Snowy Friday Finds

Greetings from the first blizzard of 2012 in Colorado!  Ben has a Snow Day and is still upstairs snoring away; Dennis braved going to work despite the main highway between here and there being closed this morning; and I was up pre-dawn for no reason at all!

Ben last weekend, ice climbing in the mountains with his Scout troop

All the Valentine Swap packages are in the mail; Dennis and I drove out in last night's storm as it was just picking up to make sure we deposited the last of the packages in the mailbox -- knowing we wouldn't want to go out in the weather this morning!

Since I was up early and feel so organized today, I have some time to show you my latest finds!  This little girl is a detail of a vintage valentine I purchased at an antique show about a month ago...

here's her little friend, peeking around that honeycombed center...

and there it is in all its faded glory!  I love the old honeycomb tissue decorations -- don't you?

The same gal who was selling the valentine also had this bag of old greeting cards that I couldn't resist.  They were older and more tattered than the ones I usually find; the seller was an estate sale broker, and I felt that the cards were a compilation of bits and pieces of correspondence from a few different estates.

This was one of my favorites...it even has a single blue flower to make it 3D.

I like this stylized one...and the fact that the recipient noted what the gift was (a kettle.)

"At home" cards from the late 1800s, as well as a funeral notice for Hannah Lucinda Sweet.

I fell in love with this single, soft blue porcelain plate; it is decorated with lovely painted relief flowers.  On it, another graduation notice.  I have been finding these lately, and I love them for the paper, the embossing...

and the sweet details, such as the class motto ("Finished -- Yet Beginning"), as well as the old-fashioned names.  This one is from 1919, and that attracted me as well, as 19 is my favorite number (being born on the 19th myself.)

I bought a double deck of lovely Whitman playing cards -- I just love the castle and prince and princess motif against the gilded background!

At another antique store, I picked up a grab bag of bead remnants; it looks as though it was a bunch of trim pieces and broken necklaces someone put aside to make into beaded flowers, like those in the foreground, left.  I can see sewing bits of it onto all kinds of decorative objects!

I was so excited to find this -- I've long wanted a fabric or paper-covered box like it!  This one is made from wonderfully worn fabric, and I love the color and the print!

I'm guessing it began life as a jewelry box; the top lifts up, and then there are two drawers beneath it.

Of course I will be filling mine with buttons, flowers, and trims!  I can hardly wait to get started!

Speaking of trim: I spied this roll of satin ribbon in a grab bag at the thrift store; I bought it and donated back the rest of the ribbon, which I didn't need.  It was so worth the price of the whole bag!  I love it when I find old ribbon that is rolled up along with a paper strip!  What is it about stuff like that?

I wish I had found this heart trim before I worked on my valentine swaps!  Oh well -- hearts are for all year, aren't they?

This little bird isn't vintage, but I did get it at an antique store.  It's posing prettily there with an antique spring (on the right), and some more bags of trim (behind it); the bird looks like it's ready to make a meal of those pretty shell buttons, doesn't it?  (Not on my watch!)