A Touch of Elegance: Shelf Trim

Lovely readers, what do you know about lace edging on shelves? I've taken a recent interest in this topic, and here's why:

Ever since Caroline from Caroline's Clothing left me a comment on one of my recent posts about how she loves edging like this on vitrines and cabinets with glass doors and actually reproduced this effect on the buffet in her kitchen, I've been scouring the internet to find out more about this tradition.

(Caroline, to answer your question, this photo was taken in a local antique store. I snapped this picture to remind my future self to try this out if I ever get the right cabinet!)

From the calendar "Aus Großmutters Küche" by Christa Versley, Korsch Verlag

But it seems very little has been written on this topic! So I'm going to offer every bit of knowledge I've acquired about decorating shelf edges, and in exchange, I would love to hear anything you know about this topic! (See the end of this post for more details.)

Apparently shelf decorations can take two forms:

Will you be my Valentine?

Source: ansichtskarten-briefmarken.de

Some of my fondest childhood memories involve Valentine's day: curling my hair into pretty locks, dressing up in frilly red and pink dresses trimmed with lace, exchanging homemade cards with everyone. And then there's the heart handkerchief which always got pulled out of the dresser drawer for this occasion. Actually, it looked kind of like this one:

Source: All This Stuff

Traditionally, this holiday emphasized platonic love as much as eros, thus many people still take the opportunity on this day each year to celebrate their relationships with family and friends in addition to any romantic connection they may have to another.


In that spirit, I would like to wish all of you readers a Happy Valentine's Day!

Source: ak-ansichtskarten.de

Of course, today I will also be celebrating my love for my dear husband. This afternoon, during our visit to a local mineral spring, he will be enjoying the taste of the heart-shaped chocolate cake bites I baked this morning!

Source: gruesse.de

Here's a curiosity for all of you lovebirds: heart-shaped cucumbers by Bavarian Farmer André Busigel! You can read the full article (in German) about this man's ingenious, heart-healthy innovation at schwaebische.de.

Source: schwaebische.de

Wishing you a day filled with with joy and love,

Hausfrau

♥

Source: akpool.de

The hair receiver: a rat's companion

Source: The Victorian Trading Company

Several of you lovely readers expressed interest in my technique for making an all-natural hair rats, so I thought I would write a follow-up post on the issue of where to store the hair you are collecting.

Hair Receiver from 1902; Source: replacements.com

During the Victorian era, a common fixture in a women's toilette or vanity was the hair receiver, a round container with a hole in the top that could be made of porcelain, glass, metal, crystal, or some combination of these. The hair left on a brush or comb would be collected and pushed into the finger-sized opening.