Easy Winter Party Favor; Personalized Mug

After searching on line for a simple, easy party favor for my daughter's party we found a version of these, mugs you can customize and bake in the oven to make it permanent. I picked up the mugs at Christmas tree shop, $2.99 each.  I decided to make each girls 1st initial. I used Martha Stewart glass paint for the letters, which works great on ceramics too. 

 1st I sketched the letter with pencil, painted it with 3 coats to really get it to be opaque. Wait at least an hour between coats, if you do it too soon the previous coat rubs off with the brush.  Then outlined with a black sharpie. Sharpies can be permanent (not washed off) by baking them too.

To Bake- put mugs in a cool oven, then turn to 350 degrees. Once its at 350, set timer for 30 min. Turn oven off when time is up, but don't take them out till oven is cooled. I left them in over night.

 I bought a large tub of cocoa mix at BJ's, bag of mini marshmallows and happen to have chocolate chips to add to the mix. 

We added simple directions & a blue ribbon..girls were very happy!

Little Treasures; Art Deco Postcard

I found this postcard in a little antique shop in Paris, 1998. I was looking through the postcards and came across this one, advertising the 1925 The International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts. 

In this exposition a group of artists, crafters and designer alike came together to show their work/designs  in a "modern" style characterized by a streamlined classicism, geometric and symmetric compositions, with a sleek machine-age look.
This was the beginning of the Art Deco period, but wasn't know as 'Art Deco' till later in the 60's.

The Art Deco Period began in the mid 20's but was really at its peak in the 30's and 40's, shown in architecture, furniture, jewelry, cars, etc..here are some examples