bargain book finds.

Yesterday I had my yearly "inspection" at the lady doctor, who is, contrary to the name I use, a man. It was uneventful, for the most part. They did have to draw blood from me though, since they're testing my kooky thyroid levels, and that was rather painful. My veins are stubborn, finicky, and prone to hiding. I've been turned away during a Red Cross blood drive. Sorry, dear, you're just too much trouble. You may have a cookie anyway though.

As a reward for not crying or asking anyone why the paper sheet was ever thought to be a good idea, I bought three children's books from a bargain bookshop. Edith and Mr. Bear and A Gift from the Lonely Doll by Dare Wright were two of them. A couple of years ago I read a biography of Dare Wright called The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright. Her life was truly bizarre and totally fascinating. Last night I found a website that seems to be run by the woman whose pictures and stories formed the backbone of the biography I read...though the book isn't mentioned on her site. Perhaps she didn't approve of the finished product? At any rate, I now own the only three children's books by Wright that are still in print (the other one being The Lonely Doll). And all three of them are kind of strange. I don't think I'd feel comfortable showing them to a child, since there's something subtly sexual and subversive about them all. Basically, they're creepy. I like them because they're so weird. Actually, I don't really know why I like them. The fact that they're so weird is interesting, yes, but I think I just found the story of their author so interesting that her books are interesting by default.

The other book I got was a version of Disney's Cinderella. It's a Reader's Digest book, which are always a little strange. For example, this book doesn't have an ISBN listed on it anywhere, which feels very much like I've found a book that doesn't actually exist. Anyway, the illustrations by Retta Scott Worcester are beautiful:



They're the same illustrations from the original Little Golden Book from the 40's, which is back in print. I was thrilled to find this book yesterday, since I didn't know there was a Little Golden Book version available until just a second ago. I'd seen the artwork at the last exhibit I saw in the Disney Gallery, which was all about vintage Disney storybook art. It was a wonderful exhibit, but it just made me sad, since the gallery closed shortly afterwards (to become the Disneyland Dream Suite...which I think was a terrible idea). I'm planning on making another shrinky dink bracelet that's all Cinderella. I have a better idea of what I'm doing now, so it should turn out a little more consistant.

more irish day pictures.

I just put up more pictures of Irish Day. These were taken my mother-in-law, Mickey. She's a great photographer in general, and her snapshots always seem to have more smiles in them than mine do.

giving credit.

In my last post, I failed to mention where I got the ideas for the two projects I did Saturday. I basically stole the ideas (although mine are no where near as good) from two Etsy sellers. The idea for the brooch came from Stories & Divinations. The idea for the bracelet came from Miss Bluebird Creations.

a bracelet and a brooch.

I finally got to start using those awesome images from my last post. It took me nearly three days to get all my supplies in order and the pieces I did today took me all day. I was expecting a couple of hours, tops. Nope. I had to use John's computer, because my laptop isn't hooked up to the printer. Sooo, I had to use Photoshop...and I'm used to Fireworks...blah blah blah...it took forever.

Anyhoo, my mom helped me pick out all the supplies and came up with the idea that I should make something for our church choir director. Sunday is Easter and, as you can imagine, our director has been working like crazy. I made a brooch, but it didn't turn out exactly like I wanted. Here it is:



The pictures turned out really dark. I'm going to try to take a couple more in the morning, so there's some natural light. I got the image of the Easter lillies from a postcard that was sent to my great grandmother in 1910.



Here are the charms for the bracelet I made for myself. The little girl eating honey doesn't have a name in the ABC book I found her in, so I'm just referring to her as Honey. Here she is, not shrunk, surrounded by the charms that had already been baked:



Here's where it gets a little weird. I've been using these pictures of adorable children...but I have to put them in an oven. I felt like the witch in Hansel and Gretel.



By the way, they're made from Shrinky Dinks that you can use in your printer. The actual directions say to coat them in clear nail polish. This seemed weird to me, but it mostly worked. I connected everything with these teeny key-ring style hoops that were nearly impossible to get open. Here's how it turned out:



There are more pictures in the gallery and they're all bigger than these.

gettin' crafty with 50's kids' books.

I'm feeling very much in the crafting mood, but I still feel disjointed as far as supplies and organization are concerned. I've done some knitting and a teensy bit of cross stitch, but my patience just isn't with that sort of thing right now. I want results, pronto! I have a couple of ideas that center around pre-existing images, specifically vintage storybook illustrations. I spent a couple of hours at my parents' house today, rounding up some of my favorite childhood bedtime books. I also found a couple of books that I don't remember at all, but with illustrations so beautiful I want to frame each of them, text and all. Here are some of my favorite images:






Also, I can't believe I didn't mention yesterday that I ran out and got my copy of Enchanted. We watched it last night and it was just as awesome the second time. I am a super girly girl and, I think this is how I described this movie to Anna, I feel like someone in Hollywood decided to make a movie just for me to love.

there's also holy week and easter.

So, it's the second week of Spring Break for the local kiddies (and our teacher friend Chris). There's been a LOT going on. First of all, regardless of it being a vacation-y atmosphere of late, the weather has been completely insane. The wind has been crazy today and right now I can actually hear it howling. (By the way, our house is basically in a hole. Or, as it is so loverly called 'round these parts, a holler.) Here's a couple of pictures:


Daffodils lining our driveway, 3/6/08


About 4 inches of snow, covering the daffodils, the very next day, 3/7/08


In total we got 8.5 inches. 3/8/08

In other news, but following the same theme of being busy, the big local Irish celebration was this weekend. John has put together a video of the highlights:



There are more pictures of snow and Irish Day up in my gallery. Enjoy!