Valentine Goodies

I know! It's been forever since I posted!

Let me tell you . . . it's been something around here. My New Year's Resolution, for 2012 . . .? I'm hibernating from Christmas till Valentine's Day

Today, I'm in the mood for something special and Valentine-y that will tickle the funny bones of my Dear Ones.

Pondering something special and sweet for your favorite Valentines? Let me share thse really cute food ideas that I ran across at Our Best Bites. Yep, cute food! I submit the evidence below.

I'm making the Lovebug Cookies for my own Dearests. Gotta get myself to the grocer! Valentine's Day is tomorrow!

Recipe for Lovebug Cookies

Recipe for Sweetie Pie Pops

Photographs Courtesy of Our Best Bites

I found their site a few months ago, and let me tell you . . . those girls know their way around a kitchen! Once I realized that I had shared these cookie links with my Mother and my daughters, it occurred to me that you might like to know, too!

And, AND, that's not all! They have a cookbook!

It's scheduled for release on March 9, 2011

Our Best Bites Cookbook

I told you they were good!

~

note, February 15th: The photo above? Mine! Neither my cookies, nor my photo are as polished as their's. In spite of thickening, I found the glaze to be too thin and runny. I think I would use Royal Icing next time. But the kids liked them! A lot! The big kids, too! {read: Daddy and Papa.}

Vintage Valentine Card Party

Another Valentine Party! All of the images that follow in this post were post cards collected by my husband's Grandmother, Lucile Amelia Mathilda Johnson, as a small girl. For some wonderful reason, which remains unknown to me, I inherited her post card collection~! Don't you think for a minute that I'm complaining!

I most decidedly am not! I am bragging, pure and simple.

This little fellow is attributed to Ellen H. Clapsaddle, artist. Originally posted in Topeka, Kansas ~ February 14, 1917 . . . the message on the back, in childish penmanship reads;

"I kept my promise didn't I? Will write a letter sometime soon . . . Lots of Love, Pearl."

Posted from Wichita, Kansas
February 14, 1910
Reads;
"Hello Lucile ~
I sent you a Valentine yesterday, and I suppose you have it by this time. Let me hear from you.~ Bro. Ed"

Note only says,
"Wichita, Kansas
2-13-08
E."

February 14, 1908

This Lovey came from

Aunts Minnie and Rose Rapp

February 13, 1912 {I think . . . hard to tell}

And opens to reveal . . .

the sweetest abundance of three dimensional Victorian scrap

and the message,

Pretty One,

I hope you know,

This is from

Your little "Beau"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cupid's Kiss Valentine Swap

Danielle, of The Vintage Dragonfly Studio fame, has just hosted the most delicious

vintage Valentine collage swap, Cupid's Kiss Valentine Swap. You must stop by to see all of the lovely artistic creations! I think they outdid themselves this time. I was part of it, but when my Grandmother passed away, Danielle kindly offered to let me out of my obligation. I agreed . . . just in case I wasn't able to finish, but since my project was nearly completed, I attempted it anyway, then contacted Danielle, again, just in case . . .

. . . as timing would have it, she had already mailed the completed pieces to the other participants, but . . . she offered to do a one on one swap with me anyway . . . So here we are.

And this is what she should be getting in the mail any minute now . . . a little bit of Spring to counteract all that snow where she lives, on the right side of the country.

And I still get to participate in a Valentine Swap! I'm pleased!

Elements of this will show up in the Amour Valentine Swap that will be posted on Valentine's Day, but let me tell you about this one . . . here's an excerpt from the note that I sent to Danielle,

" . . . because of the glass style that I was planning, I decided not to make it too "over the top" Valentine-y, in case a person wanted to . . . it could be displayed a little longer. . .
The heart was originally about 8 inches, and gold. I bought several of them from a girlfriend's antique booth last year, but reduced the size to fit the guidelines, and changed the color . . . well, for fun.
The bird nest is also reduced from an antique German scrap that I've collected.
I cut a page from a book written {and printed} at the turn of the last century. I had hoped more details would show, because in this passage, a beautiful young woman {naturally} is being drawn up a mountain to find the source of the most lyrical birdsongs . . . when she arrives on the mountain top, it is a wayfaring flautist who has drawn her, and it becomes their love story.
. . . which seemed to me to fit well, the heart~love~bird theme of the collage."

So there you are. This one is only 4" X 4" , not including the hanger.

Hope your Valentine's Day plans work out!

Amour Valentine Swap

Just in case you . . . like I . . . are always looking for a fun swap . . . Cathy, over at Treasured Heirlooms is hosting just the bestest one! She's leaving sign ups open until January 8th! You have to check it out! I'll bet you'll join, too! Let me know if you decide to . . . it'll be so much more fun with you there!

Vintage Valentine Swap ~ Finis

It is here! The awaited book of fantastical Valentines! It is here! And don't you just love it?

Like an award recipient, I need to thank so many people! If the ladies who made these lovelies from all manner of ephemera happen to stop by, please, please, identify your artworks! I would love to know who made them! {and then thank you properly!} In the meantime, I will identify the ones that I am able! First, and foremost, Thank You, Dede!

{The aritst is identified immediately under the photo of her work.}

Milli W.
sashagirl on flickr

Marbi Burnette


Jennifer Jinete

A Charming Life

Pinky Denise

Pink Pomegranate

Jackie Cate
Wren's Nest Designs

Laurie Giberson


Linda
Kiss Noises
Lily Cottage

Karen Bensom
Recycled Rita

Maria
The Junk Drawer

Linda B.

Sue McPherson


Joleen
Love, Jolene


Melissa Merrill

Dede Warren
Dream, Create, Share
Another big thank you to Dede for identifying these pretties!

Stacey Brooks
Flotsam & Jetsam


My contributions are posted elsewhere. Clicking here
Vintage Valentine Swap, will take you there. The post that you are currently viewing will probably be the first one, so you'll need to scroll through all of this to see the older posts.

~finis~

Vintage Valentine Swap ~ part deux

All of the lovely, glittery, Valentine scraps can be whisked away. I am finished! The pages have been mailed to Dede Warren ~ Dream, Create, Share for inclusion in a book from like minded women who have also been plying their art into original, miniature artworks to share with one another.
Each of us will receive a one-of-a-kind book in return mail, after Dede and some of her dear friends have assembled and bound them.


Isn't this just too delightful to be true!? Wouldn't it be fun to be there with all of the combined loveliness spread out over the table? I expect it will be a gorgeous chaos.



Thank you Dede and company for your efforts! Thank you, all of you special ladies who have taken time to contribute! I can't wait to see what, together we have wrought! Can you?



{Other photos are listed in posts titled, Vintage Valentine Swap and I'm working, I'm working!}

Vintage Valentine Swap

With the exception of the butterflies, the vintage Valentine images are reproductions from Grandma Seastrand's postcard collection.

Am I a lucky girl, or what?


Do you think any one person should be allowed to have this much fun?

The next two have all sorts of lovely vintage elements donated by my sweet Mom.

There are more images posted on my blogs titled: I'm Working, I'm Working! and

Vintage Valentine Swap.

I'm working, I'm working!

Wouldn't it be fun if all work. . .

felt this much like play?

.

I need to explain all this messy loveliness, which brings to mind something that I have always said. . .after all is said and done, and the bits too small to be saved must be swept away, "I have the prettiest trash!"

I follow Dede Warren's Blog ~ Dream, Create, Share. You know that I put a lot of effort into surrounding myself with beauty. That translates into the things that I read, as well as every other conceivable effort! . . .which explains why I follow Dede's blog. I got really lucky the other day, and happened across her blog invitation to join a "Vintage Valentine Swap" in time to join before the number of artists were at unmanageable levels, and I got in! Can you believe it?! I am part of this really wonderful exchange, and closing in on our deadline, fast!

We are each to design 16 pages with the rather loose parameters of 5 X 7 and vintage Valentine. Once Dede receives our contributions, she will add a page to each book, design the cover, bind them and ship them back to us. Isn't this just too good to be true!?

I'll post pictures of the finished products, cause this is all just too yummy to keep to myself! So far the pictures that you see are incomplete pages, both have improved considerably since the photos!

I can't wait to tell you more! Watch this space for more delightful goodies!
~Love!

Note ~ There are more images posted on my blogs titled: Vintage Valentine Swap and Vintage Valentine Swap ~ part deux