Sunday, December 7, 2008

A is for Alphabet and Awesome Illustrations

Over the summer I posted about thrifting this book for its gorgeous alphabet illustrations and I think it's now safe to say that I have developed a full-blown 'thing' for great examples of the illustrated alphabet.

Another children's book I recently thrifted called Erni Cabat's Magical ABC Animals Around the Farm. It was published in the early 90's and the psychedelic illustrations truly are magical:



The beautiful colors and intricate designs make them look more like spirit animals than farm animals. I also like that many of them aren't animals one typically associates with a farm.



The owl and the fox are my favorites. I'm almost tempted to remove them and use them as wall art, but I wouldn't want to disrupt the alphabet, that just seems wrong somehow. Besides I've already got some alphabet wall art that I love.

Here's a peek at the area in our office we call 'Clover's Corner'. Since we don't have enough space for her to have a whole room of her own, she's stuck with just a corner for now but at least it's a cute one, right? Her corner is home to many a sweet little thrifted treasure :)

The Ida Pearle alphabet cards hanging above her dresser, however, were something I saw on a design blog while I was pregnant and immediately fell in love with. These were a gift from my mom last Christmas when Clover was only a few months old.

The prints are of the sweetest cut-paper collages and again, the colors are just amazing. Clover and I have this little game that we do where I pick her up and point to the cards while saying the ABC's and acting out little things for certain letters, like when we get to 'D is for dance' we do little pirouettes and when I tell her 'F is for friends' we give each other a big hug. If you're ever looking for the perfect baby shower gift, I highly recommend them :)

You can check out more of Ida Pearle's wonderful art here. This wintry beach scene is one of my favorites. Also, while visiting her site for this post, I was pleasantly surprised to find that she has a new children's alphabet book out too! Which of course, I now must have ;)


I'm also quite tempted by this super cool Alphabet of Endangered Species of the British Isles poster I found by P&C on Etsy.



I'm thinking this love of alphabet illustration could possibly stem from many an hour spent watching Sesame Street back in the 70's. Is anyone else old enough to remember this?

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

um...can i
a) come live in clover's corner
b) steal that alphabet book
and
c) go thrifting with you...you find the best stuff~!

Skye said...

Clover's corner is A for Adorable!

I am always picking up alphabet books too, the little dude has lots of them - might have to actually start trying to teach him what they mean...

MOUSEVOX VINTAGE said...

what an adorable & creative way to introduce the alphabet to your little one! one of my closest friends just had a little girl that i've been enjoying spoiling with presents, as of late, so thanks for the tip!

Andrea Eames said...

I have a penchant for alphabet illustration too! :)

And thank you so much for the award - I'm sorry I didn't say so earlier, I have been all over the place the last few days, but I am really thrilled. :D

Rosie the Cat said...

Those are totally worth making into wall art. Maybe photograph them so you'd have nice quality prints?

Anonymous said...

I have an alphabet book from the 1920s with the most beautiful illustrations but its missing a few letters :( One of these days maybe I'll come across another copy so I can have the complete set.

And I definately remember that sesame street alphabet!

Cadmium said...

those alphabet book images are gorgeous - almost psychedelic. i love clover's corner - what a fun way to learn one's ABCs!

grace said...

I have a thing for illustrated alaphabets too! I don't know why--I don't even have a kid. But I love the examples you've got her, especially the animal book.

Alexa said...

Oh my gosh you are giving me such great nursery ideas for the future. Beautiful!! And A is for Appaloosa? Awesome.

Anonymous said...

i so love your blog n all the wonderful treasure that u got from thrifting:)

LF said...

Your blog is cute, I just discovered it and really love the Alphabets strung up. I recently created something similar with photos and postcards. Soooo adorable!

Jen said...

This is the Cutest Corner ever - how adorable, and i love alphabet pictures too...

Eyeliah said...

these are gorgeous.

meg said...

have you seen this one?

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/droolicious/archive/2007/07/17/binth-alphabet-poster-perfect-for-the-modern-nursery.aspx

i love nursery stuff!

ps- didn't get the red sofa :(

Trish Hunter said...

Hii!
Thankyou for such a lovely comment!!!
I too love the flower dress! I can't wait to wear it!!
I'm lucky because I can take it up a little bit without ruining its look.
I can't wait for Melbourne to decide what season its going to be!
I have so many summer outfits ready to go.

The Alphabet book is magnificent!!
I too love the fox!!
I always get ideas in my head of finding great images in books to fill my walls, but as soon as I find great books with the images I'd want, there's no way I could ever take them out!
My book as a baby was 'peepo' I still have it.
Hopefully clover will remember and love that one forever.
:)

Milla said...

All of my favorite animals in one book!
I love Clover's corner. It's amazing. She may accidentally learn to read just from all the excitement.

StickyKitten said...

love the illustrations in that book!

Anonymous said...

I have an awesome ABC book in English and Japanese called "Doubutsu ABC" (Animal ABC), in which the animals are illustrated as the letter they represent (so E would be shaped like an elephant, for example). I love children's books :o)

loveology said...

Wow Missa, what a wonderful and (again) happy making post!
I adore that book, it looks so beautiful and fun.
And Clover's little corner is just adorable. She must be very happy with all those sweet treasures!

Lots of love,

Mila.
:)

Anonymous said...

The alphabet book is so pretty!! great find!

Caroline said...

That book is incredible! Actually, it's better than incredible...I just find myself lacking the vocabulary necessary to properly explain just how incredible it is. I mean...appaloosa? Genius on so many levels! What a great find.

ELM said...

I love this post!!! I know this is a huge request, but.... if you would take a picture of/scan all of these in and put them in your flickr, I will take a picture of 26 things you really like as well and put them in my flickr. ;)

Violet Folklore said...

I've been meaning to comment on this for a while now. Could I be more jealous???
I swear one of these days I'm going to post about the amazing kid's books I've found thrifting. For now, this is inspiration to get Mycie's space more cutesyfied.

Spearmint Baby said...

Hi! I LOVE Clover's corner- and would love to feature this on my blog, spearmintbaby.com with a link back to yours.
If interested, please email me at spearmintbaby@gmail.com :)))
Thanks
Shari