Silver Sunday Vintage Valentines

Today is a combination post which I call Silver Sunday Vintage Valentines. I am joining in again with Beth at Gypsy Fish Journal for the start of Silver Sunday Session II and with Joan at Anything Goes for the Vintage Valentine Card Party. Both parties will be fun. You know what great hostesses Joan and Beth are. Please be sure to stop over and say hi to all their party guests.

I was only planning on participating with just my Valentines, I am short on any new silver. Then I remembered my friend Darcy and a few silver treasures that I knew she wouldn't mind sharing. Darcy lives in a log cabin home that she has decorated in the shabby chic Victorian style. It may surprise some folk expecting a lodge type decor (especially being up in Maine), but I must say her style works. I have made her promise to let me take some pictures to share, for another post. But for today, may I present her collection of Knights in Shining Armour.

The first knight is over 6 foot tall and stands guard in the living room. He holds a sign that reads "Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons ... For you are crunchy and good with ketchup." Words to live by.






*I just found this perfect Valentines Day card over at Fiona and Twig that I just had to add to my post.

She also has two other knights, one 4 feet and the other 2 feet tall.




Definitely not what you would expect to find in a log cabin home
but it is so Darcy.

Now as a segue into the Valentine post, here is a photo of the hubby, resplendent in his tux, in a SILVER frame with VINTAGE VALENTINE DAY card.

This Valentine would have been received by some lucky little girl in the 40's, as would the rest of the cards in my collection.


















This charming little Valentine, shows kittens playing with a puzzle. I thought it looked cute against my Floraline vases and shiny red puzzle piece magnet.




My friend Darcy has kittens, dogs, chickens, a pig and 3 goats. The goats like to try to climb into my car each time I visit. Today, was no exception.















So I thought I would do a goat card for them.


















I love old books and use them for decorating as well as reading. I tend to be drawn to them for the color of their jacket as much as the contents therein. These are some of my red books. The little girl is giving a lesson to the little boy.















This next one is my favorite card. It is older than the 40's but unsure the exact date. It simply reads "Will you help me kill time? Now that surely screams out romance.















Music and Valentines Day are a natural pairing, so here is a pair of musicians serenading with guitar and trombone.

















Valentine's Day would not be complete without a tasty treat, so here is a little girl cooking up a batch of Valentine Sweets for her beau.


















Hope that you all get some chocolate, served on a silver tray, while you sit back ad enjoy Silver Sunday and Vintage Valentine Card Blog Parties. Happy Valentine's Day.

A Valentine Story.

For me, February is full of so many sentimental memories. Of course, there is Valentines Day but it is also the anniversary of when I first met my husband. That story is charming by itself; however, it is the telling of the story, years later, to my daughter, that is the real story for today.

One day, the three of us were driving home from a wedding, myself, my husband, and our daughter. She had just turned 6. It had been a beautiful affair, the bride and groom had shared how they first met and everyone cried. That had prompted my daughter to ask how her mommy and daddy had met. I was glad to respond.

I had been a student in college. I was there on all scholarships and as such made my academics my top priority lest my GPA slip and possibly forfeit any funding. It made dating a little hard. The guys felt I put making the Dean's list before them, and frankly under the circumstances, I did.

Then one day, I was asked out for a date by a friend's new roommate. It was for Valentines Day. I was interested, very; but it was right before a major do or die exam. I had to decline, but politely explained and suggested perhaps another time. I wasn't prepared for what followed. Since I was too busy to go out, he would bring the food to me. I assumed something takeout and not the steak and lobster that greeted me when I answered the door. He was going to cook me supper and had brought both as he wasn't sure which I would prefer.

As part of the meal, there were also potatoes, and would I like baked or mashed? My favorite is mashed with tons of butter, but my girlfriends and I did not own a potato masher. Unfazed, my date responded with "It's okay, I have one in my car." Indeed he did. It had fallen out of a box of kitchen wares into his trunk during his recent move to my friend's apartment. He hadn't taken the time to retrieve it from his car, until that night. The meal was fabulous. I was able to study for my test, and my date even did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, better than my girlfriends and I had ever done.

I graduated with honors from College. My date became my husband. I got a job. We bought a house. We became parents. End of story.

After a moment of reflecting upon the tale of how her mommy and daddy had met, Elizabeth leaned forward from the back seat and looking thoughtfully at me said "Oh you married daddy because he could mash your potatoes!" Isn't love grand.

I call this photo "A Valentine's Toast with potato masher and cherub."

Finding lost treasures in my sewing room.

I admit it. I had boxes of stuff, on the landing in front of my craft room, on the floor of my craft room and covering each step of the back stairs leading to my craft room. (I tend to use those stairs as storage shelf space - no one sees the stairs.) I am almost embarrassed to show the pictures. I had been so busy late summer with first organizing my lawn sale and then in early fall, directing 2 fundraising drives with non-profits I volunteer with, then participating in a craft fair in November not to mention decorating and cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas and everything else that is associated with the holidays. Did I also mention that my lovely daughter, who is an art major in college, comes home to "shop" for supplies from my sewing room. It was too easy not to put things back where they belonged or to just grab supplies and head to the kitchen table to work. Now mind you, this is not an excuse, but real reasons why my sewing room exploded.



So when making resolutions for New Year's Eve, my first goal was to organize my space ........ and 27 hours later, yes, sadly, it took all that time to accomplish, I have a clean work surface to create upon and easy access to all my supplies. Who needed Champagne or dancing, I was uncovering all kinds of lost treasures. Now that is a good way to start off the year! By the way, you know that you are doing serious organizing when you get out the label maker and start labeling (or that you even own a label maker).


I was amazed at how much stuff I have. It is so easy to accumulate. I found things that I don't remember where I got them, or even that I had them..... several dilapidated vintage children's books that had a page here and there still intact to copy and use, pieces of tin tiles perfect for my metal angel series, and what ended up to be a full, very full, bag of feathers. Now, some of the feathers were from a Girl Scout project years ago on native American art, some of the feathers were from a costume I made for my friend as an ice princess, and others were from a peacock costume I made for myself........ the rest.......I have no idea why. Come on, I know I am not alone in this.



The best part of cleaning up my room, was that I found items that didn't belong there, like this sweet little ballerina, dog and kitten. I know I got them all from Goodwill, the blue $.99 cent tags were still showing. They are each marked Japan.



This white ceramic piece had to have been a lawn sale find. I am not familiar with the markings on this piece and would appreciate your help in identifying her origin.
























































This weekend I am actually going to create some Valentine Day cards because I can!! I have the supplies, the clean table, and apparently, lots and lots of feathers!! Let's see what I come up with. Isn't cleaning fun.