Inspiration in Books: Jan Pienkowski's "The Fairy Tales"

{These are all illustrations from Pienkowski's The Fairy Tales.}

Inspiration in Books: Kinuko Craft

Kinuko Y. Craft:
My FAVOURITE illustrator.
I say this with confidence. This woman must spend months on each canvas. The detail is incredible. The colours are heart achingly rich. The worlds she creates pull on you. These are a few of the children's books she has illustrated that can be found up high in my book shelves. (Brought down only for story time when I can turn the pages for little eyes to see.) I will publish many "Inspiration" posts displaying her illustrations in future. They are too beautiful to keep to myself.

Inspiration in Books: "Magic Lanterns" by Mary Maguire

Rarely do you find a craft book with a couple of projects you will ACTUALLY carry out. This one is a treasure trove of beautiful, and totally do-able, projects. Several of which I have already completed successfully. I worked on the "Goblin Night Light," awhile back, adding a bunch of underground detail. See it HERE.

I have a bag full of miniature replicas of these:

They are lovely, and will fit onto a strand of mini white lights someday. I have many more to complete before then.

Our pumpkin two years ago was inspired by this image:

I don't have the tools yet to do make "Punched Tin Lanterns," but oh how I want to! At this point in my life, however, with four children under the age of six, I am not comfortable working with such dangerously sharp materials at this point in my life. So, later days:

I finished this beauty last year. It turned out so well. See it HERE.
A book definitely worth purchasing. I haven't yet, but my library card is getting worn from the number of times I've taken this one out.

::A Hobbit's Journal::

"A Hobbit's Journal" was an early source of inspiration for me. I found it in my parent's stash of books when I was eleven and absconded with it. It became MINE, although they did not know it for quite some time. Michael Green's little journal has left an imprint on me ever since. While the book is full of beautiful sketches of Tolkien's characters, it was Green's borders and embellishments that I latched onto. They are bold and beautiful. Simple, yet complex. They are not easy to carve into rubber, but I plan on transforming as many of his designs into stamps as I can.

Inspired by Green:
Knotted Square
Lily Quill