REVIEW: The Antiquarian Sticker Book -- Over 1,000 Exquisite Victorian Stickers

This certainly is not my normal book review! I never expected to review a sticker book, but this one -- The Antiquarian Sticker Book -- is fantastic!

Warning: this post is image heavy.

Even though I'm a middle aged woman, I still love stickers. I still get that school child jolt of glee at opening up a new sticker pack and deciding where and how to use them. And, I still sometimes think some stickers are too precious to use and I want to save them instead.

As a child, most of my stickers were used fairly randomly and often were affixed to construction paper, my own skin (usually the back of my hands or my cheeks), or were attached to handmade cards -- I was very much a rule follower growing up (and still mostly am), and would not have dared to put a sticker on furniture, a book, or anything else that might be of value or ruined by the placement of a sticker. The last several years, most of my sticker using has been reserved for letters sent to pen pals or I have used them in my journal and planner spreads. And, of course, I have the obligatory vinyl sticker assortment on my laptop cover -- don't you?

Recently, I realized my sticker collection had outgrown the small drawer in which I contain it. As such, I culled several, sending many on to a friend that had recently mentioned a desire to use stickers in her planner, and then I used several to create a rainbow theme, inspired by the professional crafter, Amy Tangerine (professional crafter = #goals), in a notebook. Even with both of those purges of my sticker collection, I still have a TON, so I put myself on a sticker buying ban.

The rainbow sticker spread in my planner.

Then, the very next day, someone in a Facebook group I'm part of posted a picture of The Antiquarian Sticker Book! I was in awe of the amazing stickers between the covers -- more than 1,000 of them! They were just so beautiful that I ordered the book despite my sticker buying ban.

And, I love it! The stickers and the book as a whole are gorgeous, and I don't regret the purchase at all. Let's take a walk through some of the pages:

Front Cover: The Antiquarian Sticker Book

The book's end papers are gorgeous!

There are a few page where almost the entire page is one big sticker.

The peacock is my favorite sticker in the entire book!

The stickers are fairly low-tack, meaning they aren't super duper sticky. I tested one (a sticker of a spider since I am not a fan and can't see myself ever using the spider stickers...ewwwww!), and was pleased that it was tacky enough to stick to a piece of cardstock, but not so tacky that I couldn't easily lift and reposition it. If you need to ensure that the stickers stay stuck down, use your finger to rub across the surface. A painter once told me that the friction helps. I don't know if it's really the friction or heat generated or what, but the trick seems to work on stickers and washi tape. However, if I could see a need to apply glue to some stickers if the surfaces they are going on is not paper or if they application requires that the sticker be permanently affixed. This does not bother me at all as I often use extra adhesive on stickers anyhow when I craft or if I am applying the sticker to a letter that will be folded where I've placed the sticker.

After applying a sticker to this cardstock,
I as able to peel it up with minimal damage to either.

The way the book is structured, each page features stickers on one side and a decorative backing on the other side. The backing side is the same throughout, so although the book is 1 3/16" thick, excluding the front and back covers, only half of that is actually stickered pages. 

I love the cover of this book and the backing of each sticker page so much that I plan to repurpose the book as an art journal when the stickers are all gone -- I'll do art work and collages on the sticker side of each page.

Have you bought The Antiquarian Sticker Book? If so, leave a comment and tell me which sticker is your favorite and how you'll be using the stickers.

Don't have a copy? 

• You can buy the book on Bookshop HERE. 
  
• Or, buy it on Amazon HERE.

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