Manto Fev

Dog Protection.

2010-09-02T11:38:00.005-05:00

Here at Manto Fev we go to great lengths to protect our products. We want them to be in tip-top shape before they are sent out to our customers.

To that end, let me introduce our highly effective Dog Barrier 2000 (tm) with patented "Two Levels of Vicious Protection" and optional, but necessary, "Black and White Fur Finish" for optimal camouflage. Also, we have activated "Border Collie Mix Round-up" to help keep everything in line.

We are the pioneers of this precise system of protection!

Here it is in action:

Layer One! The "75 pound Door Guard" feature. This feature protects the first level of entry, the front door. Notice the prone position. This may appear to be laziness, but, in fact, the top eye is always open. No one can get into that parking lot without a serious barking-at. This layer also comes with the optional "Very Soft Fur" and "Crazy Eyes".

Layer Two! In the unlikely event that an intruder should get past Layer One, Layer Two is ready for action. Layer Two has the job of one-on-one combat to protect all of our important products. No one is getting to that box of Nori Glue unless they walk very slowly and say "Nice doggie" as they do it. Layer Two comes with customizable fur, or "Scruffiness" for a wide variety of looks and finishes. Layer Two also comes standard with "Show the Soft Belly" to finish off the bad guys as they succumb to the cuteness.

We take your art supplies very seriously here at Manto Fev. We spend thousands of dollars a year on fancy foods, treats, balls, vet bills, meaty toothpastes, and more just to keep our security system in tip-top shape.

sara@mantofev.com

Sunday Flea Market

2010-08-10T10:27:00.004-05:00

As always, the Sunday flea market this past weekend yielded some fun finds for the website. Here are some highlights:

I take a lot of pictures like this.... a jumble of stuff. Buttons that look like pennies! Old keys! Fleur de lis!

Super cute silver doilies with an Asian style. A darling little metal pin that says "6 years old". Some little ceramic figures that came in a bag with the small metal dog (top left) which is what I really wanted! But they are kind of cute, too.

Bad photo, sorry! Awesome old autograph book with neat messages inside. A vintage pencil tin and a circus-themed Old maid card set.

I'm not entirely sure what these are but they were too cool to pass up. They are little Chinese men and women made from fabric and paper, but they are flat. It looks like they were removed from something but who knows what?

Finally, jewelry. The bracelet in the upper left is yucksville as-is but it is decorated with pretty vintage cut glass beads which I've already removed! Also some flower pins, MOP pins which I can never pass up, and some rhinestone earrings.

Good times were had by all.

sara@mantofev.com

Swoon.

2010-08-02T10:11:00.002-05:00

I found an excellent stash of vintage Valentine's Day cards at an estate sale recently. They range in ages but I would guess most are from the 1920-40s. So many awesome graphics and styles, including many 3-D ones. These will be for sale in the flea market section of the site, individually!

About 140 total cards. I love finds like this!

Flea Market Fun!

2010-04-13T13:06:00.003-05:00

This past Sunday was one of Omaha's monthly flea markets, and I had a good time! I thought it would be fun to make a post of some of my finds. All of these items will be available for sale via my own flea market at some point in the near future, but email me if you have any questions!

These are 1950s prescription files from a pharmacy. The boxes are cool and the have a neat little metal contraption inside to hold the filled prescriptions. They would be great as a base for a mixed media scrapbook. I'll sell the prescriptions via my site and then sell the boxes and holders separately.

Some linens. The big lacy thing on the right is an older vintage collar. I love the embroidered animals at the bottom.

These are super cool! I was told that they are antique Chinese gaming tokens made from 1750-1800. They are intricately carved mother of pearl. These will make amazing pendants or jewelry. I've never seen these in real life so I was excited to get a big lot of them!

Fun paper items, almanacs and kid's books.

My favorite things to buy are, of course, many tiny things. Tokens, buckles, an old compass, birds, small letter openers made from bone.

Also I can never pass up vintage religious medals!

Oh... shiny stuff. I've never seen a mirrored buckle!

More small things.

I need more paper stuff like I need a kick in the head, but the price was right so I got about 200 pieces of antique postcards and photos here.

I love the way these vintage canning labels look! I should photocopy these before I sell them.

In other news, I recently acquired a HUGE amount of beads, findings, cabochons, charms, kits, etc., all NEW in the package. These will also be posted into the flea market section of my site at great discounts over retail price. I have a ton of this stuff so it will be priced to sell!

Hope all is well out there!

sara@mantofev.com

New Office or, The Dog Fight

2010-02-03T13:25:00.002-06:00

Manto Fev moved it's headquarters in November from a basement to a room! Yay! It was a pretty smooth transition and move and I am finally getting settled in enough to have time to update my neglected blog. So here is a short tour of the new Manto Fev world headquarters. Also included, at no extra charge, is a dog fight.

When you first come in the door (on the left of the picture), there is a handy fire extinguisher .... oh, wait... nope. Just a glass box and a stick to break it. No fire safety for you, move along.

Turn to go down the hall and you are welcomed by two very calm dogs. They seem to say "Hello, this is a place of calm and tranquility."

Then, BAM. Welcome to the office and welcome to THE TERRIBLE FIGHT. Don't call the Humane Society on me, I promise no wagers were made as to the outcome of this event. It ended shortly after and no dogs were injured in the making of this post. Or in the 157 more fights that have happened just today.

So here it is, in all its glory, The Office. Good times.

This post is also a vehicle to provide the following information:

We are having a coupon sale right now. $5.00 off any $30.00 order. Use the code FEB10 when you check out. Valid through 14 Feb 2010.

Check out this page for new products, some of which were just added today. It's a helpful page.

sara@mantofev.com

Stuff I like

2009-10-13T09:28:00.003-05:00

I have a fun job. Going around, looking for fun things for you to use in your art projects, taking photos, updating the site. Lots of little things flow in and out of my life and it's nice to be their owner for little while and then pass them on to a new home. I do like some little bits more than others, and here are some examples.

Vintage redemption stamps, redeemable for fabulous prizes...

The current cool colors I have in the sari fabrics.

I love big heaps of postage stamps. These are waiting to make up the misc. postage stamps packs.

I adore these vintage matchbox labels. Each one is different and better than the last.

I am down to my last bottles of German glass glitter. I bought out my supplier's remaining stock so get it now to add sparkle to your holiday crafts!

Real pennies with little hearts cut out. These would be great for Valentine's Day art.

As a devoted follower of all things small, these watch part vials really fit the bill. Maybe I was a watch repair person in a former life?

These vintage liquor labels have such fun, bright colors.

Dixie reluctantly models the small plastic dog figures.

Stella unknowingly models the doghouse charms.

So that's the end of that.

But before I go, two announcements!

One, Manto Fev now offers a free gift with any $25 purchase. There are several options to choose from and I will add new options now and again when I come up with them.

Second, Manto Fev will be moving to a new location sometime around the beginning of November. You can expect great things after this if the move doesn't kill us all.

Hope all is well in your land. Toodle-loo.

sara@mantofev.com

Souvenir Bathroom

2009-09-07T17:46:00.006-05:00

Another one of my collections...

Souvenir items.

I have a bathroom on the first level of our house- it was yellow when we moved in, and the color looked great with my collection of green and white pottery. I was also happy to finally have a place to display my souvenir plates. Most of these are places I have lived in or at least visited.

I also have metal souvenir ashtrays lined up along the chair rail, that little ledgey thing.

The green and white pottery with some yellow thrown in. I guess seashells and stuff are also a theme here....

The sea glass in the following picture was collected in Ireland.

I have only two of these old souvenir cups, but I'd like to get more. Also a small pottery bird that fits into the color scheme nicely.

Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day.

sara@mantofev.com

Tiny Dressers

2009-08-02T19:20:00.002-05:00

Well, shoot. The weekend is over. Drat! I'll try to merge gracefully into the week with a new post about another one of my favorite collections.

I guess these are supposed to be jewelry boxes? I call them tiny Asian dressers. The name isn't that creative but it does describe them well. I have 7 of them right now.

For example:

The one on the left isn't Asian, I guess, but it is a tiny dresser and it was only $1 so I got it.

I love their little doors, drawers and handles. The one on the right above has sliding doors that open and close. This one also has a lot of nice inlaid work.

A little mirror in the door on the right.

This is my latest one and it came with all of these fun little things inside. Dollies, old celluloid charms, a tiny woven basket from Japan.

I don't think I've paid more than $10 for any of them. I think they look so cute all together.

And pacified by the cute, I'm ready to start work again. Have a good week, everyone.

sara@mantofev.com

Some new products.

2009-07-14T13:45:00.003-05:00

I've been behind on adding new products this month, but I did get some added today. I always make a list of new products, with links, on this page.

Here are a few of my new favorite things!

I love these vintage Italian letters. They have cool stamps and handwriting. I also have Swedish letters posted on that same page. I have French and Czech letters to add soon, too!

Nifty vintage watch rings. Some of these are even in foreign languages!

These are my new favorite things! Vintage Japanese name stamps. They look so cool stacked up in a little row, and I love the dark characters against the pale plastic or wood of the stamp.

I also updated the Flea Market section with all kinds of fun one-of-a-kind goodies.

I hope all is well out there. Have good days.

sara@mantofev.com

2009-06-12T13:21:00.003-05:00

It's Friday, time to finish up work, but I'd rather walk around my work room and show you some things. Not the messy things, though.

Bulletin board above my work table. Tumors do suck, don't you agree?

I have several vintage slide storage boxes that I use to hold inventory. They are very handy.

Four huge jars of buttons I just got and need to sort out.

I love these vintage glass watch vials.

It is raining right now, so Stella is scared. She's following me around, shivering in anticipation of thunder. Poor baby.

Old magazines and a very old clothespin holder. I don't have a clothesline, maybe I need to build one so I can have a use for these.

I have a thing for paisley. It's unnatural.

Storage room floor- I collect small throw rugs and cobble them together to cover the almost 100-year old brick floor. Stella likes to ball them up and lie on them so I'm always straightening them.

Anyone need a vintage razor? Why do I have so many of these, you ask? Well... who knows.

Cute vintage flowers from a recent estate sale, someday soon to be sold on the site.

Here is Dixie, our newest dog. We got her in March and she's a sweetie. She's 1 year old and still a floppy puppy for the most part.

It's very nearly the weekend. And for this, I am glad. Enjoy it.

sara@mantofev.com

Flea Market Extravaganza

2009-05-30T19:28:00.003-05:00

I went to a flea market a couple of weekends ago. This is a larger, outdoor flea that is held twice a year. I generally go to flea markets to look for stuff for the website, but I did find a few things for me, including two items that are now, unfortunately, part of a new collection. I say unfortunately because I need a new collection like I need a kick in the face. That is to say... I don't need a new collection. So let's see if the new collection meets approval...

On the left, we have what is possibly a Steiff elephant. I found several others like it on Ebay, and it does appear to have a tiny hole in the right ear where a Steiff tag may have been. Either way, it's a cute little mohair elephant stuffie.

The wee horses are the new collection. I unknowingly had two of these already, and after buying these new little friends, discovered that they all have the same little tag, and are made by Kunstlerschutz of West Germany. Upon doing a little research, this company makes all kinds of funny little flocked animals although I do think the horses/zebra are the cutest.

How could I resist these little smiles? These little friends and the elephant where in a box with some other dollhouse-type stuff. I started pawing through it (after telling my friend to BACK OFF, THIS BOX IS MINE! in a nice way, of course) (one reason why you should maybe not go to the flea with people who like the same things you do) (Hi, Toni!)... Anyway, the owner of the booth sauntered by and said "Everything in that box is a quarter...." I had already grabbed the little elephant and the horses and for that price... well... I was pretty pleased.

Here is the new little horse/zebra family. The two I had are attached to little foil stars for some reason. I think I got those two in a bag of Christmas ornaments from the thrift store.

So that's the new collection, tiny flocked West German horses. Thumbs up or down??

A few other things I got for myself. Two silver cuff bracelets, a Made in Japan ashtray from Washington DC (for my souvenir bathroom, and since we are going there this week), a pencil tie clip (the pencil works!), a lovely necklace and earrings from Bali, and a German Bible from 1884; that was a dollar. I don't collect Bibles, but I collect old books and this one fits the bill, and the price was right. Oh, I also found an awesome micro-mosaic ring from Italy, that was my best find and it's not even in the photo. So much for my in-depth report.

My next update will hopefully be a report of my visit to a Washington DC flea market! Yay, Manto Fev gets a vacation this week!

sara@mantofev.com

Mini Books

2009-04-19T15:04:00.007-05:00

Time for installation #2 in the lengthy series of my own collections!

This one is my mini book collection. It combines my love of books with my love for all things small. Most of these shown are about 2-3 inches high. I keep them in a vintage printer's typecase so that may give you an idea of scale.

Here is a general overview. I get these mostly at flea markets. I try to find them on eBay but there are so many books on there to wade through, it's hard to find good ones.

A lot of them are religious- small Bibles or prayer books. There are also small dictionaries (English and foreign) and some little notebooks, some even have their own tiny pencil attached!

Here is a tiny date book from 1928.

Tiny dictionary! I have two of these, they are leather bound even. These are super duper cute because they are about as fat as they are high.

If I was keeping track, this one would probably be the most valuable. I got it at an estate sale for a few dollars. I had it appraised by the Book Guys from NPR and they said it was worth about $75.00! It is an old French prayer book for kids, the pages are lined in red-- really cool!

I also collect little small things that look like books. I have a few little lockets, a tiny button shell button that looks like a book, a matchbox that looks like a book!

Happy Sunday to all.

sara@mantofev.com

Even ribbons enjoy a good rack.

2009-04-01T15:36:00.006-05:00

Busy, busy, busy.

A few months ago, my dad and I made a ribbon rack to hold my growing stock of ribbons and trims. I was getting tired of keeping them organized in boxes and we designed this nice rack. I got all the trims put on it, but it was only about half full. What to do? Well ... buy more trims, of course! Ha!

So I bought these a few weeks ago and just got them posted today. Eleven new, old stock* vintage trims. I have a weakness for these; I love the colors and patterns.

Don't they look so nice in a little pile? But I can't wait to put them all on the ribbon rack! It's the little things that keep us going, right? :)

sara@mantofev.com

*Manto Fev vocab! New old stock (or NOS) means vintage items that were never used or sold. Most often they come in original wrappings or boxes.

Little things

2009-04-01T09:31:00.004-05:00

It's the little things that can make someone's day.

Our weekend paper delivery person must have seen our dogs outside, and left this for us this past Saturday (also one on Sunday).

It made me so happy, such a little thing.

A new Manto Fev goal will be to try and do little things like this... to spread the happiness around.

sara@mantofev.com

I know how she feels.

2009-03-18T12:23:00.003-05:00

Ha! This picture cracks me up. One sister looks very neat. Braided hair, folded hands, somewhat bored expression.

The other sister? Watch out! She's a pistol. Messy hair, mischievous grin, dress askew.

Now that I think about, Neat Sister looks more exasperated than bored. She's the good one and Messy Sister is always stealing the show. She's sick of it.

Vintage photos are such fun! This one will be for sale shortly in my flea market section. My flea market changes almost every day; you never know what you are going to find!

sara@mantofev.com

Hope

2009-03-12T18:23:00.004-05:00

"Dear Cousin George.
I got your postal and was glad to get it. I hope you will get to come out here. Will look for an answer soon. your cousin Emma."
(Aug 2, 1910)

The front says:

Chrysanthemum.. The hope of love
"Don't worry about the future,
The present is all thou hast;
The future will soon be present,
And the present will soon be past."

I thought this was pretty and a nice sentiment to keep in mind. Click on the image for a larger version, and then you can right click to save to your computer!

sara@mantofev.com

First in a series: If you have more than one, it's a collection

2009-03-10T18:15:00.015-05:00

Let's face it. Collecting things is fun. Finding something that you are drawn to... and then finding another one, and another one... well, you see where this is headed. Basically, it's a riot. And when you put those like things together, it's SUPER fun. So. In the spirit of fun, we begin the first in a long series documenting some of my collections.

First off, I've already broken the only rule this blog was to have, namely that everything is for sale. Then I made an amendment saying it was for sale if I could find it. Now I'm recanting the whole story and saying that not everything is for sale. My collections are not, certainly, until sometime in the future when I decide that they are. Who knows when that day will come, so in the meantime... not everything is for sale.

I should not make rules since I cannot even follow them myself. I won't make any more.

But let's get back to the fun. #1 in our new series is:

The Fur Seal Army.

This is a weird collection. I admit it. When I was about 12, my grandparents went on a cruise to Alaska and brought me back a little seal. I liked it well enough but didn't think about it too much. But within the past few years, I found a few more like it at estate sales (the first one I bought, I did so because I was told it would go to the "seal orphanage" if I didn't) and then discovered that, like every other thing ever known to man, they are sold on eBay on occasion. So, I have accumulated a few. How many? Well..... 38. Is that a few? That does not include 4 that are technically walruses (they have tusks) and one that is upstairs in the seal hospital (aka the art desk) awaiting reattachment of a flipper.

The polar bear (top left of the picture) is a recent acquisition, and I think it adds a little bit of drama to the otherwise mundane seal family picnic.

Seal Stats: Sizes range from 2 inches to 10.5 inches. One is red? 4 are walruses. One is injured. Yes, they are made from seal fur. This creeps me out, actually. So not only is this my favorite collection, but it is also the one that causes me a little bit of guilt. I assume they are made from the fur of elderly seals who lived long and polar bear-free lives until their deaths from natural causes. Beyond that I try not to think about it.

The seal on the right of this picture is the original seal acquired through grand-parental means. It is still my favorite and probably the cutest one of the bunch.

So there we have it. The first collection in this series and also the one that will probably make some people think I am loco. But seriously, they are so cute. Each one is different. One looks more like a swan than a seal. A few have very pretty spots. A couple have seal mange. One is bright red which I think must be a seal dye job. The job of that one is to keep watch over the polar bear. The other seals aren't so sure he's one of them so he stays with the polar bear.

So we love what we love. I love my fur seal army. If you want to blame someone, blame Ralph and Joann, not me.

sara@mantofev.com

Flea Market, Button Box Goodies

2009-03-02T13:16:00.004-06:00

I went to the flea market yesterday. We have two per month here, and both are small-ish affairs, inside, with about 15-20 vendors. Not the large, outdoor junk-fests that I long for, the type you read about in magazines.

Anyway, one of my favorite things to buy is boxes/tins/bags of vintage buttons. I enjoy buttons, sure, but another thing I love is how button boxes were the junk drawers of their day. There are always interesting non-button things in with buttons, which are always fun.

So here are a few of the non-button things I readily noticed in a cigar box of buttons that I bought yesterday. Such as.... Sweet button cards, a card of "enameled" thumbtacks, a vintage pharmacy box with tiny glass buttons inside, a bone crochet hook, some buckles, and a butterfly rhinestone pin.

Amendment to Rule #1: Everything is for sale, if I can find it.

That is, the stuff in the photo is surely for sale... but since I already added it to a large box of other little bits ready to sell, finding them again is always a challenge. I'm a pretty organized person in that I generally have everything in a box. But within the box, all bets are off. I'll find it again. Some day. And when I do, it's for sale!

sara@mantofev.com

Hello, I am Stella, ruler of Manto Fev

2009-02-28T20:03:00.006-06:00

Manto Fev enters the 21st Century. Kicking and screaming, as they say. BUT... this blog is going to be so rad. If you like art stuff and old stuff, and seeing pictures of said stuff, this will be just your speed. Also, things will be for sale.

Rule #1: Everything is for sale.

Also, if you find this dog cute, stick around. There will be more.

Her name is Stella. Darnit... I've already broken my very first rule because Stella is not for sale.

More soon.

sara@mantofev.com