The Blu Print: November 2016

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

There was a Revelation

Or something like that that was the inspiration for this next tune.

It was penned in 1865 in England, but it is a much more popular carol in the United States than it is in its homeland. That may have to do with the music more than the actual carol.

Apparently, a Mr. William Dix was an insurance company manager in the 1800s – yeah, I was just as surprised as you to find out that they had that position filled around about that time, too - and he got deathly ill. (Think he had insurance?) He was bedridden with depression and close to death.

During that illness, he decided that since he was going to die, a good spiritual renewal was in order. Once he recovered he wrote the words to this carol and a number of other pieces. He titled this The Manger Throne, and it began with a rhetorical question that was answered in the second verse and the third verse was a call to all to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

It can be called haunting, soulful or any other airy description, but it was dropped onto an English folk song titled Greensleeves. Thus, What Child is This? is sung to a tune already being used by the English. It is not known who actually paired the song with the poem, so we don’t hold Mr. Dix responsible for that since it was published in a book of carols about six or seven years after he wrote it, and that compilation author may have done the pairing.

The focus is the wonder of the shepherds who are marveling at the baby Jesus and murmuring among themselves that this must be the Christ child.

It truly is a beautiful song, and my 40 year old son won’t remember that this was a lullaby that I sang to him when he was tiny.

I promise you, my son’s lullaby sounded nothing like this rendition of What Child is This?

This sweet tune will have you humming all day long, and while you do, here are some things that you might enjoy.

Put them in your shopping cart and hit BUY NOW.

Hurry because handmade sells out fast, and when they are gone, they are gone! Buy now.
Enjoy!
Julie

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Friday, November 25, 2016

Countdown to Christmas 2016 Week 11

Christmas Countdown

It's that time of the year again!
Did you know that this is our 5th annual countdown?
Here are some of the great gift ideas for 2016 from our favorite designers and collectors.

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

It’s a Small Town

It was a small village, but it soon became a big story one night. The little town of Bethlehem is now a Palestinian city that is located around the central part of the West Bank in Palestine. It has around 25,000 people living there, and of course, the economy is tourist driven.

However, one night, a couple thousand plus years ago, it was the scene of a birth that would rock the world. It started its humble journey into history as a small, yet fortified, city ruled by Rehoboam, who was an Israeli king from biblical times. Bethlehem was the home of David, and then, Jesus. Over time, the city has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times.

In the early 1800s, Phillips Brooks, then an Episcopalian priest in Philadelphia took a visit to the city of Bethlehem, and after that visit, he was so inspired by the city and overwhelmed by being in the town of Jesus’ birth that he sat down and wrote a poem.

He took his poem to the organist at his church, who applied a tune as the accompaniment. He explains that he was so busy thinking about an upcoming lesson that he was teaching that the tune was hastily thrown together for a one evening performance and nothing more. He was at a loss as to the tune and said that divine intervention by an angel gave him the tune.

Later the tune did live on and was published as a leaflet and it was published in the book titled The Church Porch, and the editor gave it the name St. Louis. For the life of me, I cannot make the connection as to why or what he was thinking to give it that name.

In Britain, they use another tune for the song called The Ploughboys’ Dream.

None the less, it is another Christmas carol that we can attribute to the United States.

Here is a purely American rendition of this favorite tune.

Now that you are all warm and cozy, and possibly even snuggled up next to a roaring fire, let’s go shopping.

Here are some things that caught my attention this week, maybe you would like to add them to your gift basket, as well.

Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle Embroidered Towel

Simple Embroidery Sew

Victorian Style Bracelet Wedding Bracelet

Treasures of Jewels

OOAK Wire Wrapped Quartz Crystal Earrings

SolanaKaiDesigns

Owl In Flight Necklace

Wyvern Designs

Tiny Lavender and White Star Stud Earrings

Resetar Glass Art

Christmas Polar Bear Lampwork Bead Necklace

Blue Morning Expressions

Baby Elephant Stickers in Blue and Stripes

AdorebyNat

Macro Photography Barrel Cactus in Black and White Nature Photograph Desert Life Spiral Zen

Butterfly in the Attic

Pendant of a Million Stars Dichroic Glass Argentium Silver Wire Wrapped Cabochon

Umeboshi

Large Swarovski Teardrop Links with Crystal AB Bead Chandelier Earrings

KatsAllThat

Angel Earrings

Linorstore

Handmade Multi-layer 3D Crochet with Silver Accents

RSS Designs in Fiber

Om Earrings

Pretty Gonzo

Black Cat Coin Purse

SewAmazin

Real Pearl Earrings

Blonde Peach Jewelry

Sterling Silver Full Persian Chainmaille Bracelet

CraftingMemories1

Handmade Lampwork Bead Silvered Ivory

Covergirl Beads

Pewter Spiral Handmade Earrings

Shadow Dog Designs

Sterling Silver Sixteenth 16th Music Note Cut Out Charm Necklace

The Singing Beader

Netherland Antillean Guilder 10 Cent Coin Pendant

Beadsouk

Here are some more showcases for you to enjoy:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10

Hurry because handmade sells out fast, and when they are gone, they are gone! Buy now.
Enjoy!
Julie

Friday, November 18, 2016

Countdown to Christmas 2016 Week 10

Christmas Countdown

It's that time of the year again!
Did you know that this is our 5th annual countdown?
Here are some of the great gift ideas for 2016 from our favorite designers and collectors.

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Three? Five? Ten? Who Knows?

In the gospel of Matthew, there is a verse that talks about the baby Jesus being visited by magi, but there is no mention of how many there were, where they were from or even if they were royalty. It only says that they brought gifts of frankincense, myrrh and gold when they came to visit.

Hence, someone, somewhere assumed there were three. They also assumed that because those were all expensive gifts for the time that these visitors were royalty.

If you further research the word magi, you may find that it is plural for the word magus, which in Latin means a follower of Zoroaster or as he was known in Iran, Zarathustra.

Zarathustra was a prophet and religious leader of one of the oldest religion – Zoroastrianism –, which is an interesting mix of astrology, monotheism and other beliefs. This religion serves to offer parts that other religions have freely borrowed along the way. If you are interested, here is a link to even more information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

I don’t want to run down the rabbit hole with this, but thought it was interesting enough to mention because the word magi then went on to mean magic or magician. The bible is full of stories about magicians and sorcerers in both the old and the new testaments.

So, anyway! The only reason that the song and the traditions depict three magi is because there were three gifts even though there is no mention in the gospel of Matthew of the number of magicians that appeared at the manger.

Another tradition is the three names that they somehow managed to get throughout history. In some made up story, the names of the Magi—Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar—and their status as kings from the Orient became some sort of legend. So when John Henry Hopkins, Jr. sat down to write a piece for a Christmas pageant for Epiphany he was putting on, he grabbed hold of the traditional story and ran with it.

Mr. Hopkins was a journalist turned lawyer turned clergy turned songwriter in the 1850s. He originally wrote the lyrics to We Three Kings as a piece with three solos and a joined chorus for the play. As was the tradition, he wrote the lyrics and borrowed the music from something written literally, in the Middle Ages. Due to the song’s sad and plodding tune, it has been traced back to songs of that wonderfully uplifting time.

We Three Kings has gone on to be the first Christmas carol from the United States to be included in collections of Christmas carols. I, personally, have always liked this particular carol. Maybe, it’s the music. Smile

Their name grabbed my attention.

The Mediaeval Baebes!

Now you know where they got the idea that this was a Medieval tune.

I am not sure if you are uplifted or lulled into a sense of wellbeing by these delightful sirens that reminded me of a scene from O’ Brother Where Art Though?, but it’s time to go shopping, and what better things to shop for than gold.