just helen

We Have a Winner!

Last night got away from me, but I have two winners to announce today. The first, for the vintage-style thread trade card calendars is.....drum roll, please....

Seija C., who wrote: 

"It would be "spoolish" of me to not try to win those beautiful cards. Count me in! I'm dreaming of a small book or maybe a spring banner decorated with the cards...so many things you can do!" 

The second winner is for her comments on the Rhodes Guest Blog.  Alicia K. wrote:  "Those look so good! I can't wait to try them!"
Your cookbook will be on it's way shortly!  Thanks to all those that left comments.

I never make it a condition to have you "follow" before you are eligible to enter any of my giveaways, but the best way to be alerted to new posts (which includes those giveaways) is to follow Just Helen. I am working on updating the look of the blog and I am excited about the changes that will come.  Stay tuned for the new look!

Rhodes Guest Blog: Chili Cheese Rolls...and a Giveaway!

Well, folks...it's my turn once again to have a spot as a guest blogger for Rhodes.  This has been a fun experience, not only because I already love the Rhodes family of Bake-N-Serv products, but because it encourages me to experiment with recipes in their cookbooks.  This month I chose to make Chili Cheese Rolls, and I must say they were a hit!

Head on over to the Rhodes blog to see step-by-step directions on how to make these savory meals-in-a-bun!  But before you go, I want you to know that I'm having a "Home Baked Family Favorites with Frozen Dough" cookbook give-away, courtesy of Rhodes.  Here's what you need to do: 

Visit the Rhodes Blog and leave a comment.  Next, come back here and leave a comment...that's two chances.  For a third chance, you can also go to the Rhodes Facebook,  "Like" Rhodes and leave a comment.  Each comment will get your "name in the hat" for an extra chance to win - one comment per visitor per site, please.   The contest will go until noon on Saturday, February 25th, 2012 and the winner will be announced later that Saturday evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

200 Years of Coats and Clark

When I was walking up and down the aisles at CHA last month, something non-scrapbooking/paper/ribbon/embellishment-related caught my eye...a beautiful, large wooden spool...with drawers!

What a wonderful piece!  I know, it looks precariously perched towards the back of the table.  The nice people in the booth were kind enough to move all their post-it notepads from the opened drawers so that I could see what it looked like closed...and then opened again! 

Then they proceeded to point out their cool display of memorabilia.   I love old "things".  Wandering down memory lane and one of those collectibles (that I can afford) are spools of thread.

Isn't the top one cute?  Just looking at the "anklet shades" of darning and mending thread makes me smile to imagine those colors of socks on little feet...I guess they could be big feet, too!

I have glass jars full of all sorts of different colors and types of threads, most of them purchased at thrift stores or estate sales.  They are really fun!  But back to the trade show and a few of their gems.

I love the color card binder.  It's fun to think that salesmen had all that those sorts of sample cards so many years ago!  It would be a fun addition to a scrapbook page or an album, but sad to take a page out of the book, for sure.  (I have been known to take books apart!)

This is a fabulous calendar, don't you think?

I wouldn't mind one of these to store spools of thread in...

I would love to find something like this!

How's this for zippers?

I already have a lot of these colors, on really old wooden spools...am I lucky woman or what?  

In commemoration of their 200th year, Coats and Clark re-printed some of their trade cards with a calendar on the back.  The Coats and Clark people very kindly gave me an extra set of these cards and I would like to share with you...it's just a little giveaway, but if anyone out there is interested, please leave me a comment.  I will randomly draw a name (out of the hat) Saturday, February 24, 2012, in the morning.  I think these would be great with vintage photos or as part of one of those cute little albums.  I am anxious to use mine!

If you are interested in more of the Coats and Clark history, please visit the Coats and Clark website here. It's all very interesting!  Happy crafting!

Good Morning, New Day!

Tap, tap, tap. One eye squinted half open, so as not to allow the daylight to chase a pleasant dream into the dark recesses of my mind, never to be seen again. A robin, perilously perched an a narrow ledge, with wings fluttering against my window pane, continue to tap for a moment, and then was gone. I closed my eye and attempted to pick up where I left off with my dream. Once again I heard the tap, tap, tap. Unable to regain my place in the dream, I opened both eyes to see the robin once again, but with added urgency, clinging to the ledge, wildly fluttering and tapping on the glass and then was gone. What was up with this bird?

Still lingering in the warmth of my bed, unwilling to face the chill of the morning, I watched and waited.  Once again, the robin came, tapping and fluttering, but this time, with my eyes both open, I was able to see more clearly the beauty of Nature's small alarm clock.  I had already ignored the rising of the sun and the gentle chirping in the trees of my own backyard. The robin came, as if to say, "Hurry! Get up! Don't waste any more of this beautiful Sabbath day!" And then, just as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone. In the distance, the annoying doorbell alarm on my phone interrupted the calm and still of the morning. Now fully awake, I quickly turned off my phone and returned to my thoughts before, like my dream, they would be lost to the light of day.

There is so much to be done in my life that I scarce know where to begin. When your overall existence is somewhat chaotic, when you are unsure which direction to take, which path to go down, it is easy to find yourself going around in circles, getting no where at all.  Sometimes just getting by is enough.  But moving forward is the best idea in the long run.   When you can only see the beginning of the trail, a certain amount of fear can keep you from making that first, crucial step on the journey to anywhere, but hopefully to a better place.  I can't do it with one eye halfway open, unwilling to get out of my comfort-zone, not listening to the promptings of the Spirit to do what it takes to get to that better place. I need to be brave and proceed on the journey before I miss the opportunities that are ahead.  They won't wait for me forever.

So...on this beautiful Sabbath morning, I am grateful for the little robin, persistently tapping on my window, helping me realize that it is worth the effort to get up, not waste time and to move forward.  Along the way, I will write the ending to my own lost dream, putting into perspective this sweet reminder:  Each new day brings hope for my journey.  Another one of God's tender mercies.

Photo of Robin

By Their Cover

There is something visually lovely about old books. The art of the exterior draws my attention to them even more quickly than that of their content. When I peruse the shelves of books at estate sales, the more rare books have already been discovered and pulled or priced beyond my budget. But on occasion, I find rather tattered books, of no great value besides their literary content, but of great value to me by their cover. I know...that's a switch from the norm. But I find my well-worn, literary collections simply sublime because they have survived.

Song

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Who can say

Why To-day

To-morrow will be yesterday?

 Who can tell

Why to smell

The violet, recalls the dewey prime

Of youth and buried time?

 The cause is nowhere found in rhyme.

I must admit that I am also smitten with modern technology. The information that I have available at my fingertips is quite amazing.  If I know what I am looking for, or even have an inkling...a thought...a partial phrase of a poem, I have but to make the suggestion to my search, and like magic there appears a whole list of possible answers to my query.  It may require a little digging, but with patience I am sure to find buried treasure. 

There comes to mind that old saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover." What does that mean exactly? Is it that we can't or more that we shouldn't? It's easy to make snap judgements about the way a person looks from the outside to quickly determine whether they are of any value. But what small treasure might we miss by so doing?

People are much like books, all with a story to tell.  Beauty on the outside does not speak to the content within.  Many in the world are consumed with youth and perfection of the exterior.  They are obsessed with "fixing" what they don't like about their appearance and making "perfect" what their genetics were unable to accomplish. If a book-maker spent too much time developing how the cover looks and bypassed the content, what was actually to be written on the pages, the book would never become a best-seller.

These old books of mine, though tattered and worn, are a treasure to me, as are the well-worn friends in my life.  The chiseled lines on their faces and their faltering steps all are part of the story they have to tell...it is up to me to seek the treasures of life that they have to share.