Victorian Love Blog

Avenue of Jena in 1900, from the Arc de Triomphe.
The Eiffel Tower, the Great Wheel of the World Expo is visible in the distance.

Born Natalina Cavalieri, on Christmas Day at Viterbo, some 50 miles north of Rome, she lost her parents at the age of fifteen and became a ward of the state, sent to live in a Roman Catholic orphanage. The vivacious young girl was unhappy under the strict discipline of the nuns, and at the first opportunity she ran away with a touring theatrical group.

Blessed with a good singing voice, a young Cavalieri made her way to Paris, France, where her appearance opened doors and she obtained work as a singer at one of the city’s café-concerts. From there she performed at a variety of music halls and other such venues around Europe, while still working to develop her voice. Cavalieri took voice lessons and made her opera debut in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1900 (as Nedda in Pagliacci), the same year she married her first husband, the Russian Prince Alexandre Bariatinsky. In 1904, she sang at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo then in 1905, at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, Cavalieri starred opposite Enrico Caruso in the Umberto Giordano opera, Fedora. From there, she and Caruso took the opera to New York City, debuting with it at the Metropolitan Opera on 5 December 1906.

Read More At Wikipedia

Lots of Cleaning Up Of the Garden
And New Jewelry Inspiration!

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

I just love these old photographs.
They make me wonder about the lives of the people in them.

“It’s like watching Paris from an express caboose heading in the opposite direction
– every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it’s really you getting
smaller and smaller and lonelier and lonelier, rushing away from all those
lights and that excitement at about a million miles an hour.” ~Sylvia Plath

A famous line from the novel The Bell Jar.

Teatime Tales
Charles Frederic Joseph Soulacroix (1825 – 1900)

Soulacroix was a pupil of Ramney, Cornelius and of Dumont. He entered the School of Fine Arts on 22 September 1845 at the age of twenty and made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1849. Soulacroix’s subjects were taken from the French middle classes. He almost certainly created a special type of soubrette. Soulacroix along with Reggianini and Ricci dwelt lovingly on the richness of texture in the ladies dresses and in the upholstery and draperies.

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose
I would always greet it in a garden. ~Ruth Stout

Sea Glass Green Encased Flower Necklace

The perfect necklace to wear with everything! This large bead pendant is made from a hand painted flower encased in glass. I hung a pearl drop to add a bit of of the Orient. The colors of the bead are so gorgeous I wanted to keep the cord simple and chose a woven black cord. You can adjust it to any size you like up to 32″. This feels just like an English Garden.

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.
~Maya Angelou~

~Artist Unknown~

A Rose is a Rose Jewelry

Fresh, Pink, Feminine. Spring!

I have made these in several colors. I so love the pretty Vintage Style Cabbage Rose.
This Necklace can be worn with so many outfits and styles. Enjoy!

Laughing Rose

Laughing Rose

If I were gusty April now,
How I would blow at laughing Rose;
I’d make her ribbons slip their knots,
And all her hair come loose.

If I were merry April now,
How I would pelt her cheeks with showers;
I’d make carnations, rich and warm,
Of her vermillion flowers.

Since she will laugh in April’s face
No matter how he rains or blows –
Then O that I wild April were,
To play with laughing Rose.

~by William Henry Davies~

Angelic Valentine Cards

What lies behind us, and what lies before us
are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
~ by Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

Romantic Greeting Cards

Love is a many splendid thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!
~ from the movie Moulin Rouge ~

The Dream Girl – 1919 – Rolf Armstrong (American, 1907-1960)

If I know what love is,
It is because of you.
~ by Herman Hesse ~

 Victorian Valentine’s Day Cards

A heart that loves is always young.
~ by A Greek Proverb ~
Romantic Greeting Cards

Let’s Begin it with Paris! J’Adore.

A Lady in Pink, 1899, Patrick William Adam

From The Heart Jewelry For Valentine’s Day

Victorian Valentine’s For Children
Forget-me-not

Forget me not
No other heart
Can ever be more true than mine
Though many loving friends surround
Thy sunny path, my Valentine

Please Click To Send One Today

 

These are two great charts to refer to when buying necklaces on-line. They are most likely made for someone who wears a size 8-10, so please make allowances. I make most of mine in lengths of 18″ (collar bone), 24″ (decolletage), or 32″+ and adjustable. In most cases I can do custom lengths upon request at the time of purchase.

“The Empress Chronicles: The Keepsake is a fantastical account of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria’s teenage years, in which she is gifted a magical locket that has the ability to turn back time and predict true love. But there is evil afoot, a wicked enchantress who wishes to use the power of the locket to her own end, and the Empress finds out that love and freedom both come with a price.”

Suzy Vitello, the author of the The Empress Chronicles approached me, and asked if I was interested in creating a one of a kind piece of jewelry for her newest novel. Needless to say I was flattered, more than you know. I so admire Suzi’s work and after reading an excerpt of The Empress Chronicles, I believed I could make a piece to to compliment Empress Elizabeth, and one that would look wonder when worn by the author.

Both the making and design of the locket was a combined effort. We chose the locket, added vintage bling from from 1940′s crystals, put it with a Victorian style wing and I think the result is magical. The watch parts on a wing was all Suzy, but I love how it has a feminine feel, especially with the long chain that would have been worn in that time. Suzi had wonderful ideas that allowed my imagination to wander back in time. Isn’t that a place we all love to visit from time to time.

To read more from the The Empress Chronicles: The Keepsake, please visit Suzy’s site. It is sure to enchant you.

New Year is not about changing the Dates, but Direction;
It’s not about changing the Calendar, but Commitment;
It’s not about changing the Actions, but Attitude;
It’s not about changing the Fruit, but Faith, Force and Focus!
May you Commit and Create the best New Year ever!

Looking for a fun Winter Read? May I suggest Shanghai Steam.

From ancient China to a future Mars, from the British Empire to the Old West, 19 authors show you worlds with alcohol fuelled dragons, philosophical automatons, and Qi-powered machines both wondrous and strange in tales of vengeance, paper lantern revolutions and flying monks. Shanghai Steam is a unique mashup of steampunk and the Chinese literary genre known as Wuxia (loosely translated as martial hero).

Shanghai Steam includes works by: Camille Alexa, Shen Braun, Amanda Clark, Ray Dean, Tim Ford, Laurel Anne Hill, Minsoo Kang, William H. Keith, Crystal Koo, Frank Larnerd, Emily Mah, Derwin Mak, Brent Nichols, Frances Pauli, Jennifer Rahn, Tim Reynolds, Julia A. Rosenthal, Nick Tramdack, K. H. Vaughan.

About the Editors: Renee Bennett is a three-time Aurora Award nominee for editing. Her own fiction has appeared in places such as Year?s Best Fantasy, Realms of Fantasy, and on CBC Radio. Calvin D. Jim is an Asian-Canadian writer and editor of Asian speculative fiction whose works have appeared in Rigor Amortis and Crossed Genre Quarterly. He lives in Calgary with his wife and two children, no pets and no garden gnomes. Ace Jordyn is a YA fantasy and mystery author, editor and contest judge who believes in firing imaginations and empowering the dreams of children of all ages.