Estate Sale Treasure!

I have a moto:  "it's not what it is but what it can be".  I apply this moto every time I venture through a yard sale or estate sale.  It was an Estate Sale that caught my attention last week in our neighborhood.  A professional company was running the sale so I figured I might find some good treasures!  Boy did I! 

I dug through books and kitchen items but really scored when I discovered a closet full of sewing items!  Lots of fabric, yarns, patterns, etc....but the real treasure was a shoebox full of lace scraps!  I'm always on the look out for lace scraps, especially vintage laces.  I snatched up that box and headed to "checkout" with my other discoveries. 

It wasn't until I got home that I realized what a treasure I had found.  That box of vintage lace scraps, turned out to be vintage lace collars!  All appear to be handstitched or tatted!  Some have closures on them, some are missing the closure but all are in wonderful condition!

I'll have to decide if I can use these in my work or if I can part with some through my etsy shop.  Hmmmm... have to think about that one for a while.   Aren't they just beautiful?

Thanksgiving Recipes/Traditions

Every year, as Thanksgiving approaches, I start to panic that I won't be able to find all the recipes for our traditional family dinner.  Maybe you do the same.  You see, my husband (Mr. D) and I host our family's Thanksgiving celebration.  It's our tradition.  We have family join us from California to Virginia.  We even have guests of the four-legged variety!
So much fun!

Well, this year, I decided to eliminate the panic and gather all my recipes together into one book, Traditions!  Best of all, everything I used came from my "stash"!

Start with a chipboard book, although you could use anything; an old book or even paper bags!   Then pick out several different scrapbook papers and magazine pages to fit your theme and cut them to fit the pages of your book (8 x 8 in my case)

Using glue, gel medium or what have you, attach the papers to the book pages. 

I used Traci Bautista's Collage Pauge.

I also used a brayer to get all the bubbles out of the pages.  This was most effective with the pages from the magazines since they were thinner papers.
Instead of gluing the front and back papers, I tucked them into sheet protectors then
used a heavy duty double stick tape to attach them to the covers.
That way the covers are protected
in case I set the book in a messy or wet spot while cooking.

Once all the pages were covered, let the book dry completely.  Then the real fun begins!  

Gather your recipes, print them out on whatever paper you'd like or even 

handwrite them on recipe cards.

Now, embellish, embellish, embellish......have fun with it, there are no rules here!

After embellishing the pages, tie ribbons around the spine of the book and knot.
I used a different ribbon,string and seam binding ribbon around each page.

Finally, you'll need to fashion some type of closure to hold all the goodies in!   

I fashioned a closure using a rubber button and some twine.

I sewed the button onto the front cover with twine then tied the end of a long length of twine so it could wrap around and "close" the book.

That's it!  Voila!  I have a few more recipes to add, although they are locked in Mr. D's head right now....I may just be taking notes while he is cooking on Thanksgiving morning.

Mr. D suggested I make another for our Christmas traditions and Easter traditions.  Hmm good idea. If you have family favorite and traditional recipes, put them in a book!   Not only will it save you from panic each year, but it will be a treasure to pass down to the next family member to take over the tradition.

Share your creations!  I'd love to see them.