I fell right down the bunny hole and ended up back at Vintage Books

Those internet rabbit trails can take you so many places and get you really off track.

I was busily updating my website with free homeschool resources with some links for free e-books.

Naturally, I had to test out the links right?

At the Guttenberg Project I found some marvelous old books that are free to download in html or other digital reader formats in the Children's Bookshelf section:

Free book from Guttenberg Project

Free book from Guttenberg Project

There were several different illustrated versions of "A Child's Garden of Verses" and this 1916 version was my favorite of the ones available here.  I loved the art deco illustrations!!

That got me thinking about some other illustrations I had seen of that book.

So then I had to go looking for those versions.

Good "Google"y moogly.  Google this book and there are zillions of illustrated versions!! Well, I guess since it was first published in 1885 and in continuous print there are bound to be a zillion versions.

 It's a virtual walk through history with the "who's who" of children's illustrators, the artist styles of the time, and a bit of cultural anthropology in observing the fashions and objects of the day.

Looking through those vintage books lead me to some really great sites with images of other vintage books which I have written about before.

Here's a trip back in time anytime you want to visit your childhood library!!

Vintage children's books on Flickr
Retro kid on Flickr
Golden Books on Flickr

Naturally I had to see how much some of the books could be purchased for.  I find some hidden gems and realized that some of my favorite books we still have are worth a pretty good penny!

I'm just thrilled that people are taking time to catalogue the text and images of of these vintage books in places like Flickr and The Guttenberg Project so the books aren't just on ebay or etsy for sale at a hefty price.

So I started posting some to my pinterest board for vintage books.

Okay, what was it I was doing in the first place again?

I guess it doesn't matter.  My little girl is ready for me to read her stories :-)

And another generation continues the love of childhood books.  I wonder what books from their childhood my kids will be trying to find when they are all grown up.

Hopefully they'll still have all their favorites too because I saved them just like my mom did for me.

Thanks, mom!!!

Vintage crafts

My grandmother was really active in a craft club back in the 60's and 70's, and probably before too. So I got to do a few things with her too. Going through her things after she passed was a history lesson in pop craft culture.  She tried a little bit of everything!

Some of those crafts are making a resurgence and I'm enjoying seeing them in a new light.

Martha Stewart straw flower tutorial

Whipped wax candles

Vintage Children's Books -- Reliving Childhood Delights

Rather than visions of sugar plums, this Christmas has me dreaming of books from my childhood.

My *wonderful* mother saved all our treasured childhood books, some of which I highlighted here.

But some were lost along the way to water damage and who knows what else.

So I'm always on the look-out for some of the "missing" books of my youth. 

I'm also looking for duplicates to pass along to the next generation of kids who have fallen in love with our tattering books.

Do any of these covers bring back memories for you?

These are some of the I'm looking for to complete my collection.

Actually a few I never owned to begin with -- Doctor Dan, Little Majorette, I want to be a beauty operator, We help mommy or anything by Eloise Wilkins -- but know I would have loved as a child!  And I'm thinking my chef son would like Billy Brown Makes Something Grand as well.

If you have some special memories of treasured childhood books, chances are that they were made by one of these popular book companies:

Popular Book Companies

• Golden Books
• Junior Elf Books
• Tell-A-Tale Books
• Tiny Tot Tales (Whitman)
• Tip-Tot Elf Books
• Wonder Books

Where to view books online

Golden Gems - A treasure trove of Golden Books with covers and complete interior pages displayed online for pure bliss that costs nothing!

Vintage Kids Books My Kids Love - Blog with highlights of vintage children's books with covers and some interior pages displayed.

Where to purchase:

Of course you can google the books if you know the title, but here are some fun stores to browse and trigger memories you forgot you had!

Inner Child Books - etsy store with reasonably priced vintage children's books

Vintage Kids Books My Kids Love - etsy store with books priced in the $10-15 range

Vintage Children Books - large selection of vintage books that can be filtered by  subject, company, and other topics

Ebay - Search for book titles, set up "wish lists" for items not available, and research prices that specific books have sold for in past auctions

Ruby Lane - Search for books across an aggregation of online and bricks and mortar antique stores

Alibris - Vast selection of all kinds of books, including juvenile, across multiple sellers

The Reading Well - Large selection of books with different filters available.

AntiQ Book -Proclaims to be "Europe's Premier Antiquarian Booksite" though many books are offered by US merchants.

Make way for the little wooden people!!

Call 'em wood people, peggies, or peg dolls but they are scrumptiously cute! 

Here are some sources of inspiration that make these some enticing crafts to try:

• Instructions for making a wooden peg doll necklace (see photo right)
• Adorable wood people from different careers, personalities, and even adam and eve
• Enchanting wood people complete with their own homes and accessories
• Recreate your own family in customized wood people
• Snow white and the seven midgets (aka dwarves) little people
• There are even super-hero wood people or "peggies"
• Wooden dolls from small for big

I think they are nostalgic...I realized they looked a lot like these historical creatures (or these in winter garb see photo left).

I think they went extinct for being a choking hazard due to small size and small parts and morphed into these fanciful plastics.

If you want to try your hand at making some of these you might have to look around a bit.  Apparently some craft stores carry them in some parts of the world, but I haven't had much luck yet.

To look for them online you can find them called angel turnings, pegs, peggies, or even wooden people. Craftparts seems to be a well-liked and popular source from my reading of other blogs and posters.

Want to win a free sewing machine?

I finished my first instructable!!

I was motivated to post my instructions for my "heirloom purse" on the instructables web page.

Instructables is currently having a craft contest with winning entries receiving serger or singer sewing machine.

If you want to check it out, just click the "Singer Kids Craft Contest" icon at the top of my instructables. Good luck to you!

My daughter and I had a lot of fun upcycling this vintage cloth napkin and a broken necklace.