Vintage Books

I've always had a soft spot for old books. The older the better. I started collecting vintage and antique books back in highschool and I'm still collecting today. Now I collect them for myself, to sell in my ETSY shop and the old ones that are in really bad shape, I turn into paper flowers. Here are a few I found the other day.

 

I like them, but they don't hold anything special for me. So I'll give them a new home where they'll be loved. I also found these:

I love that they all have an outdoorsy theme, which fits my husband and I...I LOVE LOVE LOVE the color combination! I had intended on listing these in my shop, but I've fallen in love with them and am having a hard time letting them go. The books are big (over 10 inches tall) and thick and bright and beautiful...in great shape...Don't you just love my little  ceramic bird next to the Songbirds in Your Garden ?? Here are some more pics, in case you didn't get enough.

For now, I think I'll just let them sit on my shelf and hope that I get time to read them. OK, here are a few of my favorites from my real collection.

From left to right the copyright dates are: 1899, 1940, 1927 I believe the Ernest Hemingway is a first edition second printing...but I'm not an expert so, I'm not sure.

Copyright dates from left to right: Spelling book 1857, History book 1878, Dictionary of facts 1919

Don't you just love the picture on the front of the spelling book? To give you an idea of how old the history book is...the last picture is a list  of all the states added after the original 13...38 total! How cool is that?

Another little piece of history I have is a 1913 Small Arms Firing Manual. It's full of notes and underlines and what I love most of all is the signature in the front. What beautiful handwriting. To me it represents a time when people took their time and pride in everything  they did right down to their handwriting.

I bought this one the other day. It's in descent shape, but what I bought it for was it's pages. For only being 69 years old, the pages have a beautiful rich patina. The pages are also nice and thick and textured. I just had to have it for paper flowers.

Ok, I've saved the best for last! This one my wonderful Sister bought me a few years ago. It has a special place in my studio and in my heart.

It's a 1943 7th and 8th grade Home Ec book.

AND..it shows me how to use my new-to-me sewing machine I bought a few months ago! Here are a few more pics from the book.

I hope I have enjoyed my little treasures...who knows maybe, the next time you're at a used book store, you'll venture over to the old book section and take a look.

xo
Krista

My Thrift Store Lamp

I went thrifting yesterday. It's been a while and sad to say I was disappointed. I didn't find anything that swept me off my feet, but I did find a few treasures.

First was this shelf. My girls have a billion handmade blankets that I just can't part with, but I don't have a good place to store them so that they're out of the way, but within reach. Their room is the FROG. So, they also have two ugly attic storage access doors in their room. Eventually we're putting up bead board and my wonderful husband is going to make pretty little doors. In the meantime, I need a solution. I've been thinking of hanging the blankets there and this shelf is the perfect solution. All I need is some dowel rods a little bit of white paint and we're done!

$3.99

The second item I found yesterday was this old lamp. I'm not sure how old it is. It looks like it once used to be an oil lamp and was converted into an electric lamp...not sure. Maybe it was just made to look like an oil lamp. The shade is Milk Glass (which I love). I don't think the wood in the middle is original. I still like it a lot. It reminds me of my grandmother. Although her glass lamps were much nicer, it's the same style she had. It will go perfect in my master bedroom....once I have THAT project finished....eventually. Here's her before pics:

I would have bought her just for that turn key!

$8.49

And here she is all cleaned up and in her place. Like I said, I'm not in love with the wood, but at least she matches the gun rack my husband insisted on hanging in our bedroom...right?

Maybe I can wrap some satin ribbon around her and hide that wood!

I think she'll look even better once I paint my wall gray. Let me know what you think!

xo
Krista


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Vintage Paper Star Banner - Tutorial

Vintage Paper Star Banner

or

Christmas Ornament

Tutorial

I have had this vintage music book (so vintage it's probably antique) for a long long time. It was in pretty rough shape but, I LOVED it...Just didn't know what to do with it.....until now!

I've made these stars for a holiday decoration before, for the kids, in bright festive colors.  Paper stars crafted from antique music book pages give them a whole new (grown up I might add) look and feel. I just know you're going to fall in love with them as much as I have.

Supplies

Vintage music pages

glue

dish

small craft paint brush

scissors

 

Make your paper squares (6)

Fold in half, corner to corner, to make a triangle. Fold over once more. Hold your triangle in your hand as shown in the picture above .

Make 3 (or more if needed) cuts into your folded edge. Be sure NOT to cut all the way through. Leave 1/4 to 3/8 inch (depending on how large your paper is) at the end. Make sure the cuts are evenly spaced and leave the same amount uncut at each end.

Open your paper square. It should look like the one above.

Place a small amount of glue in your dish. Using a small paint brush, glue the inner triangle as shown above.

Skip a strip and glue the next one, as shown in the pictures above.

Now remember, you'll be making 6 of these. I usually work on the other ones while I let these dry.

Flip your paper over and glue the two remaining strips on the opposite side as shown. Let dry. In the picture above you'll notice your paper has one side (the left) that sticks out farther than the other. We'll call this the fat side.

 

Now, glue three pieces of paper together, gluing the fat side to the skinny side and gluing all three points together at the bottom.

 

Repeat this with the other 3 pieces of paper.

Once they are dry, glue the two halves together.

Your Finished! 

Here's an unedited pic for ya!

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