Edgar A. Guest

Fisherman's Cottage

by Paul Landry from allposters.

The Little Home
Edgar A. Guest

The little house is not too small
To shelter friends who come to call.
Though low the roof and small its space
It holds the Lord's abounding grace,
And every simple room may be
Endowed with happy memory.

The little house, severly plain,
A wealth of beauty may contain.
Within it those who dwell may find
High faith which makes for peace of mind,
And that sweet understanding which
Can make the poorest cottage rich.

The little house can hold all things
From which the soul's contentment springs.
'Tis not too small for love to grow,
For all the joys that mortals know,
For mirth and song and that delight
Which make the humblest dwelling bright.

Edgar Albert Guest was born in 1881 in Birmingham, England, and came to America as a news reporter. His poems earned him the title of "The People's Poet."  He died in Chicago Illinois in 1959.  During wars and depression, he wrote some of his best poems to encourage and uplift the hearts of Americans.

No Better Land Than This
Edgar Guest 

If I knew a better country in this glorious world today
Where a man's work hours are shorter and he's drawing bigger pay,
If the Briton or the Frenchman had an easier life than mine,
I'd pack my goods this minute and I'd sail across the brine.
But I notice when an alien wants a land of hope and cheer,
And a future for his children, he comes out and settles here.

Here's the glorious land of Freedom! Here's the milk and honey goal
For the peasant out of Russia, for the long-subjected Pole.
It is here the sons of Italy and men of Austria turn
For the comfort of their bodies and the wages they can earn.
And with all that men complain of, and with all that goes amiss,
There's no happier, better nation on the world's broad face than this.

So I'm thinking when I listen to the wails of discontent,
And some foreign disbeliever spreads his evil sentiment,
That the breed of hate and envy that is sowing sin and shame
In this glorious land of Freedom should go back from whence it came.
And I hold it is the duty, rich or poor, of every man
Who enjoys this country's bounty to be all American.

Handmade Notebooks and Scrapbooks

The Garden Path 

by Ernest Walbourn (English 1872-1927)

Take a look at the cardboard backings that come with stickers and other products, which have a punched out hanger area for displaying in the stores. Instead of throwing them away, try looking at them a different way and thinking of other uses for them.  If you get two of them the same size, they can be used as covers for scrapbooks or notebooks.

They can be traced on to brown paper from paper bags. Use the cardboard for the cover and the paper bag for pages.

Below is what the cards look like when covered in various scraps. Instead of buying expensive scrapbook materials, try wrapping paper and parts of  greeting cards, daily calendar tear-off pictures or the lovely floral photographs from seed catalogs.

Trace around the cardboard pieces, including the holes as you see on the left. Trace the same piece on plain paper to make pages.

Brown paper can be used to cover the cardboard, and you can also just use it as a template for tracing your brown paper pages.

Here I have used thin scrapbook papers, gift-wrap and the front of cards.

Put something through the holes to tie the book together, using string or sewing notions.

This one has an end paper on the other side of the cardboard to cover the advertising.

This one is tied with pretty satin wired ribbon,

and  the inside of the cover is covered with more wrapping paper to make an end paper.

This is tied with piece of curly ribbon that I have in my box of old ribbons and yarn.

This card hanger was covered in glitter paper and topped with a card, and then tied with a white brocade wired ribbon. Wired ribbon is available at dollars stores, 9 feet on a roll for a dollar, and is just as good as anything like it in higher priced stores.

This one is covered in scrapbook paper and tied with narrow tulle.

One of cardboard pieces covered in paper bag material and tied with a canvas type ribbon.

Paper bag scrapbook tied with string.

Uses for these notebooks:

1. They are great for pasting in clippings from church bulletins.

2. Diaries for  trips.

3. Menus and recipes

4. Small scrapbooks are easy to fill up and only need a few pages.

5. Use one to write a special letter in, numbering the pages as if it were a book.

6. Record beliefs and thoughts and keep it for the next generation. Haven't you ever wished your grandmother had left a special book for you? 

7. Place pretty pictures of things you enjoy looking at and make a coffee table picture book.

8. Small books like these make good favors for ladies Bible classes or notebooks for their studies.

9. Use one for a small address book, including your most-used addresses.

10. Place photograph corners in them and some older photographs for family members who are interested.

11. They are so quick and easy for making subject books for you or your children's homeschool subjects: an ancient history lesson with hand drawn maps and notes; a nature-studies project with pressed leaves or sketches and hand-written facts; a mathematics book with all your times tables and measurements to refer to often; a sketch book,  or a one week diary.

Please click all the photos on for larger views!

Ideas for fastenning the covers and pages together:

Try crocheting a closing in the hanger holes.

Use a colorful shoelace.

Jute rope now comes in colors--check out a site called Hydrangea Home. These  ropes can be used to tie the books together.

Long wire twist ties from packaging can be saved for this job, but I personally don't like them, as they are not soft and can be sharp.

Raffia also comes in colors. It is a plastic grass that looks like hay, and is strong enough to tie these books together.

Try that big thick yarn you see in WalMart as a tie for hand made books. Look in their craft aisle for more things that could be used as ties.

Cut a long strip of paper and wind it around the holes and glue them down.

It might be fun to use a piece of wired ivy  if it was miniature. Check the miliner section of JoAnns and find wired stems of flowers which would easily bind this book together.

A strip of flat lace ties easily on these books.

Ordinary thin ribbon works well.

On the books that have a hole punched, thread a large button on yarn for binding and a decorative touch.

Tear a strip of white muslin and use it for a ribbon. It looks great with the fluffy edges.

Cut a piece of fabric thin enough to use as a tie. There is no need to hem it and you can also cut a strip of fabric on the bias.

Chenille stems are okay but like twist ties they tend to be sharp if the wire ends are exposed.

Thin wired ribbon is also good.

Valentine Cards for Men and Boys

Trout Fishermen

by Salvador Caballero (1943-2006) Spain

from Allposters.

I've been asked to show some cards for men and boys, and so I have quickly put together some things using clippings from catalogs and magazines. If you have a farm magazine, or anything to do with airplanes, ships, cars, fishing, or whatever you know will appeal to the men in your family, you can cut out pictures for these Valentines. Use the office glue sticks rather than wet glue on magazine clippings to keep them flat.

The Valentine at the top is made by folding white construction paper in half and cutting a heart shape, as I have shown in recent posts. Then, using a model car catalog, cut out a truck or car and paste it to the heart. Use whatever color contrasts the best with the vehicle color and makes it stand out the best.  Then, glue the white heart on to red paper, only on the left half. Cut out again around the white heart, leaving some red color paper to show outside the edges as you see here.

Fold a little piece of paper in half and paste one side of it down so that it opens like a book, and write the person's name or a greeting on it, as shown above.

Fold the unglued half over and put another view of the truck on it.

Decorate the edges by swirling colored glue or puff paint in a pattern, and then put some glue on the bed of the truck and fill it with tinsel hearts. If you have none, cut out some small hearts and glue them down.

Some men collect matchbox cars, which are not at all expensive (99c for hot wheels in some stores) and so you could include a gift of a collectible car with the card:

This next one has an outdoor scene from another catalog. Cover the catalog numbers or page numbers with a cut out heart, and cover corners that are cut irregularly, with more hearts if you like.  I've made another book like the previous one and pasted it on one side, so that it opens with the message.

Glue the heart on a bigger piece of paper of another color and cut around it with deckle edge scissors or plain scissors.

Instead of the old message "Be Mine," I've written "You're Mine."

Here are some samples of free Victorian clipart you can print to put on cards. 

This one would look great in the middle of a card,

and so would this,

but the ships look more adventurous.

Here's another piece of clip art from a catalog. I liked the tea set and used it to make a very quick card for a friend.

Not all Valentines have to be heart shaped. Try putting a scene in the middle of a folded card and just adding hearts from paper.

Another example of using catalog and magazine pictures for clip art. The paper is not as quality as the purchase art stickers and scrapbook clip art, but it is great when you don't have any fancy papers.

Go see more of the beautiful paintings of Spanish artist Salvador Caballero.

Hand Crafted Hearts

Print this graphic to paste on your hand made paper hearts.

Today I would like to share how you can make some hearts using simple materials without having to buy scrapbook embellishments.

This is table scatter made by cutting hearts from white construction paper. They will all be different and they look good with the paper doilies.

These paper doilies have become harder to find, and more expensive in just the last week. Also, there are only 6 of the smaller doilies in the package, so it  makes more sense to use construction paper. If you are not familiar with hand making hearts, here is a pictorial instruction section you can follow.

Select the color of paper you like from the children's construction paper, or just use your printer paper. Fold it in half the long way and tear it off. Construction paper tears easily and straight if the fold is good.  Then take each half and fold it and tear it in half again. You will have four strips of paper like this.

Fold each strip in half the long way.

Draw small, medium and large half-hearts on the fold, as you see on the paper above.

Cut each one out, on the fold.

This is what they look like. Don't worry about the fold in the middle of the hearts, as they are supposed to look that way and it makes them more interesting, as they pop up a little.  You can use the piece of paper with the heart holes in it for another project, by gluing it on to a piece of contrasting paper. It might make a card or some kind of banner. This white one would look good with pink in the centers. All that is necessary is to cut a piece the same size and glue it underneath the open hearts.

I interspersed the store-bought doily hearts with the hand made heart scatter.

Now here is a way to make heart doilies yourself.

First cut out a heart on folded paper.

Open it up.

Cut around the heart with deckle-edge scissors; the kind that have shaped blades.

Fold the paper again and cut out a heart from the center if you like. Save it for now. Using a hole puncher, make holes around the edges, so that it looks like the lace doily you buy at the store. Glue your lace heart on to the pink construction paper, and cut it out again, cutting around the scalloped edges to make another lacy edge, Cut a fourth to half inch larger than the white doily, to make the pink paper show around the edge.

This next one is a way to make a lace heart if you do not have fancy scissors (which actually can be found at the dollar store) or a hole puncher.

Cut out a heart. Fold it in half and then fold the top and ends toward each other.  Cut shapes of hearts and diamonds all around the edges and the folds. Save the pieces that fall from the cutting.

Glue it on a contrasting color, and cut out again, leaving a border of the pink and cutting it to follow the pattern around the edges of the white heart.

For the one on the left, cut smaller hearts of graduated sizes to put in the middle. For the one on the right, glue  smaller paper hearts, on the folded sides in various places.  Click on for a larger view.

Glue some cut out hearts on their sides, to the Valentine. Cut out a paper hanger to paste to the back if you like.

If you print out the graphic at the top on card stock you can cut it out and glue it to the middle of the white heart.

Find more free, printable clip art here.

Free nature clip art here 

Free Victorian printable clip art to place in your hand made hearts can be found here.