Real Photo Postcards: The Patriots

Hello friends!

If you follow this blog, you know that I am a collector of patriotic photos. The early 20th century was all about patriotism, and some of the real photo postcards that you see from this era are wonderful. I recently purchased the ones below, and am putting them in my Etsy shop to be sold as digital downloads.

This first one is just so unusual.

It depicts a family sitting in a boat decorated with

American flags.
The family is all dressed up,
with the dad and son wearing sailor hats
and the young girl sporting a
big bow in her hair.

I love that their house is in the background.

It looks like this family is so proud of their creation,

and I like to think that it became a float in a 

Fourth of July parade...

Photos of gals dressed as Lady Liberty are getting hard to find,

and are expensive. 

I recently saw one auctioned off on eBay

with a winning bid of over $300.00. 

I felt lucky to find the one below for so much less.

And don't you love the little kids 

in the goat cart with the flag and the

"Made in America" sign?...

And this last one is so much fun. 

"Which, bonds or bondage?"

You have to love these women!...

With the patriotic holidays just around the corner,

I hope to use these and others that I own in some art.

Maybe you can too!

The Simple Things in Life: Postage Stamps

Bringing some pretties your way today. 

Have you ever seen postage stamps much

prettier than these? 

I think I will one day use them in a

paper collage!

******************************

Hip hip hooray for the simple things in life!

Finding Great Silky Fabrics

Hello and happy Wednesday!

We are still pretty busy with "spring chores" around the old homestead, so I have only had time to put a few fabrics together hoping that I will soon have some real creative time.

I have been wanting to do some "fancy cowgirl"

art for quite some time now,

so decided to use some silky pretties...

...with these rugged-looking cowgirls, 

mostly because you wouldn't normally

picture them together...

I especially love the piece of organza

with the fancy cowgirl boot on it...

The source for this,

and the sage green silk with the leaves on it

is an eBay shop, Prism Silks, found here.

I have ordered many different fabrics and buttons

from this shop and it is great to deal with.

And, as long as we are on the subject of fabric

sources,

here are some other fabrics that I recently ordered...

...from this shop on Etsy, Fabrics and Trims,

and you can find her here.

She is in India and I don't have to tell you 

what gorgeous silks come from there

(think sari silk, my friends!).

Also, the shipping is pretty quick considering

the distance the goods have to travel!

Both of these shops charge

very reasonable prices for nice fat quarters

and the selection is so much better that what

you see in a fabric store.

Oh, and the best part?

No waiting on line to have several small pieces 

of fabrics cut!

***********************************

I hope that you are having a great week!

What Has Been Keeping Us Busy: Part 2

Hello to all!

Here is another chapter in the "keeping busy" saga!

Trips to the garden center...

...though still a little early 

to put anything in the ground.

We will leave these sweeties in the 

hot houses where they belong for now...

I spent more time cleaning out the beds,

including the smaller daylily and iris garden...

...the larger rear daylily and iris garden...

...and the shade and fountain garden...

Hubby picked up large bags of garden soil.

I ordered daylilies from four different daylily farms

and I want to be ready for them when they get here.

Our soil here is naturally very bad,

so we don't dare plant anything without 

adding a bunch of good soil...

In absence of being able to actually plant anything 

in the ground yet, 

I did dig (pun intended!) into some of the MiracleGro

and started some pots...

...and these, from Walmart, are what they are.

Don't you love the names? 

Dahlia  Mom's (that would be me) Special,

Lily Forever Susan (that would also be me),

and Lily Salmon Star (not so much me!)...

And I would be remiss to mention that while I was tending to the

gardens, Mr. Perch was tending to the lawn

by putting down two applications of pre-emergent weed killer,

regular weed killer, and handling various other maintenance chores.

***************************************

What have you been doing these days?

What Has Been Keeping Us Busy: Part 1

Hello dear friends. I have missed posting, but we have had beautiful warm weather this week, so decided to catch up on little (no, big!) jobs around the old homestead.

Hubby scraped the front porch rails and

painted them all...

Then he began power-washing the filthy gazebo

after digging out the over-grown

butterfly bushes.

(I happen to hate butterfly bushes 

almost as much as azaleas.)

Unfortunately, the practically-unused power washer

stopped working,

so he exercised our right to a new one

under the extended warranty that we 

had purchased. 

The painting will happen this coming week.

(If the paint brushes don't all break!)...

Along with another big painting job

(outcome to be revealed soon),

I painted the old windows...

...and the old red door.

(You saw them on a recent post)...

None of this sounds like much,

but I assure you, it all did take some time!

************************************

I hope that you're having a great weekend!

Until next time...

Fabric and Lace Collage: "When I Was Little"

Hello and thanks for coming by!

A couple of weeks ago I saw some dusty blue velveteen fabric, along with some matching checked pieces salvaged from an old dress, being sold by the same shop on Etsy. I don't often work with blues, but I do indeed love them, so they inspired me to create something using a a beautiful cabinet card that I bought from eBay around the same time. I showed you the beginning of this piece in a recent post, but I finally finished it today.

Perhaps it is the coming of spring,

or just the fact that I have suddenly tired

a little of working with neutrals,

but I really loved working with this palette...

A antique lace collar,

velvet ribbon woven through a 

vintage mother-of-pearl buckle,

velveteen and silky fabrics...

...surround this beautiful little toddler

in her sweet dress.

Though I have many antique photos of

children on their rocking horses,

this one is the first that I saw

depicting an antique horse-tricycle...

As always,

a little hanger of coordinating sari ribbon and

crinkled seam binding...

...and a few words of description!...

Have you created something in

a different color scheme lately?

******************************

I have listed this piece in my Etsy shop.

I hope that you are having a wonderful week!