Collectible Friday - Victorian Motto

First before we do collectible Friday. We need to do cupcake Thursday.
Yep, it is true, I have finally had my cupcake. The wonderful, thoughtful kid of mine drove out of his way to find cupcakes. And they were awesome. I hugged him, that's because I was on a sugar high. Which by the way lasted all night, not the hug because that would be strange, but the high. It was great.

On to collectibles.

These are Victorian Punched Paper Motto Samplers. During the 1800's these were sold as kits. You could also buy the pieces separate and make your own, but by and large they were kits. The overwhelming themes were religious in nature and I try to stay away from those. I am not a religious person and I leave those for other people to collect.

The motto's are done on a heavy paper. It is a lot like Aida cloth that you can do cross stitch on, but it is paper. The floss they used was a variegated thread, which means it is a multitude of colors ranging from light to dark. The most common of frames are the criss-cross ones, made of walnut or another kind of wood. I own two with the original frames and two more that in some point of their lives were reframed.

One of mine, In honor shall wave, is not really considered a motto but I love it and so I will include it here. It is done in soft muted colors and the stitches are so precise.

The other motto's include, Learn to do Good, Kind words can never Die, and the one I love the most, Peace Be Unto This House. Both the Peace one and the Kind words one are done on a glitter paper, which makes them sparkle when the light hits them.

Considering how old these are, they are in very nice condition. They have some water spots and the frames are a little nicked up. But these were made between 1850 - 1890, and I can only hope that when I am this old, I too will only have some water spots and some nicks.

These can be found on Ebay and you can find them in antique stores. The religious themed ones are more plentiful and the prices reflect this. I paid the most for the Peace Be Unto This House and it took me quite a long time to locate it. The other three were found on Ebay and were middle of the road in price.

Some of the other sayings include, Home Sweet Home, Forget Me Not, No Place Like Home, Peace Be Still, Nearer My God To Thee, Remember Me, and Welcome. There are quite a few more.

As with most craft projects, you can find these in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some women did the basic design while others added embellishments. I have seen these with photos added, with dried and pressed flowers, and with names. The same is true of the framing process. Some frames are basic but some were built with real attention to detail.

The good news is that there are companies that make these as kits today. You can pick your saying and you will receive the kit to complete. I am going to try one of these, as soon as I pick my new last name.

Victorian Motto's are beautiful. During a time when life was certainly harder than today, women (and maybe some men, they aren't signed, so who knows) took time to add a little beauty to their homes.