Some Vintage Valentines and a Story

Hello.  Today’s post features a group of cards I bought as a lot from ebay a couple of weeks ago.I've mentioned before that what I particularly search for in my vintage stationery collection are unsigned pieces -- some collectors don't mind cards having writing on them but my preference is for none.So, when I came across this lot of old Valentine cards for sale on eBay, with very little in way of description, I sent the vendor an email asking if the cards had been previously used. In response I got a very brief note saying that some of them had writing on them and some didn't, and that one of them had the year 1945 written on it.I was going to leave it at that and move along without bidding on them. But, (and not to stereotype my cat-loving self), the kitten card had really gotten my attention. I considered writing again asking if there was writing on that specific one, but then thought this would probably be annoying, especially for such a small auction -- the beginning bid was only $7.50. So I decided to bid for the 17 cards and if I won, I'd enjoy them as they were, with or without writing.I could see that there were a couple of cards that are called 'articulated valentines'. These are ones with moving parts, attached by a rivet. These are quite rare and I had none of them in my collection yet, so I was interested in those, too.By these pictures you can see that I won them. I was surprised that nobody else had bid for them as I have seen single unused Valentines go for as much as $10 a piece.When they arrived in the mail a week later I was excited to see which ones had writing and which didn't.What I discovered was really interesting. There were actually two separate groups here.One set of 8 were all written on and they all had the same recipient on them. This was a pristine stack of Valentines that had been given in 1945 to a girl named Dorothy. The 2 articulated cards (directly below) were in this group, as was the kitten.

Making Some Valentine Cards

The other day I talked about the Valentines that I sent out to our nieces and nephews (here), but there were also some adults on my mailing list. Here are some cards I made for them.

Using store bought stickers and pre-folded card stock (I bought a box of 50 of these for about $10 a while ago, that contains all kinds of patterns and envelopes.)

The pictures are pretty self explanatory ... I just cut a some ovals out of two different coloured papers, making a fancy edge on one with some special scissors I have, but you can leave the edges smooth. Then I stuck a sticker on. To make it prettier inside I made a paper liner, which I wrote on first (in case I made a mistake) and then glued in by running a strip of glue-stick along the back just below the fold.

Making Felt and Cotton Heart Decorations

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I have a love of hearts, so last week I took a walk along Queen Street West and visited the sewing shops there to find supplies with which to make some heart-shaped decoration. I came home with a variety of printed cottons, pieces of felt and ricrac, in a red, white and black colour scheme.

This area of the city is changing now but these shops, which have been located there for a very long time, are filled from top to bottom with the most amazing supplies for making things. They are dusty and a bit haphazard but I love going into them and just letting ideas come, based on what I see. I've been poking around the same stores since I was a teen and I'm sure there is still some fabric there that I actually touched back then.

Sending Love Across the Miles : Valentines 2013

I've mentioned before that all the children in our lives live far away. My family moved away from our extended family when I was four, so I know how it feels when a relative sent me something in the mail. Mostly I received birthday cards from my grandmothers, with a bit on money tucked inside, but I distinctly remember the year that my father's mother mailed us each a valentine. I thought that was pretty cool.

Anyway, I try to send our nieces and nephew and my cousin's children some snail-mail to commemorate various holidays, if only to let them know that we are thinking of them with love.

So for this Valentine mailing, I sent them some cards from this neat reproduction Valentine book that I picked up on ebay a few years ago. It was published by Golden Books in 2006 and is filled with charming copies of valentines from years gone by. Being a keen vintage paper collector, I was happy to find this book so I could send something with a vintage look, but not have to part with any of my original cards. In fact, I have some of the cut-and-paste envelopes that are reproduced in this book, in their true original form.

Cat on the Couch

Ed is actually not allowed on the couch unless he's sitting in a lap, but sometimes he's sneaky. So we cover it up with an old blanket, this vintage one a much loved ebay find from a long time ago. It's perfect for the season and oh so cozy.