Darling Illustrations by Constance Haslewood Victorian Children's Book A Merry Go-Round

Hi Everyone and Welcome. 

Today I have sweet illustrations from the 1888 children's book 'A Merry Go Round'. It was illustrated by Constance Haslewood. This children's book was published 126 years ago!  I love seeing what kids played with back then. Tea parties,dollhouses and of course Christmas have endured. Skipping rope and kite flying are still around. Not so sure about the May Queen. The tradition of a May Queen was not part of my childhood (50 years ago) so I do not know it's history. Sounds like a good topic for a future post!

The pictures in this post are from The Baldwin Library. 

I hope you are having a wonderful and creative day. 

Much Love, Louise

P.S. Thank you for your kind comments and feedback.

Antique And Vintage Pearl Button Cards

Hello everyone and welcome. 

Louise recently posted some wonderful button card graphics and I thought it might be nice to show you a few more.  

I have a weakness for the natural beauty of old shell buttons. They were often displayed and sold on “pearl” cards.  Finding a new pearl button card is always a treat.

 

This one is free for non commercial use.

While researching the history of shell button manufacturing, I ran across some interesting information on the harvesting of shells on the Mississippi River, provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (http://www.fws.gov/midwest/mussel/harvest.html).  On their site, you can download a delightful old book about shell buttons called “The Story of My Life by Billie Button” (Anonymous 1914 Wisconsin Pearl Button Company, La Crosse, WI-http://www.fws.gov/midwest/mussel/teacher/billie_button.html). I highly recommend this one.

The cover of the booklet.

  I hope you enjoy these wonderful pearl button cards.

  Much love to all, Marie

  

1880's Paintings of Paris Flower Markets by Victor Gabriel Gilbert

Hello and welcome to all of you,

I came across these fabulous  paintings by Victor Gabriel Gilbert (1847-1933) of Paris flower vendors and markets. Think how fragrant and beautiful all those flowers would be!  Have you ever been to one of these? Do they still exist? It is easy to imagine walking home with an armload of flower bouquets to fill every room in ones home.
Thank you for the support and encouragement in your comments!
Have a wonderful and creative day.
Much Love as always, Louise

All of these paintings were found on 
The Athenaeum. or Wikimedia Commons

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Free Gift Tags and Button Cards For You to Print!

Hi everyone! 

 It is rewarding to come across the images I spend many hours searching for, scanning and cleaning up. 

How wonderful to see all the creative cards, tags, collages and scrapbooking pages you have made using graphics you found here. I have always been so curios to see what you were making and now all I have to do is look on Pinterest and the web!

Thank you for your continued kind comments. Today there were so many to read and post! 
To answer a few questions; 

How do I attach the buttons to the cards? Sewing them on by hand like the originals seems to work the best for me, When a button has a shank I punch a hole in the card. On the back I then use a safety pin to hold the button in place(if there is only one button). If there are many I run a thread through all the shanks and tie a knot. I suppose glue or hot glue might work for cards depending on how the card will be used.
Hope you have a wonderful creative day!
Much love as always, Louise

This one can be used as a label or gift tag.

From an old sheet music cover. This would make a cute gift tag. The colors and her costume are perfect for Halloween.

More Corsets!

Hello everyone --- Marie here!

Louise and I took a much needed break from buttons today.  Since I had so much fun with my recent post on corsets, we decided to do it again, only  this time in color.  Don't you think that corsets are the oddest invention?  You wonder who came up with the idea!  I hope you enjoy these great old graphics.

Hugs from Marie.

 1885 image from the Philidelphia Library

 Boston Public Library

 Boston Public Library

 Boston Public Library

Boston Public Library

The art of Silhouette and Scherenschnitte

Hi Everyone and welcome,

Today I have some pretty silhouttes from old books for you. Have fun using them in your projects.

Much love as always, Louise

Scherenschnitte   which means "scissor cuts" in German, is the art of papercutting design. The art work often has symmetry within the design, and common forms include silhouettes, valentines, and love letters. The art tradition was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 16th century, and was brought to Colonial America in the 18th century by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania. (Wikipedia)

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Lovely Engravings of Children From 1848 Book ~ Digital Images

Hi everyone!

First I want to thank Marie for her post on corsets. Hopefully she will be a continuing contributor to Bumble Button in the future. 

Today I have four engravings from a book I found online. The off-the-shoulder dresses were in style in the 1840's for little girls. I love the ringlets and lace worn by the little boy.

The Peoples Gallery of Engravings

Gallery of Engravings

Milner, Mary, fl. 1842-1852

Published in 1848

A few more from 1830's

Lots of hugs, Louise