I'm a "grown-up girl" who has never outgrown her love of dolls and crafting. I just love dolls & crafts and I just love books about dolls & crafts. So, it is only natural that I would love collecting books about dolls and crafts, doll making and craft making, doll histories and craft history, various types of dolls and crafts, and collecting dolls and crafts.
Years ago I started reviewing some of the doll and craft books I bought while bookstore shopping with my Mom. They were glorious days back then for my Mom and I and I miss shopping with her.
While I've created and reviewed a tremendous amount of craft kits I did manage to review many doll and craft books.
Shown below are the books I have reviewed so far with a little snippet of my review:
Books Bought & Reviewed By Linda and The Book & Crafts Review Corner
As a very young girl I can remember playing with my very first paper doll - Betsy McCall. I would cut Betsy and her clothes out of the magazine ever so carefully. Of course, being a young girl my first attempts at cutting every so carefully didn't go as smooth as I had planned and my mother or grandmother would try to correct for my errors.......
Well, it would be the Blue Book Dolls and Values, 15th Edition book or, now, Jan Foulke's Guide to Dolls: A Definitive Identification & Price Guide book. Why would I bet that they all take their copies whenever they go hunting for dolls? Because if you are a doll collector, especially a collector of rare and vintage dolls, and want to know what a doll is worth you need the "Blue Book"........
I'm sure this won't be a surprise to any of you, but back in 2007 I fell in love with Blythe Dolls. After all she is an adorable and irresistible doll. At least she is as far as I'm concerned.......
If you are a reader of my Linda's Blog then you know that I just love dolls and books about dolls, especially cloth dolls.
One of the books that I bought last year was Cloth Dolls: From Ancient to Modern : A Collector's Guide (A Schiffer Book for Collectors). It is a collectors guide of cloth dolls and their values and I was especially interested in it because it contained cloth dolls, which up to this point in time were often overlooked by the doll collecting society as a whole......
When I first saw Creating Handmade Books I immediately thought about books for my grandchildren. After all, I'm a HUGE proponent of reading. If you're familiar with my blogs you know that I always buy books for the grandchildren for Christmas. To me there is nothing better than reading and improving one's mind.......
I'm just so excited that I could barely get my new "The Book Review Corner" blog finished when I just had to tell you about the most wonderful doll making book that my husband gave me for Christmas.
This is the first book that I will be reviewing for my "Linda's Dolls and Craft Book Review Series" and it is Book#1.......
When I was doing my research on various doll histories and papier mache dolls in particular I had the opportunity to review a book entitled "Dollmaking With Papier Mache and Paper Clay by Doris Rockwell Gottilly" that I had bought years ago.......
Several years ago I decided to make fabric covered journals for my twin granddaughters. They were in junior high school at the time and I wanted something a little different as one of their presents for Christmas that year. So, I decided to create the journals.......
I'm beginning to think that besides having an obsession with dolls, crafts, genealogy, floral crafts, and books that I have an obsession with "things that are small."
Now you might wonder what I mean by that - well, I mean objects that are "miniature, tiny, and smaller than normal."........
You may recall that I recently reviewed Jan Foulke's 15Th and 16Th edition Blue Book of Dolls & Values in an article on "The Book Review Blog."
Well, I was recently sent Jan Foulke's Guide to Dolls: A Definitive Identification & Price Guide. It's been four years since her last price guide and I have to tell you that this guide is every bit as good if not better.......
Making Vintage Bags: 20 Original Sewing Patterns for Vintage Bags and Purses is a wonderful choice for the 2ND book to be reviewed in my handbags, purses, and totes craft book review......
If you've been following along all these years with my blog posts here and on my various blogs you know that I LOVE crazy quilting and embroidery and admire the artists who create fiber works of art. I can spend hours and hours browsing through the blogs of some of my crazy quilting online friends and salivating at their creations. I just love to look at all the amazing creations and dream of creating some myself.......
Last time I was out shopping with my Mother at one of our local bookstores one book in particular caught my eye and I just had to buy it. It was called "Origami Flowers: Popular Blossoms and Creative Bouquets."
What drew me to this book was that it involved paper florals. Paper crafts and floral crafts. Not quilling, but still involving shaping paper to form floral bouquets. It couldn't get any better than that as far as I was concerned. Then again, I love everything. So, of course, I showed the book to my Mother. She was intrigued so we started to browse through it.......
If you are familiar with me and my Linda Walsh Originals website then you know that I am a cloth doll maker and doll pattern designer. You also know that I love dolls of any kind, shape, or size. It doesn't matter if they are plain, elaborately costumed, ugly (sometimes the uglier the better), made of wood, cloth or clay, or even paper. It doesn't matter if they have faces or are faceless. They can be boys, girls, animals, creatures, ghosts, goblins, witches, angels, etc. It doesn't matter to me. I just love dolls.......
I doubt there is anyone who is involved with primitive or heirloom crafts, makes primitive or heirloom crafts, or loves primitive decor who does not know who Tasha Tudor is. I certainly know who she is and just love all the children's books illustrated by her, and books written about her and her life in New Hampshire and Vermont.
So, I thought I'd tell you about one of the books about her that I just love.......
Now you might wonder what I mean by that - well, I mean objects that are "miniature, tiny, and smaller than normal."........
In doing my research on various doll histories I ran across a doll making book entitled "The Complete Photo Guide To Doll Making" by Nancy Hoerner, Barbara Matthiessen, and Rick Petersen. This book contained information on making several of the dolls I was posting about so I thought maybe I should review this as part of my Linda's Review of Doll Making Books series......
I have to tell you that what drew me to this book initially was the embellished purse on the front cover and then when I was flipping through the book all the pictorials caught my eye. If there is anything I love in a craft and craft making book it's pictorials. You might find this unusual for a crafter and a reader, but I hate to read the text. I'd much rather look at the pictures and follow them. Now that's not to say I don't read the text. I do if I have to, but I'd rather learn from the pictures. I suspect that I'm not the only one in that regard. I'm sure many, many crafters out there are the same way.......
I'm sure this won't be a surprise to any of you, but back in 2007 I fell in love with Blythe Dolls. After all she is an adorable and irresistible doll. At least she is as far as I'm concerned.......
Readers of my "Linda's Blog" know that I just love dolls of all kinds, shapes, and sizes. I also love history, especially if it's doll history.
Many, many years ago I bought a book on doll history (the cover is shown in the first picture above) that was supposed to be the "ultimate" book on dolls and doll history. Well, it definitely lived up to its hype......
Since I just wrote an article about Barbie I thought it might be a good idea to review the latest book that I bought on Barbie. It's entitled "The Complete & Unauthorized Guide to Vintage Barbie Dolls® & Fashions (Schiffer Book for Collectors).".......
Now you might wonder what I mean by that - well, I mean objects that are "miniature, tiny, and smaller than normal."........
I'm hoping to get back to reviewing more of the doll and crafts books I've bought over time in the next few months and hope you enjoy reading my reviews.
If you'd like to read more of the books, crafts, and craft kits I've reviewed over the years please visit my "Book and Crafts Review Corner" blog page which is here.
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