Hearts: Gifts from the Sea

Happy Valentines Day!

My gift of hearts for you.

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Driftwood...

Sea Glass...

Stones...

Love and beauty are found everywhere!

Have a wonderful day!

Edwardian Postcards: Grete Reinwald

Hello to all and happy Tuesday!

Prior to the start of the holiday season, I was doing a search on Etsy for Edwardian seasonal postcards featuring children. I happened upon quite a few of one particular little girl who was just beautiful, and wondering who she was, I finally found some that were labeled with her name.

She was Grete Reinwald (May 25, 1902 – May 24, 1983), a famous German child model when she was young, who then went on to become a stage and film actress. She had the sweetest face when she posed for the postcards, so I couldn't resist buying a few, seen below, and will hopefully use them in some future art pieces. I think you will agree that they are so pretty, and you may even already own some postcards with her on them.

You may find additional information about her on the internet, but I found a one-time blog post particularly informative, and you can read it here.

I love these and thought that they will make

some lovely Valentine Day's and spring, or Easter,

greeting cards...

These Christmas cards are stunning, I think.

Of course, I love the sepia-toned variety...

...but the hand-tinted ones,

with just a trace of color,

are also so lovely...

A real collector of post cards probably wants those

of the mint variety, with no writing on the back,

but I am partial to ones where I can see the

postmark and stamp,

not to mention the beautiful handwriting of those

who lived so long ago...

Though in the past I have not been a fan of some of the

Edwardian postcards because I thought the children

looked too "posed" and the coloring too fake,

this season I revised my opinion of some of them,

and treated myself to these few as a Christmas present to myself.

Have you bought anything new lately for your self?

If so, what was it, and how will you use it?

As ever, thanks so much for stopping by to visit.

I'm back! Who can figure? And with a pretty Zygote cactus!

Hello dear friends! I know that it has been awhile, but lately things have been keeping me busy (please refer to my last post), and I simply have not had the time to post to this blog. I have missed you all.

Aside from other issues, one of the biggest hurdles to my posting has been that right before we were told that Mr. Perch would need surgery, I ordered a new computer. Since my last one was a Dell laptop that was probably almost 12 years old (it ran on Windows XP, if that tells you anything!), and served me quite well, I decided that I would buy another one. Though I have gotten used to Apple with my iPad and iPhone, I did not purchase a Mac mainly due to the cost factor. I probably would have kept my trusty old laptop till death, but Windows XP is no longer supported by many of the programs that I use, so I decided to quit while I was ahead and before my computer crashed altogether. So of course, the new laptop arrived about three days before Hubby went into the hospital and I have had about as much time to connect it, never mind get used to it, as I have had to each chocolate covered bon-bons while watching soap operas all day. So, I've been picking away at it slowly and now feel a little bit of a comfort level. Windows 10 is nice but it is so very much different than XP was. It was almost like having to learn how to work a computer all over again. Then, it wouldn't recognize the scanner on my printer, so I am now going to be using a scanning app. I'll see how it shakes out.

I got a little stressed out when it wouldn't accept my Canon Rebel camera's software either, but then realized that Microsoft 10 recognizes most cameras anyway, and the editing software, though basic, is nicer than what I had before. I don't get that involved with editing anyway on this simple little blog.

But the best part is that it appears that I can just hook up my iPhone to it and upload the photos just as I would my regular camera. I started to do this yesterday, but canceled out when I realized that I have over 3300 photos on my phone, and certainly didn't want them all on my new hard drive. I guess it's time to weed them out!

So here I am, finally able to take some photos, upload them to my sweet new computer and put them on my blog. What a joy this finally is!

Because the gardening season is well behind us, I needed some flower power and my first foray into this new endeavor had to be with a few photos of a new Zygote Cactus that I bought in our little grocery store the other day. You may recall photos in previous posts of the big coral-colored one that I have had for many years, but this is such a pretty little white one.

These were taken with my Rebel,

lazily taken in the auto-focus mode.

It was just beginning to bloom when I bought it.

I love the shocking pink center...

The nice thing (or difficult thing to get used to, depending on how you look at it) about Windows 10 is that there are many apps available that will help you with photo editing.

I edited the photo below by washing out the color a bit

 with the Windows 10

photo app built into the system,

but framed it with a free app that I downloaded

called KVADPhoto+.

I did quite a bit of research before I chose

this one as it seemed quite good.

Framing is only a small portion of

what this app is able to do.

Time will tell as I play around with it

a little more...

As to an update on the Mister, we are in the middle of his being fitted for his prosthesis. It is quite a process, but he should be "up on two legs" again just after Thanksgiving! It would be fair to say that we are both really looking forward to the day!!!

Antique French Letters and Documents

Hello dear friends.


In my quest for beautiful materials to use in paper collage I discovered a lovely Etsy shop in Canada and purchased some of the prettiest antique French letters and documents that I currently own. They were waiting for me when I got back last week, and I was so glad that they were!

First of all, I could barely bring myself to open up this beautiful

packaging.

The seller must have taken so much time to cover this 

standard shipping envelope with such gorgeous collage work.

Even the postage stamps were chosen with such care.

(Pardon me for covering up the seller's and my adresses

with ugly sticky notes,

but you know how it goes on the internet!)...

I tried to capture in my photo that these items were all

glued onto the scripted background paper.

I hope that you can see that the hat is dimensional...

Even the back of the envelope had more ledger

paper on it,

along with pretty coordinating black and 

white striped washi tape to hold it all together...

  I very carefully cut opened the envelope to

remove the contents.

As you can imagine, I saved the envelope! 

And inside was the most beautiful collage material wrapped 

together as shown below

and tied with delicate twine.

A freebie postcard copy was on top,

with a thank-you written on back...

Do I love this beautiful bird-themed beauty?...

I had ordered two different sets,

and each was tied up separately...

I love the stunning blues of this one...

And the creamy color of  this set, 

along with the stunning blue stamps and postmarks.

They were all unusual in that the envelopes were

the outside parts of the letters themselves. 

Don't you love the gorgeous handwriting on them?

If you are interested in checking out this shop,

the link is here.

Will I ever use the originals of these in any kind of art?

Nope!!!

But I will make copies of them!

Have you found anything stunning lately?

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We will be heading up to The Nest shortly,
so you may not hear from me for a bit.
One of these days I will master posting from my cell phone or iPad.

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PS. Is there anyone besides me that finds that spacing after paragraphs
in Blogger has gotten wonky lately?

The Bird Book Print and an Old Picture Frame

After our recent community yard sale, we were stuck with quite a few things that didn't sell. Most were donated locally, but I did keep a few of the old picture frames thinking that I could diddle with them and use them down the road.

I still have a few places at The Nest that need a little decorating, so decided to put a few things together to bring up there, and here is one of them.

This was originally a bronze-brass metallic

wood frame.

I sprayed it with Rustoleum

in an oil-rubbed bronze color

(the same one that I used on the knobs

for the kitchen cabinets up there)...

...and left just a little of the original finish

showing through...

I recently discovered a source for vintage prints

that were cut from old books.

The shop sells at very reasonable prices,

and I don't have to tell you what some

sellers charge for these.

This one was the title page from a vintage

bird book.
The seller has a water colorist on staff,
and he, or she, gently colors some of the
illustrations, as was done with this one.

I made a copy of it,
(of course, saving the original)

and fastened it to a nice piece of burlap that

I then used to cover the cardboard that came

with the frame.

Vintage-looking prong fasteners

hold the print to the burlap...

Here is a close-up.

It was hard to get a good photo due

to the reflections on the glass...

It took about ten minutes to put the whole thing together 

while waiting for the paint to dry on the frame.

What could be better than this

for a vacation place called "The Wren's Nest"?!

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I had also ordered a few other prints from this seller,
and I will share them with you on a future post.
If you're interested in browsing this shop on eBay,
the name of the store is Interior Elements,
and you can find it here.

Have you created anything "on the fly" lately?

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Today I am linking with Wen's Simply Neutrals Tuesday Party
and you can find it here.
I hope that you enjoy your visit!

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!

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Hip hip hooray for the simple things in life!

Antique Victorian Cuffs and The Attic

Hello!

I recently bought these two burgundy velvet and lace cuffs on eBay, and I thought that you might enjoy seeing them.

Here are the two. 

The velvet portions are lovely with very slight wearing,

and the lace has aged to a beautiful ecru color.

They don't really fasten closed,

so I am thinking that they were just sewn to the bottom

of the sleeves, and hung loose...

They are embellished with these lovely

sparkly pieces,

which appear to be some kind of metal...

...seen a little bit better here...

...and here...

These would be lovely incorporated into a Valentine's Day project,

don't you think?

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Hubby decided that it was time to clean out the attic.

It's always been kind of dark up there,

so right before the holidays he put in some

fluorescent lighting and shelving units.

I should have know what was coming.

I've already begun pulling out items that I can live without

and pricing them,

since we have a community yard sale coming up in the spring.

Wow.

I would so much rather be cleaning an attic

than making art.

Victorian Mourning Dress Fragments

Friends, by now you must certainly think that I am fixated on Victorian mourning. I assure you that is not the case, and this will likely be almost my last post on this subject, at least for a while!

I just wanted to share with you some lovely finds that I will be incorporating into some fabric collage at some point.

This first one is a small piece of antique Victorian

velvet trim, or fabric, measuring about

7 by 9 inches at its widest points.

It may or may not have been used on

a mourning dress, 

but I can only imagine the beautiful dress

that it once was a part of...

There is only one motif on this piece,

but that's enough to let my imagination

run away with me...

The best part is that it incorporates

several tiny black jet beads and sequins

(see my last post),

 which have been

embroidered onto the satin flowers,

leaves and stems...

All the embroidery was completed by hand,

as you can see in the photo of the reverse.

Dressmakers of that time period

were really extraordinary,

weren't they?...

The other piece is a triangular shaped

fragment that is about 22 inches long

at the longest section.

It is an antique silk embroidered piece, 

also from the Victorian era...

The embroidered portions have faded to a brownish color,

which I think lends to the overall charm.

The lace portion is stunning...

...and I can only wonder what the dress

that it embellished, or was part of,

looked like...

I actually have a plan for these two pieces,

and some of the others that I have recently purchased,

but that may have to remain a secret for a while!

Thanks for coming by!