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!

Christmas Greetings 2016

Blessings to you and yours this holiday season!

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.

Christmas outside. Christmas inside.

Hello dear friends. I hope that you are doing well and enjoying the Christmas season. We are taking it easy this year as it was a busy and hectic year with Mr. Perch's leg. As usual, we decorated the inside of the house very minimally, but this year, right after Thanksgiving, we also did the outside in a minimal fashion since I basically had to do it all myself. Below are a few photos that I took last week or so.

We didn't put the lit garlands on the porch railings

this year.

I decided to use garden lights instead,

telling myself KISS: Keep it Simple Stupid!

I'm sure that there are those in the neighborhood

who surely think that I lost it.

I couldn't agree more...

To further antagonize those who never

want to march to a different beat,

we used the excess lighting

around this old primitive tree that we had

up in the attic and just left it on the porch

swing.

Do you want to guess if more than one

person has asked me if I needed help

standing up the tree?

I politely reply: "No, thank you."...

We put our old metal snowman from

the fifties by the steps going up to the porch...

I am a person who would father eat live

goldfish than shop on Black Friday.

I have never bought into the argument

that the good sales are only on that day.

Point proven:

Last week I went to Michael's and lots of

stuff was 70% off, and with quite a lot

of stock to boot.

I bought these lovely wooden

"Joy to the World" tags...

...and this nice wire basket,

with the fabric Noel painted in grey...

...although the fabric Noel was originally red, as seen below.

No problem, I just painted the letters grey with cheap

Walmart chalk paint.

At 70% off $19.99, who can go wrong?...

In that drastically reduced stash I also bought this

beige knit stocking, topped with fur,

and coordinating throw pillows, not seen

here, but I use them on the black rockers.

Also the twiggy heart below.

The greenery was also on sale...

Of course, I couldn't resist taking a winter

 photo of the back yard.

Not for any decorating reasons, but because our lawn is

back to being pretty and green,

thanks to our yard crew who did an outstanding job

of reseeding it this fall after we lost practically the whole

thing this summer while the Mister was in the hospital and the

sprinkler system let go...

But the best view of all is Mr. Perch,

for the first time since early August,

standing on his "own two legs" in front of

the fireplace last Friday after we got home

with his new leg...

What a wonderful sight to see!!

Glimpses: Completing some art projects!

Hello to all! I hope that you're having a great day.

This year we will be having a very quiet Christmas, so I decided to take advantage of that with minimal decorating, and spent these last couple of days completing a few art projects that I had started last month. Here are a few glimpses of what I worked on, though I can't yet share more than this.

I actually worked on four related seasonal collage canvases.

I used some of the stuff I've been collecting for a while,

ribbon, fibers, a vintage key and label holder, and

some old sheet music...

...not to mention the usual vintage photo thrown in.

I love the mom and baby in her coat and hat sitting

on the porch on this cold winter day.

B-r-r-r-r...

More pretty fibers, old glass buttons,

and a glimpse of another old photo and

a vintage typed letter...

Here are some vintage postage stamps

on top of old ledger paper,

with yet another photo barely peeking

out...

 Yet another photo, this one on top

of a vintage love letter and its envelope.

This letter was actually sent many years ago

to someone one town over from where I live.

And of course, some velvet ribbon and lace...

At some point I will show you the completed versions of these.

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

Maybe I would be better off creating some Christmas cards this week.

Oops!