Santa is Exhausted

Too many presents to wrap and deliver, too many cookies...Santa deserves a break.

Easter Sunday

L A Times Surprise

I clicked on an email blast from the Los Angeles Times tonight and lo and behold, there was gift wrap I designed years ago! How exciting!

Vintage Cook Books

I have a few vintage cooks books that I purchased for the illustrations.  They date from the 1940's to the 1960's and are really pamphlets, not real books, that were published by companies to promote their products. The companies include Wesson Oil, Ocean Spray, and The Wine Institute of California.

Published by Wesson Oil

Recipes include Chicken Scrapple, Wesson Chicken Divine and Fruited Chicken

Published by Safeway Stores, Inc

Recipes include Cheese Dreams, Corn Meal Muffins Baconized and Frizzled Beef in Cream.

Published by Ocean Spray Cranberry Kitchen

Recipes include Cranberry Cherry Mist, Cranburgers and Cranberry Cheese Pie.

Published by Wine Advisory Board

Recipes include Chicken Curry in a Hurry, Sherried Rocky Road Pudding and Broccoli Luncheonette.

Are you getting hungry?

Vintage Book Find

I went to an estate sale yesterday and came home with this lovely vintage book. Written by Charlotte Zolotow with illustrations by Yoko Mitsuhashi, the book was first published in 1964. Other than the cover, the whole book is printed in pink and black (and shades of both). I liked it so much that I had to scan the whole book to show.

front and back cover

New in the shop

I've done some prints and they are for sale in my Etsy shop. They are all done from my black and white illustrations and have been digitally colored.

Owl Dance

Spring Garden

Bird Duo

New Cards

New in my Etsy shop is this letterpress note card. It's one of the illustrations from my 2014 calendar and was printed from my hand cut linoleum block. The image was inspired by the succulents and cacti that I have on the windowsill in my office. The white pot in the back was the inspiration for the middle pot on the card.

New Note Card

New Art

Once again, I have been so busy that I have been neglecting my blog. It's the time of year where I have lots of shows coming up AND my calendar needs too be printed and finished. Luckily, I finished printing the calendar this weekend. One of the calendar images is a Japanese teapot, inspired by one in my collection. While I was printing the calendar, I printed the teapot onto an old scrap I had and made a new collage. The scrap already had a Japanese calligraphy pattern letterpress printed in the background so it was perfect for my teapot. I also used a bit of Japanese newspaper, some washi paper and a character seal. The collage is available in my Etsy shop here.

Bird Inspiration

I purchased this bird tile a few years ago at the flea market and it has been the inspiration for many of my birds, including the following. The tile is marked "mosaic" on the back and I have seen it in other color combinations such as green and yellow.

 

These birds were letterpress printed from my hand carved linoleum blocks and then embellished with pen and ink.

Record Album Covers

Every once in a while, I go to the Goodwill in hopes of finding something that looks like junk but worth a million dollars. So far, hasn't happened. What I HAVE found are some fun vintage record albums for a buck. I don't even care what the record is like as long as the cover has cool graphics. The Russian Accordion album below was only the front of the album-no vinyl in sight ( The Goodwill gave me that one for free). The last LP shown has cover art by award winning American illustrator Joseph Low. Not only did he illustrate children's books, but was also known for his New Yorker covers. You can read a little more about him here.

Did you know that the Goodwill has a website (www.shopgoodwill.com) and you can bid on items from Goodwill shops all over the country? The photos are usually pretty bad (worse than Ebay) and little info is given on the items but it's fun to check out the site every once in a while and search for bargains. Check it out here.

Retro Graphics

I found these vintage language magazines in a local junk shop. They date from 1966 and each magazine features articles in five languages-German, French, English, Spanish, and Italian. I was attracted to the covers with their cool retro graphics.

My Favorite is the cover for August. I have them available for sale in my vintage shop-Two Hand Too

It's Begining to Feel Like Christmas

It's just over a week until Christmas. My gifts are all wrapped and ready for shipping. My Christmas cards are half written. I finally have some time for my poor, neglected blog. I'll be posting Christmasy things, and the first is this vintage book. "The Friendly Beasts" was written by Laura Nelson Baker and illustrated by Nicolas Sidjakov (a Latvian-born illustrator who won the 1961 Caldecott Medal for Illustration for "Babushka and the Three Kings"). The book is copyrighted 1957 and the illustrations are done in the groovy colors of pink, orange and avocado green with black line art. Enjoy!