A Lovely Day

Above: from Victorian Trading Co.

The flowers at the Safeway grocery store were in abundance.  I was so tempted to buy some but restrained myself. Please click on the roses, above, for a larger view.

I am mad about these white hydrangeas but will hold out for the potted version for my garden.

This hydrangea has pink on the petal edges. mmm!

Would you like a fresh bouquet in each room?

More flowers at the grocery store.

I took the above picture to show all the glittery pots!

I acquired one of the smaller containers and put a potted rose in it.

Some of the bouquets had the crystal stick pin inserted in each rose but they were completely sold out today. 

Below are pictures of the artificial flowers at Dollar Tree today

I already have a bouquet of the velvet-look white roses, so I tried not to be tempted with these, but they were sure appealing.

Here is a bright spot in he new Women's Weekly, a cheap magazine that is always cheerful.  I only get one after flipping through it at the grocery store if there is something in it worth keeping. 

I will be saving this page for my scrapbook or framing it.  So vivid! Please click the picture for a larger view!

This glitter heart inserted in my wall candleholder is brightened by the daylight coming through the opposite window.

I wanted to share that I have a new kettle from Hamilton Beach Company to boil water and it has an automatic setting which heats the water when it gets cold.  When no one is home but me, it is like having a friend get hot water ready for me when I want to make my frozen-berry tea. Just hearing the water click on makes it seem like there is someone in the kitchen getting things ready.  I love the little comforting noises when the house is quiet.

Someone will ask me about the orphan saucer sitting  under the teacup. It is called Meadowside and I have never seen a matching cup.  I got this one at a garage sale.

I live that scene and hope to immitate it someday on a patch of lawn.

Below is a simple heart I cut freehand today and outlined with silver glitter paint from a tube.

I do not have anything smart to talk about today as I am absorbed in housekeeping, but I am thinking about it :-). I hate to see a day full of soft and pretty celebration elements end.  This should go on all month. Please be sure and check out the blog links on the left to see other people's flowers today.

Valentine Cards for Men and Boys

Trout Fishermen

by Salvador Caballero (1943-2006) Spain

from Allposters.

I've been asked to show some cards for men and boys, and so I have quickly put together some things using clippings from catalogs and magazines. If you have a farm magazine, or anything to do with airplanes, ships, cars, fishing, or whatever you know will appeal to the men in your family, you can cut out pictures for these Valentines. Use the office glue sticks rather than wet glue on magazine clippings to keep them flat.

The Valentine at the top is made by folding white construction paper in half and cutting a heart shape, as I have shown in recent posts. Then, using a model car catalog, cut out a truck or car and paste it to the heart. Use whatever color contrasts the best with the vehicle color and makes it stand out the best.  Then, glue the white heart on to red paper, only on the left half. Cut out again around the white heart, leaving some red color paper to show outside the edges as you see here.

Fold a little piece of paper in half and paste one side of it down so that it opens like a book, and write the person's name or a greeting on it, as shown above.

Fold the unglued half over and put another view of the truck on it.

Decorate the edges by swirling colored glue or puff paint in a pattern, and then put some glue on the bed of the truck and fill it with tinsel hearts. If you have none, cut out some small hearts and glue them down.

Some men collect matchbox cars, which are not at all expensive (99c for hot wheels in some stores) and so you could include a gift of a collectible car with the card:

This next one has an outdoor scene from another catalog. Cover the catalog numbers or page numbers with a cut out heart, and cover corners that are cut irregularly, with more hearts if you like.  I've made another book like the previous one and pasted it on one side, so that it opens with the message.

Glue the heart on a bigger piece of paper of another color and cut around it with deckle edge scissors or plain scissors.

Instead of the old message "Be Mine," I've written "You're Mine."

Here are some samples of free Victorian clipart you can print to put on cards. 

This one would look great in the middle of a card,

and so would this,

but the ships look more adventurous.

Here's another piece of clip art from a catalog. I liked the tea set and used it to make a very quick card for a friend.

Not all Valentines have to be heart shaped. Try putting a scene in the middle of a folded card and just adding hearts from paper.

Another example of using catalog and magazine pictures for clip art. The paper is not as quality as the purchase art stickers and scrapbook clip art, but it is great when you don't have any fancy papers.

Go see more of the beautiful paintings of Spanish artist Salvador Caballero.

Slumber My Darling

Sweet and Low by Jessie Wilcox-Smith

I've added another song to my playlist,  a Stephen Foster (1826-1864) lullaby called "Slumber My Darling."  I hope you will go listen to it here.

A Mother's Joy

by Besse Pease Guttmann

Here are the words:

Slumber, my darling, thy mother is near,

Guarding thy dreams from all terror and fear,
Sunlight has pass'd and the twilight has gone,
Slumber, my darling, the night's coming on.

Sweet visions attend thy sleep,
Fondest, dearest to me,
While others their revels keep,
I will watch over thee. 

Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest,
The wandering dews by the flow'rs are caressed,
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm. 

Slumber, my darling, till morn's blushing ray
Brings to the world the glad tidings of day;
Fill the dark void with thy dreamy delight--
Slumber, thy mother will guard thee tonight,
Thy pillow shall sacred be
From all outward alarms;
Thou, thou are the world to me
In thine innocent charms. 

Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest,
The wandering dews by the flow'rs are caressed,
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm.

On the upper left of this blog is place where you can see a sample of a lovely Jacquie Lawson animated card for free, each month. Be sure and go look, because the art is so pretty and the scenes uplifting and traditional. I love the way she paints scenes from a table looking out a window onto the meadow or the sea. It is hard to believe she is in England, as she does so many cards for American holidays and they are just as sentimental and inspiring as we would have them.

A new heart for a lady who loves purple. It has a little purple clothespin glued on, holding a card with her name.  I prefer pink and red, myself, but this lady is in her 70's and loves lavender and purple best. These lace cards are supposed to be similar to the Victorian Valentines, using paper scraps and bits of sewing notions.

The table is being set for the Ladies Bible Class Tea and Lunch. Pink chargers are available quite cheaply at Michaels and can be purchased separately for about $1.50 upwards to $2.00 apiece depending on the sales. There are a lot of other colors too.

If you want to make a nice setting without buying things, try cutting huge pink hearts from scrapbook paper or construction paper, and using them underneath the plates.

Scrap Art Cards

Beautiful Decor

This craft looks complicated but is quite easy. It is made using a paper heart doily as the base. It has to be pasted on cardstock because the paper doily is too flimsy to work with.  Paste it on cardstock or heavier paper (construction paper will also work well for this),  and cut it out, either around the scallop edges, or just generally. Add a picture from scrapbook paper either in the middle or off to the side. This is the picture or object you build the other objects around. After that, paste glittered foam hearts, diamond stickers, iridescent  table confetti, buttons, butterflies, and a rope of sequins. My theme for this card is "white," so I tried to find as many white bits and pieces as I could.  

 Here  it is being pasted on the cardstock to cut out.

A length of ribbon is applied with white glue and a piece of paper is put over it on the back to secure it.

You can also just trace hearts on pretty scrapbook paper from a large cookie cutter. These look pretty placed around the dining table on a white table cloth. This one comes from the paper stack below, $5.00 at Walmart:

Click for a detailed view.