Valerean

I was looking for a Victorian era photo album to use for a craft project, and ended up purchasing a lot of vintage paper ephemera for $14.99. Along with the album I got some lovely old photos, scrapbook pages, three Asian figurines (not pictured) and a ton of journal-making inspiration. I'll use some of these pages for my craft project, but I may turn the old album into a junk journal. The three magazines I received are from left to right: Collier's September 22, 1951 issue (ten years older than me!), Life April 19, 1948 issue (this one is older than my guy!), and Look January 26, 1965 issue. The first two cost 15 cents and the last one was a whopping twenty-five cents. Last time I bought a magazine I paid $15.00 for it, so prices have gone up quite a bit, lol. The old ads in the magazine are often hilarious to read. Here's one for Hunt's canned tomato sauce, possibly when it debuted on the market. No one shied away from bacon in the olden day...

I've gotten back into hand writing a personal journal while I document the ongoing changes in my life this year. I don't write quite as much (or as prettily) as I used to, but the daily habit adds to my peace and calm. While we were walking around The Mercantile last week I spotted some journaling kits, emphemera and mystery bags of vintage things that gave me an idea, and invested in these three. First, the mystery bag's contents: A beautiful old beaded purse, four spools of vintage thread, an empty wooden spool, lavender, and seven cut sections of a birch branch. Everything fits inside the purse and will stay there while I cook up some ways to use it. The purse is definitely going to be a journaling project. :) The journal ephemera pocket matches perfectly with the journal I'm using right now. It contains a lovely little collection of tags and papers. The journal kit was a big surprise; I didn't realize it came with so many bits. I...

I thrifted a book of origami that included the papers from our local church thrift for $1.99, and decided to try a few of the designs as something different and fun to do. This bunny was my second attempt (the first I had to abandon when I couldn't figure out the directions.) Then I made a swan. Origami is pretty exacting, and sometimes the way the illustrations show to fold the paper is confusing. But I like the results when I do get it right, so I'll keep practicing. I'd love to be able to fold a thousand paper cranes. :)