Miss Alice Pinberley

Float about in the blogging circuit long enough, and you're bound to encounter some of the cutest confections ever created with the likes of clothespins, paint and fabric remnants. I speak of clothespin dolls of course, you've probably seen them over at Posie Gets Cosy or via Be Cheery's photo stream (two of my favorites!). They're just to-die-for adorable, and I got to thinking that it's been a while since I've done some good old-fashioned crafting - and I mean sewing-basket-raiding, paper-procuring, wood-gluing, ribbon-snipping crafting. All I needed was an excuse. Coincidentally my oldest friend Alice is one of those lucky souls with a summer birthday, and she also happens to be one of those kindred spirits who appreciates over-the-top-girly, irresistibly-tiny handmade trinkets. So without further ado...
Perhaps it was the four season marathon of Upstairs, Downstairs that I simultaneously indulged in while creating, or maybe it was the stifling weather outside that recalled the setting of Atonement's exposition (summer, England, country estate, 1935). Whatever the reason I had the down right ridiculous notion that clothespin Alice was certainly in need of a more inventive name and a story to boot. With her bobbed, side parted hair, and her printed, curtly collared empire-waisted sundress, she looked about right for the 1930s - albeit a little colorful and eccentric with anachronistic stripped stockings. Nevertheless, on a piece of vellum under a monogrammed heading, I printed the following:

The year is 1932, and little Miss Lady Alice is quite the pride of the Pinberley household. She’s inherited her bright eyes and friendly disposition from her great great grandfather, Sir Clothes Pinberley II. Her character is openly adventurous, tempered by her notoriously sensible judgment. She’s fastidiously tidy but can’t resist the occasional jaunt out of doors. She’s in the habit of afternoon picnics on the grounds surrounding Pinberley Hall, with teacups, lemon cakes, daisy chains and the like. Look! She’s just fashioned a little garland from an armful of marigold blooms!

{Below} Nestled inside a custom box Miss Pinberley can peer through a translucent vellum window framed by a ring of pink and coral paper blooms. And with just a little wrapping paper and a few more inches of ribbon, it's off to a birthday dinner.One of these days I'll have to make a few more of these little cuties - once the dollhouse is finished they can move into their new estate!

A Second Summer Contest

{Contest Rules and How to Enter}
Hooray! It's the second summer contest here at A Field Journal. Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post to enter to win the little packet of paper goodies shown above. In your comment, please include a method by which to contact you if you are the winner. Contest is open to continental US residents only. Contest begins July 29, 2008 and ends August 22, 2008. At this time I will randomly select one lucky winner using an online random number generator.
{About the Prize}
Peer inside this little handmade translucent envelope and you'll spy: a set of five "For You Deer" pillow boxes (I made a few extras back in February), a set of four hang tags featuring an original floral print, and four sheets of speckled blue dot stickers. Topping it off is a lovely snippet of vintage sea green ribbon. Good luck everyone!

Hint Hint

Lately I've been blogging about all sorts of random crafty things here at A Field Journal, so it's high time for some {good} news from over at the shop. Good news for you that is, since it involves the announcement of the first ever sale at Natural Historie - for a limited time prints are $6.00. And psssst .... hold off on shopping just yet if you're on the Natural Historie mailing list because there's more delightful news coming your way - you'll have the chance to get your hands on one of the never-before-offered prints pictured above. Just click the button below to add yourself to the mailing list (if you haven't already) and keep an eye on your inbox!

What is the Natural Historie Correspondence List?

The Dollhouse: Plans

I can't help finding miniature things irresistibly cute, and that's probably why I broke down and bought a dollhouse kit. Despite the "You bought a what?" and the subsequent, "How old are you?" inquiries, I couldn't be more delighted. Thankfully I had sense enough to stay away from those ominous Victorian mansions with eight rooms, numerous turrets and who knows how many pieces of gingerbread trim. I settled on a sensibly priced and sized two story cottage called The Buttercup.On the exterior I'm hoping to keep it looking polished and neutral in varying shades of white and creamy ivory, with perhaps a hint of pearlescent paint on the shingles. On the interior I'm envisioning pastel walls in powdery pink and sky blue, hardwood floors and miniature lights (if I can ever decide on how many to buy, where to place them and how to conceal the wiring). I've done a considerable bit of sanding and a little priming, but I still have a long way to go - I'll need to finish the flooring, painting and lighting before I can glue the basic frame of the house together and move onto to preparing the windows, adding trim, and installing the roof and shingles. What did I get myself into? In any case, I can't wait to post more as it starts to take shape!

The 1930s Dresser: Part One

In prep for moving into a tiny unfurnished apartment when school resumes in the fall, I've been out and about every weekend scouring for pieces to fix up. I certainly found what I was looking for in this dilapidated dresser with a vanity mirror purchased for a mere five dollars. This past week I've spent my spare hours sanding away layers of shoddily applied black paint and enlisting my dad's help to re-glue dovetailed joints and install some runners for the drawers. As I was prying the mirror out of its wooden frame I noticed a seal stamped on the back reading, "The Kurre (?) Companies, Inc. March 11, 1937 Burlington, Iowa". It's been quite a bit of work, but I can't help feeling it's worth it to restore a little piece of history. Now, off to the hardware store to pick out paint...although I confess I'll probably settle on plain old white.

Country Breakfast

It's been wonderful to be home this summer, snugly a part of the family I miss while I'm away for the school year. And what's better for brother-sister bonding than cooking? Our parents celebrated their anniversary over the weekend, so we thought we'd halt our sibling strife long enough to cooperate and make them an impromptu breakfast. Although I have to admit, my little brother did all of the actual "egg-scrambling-sausage-frying" cooking. Meanwhile I dashed around in pursuit of pretty country-esque details - livening the table with a handpicked bouquet of sweat peas, roses and black-eyed susans, layering fresh fruit and yogurt in frosty green glasses, and spooning strawberries into ripe red ramekins alongside sugar-dusted heart-shaped french toast. The table was topped off with orange juice served in my new pink Fleur de Lys tumblers as well as a pair of place cards fashioned from miniature rose blooms, paper conrnucopias, and vintage spools of thread. Quite scrumptious!

Cordially Invited to 1811

If you count Miss Elizabeth Bennet among your dearest literary friends and secretly nickname your beaus Mr. Darcy, then Regency House Party is an affair you won’t want to miss. Stop perusing the worn pages of Austen’s oeuvres and put aside your tattered volumes of Wordsworth and Keats - at least long enough to watch a PBS living history event.

Aired in November of 2004, following the precedents of Manor House, Frontier House and Colonial House, among others, Regency House Party sends ten modern men and women into a world of protocol, propriety and devious decadence. These twenty-first century time travelers escape to an English country estate and assume the titles and social rankings of their 1811 counterparts. Recreating a nine week summer house party, they engage in strategic matchmaking, coy flirtations and the pretty pettiness that defined the age.

From ball gowns to personal hygiene, from gas lamps to chamber pots, the day-to-day aspects of a bygone era come alive. These intriguing details are too frequently forsaken by survey courses and history texts in favor of scholarly discourse on politics and economy. They sometimes make their inaccurate appearance in modern film, too idealized and romanticized to be confused with historical truth. But, Regency House strikes an ideal medium. It quests, largely in triumph, for a historical reality yet bewitchingly perpetuates our delightful fairytale impressions.

Note: I originally published this entry last September, but I'm re-posting it newly accompanied by film stills. They're from some of my favorite scenes, and so much more captivating than the original accompanying images.

Images are film stills taken from Regency House Party, and are the property of its creators.

Beautiful Declarations

I'm quite frequently tossed into a reflective mood as holidays approach, for these yearly landmarks go invariably with history and tradition. Independence Day has long been among my favorites. As a child I savored the rapidly escaping minutes of fireworks displays, craning my neck as I reclined on the green hillside of Terrace Park. But the Fourth was never solely about illuminations in the night sky. My father made sure of that with his impromptu American history lessons. These altered photos of the Independence Hall interior were taken on a sweltering Philadelphia afternoon two summer's ago. I stood in reverie that July day, before the vacant, solemn chamber where the Second Continental Congress had once adopted the Declaration. I reluctantly exited through the grandly pedimented door frame, silently concluding that historic buildings are quite invigorating. Within them we come nearest to physically experiencing the past, separated from its momentous events by only time.

It is a peculiar discipline, history. The biologist can turn to slides under the microscope, the literary scholar to unchanging lines of Shakespeare, but what the historian studies is fleeting, events come and pass, reconstructed only though the remnants that survive - writings, buildings, artifacts. I suppose it's only natural to feel a bit melancholy over this realization. So much history is forgotten, lost in the preceding generations or lying undiscovered in attics and archives. Only this evening my visiting grandparents shared stories I always hoped they'd tell - from how they met on a trolley car after he returned home from the War to how our surname reached these shores in the first place. History perhaps lost forever if not for a few hours of storytelling. Here's to celebrating history - of your family or country - wherever this happens to find you!