Sweet Vintage Valentines

Hello, my friends!

As we leave the holidays behind, the pink and frilly season of Valentines comes to mind…and yesterday, I had fun making a couple of Valentine-themed projects.

A little card with a sweet stamped image from Crafty Secrets’  “Couple of Cuties” set…stitched together and shimmering with an overall spritzing of “Iridescent Gold” Glimmer Mist…

…the image paper-pieced, the skirt slightly popped up, and all lightly colored with pastel chalks…I wanted to keep it soft…

…a shabby homemade rosette made with some very old blush netting (thanks, Mom!)…just the perfect shade to match my paper…love those lucky coincidences!  A simple pearl in the center…just right.

I’m so thrilled to let you know that I’ve been asked to join with some amazingly talented ladies in the Design Team for the new  Vintage Street Market! 

I’m excited to share their products with you as we go along…truly authentic vintage items in themed kits, such as their Vintage Valentine Kit…

 

…and so many exciting things being developed in their own product line that we’ll be able to share with you very soon!

Here’s a Valentine layout I made last night using the Vintage Valentine Kit with a sweet little story to tell you…(you all know it’s hard for me to make something without a story to go with it!)

 

Polly May and Orley Seymour met while they were classmates in the first little schoolhouse in old Mesa, Arizona. 

In 1895, after courting for some time, Orley finally got up the courage to ask Polly’s father for her hand in marriage.

It took two long, agonizingly slow weeks for Polly’s father to give O.S. his consent.

Twenty-year-old Polly May joyfully made her gown by hand…beautiful cream in the Victorian style, with high-top shoes to match…

They were married in her family home in the morning, and after the wedding, they walked hand in hand from house to house throughout their town…

…inviting their many friends to their wedding reception and the dance which would be held later in the day.

I love that I have a picture of them on their wedding day…posed so beautifully.  So wonderful to think of them…still in those same wedding clothes…walking around so happily together later that same day…

Vintage velvet ribbon is a bit difficult to tie in a bow, so I stitched it together in loops to make a pretty little accent here…of course I had to glitz it up a little more with some platinum Stickles…

What is it about plastic vintage buttons that is so charming?  I just can’t resist them!  The pretty pink flower button was included in the kit…the other two were found in my vintage button jar.

We all have such simple but lovely stories in our family’s history…what stories will you find to tell?

Wishing you all a lovely weekend…I’ll see you soon with something new.

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Vintage Street Market,Orley Seymour Stapley,Polly May Hunsaker Stapley,Valentines

Gifts of Love

Hello, dear friends!

A new day, a new year…so much to be grateful for!

My parents are safely back home, my college girl back in class this morning…a quiet house…time for reflecting on a most beautiful gift given by a loving Mother…

Before Christmas, I made a request of my mother.  I would love nothing more than a family heirloom she could part with as my gift from her to me…so much better than any shiny, new thing…

As soon as she arrived, a couple of days before Christmas, she gave me one of her gifts of love…a gift too joyful and precious to be wrapped…she couldn’t wait!

A scrapbook of my grandmother Velda’s engagement, bridal showers and wedding…the old, wooden cover gone, the spine still attached with a leather tie…(please forgive my gloomy-lighted photos from a gloomy day!)

…lovingly handmade by the  happy bride-to be…

…thick, beautifully aged paper,

which carefully kept page upon page of well-preserved newspaper articles, sweet wishes from loved ones…

…loving letters and telegrams sent…

…gift cards and lovely vintage images…

…a carefully preserved bunch of flowers, lace & ribbons, pressed between pages at the back…

On Christmas morning…more vintage treasures lovingly wrapped…

…I squealed with delight when I lifted this doll from the tissue…I’d been with Mom in an antique shop this summer when she purchased this beautiful Frozen Charlotte-type doll head…price reduced a little, as it was broken at the base…no stumbling block for a brilliant dollmaker…

Each item used on the doll, a thing filled with meaning and history…

…one of grandmother Velda’s hand-embroidered handkerchief, and an old lace panel from Velda’s fabric collection…

…a very old pin belonging to my great-grandmother Estella…

…and the body—amazingly constructed using a very old leather lady’s glove…only one left of the pair…what a creative and perfect way to use it.

And carefully nestled next to the doll…

…a beautiful, very old necklace belonging to my great-great-grandmother Sarah…completely made of dark brown mother-of-pearl buttons…

…isn’t it wonderful?  It moves so fluidly and feels so lovely around my neck…my Sarah loves it and says it’s hers…someday, Sarah.

Yesterday, a keepsake made to represent all these beautiful gifts of love from my mother…

…another scrapbook page for my on-going heritage book…the beautiful black & white damask print will soon be available on Crafty Secrets’ new vintage “Designing with Vintage” CD, and the blue gingham print is from their “Earthy” paper pack…

Velda’s luminous wedding photo to represent her hand-made scrapbook…a bit of iridescent glitter on her bouquet…

…a beautiful frozen Charlotte doll head and musical wings from Crafty Secrets’ “Altered Fairy” Creative Scraps to represent my lovely doll…a strip of a gorgeous handwritten calligraphy—a gift for the new couple written by a friend, included in the scrapbook…

…and a sweet floral embellishment from Recollections along the side of the page…

…a bridal silhouette copied from a sweet little bridal shower card in Velda’s scrapbook…the veil and flowers now shimmering with glitter…along with a description of the bridal bouquet, written in Velda’s own lovely handwriting…

“White Roses and Lily-of-the-Valley

tied with wide white satin

Ribbon and Shower Ribbons”

…a sweet “Remembrance” card, adorned with forget-me-nots, from Crafty Secrets’ “Vintage Photos” Creative Scraps…a few beautiful, dark brown mother-of-pearl buttons from my stash to represent my button necklace, and some lovely blue lace—part of a sweet Christmas surprise from a dear friend (thank-you, Vicki!)…

Sweet gifts from the heart…thank-you, Mom.

I love you.

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Velda Stapley Ostlund,wedding scrapbook

A Beautiful Day in the City By the Bay…

 

Hello, my friends!

It’s been a busy week, hasn’t it?!  Can’t believe I haven’t posted since last week…but it’s been filled with family, friends, food & fun…all the important things!

I haven’t had time for any vintage creating this week, but I wanted to share a bit of our day in San Francisco with you…a little Christmastime California-style!

My Dad loves to spend time in San Francisco when he comes, and we aim to please!  It was gray, but pretty clear…and just beautiful that day…

A bit afraid of heights, Dad still can’t resist the Golden Gate Bridge, and loves to cross it, feel the cables, and marvel at the technology of it…

Here he is talking to my daughter Annie about the cables holding up the bridge…I always love his childlike wonder as he explains the things that fascinate him…

My daughter Sarah has been on crutches the last couple of weeks as she sprained her ankle pretty badly, but she still wanted to walk across as much of the bridge as she could…we took it slowly, she and I…

Here’s me…holding on to one of the smaller cables…I’m not such a fan of heights, either…these look solid, but you can shake them around a bit….eerie!  To the right of the farthest right cable, you can just see Alcatraz…very dim due to the fog, and a barge floating by…

My Mom and oldest daughter Chelsea…such a wonderful time together!

If you’ve never walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s quite an experience.  Cars whizzing loudly by right next to you, hundreds of pedestrians joining you on your way…and you feel the constant vibrations from the traffic, thousand of walking & running feet and the very gusty winds….like lots of small earthquakes, one after another…

It’s such an incredible sight to look up at the vastness of those columns….amazing that such a bridge could have been built over 70 years ago…with no computer technology, or any of the things we require for building today!

…right underneath the first big column…

Sarah standing by the beautifully patina-colored plaque that pays tribute to the bridge and it’s builders…and a word I relate to…

…the Past.  Beautiful.

Here’s a wonderful photo from the Past…May 27, 1937…the day the bridge was opened.  Just a couple of months before my Dad was born. What a day that must have been!

After we left the bridge, we drove around town a bit, and ended up at the beautiful Japanese Tea Gardens…we’d never been before and had heard it was not to be missed…

My parents and Roger and I by this beautiful pagoda in the garden…

…Dad and I on top of this beautiful…very HIGH foot bridge…we two  scaredy-cats just had to try it!

Here’s a little zen moment for you at the beautiful koi pond…love the reflection of the trees in the water…

…and one of my favorite images of the day…Dad and Mom walking arm-in-arm, enjoying the peace and beauty of the garden just at twilight…

At the end of our day…a far cry from the silent garden…Union Square in the middle of the city…all lit up for Christmas…

What a wonderful day by the Bay…

And lastly, a couple of vintage New Year’s greeting cards to share with you…

I love the bright colors and gold-embossed elements here…from 1934…

…and this little beauty…The Old Year steps out of the scene as Baby New Year takes his place…a New Year’s greeting sent in 1936.

Wishing you and your families a wonderful end of 2010, and a beautiful beginning to a new year…see you in 2011!

Don’t forget the fabulous New Year’s sale going on at Crafty Secrets until the 31st—stop by and check it out!

 

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: San Francisco,Golden Gate Bridge,Japanese Tea Garden,New Year's greetings,Crafty Secrets