Free Printable Digital File ADVENT SET

Hello Bloggie Friends, I have a quick upload for you. It's little tags you can print and use for Advent. Numbers 1-24 and some other tags to add to make a gift of the set. I hope you enjoy!

I had a different post up but I'm switching it to tomorrow. I had forgotten today is December 1 until I saw another blog friend mention turning her calendar page over! Had a flu shot and have been kind of muddled and ill for a few days.

Here is a peek at what the little tags/cards look like, but use the link to get all the pages of the set. I sell this set on Etsy so ignore the watermarks, your files will not have them. The link is BELOW this photo:

 Advent Set <----click this

This is my first time uploading a "zip" folder, so I hope it works. Let me know if you have trouble. Remember that this link will Pop Up in a different window. If you have trouble, try to copy and paste this long linkie into your address window: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17i0-3FdmzvG3310K568UP9LHsT_6kCWW/view?usp=sharing

Thank'ee! 

     Kind regards, 

     The Merry Olde Dame

Free Printable: Christmas Lanterns Tags, Retro Style

Here is a little printable set of Christmas Lantern tags to begin the week. I worked on several dozen image sets this weekend, including these simple tags. They are from copyright-free lantern images, mainly from Christmas cards. In the 1940s through early 1960s, lanterns were prominent in the card industry. I can remember a kerosene lantern in our Destin, Florida beach house. This was in the 1960s. We'd use it at night to walk the beach, looking at the sea denizens that had come ashore. We saw many strange creatures, with the most impressive, to my eyes, being the horseshoe crabs. We never tried to hurt or gather anything we saw. We were just looking and marvelling. 

I have seen on some Facebook and Pinterest pages that old heaters and lanterns are being used as decor now. My husband has two old railroad lanterns on a shelf. The big lanterns I've seen have red or amber "fairy lights" or "rice lights" in them, and it really does give a glowing look. 

Please use this link HERE ----> CLICK HERE <----- to download your copy of the tag file from the Google Cloud, if you care to. If you save the sneak peek below, the file will have been compressed by Google Blogger and won't print nicely.

I know I did something this past weekend, but most of it escapes me. Oh, chores, of course, but some crafty things, too. That's right, glueing mini-pompoms on some commercial Christmas cards, and starting on some beaded ornaments. Knew I did something. Came up empty on my fir branch/pine branch hunt, though. Did you do anything enjoyable? I'm working on my HTML coding to try to get "threaded comments" going, where I can reply to the interesting remarks left on the blog, but so far, no success.

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Tag Fest During Lockdown

Our state (New Mexico) continues its lockdown, and most stores are closed. There's at least an hour-long wait to get into a grocery store or a Walmart, due to a rush on items, to both a Walmart and an Albertson's Grocery being shut because of COVID-positive staff, and to our location near the border and El Paso. 

Strangely, I was able to upload image files from home and have "contactless" delivery of the printed out tags from our Office Depot store. Hooray! 

So today I have been "fussy-cutting" the tags and now I'm ready to add the twine or ribbon to hang them, and to add extra decorations to some of them (such as fake snow or glitter). I have one up on the mantel already from a White Christmas set, and tomorrow or even maybe later tonight (I am awake during the night, unfortunately) I'll put the rest of that set up.

I found some nice "homespun" black and cream checked fabric at Hobby Lobby a few months back, and that's what I'm using to hang them. I just tear strips of the material and poke it through the hole I punched.

My poor doggie "Champ" was bitten/stung on his rear by SOMETHING. I'm guessing it was either a giant centepide or a scorpion. Ugh! He's "disabled," in that he was a victim of abuse that left him with a ruined back left leg before he was rescued, but he never lets that stop him. He's a mighty hunter, constantly hopping around the backyard and chasing anything he can. He's all heart, being a Chiweenie, and even confronts snakes, hoot owls, and once, a coatamundi. Our yard is walled, but somehow creatures find their way in, right in the city. Anyway, he saw the vet and he's predicted to be able to mend quickly. He's my little cuddlebug shadow; his "sister," a Bichon mix, is loving but much more reserved. 

I hope this Monday finds you well and happily occupied! If your state is in lockdown, or you are avoiding going out, what have you been doing lately to stay engaged and content?

Free Printable Hang Tags: A Pink Christmas

I was a bit surprised when I first started collecting and using Victorian "scrap" images, in how many were in peculiar colors and had odd imagery. Paper, diecutting, and printing were extremely expensive then, and yet really strange images would be produced. Using so much pink for Christmas amazed me. Santas in pink robes are not uncommon. Pink angels abound. The next time pink was so prevalent was in the 1950s and early 1960s.

So I made a free printable hangtag sheet out of some of these images. As usual, it's stored in the "cloud," wherever that may be. It's Google, so it should be safe. I think Google has control of just about everything so I've stopped worrying about what they may be doing. 

Remember to click the LINK to save the actual sheet, which is shown as the small inset in the graphic below. It's just one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet with six images. 

LINK IS HERE! <---click that

It may seem far from Christmas, but I feel it bearing down. It seems so long off for so long, and then I feel it rushes by me too quickly. That's why I always get an early start on the season. It goes much too fast for me. And as my mother warned me, the older I get, the faster it all seems to go! And as she solemnly told me, "Even if you live to 90, that's just 90 Christmases." 

We are under a "lockdown" again in my state. It all feels so strange, to have no Black Friday coming up, to have the season unfurl so differently. I feel so very badly for the very elderly, who depended on going to Cracker Barrel or Denny's for their holiday meals. Their meeting places are closed now. 

But, we all carry on, don't we? The mantel is done, the two tabletop trees are up, and the top of the pie safe is quite crowded now. My decorations are nothing compared to what I see on the blogs I hop around visiting. Years ago, I loved the blogging world, and I was so happy to rejoin it and see the numbers of steady, stalwart bloggers who keep blogging alive! Some people have extraordinary imaginations and sense of color and style. But I'll share some pictures tomorrow of my little inside efforts. The courtyard has been aglow since November 2nd. 

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame

What IS Primitive Style, and New Holiday Tags Up in Shoppe!

I spent a lot of time this past week prepping my new holiday tags for my Etsy shoppe, TheMerryOldeDame. I love making digital images to print, and I lean towards the primitive style. But I love almost any kind of illustration style. Back when I worked for Hallmark, I would spend literally hours just staring at the incredible array of design styles. 

My husband can't stand Hallmark. He condemns their designs as cheesy, intrusive, silly, and unattractive. If I buy a card for him, he flips it over and scowls in case it's Hallmark. So, it's American Greetings for him. I like some of the Leanin' Tree designs, but most of them (pseudo-country folk style) I find appalling and coarse. I do not find the trope of the skinny, pot-bellied, whiskered old broken-down cowpoke in his red long-johns very amusing, nor his female counterpart, the square-dance skirted old fat gal squeezing the life out of him with a big toothy grin and red cheeks. I am glad Hallmark has so far avoided the "Cowpoke/Country Bumpkin" motif.

Now, this is something I go round and round with, with my prim friends: Primitive does not mean dirty and broken. At least to me, it doesn't. Aged, a bit grungy, like a mirror that has an aged and flaked backing, yes. People find very old, uncared-for "primitive" items and mistake those items as representing prim style. Originally, those items were not broken. They were not dirty. They worked. They held water. They opened and shut. They were NEW. The primitive STYLE, in my very humble opinion, is one done simply, in a naive way, with the materials of the day, AND the better-quality mass-produced items of the times, such as crocks, churns, "Hoosiers," etc. Project your mind back in time: Originally, these things were new. The colors were even, and they weren't all drab, by any means. It's not my business, but sometimes my eyes almost pop when I see people with some rusted out, broken, dry-rotted THING dragged into their nice clean house.

One area where extremely grungy and unpleasant-looking items might be true to the original primitives is in the area of dolls and stuffed animals. I recall that Laura Ingalls Wilder had only a little corncob "baby doll" to love for quite some time, before getting a rag doll she loved intensely. And my aunt had a very aggressive-looking rag doll, as well, with its teeth bared and beady eyes, that she had doted on. 

That isn't to say I don't treasure a lot of old items just for their age and history! I do! I guess that Tasha Tudor and Colonial Williamsburg are more in line with what I think of as primitive style. But to each their own! If it brings joy, embrace it!

Just My Cup of Tea

Here is a little printable that would be cute tied to some honey straws, a vintage  teacup, a box of teas, or little infuser and given as a small token of appreciation during the upcoming holidays. It has a sappy poem and a lovely Victorian image of a flower-filled teacup.

When I taught school, I was given so many sweet gifts. Many of them were mugs, and I think I have one of them left. One of my very most favorite gifts was a single, small bottle of "Mexican Coke," which is the Coke (of which I am extremely fond) sweetened with cane sugar. They used to be very hard to find, but I think I saw a six-pack of cane-sweetened Coke in Walmart the other day. 

As usual, click on THIS LINK HERE to download the full-sized file stored in the Google Cloud. If you just save the image below, it will be too small and will not print nicely.

    Kind Regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame

Free "Jar" Hostess Gift Tags for Thanksgiving

I don't know what will be happening around Thanksgiving this year. Perhaps no one will be visiting for the holidays, but if they do...here are a few printable decorations to celebrate the upcoming feast. They would be pleasing tied onto a real jar filled with something good or interesting, like a cookie mix, honeyed pecans, homemade spice mix, and so forth.

As always, click on the LINK under the preview image below to save the file for printing. It's saved in the Google Cloud, so it's perfectly safe. The link pops up a new window. If you can't see the pop-up, you likely have that blocked and will have to "manage pop-ups" in your browser settings. If you save the little image below, it won't print right. USE THE LINK!

Thank'ee for stopping by!

 

LINK IS HERE! *Click*

And We Roll Towards Thanksgiving!

My Hallowe'en decorations are safely tucked away, and Thanksgiving and Yuletide touches are now begin placed in the house, with full Christmas lights going up outside. And on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the honeycomb turkeys and harvest items will be put away, too, and the entire house will be changed over to exclusively Christmas/Winter/Holidays!

I have notice a trend this year, probably because of COVID-19 and the feeling of bleakness that has gripped the U.S.: Christmas is being embraced much earlier than usual. For once, the stores are lagging behind the consumer. We want Christmas! 

It reminds me of the dear song, "We Need A Little Christmas" from the play Mame. The song was written by Jerry Herman:

Haul out the holly
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again
Fill up the stocking
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now

 

For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
Candles in the window
Carols at the spinet

 

Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
It hasn't snowed a single flurry
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry

 

So climb down the chimney
Turn on the brightest string of light I've ever seen
Slice up the fruitcake
It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough

 

For I've grown a little leaner
Grown a little colder
Grown a little sadder
Grown a little older

 

And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder
I need a little Christmas now

 

Haul out the holly
Well, once I taught you all to live each living day
Fill up the stocking
But auntie Mame, it's one week past Thanksgiving Day now

 

But we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
Candles in the window
Carols at the spinet

 

And we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
It hasn't snowed a single flurry
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry

 

So climb down the chimney
It's been a long time since I felt good, neighborly
Slice up the fruitcake
It's time we hung some tinsel on that mayberry bough

 

For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
Candles in the window 

Carols at the spinet

 

And we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
We need a little Christmas now

We need a little Christmas now
We need a little Christmas now

 

Yes, I need a little Christmas now, but I also love Thanksgiving! So here are some FREE printable rustic tags celebrating that wonderful holiday. Check out my rustic and shabby Printable Tags and Postcards that I'm putting in my Etsy Shoppe, MerryNeedle, this week, too!

 

As always, CLICK THE LINK RIGHT HERE to download the full-sized, correctly printing file, stored over in the Google Cloud. It's perfectly safe! A new window should pop up, so make sure you allow pop-ups. If you don't know how to do that, here is the link written out, so you can copy and paste it in your browser address bar: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19htV_wmd8Z2qYBiS_p42SuMQXgI4ag0n/view?usp=sharing

 

 

 

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

DIY "Harvest Blessings" Sachet to Print

If you are hosting a Thanksgiving get-together -- if it's allowed where you are living -- you might want to have a little party favor for your guests. And if you're lucky enough to be a guest, it might be fun to bring a little hostess gift along. 

Some don't care for the smell of chrysanthemums, but I love it. It seems so spicy and fresh: Bracing, like the essence of a cold snap.

Use the link to get the full-sized printable stored by Google. If you use the image below, it will be a smaller file and won't print at the proper resolution or size. It's perfectly safe and the link should open in a new window.

It will be just myself and my husband for Thanksgiving this year, and of course the pets. The pets are our lives: Two kitty rescues, and two doggie rescues. Scruffy little things we love beyond belief.

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

LINK: Click HERE

Antique Images on Olde Postcards: Free Autumn Printables

I love the digital window to the world, but I miss snail mail, too. That's one reason I collect ephemera, especially colorful cards and postcards as well as paper dolls.

These are printable digital images based on a scan of an old postcard, with vintage images of autumn added.

Mayhap they will find a place among your decorations and vignettes.

 As always, use the link to pop these up and save them. If you use the preview image in this blog post, it will be too small and not print nicely. The link is perfectly safe and is a Google storage link.

I have some autumn hang tags in the rustic style up in my Etsy shoppe, MerryNeedle. Click HERE to visit the shoppe, or the image up to the right on the sidebar.

And here is the LINK to click: Autumn Postcards a la Yesteryear 

         Kind regards,

        Olde Dame Holly Rose

Rescuing Paper Doll Ephemera

I didn't have as many toys as a child as my peers did, but that was fine with me. My interests were not typical, perhaps because I could not see well, being extremely nearsighted and having no glasses at the time. Ever since I could remember, I loved ephemera. My treasures were things like confetti, the miracle of round glitter instead of the usual squares, diecut cardboard (especially Beistle Company's Halloween offerings), honeycomb paper designs, and paper dolls and animals. I also loved tiny books.

When I come across paper dolls, I try to buy them, especially if they are paper animals. Online, I rescue and refurbish images of dolls and paper animals. 

Here then is a refurbished paper doll girl in her original dress and also with a mirrored image holding a pumpkin, and her lovely stove, printed by now-defunct Lion Coffee Company. A kitty hunkers down by the warm stove, biding her time until she gets some of the cream intended for the coffee. I hope someone who also treasures these things will come across this some day and enjoy! Could be cute as part of a prim display or diorama.

Use the LINK if you think you might want to save this and print it out. It prints out on letter-sized paper or cardstock. The image below is just a preview and won't print nicely, so use the Google link. It is perfectly safe and should open in a new window.

To download and print: CLICK HERE

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

Antique Color Advertising "Trade Cards"

About 150 years ago, there was not too much in the way of bright colors in most humble people's lives. Their clothes tended to be drab, they had few decorations, and they could not afford even the smallest, most rudimentary painting. They ate on plain crockery or wooden planks, and did not have the colorful china the wealthier citizens possessed. Businesses soon realized there was a real hunger for color among these households, and invented not only colorful advertising "bills" that would be glued throughout towns, but later small lithographed "trade cards" featuring the name of their product accompanied by pretty or fanciful images. Both adults and children prized and treasured these cards, which were most often free or in later days, included in a package of the goods sold.

Soon not only the poor, but the middle and upper classes wanted these trade cards. In fact, these cards were so desirable that the best room in the home, the "parlor," featured albums of these cards. For those without a spare room and without the funds for an album, they might be stored in a box or kept in a tin. Baby boomers such as myself remember practically wearing out the Sears Wishbook; so too the children and adults of the late 1800s perused, re-perused, and perused again these cards. Mothers and children first latched onto the cards; when racy or sports-themed cards began to be produced as well, men began saving them, too.

It all waned after the advent of fancy magazines in color, in the early 1900s. But many of these cards survive, having once been treasured possessions.

Here we have a few "autumn-themed" Victorian trade card images to peruse yourself or even print. They would look cute in an old-fashioned display tucked in a corner or perhaps a dough bowl. 

REMEMBER, click the link to save the images, or you won't get the full-sized image. I store the full-sized ones via Google. The link is safe and goes to Google Drive or Google Photos. I'm trying to find a way around that, but so far, no luck.

Click HERE ON THIS LINK to save!

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

Free Printable Hallowe'en Fun Food Labels

Spooky cards for fun foods!

 

Here is a redo of a free printable I offered years ago on a different blog. I hope that we are able to have some sort of safe Hallowe'en get-togethers despite COVID-19. Perhaps families who live together could have a little party, or offices where everyone works together could have a cute lunch.

Most of these labels are designed to be able to stand for more than one type of food or drink, although Jellied Puffer Fish is rather specific to Swedish Fish. Swamp Scum, for example, could be guacomole, Lime Sherbet Island Punch, or baby-leaf salad. Toad Legs can be wings or celery sticks or something really scary, such as a fish stick. Zombie Eyeballs could be olives, melon balls, really anything remotely round. Gargoyle Gulp can be any punch or drink. Wands & Snitches can be pretzel sticks and peanuts or M&Ms. And so on, and so forth.

Hallowe'en is one of my absolutely favorite holidays, mainly because it refuses to be tamed. It is a very old, very earthy fest, full of mysticism. I stay up all night on most holidays, and most especially on Hallowe'en. I can almost remember what it felt like to be young, on All Hallow's Eve.

But of course, I'm ancient now. So ancient, that I do not wish to give up the spelling of Hallowe'en as I was taught it, with the apostrophe, to remind us it was a hallowed evening. I also miss using the ligature "æ" in many Latin words, such as æsthetic. Precision in scholarship was still important, during my early education. Later, it was ruined by the "modern" 1970s, but luckily I had a firm foundation by then.

As always, use the LINK to save the printable. If you save the picture, it will not print nicely, due to Google shrinking images in websites and limiting their width, but allowing them to be their original size when saved in Google Drive.

Link: Click HERE for the full-sized printable.

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

Colorful Antique-style Seed Saver Packets to Print

Well my dears, today we have a colorful version of the small printable seed packets posted on Monday.

These feature old images of pretty flowers and vegetables, so you can use one for flowers, one for food seeds.

I think these would make it extra-special if giving gifts of your collected seeds, especially if you are out of glassine envelopes or mylar pouches, and don't have time to get any. 

In these times, it is more important than ever to have an eye to the future, and future needs that may look more like pioneer days than we expect. If you can, have seeds on hand, and plant fruit trees and vines that can help you get vitamin C and other nutrients. 

If you live in an apartment or rental home, consider growing mint in a bright window. It is medicinal as well as delicious. I consider it a very important item to have growing in the home. It has vitamins C, K, and B-6 as well as E, and it has folate and manganese. It has magnesium, calsium, iron, potassium, and riboflavin (another type of B-vitamin). It can settle a stomach quickly, too. 

Sadly, many have forgotten that within the lifetimes of our eldest citizens, Victory Gardens were vital to the survival of individuals and the society. My widowed grandmother kept a "milch cow" in town, and chickens, and grew many unusual fruits and vegetables, during World War II.

My own father would have starved, had he not been adept at foraging for wild foods and hunting squirrels during the Depression. He hated shooting the squirrels, and after the war never picked up a gun again, but he hated the sight of his tiny siblings crying in hunger more. 

If you get a chance, read "Once Upon A Town: The Story of the North Platte Canteen." It will amaze you. The farmers and ranchers of North Platte, Nebraska, the very heart of the heartland, provided so much food to the troop trains during World War II. Day in, day out, blizzards or scorching summer days, every troop train was met with an abundance of baked goods, fruits, vegetables, and meals. Popcorn balls studded with peanuts, pink-iced cakes, cookies and rolls were served by the tens of thousands, too. And this was before high-tech agriculture and GMO. This was clever thought, hard work, generous and no-nonsense spirits. It was quite unusual, in that the women who ran the canteen ignored the segregation of the day and served everyone, with no differences. They didn't have time to be petty. The fate of the world was at stake, and their part was important, and they knew it.

So save those seeds, including flower seeds that "do nothing" -- except brighten hearts. Seeds provide us with the means to have food for the stomach and the soul. 

As always, DON'T save the image! Use the LINK provided, because only the link gives you access to a full-sized file that will print correctly.

LINK to Google Drive file HERE.

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

    

Seed Saving and Printable Seed Packet

All of ye know I like to recall the olde lore and use it in my life today. Much of the lore I know pertains to plants and planting.

I like to gather seeds and save them for next year. Keep seeds dry and safe in a gnaw-proof container in a dark, cool place during the winter months, unless you are growing a seed that likes to remain dormant, such as Texas Mountain Laurel. If you have such seeds, I suggest placing them on an old washcloth or pie plate with some leaves in it, and letting them ride out the winter on your porch or patio, or next to the trunk of an evergreen. 

In the spring, always plant during a waxing moon, unless you are growing something that develops underground, such as peanuts, beets, radishes, or carrots. Plant those during the waning phase.  

Because of hybridizing and cross-pollination, sometimes the seeds you gather won't be true to the parent plant. If you save zinnia seeds, you'll grow zinnias, but it might not be the same size, shade, or petal shape as the original. Some plants easily pollinate with other like kinds but some don't. In my Texas Mountain Laurel example, with no other laurels around usually, you are going to get seeds that are true to the parent, having been fertilized by another Mountain Laurel. But corn, many flowers, and many vegetables will not be true. It can be fun to see what comes up, however! And, it can be a huge disappointment.

Here are two links, one to a generic printable seed envelope, and another one just for pumpkins, since many a pumpkin is destined to be a Jack o'Lantern soon. Insofar as the pumpkins go, you may end up with the seed being "true," especially if the farmer who grew your Jack O'Lantern had only one type of pumpkin and there were no others pumpkins or squash being grown within half a mile or so, or you might end up with an interesting cross -- or in the case of undesirable results, a double-cross, so to speak.

Click the LINKS to save. Google reduces the size of images in blogs, and if you simply save the image, it will not print correctly.

Pumpkin Printable Seed Packet  

Plain Printable Seed Packet

Tomorrow, the news about whether it will be a hard or a mild winter, according to the signs and the signs this year are very strange. Of course: It's 2020.

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

Fall Fun

 This week marked the beginning of fall. Unusually for this area of the Southwestern desert, cooler temps arrived, too. It's time to realize that Hallowe'en is on the horizon! Are you getting ready? Will your locale allow trick-or-treat during these strange COVID-19 times?

I've already started decorating. I have two wonderful 4-foot-high "Pumpkin Men" in the front courtyard, standing sentinel on either side of the gate. I need to dig the candy corn and purple lights out soon. Inside, the mantel is ready and the pie safe and freestanding primitive cabinets and china cabinets are decorated. This year, less is more for me. I had to downsize dramatically during the last year, moving from Texas to New Mexico. I could bring very little, but it is enough.

To help YOU get ready for a prim and rustic fall, I'm posting this free printable banner that reads "AUTUMN." It takes only two pieces of cardstock to make. I hope you enjoy it. Remember, even if you have no printer at home, you can put the file on a thumb drive and take to an office supply store for printing, or even have it printed off remotely at most Walmarts.

Click HERE (A-U-T) and HERE (U-M-N) for the two sheets. DON'T just click and save the images, because Google reduces them and they will not print correctly.

 

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

Rustic Printable Tags Just in Time for Fall

Here just in time for fall is a sheet of prim and simple hangtags with autumny motifs. I hope you enjoy them.

Use the LINK HERE to download your own copy for your own use. Print out, cut out, grubby them or scent them if you like, and decorate with them, or sell them after printing and prepping. Do not sell the digital file.

Don't click and save the image. Google makes it too small and it won't print correctly. It's just so you can see the tags. Use the link above!

I love autumn. It's my absolutely favorite time of the year!

Welcome! And Some Free Printable Primitive Pantry Tags

Many years back, I ran a popular blog that featured chit-chat, old-time lore, homespun crafts, obscure recipes, and most of all, graphic designs, both for printing and for decorating blogs, which were very popular at that time, before the rise of Facebook.

Downsized by COVID, I am restarting a blog. Oh, I don't mind if blogs are relics of the past; I love the past. I don't see the past through rose-colored glasses, but I find it enchanting, interesting, terrifying, and worthy of attention. While I don't spend all my time noodling about "things that were and are no longer," I do try to draw ideas from "then," to incorporate into the "now."

I picked up my needle again after almost 40 years, and am enjoying rustic cross stitching and old-time freehand embroidery. I just start stitching away to make my designs, and will be offering my cross stitch designs in the future. For me, it has to be fun to stitch, or it starts to be tiresome. I think that's why I love rustic, primitive designs: There's something very wild, free, and vital about primitive work!

I hope to post each weekday, as I did before, and I hope you'll join me here. Each week I post a free printable. I enjoy making them, and I hope you will enjoy them, too. And to be totally transparent, I hope you will stop by my Etsy Shoppe "MerryNeedle" or my selling page and see if anything strikes your fancy. I miss many things about work; I enjoyed working, but most of all, I miss that it allowed me to contribute to animal rescues (my passion). I hope to earn enough from my little venture to be able to donate to the rescues who do so much for our animal companions.

To SAVE a printable, CLICK on the LINK below. This free printable is provided in PNG format.

Here's this week's printable, some general pantry tags.

Don't save the image below. It's just a small version to show you what the tags look like. Use the links or your tags won't print correctly.

 

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Hollyhock

 

Click HERE for PNG version of the free Pantry Printable Tags

 

Drop by my Etsy shoppe, MerryNeedle, for kits, patterns, and printables!