I am constantly trolling around Etsy looking at all the fantabulous vintage & crafty stores, and I constantly post supreme scores that I find on the What’s Ravin’, Maven? Twitter account (<– which you need to be following if you haven’t already! #bateyelashes). I never write a blog about them, yet, today is going to be different because I have to — I found a store that is SUCH a novel idea!

Actually, *I* did not find the store… Thanks to my soul sista, OO7, I was introduced to Encore Prints! OO7 posted a link to an ambrosial print of a raven, from Edgar Allen Poe‘s, The Raven, on my timeline on Facebook. Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE Poe! Anyone who knows me inside & out knows that I have a very special place in my heart for The Raven (even have one tattooed on my back from a necklace I bought in Nova Scotia when I was 17). But here’s the beauty of all of Encore Print’s prints… They are printed on top of vintage book pages, or vintage dictionary  & encyclopedia pages, that were on their way to being destroyed, AND then framed in these regal, ornate golden frames! (I know there’s mixed opinions about the term “upcycle”, but this is really just one of the keenest expressions of upcycling I have come across.) Once you submit your order, a kind maven named Pam will contact you and ask which background to the art you prefer. Oft times, she will have an exact page to correlate with the printed image, which I think makes it all the more precisely perfect! And these are honest-to-goodness antique book pages from 1857 – 1897 — genuine, not “vintage” from another era in the 1900s.

Right now, Encore Prints is offering a choice little sale deal: if you purchase 3 framed Encore Prints in one transaction, you get the 4th one for FREE! You really can’t beat that with a stick (and I wouldn’t advise it, anyway, because there’s glass involved, and all that jazz #sayscaptainobvious)! Reason being, each Encore Print is *only* $10 to begin with! You can barely buy a chintzy frame at Wally (Wasteland) World for that price! Most of the prints come in 8×10, but she offers some that are 10×13 — 12×15 (and these are a mere $22).

Encore Prints offers many different subjects & themes of prints. Some of those include: Anatomy, Animal Kingdom, Alice in Wonderland, Botanical, Maps, The Sea, Quotes, Transportation, & those things that fall into the “Other” category. There are SO MANY I want, and once Darling Hotbuns & I find our dream home, I am envisioning a whole wall of these prints on one wall in a room…… possibly the study or a lilliputian library. ::swoon:: ::imagine:: ::starry-eyed::

Encore Prints uses antique & vintage artwork for their prints. Some of the art that they print dates back to the 17th century! They have over 500 prints to choose from, but they mention on their store’s page that they appreciate & welcome suggestions because they are always open to adding new prints, and they’re ever-growing. I wonder how they’d feel about doing self-portraits because I am feeling pretty antique these days. I mean CLASSIC. I feel CLASSIC! @*#&$^%! ::grumble::

But, for today, I ordered 3 (as well as the bonus one from the superlative sale of a 4th one free, but that one I am not sharing because it is a birthday surprise for a certain fetching fiancé who is heading over the hill this upcoming week ::winkwink::). I got, of course, the one with The Raven on it that OO7 sent to me to take a look-see at, which will go in our master washroom that we *just* redid  this week (it is all different breeds of birds — swallows, owls, finches, lovebirds, & now ravens, too!). I also got myself one with a typewriter, since I CAN’T pass up anything I see with an antique, vintage, or retro typewriter on it. And lastly, I got an Alice in Wonderland one with my very favorite quote from Alice’s Adventures:

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Sometimes I have believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. — Lewis Carroll (The Queen)

This is my favorite quote because it is absolutely, positively true of me. Every. Day. And because I encourage this kind of creativity & fervor in my Mini Maven, I will be putting it in her bathroom beside her sink so she can see it and read it every morning, to put a skip & somersault in her imagination. #curiouserandcuriouser

Truly & honestly, I can’t think of a better gift or token of love for just $10! (And shipping is only $3. Booyah, Babes! What a giveaway!) I am ardently taken with this whole concept of combining retired antique books and turning them into personal, showcased art prints that reflect individual interests & character-laden collections. And I’m not the only one who fancies Encore Prints, by any means — Oprah wrote about them on her blog (oprah.com), so they’re not hurtin’ for buisness (no WONDER they’re so stinkin’ affordable)!

Keep calm & RAVEN on, Mavens!

~ Angelika Frangelico *Gros bisous*
*** <– Note the raven on the mural behind me. 😉

“You’re just an empty cage, girl, if you kill the bird.” — Tori Amos