3 Year Etsy Anniversary!

My 3 year Etsy Anniversary is two days away, I am amazed at how fast the last 3 years have gone by and how much my life and goals have changed over that time. Watching this date approach has caused me to step back and look at my shop & business and do some serious evaluating of priorities. I am very thankful for the business I have and customer base I have built making my DVD Folio's, however I am not sure it is the direction I want to be focusing my energy. I have been contemplating trimming my customer base and only working with a few photographers so that I have time to be making books again. Walking into my studio no longer brings me feelings of joy and stress relief as it used to. It has actually been a cause of much stress this winter and I think the stress has contributed to my catching several colds this season.
I've decided that for the next 2 months I will not be taking any new folio orders as I finish up what I have and start working getting everything in order for April.

March & April will be very busy months for me, that I hope will return my love for my studio. In April I am teaching 5 classes at M.E.C.C.A. and will be part of a Book Arts exhibit they will have in the gallery all month. My goal is to have 2 recycled materials books for the exhibit and a display of my recycled book earrings-plus I will have to get models made and the materials prepped for my classes. Phew, just reading that makes me realize I've got a lot to do!

The classes I am teaching are;
Introduction to Bookbinding; Saturday April 3rd 2-5pm
Star Books; Saturday April 10th 2-5pm
ATC Albums; Wednesday April 14th 6-9pm
Leather Journals; Thursday April 15th 6-9pm
Coptic Journals; Wednesday April 21st & 28th 6-9pm

I'll be posting pictures and descriptions of each class over the next few weeks.

Always up for a swap

Many months ago I signed up to participate in a Girdle Book swap on the Book Arts Forum. Somewhere in the back of my head I filed away that it was due to be shipped in January but never actually put it on a calendar.
The deadline sneaked up on me (and luckily a few others) and I thought no problem this is going to be easy...
Famous last words right?

I picked out a fun piece of yellow leather, tied a knot in one end and measured out the other end to give a nice hang. Then I untied the knot to make casing the book in easier, finished the book and popped it into the press.
A few days later I took the book out of the press and tried to tie the knot back in.... Much to my surprise and dismay the leather left on the end of the book was now too thick and short to tie into a knot!

It's back the workbench with me tomorrow, to prep a new text block and work on getting Hilke her book in the mail for the swap.
On the agenda for the future is what to do with this book. I know I can save the leather, the text block might be a loss.

Craft Hope for Haiti

I know I've been silent for awhile, but I promise you I've been hard at work here! I have two orders for folio's currently in process and I've finished a book for a swap on the Book Arts Forum.
I promise to do a more detailed check in soon, right now I'm trying to fight off a cold and wanted to share something with you.

I am sure you have heard about the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12th, 2010-today I was introduced to Craft Hope for Haiti, which is an Etsy shop filled with wonderful items that have been donated from crafters & artists from all reaches. Craft Hope is donating 100% of the proceeds to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.
If you're an artist/crafter interesting in donating something to the shop information can be found here.