Discover Vintage America — February 2012
Make sweet somethings!
Oh, baby!
I discovered a box of old, leather baby shoes at the local swap and shop flea market. Collected together, they seemed somehow very important. A whole history of very little feet were in that box and, since they’d already missed their opportunities to be encased in brass, I felt very bad for this bunch of baby shoes that had, now, no raison d’etre at all. For just $2, I was able to snag a whole snicker-doodle history of 
these babies and all their cuddly-wuddly, lambie-pie, babykins sweetness. I laced them up with some red telephone wires which helped to shape the dry stiff leather and mounted them to a painted board.
Be mine?
All right, it’s used and obvious and most of the time the text errs on the cutesiest-pie side of bad, but if you take the time to browse the antiques mall and find one with that special sugar-booger meaning that works only between you and your shmoopsie-poo, it will reap you many dumpling and doodle-bug dividends. Simply glue the card to a piece of card stock and sign it “your puddin-pie muffin” and it will transform you into one pookie your gum-drop will never stop thinking about.
Num nums for beddie boo…
Probably the one thing your lamby-pie is expecting from you on Valentine’s Day is a heart-shaped box of chocolates, which is reason enough to avoid that drugstore aisle and instead drop by a few vintage sales during your weekend errands. That’s where I found these white canisters, for just $2 a piece, with appropriately red floral handles on top. Fill them with the perfect passie num nums worthy of your widdo puddy-cake for a little kitsch and maybe an even bigger kiss.
Design writer and decoupage artist Durwin Rice lives in Kansas City, MO, where he is restoring a three-story, turn-of-the-century mansion. He is the author of New Decoupage: Transforming Your Home with Paper, Glue, and Scissors (Publisher: Potter Craft). He is also the executive director of Tulips on Troost (www.troostavenue.com), a beautification initiative in Kansas City’s urban core. For more information, visit Rice’s website at http://newdecoupage.blogspot.com or contact him at designcolumnist@discoverypub.com.