Green Paper

And now for something completely different...

Artist Class started today and is going swimmingly. Thanks to everybody who signed up today - they reminded me to announce that registration is still open, and there's plenty of time to do the projects - the site will be open through February!

We've started with Tammy Sprinkle's Homage to a Loved One assemblage and wait until you see mine...well it's not finished yet. I had a lot of work to do today!

Silver Bella Vendor Faire is in 3 weeks! Eek! Want to see some of what I'm putting together? Here you go...

Sweet baby shoes, old Paris postcards, antique Victorian Logomachy  cards, numbered glass vials, Flinch cards, telephone lineman measuring tape, drawer file holders...

An antique Camelot game, early Old Maid Flapper cards, a full set of 1949 word flash cards... 

Brass livestock tags, old keys, Bingo card assortments...

Victorian scrap, trading cards, calling cards...

 

I love sorting through all this stuff, and packing it up. It's so fun to have Victorian scrap spread all over the dining room table..the oddest things make us happy, don't they?

I'm really trying to focus on portable things - easy to tuck into a suitcase. I have a lot of classic mixed media supplies, but still plenty of obscure and one-of-a-kind items - I'll show you some of those next time.

Things I have learned because I am a Silver Bella vendor...

You have too many cards when you can't get them all into the cool antique suitcase. My choices to resolve this are:

1. Move the snapshots and put more cards in the lid
2. Triage - some cards will have to stay behind
3. Better get a bigger suitcase

Packing ephemera assortments is fun...but it overflows into every available work areas in the house.  My choices to resolve this are:

1. Make peace with it - we never have people over anyway
2. Forget packing assortments - dump all the ephemera into an antique suitcase...oh, wait no...
3. Better get a bigger house

 

On a side note...I painted my fingernails orange. I think it's fun. My son says he can't take anything I say seriously with orange finger nails. Spoil sport.

How was your evening?

A simple love story...

I just listed the most gorgeous scrapbook on Etsy, but there are too many great pages to show them all there, so I'm sharing more of them with you....

It's really a handmade book documenting one love story...

 

The cover calls it a true story, but I wonder if it is...

 

It begins in childhood and school days...

 

They each go on on to college - Yale & Vassar?

 

Young adults, favorite past times...

 

the proposal and acceptance!

 

sharing the news...

 

there are 14 pages including the front & back covers...

 

a sweet love story...

 

the wedding day...

 

the honeymoon...

 

their own home and children...

 

A vision of the perfect relationship. True or not, does it really matter?

The listing is  HERE.

Incomplete...

I haven't been able to get anything completed today...I've been working on ephemera book kits for 2 days now, they're about half done...

I admit I was distracted by an exciting package in the mail today: the French dictionary I ordered. The majority of pages are amazingly gorgeous - in spite of some tears, smudges and wavy pages from bad storage.

I heard requests for an image collection of the cool deco letters, so I'll be working on that.  I plan to include some of the beautiful color plates and maps from the book.

Here's a sample page so you can see how pretty: 

I hope you can use this butterfly page. If you make something with it, please send me a picture &  I'll email the image of your initial to you. This bribe offer is only good until the collection's ready, but that will take days if not weeks, so you have time!

Vintage School Report

I found the most amazing old handmade book - What seems to be an old school report on Shakespeare. It is completely handwritten and illustrated; fifty pages and so much detail.

Definitely not done the night before, some major effort went into this. No grade or markings - could this have been just for fun? Here are pictures of the cover and just some of the pages.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm letting go of this one, but I had to show it off first. It's here on Etsy.

My favorite paper is back

In my ephemera questing, the old axiom "when it rain, it pours" has been proven true many times...and at least once before with this book!  It's a Commissioner of Patents Reports, Volume 2, Arts & Manufactures.

 

Not to be confused with volume 1 you understand, or the agriculture version... There's sometimes a volume 3; that one's illustrations too...you can trust me on all of this.

 

I love this paper, not just for it's historic and steampunk look, but also the way it feels. Heavy without being shiny, a little tooth to it, yet almost sheer. You can fold it in half for a pocket and it doesn't rip. All important altered art considerations - you can see why I love it.

  

I think by now I've seen 4 or 5 editions of the book. With headings, without, with inventor and invention name, or without. They're all cool, and any edition is my favorite.

 

You can use a page as is, cut out an invention for an accent, or stack them beside each other for a busy background. I just realized I used paper from one of these books in assorted places in my gluebook, including the very last page.  

Anyway, I found an affordable 1860 edition, and then I came across an 1862 on eBay which should arrive this week.  So, I'm packaging individual lots of this paper today.

You can  pick one up on eBay, or on Etsy, and see what you think. Or, since I seemed to have conquered the Paypal shopping cart, you can also grab it right here...

You'll see - it's maybe the best old art paper in the world.

Victorian Trade Cards

I lucked into a great little lot of Victorian trade cards today, and they inspired me to add more images to the Victorian Scrap & Trade Cards downloads...so it's now over 70 images.

 

...I didn't get all of them into the picture.

Rather than keep them for scanning, I'm offering a few selections from today's lot for sale in the shop on Etsy.  These sweet little girls are being offered as a set and need a good home:

 

And these birthday goddesses are available too:

 

The one on the right says Birthday Souvenir...and don't you love their clothes?

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Thanks and Special Finds

 A special "Thank You!" to Marty Weil at the Ephemera blog. He featured my Tennyson calendar last week and the Logomachy cards today! If you don't watch Marty's blog you're missing a lot of cool images and history - his readers are a varied lot.

I want to share a few specialty finds in my Etsy shop right now. Click on any picture to go to that listing...

A little sketchbook I put together this week:

 

Metal tags with amazing patina:

Some gorgeous album pages:

Assortments of dated pages:

 

And, please, somebody give these never-used stamps a good home - over 50 of them, $49 and I'll cover the shipping. What a bargain.

 

The drawing for the June give-away is tomorrow...should I have a give-away for July too?

Last chance for Logomachy on sale...and what's next?

If you've been thinking about getting the Logomachy images, here's your reminder that the introductory prices will be over after Tuesday.

   

On July 1st the download version will be $18 and the disc will be $20...if you've been thinking about it, now's the time to pounce.  Take advantage of the intro price and get the download emailed to you immediately by purchasing on eBay or get a disc mailed to you when you purchase through Etsy.  

And what's coming next?  I've compiled a mix of engravings and illustrations, printer's ornaments, endpapers and backgrounds, all translated into black and white. Here's a sample of some of the images:

 

Great for layering, either digitally or physically; the Black & White collection will be ready later this week.