Inspiration is a Family Affair

This Christmas, after the gifts had been opened, Christmas dinner eaten, and cookies consumed at the big family dinner table… my Dad had one more box to open and share with me.  Since he knows that I like to use antique postcard images as faces for my chenille ornaments, he brought out a few stacks of his recent acquisitions.  I enjoyed looking through all of them and selecting some to borrow as much as I enjoyed hearing the story of how he had scavenged them from the site of an old home that was slated for demolition.

antique postcards

Some of them were inscribed with notes from the sender in English, and some in German.  Some were never sent, and many had 1 cent stamps on them along with postmarks from the 1902 – 1907 range.

antique postcards

Many will provide the inspiration for new ornaments in 2010.  Happy New Year to all!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays

Wishing you and yours a happy and safe holiday season!  I am excited that we should have a white Christmas this year – the foot of snow that fell here last weekend hasn’t done too much melting yet.

On to my exciting news that I have to share – I am honored to have one of my chenille angel ornaments featured on the cover of the Winter 2009 issue of Celebrate 365 magazine.   I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my copy of the magazine to get a peek at what is inside as well.  A picture of the cover is below.

Celebrate 365 magazine - Winter 2009

I also have two new sets of two Valentine’s Day ornaments to share.  Both sets are available now in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop. These little Victorian ladies are made of chenille with crepe paper skirts.

Victorian style Valentine's Day ornaments

Victorian style Valentine's Day ornaments

Decorating for Christmas… Crafting for Valentine’s Day

December is such a fun and festive month here… I love decorating my primitive twig tree, each year with a few more new ornaments than the last.  I always keep some pine scented candles burning throughout the month to make it smell like we have a real tree.  As I unwrap my winter folk art decorations and place them about the house, each one brings smiles and gets me in the Christmas spirit.  Below are a few peeks at my primitive Christmas decor this year.

primitive Christmas decor

primitive Christmas decor

primitive Christmas decor

I have also been working on some new ornament designs for next year, beginning with Valentine’s Day. I added a new set of vintage style chenille cupid ornaments to my Old World Primitives Etsy shop today. They are ready for the season of love with their Valentine hearts and arrows.

vintage style chenille Valentine's Day ornaments