Ballerinas and Little Girls in Print Dresses

Happy Sunday! I hope that you all had a great weekend.

I spent most of the day Friday and Saturday cooking (chicken soup and pot roast) so I decided to give myself some creative time again today.

I put to good use some of the beautiful vintage photos that I acquired not too long ago and enjoyed matching them to just the right papers and embellishments. They have been listed in my Etsy shop, seen on my sidebar.

A few months ago I won the bid on this photo on eBay.

I was so excited as I think that it is one of the most beautiful

ballerina photos in my collection!...

I couldn't resist putting this sentiment on the inside,

as it went so well with the front.

 I happened to discover it in my old stash of

long-forgotten scrapbooking materials...

I think that I bought the little photo in this one around

the same time.

Couldn't resist doing this one in a flower theme...

I jazzed up the inside with the line drawing of ballerinas,

which was part of the sheet music used on the front.

The sentiment is from the same piece as that used in the first card.

Both were bordered in little pieces of cardstock...

I had this beautiful patterned paper and it was so busy

that I had to use it to highlight these little girls' dresses.

I also got to make use of some beautiful vintage

charcoal grey velvet ribbon,

antique torchon bobbin lace,

and of course,

old mother-of-pearl buttons...

I left the inside blank on this one so that it could be used

for any occasion...

One of these days I will have to work on some fabric collage.

But I'll let the interest in the greeting cards run its course first!

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I'd love to see more of what you have been creating lately!

Thanks so much for coming by.

Making some greeting cards...still!

Happy Sunday my friends! I hope that you are well.

Today it was kind of a dreary day, and I was thankful for my sister-in-law and her hubby coming over for some brunch. After they left, I had some time and did not feel like doing any housework (Sunday is a day of rest, after all) and decided to make and list a couple of cards in my Etsy shop. The Mister is watching football, so why not?!

How can we resist these little darlings?...

But I think the postcard in the one below is one of

the most beautiful that I have ever seen.

I just love these little girls with the one

sitting on the fawn...

I hope that you had a great weekend.

I apologize for not commenting on any of your blog posts,

but I have to play catch-up with my blog reading!

Making some greeting cards!

Hello friends!

I have been cleaning out my studio and decided to organize my scrapbooking papers. I was never actually a scrapper, but I do find it as hard to resist beautiful papers as much as I do beautiful vintage fabrics, so I had more paper than I could possibly use in a lifetime.

After I organized them I decided that they were all going to waste, as were the many embellishments that I purchased to go with them, and I decided to start making some greeting cards for my Etsy shop. It was fun to coordinate the various papers with the Edwardian postcards that I recently wrote about here, so here are some that I created. I had forgotten just how much I love to create cards.

A birthday card...

A few Easter cards...

And some general, all-occasion cards...

I'm hoping to get them on Etsy shortly!

Have a great evening...

Remembering a grand old home...

If you regularly read this blog, you know how much I love old homes. In the back of my mind I still envision myself living in a nice vintage home with a big front porch, set in a small historical town in NC. Of course, that may never happen, but if not for our hopes and dreams, where would we be?

A few years ago The Mister and I hooked up with a realtor in such a town a few hours from here, and closer to Hendersonville where we have our getaway place. One of the houses that we looked at that day was the one seen in this post. At the time I didn't mention where it was because I didn't want anyone to rush over there and buy it out from under us (ha ha!). That one, and the one below, were my two favorites, both in one of the historical districts. And the two of them were the only ones that were actually "move-in ready". At the time there were other considerations that we had to make, one being that neither would accommodate our motor home very well, and alas, a historical home for us was not meant to be at that time. Another issue was that we wanted one with the master bedroom and bath on the first floor, and neither of these had that.

This home had special significance to me,

as it was "born" in 1923,

the same year as my dad.

Here is hubby standing on the front porch.

The houses in this district sit up high off the main road,

with parking in the back that you access from

a rear alley.

I like that concept, as I don't think garages and

parked vehicles look very pretty...

Shortly after we saw this home,

the listing was removed,

but I don't think it was sold.

If it had been my home I don't think that

I could have parted with it either.

We didn't really know who owned the home,

but it was decorated beautifully...

We saw several houses that day,

and I took many photos.

I'm not sure why I never took a photo of

the kitchen,

but I remember liking it.

Here are some of the rooms that I did take photos of...

I am still on the realtor's email list so that I can continue

to get updates from him.

He recently had a post on his blog about the

community coming together to help the victims

of a house fire that occurred on Dec. 30th.

The photos below appeared on a local news website.

I thought the house looked familiar.

My own photos state that they were taken at the same

address where the fire occurred...

To think that my husband stood on that porch

is bad enough.

But when I think of the loss suffered by this family

I am immeasurably sad

and cannot stop thinking about it.

I have not seen any news on what caused the fire,

but I so hope that it wasn't arson.

Fortunately, the family was not in the house

when the fire started.

They were on their way

to an annual camping trip in the mountains.

I feel a special kinship to the family that lives here.

According to what I saw on the news,

the owner is apparently a hardworking single mom with

three children.

This hit home with me because I also raised my two

children as a single mother,

and I cannot even imagine how I would have felt

if this had happened to me.

Kind members of the community rallied together,

boarded the windows,

boxed up what they could of the family's belongings,

and started a fund to help.

The irony is that the mom is a social worker who

spends her life helping others.

Though I'm sure that this family is grateful that their lives were spared, I know that starting this new year cannot be very happy for them. I pray that their love for each other can overcome their sadness and that their beautiful home can soon rise from the ashes.

Happy New Year 2017!!

Happy New Year friends! I can't believe that 2016 is behind us. Where did the time go? I hope that you had a great holiday season.

I thought that I would share the above print for this first day of January. I scanned it from a vintage book that I purchased some time before the holidays. The name of the book is Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady and it is a compilation of works painted by a gal named Edith Holden, which she entitled "Nature Notes 1905". The book is filled with her beautiful watercolor paintings of flowers, plants, birds and butterflies. Also included are landscape scenes featuring other animals, along with Edith's personal observations of the nature and wildlife in her native area during Edwardian times in England. Apparently this book was compiled from her original works, where her hand-writing was done only in rough draft.

Throughout this year I hope to share with you some other beautiful pieces of her art. I also purchased a book about her later works, and a third one about Edith herself. Needless to say, I have not had time to read them yet!

I hope that this year brings you great joy, good health, and time to do the things that you would really like to do. Thank you for visiting my blog this year and leaving lovely comments. I treasure your friendship!