Five Faves #59

Vintage Dick Bruna Book 

Kaylovesvintage*

 Here we are again.

Monday morning.
The first day of a brand new week,
Only four days left until we go on holiday to the Alps!

Voici my Fave Faves:

1) Favourite little animals - homemade birthday cards by Jane Cabrera

 2) Favourite Cheerful Cover - That's Logic Zine

3)  Favourite Design - The Cradle Rocking Chair by Richard Clarkson

4)  Favourite Papercuts - Beci Orpin's Harvest Exhibition
(I also love her mobiles)

5) Favourite Patterns by Matt Saunders (remember?)
Can't wait to see what he'll do with them...

via

* KLT Sketchbook 

**Reetsweet

Bruna Saves The Day

 It's rained non-stop

Quel dommage !

Thank goodness for Dick Bruna

He never fails to make me smile

Love this pair of 70's children's curtains

My image of the day!

A Sailor Went To Sea, Sea, Sea

Vintage Dick Bruna Sailor Cushion by Jane Foster

Seagull Cushion by Rachel Coleman Designs

The sun's out, dreaming of the beach already...

Etsy Find: I Can Count

Vintage I Can Count illustrations by Dick Bruna

Perfect vintage wall art for your little ones.

LeJeune

Reduce-Reuse-Recycle!

Vintage Book Corner - Miffy

How I miss Oxfam and all the other charity shops in the UK!
If you keep your eye on Oxfam's online second-hand store you'll find some real bargains too.
This 1968 hardback copy of Miffy by Dick Bruna can be yours for £6.99!
(UK deliveries only).

Bruna Bunting

If you're a fan of Dick Bruna's illustrations like me then you'll love Le Jeune's vintage storybook bunting. This particular set is made from an original 1966 copy of Dick Bruna's 'Sailor'. The 12 flags are double sided with the illustrations on one side and the story on the other. What a wonderful way to brighten up a nursery, child's room or play area!

Book Corner - Pussy Nell

Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!

Oh dear, what's up?
Down in the dumps, I see...

Well, I've got just the thing to help you wipe away those tears

and chase away the blues



Ready?
Repeat after me as loud as you can -

"Hurray! Hurry!
It's Monday!"

Oh come on, I can't hear you!

"Hurray! Hurry!
It's Monday!"

That's better!

Pussy Nell by Dick Bruna
from my own collection (1977)

Happy Monday!

Ben's Blue Boat

Miles is growing up so quickly now that he's at pre-school full-time. He was quite shy last year so it's wonderful to see him coming out of his shell, making friends, exploring and gaining confidence everyday. He's a very curious little boy and won't rest until he knows exactly how something works, closes, opens, starts, stops...

If you've been following you'll know that Miles and Savannah now have to wear glasses. Despite my initial worries, it's been no problem at all. However it has raised questions about disability. What's it like to be blind? How can you read if you can't see? How can you talk if you can't hear? I thought it would be quite fitting to show you some pictures from one of Dick Bruna's lesser well known books, The Blue Boat, written by Peter Jones for the National Deaf Children's Society (Methuen Children's Books, 1984) that I picked up at a charity shop a while ago. Amazon UK has a few copies in stock if you're interested.

Miles grandit si vite maintenant qu'il est en moyenne section. Il était assez timide l'année dernière à l'école donc, c'est très agréable de le voir sortir de sa coquille, de se faire des copains, d'explorer le monde et de prendre de plus en plus confiance en lui au fil des jours qui passent. Curieux de nature, il va jusqu'au bout des choses pour comprendre comment elles fonctionnent, ferment, ouvrent, démarrent, s'arrêtent...

Mes fidèles sont au courant que Miles et Savannah doivent porter des lunettes. Malgré mes craintes initiales, tout c'est très bien passé et ils se sont adaptés sans problème. Cependant, leurs nouvelles accessoires ont soulevés pas mal de questions sur l'handicap. C'est comment d'être aveugle? Comment est-ce qu'on lit si ne voit pas? Comment peut-on parler si on entend pas? Je pensais que c'était l'occasion de vous faire voir quelques pages d'un très beau livre que j'ai acheté il y a quelque temps. The Blue Boat, un des livres moins connus de Dick Bruna, écrit par Peter Jones (Methuen Children's Books, 1984) est l'histore d'un petit garçon malentendant qui s'appelle Ben. Vous trouverez quelques exemplaires en vente chez Amazon UK.

Bold Bruna

If you recall my earlier post on Dick Bruna and original artwork for kids, you'll understand how excited I was when I came across this address.

Dick Bruna is perhaps most well known for Miffy , but prior to the creation of his adorable, ubiquitous bunny, the Dutch illustrator worked for over twenty years (1957-1970) designing book covers for his father's publishing house Bruna & Son in Utrecht. Bruna developed his unique, clean, minimalist style during these years of working on the "little black bear" series (Zwarte Beertjes), experimenting with collage in the manner of Matisse, and influenced by the Dutch De Stijl movement.





Retrobook sell an impressive collection of vintage book covers and posters by Bruna. Books cost 5 EUR each (a few exceptions) making them excellent presents for Bruna design collectors and vintage book lovers. If you take a peek at the gallery section on the site, you will see just how striking these covers can be when grouped together and framed (the cats, ghosts, black bear, James Bond, Maigret, Havank, the Saint collection... have a look at them all, the nicest ones are on the site. ) Retrobook also sell a few hard-to-come-by vintage posters and mini-poster portfolios. Definitely worth a nosey!

Bruna with a difference

I'm always looking out for new, unusual things for our home, it's quite an obsession. We moved from Montpellier to the countryside last summer, in search of a more relaxed lifestyle and a bigger garden for the kids. We found both and have now started to renovate and "relook" (as the French say) our house, using shades of white and grey, with different materials and textures such as tadelakt, cement and wood (sounds nicer than it actually is at the moment as we're doing this ourselves with three kids but we're getting there...). Against this backdrop I like splashes of colour and if we didn't already have walls, cupboards and shelves full of prints, cards, books and vintage toys I would have chosen these three Bruna books to decorate Savannah and Miles's bedroom, along with the sweet birdie board. They're fun, bright and different.
I love Present and Correct's stuff. If you haven't had chance to read Neil Whittington's guest blog over at Design* Sponge take a peek. I really enjoyed his piece on Sarah Bridgland's exhibition. Her work would definitely appeal to my eldest, very talented, son Dylan (more of which later!)