Placing Some Historic Pieces in the Gold Journal

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Hey everybody, it's Lynn from A Bit of Bird Song. This is a journal that has not been on the desk in a while. I love this one. It's probably been a month since I worked in this. I do keep it standing on my file cabinet out here because I love it so much. I love these buttons. I love the gold. This was made from a sort of a chipboard cover to some paper. And I wanted the these little holes where the paper was bound with the spiral wire. I wanted those to be out here on the end. And I do remember being inspired by uh Katie Lyman, whatever she was working on at the time. I think it had something to do with the cover and putting these holes out here at this end. So, thank you Katie. Katie is amazing. I love her channel. And I've I need to catch up with everyone. Like I said, I watched some videos while I was away, but it would be hard to comment and sometimes I would watch one or two videos or three by the same person and then I would go back later and I couldn't remember what was from what video. So, what I'm going to do, I have a few specific things I want to add to this journal. And this journal does have sort of a gold, it's not really a gold theme, but it's got a lot of gold in it. And I had planned to just start putting lots of my very favorite vintage pieces that I come across. Uh it's not not that I have an envelope or something somewhere full of favorite things, but I have a tendency to not pull things out like that for myself. You know, I'm always making packs and I do keep one of those for myself, but I need to start saving some of the things that I really love, things that just, you know, talk to me. And anyway, I hope that makes sense. I do like putting packs together, too. And I'm working on some I'm getting back in the groove.

[00:02:03]This is a coffee stain.

[00:02:06]And this paper, this is a wallpaper that I'm painting the back of, and it's very fibrous.

[00:02:16]Um, you can see the fibers showing up. So, I don't want to drag the brush around too too much. I don't know if it'll make it like raggedy or or anything like that, but I do want some vintage color. I love this page over here. So, let's just stain this one maybe to match.

[00:02:43]Now, I want to come back and add some gold paint, but I'm not going to do it right now because I want uh I want to be able to flip these pages and not worry about getting that gold paint over here.

[00:03:01]And let's just grab this and lay it there while we turn. Uh, one of the things that I have is this very pretty scrapbook paper. It looks vintage.

[00:03:14]It's It's just regular old scrapbook paper, but whoever did it sure did a good job because it looks old.

[00:03:27]And I just want to glue a piece of this right across the end. I thought about maybe gluing it as a little pocket. I think I will do that.

[00:03:39]Of course, it wouldn't hold anything really heavy, but maybe just a little picture or something. And I have, as you already know, collected a lot of old pictures recently. I already had a lot of old pictures and I just love to look through them.

[00:03:59]I love to go through them.

[00:04:05]So, that will be a little pocket. Let's just leave that there for now. This is a pretty stamp. It is a Christmas stamp.

[00:04:15]I was going to see if I could tear some of the paper off.

[00:04:19]And it it it has a sort of an orange gold color in the background.

[00:04:27]Maybe it's sort of a halo because this is an image of the Madonna.

[00:04:36]And I'm wondering if that would be pretty in here.

[00:04:45]You know, sometimes I'm just like with the trash journals, I just go with the flow.

[00:04:52]I uh sometimes do just what strikes in that millisecond and then later I might say, "Oh, well that I could have done something in better." But when I'm working on a journal that is themed or has a really specific purpose, I do try to pay more attention to what I'm doing.

[00:05:13]I think that's pretty there. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but after adding the coffee stain and distressing it, I think it fits a little better. So, let's put that there.

[00:05:27]And then that's pretty, too. That old wallpaper, that is so gorgeous. I love this page, too. That old image and the gold star we cut out of the scrapbook paper. Now, we're going to go ahead and distress this page as well.

[00:05:45]And of course, coffee is acidic. I think I talked about that when I very first worked in this journal. I don't really put anything in my coffee to try to balance the pH or neutralize it. I appreciate when that's done.

[00:06:05]Probably don't worry about stuff like that as much as I should.

[00:06:09]I love that you can see the fibers in that paper.

[00:06:18]Let's go back and see how it's drying. Oh, that's really pretty.

[00:06:32]Oh, wait. Did I make some notes? Oh, yeah, I did. Um, I can't remember if I mentioned on here or not. I have figured out that if I leave the doors open to the building, which I do frequently, like today, it is very cool here outside. It's in the high 50s and it feels lovely. Just a really slight breeze. It's not hot at all today. Uh so I figured out when I open the doors, I get a phone signal so I can sit in here and watch YouTube. And I I'm very excited about that. Now, I have the doors closed right now. my door to my unit and the doors to the actual building because I'm recording and I know that I'm going to be wrapping it up here soon and going back home. So, I went ahead and closed the door.

[00:07:19]Sometimes I open both doors to the building, like the front and the back, and the breeze comes through. Oh, what else did I want to tell you about the comments on my channel while I was away?

[00:07:29]I have tried to go back and answer everyone. If I missed you, it was not intentional. I'm going to go back and look again just to see if I've missed any. Uh it was one of those things again. It was just kind of hard to do that part of things while I was away.

[00:07:45]But my apologies if I missed a comment if I didn't respond to you. Seems like there was Oh, so love love these old recipes. And I think I want to take I think I want to take part of this because it is falling apart. And I I have read these. I thought, hm, would I use these? Here's devil cake. These are all so old-fashioned.

[00:08:16]I wonder if that'll fit.

[00:08:20]Yes.

[00:08:23]Let's put that. Oh, I really like this glue stick.

[00:08:28]I've about used the whole thing. Uh oh.

[00:08:31]Am I at the end? Not quite. This came in one of those. Uh I think I got it in one of the trinket bags and I have really enjoyed it for certain things and I think I'm going to use it for this.

[00:08:48]So I may have to buy some glue sticks.

[00:08:51]Are any of you like big glue stick fans?

[00:08:57]I know we've talked about glue before.

[00:08:59]There are so many glue discussions online on so many YouTube channels and so many Facebook groups.

[00:09:07]People have done videos devoted to glue sticks and glues, different types of glue. I really do love tacky glue and I've been using it for decades and I don't even know why I started using that, but I used to use it when I was at my old house.

[00:09:30]And I do think it holds nicely. It doesn't smell bad. I don't I can't tolerate those glues that smell so bad.

[00:09:38]They don't uh sit well with my nose and my brain and everything. And I have heard some people say that the glues made them sick, gave them a like a perpetual cough, and they've quit using them to try to get better. So, I like that.

[00:09:59]Hopefully, that'll hold. We'll see how that glue holds. Especially since I was putting it on a page that's a little bit damp. That's pretty, too.

[00:10:09]Somebody wrote that out and then I think cut that chair out. Of course, it was one piece that needs a little glue.

[00:10:18]And I guess I glued that little piece of fabric in to be a pocket. I did not remember doing that part.

[00:10:44]Kind of like that.

[00:10:47]Let's put that in. I had gathered a few things that had gold.

[00:10:53]have gold in them.

[00:11:01]And one of the things that I want to make, I may glue the other half of that recipe page. I want to make some little uh photo corners. I think this paper would be pretty in here. And I feel like I need to distress this page. That paper is just soaking that up instantly.

[00:11:22]So, you can't really drag it around any. It's really dark right there. And I don't want to tear the paper up.

[00:11:34]H. Well, then let's just do this.

[00:11:42]I don't want to glue over that. That's beautiful. Ooh, these little uh very flimsy postcards.

[00:11:50]And I can tell it was a booklet. You can see the staples that are attached to this page. It was one of those little books of postcards.

[00:12:03]I believe all of these are from North Carolina. And I did not know that at first. This is the Normal Collegiate Institute and I think that must be the one in Asheville. I did not know what Normal Collegiate Institute meant. So, I looked it up and it was a school that taught quote unquote normal uh schooling like to prepare teachers I guess but it also had a college level teaching and I know that's a very that's not a very good definition but it said that these schools were important to educate uh people of color, particularly African-Americans, it mentioned, and women.

[00:12:50]I And I don't want to mess up the front or the back. And I look at this. It says free cotton and free wool.

[00:13:00]And this beautiful little child sitting in it looks like a basket of cotton.

[00:13:06]She's beautiful. Now, I wondered if it was a family. He looks a little older than her, so I don't really know.

[00:13:14]Okay, I had to stop and read about this once I was done with the video. So, I'm recording again to talk a little bit about this. I think this is probably from the early 1900s, maybe 1900 to 1920. And I was reading about what it would possibly mean for this to say free cotton and free wool. Apparently, and of course we can imagine and would know instinctively that there are multiple meanings to this word free. There was a lot of I guess political debate about whether or not imports, things like cotton should be have tariffs on it.

[00:13:56]Now, what I know about this just barely barely scratches the surface, but it could pertain in part to that uh you know, these things without tariffs could also be of course pointing to the fact that slavery had been abolished and that this cotton was worked with quote unquote free labor. uh not that they did it for free but that it was done by people who were free is what I'm reading. But then this also feels exploitative because uh it was a romanticized studio type setting showing these people working and just the fact that the word free is here. So obviously these postcards are souvenirs and I don't know it just really really stirs up a lot of questions. My takeaway is that the people are beautiful. And when I think about the word free in connection with the word cotton, I'm my mind automatically goes to the people needing to be free. But I don't I feel like since it says free cotton and free wool, there are probably multiple meanings to the way that's presented. Anyway, uh it deserves respect, this whole topic. So, I just wanted to say I did read a little bit more about it. Uh, it's probably collectible. I, you know, things like this are. I'm going to put it in here because I just, it just pulls at my heartstrings. And that's kind of what this book is about.

[00:15:36]Here we have beautiful Swaninoa. I believe all these Kennallworth in it's keen I l Wo Rh. Believe all these places are in the western part of North Carolina. Battery Park Hotel, The Manor, Albamaral Park, I think that says.

[00:16:01]What else do we have?

[00:16:04]Uh, yes, French Broad Valley from Connal. I guess the view was from Connal.

[00:16:12]And then Mount Mitchell, which has some tearing in it.

[00:16:17]And these old photographs are just amazing in what stories they tell. But I do want to make some photo corners to put some of these in. So, we just need some really narrow strips.

[00:16:36]Well, not super narrow. And I think I can probably cut that in half.

[00:16:41]You really just fold a little 90° angle and then you fold the other side to match and you'll make we have an instant corner. And of course probably the more narrow the strip, the smaller the photo corner is going to be. And obviously, you really don't want them to be too too large because if you make them too large, they'll obscure part of the actual image you're gluing in. But then you can just glue the, you know, you can just glue the photo corners in.

[00:17:22]But she is gorgeous. I keep looking to see. I mean, just the blouse. Look at the sleeves. At first, I thought that was a bracelet, but I think it's another layer under her shirt. It may be some sort of undergarment. And she's got that bag slung over her shoulder to hold the cotton. Can you I would love to see that blouse in person. And I wonder if she made it.

[00:17:47]And that sweet little baby.

[00:17:51]Anyway, it just it hurts my heart to think of the possibilities.

[00:17:59]Maybe I don't know the best way to do it. I have done something like this before where I tried to put all the corners on and add glue and then just like float it down to the paper and all the corners fell off. So, let me try to put glue on each corner and that way we've saved both sides of this old postcard. It's a shame all the antique stores in Hillsboro, which is the town next to Durham, one of the towns next to Durham, so many of them went out of business in this little shopping center named Daniel Boone Village, and that's where I had my little store in the railroad caboose.

[00:18:37]But some of the antiques dealers there, they knew so much. I would love to be able to take this to a guy named Dennis who worked there. And you know, if you work with things like this long enough and you see so many things and you hear so many stories and he had been in that store for decades, I I come across things and I think, "Oh, I would love to show him and see what he thinks."

[00:19:07]Let's look at these. I do think this Normal Collegiate Institute is very interesting. So maybe I'll put that on the other side.

[00:19:17]I wonder if I can make photo corners out of this paper. I'm sure I can. This paper's a little heavier.

[00:19:39]But are these going to be big enough?

[00:19:47]I don't know. I want It might need to go against a different page. It's like it's just disappearing into that page. Oh, that's pretty.

[00:19:56]I kind of like it against those leaves.

[00:19:59]That school closed down. So, I believe it said that school opened or was founded in 1892 and closed down in 1944, something like that.

[00:20:13]I'll have to read more about it. I just kind of glanced Googled it and then of course the little it's probably AI the little synopsis popped up. Little AI overview.

[00:20:29]I guess I could have been really careful to fold these so that we would end up with a butterfly showing.

[00:20:35]That would be fun. Actually, see if we can do it.

[00:20:46]I don't know if enough of it's going to show. I don't know if it's worth it to try to cuz it folds the wings back. Oh, but it is pretty.

[00:20:57]Let's see if we can see if it's a butterfly. Yeah, you can tell it's a butterfly. Does anybody remember that series on TV called Christy?

[00:21:06]I know it was kind of sappy, but I loved it. And she, I think, went up in the mountains from Asheville.

[00:21:15]So, she was in the Smoky Mountains, the Great Smoky Mountains. It is so beautiful there. When I go there, I don't want to leave. I always think I just want to stay here, but I feel the same way about the beach. So, I guess they're just these two magical spots that make you want to stay forever.

[00:21:39]That's fun.

[00:21:42]All right. Maybe I can glue these in the same way we did the other ones.

[00:21:48]And the thing about Christy, so if you if you do remember it, you know, she was struggling over who to marry, was it Dr. Dr. Neil McNeel? And I am descended from a Neil McNeel who came from Scotland. I think he was born in the late 1600s, wasn't it? Neil McNeel. And then who was the pastor? Was it David? What was his name?

[00:22:18]And I would have chosen Neil McNeel. He was so feisty. He was fiery. And I think Christy was really fiery, too. And I think that's who she ended up choosing.

[00:22:29]But, you know, some people think that the pastor would have been a better choice for her.

[00:22:36]I know people used to talk about it on forums back on that show. Would who would you choose?

[00:22:44]Hopefully that's going to stick.

[00:22:47]Let's get some of these little scraps out of the way.

[00:22:54]Maybe I'll save these other two.

[00:22:57]Beautiful Swaninoa. I like that, too.

[00:22:59]But I'm not going to put any more postcards in right now. Well, I just heard the lights click, so I think I've been on here for about 30 minutes. So, let's just go through and look at some of these pages we've done.

[00:23:14]That's going to be pretty. I like that.

[00:23:17]And I think this fabric would be pretty in here. Maybe I can make a ruffle to glue onto the edge of one of those pages.

[00:23:29]That's pretty.

[00:23:32]That's that old hotel receipt.

[00:23:35]Can't get a hold of it.

[00:23:40]That is a little pocket there. Maybe I'll have a tiny little photograph we can put in there.

[00:24:03]Oh yeah, that's staying.

[00:24:12]It's still got the old staples in it. I want to leave those also.

[00:24:18]This is really old wallpaper.

[00:24:21]It came from an old sample book.

[00:24:25]And I think so, one of these sample pages, maybe more than one. If you go to my website, a bit of birdsong.com, uh there is a link to the blog portion and I put images there that you can use.

[00:24:39]I try to scan things and upload them.

[00:24:42]Oh, so guess what else happened while I was away? Jason sent me a little video and he said the yard is on fire and it was not So it was where three properties meet. Our neighbors, our property, and then some other neighbors.

[00:24:59]And it's also where some of the utilities, there's a utility pole. It's where the cable goes into like everybody's cable converges there.

[00:25:11]And it's there's that's just where the utilities sort of converge for our little neck of the woods. And they've had the fire marshals investigating because it just started. Nobody was out there. Nobody We have a burn ban. Nobody was burning. Uh Jason just he said he was in the house and suddenly he started smelling smoke and he looked out the window and at the same time he started hearing voices from other neighbors on the other side of us.

[00:25:41]I think one of the neighbors involved called 911 and it caught the fence on fire.

[00:25:48]So this uh fire actually was burning down the fence, the wooden fence. You you see it sometimes in my videos that goes between two of the houses. That fence was burning.

[00:26:00]Where was I going with this?

[00:26:04]Something made me think of that. Oh, I know what I was going to say. I was talking about images on my blog. I do have some other things to add, but of course that our cable went out. Uh I'm surprised the electricity stayed on. Uh fire trucks came out. They tried to figure out what caused it. Spectrum had to come out and work on everything. And ever since that, my computer will not get online. And I I know it'll get online. I just need to make the effort to get an Ethernet cable and plug it in and have it recognize the network again. For some reason, it's not recognizing the Wi-Fi signal. Or maybe Jason can figure it out. I've looked.

[00:26:48]I'm usually not horrible at figuring out things like that, but I'm struggling.

[00:26:53]I've restarted the computer. Oh, I love that. The book spying from Pilgrim's Progress.

[00:27:01]Anyway, it's it's been an exciting two weeks, but I'm very grateful to say that so far everything has resolved and feel very fortunate. So, I think that's enough of this one for now. Uh, this one's going to be really pretty. I think when it's full of just vintage items, this will be the kind that you can just sit and look at and ponder. Thank you so much for watching. I will be back really soon. Bye for now.