Harper's Young People Books Illustrations and Sayings For Crafts Free E-Book

Some of the mixed media projects I created this past summer required quite a bit of old book papers for collage purposes.  So much so I ran out of the book pages.  Truth be told it wasn't the projects themselves that used up the paper it was the number of projects I was creating..... lol

Mixed media, collage and decoupage crafts use a LOT of paper containing pictures, illustrations, graphics, words, ephemera, etc.  and I am always on the lookout for papers of this nature.  In thinking about some of the crafts projects I wanted to do this summer and fall I decided that some of the Harper's Young People Illustrations from the old book I had would be perfect.

Sir John Tenniel and Arthur Rackham Illustrations From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Free E-Books

Like many of you I can remember my grandmother and mother reading "Alice In Wonderland" to me and reading it myself when I learned how.  I always loved the story and the illustrations.  My favorite characters were the white rabbit, the mad hatter, the caterpillar, the footman frog, the mock turtle and the queen.  I always had visions of making my own versions of dolls for these characters but haven't done so yet.  They are, however, on my bucket list.

Recently I created a new "We Love Books" category with 12 book related designs.  One of my recent designs was inspired by one of the characters in "Alice In Wonderland" - the white rabbit.  I don't know if it's the red hearts on this design that makes me think of this book, but it does.

So, given how much I love history and old books I decided to see if there was a copy of some of the old "Alice in Wonderland" books out there on Project Gutenberg which displays books that are in the public domain.  To my delight there were several.

I found Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll with illustrations by Arthur Rackham.  After finding that ebook I them looked at The Tenniel Illustrations for Carroll's Alice in Wonderland by John Tenniel ebook and decided to post them as well as they are all so wonderful and inspiring.

For the Love of Reading - Victorian Girls and Their Books Illustrations

If you've been a reader of my Linda's Blog for awhile you know that I've had a long term love affair with dolls, doll patterns, the Victorian era, floral design, genealogy, research, history and books. As far as I'm concerned you can never have enough dolls and you can never have enough books.

So, of course, I would be drawn to illustrations of Victorian girls and their books from the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book of 1889, like the illustration shown above.  It appeared in the May 18, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on Page 420.

It was drawn by Rosina Emmet Sherwood and appeared in a story "The A.O.I.B.R" by Elizabeth Eggleston Seelye.  According to her Wikipedia page: "Her story "“The A.O.I.B.R." appeared in Harper's Bazaar in 1889 with an illustration of a child reading. The Rockwell Centre for American Visual Studies cites this as a surprisingly early illustration of a girl reading. The subject of girls reading in the illustration by Rosina Emmet Sherwood is thought rare (like the ones in Louisa Allcott's Little Women)."

The caption reads: "She retired to the society of books." This brings back wonderful memories for me as so many times when I was growing up you could find me like this.

My house is filled with books of all kinds. My love affair with books and reading began very early on. My Mother was an avid reader, my Father was an avid reader, my Grandmother and Great-Aunt were avid readers, and so it was passed down to my siblings and I.

The Book and Crafts Review Corner Free Graphics and Illustrations

I love books and love different types of books, like: books about dolls and doll making, books about crafts and craft making, romance books, books about history, encyclopedia's, books about the Victorian era, old and antique books, and so much more.

I love to read, perusing books, shopping in bookstores and spending hours on end in libraries.

I also love old graphics that are in the public domain, book related graphics, and book related e-printables and how-to's.

I hope you enjoy my "Book and Crafts Review Blog Freebies." Just click on the "Book and Crafts Review Freebies" you like below:

Bookstore Shopping With Mom - What Can be Better Than That

I Just Love To Go Bookstore Shopping!  For me there is nothing more relaxing than going bookstore shopping at my local bookstores.  It was especially enjoyable when I would share this experience with my Mom.  She loved to bookstore shop, too.

Not only was the time spent with my Mom thoroughly enjoyable, but we both loved books. We could spend hours upon hours just walking up and down the aisles looking at the best sellers, the discount books, the magazine section, etc. My mother always went to the "cooking" section first while I always went to the "dolls and crafts" section.

Now I wonder why that is? Couldn't be because I love "dolls and crafts?" Nah!

Why am I telling you this? Because I was fortunate enough while my Mom was still alive  to go bookstore shopping with her many, many times and for that I am so grateful. They were always delightful trips and usually I came home with some new best sellers from some of my favorite "romance" authors.

The last few trips I came home with a few "doll and craft" books to add to my collection.  If you believe I just bought a "few" craft books you don't know me very well.  My Mom used to look at my shopping cart and say, "Really, Linda!" LOL LOL

I've Reviewed Quite A Few Craft Books Over The Years

I'm a "grown-up girl" who has never outgrown her love of dolls and crafting. I just love dolls and crafts and I just love books about dolls and crafts. So, it is only natural that I would love collecting books about dolls and crafts, doll making and craft making, doll histories and craft history, various types of dolls and crafts,  and collecting dolls and crafts.

Whether it's Americana crafts, holiday crafts, seasonal crafts, computerized crafts, paper crafts, doll making, embellishing, fabric crafts, bead-work, applique, fragrance crafts, making gift baskets, jewelry, mixed media, needlepoint, knitting, origami, pottery, quilting, sewing, painting glass, making toys, wedding crafts, woodcraft's, or wool felt I love them all.

I especially love craft encyclopedias and the history of various crafts.

Years ago I started reviewing some of the doll and craft books I bought while bookstore shopping with my Mom.  They were glorious days back then for my Mom and I and I miss shopping with her.

While I've created and reviewed a tremendous amount of craft kits I did manage to review many doll and craft books.

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Shown below are the books I have reviewed so far:

For The Love Of Couture Dresses Made Out of Books and Paper

I just love perusing Pinterest and looking at all the beautiful couture dress creations from all the very talented designers out there.

In doing so I found pictures of the most beautiful couture dresses made by French fashion designer Sylvie Facon.  They were made out of book spines and book pages and were incredibly beautiful.

So, of course, after seeing these I thought how unique they were and wondered if there were any other unique dresses out there made of book spines, book pages, newspaper, paper, toilet paper and  book related custom fabric images.  And, to my delight there were lots of them.

It seems there has been a craze the last few years with fashion designers and students of fashion design to make clothing out of these items.  It also seems like museums, bookstores and libraries like to display historic fashions, ordinary fashions, and couture fashion designs made out of paper in their institutions.

I was delighted.  So, of course, I had to set-up a Books and Paper Dresses Pinterest board for all the wonderful creations I found.  I hope you enjoy my Books and Paper Dresses Pinterest board.

Books and Paper Dresses

For The Love of Blythe!

I'm sure this won't be a surprise to any of you, but back in 2007 I fell in love with Blythe Dolls.  After all she is an adorable and irresistible doll.  At least she is as far as I'm concerned. 

If you haven't heard of Blythe dolls or know what she is she's an 11" fashion doll that is collected by thousands of young girls and woman all over the world. 

According to her Wikipedia page: Blythe is a fashion doll, about 28 cm (11 inch) tall, with an over-sized head and large eyes that change color with the pull of a string. It was created in 1972 and was initially only sold for one year in the United States by toy company Kenner (later purchased by Hasbro). In 2000 the photo book This is Blythe was published and in 2001 the Japanese toy company Takara began producing new editions of Blythe dolls. There is a network of hobbyists who customize the doll for resale and create clothing and shoes for Blythe. Enthusiasts share photographs of their work and other types of dolls on the Internet. 

So, when I came across two books of pictures of Blythe dolls back in 2007  I simply had to buy them.

I was so excited when my two Blythe books arrived  I just had to tear the package open. And, tear it - I did. I made quite a mess. I guess you could save my enthusiasm was a little over the top! Ya think?

In any event these are the two Blythe's books that I bought back in 2007 and which I have read many times. If you are a Blythe enthusiast I have to tell you they are fabulous.

Blythe Style is a delightful collection of photographs taken by Gina Garan of Blythe wearing 131 outfits created especially for her by some of fashion's best and brightest designers. This includes Gucci, Versace, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, John Galiano, Hysteric Glamour, Milk Fed, Paul Smith, Issey Miyake, Vienne Westwood, and many, many more.

It is a visually stunning presentation for all the Blythe lovers out there and definitely a book that the lovers of Blythe will adore. I have to say that Blythe did a fabulous job modeling all of these outfits. She may be a doll, but that doesn't make her any less of a fashion diva!

I absolutely love this book.

This is Blythe is a small book of photographs taken by Gina Garan of Blythe. In this book Gina has taken some of the most delightful and whimsical photographs of Blythe in various positions, locations, and with different outfits on.

She may be at the beach, gazing out over a lake, in front of the Eiffel Tower, catching her own reflection in a mirror, dressed as a nun, adorned with various hats, sitting on Santa's lap, with her head showing in a pile of oranges, using a video camera, playing with a Ouija board, in camouflage, etc. She is just about anywhere and all the pictures are just delightful.

Now you might be surprised by this but I haven't bought a Blythe doll yet.  It's on my bucket list of all doll related wishes and you can be sure that when I do I will be designing my own clothes for her.  Perhaps I'll create some Victorian dresses for her.  Now - why would that be?

I'm Back to Reading and Book Reviews! Yippee!

Sometimes there just are not enough hours in the day. Never enough time to get everything done. And, not enough time to do everything that you love to do.

For me that's crafting, sewing, doll making, reading, browsing bookstores, blogging, researching my family genealogy, floral design, gardening (if I can avoid poison ivy), shopping for handmade crafts, scanning history books, doing crossword puzzles, working on the computer, and spending time with my family.

There was a time when I would also spend time shopping with my beloved Mother.  We could definitely shop and shop we did.  One of out favorite ways to shop was browsing at local bookstore.  Of course, we always had lunch first and then did the browsing...lol

I don't know about you, but I could spend hours on end just browsing up and down the aisles of any bookstore. Not surprising I love the crafts and history book sections.

Of course, I also love browsing over all the books on sale at reduced prices. Sometimes you can find some fabulous books that are a couple of years old. I don't care about how old they are. If it's a fabulous book at a reduced price then I'm thrilled.

Given that I could never visit a bookstore without buying a book I bought many over the years. Of course, when I brought them home hubby would give me one of those "Where are you going to put  all those!" looks when I brought them home. I, of course, would give him a look of "I'll find a place. There's ALWAYS room for books!"

For some reason I was thinking about bookstore shopping and all the craft books I've bought over the years and thinking about how much I love perusing through them and letting you know what I think of them.  So, I decided it was time to get back to book reviews again.   I hope to have a bunch of book reviews for all of you over the next few months.

I'm off to read.  I'm off to review.

I couldn't be happier.

Might just be time to go bookstore shopping again....lol

Grandma, Will You Read Me A Story?

Don't you just love this quote from Dr. Seuss:

The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.
~ Dr. Seuss ~

A verse so simple yet so very true.

Children learn to read from their parents or as Emilie Buchwald said in 1994, "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."

Linda's Review of Dimensions "Jingle Bell Ornaments" Cross-Stitch KIt

Now I know this won't come as any surprise to any of you but I was immediately drawn to the "joy" ornament in the "Jingle Bell Ornaments" kit by Dimensions.  As you know, I just can't resist any ornament with my Mom's name one it.  But, when I looked at the "Jingle Bell Ornaments" kit by Dimensions further I thought how pretty they were and how wonderful they would look on my pencil Christmas tree.

They looked pretty simple and easy to me.  Based on previous experience I knew they would take a while to do due to the black highlighting and due to the embellishments so I was prepared for that.

The black floss highlighting for each ornament transforms them from a pretty ornament to a beautiful ornament.  The highlighting really makes them stand-out and is well worth the extra time it takes to finish each ornament.  It's quite amazing to see them in person.  What adds to the length of time is the black highlighting is done one stitch at a time.

Linda's Review of "Beyond The Imaginarium - A Compendium Of Holiday Merriment" Class By Mary Jane Chadbourne

If you follow my Linda's Blog you know that I love taking online arts & crafts classes and could, literally,  spend 24/7 just doing this.  So, for sure I was looking forward to taking two classes at Artful Gathering this year: Artful Gathering 2019 Session 1 "Leonardo Loves Zia" Class taught by Christina Zinnia Galliher and Artful Gathering 2019 Session 2 "Beyond the Imaginarium: A Compendium of Holiday Merriment" Class taught by Mary Jane Chadbourne.

In 2012 I discovered the Artful Gathering online classes and fell in love with them. They offer online art retreats that are available in the Spring and Summer each year that are are taught by some of the most unbelievable and creative artists I have ever encountered and whose creativity is always beyond measure.

In Session 2 of Artful Gathering I decided to take "Beyond the Imaginarium: A Compendium of Holiday Merriment" Class which was being taught by Mary Jane Chadbourne.

Linda's Review of The Artful Gathering "Leonardo Loves Zia" Class By Christina Zinnia Galliher

If you follow my Linda's Blog you know that I love taking online arts & crafts classes and could, literally,  spend 24/7 just doing this.  So, for sure I was looking forward to taking two classes at Artful Gathering this year.

In 2012 I discovered the Artful Gathering online classes and fell in love with them. They offer online art retreats that are available in the Spring and Summer each year that are are taught by some of the most unbelievable and creative artists I have ever encountered and whose creativity is beyond measure.

Artful Gathering was established in 2009 by Christina Zinnia Galliher, who is an exceptional artist in her own right.   For the first time this year I decided to take one of Christina's Zinnia's classes,  "Leonardo Loves Zia" and could hardly wait.  

Linda's Review of "Snowman and Friends" Dimensions Gold Petites Collection Cross-Stitch Kit

It seems a little crazy at the start of the summer to be posting about a winter cross-stitch picture I just finished.  You might wonder why I didn't post this in the winter.   Well, there's a really good reason for that.  I started this back on the Fall of 2018 and finally just finished it in June.  Everyone who cross-stitches knows that WIP sometimes take months or years to complete....lol.

I was looking for more cross-stitch winter seasonal pictures to display during the winter season and was drawn to the picture in the Dimensions Gold Collection Petites "Snowman & Friends" picture when I saw it.  So, I decided to buy the kit and add it to my other winter cross-stitch decorations on my fireplace mantle.

Like the other Dimensions Gold Collection Petites kits I had bought the kit included the pattern, pre-sorted cotton thread, 18 count white cotton Aida, needle and instructions.

The "Snowman & Friends" pattern uses full counted cross-stitch, french knots and outline stitching for emphasis and depth and this detailing really makes the picture stand out. It also varies the number of threads used with the various stitches to add to the depth emphasis. The design of this cross-stitch gives the finished picture a 3 dimensional aspect with the cross stitch, french knots and outlining being used for artistic effect.