Whimsical Images

Hello :) In one of the Victorian scrapbooks are several images which look like they are part of possibly a trading card series. They're very whimsical, in that some of the clothes are made of flower petals, or there is some other type of fantasy element in them. There isn't any type of advertising or text on them, so unfortunately, I don't know any of the story behind them. Here are two of the images for you. I think they're quite cute, and hope you enjoy them too!

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs Diana

Beautiful Child

Hello! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I'm not used to having a full weekend off from work, so I've apparently tried to cram in as much as possible into it! Having a yard sale, some antiquing, and enjoying some steamed crabs with good friends. I even managed to get a tiny bit of crafting worked in, so it's been an excellent couple of days!

Today's image is another from 'The Muncey' magazine, 1906. It is of a child actress, and she is stunning! Hard to believe her character is supposed to be five years old, but it is truly a beautiful photograph! I hope you'll love her as much as I! I'm posting the original scan, and a slightly tweaked copy for you.

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs d.

Advertising Trading Card

Welcome back! Before we get started on today's post, I'd like to encourage you to go to Saturday's post titled "This, from a Beer Company - Really?" It appears I need to work a bit on my post titles, but I promise you, the images on that post are worth the visit!

Today, from a Victorian scrapbook, I'm sharing an advertising trading card. Even though it's more about the image (beautiful design!) this particular card advertises "Dr. James' Universal Ague Pills." Well, I like to be able to say a little something about the images, but was at a loss on this particular advertisement! So, just for kicks, I decided to Google the subject. Can you believe I actually found a couple of results! Still don't know exactly what these pills were for, but the first link took me to an e-book titled "The Statutes at Large from Magna Charta to [the Forth-first Year..., Volume 9" by Great Britain. The search took me to a page of medicinal preparations which were subject to duties in 1785! So this particular product had been around for about 100 years prior to this scrapbook! Being of a curious nature, I had to then look up the definition of ague. I found it in the "Dictionary of Domestic Medicine," by J.H. Clarke, published in 2000. The book definition is "Fever occurring in marshy places, coming in paroxysms of one, two, or more days' interval; commencing with chill, and followed by heat and sweat." The author sites other sources in further explanation, and upon further reading, it appears this was no ordinary fever. There were even different treatments for "fat" and "thin" children (his words - not mine!) and based on hair and eye colors!

O.k., I understand that's probably more than you never wanted to know about the advertisement itself, lol! On now to the image! It's being offered today in it's original format, and again with the text removed so you can add any sentiment you wish for your projects!

Thank you for stopping by today :) Hugs d.

Gorgeous Wedding Gown!

Hi! Before I knew I would be sharing my vintage images with you, I was scanning them without thinking about putting the scanned images in separate files to be able to identify what publication they came from :( But today's image is a photo of Gloria Swanson in what's captioned to be "one of the most costly gowns ever screened." I'm a huge fan of old movies, but I don't know for what movie this gown was made. It's totally gorgeous! I think I'll be using this image in a future lace book! I'm offering it to you in it's original faded state, as well as enhanced. Hope you like it!

As always, thanks for stopping by! Hugs Diana

Cabinet Cards - Love Them!

Hope you had a fantabulous weekend! I've started cleaning out my craft room, preparing to have a yard sale on Saturday. Just too much 'stuff!' I know those of you who craft know exactly what I'm saying, lol! Before I jump back into that hot mess, thought I'd chat a bit about Cabinet Cards.

Cabinet cards were the most popular form of portraiture from the mid 1860's- through about the mid 1920's. They are relatively small formal portraits (roughly 4.25" x 6.5") which were displayed in cabinets for viewing.  They are produced, mounted on what we today would consider chipboard, usually with some type of small border around the top and sides, and a larger border area at the bottom where the name of the studio which produced the portrait would be placed. Some studios were very elaborate in how they presented their names, others were very simple, at least on the fronts of the cards. However, turn the card over and you're in for a surprise! On the backs of these cards, you will typically find wonderful artistry! Sometimes it's a fancy showing of the studio name and address. Other times, it's beautiful artwork, along with the studio information!

I have several of these cards, which were in an antique album I purchased at an estate sale. Most of the portraits themselves aren't very fancy, and I would consider most of them to be 'normal' people. Not a whole lot of what most would consider gorgeous or adorable in these photographs, but I love them! I wonder about who they are and what their lives were like. Some of the backs are nicer than the portraits themselves! A lot of the portraits are faded with embedded dust, but I'll be trying to clean them up some and darken them up to bring them back to life. Not too much processing - just enough to be able to see the images without the distraction of too much dust!

When you're out and about on your treasure hunts, if you come across cabinet cards, don't necessarily discount them because you don't like the portrait. Turn it over and you just might be surprised with something gorgeous on the back you'll be able to use!

Today's image is, guess what?! A cabinet card! I'm giving you the portrait itself, the back with the art and studio details, and two more with the studio details removed - original colors and black & white. By removing the studio details, you now have a lovely artistic frame to use in another way!

Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by! Hugs d.

Put a Little Pink in Your Day :)

Good Morning! It's a rainy, gloomy day in here in Maryland, so what better way to brighten it up than to put a little pink in it! Today's images (three of them!) are gorgeous pink flowers from a Victorian scrapbook. These scrapbooks fascinate me. They are the most basic form of scrapbooking - certainly nothing like today's scrapbooks! No frills, no embellishments. LOADS of fussy cutting! These scrapbooks are so interesting because the ladies would just cut out what they liked, or what they had, and glue it down into the scrapbooks. The ladies would also sometimes include cards they received, paper merit awards from school, and advertising trading cards - the original ATC's! So much variety within the books!

Today, everything is about acid-free to prolong the life of our scrapbooks. One of the things I find incredibly interesting about the Victorian scrapbooks is that back then, 'acid-free' wasn't even a consideration! I've no idea what type of glue was used back then, but it certainly hasn't affected the quality of the images glued into the books! The only 'wear' seems to be the pages of the scrapbooks themselves, discolored and brittle. But I do love the discoloration of the book pages! Ask me what my favorite color is, and I'll tell you it's vintage!

With these particular images, I've given them a white background so you can digitally cut them to use as digi stamps, if you would like.  But, I'd like to know if you would prefer to have future images with the original discolored paper backgrounds, or if you prefer a clean white background?

Enjoy these gorgeous flowers, share them and spread the word! There's loads more to come!

Thanks for stopping by :) Hugs d.

This, from a Beer Company - Really?

Today's image is again, from "The Muncey's" magazine, 1906. There are all kinds of wonderful ads and images in this magazine, and this one is, I think, exceptional! They are apparently targeting men AND women with this ad. It's from Anheuser Busch company, promoting their 1906 art calendar. Oh, how I would love to see this entire calendar! The promotional images in the ad are just stunning! So stunning, I had to separate four of the images, so not only are you getting the complete ad today, you're also getting four individual images, straightened and enlarged! I'd really love to see how you use any of these images! So many possibilities! Enjoy and thanks for stopping by! Hugs Diana