My silly plastic figurine, bought years ago because she looked a lot like me (combination of her haircut and vintage coat), came out to party on my birthday a full year ago. That's my cocktail on the table with her, not hers!

If you’re a book lover, perhaps you’ve admired a bookplate or two in your time. I certainly have. These little paper stickers that identify the owner of a book have a long and honorable history, and many a great artist/designer has turned a hand to this medium, if only for friends. (There are some lovely and really interesting books about these, by the way. Insert a plug here for your local public library, where you should be able to find them.)

In any case, my graphic-designer husband has started designing some of these, with what I consider great success. Most recently, he surprised me with my own personalized bookplate for my birthday. Click on that link to take a look at it; it’s the one on the left, an homage to a silly little plastic figurine we picked up many years ago in a vintage toy shop (see photo above). Hubby also brought that same figurine to my birthday party last year, so I guess she’s becoming a birthday theme for me.

Check out the picture here and compare to the full-size bookplate image over on my husband’s blog. See the resemblance? Oh – be sure to let me know if you want to borrow a book; now that I have bookplates, I’m ready to open up my lending library!