Sunday, December 18, 2011

Christmas Ornaments using Regency Fashion Plates from Ackermann's Repository

I had planned to create a series of Regency inspired Christmas ornaments using a variety 
of the lovely ladies from the Ackermann's Repository issues 1809-1828 to add to my tree 
this year; but as you all know, sometime life gets in the way of art.

Digital Christmas Card by EKDuncan using digital Christmas ornaments of Regency ladies

It's sad to say but the night before I was to create my fun pieces of 3-D art; 
I received a call that my mother had stomach cancer and was being admitted to the 
hospital for surgery the next day. So naturally, I packed up some necessary item, 
hoped in my car and headed out of town.

I'm happy to report that the surgery went well and she is on her way to recovering.
As of this post she has been in the hospital for 4 days with 4 more to go before
she gets to go home - just in time for Christmas.

I've used my spare time here in the hospital to create digital versions 
of the ornaments I had originally intended to make for my tree.
I've also taken some of those digital images and created the above Christmas Greeting.

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I love reading romance novels, especially Regency ones and if they are 
Christmas Regency Romances - that's the icing on the cake for sure.

This series of ornaments calls to mind a lovely book I read last weekend by Larissa Lyons.
"Miss Isabella Thaws a Frosty Lord" it is a delightful Regency Christmas story
that I thoroughly enjoyed reading; and it was the inspiration
for the digital Christmas Greeting I opened this post with.

 "Miss Isabella Thaws a Frosty Lord" takes place in 1813 Regency England at a house party
through the 12 days of Christmas; which in Europe starts on Dec 25th and runs
till January 6th - the Epiphany. (see my EKDuncan Epiphany post from 2010).

The Regency romance that inspired my digital Christmas card.
  This Christmas story by Larissa Lyons is a touching romance about two lonely people
with little chance of happiness; who fate finally smiles upon and they get their happy ending .
There is a bit of sadness, some funny scenes and several memorable moments involving
mistletoe - thus my use of mistletoe for the ornaments to hang from in my digital card.

There is also a scene in the book involving a fur muff Isabella received as a Christmas gift
- Notice that three of my ornaments are of ladies with a fur muff and one of them is
an 1813 fashion plate to boot.

I hope you enjoy seeing the digital ornaments I created and that you get a chance to read
"Miss Isabella Thaws a Frosty Lord" this Holiday season.

Enjoy!


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Here are the Regency inspired ornaments 
I created using a variety of
Fashion plates from Ackermann's Repository.

Regency inspired ornament using a variety of Ackermann fashion plates

Ornament using 1812 & 1814 fashion plates from Ackermann's Repository

1813 Fashion are in this ornament - same year as in the romance novel

1813 Morning Dress with Muff - same year as in the romance novel

1816 Evening Dress is in this ornament

1816 Walking Dress with Muff

1817 Carriage Dress with Muff

1820 Ball Dress is in this ornament

1825 Ball Dress is in this ornament

1825 Dinner Dress is in this ornament

1827 Ball Dress - Ornament version 1

1827 Ball Dress - Ornament version 2

1827 Dinner Dress - Ornament version 1

1827 Dinner Dress - Ornament version 2

1827 Evening Dress - Ornament version 1

1827 Evening Dress - Ornament version 2

1828 Ball Dress for this Regency inspired Christmas Ornament


These lovely Regency ladies and more can be seen on THIS post.

The ornament frames are digitized versions of actual scrapbooking dies I was going to
create the 3-D ornaments with.  The digital version actually allowed me to create a more
dramatic gold edge, so it was fun to play with those shapes in Photoshop.


3-D Ornament I created a few weeks ago and posted to my other blog -My Fanciful Muse
This is a Christmas ornament I created a few weeks ago and it gives you an idea of what
the Regency ornaments might look like if they were actually created from mat board and paper.
Click HERE to see the post for my Christmas Fairy Ornament.


I hope you have enjoyed this post and I wish all of you, as they would say
in Regency England,  a Happy Christmas.





9 comments:

  1. Hello!
    Wow!!!! It's so beautiful!!!
    Many many many thanks!
    Happy Holidays!
    Sylvie

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  2. Sylvie - thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed this post. It just seemed right to have an Ackermann's Repository Christmas after I've spent so many months posting their Regency images.

    Wishing you a warm and wonderful Christmas too!

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  3. Your ornaments are lovely and I wish your Mom a speedy recovery and return to health!

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  4. Evelyn, what an enjoyable post. I adore your ornaments and as much as I like those traditional Regency ladies, must say I'm particularly fond of your bright, bright green Fairy ornament. :-)

    Thanks for the wonderful mention of Miss Isabella... I'm so glad you enjoyed this story!

    My continued thoughts and prayers for your mom's full recovery. Larissa

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  5. Thanks so very much Larissa!
    I'm glad you liked my "make believe ornaments" for this post.

    I loved your latest release and it tied it so beautifully with what I was creating for Christmas that I could not resist using it as inspiration for some of the fashions I chose and also for the Christmas Greeting with mistletoe accents.

    Thanks for writing such enjoyable Regency reads and hot contemporary romances as well. It is always a pleasure to read one of your books.

    Prayers are so very welcome at this time and much appreciated. Mom is out of the hospital but she is having some complications and is facing chemo in the near future. Happy thoughts, prayers and warm wishes for a fast recovery are a blessing to us.

    Wishing you and yours all the best for the remainder of "Old Christmas" and a very Happy New Year!

    Giggles,
    Evelyn

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  6. Oh my, I really love your blog!! So you've got yourself a new follower ;-) I've 'nicked' one of your superb images and of course linked back to you. Thanks for this wonderful image. Please feel free to visit my blog, too, if you like (so you can see how I used your image). Happy New Year to you, hope to see more of your lovely work!! Greetz from the Netherlands, Ira

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  7. I'm so glad you are enjoying my blog and are downloading images from it.

    I love your New Years Eve creation of "Time Ticking Away" http://irascreacorner.blogspot.com/2011/12/time-is-ticking-away-happy-new-year.html.

    It's just great! I love old "Jumping Jack" paper dolls and you really created a wonderfully whimsical piece using the French doll from post - http://ekduncan.blogspot.com/2011/05/ekd-old-world-charm-extras-and-fun.html

    Thanks so very much for posting credit and a link back to me on your blog. I always enjoy seeing how these images get used and I'm sure others do too.

    Happy Creating in the New Year,
    Evelyn

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  8. These are so lovely! I hope your mom is doing better.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Carla - I'm so glad you liked the digital ornaments. And thanks for asking about my Mom. It's an ongoing battle for her every day and if anyone can beat the odds it will be her.

      Cheers,
      Evelyn

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