Saturday, November 17, 2007

so (rein)deer to my heart

a few more cards from last weekend. i'm loving these little guys...the deer i mean! they are from a garage-sale-acquired, hanging-on-by-a-thread 1950's era little golden book edition of "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer" which was illustrated by...wait for it...richard scarry!!! remember "what do people do all day"?!! that was a book i adored as a very small child because it had so many great illustrations...all sorts of little animals dressed as firemen and chefs and chiropractors...that you could make up your own stories when there wasn't a handy grown-up about to read to you. as an adult, i love that while his animals are distinctly cute, they never stray into "cutesy"...if you know what i mean...thanks to a rich vein of humor throughout all of his work.

(jounaling tag: k&co; snowflake stickers & rub-ons: making memories & martha stewart; alphas: creative imaginations; other: vintage book illustrations & text, snowflake giftwrap, foam tape)

sadly, these are the last two of the light aqua frame-cards. i have more of the red ones with the holly on them...and then some larger ones with ornaments. i think i might be able to work a few reindeer into the red frames. buying things in the post-xmas sales results in rock-bottom prices, but you take what you can get on quantities!

PS to tracy (added later!): i also did not realize that this copy of "rudolph" was illustrated by richard scarry, until, mid-card-making, and LOVING the reindeer, i decided to find out who the illustrator was...and i looked at the credit page! i think this was *quite* early in his career, when he was purely an illustrator and not yet an author in his own right. (the book is from 1958 i think; a full decade before "WDPDAD")

my favorite characters from WDPDAD, in addition to "lowly worm" (whom, of course i love! ...but who'd NOT love a worm wearing an alpine hat...?!) are "able baker charlie" (a mouse, who produces wonderful bread & treats) and "wrong way roger" (a mouse pilot...who flies a very, VERY small plane!)

tracy (who is quite the illustrator herself, as a matter of fact!) sent me two FABULOUS richard scarry links: a wonderful, whimsical biography of the man and a neat flickr page that compares the 1963 and 1991 editions of "the best word book ever". enjoy! (thanks, t!!!)

6 comments:

  1. more fabooooooooo cards!
    and i'm ashamed of myself - how did i not recognize RICHARD SCARRY! one of my favorites - absolute favorites. We have so many of his books - very well-worn copies - loved copies. Those books went wherever we did. I like to give them as gifts to my nieces and nephews because they are just wonderful. Our favorite character - Lowly Worm!!!!!!! Running a close second - the infamous Pig Will and Pig Won't!!!!
    Oh thank you so much for reminding me of dear RS! I'm sure he'd be quite honored you are putting his book to such a wonderfully creative use!

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  2. Richard Scarry ... what a great little flashback down memory lane ... love all of his little animals in clothes ...Cars and Trucks and Things that Go ... I am now off in search of Richard Scarry books for Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephews.

    More fabo cards from you my dear ... love those vintage reindeer.

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  3. able baker charlie and wrong way roger :-) i'm just loving even thinking about these little characters. and doesnt that say volumes about Richard Scarry that after all this time he could put a smile on ones face (God rest his soul as my mom says)
    the particular book we wore the covers right off was RS's Best Word Book Ever and while i just pulled out the copies we have guess what i found on Flickr....
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/kokogiak/sets/1425737/
    enjoy!

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  4. ok... i'll stop after this...
    a very interesting bio....

    http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/authors/richard-scarry/blowing.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/authors/richard-scarry/&h=197&w=225&sz=12&tbnid=kDAnIk3_J-LeDM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=102&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images?q=richard+scarry&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&sa=G

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  5. These are fantastic. I love the reindeer, I wouldn't have guessed them as Richard Scary either. PS,Lowly was my favorite too!! But you gotta love Pig Will and Pig Won't!!

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