spring-y goodness!

First, a picture of Multnomah Falls, courtesy of my talented sister-in-law:

In real-life, it's a colossal, roaring beast. In photographs, it's still lovely, but not as overwhelming. 

And some flowers are finally blooming here in Oregon:

We've actually had a ton of daffodils for awhile now, too; the yellow is gorgeous, but I've been longing for blue.

Now all I need is more sunshine!

out like a lamb

In the beautiful weather yesterday (rare for Oregon in March) a large troupe of family (and a couple of friends) spent some time at Salem's waterfront carousel and Multnomah Falls near Portland. It'd been a really long time since I'd been on a hike with my family, but the extra effort to get to the top of the falls paid off with a dangerously lovely view. I'll add a few pictures soon of the 600 ft+ drop. It was a very good day.

first round is on display!

The first six items are up now, including four hand-bound books and two new card designs. With my little sister in town for the next couple of days, it'll be a week before I get anything else up, but I hope you find these photos intriguing!

Felt Covered Mini Sketchbook with tabacco, tea, and indigo colored Tiziano papers.

Bee Neat Pixie Boy Greeting Card made with reproduced vintage photo and papers.

Button Up Blank Book with eighty pearlescent buttons on reclaimed leather cover.

apologies for the slight delay . . .

I'm getting there!  Took some photos of some of the Spring Collection while at the beach, but my schedule's a bit off. There's one new item up on Etsy, and I've marked down the leftover stuff from the winter collection. I'll have some free time this afternoon and will spend some serious time listing some more goodies.

Nice weather at the beach on Saturday, and we spent much of the weekend with family, old and new. As we get older, I find more and more things I like about my siblings.

Trees are still blossoming pink, and I mean to get photos of everything, everything, everything posted soon for your pleasure!

**you're the cat's meow!** 

almost ready . . .

Thought I'd go ahead and post a couple of early photos of some of the hand-bound books I'll be listing for sale soon, along with a bunch of other goodies!

The publishing company I work for specializes in reprints of out-of-print theological books. To get from original book to new book, a lot of old book bindings are discarded, so I asked for a few to be set aside for me. I'm using them to make these neat, coptic-bound blank books. I'm really happy with how they're turning out!

These red book boards are complemented with the copper-colored book cloth, which nicely matches the twine used for the coptic binding:

This set of old, leather-covered book boards came from a book published in the 1800s. I cleaned them up and added copper-colored book cloth, antique-looking end papers, and more than 100 pages (fronts and backs) of really heavy sketch paper.

I'll make sure to have everything up by the 21st, and I'll keep you posted with a couple more teaser shots in the meantime. I'm also working on completely revamping my website!

p.s. Speaking of books, my friend Skylaar has a beautiful little number here. It pushes the definition of "book" a bit; your life will be richer for seeing it!

shawn's spiffy shirt

Here's a spiffy shirt I made! Shawn got permission to use the InstantAction mascot from his company's site, InstantAction.com. I submitted the design to Spoonflower, and they printed two yards of the fabric. The gradation on the little flame guys is wonderful, and Shawn's work friends think it's pretty nifty!

more making, less consuming

I didn't previously mention that I have some overlapping goals right now. My New Year's resolution was to be more organized and tidier (which I did mention). And more recently, while cleaning the house for a visit by the appraiser, I determined that the new art studio won't be nearly large enough for all of the art and craft supplies I currently own. So I'm selling or giving away approximately 20% of my stuff for Lent. 

I haven't given anything up for Lent in quite some time . . . it's an interesting experience, not being a religious person. But I've already culled about 100 books from my collection, and 10 bags of fabric, clothing, and art supplies I no longer need.

While going through all of this stuff, I came to the realization that I could probably make art all year without buying any new materials. So that's my latest part of the project. I'm planning to go the rest of the year without buying any new art materials, just using up what I already own and salvaging a few vintage materials, mostly for free.

My first project is exciting, and will be part of the spring line: I'm making books using vintage book boards (tossed at my job when old books are disassembled) and materials I already have in my house. I'm thoroughly pleased with the first one so far, and will post photos soon!

You're the bee's knees.

xo 

spring collection up march 21st!

Wands, anyone?

I plan to have the first few items in the spring collection up on the site and on Etsy by March 21st, the first day of spring. Look for new card designs, jewelry, and handbound books. A couple of weeks later, be on the lookout for hats, robot t-shirts, and other goodies.

The daffodils are up, the cherry blossoms are starting to peek out, and things have that electric spring hum . . . So much to look forward to! I've been digging through many, many bins of fabric and supplies, downsizing and clearing room for new treasures, all in the spirit of my New Year's resolution: making life simpler and less cluttered.