Dioramarama: Bookular Acquisitions

Oh my lord you have to get All Wrapped Up: Groovy Gift Wrap Of The 1960's by Kevin Akers. I'm not too into the Sixties psychedelia, so I was pleasantly surprised by a) how little of that is in this book and b) how thick it is with the most wonderful patterns imaginable. Re: the copyright horse that I like to ride sometimes on this blog ... most wrapping papers in the book are credited (Hallmark apparently gave Akers access to their sample archives ... swoon!) but some are not. Of course there is an afterword along the lines of "we don't know where some of these wrapping papers come from, if you do or if we violated a copyright let us know and we'll fix it in subsequent printings." A couple patterns you may recognize from some retro-repro fabrics ... that one at least had no manufacturer info in the book so I wonder if Michael Miller just lifted it and hoped for the best. I would think that they secured the rights, but these matters elude me.

I also bought myself the Portland Super Crafty book after looking through Stephanie's copy at the latest Crafty Beavers gathering. It's so good! The sheer number of projects in there is pretty amazing. Of course the impressive heft of the book comes mostly from the instructions, which are probably superfluous since most of the target audience could probably figure out how to make the projects just from looking at the pictures, but the book is more than worth it just for the inspiration.

For Xmas my mom got me the and the aforementioned Hip Handbags to help me with my embellishment impairment. Better than that, she loved on me with the Betty Crocker Cooky Book re-issue. Wouldn't it be something to do a Julie/Julia style project and bake everything in this book? Same amount of butter, but no messing with aspic or offal. Of course a year of cookys could get monotonous, never mind the blatant idea ripoff. Instead I will celebrate this important piece of our childhoods by spelling everything that should end in -ie with a -y for a whole year.

I still have our old copy of the Cooky Book. I love that thing. It's like a trip to my childhood. Enjoy all your new books.

Cookys from the Cooky Book would make a fun CB meeting. Then we could photograph them and make cooky buttons.

score score and score!!!

happy new year!!!

thak you for posting these books.
super crafty looks really good...

I'm anxiously awaiting my own copy of hip handbags to arrive- I know it's been mailed, so hopefully, any day now! You've got me more excited.

FYI, finished the top of my zipper quilt!

oooohh, you hit on my weakness - fun books! Thanks for the links... I've been eyeing the cooky book, and I say go for the julie/julia thing. At the very least, it could make for a great blog project, no?