for the love of old paper

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.

precious & sweet may baskets

Wishing you all a Happy first day of May !

As many of you know, I have an affinity for wonderful small things that have to do with old dollies & babies...little shoes, little dresses, little cups & bowls, wee bonnets and books and most charming of all

these little children's baskets. These are from the early 1800's and have just come to live with me here. I discovered my very first of these little baskets nearly 15 years ago in a dusty cupboard of a Pennsylvanian estate sale. My heart just jumped!

Now, all of the Deerfield dollies are clamoring for a turn at holding them. The smallest here is but 3" tall, just right for my New England dolly, Elisabeth, that came to live with us 2 summers past.

I can only imagine the happy hours that these little baskets have spent under the lilac hedge with their little girl owners, pretending to be grown up ladies, playing with their dollies & having tea.

my treasures come calling

my little hens, the treasures, came calling this morning, dressed in their finest blacke silkes. it's early and I'm waiting there on the porch in the pale light with my coffee, sitting on the front steps, listening while my world wakes up... my treasures arrive, bright eyed and wanting their visit with me and a soft pat on their feathers...I thank them for their lovely eggs... we have a bit of small talk, would you like some of my toast? how was your night, did you sleep well? What will you do today? Soon the visit is over -they're eager to get hurrying along. They hop down the steps out onto the grass, like children off to play. They'll spend their day roaming the farm, looking for bugs, inspecting & scratching up my newly planted garden beds..and doing whatever will entertain a hen... If I might be just a little late coming out, one of them will peck at the glass on the french door. Good morning! Are you coming out? We have our little rituals every morning. They've come to expect to see me waiting for them there. So this is how this farm girl begins her day. Not so glamorous perhaps, but the dearest place in world to me.

early spring morning

this morning- the day after Easter morning - arrived in Oregon in her usual fashion, 10 minutes of glorious warm sun, followed by a good rain and maybe a little snow thrown in for good measure...a rainbow, the size of which hasn't been seen in years, and now wind & rain and snow falling in our hills. We had a really lovely Easter, warm and soft weather, flowers beginning to bloom and my family, with smiling faces, all around our table. I hope that yours, too, was a lovely day.

a blessed & peaceful Easter morning

Wishing you all a blessed & joyful Easter

Wonderful Spring Goodes

Dearest Friends,

We send our happiest Spring Greetings!

April is upon us & Easter just a few days away.

We would like to invite you to see our Spring offerings

this Friday eve.

where you will find all manner of

Wonderous Spring Goodes

by

Christine of Deerfield Farmhouse

and

Katie of Sparrow's Cottage

We look forward to visiting with you!

letting them go....

a tiny letter has come in the post, hand written in the smallest scroll-y script and wax sealed...
with the much anticipated news of our dear Sallye!
She has written to tell us that she has arrived & is now safely delivered into the loving arms of her new family.
She writes,
"Dearest Family,
After seeing the last bit of my precious green pastures & the flow'ring trees of home disappear over the horizon and the long,dusty & bumpy carriage ride over the mountains, I am much relieved to be out of my tissue papered nest.
Please be assured, dear Mother, that I have been so warmly greeted - and so pleasantly surprised to see several of my dear little sisters already here! All waiting to greet me and welcome me into my new home. All of them dancing on one foot and then the other, happy & excited to see me, come to them from the dearest place on earth-Home.
My new Mother has presented me with a lovely flowr'd box of my very own, just right for resting in when a long day of play is over. I know it will not be long before I am completely at home here with my lovely new family."
with all my love,
Sallye
I knew that when I smoothed her skirt and kissed her nose before putting her into her box, that she was going to be loved and cared for. I did not need to worry...
but, oh, I do have trouble letting my dollies go...
I send my heart and soul, my spirit along in everyone of them... with wistful faces and hopeful hearts...
hopeful that they will be loved & revered through loving eyes, held tightly in welcoming arms, to comfort and to be comforted...to bring joy and a lightness to the spirit...to be handed down...to be loved happily ever after... my grateful heart to whomever cares for them...
oh yes, it is very hard for me to part with them.
But I know that they will be loved and cared for.
I do not need to worry...