delivering plates of her cookies, carefully wrapped in green cellophane, to each family on the block. The Mitchells didn’t have a Christmas tree that she could see. All three of the kids ran squealing to the door when she came with her gingerbread men and frosted bells, snowmen, and stars with sprinkles. She didn’t think there was probably much for presents this year. Owen lost his job six months ago and she thought maybe Wanda kicked him out of the house, as Mae hadn’t seen him around. It wouldn’t be the first time. It was tough for Wanda, trying to keep it all together with what she earned.

Mae had always watched the street from her window. At times, she’d tried to help. She offered to watch a sick child or would walk across the street to Lydia’s house and knock loudly and shout at the front door to make sure Lydia would wake up to get to her day job on time. But Mae’s efforts weren’t always appreciated. She understood that.

Mae didn’t have a Christmas tree either. In fact, other than her baking, Christmas didn’t come to her house. She watched the snow deepen outside her window, and her thoughts turned to Christmases past.

Her dad would put up a Christmas tree they cut fresh from the Beartooth Mountains. She and her mother decorated it with white ribbon bows, long strings of popcorn, and snowflakes cut from white paper. As the days got closer to Christmas, packages appeared under the tree. One year she received a guitar. That was a special year.

By the time Mae’s own children were born, her parents had passed, and she and John had moved back into her childhood home with the boys. Johnny was 4 and Timmy 2. She’d gone all out that Christmas. She purchased colored glass balls for the tree, and she and John carefully placed each strand of tinsel across the branches. They bought tricycles for the boys.

Mae reached up and pulled the pins from her hair and set them on the windowsill. She unwound the coil at the back of her head, and long gray strands of hair fell down her back. She sighed deeply and gazed at the houses on her street. Most were dark now. Yellow light filtered through the falling snow from the windows of a few houses. The houses blended into one another as the snow deepened and erased toys left on the sidewalks and junked cars in the yards. She liked to think the children were snuggled in their beds, just like the story. And, their parents were whispering softly as they filled Christmas stockings and brought presents out of hiding places. But she knew on her street Christmas was one more burden. In fact, she’d decided a long time ago that Christmas was more trouble than it was worth. For the parents on her street, there wasn’t enough time to make gifts or enough money to buy the kids the gifts they really wanted—gifts that would put them on equal footing with the other children at school. She was alone. John had passed away five years ago last October. They’d celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary the spring before he died. Johnny lived in D.C. He was a doctor. Worked for a V.A. hospital. He said the nurses always asked if she’d send her Christmas cookies. She’d mailed Christmas cookies to the hospital for 25 years or more, she figured. She wasn’t sure whether she’d send cookies next year. It wasn’t the baking that exhausted her, it was the packaging and standing in line at the post office. Just too much.