Vintage Cards

Today I am showing my own vintage hand made cards from a past post. The cameras today are obviously better than the one I was using so many years ago when I made these cards.  The above card was made with things from the dollar store. I may still have these cards in a folder somewhere around here. 

Below, I used old fashioned construction paper which was interesting to work with and seemed to take glue and glitter without getting soggy or buckling. The pictures were clipped from catalogs.

That year, I ordered some clip art graphics of Catherine Klein clip art and some antique roses graphics, but I am not sure which company it was. 

Finally, I made a scene with pencil and crayons:

Due to things that come up which need attention, I am usually late for every event, but I still might have time to make a card, set a table, and create a new post. 

Mr. S. had an interesting mishap Saturday night while he was polishing up his sermon and finishing the church bulletin. The trend now is to put the bulletins online, but Mr. S. still likes to print the bulletin and put those nice fresh copies hot-off-the-press on a little stand at the entrance where people eagerly pick it up before they sit down.  One man calls it his "weekly reader". I hope he didn't mean "weakly" reader.

When he was a boy, Mr. S. got his front tooth chipped and that's another story. But Saturday night out of nowhere for no apparent cause, the cap on his tooth fell off. He calmly put it on his pocket and came to tell me what happened. 

I told Mr. S. To call one of our sons for a substitute preacher but he thought it was too late to arrange it. I even asked if he might skip the lesson and continue with the rest of the worship service but he was not ready to wave the white flag.

It was 10:00 Saturday night and Mr. S. contacted his dentist emergency number to find out what could be done. The receptionist told him the dentist in our nearby small town did not do any work late at night unless it was an emergency.

 Mr. S. said it was definitely am emergency because he had to preach in the morning and he wanted to be able to pronounce his words without a lisp.

The dentist drove into town from his country home and met Mr. S. at the door of his office. He unlocked and they both went inside, where Mr. Dentist turned on the lights and fixed Mr. S.'s chipped tooth. 

Mr. S. thanked him, adding, "I'm not sure my wife will be as thrilled. She was hoping for a shorter sermon tomorrow."

When I heard the door unlock at 10:30 pm I thought surely he didn't get the tooth fixed that fast! He had only been gone since 10:00. Maybe the dentist was in a hurry to get back and used a super glue for teeth.  I don't know, but it seemed like a very fast trip.

That reminds me of Mr. S.'s mother.  Every so often on a Saturday evening she would say to his father, to whom she had been married 60-plus years "Joe, I wish you would write a new sermon.  I don't want to hear another re-run tomorrow."

February is National Letter Writing Month

(All graphics today are from Pinterest, for those of you who don't view Pinterest)

Good Day, Dear Friends,

I thought I would begin this greeting with a cup of hot tea, pictured above. Today two ladies came to visit for the Ladies Class, and we all enjoyed hot tea. 

February being letter writimg month is not a rule, but a suggestion. February can be whatever you want it to be. I see online that March and April are also observed as letter writing months, so we can choose as we like. Apparently you try to write and send one letter every day that the postal service is open.

Since Februrary is National Letter Writing Month, I am including Vintage Post cards of scenes I like.

When I start painting seriously, these are the kind of scenes I want to portray. I like the background picture surrounded by florals. It is so nostalgic and sweet. 

One thing I know about mail in past times is that not everyone had a street number the way they do today. Mail was addressed with a first and last name and the town they lived in.

Apparently the postal carriers knew where these people lived.  As the streets added more residences  and businesses, it became necessary to include the street address. 

Victorians and people before their times were as dedicated to hand writen correspondence as you and I are to mail technology. In fact, mail was so prolific, it was delivered twice a day to keep it from stacking up. 

The letter-writing tools and boxes and tables with all the categories and storage areas seem similar to our computers.

This one has a letter writing pad included with the box for papers, pens, ink, envelopes, stamps, address book and enclosures, those little  things you might in the letter.

It was not so long ago that ball point pens came on the scene, and many of us were still using dip pens or fountain pens. I still remember the ink on my fingers.

Letters often included clippings from magazines, recipe cards, and photographs. 

As for paper, we would write letters on anything that had a blank area. Business mail with one blank side would be re-used, as well as wrapping paper, white side up. Another source of writing materials was the blank side of greeting cards, after cutting off the greeting part. The picture was still useable and there was room to write on the other side.  When packages came in the mail with blank paper wrapped around the contents, we ironed it to get the wrinkles out and used it for art paper or letter paper. 

Mr. S. clings to his old frugal office hobby of clipping the unused half of a business letter or a sales letter, then staples all the pieces together in a stack,  although uneven sizes,  and uses it for notepads. 

I hate to buy shopping list pads, even at the dollar store, when he has an ample supply of these hand made scrap pads in his office.  In fact, that is what I want for my birthday: hand cut notepads stapled together.

The Grands like to joke around about Papa and his office supplies, but who is it that can ALWAYS come up with a pen, a pencil, eraser, paper clip, a twist-tie, glue, elastic bands, paper, envelopes, boxes and all those things everyone else has stopped saving! Ever since his student days he has appreciated fine paper and pens, and one of his favorite fountain pens is the Cross pen, which you can still buy. He browses the Goodwill and reject stores for unused office supplies.

Sometimes we made our own dipping ink by diluting colored chalk in a liquid (not sure what it was) or diluting white glue and adding food color. Fountain pens had a lever which, when pulled opened, refilled the barrel with ink from a bottle. As the fountain pen became modernized, the barrel was replaced with ink cartridges, but we teenagers learned different methods of refilling the disposable ink cartridges to avoid buying new cartridges. 

When in my teens I wrote pages and pages of letters, and thought I would do so all my life. However, as time progresses, life gets busier and responsibilities multiply!  Time is filled with so many things and letter writing gets pushed aside, but as this is National Letter Writing Month, I will try to do better!

Now I would like to clear up a rumor I have heard off and on involving writing letters in ancient times. Some people ignorantly state that people "in Bible times" could not or did not write letters. The evidence points to the opposite, for all you have to do is use your E-Sword tool on your computer and type in the words "letter" or "letters" to see how often letters were written.  Notable among these, is the letter written in Ezra 4 to the King of Persia, and the apostle Paul writing in the New Testament: "See what large  letters I write."  Letters are a very ancient form of communication, and not only in the Bible, but among people everywhere.

Ah, I see Mr. S. Has brought me tea:

As he made such a big deal about bringing me flowers last week when he brought the tea (see a previous post), I laughingly asked him where the flowers were.

"Right here", he said as he handed me this sheet of postage stamps:

I said if I didn't know better, I would think he would do anything to get out of bringing me a real flower. As it is winter here and we have a few more months to go, I can understand but I think he is ever so clever finding flowers this way.

Now I feel I should explain about Mr. S. and his current practice of bringing me things.  He has a wonderful Doctor, a true health-care practitioner who is a Naturopathic physician. 

 As Mr. S. is now in his 70's, Doctor prescribed a certain amount of activity mixed in with his office work. He must get up and walk and be active often throughout the day.  As I am mostly at the other end of the house in the sewing room, he walks all the way there and asks if there is anything he can bring me. Then he walks all the way to the kitchen or office or wherever, and gets the item for me. It does not bother him a bit if he gets the wrong thing or does not bring every item, because it enables him to make more trips.

That reminds me of something he said to me. I had returned from the grocery store and was trying to bring all the grocery bags from the car at one time and my hands were not free to get the door opened. Coming to my rescue, Mr. S. opened the door and took the bags.

In a concerned tone he lectured me, saying,

"My dear, you should not be carrying all those heavy bags!  Make two trips!"

We are doing so much better now that we stopped using the cell phones to call each other in the house. When he is outside working on the lawn or fixing something, I go outside and find him,  rather than use the phone, and that way, I can be more active. He usually asks me to bring him something to drink when he is involved in yard work, so I get some excercise too.

Well now I must stop and have some of that tisane menthe poivre'e which Mr. S. has served.

More postcard art:

The Sweet Scent of Violets

Vintage cards like  this, with the scene inside a wreath of flowers, give me ideas for water color.

Every year when the violets cover the lawn like a scented cloth, I think of making a garment to go with, but I never quite achieve it. I think about it, sketch a design, color it, and look for fabric. The idea, of course is to sew the dress or skirt in time to have a picture taken standing in the field of violets.  Usually the violets disappear while I am still forming the plan in my mind.

Yesterday  the violets appeared (usually after a very foggy, overcast period) but again, I was not prepared.

This is what they look like outside:

Some paintings by Catherine Klein are interspersed throughout this post.

Mr. S., thinking of mowing the grass, noticed the violets and took me out to see them. He always hears of my ideas-- well of course he does-- I'm in and out of his office all day telling him something, which I am sure he is interested in 😊-- and so he offered to go hunting for violet fabric  ("Let's go look for some of that 'violent' fabric," he quips) and this is what we found at Walmart fabric department: (The cup is from Goodwill). In deference to me, and because of the appearance of the violets (so he says), Mr. S. Is not cutting the grass yet. And I was told he couldn't take me to a fancy tea room so he would stop and let me find a tea cup at the Goodwill. 😊. You girls realize we joke around a lot. 

One time there was a meeting my husband wanted to attend. We had been going and going and I finally needed to get the kitchen cleaned and catch up on so much, that I bowed out . Someone asked where I was, and he answered, "she didn't finish her work to do at home. If she gets her work done, I will let her come next time."  Well you can imagine the small-minded person who asked about me did not see the humor and went tale bearing all over the place about how Mr. S. kept me locked away working all the time at hime and would not allow me to go anywhere.  That's just Mr. S. dry humor, ladies.

As I was not sure of the style I was going to sew this into, I didn't get any ribbons or accessory type things....and they had no violet shade shoes😊 nor was there any hat to match. Would it not be nice

to find silk violets to make into a fascinator or hair clip? Yes, I think so. You may remember one year I made a violet cape and some little hair pins with fleece violets from instructions I got off someone's etsy store: 

This is all cotton with a silky feel and linen look, by a company called Rose and Hubble. I didn't look at the top of the bolt to see the name of it, but I quite like the way they name prints and solids. Seaside and Glacier, Primrose and Ballet, etc. 

I always think one should have a dress and a tea cup to "go with" the current scenery, whether at home or traveling. And, if you paint, it's a delight to get your little paint book out and make another page, with the current date, while wearing a violet blouse and keeping your violet cup in view. Going to the seaside? How about a sea shell print from the fabric store and a matching bag for your. sea side tea cup.  We will try that one later.

Well, ladies, today I am putting all the crazy "issues" away and all the controversy and inner conflict with life outside the home, to enjoy a special week of blooming violets by sewing something to go with.

I think it is ever so soothing to enjoy this sort of thing and when my children were growing up we had colors and foods and activities to go with whatever was blooming or whatever the weather.  Remember my foggy day teas in previous years, and the things I sewed to go with?

This is a mismatched cup and saucer, but I know if I keep checking our local thrift stores, the mates will turn up, like a few others in my China cabinet.

The scent is like fresh spun cotton candy at a carnival

It would also be nice to make a little violet brooch to wear. What do you think?  These days I have been using Velcro to back brooches and corsages, instead of pins.

Just about the time some of us were getting overly gloomy from the cold and dark weather, God sent us a carpet of violets, and not only that, but it enabled us to get ideas and start enjoying violet season in many different ways. I think I saw somewhere people were making violet tea.

Let me tell you more about Mr. S. There is a shop he likes near the area where I go hunt fabric and he was wanting to go there too.  However he will help me find fabric, and I know of several husbands who make the perfectly engineered  templates for their wives quilting squares.  Mr. S. likes cars, so of course he is going to find a fabric store near the area he also wants to see....no use wasting a trip, you know.

When you see violets in the spring, or anything new in any season, it's a great influence for your children to hear you appreciate it. 

On the selvedge of fabric there is usually a color code strip that shows the color of threads that went into the print.  I cut this off and put it in my wallet to use for choosing other things like a jacket or cardigan, shoes, fabric dyes, art supplies, tea cups, florals for making fascinators. That is not to say I always do all that, but it is nice to have that handy little color strip.

The fabric looks like a good tablecloth for a viola tea. I may find as many coordinating cups as I can and host a little February tea. Since  I use plastic on top of all my table cloths, I could use this fabric before I sew it. And yes, the print is pansies, not violas. 

Home Made Flour Tortillas and Low-Oxalate Foods

Painting by HenryMargetson

I received this recipe from my friend Janet. I have altered it to suit my own tastes and dietary requirements.

I use these ingredients:

There are many brands of unbleached flour but this is ground finer and easy to work with. There are other brands and it is also available in bulk foods at your market.  Fine flour is not the same as refined, and this is a fine flour, sifted, and there is some that is organic and is often mixed with barley flour.  I will explain at the end of the post why I use this flour. 

Any natural salt, such as pink, or real salt.  I like the Australian sea salt.

Light tasting olive oil, or oil of your choice. I use this because the oil is not too heavy in the fine flour and not overpowering in flavor.

2 and 1/2 cup unbleached light pastry flour  

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup light tasting olive oil

1 cup warm water (her note says not from warm tap water)

Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl

In another bowl mix liquids

Combine both and mix until it forms a ball.  Don't worry about it being sticky.

Divide the dough into 12 parts and cover with a plate while you roll out one piece into a tortilla. 

Dough will be elastic. (It should not be the same consistency as a pie crust)

Dust the rolling surface with flour and press the dough into it, then turn over to the other side and roll out as large as you require. 

Place parchment paper between each tortilla after rolling it out.

Heat about a teaspoon of oil in pan, on medium heat.  Spread it around to about the size of your tortilla.

Brown each tortilla both sides and stack between parchment (optional). The tortilla will form brown spots on each side.

Adjust the heat if necessary.

The pan is supposed to be almost dry for cooking tortillas but you can add a drop of oil now and then. You want your tortillas to be dry, not greasy.

Prepare filling:

Everyone has their favorite taco filling. I brown the meat of my choice with dried onions, Italian seasoning and salt and melt in cream cheese after all that is cooked, to make a sauce, which gives a good flavor.

The difference between these home made tortillas and commercial ones is what happens to your teeth!  Children say they are much easier to chew, adults say they are not so rubbery and tough as commercial tortillas.

You can store the cooked tortillas in a ziplock bag  in the refrigerator for later use.

Some of us concerned about additives in our foods like this because there are only four natural ingredients rather than 20 unpronounceable things. Have you noticed the ingredient list on the tortilla package you buy? Some people are adversely affected by some of those ingredients.

I divide this recipe into fourths when I don't want to stand there rolling out all those tortillas and am pressed for time, or if there are only a few people to feed. I sometimes only make four tortillas.  The dough does not store as well as the cooked tortillas so I don't refrigerate the dough. It does not roll  out as well when it is not freshly made, but you can decide for yourself. You can also make smaller tortillas with this batch, which will make 24 small ones.

Low Oxalate Foods:

This is something that was originally discovered effective for people who had a tendency to form kidney stones, but later on it was found to be very effective for people suffering from sinus.

Oxalates in foods cause crystals to form in your membranes, creating pain. They are usually rough foods like whole grains, dark chocolate, and even broccoli.  You can get a low oxalate food list on the web.  

Find a list of high Oxalate foods on the web, and you may be able to see some foods which may be causing you pain.

Sometimes as we get older, or maybe after surgery, or pregnancy, and other things, the membranes 

in sinuses and kidney areas become thin and sensitive, and the high Oxalate foods  contribute to kidney stones and severe sinusitis or sinus headaches.

I never had a a problem with sinus til I began consuming whole grains (including oats and wheat.). I knew broccoli was very good for me and I liked potatoes and nuts a lot, and a whole host of high-oxalate foods.

While certain essential oils did help me AFTER I got a sinus infection, I found that eliminating some of these foods that were harsh on my membranes, prevented the sinus from coming in the first place.

Now, when I do have a little of the foods high in oxalates, I feel that twinge of pain in my face and I immediately know what food caused it.

I found it is okay to consume the foods higher in oxalates, when done so only occasionally and not in large amounts. 

One reason I use the unbleached flour is that it does not have the rough oxalates that form the crystals in the sensitive membranes of the body.  I make bread from this flour and other things requiring flour.

I learned also that some of these rough foods can be awfully hard on children's digestive systems.

The best information I have ever found on this subject is on the websites about Oxalate foods. The comments from people who share the outcome using low oxalate foods are a real education. 

Another thing to watch out for when dealing with the propensity to kidney stones is anxiety and outbursts of anger, which can cause certain kind of kidney stones to form.  It is so interesting how the emotions effect the health of the body.

I realize this may not benefit every reader, but perhaps may be of interest to some of you.

Gift Basket or Home Accent

Basket of Lilacs by Paul de Longpre

Ladies, if you have seen the "yard long" paintings on canvases that are a yard long, by 19th century painter Paul De Longpre, a French man who lived in California (whose son also became a painter) you know how beautiful they are.

There is a small town near here whose shops do not yield much, but I found a lovely wood basket in Goodwill and a really classic looking sprig of silk flowers, and have begun a bit of a vignette to lighten  a dark corner  in our home.

In 18th and 19th century paintings I have seen, basket styles are often, if not always, identical to baskets we see today.  Sometimes it is a comfort to see objects have remained the same in style, connecting us to our great grandmothers and thinking how they used the same common things. 

It needs to be dusted off, and freshened up.

Also I found this classic looking silk floral.  I know stores are changing their style of home goods, but it brings a smile when I find classics like this.

As I have learned more about the quality of tea cups,  only the new or barely used ones come home with me. I explained that some time ago. If you are looking at a cup at a thrift store, look at the rim, where you'll be drinking, and see if it is worn out.  Run your hand around the top of the cup and the edges if the saucer to detect any roughness.  Since I began doing that, I have only brought home what appears to be brand new teacups.  Never put them in the dishwasher and they will keep that nice smooth and shiny finish.  I do use soda bicarbonate to clean the stains but I am not sure if that is abrasive enough to wear off the nice finish.

Because an older cup sprung a leak, it was a delight to find this to replace it.

So here is it is, partially filled.  I may end up using it for a gift, since there are several people I know who need one. I will include some other homey things. Sometimes I practice "shop your house"  when I need a gift in a hurry. I find a basket, a pretty magazine, tea cup, quickly sew up a table runner or cloth, and make a card. 

 I realize some ladies would find no use for this kind of gift, but I do try to custom make it for the receiver. Books and writing materials, plants, sewing supplies, candles, special herbal things, etc. are sometimes included, depending on the interest of the person.

This teacup looked never-used, I guarantee.  The printing on the back says it's a part of a Royal Albert flower of the month collection, number 7.

Now if you are new here, you may wonder what in the world anything like this, or home decor or crafts, etc, have to do with the overall Titus 2 message of the home.

While I cannot prove with scripture that making the dwelling place lovely is essential, I do know it is scriptural to bring glory to God in all you do, in work, play, rest, creativity, vacation, hospitality and more.

It is also one of those ideas which I, and many other homemakers came across when  attempting to create a sense of well being in the home.

While  loveliness in the home is not any specific command,   it is a natural result of keeping house, which is part of the Christian woman's life.  Even in the rough-hewn log houses some of us lived in, we as children brought bouquets of wild flowers in in tin cans and jars for our dining tables, and gave our parents our own drawings and paintings to hang on the walls.

Mr. S. enjoys gifting the home with a needed new clock or a lamp, a new blanket or rug or such. He likes new office supplies and yard tools.

When difficult times come along, cheering up the house can alleviate some of the uncertainty.  In happy times, home decor can punctuate the atmosphere like a thank-you.  An accent of beauty somewhere, shows your loved ones you care about where they  live and what they have to see. The same applies to the homemaker's appearance in dress and grooming, but that is another subject. 

Adding something beautiful is a reflection of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who created a home on earth for us while we live, and gave us so much more, spiritually.  I don't think we should merely  "exist" at home. I think adding beauty to the home is a way of guiding and guarding the home, and glorifies God when the furnishings and decor are lovely.

When I am in someone else's home I feel the refinement and the gentleness they put into it, and detect it as an expression of how they feel about life, love, and Christ.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 - "He hath made everything beautiful in its season." 

Cost:

Basket $4

Floral        .99

Tea cup and saucer $3

Discount 30% 

Total. $5.00