Thompson Family-Life

Designer Crush: David Klein

Every once in a while in life you stumble onto something or someone that just totally and completely inspires you from the inside out. I came across David Klein this week while searching for the perfect print for our guest bath. A hop, skip and a jump later, while browsing vintage posters on Ebay, I decided to look up vintage air travel posters just to see what I'd find. That is when I saw one of Mr. Klein's vintage TWA posters. I kept jumping from one poster to the next, there were SO many! I realized they all had a similar style and sure enough, they were indeed designed by the same artist. 

So I googled to see if those in charge of his estate (he died in 2005) had created a website about him, or if there was a fansite. I found this, and while it's a bit awkward to navigate, I'm so thankful that they took the time to scan/photograph so much of Mr. Klein's work that we otherwise wouldn't get to see! Some images are even of original paintings, drawings and alternate versions of his travel posters that have never seen the light of day until the site. (Although, the image-quality-OCD in me cringes at the poor quality of the photos. It's obvious they used a camera flash as evidenced by the white glow in the center of many of the images! Although, shame on me, beggers can't be choosers.. I just think his work deserves more.)

While David Klein was primarily known for the travel posters he designed for TWA and Orbitz in the 50's and 60's, he also designed window cards for Broadway shows and a little community theater in Brooklyn called The Heights Players, as well as childrens book illustrations (the Alice in Wonderland illustrations are my F A V O R I T E.) 

You know what my 3 Christmas wishes are this year? a) that there be prints available of more of his work b) to have a gallery to visit that is full of his original work and posters so that we can see it in person! and c) find a book that is filled to the brim with his catalog of work. What a dream that would be. Luckily you can find reproductions and originals of his travel poster art on Ebay. And I will hold out hope that those other wishes come true one day. (hey, it doesn't hurt to email the contact person on his website to beg for more - I did ; ) 

I feel really lucky to have stumbled onto David Klein's work this week. It was total serendipity! I don't think I've found an artist that completely encompasses all of the elements I love about these wonderful decades. What a talent he was.

Illustrated: A Rocket Trip to the Moon Vintage Kid's Book

I stumbled onto a couple of really cool vintage kids books over the past month or two, both for a few dollars, one at a thrift and one at an antique mall in Memphis over Thanksgiving. It's called "A Rocket Trip to the Moon" by Geraldine Russell with pictures by Shiba Productions. I had never seen anything like this book! The puppets are pretty amazing. After doing some googling, I realized the photo illustrations were created by the same people that made these amazing books (one of which I found at the thrift store! The Little Mermaid.. that's coming).

Although these puppets look different than a lot of the Shiba Production puppets, that is why I didn't make the connection. These look a bit less kitschy (well, less kitschy is relative.. ha!). I'm not sure how these puppets were contructed, but the faces look like they were possibly made of wood or clay, where as the Fairytale books look like they might be cloth pose dolls, not sure. But the faces are definitely different! These reminded me of Disney for some reason.. or maybe Epcot. ; ) I LOVE the space theme.

Also after googling, I found this post over at Modern Kiddo about the same book with more details if you'd like to read!

 I wonder where these dolls are now? They would be amazing to see in person.

Cyber Monday Sale at Kitschy Digitals & Belated Happy Thanksgiving

Woo-hoo! This is our biggest sale yet at Kitschy Digitals: 30% off for Cyber Monday! (We're starting it a bit early ; ) Use the code cybermonday30 at checkout, good through Monday only!

We've got lots of new holiday goodies! And if you are wanting to make good on that promise you made to yourself to handmake more gifts this year for your loved ones, we have lots and lots of project ideas that are sure to make your giftee smile. Thinking of hand-sewing or stitching something? We have lots of patterns here. Or maybe you want to do some paper crafting? We've gotcha covered. Are you already wrapping gifts? We've got many holiday themed and unique printable tags and cards. If you've been wanting to try out some Kitschy Digitals goodies, now's the time to snag something before the clock chimes midnight.

All artwork used above is from Alice Apple's Vintage Christmas digital kit. You can also find the same designs in her Vintage Christmas Tags & Labels printable.

In other news, I'm sorry it's been a bit of a ghost town around here! I know I'm not the only one abandoning the laptop during these precious times to spend with family and friends. I hope all of you that celebrated Thanksgiving last week had a lovely one. We spent ours in Memphis with my parents, grand-parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sister, nephews.. phew, did I miss anyone?

It's always so nice to see everyone and especially fun to get my boys together with their cousins. There's a whole lotta boy goin' on in this family. It makes for some wild times! Lucas, on the far left is quite fond of Cooper. They are cut from the same cloth and let me tell you: they get into some trouble, those two. Campbell, poor guy, usually is the third wheel, so there are hurt feelings there (gosh, I remember the 3rd wheel blues when all of my cousins used to get together when we were little! It's unavoidable!) He's a bit more sensitive and the other two are mischevious little buggers. It's always a balancing act keeping the harmony, but they all love each other!

The "baby", Crosby, who is still but a toddler, just walks around without a care in the world. One day he'll catch up with the big boys. Maybe he can be BFF with Campbell. ; ) I've got lots of photos to go through of the four of them - gotta do some head-swappin' we photoshoppers/photographers like to call it. It's pretty much impossible to get them all looking the same way with smiles on their faces. As you can see in the pic above, I haven't done the head-swappin' yet, ha. But I think it captures them pretty well as I described. (Campbell is quite unimpressed.)

We got all of our holiday decorations down from the attic today, so this week is serious business getting all of that up. It's always a love/loathe thing with me every year. I do most of it myself and it's SO MUCH work. But I'm always glad once it's all up. We've already watched Home Alone and Elf and it's not even December yet. 

I know we're not the only ones. A-heeemmmm? (I hear the heads shaking, "me, too!")

Check back around here for more regular posting. Now it's time for me to do some Walking Dead catch-up. Because you can still watch zombies even at Christmastime right? Totally.

Re-introducing Happy Mail Printables & a Giveaway!

If you've been reading my blog for a bit, you might remember I designed these Happy Mail Printables last year. Well, I've revamped them so that you can make them yourselves, and you can personalize them for as many kids as you want - all from the same digital kit! With the holidays literally just around the corner, these would make the perfect gift. You can buy the Girl and Boy versions together at a discount, or separately here and here.

 

I've been busy as a bee working on these to make them as easy-peasy as possible for customers to use. I'm so happy with how user-friendly these are. You only need basic knowledge of navigating Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements, or other photo-editing software that reads PSD files... Gimp is also a free program you can use) to customize these printables. If you know how the Layers Palette works, you are pretty much golden.

I've provided thorough instructions within the files as well as a PDF full of printing tips and gift ideas. You can print at home or upload the final files to an online print center, like Staples, etc. There are many options for personalization of the child's illustration: hair color, skin color, eye shape, freckles, glasses & hair styles. They are fully customizable to include names and addresses as well. You can print out the elements yourself and give as a gift, or put together a PDF that your giftee can print from themselves (or do both!) These kits will keep on giving for years to come.

 

Included in the kit(s):

- Customizable Letterhead with tracer lines for ages Pre-K - 2nd grade
- Customizable Letterhead with wide rules for 3rd grade and up
- Customizable Thank-You Cards
- Customizable Self-Mailing Envelope
- Customizable PenPal-ship Certification Cards
- Coordinating Patterned Papers
- Customizable Return Address Labels
- Customizable "You've Received Happy Mail" Stickers
- Customizable Name Stickers
- Pen-Pal Communication Information
- Instructions are provided within the PSD files
- Printing Tips
- Gift Ideas

Here's how it works: First, download the files...

Here was my inspiration for creating these kits:

I love technology just as much as the next person, but feel it's important for kids to experience the old-fashioned way of communicating with friends and family: through snail mail! Getting a surprise in the mail is still a magical experience, even for adults. Who doesn't love getting something in the mail? It's just way more fun than an e-mail, and a great way to encourage children to slow down and take the time to hand-write a letter (it helps them practice their handwriting, too!). You have everything you need to create one-of-a-kind, customized gift sets for those beloved kiddos in your life.

Here are some testimonials from past customers that purchased Happy Mail Printables:

From the moment I saw Danielle's custom correspondence sets, I was in love! My nephew's birthday was just around the corner, so I quickly got in touch with her, and before I knew it, I had my set ready to gift. I packaged the set up in a cute box, complete with pencils & some fun rubber stamps. When he opened it up at his birthday party, it was a huge hit! He had just turned 6 and was excited to practice his cursive handwriting with his new kit. Now I am getting one for my daughter for Christmas! Thanks, Danielle for sharing your creativity with the world! - Summer

My daughter loved her very own personalized stationary set. It was a huge hit - she enjoys sending letters to her grandparents and even started a pen pal. Thanks so much! - Trace-Ann

I loved the printable stationery that I bought from you! It's easy to customize and print out. I got it for my 5 year old daughter and she is just thrilled about it! She writes to a little girl through the pen pal service you recommended. I put it in a nice folder to keep it from getting raided and she is always extremely excited when it's time to get it out. Thank-you for such an adorable design and a lovely stationery set! It's perfect! - Rachel 

I love the printable set. It is so cute and not in a "too cute for a boy" kind of way either. The design is awesome and I love that it is custom for Hunter. I have to say that I love that you had plenty of instruction included and the information on where to get labels, etc. Hunter has used the papers to write his dad in Afghanistan and we've used the note card style for thank-you's. - Sara

This is one of the cutest things i have seen for the emerging writer. It has everything they need to create the perfect letter. The Pre-k sheets have lined paper to help the child. I am not very computer savvy at all and it was so easy to put together. We bought this as a gift for a friend and my own 5 year old could not help but create her own letters on her friend's stationery. Thanks again and i need to place my order for my daughter. - Susan

We absolutely love the custom correspondence kit that we ordered from you. My son loves sitting down and writing letters to people now that he has his own stationary. Its so much prettier than plain old lined paper. I can't really think of anything you can do to improve it because the kit is so awesome to begin with. - Nakia

In other news, we're doing a giveaway over at AliEdwards.com this weekend! It ends tomorrow, so be sure to enter for your chance to win a $50 gift certificate to the shop!

 

Dutch Love kit now at Kitschy Digitals

My Dutch Love kit debuted over at the Daily Digi and now it's exclusively at Kitschy Digitals! Here are the details:

This kit was inspired by my recent trip to The Netherlands! I was so inspired by the traditional Dutch folk designs that I saw, and of course the quintessential symbols of Holland like those cute wooden clogs and beautiful windmills that dot the landscape. I reimagined these designs and symbols using a bold, saturated and retro color palette. This kit is packed full of all kinds of elements that you can use in your digital scrapbooking or other digital art, or print the elements out to use in your paper crafting projects. The tags would be super cute printed and attached to a gift. The sky's the limit!

Included in this kit:
- 36 Diecuts
- 20 12"x12" Papers
- 13 Tags
- 8 Frames (add your own image!)
- 7 Accents

You will need a program that opens PNG and JPEG files such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or Gimp (which is free!). All of the elements are high-resolution, so they can all be printed as well.

Here are some projects by my Creative Team using this kit. Martha printed out the elements for her traditional paper scrapbooking pages:

And here are some 100% digital scrapbooking pages, the first by Ranie O'dell.

And a digital page by Julie (she is also a designer at Kitschy Digitals! Check out her shop here.)

And here are some cute projects by Marie. I love how she used the hearts on the card and the tags look so beautiful printed and added to flowers! She added her wording on the tag in Photoshop before printing, but you could also just print it out and handwrite your message. I could see these tags attached to holiday gifts - a fresh change from the typical Christmas imagery!

I LOVE how Marie cleverly enlarged and printed one of the Dutch house accents and turned it into a diecut card! She attached the folky "Bless this House" crest to the card with foam tape for dimension. The other card is super cute and I love how she used the subtle clogs patterned paper in the background.

As you can see there are many ways you can use my Dutch Love kit. I have some crafty ideas of my own. And it's on sale! Win-win.