First Coptic Stitch

I am so very in love with this book. It's even more beautiful than I had imagined when coming up with the design. The paper is a brand new handmade Japanese paper. I was so inspired by the paper as soon as I bought it, I came home and began working on the book right away. This book will not be for sale in Etsy shop - I keep every first-time completed project when learning a new binding structure.

Cover Me!

I made seven book covers last night - six of which are pictured here. The seventh was a coptic bind, which I'll post pictures of once it's done pressing.

I really love how these two koi covers came out. I'm very inspired by graffiti artists, so I was trying to capture a bit of that artistic style with these covers.



This awesome stripe cover will be a dream journal, I think =)

The plan for today is to get all six of these bound! I'll post pictures of the final projects!

Homepage Happiness

One of my journals was on the front page of Etsy yesterday! I'm a little bummed I missed it (means I didn't get a screenshot) but I'm super jazzed to have been there! I could really see the impact in my shop too, views and hearts galore. Here's a shot of the Treasury created by SeaFindDesigns:

My listing is the Chocolate Swirls journal in the last row =D

Coptic Stitch and Paste Paper

Like many of my fellow crafters, I dabbled in a few mediums before finding the one thing that is a perfect match for me. I did some lampwork, watercolor painting, portrait drawing and macro photography - all of which are still hobbies of mine and I still enjoy. But after I made my first book (a Japanese stab book) I was hooked. I knew I'd found something that I'd happily enjoy for the rest of my days. Don't ask me how I knew, I just knew.

I began taking classes and learning some different techniques. The structure I was most drawn to was the coptic stitch. There was a coptic stitch class offered in my area but unfortunately I had to miss it due to scheduling issues. I found some online tutorials, but none that were very clear or easy to use. Imagine my joy this morning when I ran across these videos:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4BMSrm0QOt0

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MTU6eIH7tAE

I threw some scrap pages together and actually completed a coptic stitch book!! =D I think my practice with long stitch helped out a ton - just for familiarity's sake. Expect some pictures of completed projects very soon!

The other super awesome thing I want to share today is Paper Kitty's Paste Paper Tutorial. I made a batch of paste tonight and it is cooling as I type this. I can't wait to try out it out. I actually made WAY too much - five cups of paste. heh. I think I'll take some to Jeannette's house and see if she and her daughter can come up with some crafty projects for it. I'm also hoping that I got the consistency right. Guess I'll find out soon!

New Listings!

Finally managed to get some new items listed today! I've been swamped lately prepping for shows so it was nice to get in some Etsy love.

This pendant isn't listed yet, but will be in the next day or two!


I still have two or three shows (I haven't decided on the third show yet) before I take a break to do some Christmas celebrations with friends and family. I *really* hope it cools off - the heat is just killing outdoor shows. At my last show, just a couple days ago, it was 90 degrees out in the sun. It was a little more tolerable in the shade, but not by much.

I'm considering offering a holiday special - something like buy three pendants/rings and get one free or buy three for the discounted price of XXX. The tricky part is my three-tiered pricing system. I offer pendants and rings in three different sizes and have priced them according to size. $10 for the small .75", $13 for the medium size 1" and $15 for the larger 1.5" pendants/rings. It's difficult to say "Three for the price of XX" because if I make the sale for $30, then if someone buys all small pendants, it's not a deal at all, but it's TOO much of a deal if they buy all large pendants.

Ack. What to do?? Perhaps buy three get a fourth for free is the best option.

Lures and Jigs

I've been wanting to make my brother and nephew a matching pair of journals for Christmas, so they can chronicle their many fishing trips together. Just before falling asleep Friday night I had a moment of inspiration and decided to use lures and jigs to decorate the spine. I'm happy with the results, however, I will replace the black hemp closure with something more natural looking. In addition, I'll probably add one or two more lures to the spine. I'm going to make a couple of these to list on Etsy as well!

Long Stitch

Ohh long stitch... how I love thee!!


Yesterday's show was a huge success. The show was at Mesa Community College in Mesa, AZ. It was fairly small, 20-25 vendors, but people were out to do some Christmas shopping! My girlfriend Jeannette was at the table right next to me selling her glass creations and she had a really wonderful show too!

About half of my inventory was bought out, so I have to spend this week making some new necklaces and books because I have two more shows in the next two weeks! I had not anticipated just how much people love paper-wrapped matchboxes. I wish I had made more of them since they were gobbled up. The book pictured is one of a pair I made Thursday night in anticipation of the show yesterday. The other book was a lovely pink, long stitch sketchbook that I neglected to take a picture of before it went to a new home.

Matchboxes!

I made a ton of these super cute matchboxes yesterday - I just love them! They fit two of my pendant sizes just perfectly. I need to find some larger matchboxes for my big pendants because I'm so happy with the way these turned out. I listed four new pendants this morning all with decorative matchboxes =D

Get Busy!

Things to do:

• Create a supplies book. Make detailed entries for all of my supplies, include swatch, price, location purchased and quantity.
• Reorganize Etsy shop. Work on new shop announcement, pictures. Clean up policies and add more items.
• Decide on photography for pendant necklaces. Re-photograph books. Need something distinct.
• Organize and file all murder mystery game projects.
• Create at least one new thing a week (try to do this every day!)
• Spend at least one or more hours outside every day.
• Clean up work table!

I've been so busy with Halloween party stuff and my last two craft shows that I haven't really had time to just create. I made a small book today just because I was feeling inspired and it came out looking rad. I'll post pictures when it's finished pressing =)

I spent a lot of time outside today - the weather here is so wonderful. We only get two or three good months a year, so I really need to spend as much time outside as possible when the temperatures are cool. I had planned to stay in today and make a couple of drop-spine boxes, but I think they can wait until tomorrow. Here is a finished example of what I'll be working on this week:

My work table is messy! I supposed I'd better add it to my list.

Ack!

Today is usually the day I buy all my groceries for tomorrow's prep work for the Halloween party spread. I like to do what I can one week in advance, and all the really fresh work the day of the party (Oct 27th). Only this year I STILL don't know what I want to make. We'll have 30-40 people and we try to keep all the food in finger-food style for easy munching while socializing. So far, I plan to make my roasted cheese and bacon potatoes (i didn't make these one year and there was nearly a revolt). I'm also planning on creating a cheese plate, mebbe with some olives, grapes and hard salami.

I wanted to make chocolate cups filled with raspberry mousse, but I'm not sure how to make the chocolate cups. I'm still thinking on this one.

I dug around allrecipes this morning and found these three recipes that I might try out:

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bites
Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips
Brown Sugar Smokies


I love cooking, but this time of year makes me long for a caterer!

Play along!

**By the end of the calendar year, I will send a tangible, physical gift to each of the first five people to comment here. The catch? Each person must make the same offer on her/his blog.**

Swiped from Field Notes from an Evolutionary Psychologist

Halloween

Halloween is creeping up on me this year! I haven't even picked out a pumpkin yet! Halloween is my most favorite holiday of the year. I usually have lots of Halloween activities planned. This year will mark the 7th Annual Murder Mystery Halloween Party hosted by myself and my best friend Jeannette (http://www.gigisdesigns.etsy.com/). For the past three years, Jeannette and I have been writing our own murder mystery games, which we host for 30-40 people. It's so much fun. This year the theme of our party is a murder at a comic book convention! Nerdalicious!

I plan on taking my nephew Zac to a pumpkin patch where we'll pick out perfect pumpkins, take them home and carve them up!
I'm also taking my Burger dog to a Halloween party at Petsmart so I can get spooky pictures taken of him in his pirate costume! Arrf! err.. Arrgh! (I'll be sure to post Pirate Burger pictures!)

Last but not least, on October 31st, I think I'm going to attend a Reels of Fury showing with my honey! They're showing "Plan 9 From Outer Space" I've only seen it via Mystery Science Theater 3000, so it'll be fun to see how it holds up without the witty robot commentary!

My kittercat Cortez was helping me take some pictures earlier... she must have heard about Diego's recent celebrity shot on my blog because she totally struck a pose...

Diego

For recycledideas! Our pups could have been from the same litter. My guy, named Diego (nicknamed Burger) is half Australian Kelpie and half Golden Retreiver. I love him to pieces!

ArtWalk

On October 3rd, I participated in my first ever ArtWalk! I had so much fun. It's finally starting to cool off here in Arizona, so getting to spend an evening outside was awesome. I was pretty nervous, since this was my first time setting up for a show, but things went relatively smooth and I got set up in >30 minutes. I was able to display quite a few books and some of my paper jewelry. Here's a nice shot of my whole set up - using a 6ft table.

Here's a couple of close up shots. In the first picture you can really see my book display. I think I need to work on making the books more prominent and I'll be sure to have some varying styles next time too. In this picture you can see my case books on the shelf, and just below it in a single stand are some cute envelope style booklets and next to them in the double stand are my accordian books. Just below those is a display full of wood and paper rings. In the very bottom left corner you can just make out my matchbook notecard giveaways plus my moo cards!

In this picture you can see my acrylic necklace t-bar.. which didn't work out too well. I use magnetic clasps for my necklaces and the kept sticking together all evening. My brother-in-law made me a very cool steel t-bar, but I didn't have time to get it cleaned up and sealed before the show. I'm hoping to use it next time. Also in this picture is my lovely 1930's Italian book case! I love this little book case - I found it at an antique shop in downtown Mesa, Arizona and went back three times before I decided to see if I could talk to owner down to my price. It was 60 bucks and I got it for 45 - five dollars over my price, but I figured it was worth it because I just loved it.

Lastly, here's a shot looking from my booth down Boston St. I was right next to an artist who made some very cool Egyptian replica wall art using some very inventive techniques and materials!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! If anyone has display/art show advice or comments, I'd love to hear them!

New Blog!

Welcome to the new blog! I've made the switch from Typepad to Blogger - mostly due to the easier interaction between Blogger and Picasa (which I can't live without!). I'm loving the Blogger features, so please save me as a favorite and visit often!

I am always looking for ways to improve my creations and recently increased the quality of my wood and paper jewelry.

To celebrate I'm revamping my entire Etsy store to reflect the update products and to introduce my books! I've been learning how to do some top-notch bindings from the very talented artists at The Paper Studio in Tempe, Arizona. I'm really fortunate to be able to learn from such amazing and inspiring artists.



I have also recently joined the East Valley Art Guild and participated in my first art show at their monthy 1st Wednesdays Art Walk in downtown Chandler, Arizona. It was so much fun! I got to meet a lot of great people and got a ton of great feedback on my work. I'm really looking forward to the November show! In between customers, I was able to snap a few pics, which I'll add to my next entry.