Thursday, February 28, 2008

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!

Monday, February 25, 2008

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.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

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!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

BEST Cares!


The BEST Street team's first charity event officially began Monday, February 18 2008. Members of the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team have generously donated books for sale. 100% of the proceeds, minus fees and shipping costs will be donated to H.E.L.P International. If you want to help, simply click on purchase the lovely handcrafted books featured on the BEST Blog.

I'll be making a book sometime this week to help the cause! I went on a little vacation this weekend and when I got back the event was in full swing! The photo up top is one I shot this weekend enjoying two amazing sunsets on the beach. I always love spending time on the Oregon Coast. We spent two days in Manzanita which included side trips to Seaside and Tillamook where we went to the Tillamook and the Blue Heron Creameries. The Blue Heron Creamery has a petting zoo and we had lots of fun feeding and petting all various animals they had. It's a very different experience from the larger Tillamook factory.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

You make my day!

Rhonda, of My Handbound Books blog has passed along the "you make my day award" award to me a few days ago and I've been to sick to acknowledge it!

The award comes with some rules so here they are:
-Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make your day
-Acknowledge the post of the award giver
-Tell the award winners that they've won by commenting on their blogs

Ok so five blogs I read with some sort of regularity.... I hate to admit that I don't get to read the blogs I want to as often as I want to.... So.... eighty8words is a blog that I always enjoy reading. Other blogs I frequent are the BEST team blog, the Kilgarlin Center at UT Austin, and recently I've started reading the Library of Congress Blog. Ummm one more blog.... I often check the Unofficial Etsy News pretty often.

I'm gonna break the rules as this point and not pass it along as the only blog that I think might respond to it is eighty8words and I 'm honestly too sick to tag everyone.

I did manage to finally edit some photo's while sitting in my sickness and the lovely photo album above is now up for grabs in my store.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Sticky Fingers


I finally got to spend some time playing in my papers again today. I made an absolute mess of my work space, got glue everywhere and in the end had some very sticky fingers from trying to wipe it all up with my hands. Needless to say I had some serious fun this afternoon.
The fruits of my labor is this great little brag book and the start of a new photo album. The covers for the new photo album are in the press drying right now and I have the paper cut, punched, and ready to just be sewn in.
My time in my studio today reignited my love for fine Japanese papers. The photo album I was working is made from a wonderful Japanese paper- but I honestly don't know enough about it to let you know what it's really called. I've seen the same sheet of paper labeled as washi, yutzen, and chiogami in different art stores and don't have a clue what the difference between them is. I do know that I love to work with Japanese papers and I might start burning through the stash I have hiding in my paper closet! Look for details of the photo album later this week!