Life Is An Adventure

Life is an adventure. Yup! It sure is. I will say this, winter was an adventure here at the cottage (our home). But it's over (thank heavens) and tomorrow marks the beginning of June. Ahhh, summer is my favourite season and it's off to a good start. We had our first cottage bonfire last night. Nothing like a bonfire to reconnect with cottage neighbours. Lots of laughs!

Then today we hit the shops since it had turned cold and started to rain. I was delighted to find this new flag. I really wanted the mini size one but they only had the large size. But that's ok because I have a cottage flag pole. I even found some Happy Camper duct tape at Michael's. I wish I could get Betty set up for the summer but right now she is doing double duty as our on-site storage unit. But that will change shortly when we get our bunkie. Stay tuned...

Code Red!

The Perfect Accessory

"Code red, code red!" That's what I say when a fly gets in the cottage or my trailer. I know you're probably thinking I'm crazy, but I cannot stand house flies. And don't even get me started on mosquitoes, LOL. My motto is, "If it flies, it dies." It's not so much that I am afraid of getting bitten, it's more that I don't like the thought of them in my kitchen (around my food). Which is a real problem in the trailer 'cause the kitchen is the bedroom is the dining room is the living room...So that's why this cute fly swatter hangs right by the door where I can easily grab it and swat anything that gets in!

Mr. Magee Cracks Me Up!

                                      

Last spring I was on a quest to find this children's book. I checked my local bookstore, but no luck. I called Scholastic, because I had seen a copy with their label on it. The clerk looked it up and said it had been 5 years since it had been on their order list. Rats! I had over $300 in my Scholastic bonus coupon bank and they didn't have the ONE book I wanted. I told my sad tale to the school librarian. About a month later she was purging some books and guess what ended up in the discard pile? Later that week the librarian presented me with a copy of A Camping Spree With Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen. Oh happy day! If you have never read this book before, you must! With rhyming text and hilarious illustrations, it's the perfect story for young children. And how adorable is that cover sporting a very stylish, vintage trailer?

Just Sayin'

                       

I think I must have discovered this little treasure on Pinterest. I know it comes across as a little bit rude, OK, a whole lot rude, but it still makes me laugh. You see, when I wanted a vintage trailer everyone kept saying, "But why do you want a trailer? You already have a cottage!" Apparently Maxine had run into these same people, haha.

Pillow Talk

As you probably know by now, I am a pillow person! Oh yes, the more pillows the better. Even my blog header features pillows! They are so quick and easy to make. For the white, flowered ones I just cut up a vintage embroidered runner. I was able to make two from the same runner. The easiest cushion I made involved folding a regular bed pillow in half, wrapping it with gingham fabric, and securing the ends with elastics. It's a great bolster pillow and I use it to fill in the gap between the end of my couch/gaucho bed and the wall. It's hard to spot in this photo as it is tucked in behind the flowered pillow (underneath the curtain).

If you are wondering about those large pillow shams, they are from the Bonheur collection by Brunelli. First I bought the shams, then I decided the reversible quilt would be a nice addition. Another day I picked up the bolster! A comfy bed in a vintage trailer is the best place to curl up for an afternoon nap :)

Teeny Tiny Trailer Tea Towel

One of the first things I made for my vintage trailer was this tea towel with a trailer motif.  I was inspired to make one after I read Sisters On The Fly by Irene Rawlings. I found a piece of striped fabric and cut out a trailer and window using a pattern that I free-handed. Then I used some "Stitch Witchery" to bond it to an old tea towel. I finished it off with a few running stitches to outline the window and door. A big red button serves as the tire. Lastly, I trimmed the towel with some ball fringe. I'd like to tell you it only took me  a few minutes, but that would be lying. I must be the slowest crafter because if my memory serves me correctly this took at least two hours to make :). Here's a close up:

Colorful Curtains

I was just looking over some of my trailer photos and it struck me that some people might think I own more than one trailer due to all the different curtains. No, just one tin can! That is more than enough to look after, LOL. Most of my curtains came from the local thrift store, that's why they're all a little different. The back window is covered with a white, lace trimmed valence, while the side windows sport tea towels. Huge expenditure here-- each towel cost $1.25!

Up front, in the dinette I have curtains that are made from a vintage fruit print table cloth (another thrift store find). It was painful to cut up that cloth, but I used every scrap of it! Some to make a cushion cover (see top photo) and some for tie-backs.
.

Lastly, another vintage valence with a fruit motif graces the front window. It may seem a bit busy but strangely enough all the colours and patterns seem to work.

Eye Chart Art

Here's a quick and easy craft to make. Just in case you need to test your eyes, make your very own eye chart! Go to http://www.eyechartmaker.com/ and type in your message. (I like to have a saying with 28 characters, otherwise it will add random letters at the end to fill it up to the maximum of 28.) Mine says "Happiness is a 69 vintage trailer". Then just print it off on scrapbook paper and frame it. My frame was purchased at the local thrift store and I gave it a couple of coats of Blue Ocean Mist by Krylon. Easy peasy!                                                                                   

                   

 

Camper Postage Stamp

Did you know that Canada has a postage stamp with a camper on it? I discovered this quite by accident last fall. How cute is that green VW camper with a red canoe on top, and our Canadian flag draped across the back window?

Nifty Feature

This is one of my favourite things about my trailer. The "kitchen" counter has a fold-up section to give you a little more space. You can see from the top photo that it is adjacent to my stove. If I remember correctly, it's about 16 inches wide. So when you are lounging in bed you have a great spot to put extra magazines, a cup of tea, etc. I'm telling you, these vintage trailers had some nifty features! How do you like my retro style LL Bean alarm clock?

My "American Beauty" Cushions

This is the what all the cushions in my trailer looked like when I bought it. The gaucho bed and the four dinette cushions were all upholstered in this gorgeous, serviceable, never-to-wear-out fabric! Apart from a few dog hairs they were as clean as a whistle. Partly, I am sure because they had been recovered in another layer of pretty, brown print cotton. It didn't take me too long to whip off those covers and place the cushions in the sun to air them out. As they were airing I made the decision to have then recovered. I called a local upholsterer and we met to review my options. Luckily, he had a sample of some red vinyl on hand so that made my decision very easy. This vinyl is easy to wipe clean and a perfect fit for my trailer that stays mostly at the shore. (Wet bathing-suits are not a problem with vinyl.) Now for the details...I only had my dinette cushions recovered.  I was able to use the original foam inserts; they just needed the edges steamed to make them puff up. The red colour is called "American Beauty" and it's made by Naugahyde. Cost? Approximately $100 per cushion, but don't tell my husband :).

Happy "V" Day

There is just something about Valentine's Day. Red, pink, white...what's not to like? I have a few older valentines that I've collected over the years. I was going to include one in this post but then I remembered seeing this on the Tin Can Tourists site. A trailer pictured on a valentine...priceless :)

   

    Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

                                               

Cute (and Useful)

When I first became interested in vintage trailers, I was intrigued by the magazine racks that many vintage Shasta models have. So when I "toured" my trailer and noticed it also had a magazine rack, I was smitten! I'm not sure it is authentic. The previous owner was quite a DIYer so he may have just modeled mine after one he had seen on a Shasta. But that's ok, I still think it adds some vintage charm. Instead of the large "S" found on Shastas, mine sports a "G". I painted it Blue Ocean Breeze with Krylon spray paint. That little match holder sitting on the counter is painted that shade too.

                                             

                                                     

The Great Cover-Up

A few years ago I bought this vintage radio at a local second hand shop. It sat in the garage until I started to pull things together to decorate my  trailer. First, I had to give it a good cleaning. I really loved its red colour,  but it had a giant chip out of the front right corner. It also had a crack on the top. Maybe I should have left it in the store, but like I said, I was in love with that gorgeous red colour! So, to disguise those blemishes I topped it with a napkin and put a candle in front of the big chip. Wish I could figure out a way to convert it to an iPod docking station, LOL. That little chair is really a candle holder but I filled the  cup with beach glass from my favourite beach.

My Vintage Trailer

                                      "Betty"

This collage features my vintage '69 Glendette trailer which I purchased in June 2011. I absolutely love it! Picking out a name was hard, and I'm not sure this is the right one. But it's the right one for now, named after my mom. Mostly Betty stays at our cottage and serves as a "bunkie" for guests. I have spent countless hours decorating and "fluffing"it. If you look closely you can see a few of the things that I've made for it including cushions, curtains, a tea towel, and that little red gingham lampshade. I can hardly wait for spring to arrive so I can take off the tarp and doll it up again! Oh, I almost forgot. If you would like to see more pics of Betty, check out Kelle's blog where my trailer was featured last April :)
http://littlevintagetrailer.com/category/featured/featuredtrailers/page/2/