Butterflies Love Butterfly Bush

This Butterfly Bush is just outside my kitchen window, and I enjoy watching the activity while doing dishes. There have been quite a few of this type of butterfly the past few days. John went out and snapped this picture for me.

Hemet Stock Farm in Pastel - Mixed Media and Photo Fabric Collage

I created a wall hanging of the Hemet Stock Farm for our Rineyville, KY cottage. The photograph is of the old Hemet Stock Farm gate that I took a few years ago, and I printed it on white cotton. I love the muted greens and bird motif of the old drapery sample that I used for the background. Various fabric scraps that I coffee dyed are layered behind the stock farm picture. Additional embellishments include old buttons and antique lace. The piece measures approximately 16" 21" excluding the wooden hanger. The wooden hanger is a piece from the old fence that surrounds the stock farm. I was Lucky enough one day to happen by when workers were replacing parts of the fence, and they let me take some of the old pieces. You can see more of the Stock Farm series here.

Blog Anniversary - New Tintypes

Today is the two year anniversary of my blog. No fanfare because I forgot! When I looked up the anniversary date last night, I was surprised to see that it is today and that it has been two years already.

I bought these tintype photographs on Ebay a couple of days ago, and they were in my mailbox today. I have projects in mind for these little treasures. And since there isn't any information about any of them, I'll just have to make something up.


This website has interesting facts about women's clothes in tintype photographs during the Civil War era.
http://www.geocities.com/myrtleavenueclothiers/OGCivilWarWomen.html

The women in my tintypes seem to have different hair styles and somewhat different dresses. Any of you have any information to uncover the clues?

Vintage Button and 1927 Ephemera Tags

I made a few tags the other day that I covered with cut outs from a 1927 woman's magazine. Then I sewed vintage buttons to each one of the tags and topped them with a piece of vintage narrow rick rack to replace the string hanger that came attached to the tags. These were a lot of fun to make, and I think I will be making more of them out of some old ephemera that I have been collecting.

Fabric Collage Organizer - Card Holder - Letter Holder - Photo Holder

My mother made a fabric card organizer for me years ago, and I love using it. I decided to make a pattern from it and create some of the card holders. These can be used to hold much more than cards. They can also hold letters, both written and waiting to be written as well as other ephemera. The outside front covers will be covered with vintage fabric and mixed-media collages. The one pictured here is a prototype of sorts, and I used part of an existing collage that I had made a while back for the cover. The organizer is tied shut with red & white ribbon.


There are two pockets inside the organizer that can hold cards up to 5 3/8" x 7 5/8".

Old Tintypes and Photos

I found these photos at the Pomona Antique Fair in May. The top two are studio type photos, and the bottom two are tintypes.

Thomas is the name I have given the man in the tintype on the bottom right. I am currently working on an original piece with his tintype, and have created a short narrative for him as well.

The two women in the tintype on the bottom left look so prim and proper don't they? And the young woman in the upper right is lovely.