Green Paper

Etsy

I opened an Etsy shop quite a while ago and have pretty much ignored it ever since.  I've had multiple people tell me I should be listing there, but I'm a bit boggled by it.

I want to shop there, but I find it confusing,  which I'm sure is due to the fact that I don't understand how it's supposed to work. For example, I'd like some new earrings, and I really like pink tourmaline. If I type "pink tourmaline earrings" into the search box, I get 319 items on 16 pages. That's more than I want to start clicking through, so I want to narrow it down.

The info on the right suggests I change the category on top to items:tags only and not items:tags,titles.  I do, but now I get over 200 options and 10 pages. So I can come up with more specifics or I can start looking at 200 different pairs of earrings.

Can I see a list of standard tags the seller may have used?  Are the choices truly endless and ill-definded? I don't know if that's the point, or if I just don't know how to search in Etsy. It seems perfect if you'd like to wander around, just looking. Reminds me of reading blogs.

I'm also confused as a seller. Because I don't sell original art, I can list in either the supplies or vintage categories. (I'm not allowed to pick anything else) After that, there seems to be no structure. I'm not sure Etsy really is a good place for a seller like me. There may be a market there, but I'll have to figure out how to find things, if I want people to come and find me!

It rains, it pours...

I told you I found another set of cool price tags & would eBay them soon...and yesterday (antique-ing again) I found a third set! These are blue on white & CUTE, CUTE, CUTE. So I have 2 sets of price signs posted and some of the first set left. I may have 3 kinds posted within a few days. Here are the new guys:

And, for yet another bonus yesterday, I came across some very cool cards with what I thought were city names printed on one side. They have incredible vintage color along the edges. I was disappointed to find pencil or ink notations added to some sort of abbreviations on the back of about half.

Well, I did a bit of research and they're actually a kind of flash card. They were used by new-hires of the railroad mail cards, to learn the names and locations of the various post offices along a route. The notations on the back are basically study notes. The things you learn...

Anyway, they're on eBay too.

 

It's the little things...

Funny how thrilled we can be over something silly...tonight I picked up a skin for my i-pod with a place on the back to hang onto the earphones. And because the i-pod earphones won't stay in my ear, I am trying another set. They already seem better and they're pink. (I'm trying to add more colors in my life)

If you look closely you may see that the screen says 161 podcasts. There are just 4 songs. Only I could turn a cool toy into a work tool.

On a more familiar note, I found some more vintage price signs...these are black type on a kind of orange/butterscotch background. They're a bit smaller than the others and have a wider range of prices. I'm thinking 1940s, maybe 1950s.  Also very fun, and not as pricey as the others.

I'll have them on eBay by the weekend I think.

Old work and a quick new one...

Something else I found in the old computer's files, it's mixed media on a book cover:

To even things out, here's a quick ATC I did last night:

Cool Stuff on eBay

They're grocery store price tags, possibly from about 1930. About 3" wide.

I added more links, finally. If you have a minute check some out.

French Holy Cards

I promised my friend Cynthia a look at some of my antique French Holy Cards.

I collect cards celebrating a First Communion or Confirmation. On the back of the card you'll sometimes find details like the child's name, the date, the church or a priest's name.

There seem to be infinite styles and themes in Holy Cards. Most of my cards are in a chalice with flowers style, many with roses.

These cards are usually very highly decorated. There's almost always gold edges and accents, and the flowers are always lush and fresh.

The fonts are frequently amazing; very detailed in design or layout. There may be decorative accents around some letters, various colors of capital letters, and each line is often underlined with tiny scroll work on the ends.

The border designs may have an art-deco look or fabulous colorful scroll work that put all of our recent digital brushes and rubber stamps in the pale.

The dates on most of my cards range from the 1890's through about 1910. The card pictured on the left is dated 10 Juin 1906.

The nicest cards I've found have been from eBay. My favorite dealer there is ICS Vintage Store in France.

Album Pages in Art

I've managed to accumulate dozens of cabinet card and CDV album pages, so I've posted an auction on eBay to sell them all at once.  In the meantime, here are a few pictures of what I've done with them in the past...

For this piece, I turned the album page on it's side to frame a CDV on a handwritten letter background. The frame & paper are both brushed with white gesso, and then I stamped on the frame and the CDV. I added a bit of fabric, some old buttons, scissors and a ribbon for hanging.

This piece uses a long triple album page, made to display 3 cab cards together. I have a few of these left but they're long and too big for a flat rate box, so none are in the auction lot. (the things that stand in the way of your sales!)

I used text and brass stencils in the openings on either side. On the left I also added a locket and a little charm.  I opened the locket to show the pictures inside, one is a woman & the other a dog...and yes, they were already in there when I bought the locket. Serendipity! 

The center picture is inked around the edges and decorated with some pretty mother-of-pearl buttons.  It's laid over a piece of hand-died ribbon from Curious Sofa.  I stamped all around the album page with an old-favorite stamp.

This is a piece using a double-CDV album page on a book cover. I wasn't too crazy about this the day I made it, but it has grown on me a bit. I was trying to incorporate some specific elements (the piece hangs from a toy stirrup and a man's tie) with the picture of the men.

I really liked laying the frame over the picture so that it sticks out either side - probably my favorite part. I also really like the little map-buttons I made, even though they kept coming off.

So, what have YOU made with an album page???

Secrets Spools

I found a plastic jar filled with small wooden spools and haven't decided what to do with them. I remembered a post on Curious Sofa a couple months ago about winding a secret note around the spool and decorating it as a gift or tag. So I made a few of my own yesterday, and here they are. I think they're awfully girly but so much of my stuff keeps coming out that way... anyway, fun to play with.

I'll tell you a story

I've been pretty good at keeping myself out of my own blog, but I'm chipping off around the edges.

I frequently feel like I ought to post, but I don't have much to tell you.  So much of my time is so comfortably free...and I don't want to go places and do things the way I did in the past.  It's easy to assume that this period in my life is really boring to anyone else.   

There are so many blogs with so many different levels of engagement. I'd rather tell you a story and you can tell me a story and we'll go from there. Sometimes our stories will be sad or brave or frightening or funny. Sometimes they'll just be funny. I've realized that I don't have to tell you every little thing about myself. You can stop in and read a post or two and never listen to me again.

Where is this ah-ha moment coming from?

Tonight I Googled something and the second or third link took me to a blog I've never read before.  Today's post is just a couple lines from the author saying that her husband died early this morning. Her blog is only a few months old and there are a variety of posts about a variety of things, but I think her husband has been ill for a while and this wasn't a sudden surprise.

It struck me as so astonishing - the digital community in all of it's anonymity and intimacy. A woman simply informing friends and strangers about this tragedy in her life. There, it happened, it's out there. That information being read and remembered, sometimes with a comment on the blog or a silent prayer that is hours and thousands of miles away.

The woman may not post again for days, but none of her cyber-friends will be surprised or expect anything from her. They'll be there when she gets back, and for that time it will finally and completely be about her. She won't be the widow or the daughter or the mother, she will just be herself.  I don't see her through a filter in which she's my sister or co-worker or childhood friend...I just see her.

So, here's a picture taken about a week ago of me with my Mom at her house in California.  It was taken as I was leaving for the airport to fly home, the suitcase was already in the car.

My Mom has terminal cancer and is becoming very frail. There, I said it. I don't want to tell you any of the sad stuff or the tough stuff, so I'll tell you a story.

During this trip, Mom talked to me about living alone after living with others. My Dad's been gone a few years and she loves living alone: making what she's wants for dinner, her own TV shows and bedtime. She knew I would understand because I'm divorced and I've been there...and I also appreciate the pleasures of living alone (Ok, Jack is here but he's old enough to be working or hanging out with his buddys for most of his time)

With one of my brothers or sisters staying over every night, and the woman who comes by to bathe her and the hospice people (She's not sure they really need to come over...once a week? Really? She's boggled) I think she was trying to tell me that she needed some alone time. So, I went to a movie with one of my sisters for an afternoon matinee.

We came back and let ourselves in. Mom had started a lovely fire in the fireplace, fixed herself a cocktail, and sat down with a plate of cheese and crackers to watch the McNeill/Lehrer Report. Ahhh...Peace at last!

I'll leave you with a happy picture of my Mom with her great-grandaughter, Ivy. For fun, check out Ivy's Mom & Dad's blog to see more pictures from their trip to California in early January.

 

Pam's Birthday Art!

Pam Cole, of Columbia Missouri, created a wonderful birthday sign for her Mother-in-Law's 80th Birthday, and used some numbers and letters from me! She was nice enough to send a picture and let me post it here. Thanks, Pam - it's marvelous!!!

If this is Saturday I must be shopping...

Porcelained enamel on metal...or enameled porcelain on metal...something like that. Anyway, I found 17 of these letters, most REALLY beat up.  I also picked up some greeting cards, crocheted trim, and a game called Peter Coddle's Trip to New York. And, of course, more books; including a three-piece dictionary set, a child's science reader and an 1892 Bible. I have no idea if any of this will get to eBay.

I know I said no more cab cards...

Curly Locks Cards

I'm always fascinated by the images and styles of old card games...here's a game I found on a shopping trip with Cynthia a couple months ago.

The game is called Curly Locks, and has a detailed back, including 2 images of a curly-haired little girl. The game itself uses the cards as flash cards, so pretty simple.

There's marker on the back of about half of them - the answers to the more complicated problems.  But I really like the front of those, so it's just fine with me.

Based on the box, the game was produced by Mrs. Susie Stratton of Iola Kansas and copyright in 1918-1919.

Buttons

My button bowl looks so pretty all cream & white this week.  All of these are give-aways, even though they look so nice together. 

I always enclose a little something in my ebay packages and frequently I'll use a few buttons and a few old postage stamps. If course, I don't use the really grubby or damaged ones!

I'm rather proud of my pictures - I am still learning my camera & I've had it over a year. Inept, I know!

I recently got a Flip video recorder and I'm ten times better with that - of course, there aren't any settings to choose. Turn it on & try to point it in the right direction.

Maybe someday I'll embed some video into my blog...video of antique shopping...that should put every one to sleep. 

Hat Tag Art

 

I received an email about this great Gothic Arch, made by Susi and featured on her blog, Susi Creates. Go there to see more wonderful art. Thanks, Susi!!!

Wedding Picture

My mother enclosed this picture in her Christmas card, and I'm so happy to see it. That's my Mom and Dad at their wedding with his Mom & Dad and brothers. Mom was 25 and Dad was 30.  They look so young, carefree. Thanks, Mom!!!

Giraffe ATC

Little Lord Fauntleroy

  A fellow Collage Cat, Christine Shebroe always has some great photos for sale on eBay,and this week she has a wonderful picture of a child ALL dressed up - sales ends Monday, by the way, so take a look!

He's probably dressed like that because of a fashion trend based on a the main character in Little Lord Fauntleroy, a book written by Frances Hodgson Burnett in 1886. Mrs. Burnett also wrote The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, which seems to have originally been titled Sara Crewe.

I wrote a paper about him back in high school after reading about him in one of my dad's old books.

Little Lord Fauntleroy's story doesn't translate for a modern reader the same way some of her other's have. It's the story of a child who travels to England with his widowed mother because he's now a lord. His grandfather disowned Little Lord F's father when he ran off with his mother.

Now that he's dead, the old man realizes he's has no heir and sends for the boy and his mother. Then the darling child procedes to charm every person of every class, including his own surly grandfather; who learns to love and forgive because of this sweet and wonderful boy.  Meanwhile the kid dresses like that throughout the entire book, which looks pretty odd in the pictures of him with the tenants or the shoeshine boy.

Well, you'll have to read the book itself if you find one, and see the wikipedia entry for a more thorough history. The one copy I've come across has lost much of it's spine; all of the pages have stained or ragged edges and most are no longer attached. If you've purchased my 30 page mixed paper lot on eBay recently you may have a page.

New books

I'm very excited because I found (and ordered) some books I've been searching for.  I've been trying to replace some terrific papers I've used and sold in the past. Finally finding both books (and within a week of each other) is a big deal to me!

Don't quote me, but soon I may have more of this:

(those are French dictionary pages)

And it looks like I'll soon have more of this:

(those are US Patent Report pages)

I'm VERY excited!   

More Autumn ATCs