We’re celebrating the upcoming release of my third Food Lovers’ Village mystery, BUTTER OFF DEAD (July 7—save the suspense and pre-order it now!), with a glimpse of some of your favorite authors’ prized collections.
Today, Bailey Cates, aka Cricket McRae, shares a very book-ish collection that started long before she became a published author.
“When Leslie asked if I collected anything, I immediately thought of my bookmarks. Of course, I have craft “stashes” — of yarn and fabric, of herbs and essential oils and soap molds — but the only thing I really collect is bookmarks. I started when I was quite young. I loved reading, they were small and easy to pack (and we moved a lot), and they were cheap (often free). Now, forty years later, I have hundreds of bookmarks, perhaps even thousands.
This is a framed set of bookmarks from well-loved bookstores. Unfortunately, many of them are out of business now, but at least these live on to decorate my office wall.
And this a sampling of just a few of the others. There are the gifts of cross-stitch, watercolor, and a pom-pom bookworm on cardboard. The leather ones on the right are part of a mini-collection from my travels in Britain, where they seemed to be ubiquitous souvenirs. Shown is one from Ireland, one from the Dublin Writers Museum, and another from the Sherlock Holmes museum. The books of bookmarks crack me up — but admittedly are a good way to share recipes or have people return borrowed books. Beside the Bookmarks for Cooks is a laser-cut unicorn from my very early days of collecting. Yes, I was a girl who loved unicorns. And there in the middle is a tiny ship etched on a recycled ivory piano key — one of my very favorites.
And now I hand out my own bookmarks like a madwoman at conventions and signings. Big thanks to Leslie for inviting me to participate in her fun collection blog event this month!”
The fifth in Magical Bakery Mystery, Magic and Macaroons, will release on July 7. Connect with Bailey and find out more about her books at www.cricketmcrae.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter: @WriterBailey
Leave a comment on my Facebook page or blog for a chance to win a SIGNED copy of SOME ENCHANTED ECLAIR, fourth in the Magical Bakery mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin Random House. Ruff the Cat will choose a winner at random—check back in the morning to find out!
(Hint: if you subscribe to the blog, you’ll receive the posts by email and you won’t have to hunt for them on FB.)
(This contest is not sponsored or endorsed by Facebook.)
#butteroffdead
I do have a few bookmarks (at least one unicorn bookmark, if not more), and I refuse to use them. I want to keep them forever! (Plus I have a hard time finding bookmarks that I like). I do use the free bookmarks from the public library. I have read the first 2 books in the Magical Bakery Mystery (which I love), and I am looking forward to reading the all series. Thank you for the giveaway.
myrifraf(at)gmail(dot)com
I have a little typo… I meant “…and I am looking forward to reading the all the books in the series.” *Sorry*
Another unicorn fan! Yay 🙂
I think you’d better post a picture, Jeanetta — I just can’t picture marking my place with a unicorn!
Another fun collection. They look great framed.
It’s just a cheap poster frame, but I do love it!
Don’t they? Presentation can turn a pile of stuff into a beautiful collection!
I love this series! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity…keeping my fingers crossed. Kuzlin at AOL.com
Good luck!
Thanks for joining in the fun!
Bookmarks is a cool thing to collect. I love this series. Thank you for the chance.
I’ve had fun reading the series, too. Good luck 🙂
Whether you mean Bailey’s books or the authors’ comments on their collections, I agree — and thanks!
You have a really nice collection of bookmarks. I only have a few. Thank you for the giveaway!
I didn’t realize how many I had until I opened the hat box I keep most of them it. Heh!
Turns out nearly anything we love — or that reminds us of something we love — can be a collection!
Since eclairs are my very favorite pastry—I’d really like to win this book. Thanks for the contest.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Mmmmm…eclairs. Good luck!
Oooh, an eclair collection–I’d help put that together, but it wouldn’t last long!
I’ll be right over to help you put that collection away!
I also have collected bookmarks but now see I really should display them. I sometimes take extras to the library for others to use. Thanks for sharing the idea.
I love the idea of taking extras to the library!
After Malice Domestic, or any book convention, I love taking extra bookmarks to the library — and they love getting them!
What an interesting collection! Love that some of them are framed & displayed. Would love to win a copy of Some Enchanted Eclair.
This collection series has certainly had some fun posts. Good luck in the drawing.
Anne, love that adorable puppy photo in your profile! Thanks for joining in the fun.
I hadn’t thought of my bookmarks being a collection, I have no where near the amount you do. Thanks for sharing with us. Thanks for the chance to win 🙂
I guess I think of them as being a collection because so many have memories attached to them. Good luck!
It’s the memories that make a collection, isn’t it?
I love the idea of the framed book marks. I guess I need to get a frame. It will look great with the table runner I am working on. It is my 1st quilting project and looks like a book shelf. The “books” are all fabric that represents my life. (thanks to Kate Carlisle for the pattern!)
Oh, that table runner sounds like a lot of fun. Love that you chose it for your first quilting project.
Oh, I saw that pattern from Kate — what fun! And the perfect 1st project, connecting with your love of books!
What a great collection. I also have some bookmarks. I never thought to frame them. Thank you for sharing your wonderful collection.
Thanks for joining in the fun!
What a cool collection of bookmarks. I have some, but nowhere near as many as you.
Thanks for the giveaway.
Our pleasure, Jen — it’s been great to introduce you to some of my author friends!
What an interesting collection. I am always thrilled to get bookmarks when I win a book, exciting to find them tucked inside. I remember when Amazon first started they would include a bookmark with each shipment.
I’ve been picking up bookmarks from the bookstores where I’ve given talks and readings — more fun!
I like your framed collection. My bookmarks are scattered everywhere!
Presentation makes all the difference, doesn’t it?
I would love to see that bookmark collection! I don’t have as huge a collection as Bailey, but it’s a target to aim for! Thanks for the giveaway.
Aren’t they fun? I’d never thought of mine as a collection until Bailey mentioned hers.
I do have some beautiful bookmarks—but I’d never thought of them as a collection. Thanks for the contest.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Look what Bailey did with an inexpensive poster frame — I bet half of us are musing about doing the same!
I have a drawer full of bookmarks. I never thought of framing them.
Isn’t it fun to open a book we haven’t touched in a while and find a treasured bookmark, or one from a long-gone bookstore we loved?
What fun! My TBR pile is becoming pillars
Love that! It’s been great fun to introduce my reader friends to some of my writer friends!
Love this series! Thanks for the chance! I am definitely going to be framing some bookmarks !
Isn’t it a great idea? Thanks to Bailey for the inspiration!
Thanks for sharing your collection of bookmarks. That’s probably one thing most readers have a lot of, but never realize they are a collection in their own right. I didn’t, but I think yours are awesome! I’ve been collecting bookmarks myself probably since I first started school (those book fairs are wonderful things). Now I’m thinking of ways to try and display ones I’ve got. Thanks for the chance to win.
Isn’t it fun, Meaghan? Check in tomorrow — one of my collections may give you another display idea!
I love the Magical Bakery series and didn’t know an addition to the series was being released! I love authors bookmarks and have a variety of them. Most are shared with our local library or “borrowed” by friends who have similar reading interests. servedogmom@yahoo.com
A great collection! I also have decks of cards that I have collected. I really like the ones that have different pictures or things on each card.
Oh, what fun! I don’t see those as often as I used to traveling, but we brought some home from France for bridge-playing friends, with Provencal scenes.
What a neat collection! I have a collection of match books and many of those places no longer exist.
Oh, that’s great — the memory aspect of collecting. Thanks for joining in the fun.
I collect bookmarks, too. I have lots that I bought at bookstores years ago and even leather ones including ones from the community college I went to. I have a couple bookmarks where the picture changes when you move it back and forth. One has dinosaurs on it. In the book I’m reading now I have a horse bookmark with a tassel on it. The trouble is that lots of times the tassel falls off. Now I mostly get bookmarks free at the library or with books that I’ve won. I have some from bookstores that went out of business (Borders!) and Thackeray’s, an independent bookstore named after the writer.
Michelle, those sound like great fun — and great memories! I love running across a bookmark from a long-closed shop in an old book — just last weekend, I found one from Bailey-Coy Books on Broadway in Seattle, a shop where I spent many happy hours and many dollars, in a book of poetry.
And about those tassles, I think they’re cat toys, don’t you?