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Found via KID Independent today this gorgeous print called Books Can Take You Anywhere by The Little Fox on Etsy…

The print is also available on a tote bag…

Wouldn’t that be the perfect library bag?

The Little Fox creates dreamy and whimsical artworks many of which are book related. Including this gorgeous painting of The Owl and The Pussycat...

Drool over The Little Fox Etsy store here and read The Little Fox blog here.

It has been freezing in Melbourne so Ned and I have gone in search of some things to do indoors. Last week we downloaded some free Very Hungry Caterpillar activity sheets off the Penguin US website which are fantastic. Ned and his Granny really enjoyed colouring the caterpillar and butterfly together…

And today we made our own caterpillar from half an egg carton following this wonderful tutorial.

He was really easy but fun and as you can see both the caterpillar and Ned found the fruit very tempting….

I let out a very audible squeal this morning when I saw that the Guardian newspaper have a tutorial online by the incredible Oliver Jeffers on ‘How to Draw a Penguin’.

A penguin, according to Oliver, is easy to draw because they are just made up of three parts – ‘Head, Body and USELESS WINGS‘.

The Guardian continues to delight me with their devotion to reviews on children’s books and other children’s culture. They present their book section online so it is extremely appealing and engaging which is so important. The children’s reviews are insightful and they always pick great books, not high brow and not mass market just nice books.

They publish reviews by readers and have a great interactive program for children to subscribe too – a great innovation in a country where reading amongst children is on the decrease. `

This tutorial by Oliver Jeffers is part of a series they are presenting on illustration which has so far included; Nick Sharratt, Rob Steen (illustrator of the Flanimals by Ricky Gervais) and Alex Milway (author of an intermediate series called The Mythical 9th Division).

Children have been invited to send in their creations from the series and the Guardian are also featuring them online. What a fantastic concept.

We have been spending a lot of time in the garden lately. We have set up a vegie patch, planted some flowers in pots and have been enjoying the feeling of satisfaction that comes from having things grow.

I was delighted to come across the Yates May Gibbs Sweet Pea Fairy seeds and think I will have to spread some of these around. Although they won’t come up until Spring I can’t think of anything more gorgeous than a whole tribe of  little Sweet Pea Fairies in the backyard.

I think this is such a wonderful idea by Yates and the funds raised from the seeds go towards charities; the Northcott Society for Crippled Children and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance. And what a lovely way to combine reading an Australian classic and learning about nature.

Did you know we are on Facebook? If you like the posts on our blog then join our page on Facebook too.  On Facebook we regularly post about  new arrivals to our store and also include lots more links to all that booky cool stuff that we love and we know you do too.

Leave us comments and questions…let us know what your little ones (and big ones) are reading. And stay tuned for give away details and special offers from the we heart books store.

It’s a lot of fun. Click here or on our little book below to be taken to our Facebook page…

Wow, a big thanks to Allison, creator of the gorgeous shop and blog  Lark, for posting that Lauren Child has designed a collection of fabric for Liberty.

These are just two of her designs you can see more on the Liberty website.

Also on the Liberty website are collections designed or inspired by other children’s book illustrators like;

Jane Ray

Emma Chichester Clark

And Quentin Blake

What a stunning collection and perfect for a nursery! I will be keeping an eye out for these, thanks Allison.

‘Let’s Read’ a digital print available on Etsy by Argintinean artist Yael Frankel. What could be more lovely?

It’s really hot in Melbourne today and I’d like to be sitting under a mushroom somewhere reading a book today – like this sweet little mouse…

I found this on Etsy this afternoon and fell in love. The artist is a mum of four from the US. You can check out her Etsy store for many other gorgeous creations or her blog called myko bocek studios.

I love Maria Kalman for her art, her creativity and her way of finding beauty in everything around her – even the mundane and unusual. This clip I found via Children’s Illustration (thankyou sooo much Children’s Illustration!) has made my day and even my year. If you read this blog, then you – like Katie and I, obviously really believe that all children should be exposed to books, and reading, and art. I know you’ll think this is incredible too!

This print by Sparklehen has made me so happy today. Don’t you agree this little mouse should be in a story book?

Check out Sparklehen’s Etsy store for more gorgeous prints, all come signed and there is some lovely cushions too. Currently Sparklehen has a great deal of buy two prints and get one free – beautiful!

Our little fish out of water turned one this week!

Regular readers might remember my thing about birthday cakes. It’s my favourite bit. Otto’s party had an animal theme (I used these invitations from a favourite stationer, Poppies for Grace) and his cake was inspired by a favourite animal alphabet book, Alphabeasties.

Alphabeasties comes from the graphic design duo Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss. Each letter of the alphabet is represented by an animal made up entirely using the letter in question. It’s one of those very simple but extremely clever ideas, and so beautifully executed. You can tell these two girls just love typography and there’s more clever typographical fun in extra asides at the bottom of each page.

So the idea inspired by the Alphabeasties page for ‘O’ went from this:

to this:

I hadn’t really thought about how much surface area eight legs have… it was a lot of green icing. But yum.

It’s a cold and grey day in Melbourne today, I was feeling quite melancholy until I saw this on Etsy…

I’m cured – how gorgeous! I wish I had those legs and those skirts. It is a print of an original oil painting created by the very talented Canadian artist Janet Hill. If you need a ray of sunshine just check out her stunning work in her etsy shop and be swept away by her amazing blog.

Speaking of Wombles! Do you remember them?

They were a huge part of my childhood and absolutely classic 70’s animation. I don’t think I do remember them as books as they were originally created by Elizabeth Beresford in the late 1960’s as a series of novels. The message of the Wombles about recycling and cleaning up parks and public spaces couldn’t be anymore relevant today – I wish they’d replay the episodes as I’d love Ned to see them.

Do you have any Womble memorabilia at home? Some of the original books maybe? We’d love you to share some pics with us.

We heart books recently sent an envelope to Pip at Meet Me at Mikes for her Envelope Project.

We used an old dust jacket of Where the Wild Things Are to make an envelope and there it is, in the window of Mikes…

Pip is running her project for six weeks and has been receiveing envelopes from around Australia and around the world. She asked for the envelope to be filled with goodies that are light and interesting. Here’s a little sample of what we sent her… 

Lot’s of gorgeous book related fun stuff that we hope the eventual winner of all the envelopes adores. The project finishes at the end of the month when Pip will draw one envelope and the sender will win everything!! Super exciting and a lovely way to share some fun with fellow bloggers.

You can read more about the project and see more photo’s of the huge number of other envelopes on Meet Me at Mikes.

Beautiful new mixed media prints by Lisa Golightly using vintage children’s book pages available in her etsy store kiki and polly.

I finally had a chance to do some baking with some of our fabulous Moomin Cookie Cutters. As usual, the batch got eaten before I had a chance to ice them, and while these two probably aren’t the finest specimens, but I was lucky to rescue them for the photo.

The characters of course come from this book. Magical, whimsical, philosophical – and universally acknowledged as a great read-aloud – Finn Family Moomintroll is perfect for snuggling up with to read together… I really love this production too – check out these beautiful endpapers and the exquisite drawings by Tove Jansson.

The We Heart Books store also has limited copies of this stunning Moomin picture book – the first published by Tove Jansson.

The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My has recently been re-released by uber-cool Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly. Luxuriously thick pages have beautiful die-cut pictures, tantalisingly revealing a hint of what’s on the next page. This is one of those books that’s so gorgeous that you want to use as a display piece on a shelf or mantlepiece!

||All these treasures are available at the We Heart Books store.||

This print is so joyful. I hug books like that often too! The print is available from Thalita Dol on Etsy. Have a look at her other prints, I particularly like the Ball Bunny.

Thalita also writes a blog and has recently had her baby girls nursery featured on Ohdeedoh.

One of the highlights of the long weekend was going to our first Little Big Shots Film Festival. For his first time in a cinema – in the dark!, Ned loved it. And so did his mum and dad. I hope all the ticket winners from our competition also had a wonderful time?

Illustrator and designer Helen Dardik has posted this beautiful book plate on her blog - free to copy and use. Isn’t it gorgeous? It makes me happy!

The Storybook Rabbit = Gorgeous

Have you seen the stunning first edition of online magazine, Maeve? It has some really interesting and inspiring articles and features and really is a joy to read. I can’t wait for the next issue.

It is where I have discovered the gorgeous illustrations of Naoko. This one is called the ‘Oak Reading Room’, isn’t it just so sweet.

Naoko has an Etsy store .

Maeve also includes some really special book reviews called Nancy’s Fancies by Nancy from Wolf & Willow. Nancy’s reviews are particularly wonderful because she explores new releases as well as vintage finds and handcrafted titles.

Amazing art by Moonywolf on DeviantART.  Make sure you have a look at it full size, it’s simply gorgeous.

Congratulations Matt H, the winner of a copy of Only a Witch Can Fly. Matt’s comment about a favourite award winning book was…

‘Our family really love many classic illustrated books. But to pick one, it has to be We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury; classic poetry with vivid pictures.’

Thanks everyone for such wonderful comments, there were so many fabulous books mentioned. We really enjoy you all sharing your opinions with us.

Inspired by Pip from Meet Me at Mikes, I thought I would start the week with five of my favourite things from the last week…

1) I found these absolutely beautiful illustrations by Tomoko Suzuki…

The one above with the balloons has been in my thoughts for days. What do you think?

Tomoko has a gorgeous website, with a gallery of his art, a blog and online shop attached.

2) Watched as the  little one fell asleep with Elmer - one of the best picture books about individuality and acceptance of difference’s. A classic that is often forgotten.

3) Caught a sneak peek on the Simply Read blog at the new book coming this year illustrated by Julie Morstad.

4) I have been reading some great particularly great blog posts this week…

Misrule and Lucinda Library both wrote wonderful, insightful posts about the announcement of the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s shortlist.

Adored Media Macaroni’s post on being the Oldest Babysitter in the Club. Everyone who remembers the Babysitters Club books from childhood – you’ll love this.

I have admired and held in my heart this beautiful post by Jodi on her blog Che and Fidel. As a mother I felt such emotion reading her post and went a bit teary. Jodi’s blog is always beautifully thought out and inspiring.

And finally Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast has a wonderful interview with Tao Nyeu. She is a gorgeous girl with an incredible talent and Seven Impossible Things always ask such cool questions.  

  5) Loving the quirky art of Sandy Mastroni available on Etsy

1 Comments on Five Favs, last added: 4/12/2010