Dan Yaccarino Globe

So yesterday morning I had a very long To Do list. I had a report I needed to finish up for work, one more piece to finish for the Southern Highlands Craft Guild jury submission due Monday, a bunch of contracted projects to make for the Sweet Booties book for Lark Books, a wall hanging promised to Jo's teacher, and more. And what did I fixate on? This amazing Paper Globes pattern that Heather Bailey is offering for free at her blog.

She made hers in what looks like paper printouts of her lovely fabric line, but she thought they would look fun in vintage children's book pages. That's almost exactly what I was thinking! Not vintage - but super-new, not even out yet, awesome Dan Yaccarino illustrations.

A couple of notes here. . .

I am a HUGE Dan Yaccarino fan. He's one of my favorite illustrators and I'm enough of a geek that I check out his website with some frequency.

As a sales rep for Random House I get unbound samples of all of our forthcoming books to show to the bookstores I call on. I just had to repack my bag for the summer 2008 season, so that means I get to play with my spring 2008 samples. They're usually pretty beat-up after schlepping them all over the southeast for a few months, but still very usable for crafting. I've been in the business for over twenty years now and I've got quite a collection of terrific children's book art.

Anyway - one of my favorite books coming out this spring is Little Boy with a Big Horn. It's an old story by Jack Bechdolt - with new art by Dan Yaccarino! And that's the art I decided to use for my paper globe. I love it! I think I need to make a few more of these to hang as a group in my office, but I'll probably wait until we move into our new house.

In case you're wondering - the book will be available in stores Tuesday 1/22.