American Duchess Devonshire 18th Century Shoes

My sister found this shoe company that makes beautiful 18th century shoes! They've just released their new "Devonshire" shoes, made of leather (they have the same style shoe in silk as well, the "Georgiana"). These are just so gorgeous!! They are on sale for the pre-order now! If you're like us, you LOVE historical gowns and these would just be perfection with a colonial dress. I think shoes really can make or break your look for historical accuracy!

The Devonshires are a leather 18th century shoe based on museum examples from the 1760s through 1780s.  They're made of top-grade dyable leather, with a beautiful, smooth Italian leather sole for dancing, and are hard-wearing, water- and mud-proof, for even the toughest of outdoor re-enactments.
Pre-Order the Devonshires through August 10, and get the special $100 price.  We're only making 200 of these shoes, so don't miss the chance to own one of only a couple hundred pair on the planet!  Visit www.american-duchess.com to order.

For only a dollar...

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Sense & Sensibility Patterns. If you do not follow their website frequently, however, you may not know about their Dollar Downloads, which are downloads of period articles on fashion, etc. that are actually from the era. There are a lot of early 1900's and 1940's-50's available. These would be very interesting for anyone who loves historical fashion, especially for use in research if you are making an authentic gown. Each one is only a dollar! Check it out!

P.S. Like historical sewing and old fashioned things? Check out this new blog (and leave her a comment!): A Lass of Yesteryear

Pretty Please...

I'm very sorry for posting another advertisement-style post, but I'd like to ask for your help. I've entered a toddler's bedtime story contest, and in order to win the contest, I need to get people to vote on my story. In short, I am trying to catch up to some people with over 2,000 votes (haha, I know... well, I can at least try). So I'm asking that if you read this, you would take a second to vote. AND if you are really nice, you'll come back and vote multiple times - you are allowed to vote once every day! All you have to do is visit the link below and click the "vote" button. I'd also appreciate it if you would share this with your friends and/or family if you think of it. Thank you! :-)

http://www.naturemadesleep.net/stories/285

(End of commercial).

Joyfully At Home... The Book

I just found out today that Jasmine Baucham's new book, Joyfully At Home is now available from Vision Forum! If you are not familiar with Jasmine, she has a blog with the same title as the book, where she writes encouraging articles for young women. If you have not visited her blog before, I highly recommend that you hop over there and read the archives!

At any rate, I have not yet read the book, but if it is anything like her other writings it promises to be a great blessing! Lord willing, I will post a review of the book at a later date after I have read it. :-) For now, grab a copy for yourself!

Vision Forum Sale

I just found out about this... Vision Forum has a brand new look for their website and until the 18th, they are having daily $1 deals on select products, free gifts with certain orders and free shipping! Click the banner below for details:

Interview with The Joy of Jewelry

I had the pleasure of getting to know Joy, a lovely young lady who has recently started up her own jewelry business called The Joy of Jewelry. Her products are just *beautiful* and I am so pleased to be able to interview her! Enjoy the interview and when you're done, hop on over to her website and check out all the scrumptious gems she has to offer!

Kathryn: Can you tell my readers a little about yourself?

Joy: I am going to be turning 21 this year, I am a homeschool graduate and a pastor's daughter. I have done several years of independent studies on Nutrition, and am now attempting to learn to speak (and understand!) Irish Gaelige.

Kathryn: When did you start designing jewelry and why?

Joy: My sister and I always loved making dress-up jewelry when we were younger, and as I got older I began to buy some beads that were a little more 'grown up' than the plastic O's we used to string on thick, stretchy white string. I also read 'The American Girl's Handybook' that was in publication during the early 1900s, and became fascinated with the 'language' of flowers and colors. When I found a list of different colors and their significance in the Bible, that clinched my interest! I love the idea that we can be reminded of different truths, revealed to us through Scripture, by our jewelry.

Kathryn: How did you get the idea to start a business making jewelry?

Joy: When I was 16, one of the ladies we knew payed me to make two necklaces for her daughter's birthday and left the design up to me. Since then I have had many people tell me that I should sell my jewelry, and as I got older and saw the lack of really beautiful and sturdy (affordable) jewelry, I began to think that perhaps I might be able to do it after all. But it wasn't until a mutual friend introduced me to you - who offered to design a template for me in exchange for some jewelry - that I actually believed that it would ever happen.

Kathryn: What are your goals for your business?

Joy: My goals for my business are to glorify God as I create and sell jewelry, and to bless ladies across the country with beautiful reminders of purity and other truth.

Kathryn: You design each piece intentionally with certain colors or beads to represent things. How do you get your ideas?

Joy: I was fascinated when I discovered that there was an official 'language' to colors and flowers, and when I discovered a website that had a list of colors and their significance in the Bible, I couldn't resist incorporating different color combinations into my jewelry.
I get inspired by period films, nature, and modern fashion, and my jewelry is an attempt to combine the finer styles with purity and beauty.
As far as the truths that are represented by my jewelry, they are convictions and conclusions that I have come to as I read the Bible and learn more about Jesus. I try to give a little glimpse into my inspiration for each jewelry collection on my website.

Kathryn: What are your most popular pieces?

Joy: It would be difficult to pick the most popular piece because different ones appeal to different people. The Purity for Life pieces have been very popular - with many people commenting particularly on the delicacy of the chain that I use for the Exquisite Chain and Crystal Necklace and Bracelet - but probably the most popular piece is the Heart and Key Bracelet.

Kathryn: Thank you so much for allowing me to interview you, Joy! Keep up the good work!

As she mentioned in the interview, I designed her website template in exchange for some jewelry. I received the Purity for Eternity Sapphire Crystal Necklace and the Purity for Life Double Stranded Bracelet. I am VERY pleased with both! The quality is excellent and they both fit beautifully. Joy's service was wonderful as well! I am a big Swarovski crystal fan so I love my two pieces! Below are some photos of the pieces I received (click on the picture to go to Joy's website and buy one for yourself!).

Photos copyright © Kathryn Grace Photography.

Feelin' Feminine Jane Austen Tour

Miss Jocelyn over at Feelin' Feminine is hosting a fun Jane Austen blog "tour" and giving away some great prizes! As you'll see from that button there, it ends today... so I'm participating rather last minute. Ah well, better late than never, right?! (Click the button to see more details).

The premise of the "tour" is to create a Jane Austen related post(s) on your blog and enter them into one of the several categories listed on Feelin' Feminine. I decided to go with the Digital Art category since that was the easiest for me, being that I am a graphic designer. :-) I created a wallpaper for your desktop, featuring Jane and Elizabeth Bennett (from Pride & Prejudice of course!).

One reason I went with Jane & Lizzy is because everyone seems to focus so much on Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, and everything revolves around them in most graphics, pictures, etc. But one of the things our family most enjoys about Pride & Prejudice is the relationship between the two sisters. They are obviously very close and they are each other's confidantes and - gasp - they actually.... like each other! Which is something of a foreign concept in today's society.

You are welcome to download the wallpaper for your own personal use; I just ask that you respect my copyright of the design and do not sell or distribute it (if you want your friends to have one too, just send them the link to this post). Please comment and let me know if you use it! Unfortunately those were the largest images I could find and so they are a little pixelated - my apologies for that!

How to download: Click on the image. It will open up in a larger size. Right click on it again (Mac users hold Control while clicking) and select "Save Image As..." Save it to your computer and apply as you would any other desktop wallpaper.

(Credit for photos: Eras of Elegance. In addition, images in this graphic are displayed in good faith as a fair use under 17 U.S.C. 107. Any copyright infringement is unintentional, and will be remedied immediately.)

Designed by PrairieRoseDesigns.com

Sorry!

I apologize if you tried to visit my blog or website the last 2 days and got a "This account has been suspended" notice. Somebody hacked my site and started sending out spam, and thus everything was shut down while we resolved it. Thanks for your patience!

Sale!

I hope you'll forgive me for inserting a little commercial here. :-) Over at our home site, MaidensOfVirtue.com, I've marked down my custom-made boa scarves for the chilly weather season!

These fun scarves are warm and feminine and a stylish accessory to add to your fall and winter wardrobe. Hand-crocheted in a cozy homespun yarn in the color of your choice, they make great gifts or get one for yourself! (Or both! Hee hee).

If you are interested in a different type of yarn, like a chenille or chunky yarn for example, just let me know and I'll see what I can do (this may cause the price to be different depending on the yarn).

Please feel free to pass this on to your friends and family who may be interested, or if you're REALLY excited (as I'm sure you all are :-) ) you can post it on your blog. Want that cute graphic? Here's the code (will be deleted after the sale is over):

<a href="http://www.maidensofvirtue.com/shoppe/boa_scarves.html" mce_href="http://www.maidensofvirtue.com/shoppe/boa_scarves.html" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp160/QuietMom/boascarfsale.jpg" mce_src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp160/QuietMom/boascarfsale.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" width="375" height="200" /></a>

It's October!

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it?"

- "Anne of Green Gables" by L. M. Montgomery

Happy Independence Day!

"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity."
- John Adams

An Update

I apologize for not posting in a while. I have been busy with life in general! This is a very short post just to let you know about a couple of things:

1. My new graphic design business is now open! I make website/blog headers as well as banners and buttons. Right now I am having a grand opening SALE, 20% off all normal prices including my already-marked-down package deals. The sale goes through July 10th, 2009. Visit www.PrairieRoseDesigns.com if you are interested.

2. And for all you seamstresses out there who like Sense & Sensibility patterns, all S&S e-patterns are 15% off through midnight of July 5th! Click HERE.

Thanks!

The Hope Chest Record Book eBook

We have a new product over at Maidens of Virtue - an eBook version of The Hope Chest Record Book! Our runners up in the essay contest all received this as their prize (I hope you all are enjoying it! :-) ).

Anyway, it's now available for sale HERE. It's only $3.00 and includes two files; one to print a full page size and the other to print a half page size book. And with an eBook, you can print as many pages as you need!

Click HERE to buy this book or the original print book!

Calling all bakers!

I want to let all of you know about a fun baking club! It's called "Cross Country Bakers" and was started by two Christian sisters who want to help other ladies expand their baking repertoire. They are looking for more people to join!

It is open to Christian ladies of any age. Each month we pick an overall theme, and a recipe within that theme for each week. Every week everyone in the club makes the recipe (you are free to be creative and substitute ingredients, or even change the recipe around into something else - we've had coffee cake turned into yeast bread before... :-) ). Everyone takes a photo of their finished product and on Saturday posts it on the CCB blog along with their synopsis of how they liked it, what they would do differently next time, and any changes they made.

All you need to join this club is a camera, a Blogger (Google) account (which is free!), an oven and a love of baking! :-)

You can visit the CCB blog HERE. If you have any questions, or to sign up, email Hannah at crosscountrybakers (at) yahoo.com.

I was interviewed...

April from Once Upon a Qpon interviewed me about Maidens of Virtue and at her blog you have a chance to win a free copy of The Hope Chest Record Book!

Check it out! :-)

Dress Up Your Letters

I just wanted to share a cute way to seal your letters that my sister did recently. Even if you are putting them in an envelope and mailing them, this is a cute way to fancy it up a bit.

If your letter paper is 8.5 x 11 inches, fold it in half lengthwise and then in thirds. Then cut a piece of colored paper or cardstock to 5.5 x 7 inches. Place your letter on the cardstock and fold the cardstock over it in uneven thirds, so that the top flap comes to the middle (as in the photo). Then you can just place a sticker to seal it, or do as we did and punch out a circle, write the recipient's name on it, and attach it with adhesive such as double stick tape. My sister added a little bit of whimsy to the sticker by putting little dots all around the circle.

Of course your paper can be any size - just adjust the measurements as needed.

Doll Dresses on Sale!

Just letting you know... the doll dresses at Maidens of Virtue are now on sale - save $3. Please head over and check it out!

Remember, these will be discontinued on February 28th!

(By the way, I apologize for all these "announcement" style posts... yes, some more thoughtful posts WILL be coming soon!) :-)

Last Chance for Doll Dresses!

It's time to say good bye to our charming doll dresses in the Maidens of Virtue shoppe. :-(

Due to the recent child product law, we can no longer carry them. But instead of them going to waste, we would love to get them into people's hands.

So this is it! By the end of February they will be GONE! Hurry over and pick one up - there's only two in stock and they are one of a kind.

Napkin Folding Tutorials

Just wanted to let ya'll know that I updated my napkin folding instructions on Maidens of Virtue. There are three new folds, and all the instructions have been updated to video tutorials instead of pictures. Here's a sampling of one of my favorites - and check out the others for some fun ways to dress up your dinner table tonight!

New Look

I was getting a little tired of the purple design, so I decided to go with this one. What do you think? Like it better? Wish I would go back to purple?
:-)