Show and Tell Sunday - Ephemera

I've already been asked several times what ephemera means.  Here's what Webster says, "ephemera, items designed to be useful or important for only a short time, esp. pamphlets, notices, tickets, etc."  So, pretty much, it means trash.  lol...  I expanded that so my definition includes old book & music pages, too.

Many of you know that I helped support our homeschool efforts by selling collectible children's books on Ebay for 7 years.  It was a lot of fun.  The best part was going to the used book sales.  While I was looking for collectible books I continued to run across books that had beautiful illustrations or text or just a certain "look" to them but they were falling apart.  No one would buy those.  But there was just something about certain ones that I couldn't resist.  So I had this small collection of beautiful books that were falling apart.  They just sat on my shelf until I learned about altered books and other altered art projects a few years ago.

The cookbook in the second picture was my first altered book.  I used it for my family food memories.  I wrote about my grandmother on the page with the fried chicken recipe, my mom on the page that tells you how to make mashed potatoes, my husband's grandma (GG) on the page with the carrot cake recipe, etc.  I don't think I've taken any photos of it completed... well, it's not actually completed.  I think it'll always be a work in progress.  The other books in the photos are actually in pretty good shape compared to some that I buy and they're decorating my bedroom shelves.  The really bad ones have already been taken apart.  See the pages:

This was an easy show & tell week for me because I already had so many photos.  I sell my extras in my Etsy shop, so a lot of my ephemera already have sample photographs.

Ledgers & Receipts:

Music, Cookbooks, & Other Old Texts:

This one looks like a pile of trash, right?  But with a little imagination what could this become?

I told Cerri I wasn't going to show you how I organize my papers.  Hopefully someone else will do that today.  I have a wonderful rolling scrapbook organizer that holds 12" x 12" papers and have plastic file folders full in it.  That's a great way.  But I have WAY more than will fit in it, so I also have papers in drawers, a box under the bed, stacks in my closet, etc.  It's all hidden away very well, but sometimes hard to find the exact piece I'm thinking of using.

More pages:

And then there are the vintage cards & games:

Dictionary pages:

Looks like being a pack rat may run in the family!  lol...  I think my dad should share his stack of Wall Street Journals.  :-)