What I'm Reading

Awhile ago, Bargain Hunter asked what we were reading, and I have meant to do this post ever since.
Here are a few books I've found particularly interesting lately:
Rediscovered Treasures: A New Life for Old Objects by Ellen Dyrop. This book has some great ideas on how to use all that stuff you find at garage sales and antique malls. I find it really cool, because sometimes I don't just want to display my finds, but I'd like to use them for things.

I liked this idea of using an embroidered tablecloth to make a change purse. There's also instructions for some of their ideas in the back. I used a vintage scarf to make some pennants for a swap, if you'd like to see them, go here. Everything I used in making them is vintage.

Another cool book I've found is Beautiful Button Jewelry by Susan Davis. She shows you how to use vintage buttons to make jewelry. She also gives a little bit of history on groups of buttons.

My favorite buttons in the book are the Antique Porcelain and China Buttons. I actually found a button I have on one of the pages in this section.

As I'm trying to branch out and bake more, this book has been wonderful. It's the Bake Sale Cookbook by Sandra Lee. What I love about this book is she tells you to start with a box/bag mix you find at the store and then go from there. I really don't like to make everything from scratch, and it saves time.

One of my favorite recipes was the Pecan-Coconut Cookie Cups, even though I didn't actually follow a lot of the recipe for this one. Mine still came out great.

And this last book keeps my criminal justice background interested. It's The Boy in the Box: The Case of America's Unknown Child by David Stout. I only started reading it yesterday, but it totally pulled me in and I'm interested in reading the rest of it.

Since I work at the library, that's where I got all these, but I've made the titles of the books links to Amazon if you're interested in purchasing any of them. The Bake Sale Cookbook is at the top of my Christmas list this year.

On another note, as the holidays are approaching, I really want to do a gift swap. I started doing some Christmas gift swaps last year, and I really want to do more this year, or even making something for someone. Anyone have any ideas of where I can find these kind of swaps? I am following Swapbot, and all the blogs where I found the swaps last year. I may be a little bit early on these, but I love seeing how other people interpret my interests, and when is it not fun to send something to someone else?