Yes, I'm late posting this.....

But we have been so very busy with getting the new wsoapp.org up and going. Last nigh at 3:40 am, after we dotted the I's and crossed the T's in the site and after we got off the phone with the last group member in helping to set up their shop...I pulled out a cup of hot chai tea,( I don't drink) , cut the little ribbon I tied across the computer screen on my desk....and went to bed. I have to say WOW! WOW! WOW! to all of our WSOAPP "groupies". You guys have all pulled together and helped to make this one of the most enjoyable and amazing experiences for me. I have now chatted with nearly all of you on the phone and a few of you constantly by email and I have never felt so close to a group of folks....and I mean it from the bottom of my heart. We have all expressed the same ideas and goals for the group and the site and based upon your suggestions, we are going to be implementing quite a few new ideas, not just in the website, but in the group itself. Many Hugs to all of you for helping me pull through a dark time and get this show on the road!!!!!!


And a great big thanks to CJ for writing our promo blurb, we will be posting this one EVERYWHERE:

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.

Victorian Paper Cone Ornaments

If there is one thing I love about the Victorians, it would have to be their frugality and ingenuity when it came to recycling. I have an enormous collection of antique Christmas ornaments from about 1870 to 1906, and it is endearing to me how old pieces of Jewelry, wrapping papers, ribbons and cutouts from chromolith trading cards all were saved for later. Nothing went to waste! Items that were considered old junk or throw away were made into objects of beauty and later reused in holiday celebrations. This applied to all holidays, not just Christmas. The paper cone is also known as the "May basket or the Tussie Mussie", depending on it's season of use and adornment.

I love to craft my things in the same way and I spend hours creeping through the attic of my childhood home, ( a large Victorian farm house), and hours searching antique markets looking for sweet finds. All of my Victorian paper cones or scrap ornaments are crafted in the same style and tradition as their Victorian counterparts. The paper cones are always loaded with antique and vintage finds and will usually include some valuable antique ornaments, antique glass jewelry and chromolith scraps. The large, aqua colored cone here features a large, antique mercury glass ornament and two smaller vintage glass ornaments from the 1930's.

I generally try to preserve the integrity of the antique ornaments if I can and keep them firmly fastend to the piece, yet detachable and not glued into it. I still have an antique lover's passion for these things and it sickens me to ruin them for the "sake of art". Watch for some of my Victorian, spun glass bird cones coming shortly.....they feature rare, hard to find glass birds with spun glass tails. This year, I found a treasure trove, and I mean treasure trove, of antique Christmas things. I'm really excited to show them.

All of my cone ornaments would be great in a shabby chic setting, on a tree or hanging on a knob somewhere in your home.



All of these ornaments will be priced accordingly to the vintage and antique findings they are loaded with. The cones you see featured here are currently for sale at wsoapp.com

Very soon, you will be able to view my work in sets on flickr. com. I have chosen to use this site as a way for my customers and friends to view my complete, online portfolio