old paper...
doesn't the sound of those words just make your heart sing?
I know it does mine...
19th c. wedding invitations, early school copy books, early farm ledgers carefully handwritten in spidery sepia ink....the columns of carefully recorded numbers as beautiful as the writing itself. Thick & thin, long script-y letters, faded and leaving only a whisper of the writer behind...
old paper is a needful thing here...we celebrate with it, we write our hopes and dreams on it, we search for it, collect it and we hoard precious stacks of it, safely tied up with old ribbons.
I remember my Mother, my little sister & I sitting under a Hawthorne tree on an old quilt. My Mother drew wonderful paper dolls for us and colored them with our crayons. We made dresses for them from cupcake papers & pink clover garlands from the lawn. We played with them for hours and hours. My littlest brother & I made paper shoes for him to wear...they only lasted about 2 steps, but we had the best time. Laughing til we hurt.
Nearly all our family gatherings have something we've made of old papers, whether it be paper hats to wear through dinner or a hand lettered & decorated place card at each place setting....a frilled paper wedding cake top & Wedding crowns and wedding invitations for friends & family. Wonderful paper favors & invitations for college graduations, Birthday crowns commemorating a milestone birthday with layers of mementos of treasured memories.
A precious baby crown I made for the birth my grand daughter, Emma, all in sweet pale pink rosebuds with a tiny baby face peeking out from rose buds ...tiny enough for her sweet newborn head...
at this moment there is a whole gathering of little paper ladye's and gentlemen that my daughter,Katie, made for me--the entire glad party of them dangling amid the crystals of the dining room chandelier.
To help celebrate the love of old paper I invite you to visit my dear friend, Cathy Penton of Cathy Penton Designs in Australia. She has just put together a truly beautiful little catalogue which is available through her website.
Inside you will find her wonderful little "inspirations in glass" charms handmade from old images and lovely old papers along with beautiful one of a kind hand made treasures that Cathy has been gathering together to delight the eye...
wonderful handmade one of a kind treasures made of old papers & old linen, wondrous treasures handmade by artists Angela Osment,Stacy Nash, Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm...Sparrow's Cottage & Deerfield Farmhouse.
All surely will delight the eye and celebrate the love of old paper.
10 comments:
My dear friend
Thank you again for making your beautiful creations for my catalogue.. I can't wait for the beautiful parcel to arrive early next week... I will be in heaven and will find it very, very difficult to pass them on to my customers... Love ya
Old paper...yes, we agreed on its wonders. I worry though that the world will run out of old ledger paper. Perish the thought!
I have four of Katie's paper birds strung up by their ribbons, hanging on the wall. You obviously passed your love of old paper to her to the benefit of us all.
Yes, old paper does make my heart sing. Though I have a hard time cutting it, or using it in art projects.
I love the gift you have in using it in your art work.
Dear everyone, thank you all for such lovely notes!
I want to assure you that although I love old paper that I surely would never never put my scissors to any of it. I may as well cut my hand off !
My copier is my old worn out friend.
all my old paper treasures are carefully placed where they can be seen and touched and admired & revered...safe & sound.
Christe'
I find out new things to do with paper every day, it's surprising every single time. Last week, I made one of my collages a layerskirt, it looked surprisingly nice. And I just love the name Katie, especially whem pronounced in an American accent, which is strange, because I prefere British. Anyhow, I will definately visit your blog more often!
How did I miss this post?! Ohhhh...and what about how we can't miss any paper store we pass by & shiver at the mere sight of a Paper Zone? Our family gatherings DO seem to center around that theme...don't they?! The year I had your friends and family scrapbook a page about you for your birthday, the cards I've saved that you sent me while I was in college to remind me that You & Dad weren't so far away, the birthday card you made for Wes and I with our wedding picture on it, and you put party hats on us!, my surprise 13th birthday with purple streamers, when I learned to make homemade paper and used the lint from the dryer in a batch so I could make Bryan a card with his dog's hair in it...however perishable, it IS so meaningful & heartfelt...what a wonderful post mom! Your writing is like a breath of fresh air...I really mean that.
Post Script: Do you know what I LOVE about the photo of your wonderful wedding crown? The shadow of the paper bird...it is very artistic of you!
Wow Christe this is an amazing piece. Ah, but what more could one expect from you? It is so incredibly beautiful.
Hate to admit it to you, but as everyone knows--yikes--I use originals in my work--cut cut cut... I think I will forever hear you screaming from now on.
lauren
Thanks for your note Betsy! I love the name Katie,too.It's a wonderful old name, actually it's short for Kathryn-she's named after 2 of her great great grandmothers, but Katie fits her just right.
I would love to see what you make of paper, the layer skirt collage sounds wonderful!
Do you have a website or somewhere to see your papery things?
Christine
oh,dear lauren,
oh, I do a little
cut cut cut myself now and then... and if I could make as beautiful & lovely things as you do, I'd be doing more looking for things that I could cut. I seem to collect what I can't cut.
Thank you so much for the lovely compliment about my paper crown...
I did alot of cut cut cut on that one!
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