More 1917 bird illustrations

More vintage bird illustrations from The Nature Library, first published in 1917 with illustrations by R.E. Todhunter.

Cardinals
(female on left, male on right)


Tree Swallows
(male on branch, female flying)


Swallows

Cedar Waxwing

Coming soon: more birds, more vintage ladies, and some vintage butterfly illustrations.

1917 bird illustrations

I love to support local libraries, so I always try to attend Friends of the Library  sales. At the Fall sale this week, I found some treasures, including wonderful vintage books from a set called The Nature Library.  My favorite is the volume on birds, with beautiful illustrations by R. E. Todhunter.  Here are a few of the illustrations for you.  (As always, personal use only, not for sale individually or in collections.)

Hummingbirds

Bluejay

Mockingbird

Barn owl

Click twice on the images to download the largest size. 
If you like these, let me know and I'll post some more soon!

Lovely ladies

Women's fashions from the early part of the last century were so enchanting.  Although I would not enjoy wearing corsets and heavy petticoats -- especially in hot weather -- the romantic dresses, hats, jewelry and hairstyles are very appealing.  After looking at these images, I'm thinking about wearing more feminine clothing and ditching the jeans-and-t-shirt look. (I usually LIVE in slacks, but I actually bought a skirt last week!)

Today's "Life Made Lovely Monday" downloads are vintage images of lovely ladies in their finery. Enjoy!

 Beauty from a 1913 Valentine postcard

"Miss Vanity" from an undated Austrian postcard

Beatrice

The Beatrice image is from a German postcard made from a painting by Angelo Asti, a French artist who lived from 1847 to 1903.

Ruby

The Ruby image is from an undated German postcard. I haven't been able to find information about the artist, M. Marco.  I'll update this post if I find out more about the painter.

Hope you like these as much as I do!

Using paper scraps

Sometimes I find it hard to throw things away... that's one reason I have so much ephemera to share!  But bits and pieces of scrapbook paper and ephemera can really pile up if you save them all, so I love projects that allow me to use those bits and pieces.  Here are a few ideas for you if you, too, are a scrap saver.

Birthday card made with leftover strips of scrapbook paper

I have a Genesis Paper Trimmer, which makes perfect straight cuts, so I end up with many long straight strips of paper after making greeting cards and other projects. These thin, perfectly even strips are perfect for birthday candles, so this was a quick, simple card to make with my scraps.

Old notebook covered with paper tape and decorative scraps

Before: Beat-up notebooks before "renovations"

I bought these dog-eared Neatbooks at a flea market for a quarter each.  The covers were bent and frayed, but the inside pages were in like-new condition, which made these books perfect candidates for new covers!  I use these in my purse and in my car for jotting down notes, ideas and "to do" lists.

Watch for more ideas for using scraps in a future post.

Vintage women's fashion

Vintage magazine ads and vintage sewing patterns are great sources of information about fashion over the years.  These images from the 1940s suggest that women wore hats and white gloves, dresses featured decorative trim and often had pockets, heels were high, and the ideal waist was tiny.  These tiny waists are interesting because movie stars in that day had more ample figures, with a few exceptions such as Vivien Leigh. Was this the start of a shift towards today's unhealthy ideal of an ultra thin female body?

Women's fashions from the 1940s

1940s fashions