Never Underestimate Your Own Inner Beauty

We are all beautiful. Never underestimate your own inner beauty. Let it shine for all to see. You are unique and beautiful.

The Art of Feminine Beauty

The Art of Feminine Beauty

Women should be independent; we are not dolls on shelves, but a woman should take pride in her beauty and strive for a timeless look that still reflects her own unique style. Grace and eloquence have all but been lost in the female of today. Why can we not retain these qualities yet still express our own individualism? I fear that in our search for independence we have digressed to a point bordering barbarianism in our femininity due to our lack of pride in our appearance and manners and to our efforts to take our expression of freedom further and further beyond the realm of reason; to the point that we are cutting our noses off to spite our faces, as the saying goes.

So much too of the exterior appearance of the woman is due to the interior state of confidence, or lack of, and the level of self worth. If these things are low on the inside, this is reflected on the outside and of course extends to every area of our life, including our appearance as well.

It is important for women to find a balance between the inner and the outer, and then she will be confident in herself and this will show in the woman whom she presents to society or at home to herself.

Being contemporary, independent, modern women should not result in the loss of our most precious, blessed and natural state; our feminine beauty and our comfort with it.The art of feminine beauty is available to each of us within if only we will strive to bring it forth, inside and out.

Making Scented Sachets

It is the Christmas season and one thing I like to do every year is make herbal gifts. This year I am using the "shake" from my potpourri to fill sachets and they will be gifts for the elderly women in my area.

They are simple to make once you have your filler, which in my case, is my homemade potpourri. I grow, harvest and dry as many of the ingredients as I am able and early in the fall I make a huge batch. If you do not make your own, there are many alternatives that you may use such as cedar chips, lavender flowers, rose flowers, etc. Many of these can be purchased at the grocery or herbal store.

Cut a square of gauzy material, about 4x4 or 5x5 in., something sheer and porous so the scent can get out and the pretty ingredients are at least somewhat visible. Pour your filler into the center of the square. Gather the corners and tie with a pretty ribbon.

That's it; it's that easy! Now you have a beautiful gift. These are also great for weddings or wedding showers and it is quick and easy to make dozens of them.

Most women will love a sachet or two to drop in a drawer, a closet, their purse or just to sit in a pretty dish. Squeeze the sachet to really release the scent.

Visit my Etsy shop, Designs by Cheryl B. for more handmade gifts and vintage items

Beautiful Homemade Rose Soap Bars

These beautiful Victorian-looking soap bars are easy and fun to make. You can order your favorite mold online from any soap supply company. I purchase the pre-made soap base at Hobby Lobby where they also have a limited assortment of molds. The base is easy to work with and a pack will make about eight large bars.

Put one square of the the base into a microwave-safe large measuring cup or medium bowl. Heat on high, stopping and checking every fifty seconds to see if it is melted and to stir the lumps. When all is melted you will mix in dried rose petals and stir. For coloring, I use paprika, Just keep adding until you get the color you want. If you want a truer pink, you may use food coloring but many people prefer the natural spice colors and do not want artificial food coloring, so that is up to you. 

Next you will add the scent. Add about 15 drops of rose oil and stir.

Pour into the molds pre-greased with shortening (for easier removal but make sure it is smooth as any small lumps will show up later in the soap bar). Allow to set overnight so that they are good and hard inside.

Wrap or package into something pretty. Clear cellophane tied with a ribbon is nice as is vintage wrapping paper or something simple like strips of paper sack tied with raffeta. But be sure to store them air-tight to hold the scent in. 

Now you have your beautiful rose soap bars for your own luxury, to give as gifts or to start up a soap shop!

Lovely Victorian Girl

Beautiful antique photo of a Victorian girl. 

Vintage Recipe for Silver Bells Christmas Cookies

This recipe was originally in an old cookbook belonging to my grandmother, I do not have it with me to reference but I believe it was published by one of the flour companies. We used this recipe every year as I now continue to do. It is difficult to find so here it is. It is the best recipe for simple Christmas cookies that I know and they practically melt in your mouth and the powdered sugar is the key to that.

Silver Bells

Makes close to four dozen if using small cutters.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted and divided

2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups flour, sifted

1 to 2 teaspoons water

Food coloring, optional

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and one-half cup powdered sugar until light and smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla, and then the salt. Stir in the flour, a little at a time, until thoroughly mixed and smooth to form the dough.

3. Gather the dough and roll it to a thickness of one-fourth inch on a floured surface. Cut out cookie shapes from the dough.

4. Space the cookies about 1 inch apart on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake until just browned on the bottom but still light on top, about 10 minutes. Cool briefly on the pan, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

5. Make the glaze: In a medium bowl, stir together the remaining powdered sugar and vanilla extract with just enough water to reach the desired consistency. To color the glaze, divide the dough and tint with food coloring as desired.

6. Ice the cookies as desired. To be more precise for the icing, it is your standard icing recipe. I use more like 2 cups powdered sugar just for the icing, a teaspoon of vanilla and two or more tablespoons of milk until the consistency is right. Too much milk and the icing will be too thin to spread so add a Tsp. at a time not to overdo. I usually separate the icing into small bowls and add food coloring so that I have white, red, green and yellow or gold. Top with any decorations like sprinkles, candies, etc. 

Each of 4 dozen cookies: 70 calories; 1 gram protein; 8 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 4 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 10 mg cholesterol; 4 grams sugar; 13 mg sodium.

Enjoy! I suggest doubling the batch as they go fast and also make great gifts for friends and neighbors. Just pop a few into a baggie or holiday treat bag and tie with a beautiful holiday ribbon.

My Darling Grandmother

My darling grandmother, Marjorie Ellen Smith (and later Yale), at the young age of seventeen in 1934. She was a beauty; French, Cherokee and Swiss German, born in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Read my story, A Grandmother's Angelic Paper Trail

Sweet Vintage Bedtime Prayers

What a beautiful vintage portrait

Sweet Vintage Christmas Angel

This a sweet vintage Christmas angel.

Angel by Abbott Thayer

I love angels and recently discovered the work of American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer. This was his daughter who modeled for him and whom he painted in 1880. What an amazing painting. 

Pillow Collage'

This is a collage' I did last year.

Vintage Darling

I am working on colorization. This was from a public domain painting which I turned the background black and white.

Sweet Texas Tea

Well I am from Texas and in honor of National Iced Tea Day (US), I will share some sweet Texas tea! We like it sweet. 

Boil 6 regular size plain Lipton Tea bags. Let steep a minute or two (my grandmother used Lipton loose tea). Pour into a large tea jar or pitcher. Add 1 cup sugar (yep, it’s too sweet to be healthy), stir until sugar is dissolved. Fill with water. Lemons are optional, although a lot of Southerners do take lemons, I do not.

Serve it in the largest glass you can find because we do everything big in Texas and that includes our iced tea glasses. My husband has on many occasions requested that I, “just put it in that big jar,” (usually a wide-mouth 32 oz Mason jar). It goes down fast in the hot Texas weather in a large family. Every day, my grandmother made two large sun-tea sized jars, that’s how much iced tea we went through in a day! Pick your favorite yard chair and enjoy!

The Freedom to Dream

Something of grave importance occurred yesterday when I wrote “Ode to Virginia”. I was reading "A Room of One's Own" and I was so inspired by Woolf's work and her use of words that even though I have been writing since I was thirteen (exactly forty years), I came to an understanding of all that I am through the written word. I have always "toned down" my writing. No more. I have found my voice. My words are my spirit and they have taken wings to fly where my voice has always longed to go, above and beyond the ordinary and the mundane, into the realm of voices that once spoke our beautiful language with the utmost sincerity, respect and imaginative usage. So although I am going to share a contemporary woman's story, it will be in a long-lost voice of the past. Floral, delicate and gently flowing to the ear as is much of nature should we take the time to listen.

What has happened here is that I have become a proponent of the English language mixed with the imagination, both of which I choose to use now in my journal as well as other writings. It will give me good practice and keep the juices flowing and the lines open. I am going to dream, and I am going to dream big.  I am going to write, and I am going to write big.

It has been my good fortune to have lived at least a comfortable life, though not always secure, until last year at which time due to a low economy taking years of toll on our family business, we lost everything. Given that we have three dogs and suffered a foreclosure, the simplest answer seemed to be the RV life so we sold most everything we had (except my grandmother’s treasured heirlooms) and defiantly packed ourselves into a small RV. We hit the highway with absolutely no clue as to the future or even the coming week. We spent about two months traveling in New Mexico and southern Colorado until we finally landed in the town where we had previously gone to college in southern New Mexico. It has since been a year. We are still compounded in our little house in the woods as I call it (not to intrude on Laura Ingalls Wilder but that’s kind of what it is). It has been a year of pain, growth, magic and new experiences that one would certainly never come to in the safety of a home. I believe now that it is time I began to document this journey and to tell the tale, wherever it may lead. It has at least lead me to my senses and out of over a decade of fog and disenchantment regarding life in general. The fresh air has been healing to both my husband and me and the detachment from the chaos that we previously called “life” has now brought a renewed sense of spirit and purpose.

Early morning with the freedom of the sun on my back and a brisk dog walk awakens the senses as the day begins. Another day filled with the day-to-day domestic duties such as they have developed in this situation, though for a woman, regardless of in what situation she lives, they are much the same: the planning and preparation of meals, housework and laundry. It is a vicious, never-ending cycle, such as it is: one of the cycles of life, all done for our survival, support and creature comfort. I did work for a time on some photos of a band box I had made nearly twenty-five years ago; writing up instructions as well on how to create one’s own. Oddly enough it is the only thing from my past that I had handmade that I thought to bring with me. I do not know why I brought it, a comforting sentiment I suppose of all that once was and was lost.

While sitting in the noon sun letting my hair dry beneath the warm rays of a New Mexico summer day, closing my eyes I was immediately transported to the Mediterranean where in my dreams I long to be. I could feel the sun on my body there as well as here; I looked out to a harbour filled with beautiful white monstrous cruise ships, glistening in the Mediterranean noon sun. Perched high above the harbour, I was surrounded by the white stucco houses and inns dotting the hillside. I sipped my Greek coffee and closed my eyes, luxuriating in the beauty of the simple yet the exotic.

The freedom to dream may come at an expensive price but as long as one has a good cup of coffee to accompany it, well that is truly the sweetest crumpet that life has to offer. Good coffee, good company and the freedom to dream.

Cheers,

Cheryl Bruedigam

copyright Cheryl Bruedigam 2014 

The Fabulous Flappers

The Fabulous Flappers

by Cheryl Bruedigam

Actress Louise Brooks 1927

Flappers were the non-conformists of the roaring 1920s, originating with a film in the United States. According to Wikipedia, "Flappers were a "new breed" of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior." They openly smoked, drank, rode bicycles and went into bars and they danced with ferocious abandon.

Violet Romer in a flapper dress c. 1915

This was a time when women in America had just received the vote, stuffy religious priorities were changing due to the Scope's Trial and women were overturning traditional roles. In America, the word flapper originally referred to female adult voters who might vote differently than men however it soon evolved to en-capsulize a feminine revolution in the west (in 1890 England it had referred to a young female prostitute who "flapped" on her back). Religious piety, homemaking and the former acceptable women's roles of the Victorian period were pushed into history as the flappers pulled us on into the twentieth century.  

French fashion designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel

Their fashions were heavily influenced by the designs of Coco Chanel, a non-conformist herself who soon had women's clothing changing the face of acceptability everywhere. The flappers dresses were generally above the knee, sometimes beautifully fringed in lovely fabrics. Their hairstyles were the new boyish cuts and bobs, and heavy makeup drew in wise-eyed young women with darkened kohl eyes and red "bee-sting" lips. Little beaded handbags would complete the look.

A "flapper's" beaded bag belonging to my grandmother,, mid-1920s

These women helped to change the face of women of women everywhere, setting in motion long-lasting freedoms that eventually became the norm., They were intelligent free-thinkers who were their own person. They helped to set the pace for women of the future, paving the road a step further for women's equality in America and other countries of the West. "Hats on" to the Flappers!

Nothing Says Shabby Pink like a Ruffled Bedset

Taking a look at some beautiful bedding today. Nothing says romance, the feminine or shabby chic like pink ruffles, and nothing does pink ruffles better than a stunning bed set or comforter.

This luxury lace ruffle bed set is available in queen size and includes the lovely pink ruffled cover, the bedskirt with a pink bow and two pillow cases. Transform your bedroom immediately with this lavish set. Set the princess free and luxuriate in pink.

Available Online, order yours today!

Spring Rose(TM) White Wedding Heart Shaped Candle Favors

The perfect romantic touch

Spring Rose(TM) White Wedding Heart Shaped Candle Favors

Whether you are planning a wedding reception. adding a little romance to a dinner for two or just love to decorate your home with hearts, love and candles, this set of Spring Rose White Wedding Heart Shaped Candles are the perfect addition. Unscented. Includes candles and plastic holders in a set of 50.

Available online Spring Rose(TM) White Wedding Heart Shaped Candle Favors (Set of 50)

Cinnamon Applesause Bread

Great for a mid-morning or afternoon tea. Low in fat and cholesterol, this healthy snack bread is sure to become a staple.

Prep time: 15 min  *  Total time: 70 min  * 18 servings

Ingredients

1 ½ cups flour

1 T baking powder

1 ½ t ground cinnamon

¼ t salt

1 egg

1 cup chunky applesause

¾ firmly packed brown sugar

2/3 cup milk

2 T oil

1 ½ cups bran flakes

¼ cup chopped nuts if desired (I used walnuts)

Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Beat egg in small bowl; stir in applesause, sugar, milk and oil. Add to flour mixture; stir just until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Stir in bran flakes and nuts. Pour into 9x6-inch loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. 

Bake at 350 F for 35 - 55 minutes depending on your oven, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I suggest checking it after 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool on wire rack.

Note for easier slicing, wrap bread and store overnight.

Top with lowfat vanilla or pina colada yogurt for a real treat.

120 calories, 23g carbs, 12g sugar.

Vintage Tin for Storing Herbs

A recent treasure that I picked up for a dollar was a vintage Grennan fruitcake tin from the 1930s. I love to collect these tins (old and new) and I have many of them; most are Christmas tins. I use them for storing herbs and mixing potpourris in. If they are new, I use them for storing holiday goodies like cookies and fudge. 

top view Grennan fruitcake tin

side view Grennan fruitcake tin

This tin is now filled with bags of dried chamomile, rose buds, rosemary and lemongrass and when I have harvested and dried all of the flowers and herbs I will be using in my next batch pf potpourri, I will mix the potpourri in the tin and store it there until it is ready to bag up.

Recycled Easter Basket becomes Shabby Chic Treasure

Have you ever wondered what to do with those old Easter baskets that pile up in the closets year after year? Or maybe you spied one at a yard sale? Well don't pass it by, don't throw them out. With just a little magic they can be transformed into lovely shabby chic decorative items, and if they happen to be vintage then more's the better.

A 1960s vintage Easter basket, painted and recycled into shabby chic decor

All you need is a can of spray paint in your favorite color. Get outdoors on a sunny windless day and spray away. Within minutes you have a beautiful new item for your decor. Once dry, add a lining of matching material if you like (depending on what you are going to do with the basket). I chose a sheer creamy synthetic to go with my pink basket.

(I will let you in on a little tip: this basket gets recycled again and again, it's last coating was blue; white before that, and the original natural wicker before that).

It is fun to paint and experiment with baskets and they supply so many decorative as well as practical uses. 

From Olives to Spice Jars

It is always better to store spices and herbs in glass than in the plastic containers in which most spices come. Unless you want to go and spend a lot of money on a matching set of spice bottles, make your own, or rather recycle your own. 

Small olive jars make the perfect spice jars. The jars I use measure five inches for the smallest size and six inches for the larger size. This is handy because usually there are some spices that are used more and more often and others not as much or as often so you may fill them as your need dictates. It is also handy to make your own set if you purchase in bulk (which I often do, depending on the spice or herb). By purchasing bulk, the herbs and spices are fresher, you are saying no to plastic that is harmful to us and the planet, and you save lots of money.

If you even use one small olive jar a month, within the year you will have a set. After emptying your jar, soak it in hot soapy water to remove any labels and glue. If there is residue remaining from the glue after soaking, scrubbing with a steel wool pad usually removes it. For tough jobs, re-soak and re-scrub. If there is still any residue, try some nail polish remover. Rinse and dry thoroughly before adding herbs or spices. 

If you are crafty, you may want to decorate your lids. Be sure to include a label either on the jar or inside with the contents, so that you are sure to know which is which later on. It's a good idea to add the date somewhere as well so that you know when to re-stock. Age, heat and sunlight are hard on herbs and spices and will cause them to lose color, strength and flavor. 

Add to your collection as you go. Need another spice jar? No problem, get another bottle of olives. The bottles I buy cost around $1; you get the jar, and the olives.  Making your own spice set from olive jars will keep your herbs and spices fresher and attractive for display.

Cheryl Bruedigam

Coffee, Tea &Soul

May Flowers

May your joy bloom with the flowers of May.

C. Bruedigam

A Mother

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." Tenneva Jordan

Most mothers have been there and it is a tiny sacrifice in comparison to those that go unnoticed, those that are tucked neatly away with the school ribbons, children's awards, and leftover Christmas wrapping paper. Our children will never know the sacrifices that their parents have made until they too are parents and are faced with the same heart-tugging bond of sacrificial, unconditional love.

Wishing a happy Mother's Day to mothers worldwide. Blessed is your loving spirit and honored soul.

C. Bruedigam