book related cool stuff

A Golden Age

17 August 2011 by Lou · 7 Comments

Golden Books have had such a well deserved resurgence in the market over the last couple of years. As a series they have been around for 65 years – can you believe it and we all have our favourites don’t we? What are yours?

Created as books for children that were to be low cost and high quality so as to make literature accessible to children of poorer parts of the US. Random House US have a great website devoted to Little Golden Books where you can find some great printables and activities as well as more history of the series.

SO you all know how much Katie and I LOVE Golden Books! We have written about our love on the blog numerous times – you can find the collection of our Golden Book posts here.

Now the wonderful Jackie from My Little Bookcase has issued a challenge to the blog world. She wants ideas on how to up cycle Golden Books that have seen better days and she invited us to take part.

We have been collecting very old and bedraggled Golden Books for a while now so we have a fair collection…

This is just a little pile!

Most of them have pages like this….

Scribble!

Or look like this….

Very grotty!

So we have been having fun using them as bunting. The first lot of bunting I made was for Ned’s 3rd birthday in his favourite colour – yellow.

Then I started to make some that we sold and also used as display at Magnolia Square...

I think I have a soft spot for the Christmas bunting because it just looks so Christmasy!! There’s nothing better than displaying your love of books around the house – they are my favourite accessory.

We have also been using our collection to make gift tags for our online store orders. This has been really fun, because even in the tattiest book you can find the most divine illustrations to use on a parcel…

Filed Under: book related cool stuff, Borrowed and thrifted, Classics, Illustrators, Ned, Picture books

Books Can Take You Anywhere

28 July 2011 by Lou · Leave a Comment

Found via KID Independent today this gorgeous print called Books Can Take You Anywhere by The Little Fox on Etsy…

The print is also available on a tote bag…

Wouldn’t that be the perfect library bag?

The Little Fox creates dreamy and whimsical artworks many of which are book related. Including this gorgeous painting of The Owl and The Pussycat...

Drool over The Little Fox Etsy store here and read The Little Fox blog here.

Filed Under: Art, book related cool stuff, Uncategorized

Otto Potter

15 July 2011 by Katie · 1 Comment

Lou and I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 last night – has anyone else seen it?

It felt like the end of an era in so many senses. Lou and I have seen almost all the films together along with another dear friend. As the years have gone by and lives have got busier, I think the release of each new film has got more and more exciting for us! Coming out of the cinema last night felt like the conclusion to a long tradition.

I loved the film – powerful, touching, it hit just the right note of the drama and tragedy of the action, without labouring it. And it felt like you could sense the off-screen comeraderie of the three stars, and a definite sadness on their part that it has all come to an end. (Anyone else think those last scenes were not necessary??)

Otto fell off the couch and hit his head (above his left eye) on the coffee table a few months ago. Bit hard to see but I reckon his (temporary) scar is a bit Potter-esque, don’t you?

And yes, he is a poser. He thinks by squinting his eyes he is smiling. 95% of our photos of him are with his eyes closed.

Filed Under: book related cool stuff, Otto

I Heart Tollipop More

13 July 2011 by Lou · Leave a Comment

I have blogged about the divine Tollipop before here. I just adore the little characters she creates and her use of the literary. Aren’t these latest prints gorgeous?

Someone’s Been Sitting In My Chair

Library Day

Filed Under: Art, book related cool stuff, Illustrators

Keitaro Sugihara

12 July 2011 by Lou · 1 Comment

There is so much beauty in the illustration work of Keitaro Sugihara. You will love this clip….

SMALL WONDERLAND from KEITARO SUGIHARA on Vimeo.

And Keitaro’s website here.

Filed Under: book related cool stuff

Caterpillar Weather

7 July 2011 by Lou · Leave a Comment

It has been freezing in Melbourne so Ned and I have gone in search of some things to do indoors. Last week we downloaded some free Very Hungry Caterpillar activity sheets off the Penguin US website which are fantastic. Ned and his Granny really enjoyed colouring the caterpillar and butterfly together…

And today we made our own caterpillar from half an egg carton following this wonderful tutorial.

He was really easy but fun and as you can see both the caterpillar and Ned found the fruit very tempting….

Filed Under: book related cool stuff

Oliver Jeffers: How to Draw a Penguin

28 June 2011 by Lou · Leave a Comment

I let out a very audible squeal this morning when I saw that the Guardian newspaper have a tutorial online by the incredible Oliver Jeffers on ‘How to Draw a Penguin’.

A penguin, according to Oliver, is easy to draw because they are just made up of three parts – ‘Head, Body and USELESS WINGS‘.

The Guardian continues to delight me with their devotion to reviews on children’s books and other children’s culture. They present their book section online so it is extremely appealing and engaging which is so important. The children’s reviews are insightful and they always pick great books, not high brow and not mass market just nice books.

They publish reviews by readers and have a great interactive program for children to subscribe too – a great innovation in a country where reading amongst children is on the decrease. `

This tutorial by Oliver Jeffers is part of a series they are presenting on illustration which has so far included; Nick Sharratt, Rob Steen (illustrator of the Flanimals by Ricky Gervais) and Alex Milway (author of an intermediate series called The Mythical 9th Division).