2009 - Primitive Folk Art by Old World Primitives

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.

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.

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

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.

A Primitive Doll Named Emily

I have managed to complete one of the work in progress dolls that I posted about last week, and get her added to my Old World Primitives Etsy shop yesterday. Her name is Emily, and she decided that she wanted to wear an outfit with a bit of a festive feel to it for the holidays. Here she is below, after her paint had dried, but before she was antiqued, getting ready to get dressed. Her skirt is made from reproduction mid 1800s fabric. primitive folk art cloth and clay doll

Here is Emily all completed, demurely posing for her photo.

primitive folk art cloth and clay doll

Her friends will be joining her soon… but for now it’s back to work on completing a few more orders first for me. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

New Kitties and Works in Progress

I added a new set of kitty themed chenille ornaments to my Old World Primitives Etsy shop this past week – a set of 3 calico cats with paper Victorian scrap faces. I have some hanging from the feather tree on my mantel and looking quite festive.

Vintage Style Chenille Christmas Ornaments

This holiday season has been keeping me quite busy with wholesale orders, but I am determined to complete some new dolls that I have been working on by the end of the coming week. Below is a peek at them as works in progress, sitting behind and beneath a small sea of Christmas ornaments that I will be packing up tonight.

primitive dolls as works in progress

I hope to be showing these dolls completed very soon.

Snowman Ornaments and Quilting

I added a new set of chenille Christmas ornaments to my Old World Primitives Etsy Shop today – a set of 3 snowmen wearing red scarves.

chenille snowman ornaments for Christmas

They are all ready for the winter weather to begin! I’m not quite ready yet though… there are still plenty of veggies hanging in there in my gardens that I am hoping will ripen before the first frost.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Halloween weekends! I spent my Halloween with family and friends in beautiful Lancaster County, PA. We made our annual trip to Cherry Crest Farm, did some shopping (I added the most wonderful new handmade folk art piece to my collection), and enjoyed our favorite local edible treats. Lancaster County also happens to be the quilt capital of the USA, and during our visit we stopped into The People’s Place Quilt Museum. It was here that my husband Max finally came to appreciate the beauty and artistic merit of quilts… and decided that he just had to try making his own! He bought a quilt kit in a local shop with the materials and instructions necessary to make a 22″ square wall hanging quilt. I showed him how to use a sewing machine (for the very first time, believe it or not) and then he was off – and look at what he completed in his first day of both sewing and quilting. I have to say, I am pretty impressed!

handmade quilt wall hanging

I can’t wait until he makes us a nice Queen sized quilt for our bed after finishing this one! Does anyone have any recommendations for designing your own quilt?

Chenille Christmas Cat and Dog Ornaments

I added two new sets of chenille ornaments to the Old World Primitives Etsy Shop today, especially for cat and dog lovers (like myself!).

They can be used as feather tree ornaments for Christmas or everyday, and would also make nice handmade wedding favors.

While starting to create for Christmas, I am still enjoying counting down to Halloween! Last weekend I went to a spooktacular Halloween costume party that featured some truly out of this world decorations and interactive displays. Below are some of the photos that I took during the evening, including pictures of the *least* scary decorations. In one room, the walls reached out and grabbed me… twice!

Halloween party

The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze 2009

This past weekend I made my second annual trip out to the Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze in the Hudson Valley of NY. It featured a display of over 4,000 individually hand-carved glowing Halloween pumpkins on display in the form of dinosaurs, a UFO surrounded by aliens (my favorite part this year), pirates, a beehive abuzz with bees, sunflowers, and more. The setting was on the riverside grounds of the historic 18th century Van Cortlandt Manor. It was a cold but thankfully dry night as we wound our way through the spooky sights and sounds, sipping hot apple cider and munching apple cider donuts from a local orchard. Below are some of my photos from the evening.

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

What Fun at The Witches Ball!

I am back from my first craft show, which was also my first Halloween party for the year, and feeling energized. Halloween is my favorite time of year, and this festival was a great way to get into the holiday spirit! The decorations and Halloween colored lights throughout the streets were amazing, there were plenty of yummy treats to be had (my favorites being the warm and fresh kettle corn and the hot apple cider), and many people went all-out with their costumes. It was so fun to see all of the creative costumes throughout the night from my booth viewpoint. It was also great fun to see and hear people’s reactions to my products and help them with their purchases. Many comments during the night really made me smile. Here are some of the photos that I managed to snap during one of my brief forrays outside of my booth (note to self: bring my tripod next time).

The Witches Ball 2009 in Mount Holly, NJ

The Witches Ball 2009 in Mount Holly, NJ
This was the giant witch that greeted visitors to the Ball.

The Witches Ball 2009 in Mount Holly, NJ
That’s my booth on the right, and to the left was talented painter/sculptor Linda Mehnert. I bought one of her cat sculptures and just adore it!

The Witches Ball 2009 in Mount Holly, NJ
This was the view of the booths to my right from inside my booth.

And just to give you an idea of how amazing the costumes were, here is a photo that I borrowed from The Witches Ball Costume Contest Winners page of their website – this was my favorite costume of the night, which I was lucky enough to get to see up close (the wings were jointed and moved – and the detail in her dress and choker were amazing).

Best Fasntasy Costume at The Witches Ball 2009 - Bride of Death

Primitive Witch Hat Box

Today officially feels like fall here in New Jersey – we had to turn the heat on for the first time since last spring, and the green leaves outside my window are finally starting to get some red and yellow tips.

Yesterday I updated the Old World Primitives Early Work Mercantile shop for our October 1st update with a primitive witch hat box. The witch hat is made of painted, stained muslin adorned with a strip homespun and bit of dried flowers. The box is made of painted, stained paper mache.

primitive witch hat box

Does anyone have their Halloween costume ready yet? I do, since I’ll be wearing mine already next weekend to The Witches Ball. I’m going to wear my very favorite handmade Halloween costume – “Tragic Alice” by Heavy Red. My Mom will be joining me as a fairy!

my Halloween costume