edible book event

hey everyone! BEST is hosting an edible book event on april 1st as part of the international edible book festival!

we are inviting members and non-members alike to participate by making your very own edible book. the festival involves people making edible objects that are book-related and then sharing their creations. it's all about creativity and doesn't even really have to be about book binding!

we invite you all to post your pictures on the flickr gallery here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/best-edibles-2009/

we will also have an informal social gathering in the Etsy chat room in the
evening (april 1 at 9pm eastern) for anyone who wants to just meet and chat about
the edible books or chat about anything else!

feel free to make your book any time before april 1st! invite your friends and family to join in the fun!

after all the edible books have been submitted on april 1st, the books will be
considered by a small panel of impartial judges (who will remain anonymous until
after the event). special recognition will be awarded in each of these
categories:
BEST Edible Book
BEST Edible Bookbinding Technique
BEST Edible Book by a Child (age 10 years or less)

looking forward to seeing all of your creations :)

paypal shipping

whee! i printed out my first shipping label via paypal today for an order i need to get out for christmas! hehe... just wanted to share ;) tis exciting! i bought a scale months ago but have just been too nervous that things would go wrong with the shipment that i haven't tried it until now! except for a glitch in the system that wouldn't let me send to the confirmed address because usps' recommended address didn't spell out "east" or "avenue" which forced me to have to call paypal's customer service, i think it's worked out just fine. :) hooray!

handmade confessional!

tara aka weirdwolf filmed a bunch of people at the felt club event the other day, and is posting them on the etsy storque as a mini series of handmade confessionals! she just posted mine today :D you can check out the actual post here!

buy handmade! support artisans and crafters! shop locally! yay! :)

felt club

checked out the felt club craft fair in downtown l.a. the other day, wanted to share a pic i took of it:



so many people gathered to share handmade goods makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside! :)

hey ya'll

it's been a while!

not a whole lot has been happening in terms of etsy, i've taken on a few commissions since the last post but haven't really made anything on my own for a while since i've been working 7 days a week for the most part :T i did make a couple books for halloween, which was fun :) even with tea staining and baking one book's papers, something i swore i'd never do again ;)

looks like i'll be missing the next book swap for best, but i've got a book to make for a friend and then i have some extra paper folded and punched, ready to bind! i'm excited about using some of my new japanese paper! and these next two weeks will be a little less busy production-wise, what with thanksgiving and all, so i should have time to work on books! hooray!

life-wise, i've been working at effinfunny for a couple months now and it's been great! they actually brought me to work on "the guild" with them, so i've been the art p.a. since almost the beginning of this season. they also teamed up with machinima.com to work on some projects and i've been helping with those. one of the videos they did on the election got on the carson daly show, so that was pretty neat! they also took me to blizzcon for a day, which was very nice of them :)

starbucks didn't quite work out, but i'm still workin at sushi! hoping that little production gigs here and there will cover the amount that i'm not making from a second job, but i don't think that's really going to happen so after i get back from my two week winter vacation in hawaii i'll be looking for another part time job. probably bad timing, doing it AFTER the holiday rush, but with the economy now i'm not really sure there's a good timing!

i was a moogle for halloween. what were you?

bookbinding etsy street team storque article!

exactly what the title says.

hooray for best! :) very exciting for the team! and i'm personally excited about our upcoming team challenge... halloween is the bestest holiday evar!!!11!1! hahaha...

on a personal note, s-bucks hasn't quite worked out my schedule yet, but i just started interning at effinfunny, sandeep parikh and leah mann's production company. pretty awesome! :) i'll be working on my first shoot this weekend, woot!

no longer homeless and unemployed!

as the title says hehe! have moved into the new apartment, and now just finishing up getting furniture and arranging the rooms and whatnot :) also been working that hostess job at the sushi restaurant, but starting this week i'll be working tuesdays, thursdays and fridays instead of mon-fri, so that i'll have more time to possibly work production gigs. next week i'll be starting a job at starbucks working those mornings, hooray for health insurance! but the pay is very low, and i found out that unlike missouri, where i worked as a waitress for $2/hr + tips, restaurants here pay minimum wage ($8) + tips, so i'm probably going to need to look at getting a waitressing job in a couple/few months because that's much more than i had thought, hence the hostessing job! for now though, i'm doing well and will at least be making rent + utilities, huzzah!

i will probably look at getting into working on my etsy shop some time this week or next week! i need to run out to the paper source store in pasadena to pick up some pva to make books (although i do still have leather to make non-glue books!), but i've already made some jewelry since i got here. a friend of mine is a photographer, and was going to be taking headshots for my roomie and her bf, so he offered to take pics of me wearing my jewelry to use in my listings! here's a preview :D

things coming together...

today was a fruitful day:

1. went with friends to a photo/techie store out in burbank. there was a loooooong shelf full of gaff tape and paper tape and painter's tape and everything! i didn't spot any glow tape when i walked by, but the beautiful colors of gaff tape made me swoon ;)

2. mailed off my third custom scroll order this summer! considering i really haven't been updating my shop, i am happy that i'm getting these requests :) they've all been for weddings, so i figure that means they'll drop off now, but you never know!

3. i signed a lease with my roomie for an apartment in encino (which will forever give me a mental face-palm every time i think of it due to watching "encino man" before i came out here, but it's actually a nice area). rent is pretty decent, and it comes with a fridge and side-by-side parking, score! the rooms are equal enough that we're having a hard time deciding who gets what room, which is actually nice.

4. interviewed with a little sushi restaurant in encino that i happened across yesterday, and was hired as a hostess/cashier. will be making enough to pay for rent and such, hurray! work starts monday, have the night shift 5-10pm mon-fri. i did have a phone interview yesterday for a teller position with a local bank, which would be nice to get because it'd pay about the same as the hostess job but i'd only work 3 days a week (which would leave time for side production gigs) and since it's a bank i could possibly get benefits on top of that. i think i'm lucky either way!

5. and the coolest of the coolest: was added to the set crew volunteer list for "the guild", which starts production in september, i do believe! ecstatic!



all of this helps me sort of shrug off getting a parking ticket when i stopped by my bank for 5 min and had no idea that i was in a no parking zone. may try to see if i can contest it or something.. man, couldn't i have gotten my first ever ticket when i was doing something illegally on purpose? ;) alas, i know ignorance is no excuse, so i don't imagine i'll argue too much... besides, the rest of the day was just wonderful! :D

and tomorrow, i'm running out to santa monica to eat lunch with friends (was going to do it anyway, but now it's kind of a celebration hah!), and pick up my very own pair of climbing shoes! i'll be paying more for those shoes than i've ever paid before, but i'm considering them an investment for much needed exercise and good times. afterwards, i'll be off to los feliz to help out with the "team smithereen" show painting props!

now, back to watching the last couple "dead like me" episodes! i heart mason!

craft magazine august edition

i was rather excited to see this. i received a couple custom scroll orders shortly after this, though i don't think the ad was how they found my shop... i honestly didn't care if i got any traffic from "craft" or not, i just liked the idea that something of mine (even a 1" pic) was published hahaha! ahh vanity!

settling into l.a.!

drove from missouri to los angeles, and have been busy hunting for apartments and jobs. went out today to rock climb for the first time! had a lot of fun :) must return to the apartment hunt tomorrow though, and hope for work to come soon!

"arte y pico" blog award!

rhonda, from my handbound books has awarded me the "arte ye pico" blog award! thanks rhonda :) the rules for the award are as follows:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributing to the blogger community, no matter what language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award-winner, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4) Award-winners and the one who has given the prize should to show the link to the Arte y pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.

and so, to pass the award on, i present these five blogs:

danca, from wear it like you mean it
jaye, from thirteenth story
guylaine and isabelle, from tomate d'epingles
anh, from my closet diary
carol, from quirky'nberkeley

temporary

been a while, been a while.. my life seems to be all sorts of "temporary" right now, and i'm not sure if it's going to ever really become "permanent"... so! charging forward, and on to a summary!

haven't worked on too many new things in hawaii, but did come up with things like these silly bumblebee earrings:

i'll be hoping to make more earrings soon, especially with the new little charms i bought in japan, they're adorable and whimsical, in my opinion :D hmm.. maybe i'll just keep them for myself, muahaha!

and finally made a "real" leather book, using a longstitch binding tutorial online, for my dad's friend:


used the suede side up, because the familia liked it better, although i thought the other side looked neat, all spotted and stuff, so much character! but they decided it wasn't "girly" enough for my dad's friend :P at least i got to test out my stamp, as you can see! :D

got a hair cut yesterday, i think i'm gonna need to actually learn how to use a curling iron so that i might make myself a little more presentable for interviews and the like in l.a.! ...what a terrifying notion.

i'm considering mailing all of my stuff from hawaii to l.a. via parcel post, since i won't be needing anything for the one day that i'm in missouri and i'm fairly sure the extra space in my car would be fantastic, but that would probably cost a fortune... plus, i'll just be worried about my pretty supplies sinking into the ocean or something! like my new paper and fabric that i bought in japan!



well, i'll be flying out tuesday, and driving to l.a. over the course of a few days. and then i'll be absolutely engrossed in "breaking dawn" when i snag it at midnight on friday-saturday... although only for about 6 hours probably, that's how long it took for each of the other books. too short! i blame my sister for my will crumbling and new twilight addiction, i refused for so long, boo... haha. ahh well, no more harry potter right? ;)

employment!

so, an update on life!

i'm currently considering moving to l.a. to pursue theatre and maybe get into film/tv. i swore i hated socal and would avoid it like the plague, but after talking to a friend who's planning on moving out there, i figure i don't really have anything to lose, so why not at least try? at least this way i'll have a roomie (and actually possibly 3, her bf's going and a friend of his might too), and i have some friends out there who may be able to help me out a little.

i figure i can try this out for a year and see how i feel afterwards. as much as i'd like to go "full time" with my etsy shop, realistically speaking that's not going to happen anytime soon. i'm nowhere near committed enough, i figure i should be churning out something new at least more than my current average of what, once a month? :P i'd need to sell enough to get out of the red first, and i've still got a while to go yet! i've gotta have something to pay the rent for now, so i'm going to see how this works out :) i've never had to start from scratch before, so this'll be interesting!

Virtual Labs Trunk Show!

The Bookbinding Team will be hosting an online trunk show at the Etsy Virtual Labs on June 2nd at 9PM EST.

We will be showcasing some handpicked creations through images and even via webcam so you can get a more up close and personal look at our books on Etsy. The creators will also be presenting why their shop (and themselves!) are unique, and you will have the opportunity to meet with them and ask questions in a session after the showcasing. There will also be some sales and giveaways, so this is definitely an event you don't want to miss!

A list of participating members:

yellowcraftychick
usefulbooks
thecraftykitten
kupokiley
myhandboundbooks
ladyartisan
flurrsprite
kristincrane
yatsu
thisisbexx

We hope to see you there!

new logo, promos, and pretties!

i recently updated my shop with a fabulous new logo, banner and avatar from the fabulous erin of designsquid and then i ordered some promos and such with it! my buttons are in the mail, but i've got my rubber stamp and stickers!



and here's a random sampling of things that i've ordered recently on etsy:

a super comfy custom dress from cherrypievintage that i ordered using alchemy. random picture with my wellies and the dress hehe.

i got a pretty mini mobile to hang above my laptop fromleahpellegrini, and ilusoria made me custom sock slippers!

i also ordered a custom pen from beetnik505! i love the little polka dots!


and an update on life: i will be moving away from missouri, staying with my parents in hawaii for a while until i can figure out what i want to do next! my shop will be closed while i'm in transit but hopefully i can still work on some things while i'm in hawaii, depending on what i can or can't cram into my suitcases and how expensive it'll be to ship my supplies over haha!

around the home

yep, that's my giant collection of handmade soap! it's sitting in the corner of "the dungeon", otherwise known as the boiler room/walk-in closet/laundry room/the space in between the bathroom and our room (the basement). ;) good stuff. i think i'm set for the year. just felt like sharing!


we completely flipped around the room last night, and now our desks are in a corner together! my shelves, work table, and desk are kind of taking over the corner while the poor boy is stuck over there with his desk hahaha. if you can't tell, i'm a bit of a slob. but an organized slob! really!


maybe? i think i just have too much crap XD

playing with bindings!

i recently joined the firefly-based big damn crafters street team on etsy, and for may's team challenge about unification day i created this book:

i used a stab binding method (which was a problem because i used my screw punch for the leather cover but not the pages, i used my awl for those and i probably had way too many because it was a pain in the ass to get the damn needle and thread through. i actually ended up breaking a needle, eesh!) as a way to bind (har) the old western and asian styles together into one book. i like it, but i don't know that i'll do it again ;) my first leather book, and also my first binding style other than the hardbound kettle stitch method! i haven't listed it on etsy, because the plan is to give it to my dad for father's day. :D

i did list this book on etsy, however:

i used a coptic binding method (ish... i think the first and last rows weren't done quite right because after i was done i compared it to eva's book that i received in the first best book swap and it looks like i should've looped the stitches a little more) based off of a tutorial i found online (did the same for the stab binding). i rather like this one, i don't think i could've done much different in terms of tension on the stitches because it does sort of pop open when standing up but it lies flat and i believe it's the paper itself that's doing the opening, not the stitching! so that makes me happy :) plus i've been wanting to use my papyrus for quite a while and i'm really glad it looks so awesome with the marbled paper (yep, same paper as used in the background for the leather book hahaha)!

two new creations

my friend pat commissioned me to make him a photo album for his recent trip to spain, so i finally ordered some stuff from hollanders (very happy with their products, i will definitely be ordering from them again!) including an unbound block for the biggest book i've made yet! he gave me a newspaper he got in spain, and together we designed and created this:


i'm rather proud of it, although i wish i had gotten better pictures before i gave it to him :) it was the second book i used methyl cellulose / pva mix with, and i think it helped me figure out its properties a little better! i ended up adding an end sheet to the back and pasted a map onto the inside front cover... a couple bubbles but not too bad i think! the front cover sports "spain" cut out in black library buckram (crazy thick bookcloth, a lil difficult to work with but cool cuz it's waterproof!) with cut outs of spanish newspaper text peeping through! i used red satin bookcloth on the spine, and i think it feels matador-ish haha.



and just so you know i'm a huge nerd, i also made myself a lightsaber. it doesn't work... yet!


don't forget to check out the best team sale going on right now! it ends saturday, april 26th! i'm offering 15% off all items in my own shop.

world book day team sale!

As part of the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team's World Book Day celebration, some of the members are participating in a sale from Wednesday, April 23rd to Saturday, April 26th. Check out the list of shops below and the discounts they are having!

ladyartisan: 15% off
lapaperie: 10% off
bluevalentinepress: free s&h + gift
subu: 10% off paper items
yellowcraftychick: 10% off
yatsu: free s&h
usefulbooks: 10% off
thisibexx: 10% off
myhandboundbooks: bogo 25% off
scodioli: free s&h
kristincrane: 10% off
kupokiley: 10% off
thecraftykitten: 10% off
flurrsprite: 15% off
uniquelycovered: 10% off
repaper: 10% off
moonbindery: 10% off selected items
artkitten: 20% off books + free s&h
bibliophile: 20% off

world book day challenge!

here is my entry for the bookbinding etsy street team's world book day challenge :) it's based off of shakespeare's romeo and juliet... i call it "story of woe" (har so clever!). i bound it with pretty italian paper and bookcloth, and then gold leafed the letters "j" and "r" on each side, so you can write in it from either direction (or both!). it's got black paper, which is always fun. for some reason it feels really awesome to hold in my hands, and i was tempted to keep it but i've been needing to post something up on etsy and it was kind of a relief to finally update *something* haha!