It's that time of year again!

My Favorite time! I have been busy working in my studio, creating my newest group of Old World, Father Christmases. I'm offering previews of them here on my blog before they go up for sale. There are only a very limited few that are being offered publicly this year as the rest are now being sold under a contract.

Pictured here is the Nordic Father Christmas which will go up for sale in my TDIPT shop on Oct. 14th. He is approximately 28 inches tall and is the third Father Christmas in a series I made depicting the Nordic Style representation of Santa. I just adore that old style St. Nick, the style we always see on those antique/vintage postcards. Many of my creations will mimick those Santas and will be carrying feather trees.
Pictured here: my 2009 woodsman style Father Christmas. He has been sold to a collector but custom orders for similar style figures may be considered.

My Swap gift from my buddy Rosanne of Ro's Cluttered Attic!

Imagine my surprise the other day when my post office carrier knocked on my door holding this giant box that, of course, would not fit in our mail box! I saw the return address label on it and knew my swap partner had sent it!

I ripped into the box, my 8 yr old gleefully assisting me, and it was Christmas in August!!! I have taken a photo of three of the items and posted them here. The main one is that amazing collage using antique music sheets and a vintage postcard element of Old St. Nick. I will hang it up in the Victorian room of my house next to our feather tree. I just love it!!! Ro expressed to me some trepidation at having gotten my name because she had never created anything Victorian before....but this was simply awesome...and I think she may have just discovered a new way of creating too;)

The next items in the box were the apple cinnamon candle that you see burning here and the handmade pin cushion with vintage fabrics. I have already started to use the pincushion....even if it is Christmas themed, I will use it year round to remind me 0f my favorite-iest time of year. There were two other items in the box that were not yet pictured here...they were a large bag of trailmix with plenty of my favorites; nuts, rasins and chocolates and there was a great package of Victorian tea themed paper plates and napkins. The trail mix did not make it to this photoshoot....ummmm perhaps because my son and husband and I have consumed most of it....but let me tell you; it was quite yummy!

Thanks Ro.....I LOVE these gifts and will cherish them forever. HUGS

Hang Tags with a Graphic, Victorian Flair!

If you have not noticed by now, I have been gradually making the switch over from doing early American style folk art to graphics and paper goods. The only time I usually craft folk art style items is around Christmas time when I switch over to my Belsnickels and my old world St. Nicholases. My newest items have all been hang tags and stickers,(I'll highlight the stickers a bit later), and they have been selling exceptionally well. I'm also going to be branching off into printing custom note cards and stationary

I miss traditional correspondence.......

I know, email and blackberries are great, they really are. E-cards are so wonderfully convenient too, I don't have to actually remember to pick out cards when I'm at the store...I can just hop online and go to my favorite e-card source, type in a recipient's email and there you go! It's just so darn cool, as well as easy to utilize in this fast paced world. But does anyone else out there miss traditional correspondence? I'm talking real cards or letters written and sent to friends at times other than at Christmas. I have suddenly found that I really miss a nice card I can hold, or a hand written letter from a pen pal that I can save in a drawer. I never get many of those anymore.

I think what sparked this little bit of nostalgia for me was a time a few months ago when I started to clean out my recently deceased grandmother's things, all things which I inherited....when I say inherited here, I mean all the stuff the rest of the family dumped on me because they didn't want it. But as I sifted through the mounds of old pictures, papers and letters that had been forgotten in a shoe box, I realized I had a goldmine. Dozens of vintage postcards dating back to 1899-1910 and hand written letters to her grabbed my attention.
There were even sweet notes penned to her from her boyfriend...whom she later married and he became my grandpa! As I read through these things, I realized that I was looking at a slice of her life, a unique picture of the time in which she was alive and with us. It then suddenly occurred to me that my grandchildren may not ever get to see this side of me. For one thing....I don't keep a diary or a journal, even though I do scrapbook, and for another, all of my little notes to people and cards sent to me are lost in some digital "ether" out there.

So I guess this is what has led me down this recent path to the style of creations I have been doing.....greeting cards and paper goods with a nostalgic and Victorian flair. For one thing, I love mixed media, altered art and paper ephemera art, I have just never really pursued it except in my personal scrapbooking. With these cards and tags I have been making, I hope to create little bits of art that the recipient will not want to throw out and will want to save for posterity. The cards I have been making have also been all blank on the inside, so that the giver can have ample room to pen their message.