Vintage Treasure: notes from a 1909 cookery class

Hi you.

It's September 17th 1909...

In London the Selfridges department store has only been open for 6 months, and newer still is the Victoria & Albert museum.  Louis Bleriot has only just crossed the English Channel in a biplane and while it'll be 5 years before such planes are put to work in the First World War, closer to home there's another war raging. In the women's suffrage movement - on this very day - the force-feeding of imprisoned suffragettes has just begun.

But at the same time, on the same day, another woman, possibly a schoolgirl - although we don't find out her name - takes out a new notebook, picks up her pen and begins taking notes on a cookery class, starting with a recipe for 'Beef Olives' ...

And so begins the first entry on the first page of this wonderful vintage notebook which, at over 100 years old, is a true, antique treasure.

[If this notebook steals your social-history/food-loving heart then it can be yours. Head here to make it yours. Edited to add: this lovely thing is now heading to a new owner, on a different continent and so its 116 year journey rolls onward ...]

If you're a cook / baker with an interest in history, you'll love leafing through recipes which take up 8 pages /16 sides in the handsome E.J.Arnold & Son notebook.

And if you're a food blogger then just imagine blogging the process of following and sharing each of the [approx 28] recipes inside! Wouldn't that make an interesting blog series!! Kind of an antique take on the 'Julie & Julia' blog!

The beautifully hand written script details the ingredients and instructions to make a variety of dishes such as:

Chester Pudding:

And also Bishop's Pudding, Sultana Cake, Shortbread, Chicken Coquettes, Rissoles, Potato Soup,
Welsh Cheese Cakes, Pork Pies, Sausage Rolls, Apple Fritters and Lemon Tarts:

Who knows what happened to the young woman who took these notes ...

• Did she make these dishes for her husband before he picked up his uniform and headed to the trenches? 
• Did she get a job in a stately home feeding her recipe for 'Filleted Plaice' to the likes of Lady Mary at Downton Abbey? 
• Did she have daughters with whom she shared a celebratory 'Steamed Sultana Pudding' the day - 19 years later - that all women received thevote? 

We'll never know ... but we can enjoy speculating!


And, if you did make this book your own [now sold] you can always make your own history inside it by continuing the book where it left off: the second half of the book, the remaining 8 leaves have been left blank ...

... so perhaps they're just waiting for you to complete them with your own recipes, or memories, or art work?

Or else you can just continue to keep this piece of social history safe and sound ... and maybe even keep it alive by trying out some of the recipes from time to time!

And with this handsome illustration from the back cover ...

I'll close the book.

Thanks for stopping by to browse another of my vintage treasures today.

Julie
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Book binding: Handbound *Little Books* - reclaimed pages pre-loaded with inspiration

Hi hi.

Let me show you my 'Little Books' [Books. I said, *books*! What did you think I said?].

Here's a selection of them currently awaiting a new owner in my Etsy shop:

*Little Books* are a range of, well, little books!

I made them to fit into your pocket - unless of course your coat or jeans only has those tiny pockets  you can only fit a mint or a £1 coin inside. In which case ... these books are bigger than those pockets! But otherwise they're small enough to take with you wherever you go. [Various sizes from 10 - 14cm high].

Between the reclaimed covers of each Little Book I've bound a wide variety of carefully curated pages cut and torn [it's a laid-back imperfect kind-of journal] from my vast and varied papery treasure trove. 

The approx. 10 - 15 folded sheets / 20 - 30 sides include a mix of things such as:

• text from old books 
• images from old books
• map papers
• scrapbook/craft papers 
• graph paper
• ephemera

And each on is unique combination which pre-loads the your pages with inspiration; because who wants a lot of scarily blank, shiny and new, pages staring back at them?

When you open it up you get to quickly tap into the fun part ... the creative part ... the part of seeing where the inspiration leads you and deciding what to add to each page! This could be anything from:

• collage
• photographs
• poems
• art journaling 
• 'journal' journaling
• lists
• sketches 

... or whatever grabs you when you're settling down to get your craft on! 

Then, once you're done for the day you can pop your vintage-embracing Little Book back into your pocket/bag until next time.

So what of these 'reclaimed' covers? Here are a few examples made from map covers and the covers of a book of sheet music:

Each cover wraps around the contents with the stitches passing through the 'spine' which is hidden behind a strip of contrasting fabric. Which is where my contribution ends ... its new owner can go on to do add all the personality a Little Book can hold!! 

If you're one of those who've already bought a Little Book drop by here or my Facebook page any time to show me how you've filled your pages!

And if you're looking for a portable journal to take with you on a summer break ... I hope you'll cast your eye over a Little Book or two first. 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Julie 

Card making: A fun (and feminist) acetate pop up card!

Hello hello.

The current issue of Papercraft Inspirations magazine  [Issue 140, July 2015, on sale since May 26th], features 'Acetate' in my regular '10 Ways With' feature.

One of my 10 projects was based on a design that uses a strip of acetate, passed into a slot in a base, as a pop-up mechanism:

 And while the method was fresh in my mind I made a second card to share here.

This time I've used the 'Girls' sets of stamps from AHA Arts. [I bought mine direct from the designer AshleyG on Etsy, but she no longer stocks them there. In the UK they're available here from That's Crafty!]. Isn't that just the best sentiment??

I made this card for a 14 year old girl ... although it's a sentiment I think we could all do with reminding ourselves from time to time!

In the right light the acetate can  almost disappear making whatever you add to the front look almost as if it's free-standing or, in this instance, free-floating!

The rest of the card is made from scoring an folding a strip of card or - as I used here - double-sided paper from a 12x12 sheet:

For more acetate-inspired designs you can check out my Papercraft Inspirations feature and I hope something in this post had inspired you to either:

• (a) get your crafting supplies out or 
• (b) consider your own superhero side! 

Me? I'm just off to find my cape [although I think I'll give the wearing-my-undies-over-my-lycra look a miss this time round ...].

See you soon.

Julie :-)

Vintage treasure: The Wanderer Stamp Album

Hi you.

I'm not sure when it was that Irene Dove lost interest in stamp collecting ...

... but whenever it was her Wanderer Album of Postage Stamps of the World at some point in the last 70 years made its way into the world without her. 

Eventually, [although through what route, through whose hands, through how many abandonments and trades, we'll never know] what began in Irene's hands ended up in mine. 

Its now empty pages, no stamps remain inside, would make an incredibly unique base for art journaling, for collage work or even your life story! And goodness ... how perfect would it be if it was to enter into a new life as a travel journal??!!!! 

While I can't find a publication date in the book there is a sentence on the page about Monaco that makes me suspect it's from circa 1936: "Commerce is relatively unimportant, the revenue being mainly derived from the gaming tables, which will provide in 1937 over £1000,000 and keep the population tax free!". It's that 'which will provide' phrase that makes me think 1937 hasn't ended yet. 

Similarly on the page about Germany, while there's a mention of World War One there's no word on the 1939-45 war. What it does, rather enigmatically say, however is: "The Germans have always been in the vanguard of literature, music and science, and the future of this great country is impossible to determine."

I'm certain someone with a greater knowledge of Geography and History may be able to date it more accurately ... but all I'm really trying to show you is ... this is old, it has history.

And while its cover may be a bit creased and scuffed [and which of us can say we haven't felt similarly ourselves?!] it is still a fascinating treasure which could  be a joy to work in.

So, why aren't I using it? Well ... I did buy it with the intention of using it myself but ... if I kept all of the old books I buy then I'd have no space to keep all the new ones I buy.  If you follow my logic?!

Seeking out papery treasure is one of my absolute favourite things to do ... and passing that treasure trove on to others from time to time is a way for me to keep being able to enjoy the chase! Plus it means I've saved someone else the job of rummaging around ten dozen dusty tea chests and 4 miles of old shelving just to find one pure gem like this one.

If it's your art / journaling / memory-keeping that you can imagine covering its pages then - at the time of writing - it's here for you to stake your claim on it. [Edited to add: Irene's book is now on its way to its new owner.] Like all of my orders it will be eclectically wrapped with a sprinkling of bits, bobs and ephemera tucked safely inside to spark your creativity.

And, of course ... you could always just use it as a stamp album ... a thought which only just occurred to me!  

Typical up-cycling crafter! I couldn't help but  see the alternative uses for it first!

And if you just enjoyed seeing the book today, that's great too ... there's plenty more where that came from ... enough to keep a blog [or two] well stocked for a while! Maybe I'll share some others sometime too.

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If you haven't popped your head around my shop door for a while then get your head over there - no need to travel - just a click of the mouse, a swipe of the smart-phone or tabletty dooh dah thing. 

There's all kinds of additional bookish doings going on right now over there, with:

• pocket-sized books made with retro postcard covers;
• retro 90s notebooks from China;
• and handbound [by my own fair hand no less!!] 'Little Books' [many of which are made from map covers ... so even more potential to be turned into travel journals!]

Happy wandering ... 

Julie :-)

My Month in Numbers: May

Hello hello.

We've made it June. Already. June!  As James asked me, rather doubtfully, this morning: 'So, is it summer now then?' Because, this changeable, chilly, breezy weather we're having certainly doesn't feel like it! Here in the UK we could well be forgiven for wondering if we'd pricked our finger on a spindle, fallen asleep, and woken up in September.

Although, if that is the case then there should be a handsome Prince wandering around somewhere ... let me just check ...

No, hang on, before I get too distracted why don't I share with you my May ... in numbers? [If you're wondering what the whole number deal is ... you'll find all you need to know here, including how you can join in our merry band].

Let's start with the overnight trip James and I took right back on May Day Bank holiday ...

B6265 = the road I had to navigate to get us first to Fountains Abbey for the day and then on to our hotel.
Strangely, as I mentioned before, someone booked us an overnight stay near in a tiny town in North Yorkshire, as a birthday gift for James, without knowing that it was a mere 3 minutes / 0.9miles from the cottage I stay in twice a year when my friends and I go 'Crafting in the Country'.

Janet, all those times I spent navigating our way back from various tea rooms to our cottages must have paid off! I knew the roads like the back of my hand!

[Note to any other big 'Scandal' fans out there ... every time I had to say 'B6265 ... I would think of B613. And Jake Ballard. Obviously. Although ... I have been known to start thinking about Jake Ballard even without prompting.]


1132 = the year Fountains Abbey was built, which makes it an incredible 883 years old!
Here it is through the 'Toy Camera' setting on my new camera; I love that I can take my own 'tilt-shift' style shots now:

 

12,166 steps = taken around Fountains Abbey and its surrounding gardens.
Fortunately it was a beautiful day to be taking all those steps outside; comfortably warm [no coat!] and no wet grass. Apart from being situated not far from where we were staying our main reason for going was to visit the 4 'Folly!' installations they've currently got on show which are, as the name might suggest 'installations' inside four of the Georgian follies on the site. Here's my favourite ...

3.6m = the height of the 'Scavenger' found making itself at home inside the Banqueting House:

 For a sense of scale check out my post from last month where there's a shot of James next to it.

And while Scavenger [by theatre and set designer Gary McCann] was my favourite of the four ...
 the prize for 'Most painfully ironic installation' goes to this one:

If you think you've seen it before then that might be because I also mentioned it that post from last month; the one where I showed you a close-up of the nest with a lost doll inside.  But before I remind you of the name of this installation let me jog your memory that it was while were at Fountains Abbey that James lost his glasses and had to spend the rest of the trip wearing his sunglasses [if you missed that tale you can catch up with it all here]. 

And yes, he called their office to ask if they'd been handed in, and yes, they've taken his details and promised to let him know if they find them, and no ... they haven't called. So what's the title of this piece... well, naturally it's  ...  'Lost Property'!!

If you fancy seeing any of it for yourself then you can find out more on the Fountains Abbey website. And, while you're there ... have a look inside that nest for me will you?

We're wondering if rather than make their way back to the reception desk his glasses have actually been incorporated into the installation! ;-)

568 of 1006 = the number of pages I've read of Susanna Clark's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell :

Getting beyond that half way point felt great! Until I realised I still had 503 more to go - which in itself is a lot more than many novels!

3 of 7 = the number of episodes of the BBC adaptation that have aired so far.
I've been frantically reading, trying to keep apace, to keep ahead of the episodes and as I'd read well beyond the point I knew the programme had tackling I thought I was doing OK ... until I watched last night where 2 main plot twists were revealed that I hadn't yet reached!

Clearly, adapting a book so large into 8 hours is going to mean a spot of plot re-jigging!! And I'm going to need to get a lot more read before next Sunday evening if I'm to avoid any more spoilers!

And - purely because My Month in Numbers wouldn't be My Month in Numbers without a nod to a random statistic that's made its mark on my month ...

21.62m² = the total 'coverage' offered by 10 rolls of new loo roll. Which - should you ever need to know this - is [approximately] enough to cover one tenth of a standard tennis court!![Yes, I worked it out!]

I've never bought this brand before and didn't notice its particularly detailed statistical breakdown until I got home. Because, I don't know about you but ... when I buy toilet roll I'm not really looking for such in-depth product information. There's pretty much just the one thing, no make it 2 things, .. that I ever want to know about the loo roll:

1. Is it more absorbent [sorry, we're wandering into rather unfortunate territory now aren't we?] than that water-repelling stuff they used to have in the toilets at school? And ...
2. ... is there any of it in the cupboard when I need it??  And as long there's at least one roll [or 21.6m² as I should now refer to it] then that's all I need to know! 

And finally, while were talking in square metres ...

1.3 m² = the amount of lovely spread-out-able space available on my new desk!

If you'd like to see how much/little space I had before [and how much tidy my room was!!] then drop by this Month in Numbers post from 2012. But I really used to struggle to work on there though and got the men in my life to sort me out a new one!

My Dad made the top for me from plywood, re-using the legs from my old desk and the nice white work surface is a piece of vinyl flooring leftover in James's storeroom at work [don't worry, he cleared it all with his boss* first before we took it home. *He is the boss.]

It's such a small workroom [probably about 3x2.5m] that when they both went in there to set it all up I couldn't even fit in the same space as: 2 men plus the 1.3 m²m square of plywood that needed turning over so they could fix 5 legs to the underside! But it all worked out and now I have enough space to spread out my craft supplies while still having room for my laptop and - most importantly - my tea and biscuits.

The first time I put every last, beautifully useful, squared centimetre to the use it was intended [I.e: the first time I made a complete mess on it] James took one look and, unwittingly paraphrasing that famous quote from Jaws, declared ... "You're going to need a bigger desk!".

But if that's the case a bigger room will have to come first!

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Well then, those are the numbers that shaped my May 2015 if you'd like to join in you're more than welcome to. [The MinN etiquette is all here if you've not seen it before].

• Any one can take part, any time, you can dip in and out whenever you fancy;
• I always say I'll be here blogging my numbers whether anyone else joins in or not - so having you hopping on board will be an added extra!
• To read other people's numbers you can visit their blogs from the links they leave in the comments on this post. 
• Or you can follow the link to the Pinterest board where I save everyone's posts. 

And if you've just dropped by for a catch-up - hello!! - how's things?

How's your toilet tissue situation?

What? Hey, I'm not shy about jumping in with the deep and meaningful questions straight away. That's just how I roll ... ;-)

See you soon.

Julie :-)