#60

This is my 60th blog post since starting this little adventure! I just got home from my monthly book arts meeting and I'm really really excited. Earlier this month we had a mini workshop on paring leather, tonight we had a meeting where we made leather covered plaquettes. For some reason working with leather makes me feel like a bonafide bookbinder.

Look for a picture of my masterpiece tomorrow.

I was going to tell you all about the adorable little sketchbook above but it sold tonight while I was playing in the leather! I just listed this lovely little number 5 days ago, and I have to admit I'm shocked it sold. Absolutely thrilled, but shocked. I've never had a book sell in less than a week before! The excitement of a sale has never lessened for me, I still do a little dance every time I sell something.
I'm off to try to fall asleep- probably won't happen as I'm still wound up from my excitement with the leather and the added excitement of a sale.

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe how busy I have been this past week! Where to start... I last left you with the Blizzard book which I have had a blast playing around with. I took the business card holder to my local Etsy street team meeting and it was a huge hit.

I also have been fighting with the cold from a few posts back, the cold has gone but it left me with the lovely parting gift of a sinus infection and ear infections in both ears. I spent most of the weekend on the couch sipping milkshakes courtesy of my wonderful husband. I did however have my first adventure with the longstitch this weekend. As you can see I used some of the kimono remnant fabric I had around and I think all things considered it came out pretty well. I also recently attended a mini workshop on leather paring and I think I've decided that I'm ready to try leather for the first time. I think I'll start with a simple longstitch like this one and work my way up. I don't own the proper tools to start doing leather spines but it is something I am thinking seriously about investing in.

In between studying for my last test this week, and for my final next Monday I started work on a custom order that will match the photo album shown to the right. I am making a larger album to accompany this album. I also got a few other projects started using some wonderful Fabriano artist paper, look for more details on those books coming soon!

I also got new glasses and a very long overdue hair cut, if I get the time in the coming days I'll try to get a picture of myself up.

Blizzard Books

A few weeks ago Rhonda of My Handbound Books posted on her blog about a project she was working on involving the Blizzard and Crown Book Structures. I had never seen these structures before and needed to know more!

After some digging on her blog I found that Green Chair Press sells a kit to teach the binding.
The first little book in front is the one that came in my kit and the one in the back is a business card holder I made with the directions sent with the kit. The front book is tiny at 1.5" square! I can't wait to play with the dimensions and make some larger books!

Milestone!

I awoke this morning to a lovely milestone in my little etsy shop! I have sold 50 books! It was the perfect pick me up as I've had a cold all weekend and have done nothing but sit on the couch and play Endless Ocean, which is an amazing game to begin with- but is super awesome when you are sick.
The premise is you are a diver, you interact with fish, whales, you have dolphins for friends and you swim around. This weekend I've found a ship wreck, sunken ruins, and a whale graveyard. I could talk about this game for hours (as I've been playing it for hours) but I'll spare you. If you have a Wii at $30 this game is worth it!

Anyways back to the business at hand, my 50th sale was my Spirograph soft cover journal and I couldn't be more excited!
If I was feeling any better I think I would go out to dinner tonight to celebrate, but I think my green goodness juice will be all the celebration I have in me. Maybe later this week!

It's been a little over a year since I joined Etsy and I've enjoyed all of it. I'm glad these two little milestones came so close together. Thanks to everyone who has supported me over the last year!

Frustration....

I've spent almost all night sitting here at the computer trying to redesign my business cards.... Needless to say I don't have new cards... yet. I would love to see your business cards for inspiration!

On a much higher note I did get a new book listed in the shop today! I think it's a shop high for inventory for me! This is an adorable mini book with covers made from recycled scrap pieces of wood from work. You can find more details about this little gem here!

Roaming the beach

This term has proven to be especially grueling on me both mentally and physically. My mini vacation last weekend has me looking forward to spring break more and more. I can't wait to spend some time thinking about new books instead of rate laws and speeds of reactions!

I've been thinking about doing a series of books with some of my photography on the covers. I haven't decided if I would want do to them as printed works for the entire front cover or if I would want to do something smaller like a picture window. I find myself going back over my pictures from last weekend like the one posted here and thinking about the design of what would look best, and if anyone else would like my images as much as I do.
This one is a big mass of tree roots from a huge tree that washed up on the beach. It was taken in the morning when the sun was peaking just right in the roots. I don't know why but I really enjoy this photo, I think I'm gonna stare at it a bit more and mull over the idea a bit more.
I also need to order new business cards and I think I'm going to give mine a make over. Haven't decided how or what... but I think they could use a little love. Which might lead to a new banner for the shop and blog to match the store. However I think thats a good spring break project and for now I should get back to work on rate laws.

H.E.L.P- BEST Charity Sale

After a small fight with Etsy this morning my contribution for the first BEST charity sale is finally available! All details about the sale can be found on the BEST Blog and on the listing for these great notebooks.

This is a pair of worldly little journals, you might recognize the paper from a prior post about little notebooks I made for my co-workers from our scrap packing materials at work. When BEST started talking about supporting global literacy this paper jumped right back into my head- what better than a global recycling effort!

If you haven't checked out all the books available for this great cause stop on by the BEST blog and take a look! They are going fast to get one while you can!