BoomerGirl Diary

To say Anne Taintor had an idyllic “Leave It to Beaver” childhood wouldn’t be much of a stretch. Raised in a “nice, secure family with no trauma” in Lewiston, Maine (pop. 40,000), Anne was always drawing and, at her mother’s suggestion, took oil painting lessons as a girl. Little did she know, she would grow up to make a living — and a very good one, indeed — not with pencils or brushes, but with scissors, a scanner and vintage women’s magazines.

She graduated from Harvard University in 1977 with a degree in visual and environmental studies. In hopes of making a living as a working artist, Anne focused on creating and marketing multi-layered collages.

“They had all sorts of elements,” she recalls. “Little animals, flowers, pieces of Oriental rugs, landscapes. They were kind of half-pretty, half-funny. And then, one day, when I was at a garage sale, I got a bunch of old Ladies Home Journals and that changed everything.”

Anne saw possibilities in the faces of the vintage ads from the 1940s and '50s in the Journal, as well as other magazines like McCall’s and Women’s Home Companion. As she thumbed through the old editions, she wondered what those men and women might really be thinking in today’s world. With scissors and glue, she cut and pasted her own hilariously offbeat captions onto the images.

Photo Gallery

Anne Taintor

Anne Taintor's products are carried by over 2,000 retailers around the world. Her tongue-in-cheek designs can be found on magnets, stationery, gift wrap, coin purses, tote bags and more.

A cottage industry was born.

Twenty-one years later, Anne Taintor products are carried by over 2,000 retailers around the world. Her tongue-in-cheek designs can be found on magnets, stationery, gift wrap, coin purses, tote bags and more.

Anne hasn’t given up her small-town roots. Today, the single mom and empty-nester, operates her ever-thriving business with six employees from a studio in Youngsville, New Mexico (pop. 80), where she moved in 1999 when her daughter went off to college. It’s not exactly a “Leave It to Beaver” life, but it seems idyllic nonetheless.

“I do work very, very hard. I work weekends, nights ... but it’s work that I enjoy and it’s work that’s varied, and I get to live in this incredibly beautiful place that has stunned me every day for seven years. And I get to take time off when I need to. My daughter is now my manager in Brooklyn (New York) so my business trips involve hanging out with my beloved daughter.”

June Cleaver never had it so good.