Paying It Backwards and Forward!

Recently I have been the happy beneficiary of some delightful ephemera.

 

The first package came from my Parisian friend Jerry, who managed to find a terrific vintage scrapbook filled with images that dated back to Victorian times, as well as those in the early 20th century.

Even the cover of the book was fabulous.

Inside was page after page of images, carefully cut and glued onto the page. 

(Yes, I know. Sad. Hard to peel off!)

Jerry had taken dental floss to a number of the images to remove them safely from the page. Others, perhaps, will be there forever.

While these aren't the only thing in that marvelous care package, I have to admit they all made me smile.

 

So many of you are so generous in sharing ephemera, tutorials and other ideas,

 I wanted to share these with you.

Just click on the image and right click to save.

It's hard to pick a favorite -- although I loved this little guy!

And since pansies are a favorite, this, too, caught my eye.

And of course, little vintage children!

 

Have fun!

(I'll have another post sometime soon with another ephemera bonus -- this from an estate sale here in town. 

There were lots of vintage holiday images there and I'll post it in plenty of time for the holidays!)

A Vintage Paper Exhibit to Treasure

Recently I checked in at the MSU Museum and was pleased to find this exhibit of pressed and embossed paper art was still in place.

These pieces were often given at Christmas, such as calendars and holiday items, like advent calendars, creches and Santa figures.

I'll save the Christmas pieces for next December, but I thought I'd share a few of the calendars and other pieces that were in the exhibit.

By 1910, Germany, which was at the center of the printing industry, had developed a process of embossing layers of heavy papers to produce colorful wall decorations.

I loved the combination wall-pockets/calendars.

Many of these were produced for companies around the United States. I was particularly fond of these birds, a detail from one of the calendars above. They're so cheery!

And the detail on the love birds is outstanding. (Even if my photo is a bit fuzzier than I wish!)

These puppies were just my cup of tea!

And all holidays came into play -- these patriotic calendars might well look perfect on July 4!

Here's another.

Of course, when it comes to pocket wall calendars such as these, I must say one of my favorites of all time is in my own collection.

My friend Jerry in Paris found this at a flea market. The embossing on the leaves climbing the trellis is deep and the die cuts are clean. It's one of my favorite treasures.

Curator Val Berryman is quite the Santa/Christmas man with an enormous personal collection, which includes these pieces. WKAR Radio did an interesting interview with him at the holidays. It's a couple of minutes long -- if you care to listen, you'll find it HERE! He's an interesting fellow and yes, the resemblance to one Mr. Claus is striking!

My Personal Parisian Shopper

When you think"Personal Shopper," what comes to mind?

Well, if you asked me a year ago, I would have said someone that went to all the places I didn't want to go (like shoe shopping or clothes shopping or appliance shopping) and make choices for me -- based on my budget -- that she (probably a she) would bring home. I'd try on, reject, she'd take back, and I'd pay her an exorbitant percentage.

Which is why I never had a personal shopper.

Then one day, my friend Jerry, whom I visited in France (for those posts, check the side bar under Paris and France), made an interesting suggestion.

Jerry is a four-star shopper. He is the best flea market person I know and can bargain a bargain price down to sub-bargain! He has terrific taste, a great apartment and frequents flea markets and the local tag sales like a trouper.

He suggested that if I told him what I'd be interested in and gave him a dollar amount, he'd shop my brains out for me.

Of course I said yes!

This week Jerry came by with my spoils (and Christmas presents, equally wonderful.) And what's extra nice was that everything was a surprise!

"You bought this. You bought this. You bought this. This is Christmas..." No, it was heaven!

What you are seeing in this post are some of the "spoils of shopping" -- done by Jerry on my behalf.

And a few Christmas presents thrown in for good measure. This advertising piece and the one a bit above both have "pockets" that come out. The one above has a 1909 calendar!

These advertising cards are for the department store Bon Marche and others (like biscuit cards).

Love the gold and the whimsical illustrations.

This is part of a military series -- again, lots of gold.

These pages were from a scrap book. The florals and Victorian pieces are called Chroma.

Here are a few others.

On the back of the pages were wonderful vintage postcards.

Now this was a Christmas gift -- a postcard book from my favorite spot in Paris -- Ste. Chappelle.

I loved the Parisian postcard book, with images at the top of this post and another from the Napoleon museum.

And these hat pins! Aren't they amazing?

Loved these sweet lace applique cuffs, too. They go with the collars Jerry sent me this summer.

Menus? You can bet these will be scanned for a someday-party!

Even the '50s were represented with this "kitchen" page...

...and an "airplane page.

These are animation cells --

When you hold them to the light, you get even a better look!

And this postcard -- it will be a baby card someday!

Jerry also brought a Tour de France pin for Rick and this music for us to share!

It's a song printed by a wine company, Suze, to promote drinking their wine, and as you can see above, the Tour 1933 is specifically mentioned.

The good thing? I have wonderful new bits --

AND, soon I am going to scan them and post some so you can use them, too! What good is it to have such fun stuff if you can't share!

I may not be posting for a few days and visiting might be limited -- it's one of those weeks! But soon I'll get these scanned.

And look for a post coming up on a meting with some blog friends I've "known" forever (it seems!)