Seasons Greetings with Grace Gabler

Happy Holidays to one & all!
Heres my festive post taken from Grace Gablers 1945 book for Puffin " A childs alphabet". Born Grace W. Evans, she resided in Kegworth, Derby. To view the rest of the stunning book, you should hop over to fulltable.com.

Ardizzone pantomime theatre

In 1947 Edward Ardizzone created a charming model theatre, to cut out and keep. It was for the December issue of The Strand Magazine. He also illustrated the cover, which is shown above.

As a special Christmas treat, Ive uploaded the 8 pages and instructions, as a pdf. So now you too can create his Pantomime Cinderella at home. The file is 7.9Mb, and can be downloaded here.

Below is one of the pages.

1970s Playskool Lock-up Zoo animals

More lovely animals, this time from Playskool. The set went under the title Tykeworld Lock up zoo. These fabulous pre school chunky wooden toys came with hinged plastic heads. The series also included a play board, train wagon, a Gorilla and several curious plastic family figures, which Ill try and post another time.

Lucky Cat Mascot

According to where you reside black cats are viewed very differently! Theres no doubting this little fella is pretty Lucky! Made in Japan this magnetic pin cushion measures 9cm.

Perpetual School Calendar

I couldnt have put it better myself! These wooden school flashcards are part of a much bigger set, that allowed the teacher to display the date and the days climatic conditions. How very British! It reminds me of the hymn number display in a church. Each ply wood board is 4mm deep, and 43mm high. I do hope tomorrows a bit brighter!

1970s plastic animals from Hong Kong