Vintage Books...

Are my latest obsession! Let me tell you about my problem with vintage books. I have found out recently that I love them! This one is from 1964. I grabbed it thinking I could take out the pages and use them in some bird kits I have been working on at Mystic Paper.


It's full of great bird images, as you can see.



When I looked in the back of the book, this was tucked in a pocket-how cute is that?



It is full of little records that you can put on a turntable (remember what this is) and it plays bird calls. Seriously! So if you ever see this book, I recommend picking it up. I saw two of them on ebay, but one without the record booklet.



I also found a couple of books at my last visit to the thrift store- The yellow one I thought I'd make a little altered book for Tucker...get it, the author's last name is Tucker. The Singing Teenagers I thought that I'd tear it up for kits.


This book is full of songs along with the music, isn't this so cute?



My next find was a Disney book with non other than Herbie the Love Bug on the cover. It has a little story in it along with pictures from the original movie. Of course I had to buy this one for Tucker-he LOVES Herbie. (He's watching a Herbie movie as we speak)



All the Little Golden Books I have been buying lately is completely Ellen's fault- If you scroll down to "Oh the Things I Love" on the class examples page of Mystic Paper's website you will see her incredible creation. Since she taught this class I have been completely obsessed with them (I think Kim is too)



It has also overflowed to Rand McNally books, the illustration are just so cute, I can't handle it!


Ellen is teaching her class again in June. I have made a very watered down version on my own featuring Thomas the Train and Tucker. Last year my Mom and I took Tucker to see Thomas in Williams, AZ. It was so fun to see his little face, so excited about seeing Thomas in person and taking his first REAL train ride. This book I actually took off of Tucker's book shelf...along with a Thomas the Train Viewmaster thing (I have no idea what those things are called), that I put in the back of the book in a pocket.

Now that I have actually made this book I'm hoping that my Little Golden Book obsession will subside, but I doubt it. I keep hitting the 50% off sales at Goodwill, and I keep finding all of these great vintage books!

Flat Cats & Flowers...

Here is what's happening at-

In Arizona, it's difficult to grow anything but cactus and bougainvillea

This is just one of my two blooms on my Gardenia plant, I know it needs a nice place in dirt, but I just haven't planted it yet.


A couple of months ago, Tucker and I planted some seeds in the front yard. I'm shocked that they are growing!

The last few days has been incredibly nice here in AZ. It has been raining! 3 days straight- how often does that happen? I don't think I have ever experienced that in all my years in AZ. I felt like I was back in Nothern California again. At the beginning of the week it was HOT- 110 degress hot! Here is what the cats did to survive. They became as flat as possible on a cool surface.

First is "Pappa" Frenchy...

Cool and flat on my bed

This is my poor cone head cat..."Baby" Miles, flat as can be on the kitchen floor. He has food allergies that we have been trying to clear up for months now. Doesn't he look pathetic?

And this is Herbie, named after the one and only, Herbie the Love Bug.

Cool and flat in the bathtub!

Today everyone is cool and dry in a safe place- 554

Lucky Me...

How lucky was I to find this beautiful book last weekend at the thrift store?
A first edition book from 1912. At first I was attracted to the book because of the blue spine and the green checks, then I pulled it off the shelf and saw the title and the font and I knew I had to have it. I was thinking it might be a good book to alter. It was also 50% off day at Goodwill that Saturday. I brought it home with my other finds, but didn't really look at it.


My Mom came over to visit and I showed here the book. She found a picture of the author that had been cut out of a magazine, she also found a four leaf clover.


not one...

not two...

not three...

but four!

It wasn't until this morning while taking pictures that I discovered the fourth of the 4 leaf clovers!
In the back of the book was yet another find, a magazine article from Women's World dated May 1925, most likely for Mother's Day.

Now that I am curious about Kathleen Norris, I googled her and found out that Mother was her first book of many. She was born in San Fransico and died in Palo Alto- (my hood)

Here is the dedication in the front of the book:

To J.E.T and J.A.T.

As years ago we carried to your knees
The tales and treasures of eventful days,
Knowing no deed too humble for your praise,
Nor any gift too trivial to please,
So still we bring, with older smiles and tears,
What gifts we may to claim the old, dear right;
Your faith, beyond the silence and the night,
Your love still close and watching through the years.

I am sure that this was dedicated to her parents, her maiden name was Thompson. She was born in San Fransico in tht 1880's, so she must have been in the 1906 quake. I will find out more about her and keep you posted of my findings.

Homey Kitchy Kitchen...

Do you have those little nooks where you just stick things and they all just somehow work together? I love my little shelves and window sill in my kitchen. I have a crazy collection of stuff that I love, so I stuck all kinds of miscellaneous things together. All kinds of glass on the window sill, so all the colors will show when the sun hits them. Ah...pretty colors.


I also have been somewhat of a perfectionist most of my life, but when I but my scrabble letters up on the window sill I didn't notice that the I was upside down until at least a day or two later. Maybe I have grown out of my perfectionist stage. Ah...growth and change is always a good thing.

Is it obvious that I have a little bit of a rooster thing going on? And who doesn't have a sock monkey in their kitchen? I hear that sock monkeys are the new kitchen witch!


I also have a thing for pink gooseberry pyrex-love it! Oh, and fiesta ware...and red...and...