Paper Buttons and Mini Cards

I pinned a wonderful YouTube button tutorial and couldn't wait to try my hand at making tiny paper buttons.  I thought it might be a time-waster--why not buy real buttons--
but I fell in love with the process and the idea and the look!  
I made a whole bunch out of two of the new Stampin Up In Colors:

So fun and colorful and perfect to wrap twine around on tiny envelopes!  I cut a whole bunch of little envelopes and decorated them with  punched flowers.

What a great way to use scraps!

I took a pre-made card and cut it into three smaller cards that would fit inside:

And voila! Adorable little cards that are like a tiny gift in themselves:

The dies, punches, stamps and ink are all from Stampin' Up.  
The paper is from K &Company.

I am entering this post in the Rogue Redhead Designs, May Flowers Challenge

and on these blog parties:
The Blog Post Office @ Sunny in Tucson
Made by You Mondays @ Skip To My Lou

Make it Pretty Monday @ The Dedicated House

Make the Scene Mondays Alderberry Hill

Making The World Cuter Monday Making The World Cuter

Market Yourself Mondays @Sumo’s Sweet Stuff

Masterpiece Mondays @ Boogie Board Cottage

Mop It Up Mondays@ I Should Be Mopping The Floor

More The Merrier DIY Home Sweet Home

Motivate Me Monday Keeping It Simple

Sweet and Simple Fridays @ Rooted in Time

Oxford Impressions New Stamps: Jane's Garden

The new Jane's Garden collection of stamps from Oxford Impressions celebrates the memory of times past, so universally loved in Jane Austen novels. 
The common technique in the cards that I made is the use of cutting.  
I stamped and then cut out the images, which I find very relaxing.

The flower on the following card uses the paper toile technique, which requires stamping an

 image multiple times and then layering them with dimensional tape to give a 3D effect.

When working with detailed images, it's often easier to stamp in the same color, 

like a toile print, rather than trying to color with markers or watercolor:

These kept me busy for most of my day off today. I would love to know if there is one that you prefer...  Later this week I plan to post some simple tags and cards using just one or two images from this collection--quick and easy.

Laura

I'm linking up with these blogs parties and/or challenges:

Rogue Redhead Designs, May Flowers Challenge

Create It Thursday Show and  Tell Friday
Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House
Metamorphosis Monday
Dwellings' Amaze Me Monday
Weekend Showoff Party
Time Travel Thursday
Inspire Me Tuesdays at a Stroll Through Life
Knick of Time Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Show Me What You Got Tuesdays
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesdays
Share Your Cup Thursdays
Grace at Home
Show and Tell Friday
Sweet and Simple Fridays

Vintage View Sunday: The Language of Flowers

(Linking up with My Romantic Home)

 One unifying theme I noticed with last week's party goers was the use of flowers. 

Whether we bring them indoors or enjoy them outside, May is the time when the 

fields and yards and hills are alive with flowers, and they are universally loved.

Did you know that flowers have been used for hundreds of years 

to communicate secret messages? 

Beverly Seaton's Book is now on my must-read list!

The practice of "selam" in Turkey was discovered by British aristocrats and written about

 in letters from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in the 1700s. Girls inside Turkish harems 

would send flowers to lovers outside.  The flowers didn't have specific meanings, 

but rather rhymed with words that had meaning or were familiar to the pair.  

The cultivation of flowers and the study of botany became popular in England and 

France in the 1800s.  Eventually the use of flowers was interwoven with nearly every

 aspect of life--church services, weddings, dances, funerals, and daily wear.  

And in true overboard form, Queen Victoria ascribed meanings to flowers and 

thus began the craze for the language of flowers.  It is reported that even Kate Middleton chose specific flowers for her wedding bouquet based on their traditional meanings.

Last week Magali from The Little White House on the Seaside stenciled white roses (heart unacquainted with love, innocence, secrecy) on a vintage aqua pot and filled it with the most divine flowers that I'm calling lily of the valley (return of love, happiness, sweetness, tears of the Virgin Mary, humility). (I think they are really some type of wild rose. :-)

Stefanie from Rose Petals and Rust also shared an aqua pot filled with many flowers including tulips, which indicates a declaration of love, perfect lover, fame.

Debbie-Dabble shared her gorgeous azalea bush, which has been given the meanings, 

temperance, fragile passion, womanhood:

Mrs.Olsen filled a hotel silver pitcher with lilacs, first emotions of love.

And Brittany from The Rococo Roamer filled a vintage enamelware jug with 

gorgeous pink roses, which means grace and joy.

I have just grazed the surface of this wonderfully rich topic of the language of flowers, but I hope it has brought new knowledge to you as it has to me. On this Sunday, I wish you much grace and joy as you reflect on the beauty in flowers that God has put all around us!

If you were featured, please grab my button from the left sidebar and post on your blog.

I can't wait to see what you link up this week!

Laura

And now on to the next Vintage View Sunday party! 

Please link anything vintage, old post or new!

What to Do with Mason Jars?

I know, I know... You're probably thinking I'm crazy that I just can't quite figure out

what to do with Mason jars. I've pinned loads of cute ideas, but for the life of

me, I just haven't been able to make them work in my house.

 Encouraged by my girlfriend, Jean, who has a small collection nicely displayed, I bought some
very reasonably when we were shopping during a trip to Indiana. Most of my jars are pretty old,
so I have hesitated to paint or glitter or change them in any way. But over the weekend
 I got them out and displayed them in an area in my kitchen:

I had to have the Queen jar, as my hubby calls me "The Queen" or "Queenie."
And I  love the one with the four-leaf clover that says "Good Luck."  And the three in
the drawer are all Acme.  (Always makes me think of the Roadrunner cartoon.
Weren't most of the coyote's explosives and traps from Acme? :-)  I would
love to have candy in every jar, but all I had right then was spools and three-year old Halloween candy
that I've warned everyone not to eat.  It's my decoration candy! 

I did find this baseball bubble gum at Dollar Tree. My brother and I used to find it mixed in with colored gumballs in a machine at Jack's grocery, a little country store with oily wood floors that of course made your feet black in the summer--we went barefoot all summer in the South. Our shoes came off as soon as our mom answered yes to our eager "Is it time to go barefoot yet?" and didn't go on until we went back to school. I'll never forget the dusky, fruity smell of that old store, and my little black feet that had to be washed with the hose before my mom would let me back in the house! 

The gumballs would be a nice addition to a shabby chic setting, lol:

I added a few special pieces to the display--butter crocks that were in our kitchen all through my childhood, a watercolored sunflower painted by my husband's great aunt and given to us as a wedding gift, and the scale which is a piece from our extended family.  When I got 

finished, I called my hubby in to look. His first response was, 

"Wow, it looks like Dr. Conkey's." 

 Now I have to tell you, that was exactly the right response!  Dr. Conkey's is a small store with old plank floors, vintage wood cases filled with all types of candy, a coffee bar, and wonderful decorations and trimmings. It is a heavenly place, and I since I've always wanted to 

live in a gift shop (or a museum, really), I couldn't have thought of a better
 decorating achievement with those Mason jars!

 I think I will be displaying these Mason jars all through the summer!
Do you have any Mason jar or grocery store memories?

                                                                      Laura

I invite you to link up with my Vintage View Sunday link party!

Linking up with:
Show and  Tell Friday
Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House
Metamorphosis Monday
Dwelllings' Amaze Me Monday
Weekend Showoff Party
Time Travel Thursday
Inspire Me Tuesdays at a Stroll Through Life
Knick of Time Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Show Me What You Got Tuesdays
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesdays
Share Your Cup Thursdays
Grace at Home
Show and Tell Friday
Sweet and Simple Fridays
Feathered Nest Fridays

Everything Old becomes New Again - Vintage View Sunday

Whether it is furniture, glassware, jewelry, fabrics, typography, or paper crafts, I love it vintage. 

Often keeping everything true to the period can look stale.  But when the old is mixed with the new,

 the new refreshes the old, and the old is enlivened. These cards I just made are 

definitely vintage, but I used bright new contemporary colors and trending items like washi tape and hexagon patterns to bring them into the 21st century:

 Stamps from Oxford Impressions and Stampin' Up, washi measuring tape

Stamps from Oxford Impressions

Stamps from Stampin' Up with washi measuring tape and hexagon embossing folder

Some of the Vintage View Sunday party goers this week also used vintage in fresh ways.

(If you are featured, please grab my button and post on your blog.)

Michelle at The Day Before this Day made this adorable e-reader case using a corner of a vintage embroidered cloth with contemporary polka dot fabric--blending the old with the new.  

Check our her blog to see so many more of her lovely creations.  

I want to buy an e-reader just so I can buy this sleeve!

Susan at Eclectic Shorebird  mixed old pattern girls with the marvel of modern graphics programs 

to create adorable flash cards that can be used on tables or made into cards.

A gifted writer, she also crafted a brilliant first person narrative full of childhood excitement and 

wonder. I promise you will be transported to your sweetest childhood memories.  And the icing on the cake is the downloadable version of some of the flash cards for all of us to use!  Thank you Susan!

Lisa at Helene's Legacy took a vintage recipe from her great aunt and made it "friendly" for her family with food allergies by substituting coconut oil for butter.  Once more, something old becomes new again:

Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful posts and blogs that really do illustrate
 how everything old becomes new again. 

Happy  Sunday!

Laura

Linking up with
Amaze Me Monday
Create It Thursday

It's that time again for the Vintage View Sunday Link Party!

Link up any post old or new that's about a vintage anything, and be sure to put a link on your blog back to mine!  :-)

Vintage View Sunday: Hotel Silver

Did you ever hear your Mom say, "I'm not running a hotel/restaurant here...?"

I think I've said it a few times myself.
Being a mom can sometimes seem like custom hotel and restaurant service with
all the laundry and cooking that is required to run a home and
make it comfortable for everyone.  If you're a mom, I hope your lovely ones
have celebrated you with a day off from all the chores--
at least from the cooking.  And perhaps they've taken you for a fine meal at a hotel.

To kick off this Vintage View Sunday, I am sharing a vignette in my kitchen that 

I just put together this week with a few pieces from my hotel silver collection.

Hotel silver is heavily plated silver that was made for use in fine hotels.  

Made to withstand repeated washing and rough use, its heavy chunkiness and 

clean lines really appeal to my husband. You can learn more about hotel silver on
this video from Martha Stewart.

The creamer was made by International Silver Company for a Hilton Hotel:

                  The open sugar bowl was made by the Canadian subsidiary of Wm Rogers Silver Company
and was from the King Edward Hotel in Toronto.

The salt and pepper cruet set was made by International Silver Co. for
the Margaret Baylor Inn.  (I'd love to know where that was...)

My vintage view gives me a lot of pleasure on this Mother's Day Sunday:

This post is written in honor of my mother, Anita, who taught me to appreciate antiques from the time I was six. She is home with the Lord.  And it is also written to honor my other mother, Katie, who also is my husband's mother. She is 90, and has the best outlook on life of anyone I've ever known.
My life has been enriched by the love and care of these two dedicated mothers.

I'm linking up with
Ivy and Elephants
  You're Gonna Love It!
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Wow Us Wednesday
Feathered Nest Fridays

And now, on  to the Vintage View Sunday Party with this week's features! Please feel free to grab my button and display it on your blog if you've been featured.

Going along with the kitchen theme, I love Debbie's vintage kitchen tools and accessories
in bright happy red.  Go visit her at Debblie Dabble and see how she has a knack for
pulling together so many interesting pieces!


You certainly see a grandmother's love in this precious baby quilt shared by Jann at
A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olsen. Visit her blog for a virtual hug from a very sweet lady!

And Christina at PennyWise shared a wonderful vintage photo of children dancing around a Maypole in 1909 Ireland along with a very interesting history of May Day and
 a wonderful tea to celebrate May Day or Mother's Day or any day!

Kitchens and food and blankets and pretty things...
All part of a mother's care for her brood.

Wishing you a day that's very lovely from start to finish.

Vintage View Link Party #3
Feel free to link any vintage post, old or new.  Please become a follower of my blog and
put a link back to my blog on your blog.  I look forward to seeing your vintage view!

Vintage Necklace from a Buckle & Button & Beads

I LOVE jewelry.

Nothing expresses one's personality the way that jewelry does.  

Don't you agree?  

Have you ever looked at a pair of earrings and thought, 

"Those are me"

or

"Those look just like (fill in the blank)?"

From time to time I get a bee in my bonnet, and I just have to make a new piece of jewelry.

I had these pieces just waiting in my treasure box:

I took a little inspiration from this book, Rejuvenated Jewels,

 New Designs from Vintage Treasures, by Amy Hanna:

 

I had a few false starts, including this charm style necklace with crowns and 

a vintage rhinestone watch piece. I wore it once, and it just didn't feel quite right.

So I remade it, and yes, it felt very, very right:

I wire wrapped sterling beads with sterling wire and linked them with some sterling and 

marcasite pieces that I salvaged from an old necklace. I glued a garnet piece to a mother-of-pearl-button, and glued that onto the rhinestone buckle.  I wire wrapped a pearl and attached it to a vintage rhinestone piece that got attached to the buckle. I also added a sterling toggle to the buckle to 

attach it to the beaded section.

Here's a view on a lace background:

Another view:

 I HAD to have earrings to go with it, so I came up with these:

Garnet pieces on MOP buttons, sterling ear wires, and freshwater pearls, sterling bead caps, and garnet beads wire-wrapped and dangling from the buttons.


I even let my new friend wear it!  (Looks SO Victorian here.)

And a bit more modern here:

Yes, she has a name.  I had a hard time choosing between so many wonderful suggestions, Sephora, Rosalie, Lacey...  Everyone seemed to agree that a French name suited her best.
And guess who had the winning name?
My dear husband!
When he suggested, "Cosette," (from Les Miserables), how could I refuse?
Any man who indulges such girlish silliness in his wife of almost thirty years
deserves to be heard.   :-)
Yep, he's a keeper.

 So there you have it.

And I have another little group of goodies just waiting for a new idea!

See the transformation of Cosette from store-bought dress form to vintage dress form diva!



Linking up with

Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House; Metamorphosis Monday; Dwelllings' Amaze Me Monday
Weekend Showoff Party; Time Travel Thursday; Inspire Me Tuesdays at a Stroll Through Life
Knick of Time Tuesday; You're Gonna Love It; Nifty Thrifty Tuesday; Show Me What You Got Tuesdays
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday; Wow Us Wednesdays; Share Your Cup Thursdays; Grace at Home
Show and Tell Friday; Sweet and Simple Fridays; Hooking Up with House of Hepworths

Show Off Your Stuff Party on Thursdays; Home and Garden Party Thursday
Vintage Thingie Thursday; Transformation Thursday; Inspired Creations Linky Party
Time Travel Thursday;  Open House Party; The Busy Bee's Blog Hop
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop ;  Homemaking Weekend Link Up Party
 Create it Thursday ; A Peek into Paradise TGIF Link Party; Anything Goes Linky Party ; 
Home Sweet Home Friday; Show and Tell Friday; Be Inspired Fridays; Thrifty Things Friday; Simple and Sweet Fridays; Tickled Pink Party; Favorite Friday Party; What To Do Weekends; Flaunt It Fridays; Fabulously Creative Friday Linky Party at Jennifer Rizzo's

Instant Vintage Dress Form

I've loved dress forms since I was a girl.  
They're so in style right now, I decided to buy one.

I didn't have a lot of time to distress it, 
but I wanted it to look old.  

So I dug through my scrap vintage linens and lace:

and came up with something I really love!

Here's the step-by-step:

I also added a ribbon around the waist:

Oops!  Misspelled "millinery."  You caught that, right?  :-)  

Finished bodice.

 There she is--all done!  

Now, I just have to figure out what to name her.  

Any suggestions?

 Join My Vintage View Sunday Link Party

Linking up with:

Create It Thursday Show and  Tell Friday
Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House
Metamorphosis Monday
Dwelllings' Amaze Me Monday
Weekend Showoff Party
Time Travel Thursday
Inspire Me Tuesdays at a Stroll Through Life
Knick of Time Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Show Me What You Got Tuesdays
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesdays
Share Your Cup Thursdays
Grace at Home
Show and Tell Friday
Sweet and Simple Fridays