It’s almost here – Dec. 16! How will you celebrate? I’ve been enjoying nods to Jane Austen all year – here’s my post today over at my author blog with links to ways you might get your Jane Austen on, too! Poetry Friday – Cheers to Jane Austen! – Robyn Hood Black… The Jane Austen House over in England has offered many online gems.
On Instagram (artsylettersgifts) and in my Etsy listing, I have a short video of the making of this glass cabochon ornament. The image is based on the circa 1810 sketch Cassandra Austen made of her beloved sister.
My favorite Jane Austen novel is Pride and Prejudice – what’s yours?
Happy World Card Making Day 2025 – October 4! I’ve been busy in the studio making handcrafted cards featuring authentic vintage elements, my own art, vintage rubber stamp and letterpress block impressions, and antique illustrations. I’m starting to get them listed in my Etsy shop, with many more on the way. (If you live in the SC Lowcountry, you can find some at The Beaufort Emporium as well.)
I love thinking that something I’ve created might serve as a tangible way for one human being to connect with another, perhaps bringing a smile. I’ve kept a zillion cards over the years myself!
My new cards are 5X7, made using archival cardstock with matching envelopes.
Here’s to cards of all kinds, especially handmade ones – from crumpled crayon masterpieces to professionally designed individual works of art. Maybe today’s a good day to make one of your own, and make someone else’s day?
For a history of greeting cards from ancient Chinese and Egyptian traditions to 15th-century European printed ones to Victorian Valentines and Christmas cards, visit the Greeting Card Association at https://www.greetingcard.org/history.
Handmade Greeting Cards for all occasions, each unique! I’m using vintage and antique rubber stamps and letterpress blocks, my own gel plate prints, actual ephemera, and *heart*.
On a morning walk last week – one of those crisp, bright days on the cusp of Spring – I pocketed some lovely wild vinca & made several gel plate prints with these in different configurations. The one above seemed to suggest a fairy, so I added some wee contributions with pen and ink and colored pencil. I also added a copy of a fairy sized “found poem” of sorts from a story by Jane Andrews in Our Young Folks – An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls, Ticknor and Fields, Boston, 1868.
the fairies are working painting flowers and delicate things
I hope to continue working, making more images of “flowers and delicate things,” as the Fey direct.
My current gel plate printing obsession has been fueled by a wonderful online online gel plate printing mixed media course with Tara Axford through Fibre Arts Take Two, a dangerous destination for fellow studio mess and magic makers – consider yourself warned. Anyway, the courses are amazing; FATT is based in Australia primarily, but instructors and students come from every corner of the globe.
I’ve dabbled in this form a bit before, but I’ve so enjoyed this very organized, challenging, and inspiring deep dive. The portion of the course with the instructor regularly popping into a private Facebook Live group is now past, but I’m still making my way through remaining modules. FATT course materials and their gorgeously executed videos are available to access for life.
Happy International Women’s Day! Tucked into the layers of this original gel plate print art is an image transfer of a confident (and corseted!) woman, from an antique advertisement more than 100 years old. I’ve also added a copy of text from POETRY AND ART; Rich Gleanings from Mind and Heart (A.A. Smith, ed., Columbia Publishing Co., 1892.) These few lines from an anonymous poem read:
Now, in the August of our Middle Age, We hail thee, dahlia, as our fittest sign; Thy stately splendor at this later stage Befits us more than rose or trailing vine, So strong and straight, so staid in all thy ways, Meeting the sun and wind with steadfast gaze.
The botanicals whose images are imprinted into this piece are not dahlias, but rather some vinca I found on a walk on a crisp March morning.
The one-of-a-kind print on plain white paper is adhered to thicker drawing paper and has a coating of acrylic gloss on the top, except for the text and extra botanical image. The artwork is approximately 5X7 inches and is hung in a white, acid-free 8X10 mat. It will arrive in a clear protective sleeve. Ready to frame!
Happy Halloween! This fetching little black kitty on a stack of books with a vintage Swarovski crystal would also make a great stocking stuffer, just sayin’…
