Delightful Designs

Mostly pictures today, to show you my latest collecting obsession - vintage greeting cards. I've been collecting odd cards here and there for quite a while. At first I concentrated on the kitschy 1960s cards, but then I got some older ones and was just charmed by their sweet illustrations.


I've now bought a few large bundles of cards. The cards I'm showing you today come from the first bundle I bought, many of which are addressed to a little boy called Ian. A lot of them date from the early 1930s. I noticed that some, like the postcard of bunnies above, came to Ian from 'Diana', and a few had pictures of dogs. Then I saw the inside of this card, where a thoughtful relative had labelled the children 'Ian' and 'Diana', and the dog 'Timmy'. So now I have a picture of the brother and sister and their pet dog.

Some of the cards are just ridiculously cute...

Others are just very sweet. The crinoline ladies and cottage gardens appear very regularly in these old cards. I don't know why they were such a popular motif in the 1930s and 1940s, but you see them in embroideries and on biscuit tins as well. Mr Kitsch said they always make him think of the film 'Singin' in the Rain', where Jean Hagen, in powdered wig and huge dress, gratingly screeches "...and I cain't staind 'im!".

Well, now that's all I can think of too!