Two decades of friendship

Last week my husband and I returned home after a fabulous trip to Hilo, Hawaii.  From Virginia, it took us four flights and about 24 hours to get there, but nothing could have stopped me from making the trip to celebrate with my oldest friend at her wedding.  

Just a few months shy of twenty years ago, I sat next to Tiffani on the school bus on our first day of kindergarten and we've been friends ever since.  We even joked that I could be her "something old" on her wedding day, since she already had the new, borrowed, and blue under control.

Of course as Tiffani's oldest friend and matron of honor, I couldn't let her use a generic store-bought book as her wedding guest book.  So as my gift to the couple, I made this personalized book for their wedding.  The marbled paper used for the covers perfectly matches our bridesmaid dresses, and the cover is adorned with paper cutouts of two dolphins forming a heart shape.  Dolphins have been Tiffani's favorite animal for as long as I can remember, and the other part of our wedding gift to Tiffani and Nathan was the chance to swim with dolphins on their honeymoon. 

I'm glad my husband was able to snap a few photos of guests signing the book at the wedding.  It's always nice to have some photos of my books in use.  And this is also the second guest book I've made for a wedding I attended (this was the first), so I actually had the chance to write a message in my own book. 

This particular book is designed to be both a guest book and a photo album to hold all of their gorgeous wedding photos.  In a future post I'll share some photos I took of the book in my studio before heading to Hawaii so you can see some of the details I worked into Tiffani and Nathan's book. 

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Some recent blog features

I feel so loved this week!  In the past few days, my work has been featured on two blogs:

:: April of a thoughtful life posted an interview with me on her blog.  You can learn more about why I choose to buy handmade, the awesome people I've met since starting my business, a handmade gift I made for my husband back when we were still dating, and where I'd visit if I could go back in time. 

:: Ashley, a dear friend from college, also posted about my work on her blog, The Sea's Edge.  She came to visit me at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa last month, and wrote about it here.  You can also see all of the lovely photos she took of my work (the two photos here were also taken by Ashley), 

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Paper samples

When it comes to placing a custom order, picking out the decorative papers for the covers of the book is one of the most important decisions.

At any given time, I have dozens of different papers in my studio.  I order small quantities of each to keep my work fresh and original, and my paper stash is always changing.  

Here I've shared a sampling of the papers I currently have in stock. Hopefully this selection can serve as a starting point if you're considering placing a custom book order.  And of course, if you don't see what you like here I can always search for something that's more to your liking. 

Please note: Due to availability from my paper suppliers, I may be unable to order more of certain papers shown here. Please e-mail me if you have any questions about available papers: linenlaidfelt {at} gmail {dot} com.

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Inspired in Athens

While I was in Athens, GA for the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa I had the chance to meet some extremely talented and inspiring artists.  And I'm always looking for ways to improve my own booth set up, so it was also nice to see such engaging booth designs.  I've featured a few of my favorites here, ranging from fabric design to pottery, that all really appealed to my love of bright colors and bold patterns.

Sara Lee Parker

These first two images show the work of Sara Lee Parker, who designs her own patterns and handprints them in rural Georgia with the help of her husband.  I first came across her work on Design Sponge back in January, and was thrilled to see it in person at the show in Athens. Her display was absolutely gorgeous; it was eye-catching yet simple and allowed her work to shine.  Check out her website here and her visit her etsy shop to pick up some lovely handprinted notecards or textiles. 

Platypusfile

I was a huge fan of the Platypusfile booth.  Janae Easton of Tallahassee makes these amazing one-of-a-kind bird pillows from vibrant patterned fabrics and adds a vintage button as the bird's eye for a finishing touch. She also makes necklaces from small pieces of fabric, and displayed them resting on an open book.  It was such a nice experience to walk into Janae's booth and to be surrounded by her cheerful aesthetic. For a similar experience, visit her etsy shop and be sure to check out her mini bird paperweights.     

Jeanette Zeis Ceramics

Jeanette makes cupcake stands and cake stands that would be perfect for weddings or other celebrations, and she also makes some adorable berry bowls. She even has a special line of vegan pottery.  Her booth was just a few away from mine in Athens so I had the pleasure of glancing at her work often throughout the day.  For more information, visit her website and online shop. 

Liddabits Design Shop

Liz Jahn (the designer behind Liddabits) and I met while studying graphic design at the University of Georgia.  She was a semester ahead of me and I always really admired her work, especially the series of wrapping paper designs that she created as part of her senior thesis show.  Liz launched her etsy shop earlier this year and it's been refreshing to reconnect as two small business owners.  Plus, it was fun to catch up in person at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa in our college town.  Liz's shop features her custom banners (perfect for birthday parties and weddings), and she also designs stationary and custom invitations.  And if you still need a father's day card, she has some great options in her shop. 

Jordan Grace Owens

I really enjoyed chatting with Jordan when I stopped by her booth.  She's an illustrator based in Greensboro, NC and she was selling quirky magnets, pins, and paper dolls.  I was drawn to her work when I saw it, but it wasn't until I was back home and perusing her website that I realized that I'd come across her work before.  On a trip to Greensboro not too long ago, we stopped by a coffee shop downtown called the Green Bean where some of Jordan's work was on display.  If you'd like to pick up a paper doll for yourself (or even a personalized one!) be sure to visit her online shop. 

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Congratulations, Braeden and Chika!

It's been a while since I've shared a custom book here, with all the blogging I've been doing lately about teaching workshops and exhibiting at craft shows. But I'm thrilled to show this custom wedding album that I created for Braeden and Chika, who got married last week. 

The couple has been living in Japan, but flew back to the US for their wedding. Coincidentally, my best friend and her fiance have been living in Japan since last year, and they'll also be coming back to the US to tie the knot later this month. (I'll be making a book for their wedding too, using one of the marbled papers shown here.)

I used a chiyogami paper printed with a cherry blossom pattern for the covers, and the book is bound using the Japanese stab binding technique. The first page features a space for Braeden and Chika to display one of their wedding photos, as well as some flower illustrations created by me. 

They also wanted to include the phrase "The best memories are made with the best people" on the opening page. What a fitting sentiment for a wedding album. My wedding day was truly one of the best days of my life, and a huge part of that was being able to spend the day with all of my favorite people. My friends and family live all over the globe, and it was amazing to have everyone I care about in the same place at the same time for one special weekend. I hope Braeden and Chika had a similar experience and were able to celebrate with everyone who means the most to them.

Braeden and Chika were planning to have a photo booth at their wedding, so they wanted a guest book that would double as a photo album to hold the photos taken of their guests. Each page of the book has space for two 4x6 photos. I made more than 300 photo corners by hand to hold all of the photos in place. The photo corners were made from the same brown cherry blossom paper that was used for the covers of the book. There is space beside each photo for guests to write a message to the bride and groom.

I'm so pleased with the way all of the details came together for this book. I love the delicate design of the pages, the one-of-a-kind photo corners, and the soft edges of the paper created by tearing each page by hand. I hope Braeden and Chika are as happy with the result as I am, and that this book will be a cherished keepsake from their wedding day for years to come. 

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Back to Athens for the Craftstravaganzaa

This weekend we headed down to Athens, GA to set up shop at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa.  After graduating from the University of Georgia three years ago, I've only been back to town a handful of times so participating in this show was the perfect excuse to make another visit. 

The show took place in a large parking lot right in downtown Athens on the corner of Clayton and Pulaski Streets.  As all of the vendors arrived in the morning to begin setting up our booths, we found that a single car had been left in the parking lot overnight (see photo above).  There was some last minute shuffling of booth locations to make room for all of the 50+ vendors, along with the lone black Toyota, but in the end it all worked out just fine.  In fact, it even resulted in an extra aisle along the side of my booth so shoppers could view my work even better as they entered the show.  

While sales were a little slower at this show than the others I've done over the past year (there seemed to be a lot more browsers than shoppers this weekend) we were lucky to have amazing weather and it's always great to spend a weekend in Athens.  We stayed with my wonderful friend Diana while we were in town (she was a bridesmaid in my wedding two summers ago).  She brought us food and drinks throughout the 9-hour art show, and then she cooked an amazing dinner for us after the show on Saturday.  A few other college friends, who now live in Atlanta, made the trip over to Athens to come to the show and hang out with us on Saturday night.  

Diana also introduced us to a few new restaurants when we were in town.  When we got into Athens late on Friday night, she brought us to the new location of Transmetropolitan for pizza (the pizza I tried was called the Hungry Sasquatch).  I must admit that I think I like the new location even better than the original one that I enjoyed throughout my years at UGA.  And on our way out of town on Sunday morning we got breakfast at Mama's Boy after Diana highly recommended it as her favorite breakfast spot in Athens.  

Stay tuned for a few more posts about the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa, including a few of my favorite artists from the show and a guest post from my husband Tony about an interesting booth design trend that he noticed.  

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A very special paper delivery

While I was in Raleigh for The Handmade Market, I had the opportunity to meet the women behind my favorite online paper shop, Paper Mojo. They have an amazing selection of papers for sale, exceptional customer service, and a lively facebook page. So when I knew that I'd be heading down to their neck of the woods for the market, I invited them to stop by my booth to say hello. After chatting online for months, it was so nice to meet them in person.  Megan even took a few pictures of my work and featured me on the Paper Mojo blog.  

I also placed a new paper order with them a few days before The Handmade Market, and they happily hand-delivered my papers to me at the show. I'm incredibly excited about this newest assortment of papers. I selected a few of my tried-and-true favorites, like the gold and silver coated lokta papers and the papers printed with the metallic chrysanthemum patterns.  I also picked out a few new papers, like the dramatic marbled papers shown above.  

Overall, my order was pretty heavy on the blues and greens since I had a particular book in mind while making my selections.  One of my best friends, who I've known since the first day of kindergarten, will be getting married at the end of May.  I'll be making a very special wedding guest book for her, which will coordinate with her wedding colors.  I'm really looking forward to getting started on this book for her, but most of all I'm excited to be her matron of honor and standing next to her as she marries the love of her life.  

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A pack rat's nest

I'm sure I've mentioned a few times that I'm a bit of a pack rat.  I save scraps of leather that are too small for book covers.  I find ways to make even the tiniest bits of paper useful.  And I even save pieces of leftover thread.

I hate the feeling of running out of thread just as I'm about to finish the binding of a Coptic journal or a Japanese stab bound photo album.  And it's so much easier to tie a final knot to complete a book when you have some extra thread to work with.  So I usually cut a bit more thread than I'll need when working on a more complex binding.  But as a result, I'm left with short -- but still potentially useful -- pieces of thread.  I've been saving these bits of thread for months in a colorful nest-like pile thinking they'd be perfect for sewing little pamphlet books, and this weekend I dove into my stash and made a bunch of new booklets.

Each of the books has a different decorative paper for the cover (all coming from my box full of leftover papers, of course).  You might recognize some of these papers from previous custom orders or books in my etsy shop.  These little books are perfectly pocket-sized, and small enough to fit inside an envelope to send to a friend as a little "just because" gift.  I'll be bringing all of these little pamphlet books with me to Athens, GA this weekend for the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa.  And soon I'll be selling them in my etsy shop in little color-coordinated bundles.  

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Leather food chain

My table at The Handmade Market on Saturday was right across the aisle from Noelle of oelle m. She had a beautiful booth display and was selling her paintings, handbags, and embroidered pillows. (You can see more examples of her work on flickr.) But her leather necklaces are what really caught my eye. 

After staring at these gorgeous necklaces for a few hours, it dawned on me that I might have some supplies that Noelle could use.  When I make my leather journals, I often have scraps of leather left over that I just can't use.  Oftentimes these pieces of leather or suede are fairly large, but if I can't cut a rectangle from them large enough to cover my pages the leather bits will just end up in my scrap pile.  (And as my husband will tell you, I have a hard time parting with my scraps.  I have several boxes, bowls, and bags filled with scraps of paper, fabric, and leather sitting around my studio just in case I find a use for them later.) 

So I offered to send Noelle my extra bits of leather, thinking it would be a win-win for us both.  She'd have some extra materials to make new necklaces, and I'd be able to clear out my studio and send my leather to a good home.  And as we were leaving the show, she generously gave me one of her necklaces (the prettiest one, too!) to thank me.

I absolutely love my new necklace, and I've been wearing it both yesterday and today.  I received several complements on it at work today, and I got to share the story about how I got the necklace with my co-workers.  I have all of my leather scraps packaged up to send to Noelle tomorrow, and I'm glad to know I have someone to send my extra pieces to as I continue to make more leather books. 

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The Handmade Market

Yesterday my husband and I headed down to Raleigh, NC for The Handmade Market.  We woke up at 4 a.m. and hit the road soon after, coffee in hand.  It was foggy and raining when we left Virginia, but by the time we arrived in North Carolina the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds and it turned out to be a beautiful day.  Setting up for the show was a breeze since the tables were provided and we didn't need to worry about bringing a tent.  And thanks to my busy month of bookbinding, I had more than enough books to fill my display table.  

Those who stopped by my table at the show really seemed to enjoy flipping through my sculptural vintage map books and my "Cortona Clothesline" artists books.  My leather journals and wedding guest books were also quite popular.  And I almost sold out of my little pamphlet books (below), so I'll need to make some more of those before my show in Athens, GA next month.  

I met some fantastic people at the show, including the women of Paper Mojo (the online shop where I purchase most of my decorative paper).  The vendor at the table next to mine was photographer Mary Doherty, who had some photos of Charleston, SC on display (a place that's near and dear to my heart).  I also saw some earrings made from vintage postage stamps, sea creature themed ceramics from Cephalopod Ink, and some gorgeous leather necklaces. 

This was the first time that Tony and I had visited Raleigh, and although it was a whirlwind one-day trip we both really enjoyed the city and The Handmade Market.  Before heading out of town, we had an amazing meal at The Remedy Diner (vegetarian tacos for Tony and a warm goat cheese salad for me), and spent the four-hour drive home chatting about our day at the market and listening to a few episodes of Radiolab.

Want to see more photos from the show?  Visit my facebook page, or The Handmade Market flickr group. 

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