How Old Is Your Rolling Pin?

This afternoon

I picked up my rolling pin

and realized someone (?) had put

her away with some sticky stuff

all down one side

Does a rolling pin have a side? hmmm

Anyway.

As I ran her under warm tap water

her history came back to me

I used to live in this little tiny house

on the south west end of Eugene

One afternoon I noticed lots of people driving by...

being as curious as a cat

I went to see...An Estate sale!

Yeah!!

I wandered around all through the house...and the

one thing that caught me was this rolling pin.

It was pretty expensive

for back then...

20 bucks

back in 1984

She glowed...and I knew that she had to come home with me

As I went to buy her...I started talking to the woman

who's sale it was.  I found out that the rolling pin

had been made in 1918 by her grandfather

we talked for some time

and when it was time to pay

she gave it to me.

I was shocked

But oh so happy.

This rolling pin is almost 100 years old.

As I held her in my hands today...feeling how

smooth her surface is...

generations of women and possibly men

rolling out pie crust's and

biscuits

Feeding the ones they love

I am happy to have her in my kitchen

I hope I have a grandchild someday to pass this

on too.  Ha ha...

my boy does not seem

to like rolling pie crust. 

 I think if taken care of she

has another 100 years of good work left in her.

Come Celebrate With Me Leaping Frog Designs 100th Sale On Etsy Giveaway

Well my dear friends I finally did it...My 100th sale For

Leaping Frog Designs

On Etsy !!!

It has been kind of a tough haul selling on Etsy...

But very well worth the time and effort

I have met so many wonderful people through selling and

buying.  It has been a lot of fun.

Much more fun than my years selling on eBay...

So.....

In celebration I made something to share with all of you.

One of my storage envelope books.

These have just come to my work table and I find they

are just so useful that I can not stop making them.

This Mariposa themed book has a few surprises for you.

Open it up and you find 6 vellum envelopes

stuffed full of vintage and reproduced ephemera.

I just keep adding to it, who knows how plump it will be

by Sunday night.

That is how long you have to enter my Giveaway.

Leave me a comment...be sure to leave me your email so that

I can get in touch and let you know you won.

And please

All you friends from

overseas...Please enter too!!

I am going to use the random number picker this time

You have until 9pm Sunday June 5th to enter

I look forward to hearing from all of you!

The Flowers And Gardens Of Japan

Yesterday...While I was out running a couple of errands

my travels took me past my favorite book store

in Eugene.

Saint Vincent DePaul

I don't know if they do this in every city..but here in Eugene

they are book central.  One whole section of their

resale stores are devoted to books...Sigh

I always tell myself..No!!!! You have to stay away from the books!

But it never works...You all know it.

Yesterday's treasure was...

The Flowers And Gardens Of Japan

Painted By Ella Du-Cane

Described by Florence Du-Cane

I can not find a publication date in it except that there is

a name inside and the date 1917

Not only are there the most beautiful illustrations of the gardens and flowers

but Florence's writing makes you feel as if you

are strolling beside her as she walks the gardens..Telling you stories

and the history of Japan and her flowers

I love it.

In my own garden..Iris are blooming..Wisteria too.  So I had to share

these images with you today.

Look At What I Made Jill Today A Scrap Paper Storage Solution

I am certain that Jill and I are not the only two people

out there who are constantly wondering

What on Earth do I do with All this Scrap Paper?!!

It just keeps adding up...Overflowing baskets, bins, file folders.

This week as I was making a concentrated effort to purge the second floor

landing of my accumulated (junk) treasures The Martha Stewart Living

Magazines bit the big one...As I sorted thru them one last time

I came across one of her craft projects.

Envelope books.

Wow...it was like a light bulb went off in my head.

Puuuurfect solution to those pesky project scraps....

or even accumulating pieces for a project.

After hunting down some really bright Martha Stewart Paper Tape

I was set to go...The instructions call for book binding tape

but since I was impatient to make a couple of these

the paper tape was what was used.  It works really well

so far...Once I find some binding tape it will be interesting to compare.

Anyway....Off to my favorite Goodwill for envelopes.

My favorite clerk there Eva is always raising her eyebrows at me....

What on earth am I up to now..lol

So..after sorting out 10 envelopes that are all the same size I set to work

shading them a little, and adding a punch so that the pouch can

be identified...

Next I bound them all together with the tape (ha...Yes I know the tape color

does not go with the whole project at all...but you should see

the rest of them in the  pack.)

Cut a piece of card stock for the outside, scored it with my bone folder

so that it formed a book...taped all that together.

The image on the front is one of Jill's newest creations.

She is edged in gold and has gold highlights on her crown and jewelry.

Next a few of my calling cards tucked in for fun.

I think I am going to add some stamping on the inside and back

flap.   This is pretty simple to do, and I left the outside mostly undecorated

because I think they will be handled quite a bit

So I did not want bits and pieces to be falling off here and there.

I plan on making about a dozen to have on hand for projects.

Hopefully I will get it to her tomorrow. We have

a craft day planned...But

My new printer arrives tomorrow and I want to

be here to get it.  (Yeah!!!! a new printer)

Don't worry...there is nothing

wrong with your computer...I added a watermark to

Jills image

Frances Brundage Beautiful Book Pages To Share This Monday Morning

Have a great Monday everyone!!!

Friday Freebies Images From Harpers 1879-1899 Cunard Ships Victorian Images

It has been a really long hard week for me...

My family has decided to sell my grandfathers

farm.  And while on the surface that sounds like really no

big deal.  For my sister and I it has been devastating.

The farm has been our touchstone since birth..Our quiet place.

I have just kind of numb and trying very hard to keep

busy so I don't think about the loss.  Because once I do

the tears just will not stop.

So...Lots of computer work late into the night...

I have all these great Harper's magazines from

the 1800's and the images are so fun.

Not to mention the history.

Look at the image about the ship.  That is cool.

I am in the process of re-purposing a romance novel..and some of these

fun images are finding their way into the pages since they fit

right in to the time period.

I hope you enjoy them today.

Young Queen Victoria Free Images From Harper's Magazine 1800's

This next set of images are from

Harper's Magazines

1879-1895

Perfume Ad

And a beautiful poem

Amazing Friday Garage Sale Discoveries

Wow...It has been such a beautiful day today.

The plan was to work on the Junkin Gypsies note cards for the store.

Then take my son to my folks

so he can mow their lawns (his summer job)

So...As Jordan slept in (cause I am a softy mom and there was no

school today) I had coffee and worked on the

cards.  Getting them assembled so that

Jill can take pictures.

I just snapped a few so that I could show them off here.

Tomorrow they will be in the Junkin Gypsies Etsy store...

They are all Jill's original artwork

I really love her art and these cards are like little paintings.

So while Jordan was mowing the lawns

my dad suggested some garage sales around the

neighborhood I might be interested in. 

Oh Yep Yep

Now don't I keep saying.  No More Books!?

Ack...It is my addiction

Books.

today I found something so fantastic for a moment

I could not believe it was for sale.

A  log book

for Columbia Harbor No. 22

Leather bound...12 inches x 20 inches

With the name Alice Mae Endicott on the front

The first 38 pages have been removed..And the rest of the log 398

pages are empty.

There is some writing in the back for a wedding

It is too big to scan..so tomorrow in the sunlight I will take pictures of it.

It amazed me that I got it for a buck.

A young man moving and selling everything...many of his books

looked like family books. Another one I got there was

from 1905...Engineering Drawing.  I scanned a couple of pages to share

And last

A book on Aubrey Beardsley

This was a fantastic find...I have always liked Beardsley's work

but have never explored him.

This book is too large to scan properly..so this image

is a bit crooked. 

So...Yes..more books. 

Friendship True And Sweet1916 Friday Free Images

A beautiful little treasure found recently...

Scanned open faced because I thought it could be

printed out onto one page and

folded into a book

or card.

Enjoy!

Happy Friday