Dapper Dan

Hi Darlins...

Just a quick post to show you my NEW Gentleman Friend...

Dapper Dan!

All my Victorian Ladies were in need of a companion!!

I think he's quite DAPPER...

how bout you??

XOXO

vintagesusie

Paper Dolls Headin to Finland!!!

Happy TGIF Sweet Friends!

Say HI to my new Victorian Paper Doll...

this girl has a HABIT, a RIDING HABIT that is!! ;)

This has been a tough week for me...my Daddy had a hip replacement

& has been suffering some complications from it. I've been going back

& forth to the hospital & have been so worried about him. But I was

very excited this morning to wake up to 2 separate paperdoll orders!

Two dolls are headed to a new customer in Helsinki, Finland & one

doll is on her way to a return customer in Victoria, Australia. How

Absolutely Fabulous is that!!! :)))

Here is another affirmation, that doing what you LOVE & following

your BLISS can lead you in a direction you might have never even

imagined. I make paperdolls & I LOVE it! And guess what, others

have an appreciation for it too & I'm selling them.

Who would have thunk!!! LOL

XOXO

vintagesusie

The Baby Book

After telling the beautiful story of how I was able to meet

my Aunt Flossie, it reminded me of another story...

one of my favorites, from so many years ago.

Before I moved up on the mountain, I lived in a lovely community

in Orange County called Mission Viejo. It's where I bought my

first home, raised my daughter & started my love affair with vintage.

One of my favorite shops that I had to hit several times a week, was

a nice size consignment store. It's long gone now, but the memories

of amazing finds linger on for me. I bought antique furniture there,

books & paintings, lovely old crystal & crockery, almost anything

that was in my price range & was vintage. One of the reasons this

store was so awesome, was because it was located near Leisure

World, a very upscale retirement community & they would buy the

estates from family's who had loved ones moving in there. 

One of my collections at the time was Vintage Baby. I loved anything

that was baby related & had a corner in my bedroom dedicated

just to that. One day, while browsing through this store, I found

a beautiful, old baby book, covered in satin. Flipping quickly through

the pages, I knew I loved it & purchased it along with several other

items. The day got busy & I wasn't able to admire my new found

treasures until much later in the night, but as I took my baby book out

& started reading each & every page, I had an unsettling feeling about

what I was seeing. This wasn't the typical baby book you might find

in an antique store, those are so often either blank or with maybe only

a couple of pages filled out. No, this book was meticulously filled out,

each & every page lovingly recording the milestones of this baby boy.

It had clips of his hair, pictures of his smiling sweet face, his

baptismal record. His name was Gayle Olson, I still remember

that & he was born in Minnesota in the 40's. This had to be a

mistake, someone was missing this treasured book. Who could

part with something so special, filled with so many memories?

I knew immediately that I had to reunite this book with it's baby.

Knowing that most of the items in this store came from Leisure

World, that's where I began my search. Looking in the phone book

for all the Olson's I could find, I started making phone calls. I was lucky

my baby had a fairly unusual name for a boy, thank goodness his name

wasn't Tom. One phone call lead to another phone call, which lead to

another, until I actually had the number for a man who lived in Laguna

Hills named Gayle Olson. I was so nervous when I dialed his number

& as luck would have it, I only got a hold of his answering machine.

In a trembling voice, trying not to sound too crazy in case this person

wasn't who I was looking for, I left a rambling message about a baby

book & a purchase, a mistake that needed to be corrected, the hope

that this was the same Gayle & a request for a return call. I left my

number & anxiously hung up. There's no way this can be
MY baby, he probably still lives in Minnesota!

Later that night, he called me back.

He was overjoyed that I had called, there HAD been a terrible

mistake. While moving his mother into Leisure World, the family

had packed her belongings into two different sets of boxes.

Ones to sell & ones filled with family heirlooms that were be

divided up between the children. In the chaos of the move, the

wrong boxes were sold & that was how I ended up with this

much wanted & loved possession. It was late by now & he wanted

to know if he could come by tomorrow & pick up his book. He

wanted to pay me, he wanted to do something special for me
for taking the time to find him...I said no, I was just so very

happy that the baby & the man would be reunited.

I had to work the next day, so I couldn't be there to give it to him in
person, but I would wrap it carefully & leave it on my front porch.
I could feel his gratitude through the phone. I never did meet my baby,
he came & got his priceless book while I was gone, but when
I got home I saw an envelope sitting on the same chair I had
left the package. I opened it up & inside was a simple note,
"I don't know how to Thank You! Gayle Olson"
...that was enough for me!

XOXO

vintagesusie

The Beauty & Joy of Ancestry.com

As a young girl, I sat & listened to the stories my grandmother would

tell of her childhood, always fascinated by them. She was born in

1918 at a time when divorce was uncommon, but before she was

2 her parents split up & she was raised by her father's, father.

Her dad worked on the railroad & was rarely in town & her

mother, working full time to make money to help support her,

only saw her on occasional weekends. Growing up, her world

was her grandpa's house in rural Illinois, her Uncle Tony & his

family & her beloved Aunt Flossie. She told me how Flossie

would sit on a stool, take down her long chestnut hair & brush

it 100 strokes every night. She told me why Aunt Flossie had

become a spinster, the tragic tale of her ruined engagement,

public humiliation & her withdrawal into her father's home.

I can picture her grandpa, pulling her in a sled to church every

Sunday during winter, placing a heated brick wrapped in

newspaper by her feet to keep her warm. Loving memories

of family, I can only see in my minds eye. I have been blessed

with a handful of old photographs, 2 of my great~grandfather

William, a few of my grandmother when she was small, but

none of the loving family that raised her all those years ago,

that is until now.

Let me introduce you to my Great~Great Auntie Flossie...

courtesy of an angel named Barbara & the Beauty & Joy

of Ancestry.com. Isn't she a BEAUTY!!! :)))

{Flossie, Lura, Mabel & Nellie}

I've been researching our genealogy for the past few years

& LOVE all the information I have been able to gather from 

Ancestry.com. The community there is generous & supportive &

you can contact someone if you have a question or have added

documents or data that may help in their research , this is the way

Barbara found me. While going through some of her husband's,

grandmother's photographs, she came across many that had the

name Flossie Brewer on them. She too loves Ancestry & found

Flossie under my family tree & saw that I had no pictures of her. 

{Nellie & Flossie}

She contacted me & asked if I would be interested in having

the pictures she had, to which I gave a HUGE, YES PLEASE!

It seems his grandmother Nellie & my Aunt Flossie had been

lifelong friends since childhood. I was so excited to be able to

finally get a chance to put a real photograph to the stories my

grandmother use to tell. When the package arrived I was

amazed at what JOY was in that small bundle, for not only

did she have photographs of my Aunt...

she also had photographs of my Uncle Tony

& my dear Grandmother, Twilla Mae Fern as a little girl.

For someone like me, this is the stuff dreams are made of.

This is like going into an abandoned house, up into the attic

& finding a treasure trove of antiques, but even better...

this is the story of me, the story of us.

This photograph has writing on the back by Flossie...

"Here's Twilla in the yard & that's me on the porch swing!"

Priceless! 

I've never seen a picture of my great~great grandfather,

but now I can look at his house, the house that

raised at least 2 generations of my family.

The back of this one says...

Mrs. Brewer, Flossie & Twilla

I can see their lace curtains through the window & I know this

must be Uncle Tony's wife Lena, they lived across the street.

And here is grandma with her cousin Margaret, who she always

talked about & kept a correspondence up with until the day she died.

My sweet, little, red haired grandmother with her baby...

how cute is this?

Soooo, my Sweet Friends...

This is the Beauty & Joy of Ancestry.com for me. An unlikely

acquaintance of two women that live on opposite sides of the US.

Two women, unrelated, but soul sisters in their quest for the past

& their love for family mementos. An angel, who would go out of

her way to connect a long lost Aunt & Uncle, with the niece they

never knew, who will treasure these photographs forever.

I can never thank you enough sweet Barbara, for

the gift you have given me!

And yes, I had to make a little fabric book to hold my treasures

safe & sound. I wish my grandmother could have seen these

pictures, she would LOVE them so! I bet she's

smiling, right now.

XOXO

vintagesusie

A Civil War Vintage Fabric & Lace Book

Happy TGIF Sweet Friends...

The sun is shining, the sky is bright blue & the ground is

blanketed in white. Out the window, I can see smoke

coming from the chimney of the house next door.

It is MOST charming!!

I have been having a love affair...

a love affair with vintage lace, fabric, buttons & bows.

This Christmas, I made each one of the girls in my family

a fabric book filled with all the things I love. Each one had

a different theme...Baby's, Angels, Sisters, Photographs by

Julia Margaret Cameron & the one I made for myself...

Children of the Civil War.

I adore old tintypes, they always catch my eye, but it's the

images of children that I can't resist. Dressed in their

finest, little girls wearing beads around their necks,

there is often a hint of sadness in their eyes.

This little one is down right MAD,

with her off the shoulders, fine damask dress. 

Loving history the way I do & loving genealogy, it has been a

revelation to me to find that on nearly all sides of my family tree,

I have grandfathers & uncles that fought in the Civil War. 

They are equally divided by the North & South. In my family,

it is completely regional. The ones who lived in Illinois &

Ohio fought for in the Union Army, while those that

lived in Virginia, fought for the Confederacy.

In question was the equality of human beings,

the rights of man & the basic principal that this nation

was founded on...that ALL MEN are created EQUAL.

A nation divided...

a family divided.

I added a little envelope to each one of my books,

filled with tiny treasures.

In my book I have my business card, an antique handkerchief
& a picture of an old tintype of a little girl & her doll.

And I have copies of 2 letters sent to my Aunt Catharine

informing her of the death of her husband, my

Great~Great~Great Uncle James Knight,

from disease contracted while fighting

for the Union Army in 1862.

James & his brothers, Joseph & Thomas, joined
Company 'F' 123rd Illinois Infantry on September 6th 1862.
Both Joseph & Thomas returned from the war in 1865,
while James died in November of 1862, only
2 months after his enlistment. 

"Woodsonville, KY Jan 14 1862

Mrs Night

I sit down to in form you of the death of James Night

he died her this morning about 6 oclock. I will send

his knapsack to you. I have nothing to tile about him

for he was a stranger to me he will be buried her to

day nothing more

J J Goudnay"

"January 17th, 1862

Mrs Knight,

I thout this evning that I woud write you a few lines 

witch I thout of doing good while a go.

you have had to her the sad nues of the departire

of you husbman. I know will inform you that I was

at the same Hosptel but was in another room. he

hadent ben well for som time. I went to the hosptel

about the same time. I did as soon as I got abel I

went to see him and talk with him. he was very 

 joley but at his write mind. I ask him if he thout he

would git well and he sed he didn't know. he was

witing to die he had a good bed and evy thing he

wonted to eat. he was cered for and as well taken

cer of as cood be but you must recolebt that we

must all die sooner or later. I suspect that James

is at peas he sed that he was wiling to go. he

didnt say eny thing about wonting to be sent home.

we had a nise plane cofen made and he was berade

very desend. I think if I was in you place that I wodent

go to the trobel of moving him for he is at rest.

To Cathing Knight

From Samuel C Blankenbecker"

In the 1860 census, Samuel Blakenbecker was 17 & lived

with his parents on a farm neighboring my Aunt & Uncle.

James was 32 when he died & Catharine was left with

7 children to raise on her own. 

With this sweet little fabric book, I honor my own American Story.

There is an American Story in each of us, I can't wait

to find out more about mine!!

XOXO

vintagesusie

Empress Alexandra...A New Paperdoll For A New Year!

It's 2013,

A Brand New Year,

A Brand New Start & Anything is Possible!

Don't you just LOVE the idea of that?

I thought I wanted to start over with a brand new blog home for
the New Year, but I guess I started wondering WHY?

I've made such wonderful friends here, my most intimate thoughts
have been posted here, this is my home. So I went in & deleted
some of my frivolous posts, took out unneeded pictures
& here I shall stay, with a fresh look for a fresh
New Year!!!

So, what will be my new pursuits in the New Year,

what are some of my New Possibilities?

Yoga...

to create a balance between my mind & body,

to LISTEN to what my body is telling me.

'Spoonin' Love...

I am going to really invest myself in my craft,

get a website up, work on my catalog & head into the

New Year with a clear business plan, Grow My Business.

Paperdoll Love...

I adore creating & making paperdolls. I know,

it's crazy but true! I was so excited when right

before New Year's Eve, I sold two of them on etsy

to some one in Australia. My paperdolls have now

officially seen more of the world then I have! lol

This is me...Following My Bliss.

Oh, by the way, this is my NEW Paperdoll for the New Year...

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanov,

grand~daughter to Queen Victoria & the Last Tsarina of Russia.

You can find out more about her tragic fairytale by clicking

HERE & here she is on my etsy!!!

She's my new favorite & I think her little Grand Duchesses

& the next Tsarevich may be next, we'll see. If you have any

requests or idea's of a fun paperdoll you may be interested

in, let me know. I'm always up for a new idea!!! :)))

Looking FORWARD to the exciting year ahead...

I hope you are too!!!

XOXO

vintagesusie