[November 21st, 2007]

10 You’re Awesome, Charlie Brown!

Everyone loves Charlie Brown when the holidays roll around, but it’s time to stop neglecting him every other day of the year. Fantagraphics’ beautifully designed The Complete Peanuts anthologies ($49.95, Floating World Comics, 20 NW 5th Ave., 241-0227) give Charles Schulz’s groundbreaking strip the attention it deserves. (CJ)

11 Follow the Leaders

If this city ever came in the form of a book, Learning to Love You More ($19.95, Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway St., 284-1726) just might be it. DIY Portland to the core, this artful book has the quirkiness of Red 76 with just a bit of Post Secret’s voyeuristic-meets-stalker appeal. (EB)

12 Just Shoot Me

Nonprofit photography foundation Aperture brings together 50 of the world’s most promising photographers, selected from photography schools around the globe, to create a startling composite of 21st-century life in reGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow ($35, Powell’s, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651) . The images, some of which fuse new digital techniques with traditional methods, were picked by curators at Switzerland’s Musée de l’Elysée, are clever, sweeping, intimate and funny. This is one collection that is indeed bigger than the sum of its parts. (KC)

13 Third Wave Graffiti

The Guerilla Art Kit ($17.95, Reading Frenzy, 921 SW Oak St., 274-1449) teaches you how to create “guerrilla” artwork that won’t actually get you cuffed and sent off to juvenile detention. (EB)

14 Neverending Kitsch

Creative addictions are superfluous in this town, and Leah Kramer’s The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty and Kitschy Crafts: Fifty Fabulous Projects from the Fifties and Sixties ($17.95, Portland State Bookstore, 1715 SW 5th Ave., 226-2631) only adds to the possibilities. With makeup kits fashioned from cigar boxes, vintage gloves to coin purses, and old-school toothbrush bracelets (’member those??), we’re warning you—the kitsch factor is over-the-top. But that’s how we like it. The Holiday section makes for some interesting ornaments, and the bonus? Ever-so-simple instructions. (EB)

15 Let Me Check My Schedule...

With flowering dogwoods and delicate dandelions marking her signature motifs, Lynn Russell, the one-woman letterpress force behind local stationer Satsuma Press has created an exclusive, limited-edition 2008 calendar featuring her nature-inspired favorites ($39, satsumapress.com, 830-3356) . Read: no more excuses for your bad habit of “double-booking.” (EB)

16 That’s a Wrap!

It’s hard not to judge a gift by its cover…uh…wrapping paper. Our nifty and thrifty tip? Ditch the standard holiday wrap (ornaments and dreidels) for fetching and worthwhile alternatives by Seltzer Goods ($5, Cheeky B, 906 NW 14th Ave., 274-0229) . With images of floating argyle socks or a bright-yellow taxi (tree in tow), your giftee will be soooo excited by what’s on the outside they might not care what’s in the box. Riiiiight. (EB)

17 Hand Job, Anyone?

Michael Perry’s Hand Job: A Catalog of Type ($35, Powell’s Books, 1001 W Burnside St., 228-4651) is a thick, colorful read on 55 of today’s most talented typographers. Adam Hayes creates stark, bold letters from intricate line drawings and Dan Funderburgh conjures up undulating three-dimensional alphabets. How’s that for taking first-grade cursive to the next level? (EB)

18 Making a List and Checking It Twice

Wistful lists of people someone’s done the dirty-dirty with, an accountant’s grocery list, and some anal-retentive freak’s Thanksgiving spreadsheets (yes, spreadsheets) constitute just a few of the oddly compelling scraps in To Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us ($16, Annie Bloom’s Books, 7834 SW Capitol Highway, 246-0053) . Author Sasha Cagen adds a DIY touch to every list, prompting readers to make their own lists based on the ones in the book. (EB)

19 Say It Like You Mean It

Yes, you can say “thanks” in an email, but really, how many times have you printed out an emoticon-peppered message tapped out in Helvetica and pinned it to your office wall? Thought not. Local cardmaker Alex Wijnen’s Cecily Ink line brings back the proper “Thank You” card. Not to mention those other old standbys “Happy Birthday,” “Get Well” and “Sorry,” with its Fresh Style Card File ($25, Ecru, 1215 NW 11th Ave., 227-2611; In the Bag, 708 NW 23rd Ave., 223-3262; cecilyink.com). A sassy recipe file-style box is packed with a dozen cards embellished with vintage prints in modern colors—chocolate, pumpkin, chartreuse and robin’s egg. These messages are meant to share and save. (KC)

Gimme More

This Old Town:

Give Grandpa a copy of Historic Photos of Portland by Donald R. Nelson ($39.95, Oregon History Center Museum Store, 1211 SW Broadway, 306-5230) and we guarantee he’ll have a story to tell you.

Clean Up Those Sideburns:

Barbershops , by Tally Abecassis and Claudine Sauve ($25.95, Twenty-Third Avenue Books, 1015 NW 23rd Ave., 224-5097) , is a long-overdue dedication to one of the most widely beloved institutions in American history.

696 Pages of Potential:

Plop this oversized Coffee Table Sketchbook ($24.95, Muse, 4224 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 231-8704) down in your living room and watch it fill up in the year to come.