HERE COMES SANTA

HERE COMES SANTA!!!

Stickers for the above page. The church  and the houses didn't have stickers to put on the page. 

Another card from the book. 

In the Raider the messenger Robbie sent to Rosalin's brother has returned but instead of immediately agreeing to a truce, wants to meet up with him at Melrose Abbey.  Now that it's finally time to say goodbye to Rosalin, he is reluctant

Melrose Abbey

 to let her go. The same can be said about Rosalin. She does not want to have to say farewell to Robbie, even though it would mean living in less than luxurious surroundings. 
As you are probably familiar with from earlier posts, I like to look up places mentioned in historical novels. Melrose Abbey must have been very impressive in it's hay day if the ruins of the church are anything to go by. There are times where I would love to take a time machine back in time just to see what these places actually looked like before they were torn down, or for whatever reason, dismantled. Churches now, just aren't as magnificent as those built in bygone eras. though some of them, especially the catholic churches, are pretty spectacular just not on the scale of those built centuries ago.

The paper doll for today is from 1949.

12 18 1949

Here is the strip that accompanied the paper doll.

Til tomorrow...                           Aloha!!!

SANTA STICKER AND PUNCH OUT BOOK CONTINUED

I love this particular page from the book. We didn't have a fireplace in our house but hung our stockings on pegs adhered to the wall. I always wanted a fireplace though and remember asking my mom how did Santa put the presents under the tree if we didn't have a fireplace for him to come down? She told me that Santa had a special key that unlocked all the doors in the world 
so he could deliver his presents to the children who didn't have fireplaces in their homes. Made perfect sense to a six year old child. 

Stickers for the above page. These would make great magnets to decorate the fridge with. 

Another delightful card from the book. These still have quite a bit of glitter still on them. 

In The Raider they are headed for Etterick Forest, a haven for the Bruce's band of "phantom" warriors. Rosalin, in the hopes of helping her brother find them, has been leaving a trail of ribbons in their wake as they've traveled across country. Unfortunately Robert found the ribbons and handed them to her telling her she needed to keep better care of her things. Not disheartened, she has a plan to escape when they stop for the night at Kirkton Manor where she is planning their escape by using the bed linen like Queen Matilda did when she escaped from Oxford castle. 

The paper doll for today is from 1934 and is of Mrs. Danny Hoofer from Toots and Casper. Not the best copy of the paper doll but as I said in an earlier posting, one can't be fussy. This one will do until I can purchase a better copy of it.  I love it when they show traditional folk costumes from around the world. Seems like all the cartoonist who had paper dolls of their characters did this. The lettering on the top got cut off while I was adjusting the photo. The costume is what a maori girl from New Zealand wore. 

It's Papa Who Pays was the strip that accompanied the above paper doll. Hopefully the misunderstanding between Papa and his boss was cleared up. Although I have the following weeks paper doll and the strip of It's Papa Who Pays, it is not a continuation of this one. So it may have continued in the the weekly run. 

Til'next time....                                                     ALOHA!!

AND MORE OF THE SANTA STICKER BOOK

More from the Santa Sticker and Punch out book

 Stickers that go with above page.

Another greeting card from the book. 

Just for fun I turned the above reindeer into Rudolph. 

In The Raider Rosalin has realized who her abductor is and wonders at the change in him. Robert has, for years, tried to discover who his angel of mercy was, so he could thank her for helping him escape, little realizing that she is the sister of his bitter enemy. He is none to pleased when he finds out who he has taken hostage.  I'm at the part now where The Black Douglas has ridin into the camp and found out who they have captured.  Rosalin, for her part, finds herself more afraid of Douglas than her captor. 

Today's paper doll is yet another Boots (I have tons of her) from 1957. This time we find Boots in the bedroom. 

12 15 1957

 And converted to black and white. I altered it just a bit so her lips, bed headboards, scarf, cuffs and belt can also be colored.  A digitally colored version is in the works.

Til' next time.......                                       ALOHA!!!

Til' next time........                                   ALOHA!!!

MORE FROM SANTA STICKER AND CUT OUT BOOK

Another page from the Santa Sticker and Cut out Book.

The stickers that go with the above page.

Another card from the book.

castle

I've started The Raider. Even from the first few pages, it's shaping up to be a good read. Lady Rosalin Clifford first meets Robert "the Raider" Boyd (who really existed) when he was imprisoned by her brother Sir Robert Clifford (another real historical figure though he didn't actually have a sister according to the authors note at the back of the book). She finds herself attracted to the big Scotsman and sets out to make his and his fellow captives life a little easier by providing them with extra rations, that is until the extra food is discovered and they are punished for "stealing". Sir Robert refused to believe that they were innocent and relegated Robert Boyd to the pit prison of the old keep at  Kildrummy Castle. She takes pity on him and frees him.  She will end up regretting her impulsive urge. 


Seven years will pass before the two meet up again. The Bruce is making headway at exercising the English from Scotland and The Raider is in charge of seeing that they English scourge is removed from the marches. He has a long standing hatred for Sir Robert Clifford, who was responsible for the death of his father, mother, brother and sister. As luck would have it, Rosalin has taken her young niece to a faire being held at Norham and to teach her how to sit a horse

Norham Castle

since her brother would not allow her to learn with his son Roger. While at the faire The Raider swoops down on the village in order to obtain supplies for the Bruces army in the process kidnapping young Roger and Rosalin to boot as she was trying to protect the young heir and get him away from the "barbarian" that had caught him. With little time to waste and the English troops swarming out of Norham castle (Meg and run to the stronghold to alert the garrison there), the Raider promptly puts a seed bag over her head, scoops her up and gallops hell for leather into the Lammermuir Hills. I'm at the part where Rosalin has taken the opportunity to attempt an escape with her nephew and The Raider, non to happy that the captives were not closely watched (Rosalin feigned a swoon in order to give them an opportunity to make a run for it while their guard went and got her the water she request from the nearby burn) gives chase. 

Today's paper doll is a Brenda Starr from 1941. 

12 14 1941

 I've converted Brenda to black and white and am working on turning the costumes into images you can color as well. 

Til next time...                                              ALOHA!!!

A CHRISTMAS COLORING PAGE AND A BOOTS PAPER DOLL FROM 1959

Vintage Santa Sticker and push out book 1950's

Another page from the Santa Sticker and push out book. Mine isn't complete and is missing a sticker sheet  that corresponds with one of the pages.  I hope to someday find the stickers or at least a complete book.

Here is one of the Christmas cards that you could punch out and give to someone. 

In the book the cards come four to a page and are about the size of the Valentine's you buy in a box. I blew this one up. It could be reimagined as a magnet and printed on magnet paper. 

Randolph, Stewart and the Bruce

I've finished The Knight and will be starting The Raider. It was pretty good. In fact I wished it had been much longer, even a full book by itself. But since James wasn't part of the Highland Guard I can understand why she didn't write a full novel featuring him. It really wasn't necessary to read the book though in The Hunter the author alludes to events that take place in The Knight. Which is one reason why I wanted to read it. I wanted to find out what was going on with James. I wonder if she's going to do a novella featuring Sir Thomas Randolph?  I rather like the character and would love to find out how he meets is future wife Isabel. Thomas did exist and was responsible for the liberation of Edinburgh Castle.  As always, I did try to find an image of the man but the only image I could find was the frieze at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. A very nice frieze to be sure and one I would LOVE to take a photo of myself. 

The paper doll for today is yet another Boots, only this one is from 1959 and finds Boots on a tropical island judging from the house in the background. Perhaps she's taken a trip to Hawaii or the Bahamas. 

12 13 1959

And converted to black and white. I am working on a digitally colored version of this one and will post it as as soon as I'm finished. 

Til' next time...                       ALOHA!!!

A BOOTS PAPER DOLL AND A CHRISTMAS COLORING PAGE

From vintage Santa Sticker and cutout book 1950's

I love the artwork in the earlier coloring books. The page came with stickers to match the page. These will probably have to be printed on two sheets of sticker paper. I had to resize the stickers as the original scan was to small and the stickers weren't the right size to fit the above page.  These could also be used as stickers for Christmas cards or even as a color guide for the above coloring page. 

I'm almost finished with The Knight. It isn't a very long story but McCarty has  packed a lot of story within just a few pages. Joanna tried to tell James she was expecting their child but James, after realizing that Joanna expected far more out of him than he was prepared to give her, left to join Bruce, leaving Joanna alone and pregnant. She ultimately looses the baby which devastates her and through an old friend James finds out what Joanna wanted to tell him and that she lost the baby and almost lost her life. He realizes just how much she means to him and goes in search of her. Joanna, in the meantime, has tried to get over James. She does understand his position in life, he's a Lord and she's nothing more than a Marshall's daughter and Lord's don't marry beneath them. But at a May Day celebrations James finally finds her and crassly proposes to her. She rebuffs him and leaves fuming that she would rather marry the cleaner of the gardrobe (for those not familiar with medieval terms, the gardrobe is more or less a bathroom in a castle) than him.  I'm at the part in the book now where Joanna has returned home prepared to get on with life without James, only to have James once again show up prepared to woo her in order to make her his wife. She's non to happy about it, since she was prepared to forget about him. 

Today's paper doll is yet another Boots from my collection. I had both the sepia and the color version but as you can see both are on the blurry side. Imagine my delight when I found her in black and white form at the  Mostly Paperdolls site!  I recolored her using the same color scheme as the original. the only thing I changed was her lips...I colored them in rather than leave them. black. 

12 12 1943

Til' next time....                                                        ALOHA!!!