Woodburning Kit

My younger brother got a woodburning kit one year for Christmas. I don't know if it was exactly like this one, but it looks familiar. I don't think he liked it much but I thought it was a neat gift.

Cookie Press

My aunt had one of these, the same pink colour on the ring. I vaguely remember borrowing it when I was in high school to make some cookies.

Squeeze Coin Purse

My sister and I had a couple of coin purses like this when we were little kids. I seem to remember an orange one.

Insulator

My aunt had an old insulator like this one in her front flower garden. It filled with water when it rained and I suppose it made a good bird bath although I never saw any birds in it.

Student Nurse Book

My Sunday School teacher gave me this book one year for Christmas. She knew that my oldest sister had just finished nurse's training and thought this would be appropriate. I enjoyed the book.

Glass Casters

Another odd thing I remember from my childhood.....not a toy but glass casters that we had under some of our furniture. We also had brown rubber casters.

Marbles

A search for "vintage marbles" on eBay will get a lot of results, this is one of them. They look like ordinary marbles to me, I guess marbles haven't changed much over the years. We played with them a lot when we were kids. Technically they were my brother's marbles, I guess they were not a girl's toy. I never knew the proper rules of marbles, but we'd play with them in the dirt and driveway anyway.

Hair Buckles

My sister and I had tons of these when we were kids. All different colours and shapes, and I definitely remember the flower shaped ones pictured here.

Tracks

My brother had tracks like this for his toy cars (some call them hot-wheels, we called them dinkies). His tracks were yellow, but they came with the dark connectors that you see on the ends of the tracks here. He would set up his tracks and push his dinkies along them, he even had a special connector to make a loop. It was all fun until he set his tracks up through my sister's and my Barbie dolls!

Cake Decorator

Mom had an aluminum cake decorator like this one. It was used often to decorate birthday cakes and my favourite memory is that Mom would give us the bowl of leftover icing and we would use the decorator to squirt it onto crackers and eat it......so good!

Wooden Puzzle

I remember one of these from my grade 2 classroom. It was fun to put it together, and challenging!

Chalet Thermometer/Barometer

My aunt who lived next door had a thermometer like this one. I always thought it was cute, especially since we didn't have anything this interesting at our house. She said the man and woman were supposed to come out of the door, one when it was sunny and one when it was raining, but I never saw it work.

Anniversary Clock

My parents had a clock like this, for years it sat on their bedroom dresser. But when Dad redid the living room it was placed on a shelf there. They never wound it and I never saw it work.

Sealing Wax

Another odd thing I remember from my childhood. My parents had a huge filing cabinet in their bedroom, I think it had 5 drawers and as a kid it was a fun place to explore. We each had our own folders where we kept school work and stuff, but the top drawer was my favourite drawer. It was filled with all sorts of office supplies and odds and ends. There was a red block of sealing wax in that drawer. I am sure every time we rummaged through the drawer we would ask Mom what it was. She would say "sealing wax" but I heard it as "ceiling wax" and I always wondered why you would need to wax the ceiling, especially with red wax!

Raggedy Andy

My sister also had a Raggedy Andy doll, I think she got it the year after she got her Raggedy Ann doll. It was a bit smaller than the Raggedy Ann doll.

Tiny Seal

My oldest sister had a tiny seal like this, it was no more than 3 or 4 inches long. She kept it on the dresser in our bedroom. I am not sure if the fur was real seal fur or not. But it was cute.

Newfoundland Herald

Like most Newfoundlander's, the Herald was a common fixture in our home. It was/is a tv guide and entertainment magazine. These are from the late 70's and early 80's. They started out with drawings on the cover and then changed to pictures.

Raggedy Ann Doll

My sister got a Raggedy Ann doll for Christmas when she was in grade 3. I remember because it was the same year I got a Holly Hobbie doll.

Croquet Set

We had a croquet set very similar to this one (ours had hard concrete type balls instead of wooden ones). We'd set it up in the side garden and play with our friends, it was a lot of fun.

String Art

In the 70's we learned how to do string art in elementary school. Get a piece of wood, cover it with a piece of material (preferably black velvet) and then place a pattern over it that was printed out on a piece of paper. The pattern was dots and you would then nail a small brass nail on each dot. Then tear away the paper and start your art. We'd use crochet cotton for the string and wind it around each nail and string it from nail to nail until we had a pattern made. I guess there was a sequence you had to follow to get it to come out looking right. We mostly made abstract designs (like a spirograph would make) but there were other designs as well. I remember a boat like this with the seagulls in the sky.

Old Jug

Dad collected antiques and he had a couple of old jugs like this one. This one was kept in the living room. Mom kept dried grass and cattails in it, I remember one year some of the cattails bursting and making a mess.

Driftwood & Dandelions Reader

I remember using this reader in grade 4. I think it was full of Canadian stories. We also had one called "Hopscotch & Hockey Sticks" but so far I have not found that for sale on eBay.

Label Maker

This was one of the more fun things I remember from growing up. It was a simple label maker, Dad kept it in the top drawer of the filing cabinet. We had red "tape" that went in, then you would dial each letter and squeeze the handle after selecting each letter. Then you would peel the backing off the label and stick it on something. Our possessions were labeled with our names and it was fun to find new things to tag, just so we could use the label maker.

Measuring Spoons

Mom had measuring spoons like these and the little hanger that was on the wall. They hung near the sink.

Angel Fish

We had 2 angelfish like this one on our living room wall. They were made of plaster, I think collectors call it chalkware. Why you would want to collect these is beyond me. Dad must have painted ours, in the early 70's they were pink and gold and later on they were yellow and grey, as you can see in the photos. Fortunately they disappeared forever in the 80's.

Oil Lamp

We had a red oil lamp like this one, it was probably bought in the early 80's. I guess we used it when the power went off but I don't remember using it often.

Phone

My aunt who lived next door had a phone like this. While ours was a big clunky black thing, hers was sleek and modern, I loved it!

Souvenir Fan

Apparently these were popular souvenir items! I found several on eBay. My sister and I each had one, either given to us by Dad after a trip for work or by my older sister. I think it was from New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. I could only find fans from the US on eBay.

Bear Wall Rug

This was the 2nd wall rug we owned, before this we had one with 2 moose on it. I think my cousin gave us this one, I vaguely remember him saying he didn't like the moose one (I think he said it was too small for the wall). Of course looking back I think they were both tacky, but it was the 70's! Actually I think this photo was taken in the early 80's. It must have been Mom's birthday.

Folding Ruler

Dad had a folding ruler like this and it was a lot of fun to play with.

Buried Treasure Ice Cream Sticks

When we were growing up, going to the corner store to buy candy or ice cream was something we only did in the summers. We had lots of ice cream to choose from - dixie cups with the little wooden spoon, fudgesicles, popsicles, giant Mr. Freeze's, polar bars, a cone shaped dixie cup with a gumball at the bottom (I am sure they had a name, I just don't remember it....edit: my sister emailed me to tell me they were called Screwballs), ice cream sandwiches, creamsicles, drumsticks, push-ups and buried treasure. Buried Treasure ice cream was orange (I think, or that may have been the push-ups) and when the ice cream was gone there was a little figure on a stick as your prize. I found some on eBay. Which makes me ask two questions. 1) Who saves buried treasure sticks from the 70's? and 2) Who would buy them? In any case, they're a fond memory from my childhood.