Saturday, February 28, 2009

VICTORIAN HAIR

The expression, "a woman’s crowning glory" had its origins dating back to the Victorian Period. But ironically, women's hair during this era of romance and feminine mystery was often severely damaged from the relentless use of hot irons. Hair became scorched and often had an unpleasant odour that had to be masked with heavy perfumes.

It was not uncommon to have ones hair reduced to a wool-like texture. Hair was never cut except in cases of serious illness. The simplicity of the smooth, center-parted styles worn by women in the Victorian era lasted until the 1870s, when the Parisian hairdresser M. Marcel Grateau created a new, natural-looking wave by turning a curling iron upside down.



In 1872, Marcel had introduced his famous Marcel wave using a heated iron that imitated the natural curl of the hair. Hot tongs were applied to produce a curl rather than a crimp. Done at intervals over the head, the hair would assume the look of moiré. It revolutionized the art of hairdressing all over the world. The Marcel wave remained popular for almost half a century and helped usher in a new era of women's waved and curled hairpieces, which were mixed with the natural hair.


Curly hair was meant to indicate a sweeter temperament, while straight-haired girls were considered reserved or even awkward. A woman's hair was profoundly important to the overall effect she was able to make. Reaching the age when the hair could be put up was a rite of passage in her life, and often there were several interim stages, where a plait would be loosely put up with a ribbon, to signify the coming event.

The Gibson Girl was known as the century's first pin up. First sketched by Charles Dana Gibson in 1902, this imaginary woman was to represent the ideal woman. She became known as the liberated young woman with the characteristic upswept hairdo. Created using a combination of the Marcel wave and postiche, the Gibson Girl look was to last a quarter of a century. The hair style consisted of a soft pompadour, puffed for a cloud effect, rolled from temple to temple over a horsehair rat to give it the width that went well with a tiny waist.

The Gibson Girl look became immortalized by the stage idol, Lillian Russell.


Thursday, February 26, 2009

HAIR JEWELRY & HAIR POST CARDS ?

I found this interesting and unusual article and wanted to share it with you.


I love all things Victorian but had never heard of Hair Post Cards. However my Grandmother had a wreath framed and enclosed in glass made of horse hair.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, postcards and valentines were often sent with human hair attached. The sentimental sender would glue locks of their hair onto specially made postcards, (a picture of a beautiful woman) and send it to someone as a keepsake.



Watch FOB


Ball Earrings



Hair Postcards

Aren't they cute!!


Tuesday, February 24, 2009

WONDERFUL MEMORIES


It is hard to believe that my Mother has been gone for a year today. I will never forget the day she passed away. It was a very hard thing for her family to endure but knowing she is in Heaven with Jesus makes it easier. She is happy in the glory of our Lord. It's her family left here on earth that suffers the void left now that she is gone.

I want to share some memories of her with you.

She married my Father when she was 21 years old. She met him at a Marine Base in Jersey City, New Jersey as he was working at the gate there and she was going to a dance at the Armory one evening with a girlfriend and was to meet her date there. She and a friend had taken jobs there in Jersey City on the Marine base picking up parts of wrecked planes to be repaired.


She told me as she passed through the gate my Father gave out a wolf call that everyone could hear. When his shift was over he found her at the dance and even though she had another date he convinced her that she needed to be with him. So to make a long story short she left with him and they dated for several months and she had to come back to Idaho where she was from and he followed her. They married and actually moved back to New Jersey after I was born and lived there for 2 years. We moved back to Nampa Idaho when I was 2 1/2 years old.

Mom and Daddy raised chickens on a rented farm while my Father drove a logging truck and was a paint and body man for Chrysler for years. She used to catch the chickens and wring their necks to kill them and then chop their heads off and it scared me because sometimes the chicken would take off running without a head! She would dunk them in a bucket of boiling water to prepare the feathers to be removed and then she would clean them at the kitchen sink. It was always a treat for me to watch her clean the gizzard. It was fascinating.

She would make cookies and use a special cookie cutter. The kind that you squeeze the dough through. That was special for me. When she could afford it she would make homemade doughnuts and doughnut holes were my favorite. I ate them all once and made myself sick. I don't like them much now.

She would bake a pie and always make me a cinnamon crisp with the left over dough. Golly, I miss those days.

My Father as you may remember was in five major battles during WWII and he suffered from "shell shock" and had a weakened heart caused by malaria that he contacted while fighting in the jungles of Guam. He was actually missing in action and was hospitalized in New Zealand for 9 months

At the age of 34 years old his weakened heart caused him to have congestive heart failure and he had a heart attack and passed away . My Mother was only 32 years old and left to raise me age 7 and my younger brother age 3 with no Father.


We moved to our Auntie Maxine's farm where she had an apartment upstairs for us to live in for awhile.
Mom had a friend that offered to sell her a house at a reasonable price of...$1500.00!

She saved for the down payment and soon we were living in our own place. My brother and I shared a bedroom having bunk beds. I took the bottom bunk and my brother took the top. I remember he fell out of it one night while fooling around instead of sleeping and cut his lip really bad on a toy tin telephone that was on the night stand next to the bed.

She worked hard all of her life. She worked her way through high school cooking and taking care of a family in town who became life long friends and the children of that family attended her funeral. She cleaned floors at the local hospital and then became a nurses aide there working at night so she could be home with us during the days. She slept while we were at school and always had a warm meal ready for us when we came home. We didn't want for anything. We may have had handmade or hand-me-down clothes or second hand items but we were fine.

I remember Christmas when I was 10 years old, I wanted a bike so bad so my dear Mother got together enough money to buy a second hand bike and she spent all night painting it for me so I would have a shinny blue bike under the tree when I woke up.

One winter it was very cold and we had oil heating and run out of oil in the middle of the night and she hung up blankets in the kitchen door and turned on the electric oven so we would be warm until morning so she could get more oil.

She did what she had to do to make sure her children were cared for and loved.

She met a nice man 5 years after my Father passed away and talked to my brother and I about how we liked this man. It was important because he had asked her to marry him. They married and had a baby boy so now I had two brothers.

In later years my step Father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and she was there right by his side all the way. She cared for him as he deteriorated more each year. He had a gambling problem and over the years with his Alzheimer's he lost all of their money. They had moved from a 3 acre place in the country to a small mobile home in town just before he was diagnosed. After a few years they sold that place and moved to an assisted living facility due to her diabetes and his Alzheimer's. He passed away the very evening they moved in there. He was sitting by her bed in his chair and she found him the next morning.


She didn't like it there and thought she wanted to be in a different place. A place more private and more like an apartment. So at my step Father's funeral my brothers and I got her on a waiting list at a retirement home. She moved in about 6 months later and was content in her little place. It was small but it was okay with her and had everything she needed. She seemed to be happy there.

She had nothing when she passed away. It was so sad to go through her belongings and see that she truly had NOTHING.

My Mother was such a giving person and loved her Children and Grand and Great Grand Children so much. I don't know what I would have done without her while I worked as a young Mother. She worked nights and I worked afternoons so she would care for my boys until their Father got off work. There were many times we had no money to buy food so she would come over and bring a sack full of things like bread, peanut butter and jelly and soup.


One Christmas my husband was out of work and we had no money for a tree so here comes my Mother with a tree and all the fixin's for a Christmas dinner and also gifts for the boys to put under the tree.

She was loved by so many but never thought people liked her. She would have been surprised to see the church FULL of people at her funeral.


This is her oldest friend Hilma at her 80th Birthday Party in 2004. Hilma was with my Mother when my Father passed away.

I have lots of wonderful memories of my Mother and I will hold on to them until I can see her again in Heaven.

I miss you Mom but I am content that you are in a better place and at peace with no pain, diabetes, blindness or worries and that I will see you again in Heaven.


The Lord is my Sheppard, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23:2

Thursday, February 19, 2009

BELLA




Well is piece done in Photoshop using two different settings. On this piece I used layers, brushes and the text and filter tools. This program is so much fun and I am having such a good time learning. My frustration over the past year is finally over. The possibilities are endless!!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

WHAT A GREAT IDEA !!



I wanted to share this bolg with all of you that do ACEO or ATC . What a great way to display your favorite little piece of art. Check out her blog at www.queenbesalteredneeds.blogspot.com she is having a giveaway and if your name is not picked and you like these go to her Etsy shop at QueenBe's Etsy Shop and order some. They are very affordable and the neat thing is her husband makes them for her.

Great idea QueenBe!!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

BROTHERS





I wanted to share this picture with you because it is very unique to me but not a surprise.

These are our pets. Petey, Schvartzy and Sampson. When these dogs were born, if you remember way back my story of how we came to have them, were orphans along with 3 brothers and 2 sisters We chose to keep these two and adopted out the others.

They have become such a part of our family. Our cat Schvartzy who was also an orphan and showed up on our property a couple of years before the pups has bonded like no pet I have ever had.

This cat is a garage cat but thinks he is a dog. He tries to eat out of their bowls stretching up to reach the food in the bowl stand. He lays in the sun with the dogs when they are laying in the sun, he goes with us when I take them out to potty before bed, he has to have a treat when they do. It is amazing to watch some of the things this cat does. They are his dogs you see because when we found Petey and Sampson and their brothers and sisters they were only 4 weeks old and we put all 7 puppies in the garage with a portable kennel around them so they would stay put and Schvartzy got int he kennel with them and he rubbed each puppy leaving his mark. He let them lay on him and lick him. It was the most precious thing to see. It was as if he knew they were orphans.

So about 2 weeks ago he started wanting to come in the house all the time so I let him and he has been laying on a dining room chair but I suspected that soon he would be laying on the dog bed if there was ever room for him. Well guess what? He has moved in on the dogs and this picture is of the three brothers. They love each other.



I did this collage for a rack card our Etsy OCEANTEAM is making.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?




Well now that Valentines Day is over and I have a chance to breath I noticed that I completely missed my 2 year blogaversary! I cannot believe it! 2 YEARS! When I retired 3 years ago who would have known I would every be blogging or even what a blog was?

I am so thankful I did start this blog. I have met such wonderful people and you have all inspired me in some way.

This image is my latest experiment done in Photoshop. I am finally catching on. This is an image using one of the filters in Photoshop. This one is called Stroke. I also used the paint brush to make her lips and the flowers in her hair pinker.

There is so many things to learn but I will keep learning and I am sharing my story in a place called Squidoo. The pages you make there are called Lenses. Go check out the Squidoo site at and read my lens on Photoshop Frustration. You can click on the SQUIDOO link here on my blog.

I have decided that since I am coming up on my 500th post I will wait to celebrate my blogaversary then. I will have to put on my thinking cap and come up with something really special.

Friday, February 13, 2009

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY



Happy Valentine's Day to all my beautiful friends.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A SURPRISE


My friend Brenda of Salzano's Design and Decor gave me this lovely journal today for Valentine's Day Gift.
I love it!! Isn't it just the sweetest image?

She actually used wallpaper trim as the first background and then framed the image with fabric paper and painted the flowers by hand and embellished it with pearls and jewels. She is so creative and a wonderful artist.

Thanks Brenda

Sunday, February 8, 2009

90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN


I recently read a book that is truly amazing. It is the true story of a man that was killed in an auto accident and was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The EMT's preformed no life saving procedures because the man had no pulse. He was dead for 90 minutes!

This Man's name is Don Piper and he has written a book about his experience in Heaven. It is an amazing story and for anyone who has questions about loved ones that have passed I strongly suggest reading this amazing story.

Don Piper has been a pastor since 1989 and still preaches the word of God as well as the story of his time in heaven.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

VALENTINE ATC SWAP PARTNERS


Okay girls I put the names in a bowl and drew them out one by one paring you off with your partner.
Here they are.

Susan of Black Berry Creek - Carole of Mixed Media Meanderings

Kathryn of of KV Creations - Patti of Treasure Barn right here!

Lori of Out of The Mouth The Heart Speaks - Molly Self of Shezadoosey

Bead Reed Aerie - Jann of A Vintage Heart

Mica of Garboodles Soup - Darlene Pringle of A Dancing Mango

Jann Clark of 13 Thorny Roses - Nadine of Nadine and Kathleen (Beautiful Unsual Custom Cards)

Bev Sams of He Lives - SueAnn of SueAnn's Journey

Becky of Whimsical Musings - Brenda of Salzano's Design and Decor

Cheryl of Signoftimensuch - Vickie of Whispers of Inspiration


Thanks for all of your participation. I would like for you all to post the ATC's you receive from your partner on your blogs. That way we call all see them.

If you have problems finding your partners address please let me know and I will help you.
Thanks again and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

CHALLENGES

This is an altered post card I did in Photoshop for Etsy Cottage Style Fun Friday Challenge


A Valentine Card for my husband I created in Photoshop for last weeks Etsy Cottage Style Fun Friday Challenge

Hey girls only one more day and I will be posting your partners for my Valentine ATC Swap.
Be sure to check back on Saturday evening and see who your partner is.