Our favorite vintage image and craft books out there...

Crafts

	Memory Gifts: Preserving Your Treasured Past in Special Ways By Marie Browning Sterling Publishing Company, 1999 Every page of this book is an inspiration. Marie Browning demonstrates creative ways to display photographs using techniques like decoupage, image transferring, casting resin and wax to create very personal calendars, candles, coasters, pillows, puzzles, T-shirts, tote bags, buttons, aprons – even night-lights. Many of these lend themselves beautifully to vintage images.
	Paper Crafting with Carol Duvall HGTV DRG Publishing, 2007 I'd seen her on TV, but I was skeptical. Then I picked up this book to browse. Worth its weight in gold. Cards, boxes, bags, ornaments, etc. -- each with a different technique to learn and use again. Great photos and instructions.  "Queen of Crafting" indeed.
	501 Fun-to-Make Family Crafts Better Homes and Gardens Books, 2001 This book is full of easy ideas and techniques, and many of them lend themselves to using vintage images. The key word is "easy" here, which is perfect for us short-attention-span crafters.
	Gift Wrapping & Greeting Cards: Creative ideas for personalizing gifts and cards Edited by Lydia Darbyshire Quintet Publishing Limited 1996 This book is organized by occasion: Birthdays, Christmas, New Year, Easter, Halloween, and all the rest. The techniques are interesting but not daunting. The instructions and photographs are very informative. You'll come away with great ideas.
	Paper Transformed: A Handbook of Surface-Design Recipes and Creative Paper Projects By Julia Andrus Quarry Books, 2007 This is the best surface treatment handbook I have ever seen. Julia Andrus shows us 100+ ways to transform simple paper into colored, textured, illuminated, faux-finished pieces of art. She may be an artist, but the average crafter can handle most of these techniques because her instructions are clear, the supplies are available, and the photos are illustrative. At the back of the book are several projects, from boxes to journals, that demonstrate how these techniques can be used and combined.  This is one reference book you should have in your library.

Vintage Images

	Postmarked Yesteryear: The Art of the Holiday Postcard By Pamela E. Apkarian-Russell Collector's Press 2001 This is a book you will leaf through to ooh and ahh over the remarkable postcard reproductions and the engaging stories behind the illustrations.  Ever wonder what a "penny dreadful" was?  Or why we kiss under mistletoe and not just next to it?  All of the familiar (and unfamiliar) holiday symbols that appear on postcards are explored -- and beautifully illustrated.  You'll agree with the author that postcards are "our greatest social history documents."  Kudos to designer Trina Stahl. Sadly, this paperback book is out of print, but you may be able to find a copy online.  And visit Ms. Apkarian-Russell's intriguing website at Castle Halloween!
	Picture Postcards in the United States, 1893-1918 By George and Dorothy Miller Clarkson N. Potter, Publisher 1976 Scour the Internet and used bookstores for this one, because it is the bible for deltiologists (postcard collectors).  The scholarship is impeccable, and you will come away with the back stories on every variety of picture postcard, from the publishers to the artists.
	Samuel L. Schmucker: The Discovery of His Lost Art By Jack and Susan Davis Olde America Antiques 2001 Samuel L. Schmucker may have been one of the great American artists of the early 20th century.  But circumstance and an untimely death relegated his work to the footnotes of art history.  This beautiful book makes a case for a Schmucker revival.  Every page dazzles with research and wonderful reproductions of his work.