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

Some craft ideas come from holding up a milk carton and thinking, "What if..."  Ideas can spark by looking at what other people are making or selling.

Then there are craft books and magazines.  These were written specifically to help you get started or to learn something new.  We have a modest collection of about 200 books, gleaned from the Internet and local bookstores.  Let's face it: there are thousands more. Most have a few interesting projects or techniques.  But with some books, it seems like every page has something valuable.  Here are just a few books that we pull off the shelf again and again, because they have so much to offer. These are a few recommendations for your inspiration library:

Crafts


Memory Gifts cover 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 cover 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 Crafts cover 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 and Greeting Cards cover 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 book cover 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 cover 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 cover 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.

Schmucker book cover 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.
  
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