Collections

I have been going through all my ephemera collections lately. You wouldn't know it by the quietness on this blog, but I have actually been immersed in my collections of vintage photos, postcards and ephemera.

I've been taking some pics as I discover little collections here and there. Here are some I've discovered. It's funny how you don't realize your collecting something sometimes until you see you've got several of a theme.  I like that.

I was pleased to discover I have a collection of Elephant Valentines.

I'm always attracted to photos of shops. I love to see the merchandise and displays.

This is a selection of the dance cards and dance programs I've collected. 

These photos are photos I've used in zines. They stand out to me amoungst the rest like they have day glo-paint. I am so familiar with them.

Hearts and Flowers

Valentines Day always comes when it's most needed. In the grey dark days of winter you get a chance to decorate and send cards with flowers and lace and pretty red and pink designs. The images and designs are always welcome and can help tide you over till the flowers start to bud.

At least that's the way it seems to me. Having a Valentine Tea or giving sweet gifts while the outdoors is all kinds of grey seems a perfect balance. Of course it depends on what part of the country you live in. Either way, Valentines Day is coming. I love vintage valentines. They are just so much sweeter, elaborate and have such nice sentiments.

I recently listed some new valentines on the site. You can give them as they are, scan them and create a new piece or use them to decorate for Valentines Day.

I love this idea from the blog Town and Country Living. She gathered the fallen bare branches and created a Valentine Tree with copies of vintage Valentine Postcards. So lovely.

I hope you'll stop by the Cedar Chest Shop and see the Valentine Selection.  And check out the Half Off section, too!

Happy Valentines Day to You from the Pacific Northwest

I have the perfect Vintage Valentines for folks in the Pacific Northwest. I am going to make it available for you to download and print. So, if you haven't gotten your Valentine yet, fear not. All you need is a color printer. Or you can simply post on your friend's wall with the image.

This valentine is made to be propped up. You can see the v slit and the tab slit in the bottom. Use an exacto knife there if you want it to be able to stand up. Print on cardstock if you have it. To download click on the image and choose download the large size..

Happy St. Valentine's Day from rainy Portland (although it is currently dry right now). Hope you have a great day!

A Valentines Banquet

I was excited to find this large portrait at a recent Postcard Club meeting. I love pictures of old fashioned Valentines parties. I have one other Valentines party photograph that I posted about a couple of years ago.

For some reason I feel the need to color in the hearts. So, I did, along with some of the ferns.

I would so love to be at this Valentine Party. It looks like a nice spread. Notice the man poking out from the doorway? On the back of the photo it says Hotel Goodland, Kansas. I wonder what kind of group of women this was? Were they all just friends or part of some club or organization?

Vintage Valentines and Kiddie's Play Roof

I was so charmed by this vintage postcard I found yesterday of the Kiddie's Play Roof Top at The St. George Hotel. Boy, I'd have liked to go there. Of course I imagine it just like this - as an illustration. Wasn't the past all like this? I looked for actual pictures of the play roof and didn't find any.

I have added the postcard above to the shop along with a number of vintage valentines. The 1920's ice skater valentine below is moveable and so cute.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This card is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I only wish it could scan as pretty as it is. The silver metallic background and the bright pink dress and dappled trees are getting lost a bit in the translation, but the sentiment is crystal clear and so lovely.

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

just my type

Happy almost Valentine's Day to you all. I got this vintage valentine last month and adore it. It's a keeper. The paper in the typewriter moves up and down (it's connected to her feet below). I guess it was where people were supposed to write. This one is not written on and I'm guessing it's from the 1930's.

When I was a kid in 3rd or 4th grade, this rich girl in my class gave out these deluxe valentines to everyone and they moved like this one. Mine was a typewriter and it said "You're just my type" and the paper moved up and down. I thought it was the most awesome valentine ever. I was especially loved that it was a typewriter and loved that she chose that for me. 

This one that was made 40 years earlier and is a way fancier version, but my memory of that childhood one makes it even more special.

Speaking of "just my type". The blog The Copycat Collector blog recently profiled The Cedar Chest. What fun that was and how neat to discover a new blog. Take a look and see all the wonderful collections she has of Valentine themed things. Here are a few of my favorite images.

And I love this collection of Valentine hankies! 

heart shaped paper

I have been spending a lot of time with Valentines lately. There were a lot of great ones at the Postcard Club meeting on Saturday and I got a good hunk of them. Valentines are just so charming and sweet. It's hard to pass them by. I don't think of myself as a collector of Valentines and yet, I seem to do it.

Here are two I am keeping for myself.

I will be posting more Valentines this week, but please visit the shop to see what's all ready there. 

house valentines

These valentines are interesting because they simply show a house in a heart.  There's no mention to a house or home in any text. It seems the house is just enough. Maybe the inclination is that your heart is my home or my home is your heart or something like that.

The again, maybe people just like the house as an object, as I do, which is why I collected these.

 

 This one is from 1923. On the back it says From David R to Alice G. and 1923 penciled in.



This postcard below is blank on the other side.

I just listed a couple new Valentine postcards in the shop and will post more soon. 

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Happy Valentines Day

I hope you have a nice Valentines day tomorrow. Here are a couple vintage Valentines to get you in the mood.

This valentine above proves that no valentine pun can be too ordinary. This little valentine is only about 3" by 3" and on the back, written in pencil, it says to Bobby from Harry.

This is a pretty little card with a cute sentiment. I like the elegance to it. The illustration is elaborate, but because of the smallness of it the overall effect is very simple looking. Here's a close up of the illustration.

There are more vintage Valentines to see on my Flickr site, of course. Happy Valentines Day to you all! I hope you get a sweet small surprise.

Valentine Party

I'm so pleased with this old photo that I got at the last Postcard Club meeting. It's of what looks like to be a Valentine's Day Party.

It's a group of woman, a table set with tea and snacks and homemade paper valentine decorations all around. I love that the photographer was more interested in getting a good shot of the table than the people.

I was so charmed by all the red paper hearts, I wanted to tint them all. This is a photo I really wish I could see in color.

Valentines Day is coming up. Maybe you're gonna have a little party. You can get some ideas from this photo and there's lots of great ideas in this old 1935 Children's Holiday Book I posted about previously. The illustrations in that book are gorgeous.

I posted a few new things in the shop yesterday:

Etsy thecedarchest

The Ghost Story

I really love the deep colors of this old illustration and the detail of the room. The image was used to sell cough syrup around 1860. Hard to believe this is around 150 years old and it still looks so rich and not faded.

It came to me torn, but from this blog I found what it says at the top:

The Ghost Story - "The moral of this, the Sixteenth Card of our Series, is that, if young ladies would avoid creating a scene, similar to the one of the artist, Mr. R. W. Buss, gives us in this admirable picture, they had better forego reading ghost stories at bed-time."

Turns out Mr R.W. Buss is a pretty big deal in London history. He illustrated some Dicken books. Here is more info on Robert William Buss.

The medicine that this illustration was for Dr. Jayne's Tonic Vermifuge. Dr Jayne's Family Medicine was a long lived and very successful company. It was around from 1843-1930 and they spared no expense getting the best illustrators for their products.

Wonderful illustrations for packagaing and advertising insured that people would be more likely to remember the product, even people who couldn't read and it also meant people would keep your illustrations for a long time - which is why we still have them now. People tucked them away and really valued them - even torn. I like that this is torn - it adds something to it.

I often don't know when I start these posts where they will lead. It is so neat to be able to learn more about these items instantly. Thanks, internet. I love you.

Oh and speaking of love. I've added some new vintage Valentine finds to The Cedar Chest shop. More to come soon.

Etsy thecedarchest

Happy Valentines day to you

I hope you are having a nice day. Thanks for reading my blog.

Lovely Valentines

I just love this charming vintage valentine postcard. It is in such great shape and there is no writing on it. Seems almost brand new. Someone must of held on to it for years because they just thought it was pretty. Same reason I am holding on to it.

I hope you all have a lovely Valentines weekend!

There is a little blog party that occurs every Friday called Postcard Freindship Friday hosted by The French Factrice. I don't often get the time on a Friday night to take part, but I can tonight. Click on the envelope below to visit the French Factrice blog where you can see other postcard blogs who have posted for Postcard Friday.

Valentines Day Party

Here is another couple of pages from my much loved 1935 booklet Children's Party Book.

I thought I would post this now just in case you are planning a Valentine's Party and need some ideas.

I love all the hats. Seems like wearing hats like this makes something an instant party.





Click on the image to get to the Flickr page and a to be able to see a larger view.

time for something sweet

I would so love to stop by Doreen's Pie Shop right now. A nice piece of pie and some coffee sounds great. I tried to figure out where this pie shop was and the only address that matched was in Modesto, California.

I spent some time today posting some great vintage Valentines on The Cedar Chest Shop. Take a visit and check them out. They are full of sweetness.

Etsy Buy Handmade thecedarchest

Valentines Day

Kitty Valentine from eggstudio on Flickr

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day. Although it might be a bit of a dark commentary on love and all that, it seemed like a good time to share this half of a photo that I found years ago.

Love's Echoes

Time is running out for Valentine season, so I want to post at least one more sweet vintage Valentine.

I like the poem on this Valentine. It looks like the receiver of this token took the stamp from the envelope and put it on the card. The poem says:

Love's Echoes
Tell me, precious little maiden
Tell me now, and tell me true
Will you love me Dear, forever
Just as much as I love you?

Vintage Valentine Museum

If you like vintage valentines you should check out the Vintage Valentine Museum. Jolene has set it all up just for fun and has no problem with people borrowing images for websites and personal use, but only asks that you use your own bandwidth and give credit back to the site. She does also have a shop here.

The museum has a nice collection of cutesy ones and some oddball ones I have never seen before. I like the Native American ones.























And this one is one of the strangest old Valentines I have ever seen. Circa 1930.

best fine fella

I am not sure what the speech on this valentine is all about. Is this what Dutch people's accents were supposed to sound like? Is she even Dutch? It is unclear now. There is nothing on the back at all. There is a date on this, however, which is rare. It reads copyright 1902.

I just added this to my shop, along with some cute vintage school days valentines.