Make Mine a Double - Bar Carts

Welcome to 2014! Now that your headache has subsided and you're back to work, let's talk about one of my latest great loves: the bar cart. The portable party. Have you noticed it's everywhere lately? And why not? What a great little accent piece! Perhaps it became popular again in recent years due to shows like Mad Men. Could you imagine having a stocked bar in your office?

Image via 12thTable.com

And I feel like the classic cocktail culture is coming back like CRAZY, lately...Oh, and bachelors especially take note of this design trend...

Anyway, I got my very own bar cart for Christmas - the one from Target!  And I looooovvvvee it.

I wish this was my picture, but this is via Target.com

Bar carts are just so very chic. Especially stocked with gorgeous colored bottles and long, sexy-stemmed glassware. I don't even like gin, but you can bet my cart will have a big bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin because of that incredible blue bottle. And finally, a proper setting for my St. Germain, currently stashed in the pantry behind some Ruffles.

Image via Bowllicking.com

Oh, but that's not all. People have dedicated areas to their beloved bar carts, some decking them out like a prized poodle with pom poms and lighting and such. I also love to see how people decorate an otherwise plain canvas of wall space behind them. Amazeballs, People. Really. You inspire me.

Prop Stylist: Marcus Hay.  Image via PatBates.com

Image credit: Courtesy of the New Traditionalist via HGTV.com

Holy DIY project!  Check this one out!  Image via DailyHaley

Deborah Needleman in Lonny.  Image via Habitually Chic

Rustic/refined, traditional/modern, metal/wood, delicate/massive - there are options for every home and every decor.  And teetotalers! Deck yours out with tea, artisan waters and juices...maybe some potted succulents - voilà!

Not sure how to stock a bar cart?  Here are some ideas!

For more great bar cart inspiration, see my Pinterest board.  I add to it often, so be sure to follow me!

Free Font First Friday!

Oh wonder of wonders, what have I got this month?  Amazing beauties...but please note:  most of these fonts are for personal use only, so enjoy responsibly...

 My Underwood {} Southern Aire (Personal Use Only) {} Intaglio (Personal Use Only) {} Castro Script (Personal Use Only) {} Risque {} wmthe50s (Personal Use Only) {} Vintage One (Personal Use Only) {} Shipped Goods 2 (Personal Use Only) {} Foglihten No. 1

Free Retro Fonts! Free Font Friday

Friday, Saturday...whatever.
It's that time again.  Here's your latest batch of free retro, old school, and vintage-inspired fonts. 

 As always, be sure to check for copyright or usage restrictions, and donate when you can and should.

ARWEN - UrbanFonts.com {} Duke {} IFC Insane Rodeo {} Lavanderia {} Kelvinized {} Channel {} Muncie {} Cursif {} Betty Noir {} Langdon {} Metropolis 1920 {} Weston Light

Free Retro Fonts! Free Font Friday

Submitted for your perusal...some more free old school, antique, and retro-y fonts for your typographic needs.  I am making this a new series and hope to provide a warm, new batch of wonderful lettery lovelies every first Friday of the month - yea!!!

  

Oh, and thanks to the suggestion of Lobster by Aminah over at The Thrifty Gypsies!! ;)  Keep the suggestions coming...

Mailart Rubberstamp {} Lobster {} Cardinal-Alternate {} Dymaxion Script {} Riesling {} Airstream {} Forelle {} Mayflower Antique {} Legal Tender via Urban Fonts (link disabled by request)

Free Retro Fonts!

Do you like Retro fonts?  For free?  Me, too!  Who doesn't, am I right?  So here's just a handful of fun fonts circa the 1920's through the 1960's, from the classroom to the boardroom.  Use them in your newsletters, blogs, invitations, posters, etc. (always check the licensing fine print regarding commercial use, if necessary)!  Enjoy and remember, Google search 'free vintage fonts' and you'll be busy for days...

What's your retro font suggestion?

Learning Curve {} Matchbook {} Nouveau {} Trinigan FG {} Honey Script {} Quicksand {}Yesteryear {} Bazar, Medium

Back to the Future

What is cooler than old school visions of the future?  Nothing.  Nothing at all.

When I think about these often outlandish or over-reaching scenarios of human progression,  Heinz Kiessling's "Blue Blood" always pops in my head.  Enjoy.

Beep-beep-boop-beep.  This thing will call Mars but you get AM reception only...

I so want one of these.  I love that it has the same steering wheel as a 1962 Cadillac...

Space cadet.  You know this kid was popular.

Hold the phone, Martha!  You're telling me that's not a real wood Frigidaire??  Faux - what now?

Why play polo or water polo when you can play both at the same time.  Don't be a chump - Buttercup the former carousel pony is waiting...on a motor boat.

For more Space Age visions, see my Pinterest page.  Follow Me for this and more fun images...

What's your favorite illustration of the future, c. 1920's-1960's?  I'm sure there are some more real gems I've never seen, not to mention that that if we were to include the cinematic genre here, it could spark many a hilarious conversation...

A Relic of My Own...

I received a special gift today.  From my mother.  It's a card from "The White House" directed to my grandmother, Kate McCraw, of Boligee, Alabama.  It's a thank-you card, from the Kennedy Administration on behalf of "The President and Mrs. Kennedy" for my grandmother's "thoughtfulness and expression of sympathy at this time."  The postmark on the envelope is August 19, 1963.  Ten days after the sad loss of the Kennedys' two-day-old baby son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, due to respiratory distress syndrome.

From one mother to another - my grandmother had sent Jackie Kennedy a sympathy note...

It was a special time to receive this gift from my mother.  I didn't even know it existed.  Sadly, my paternal grandmother passed away yesterday.  Maybe that's why my mother may have been looking back through her own mother's keepsakes, remembering a woman who was both strong and sensitive.  I imagine what the Kennedy loss would have meant for my grandmother, a mother of four herself.  As a mother of two of my own, I could never imagine how truly horrible it would be to lose a child.

Unfortunately, this was not Jackie Kennedy's only tragedy this year.  A mere three months after this card was sent, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

In any case, while I find myself remembering my grandmother, a woman I was so very close to growing up, I am also so touched by this gift from my mother that I had to share it.  It really is beautiful.