2012 Studio Love

 Tuesday was my first official full work day in the studio. This year, I really want to focus on production capacity and creating an inspiring work space.

For years I had a really nice view out of this window, complete with a butterfly garden!

I'm going to add "flower garden" and "wash windows" to the studio beautification list.

 I hate to admit it, but I really have been working in this space for the last quarter of 2011 with this giant mess surrounding me! That bright colored pile is the art area for the kids. Ask me how much art they've done there? Yeah, that's right. NONE. 

Let's just add "art studio" to the office redesign (separate room, still counts).

 Fellow bookbinders, do you save all these long scraps too? Maybe they will find their way into tags, or super small books. For now, they're in a box! 

 I like to think of this as my "Before" picture. Hopefully sometime in 2012, this space will be worthy of my Pinterest Board for inspiring studio spaces! I really feel very fortunate to have this space to use as a studio. This year I will figure out how to make it pretty and functional.

 And finally, back to making books. I have a wholesale order of 25 small journals that needs to ship by this Friday. Surprisingly, these text blocks are coming together quite quickly.

 These are my newest size: The Tall Skinny Journal

It feels so much better to have my work table looking like this again! 

Back to Binding!!

Happy 2012.

First Quilt Top 2012

 This year I came up with a plan so that I can finally complete some personal projects:

Parkside Harmony Studio production will be Mon-Fri.

No book making on Sat. and Sun. unless they are proto types for new styles 

To start the year off right, I spent this weekend piecing together the top of this quilt from summer 2011. 

The blocks were all completed, I just needed to sew them into rows, add the white strips and viola. A quilt top!!

One more row to go to, then I need to add white border strips around the whole thing.

Since it is Monday, I have to put this away until next weekend. I am really happy that I have figured out a way to include sewing into my life again. Next weekend I should be able to complete the top and start thinking about the back. My goal is to have this completed by the end of January.

For this quilt, I used the Lemon Squares Quilt Pattern and added the white strips between all the blocks to help make the top bigger.

New Books

 8" Square, with Dividers to add photographs of all your best catches!

 5" Square, Perfect for Sketching or jotting new lyrics!

 Small Journal, Fits nicely in your purse or backback!

Extra Large Sketchbook, Great gift for the artist or writer!

Yeti Head

Click here to Purchase this Yeti Head

This is the Yeti Head! They are so AWESOME! I wish I could have bought one. They have a really nice weight and a great softness. How have I lived for 36 years without a YETI HEAD?

Renegade Craft Fair

http://www.renegadecraft.com/holiday-la

THIS WEEKEND, PARKSIDE HARMONY WILL BE ON LOCATION AT THE RENEGADE CRAFT FAIR IN LOS ANGELES! 

Whooot. Whoooot. SUPER excited! Please stop in and say "Hi" if you are in the area!!

Crafeteria 2011

 I took these super quick photos right before Crafeteria started.

It was an absolutely gorgeous cold night and the shoppers were wearing the cutest boots, socks, scarves and hats! I was right under the flood lights this year so I barely needed any other lighting for my booth.

It's tough to get a good photo of the booth with this lighting, but you get the idea. 

All my usual helpers were busy Friday night, which left me with only two helpers.

 Leo is 10- He's a great big help when it comes to loading and unloading the car!
This event is put on by Frances and Smeeks- Frances is an amazing boutique and Smeeks is an old fashioned candy store. The boys really spent most of the night at Smeeks! 

 William is almost 12- he's great with just about everything and took real ownership of setting up the books for display. He is also a great help with set up, break down, and all those car trips!
He bought an electric shock pack of gum from Smeeks. I thought, it can't hurt that bad, it's just a child's toy.... "OUCH"- it really hurts! My fingers may be a bit sensitive though from weeks of binding books.

Here's what the booth looked like most of the night. The booth behind me also uses Stonehenge paper and gave me some great advice on where to order it wholesale! Fantastic!!

It really was a great night!

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported independent artists and crafters!!

I have a tiny break before my last show of 2011- like 5 days.

Show Inventory

This is what I have made so far...

My next show is one 8' Table, so I'm trying to get as many books as I can in a small space without it looking too crowded. The show after that is 2 days in a 10' x 10' booth. 

I'm starting to work on "overflow" which is books that don't fit on this table now.

Those will be the books that I use for show #2.

I have 2 weeks until Crafeteria and 3 weeks until Renegade Craft Fair.

I feel pretty good, like I'm on track to have a variety of books made. However, I usually start to panic a couple days prior. 

It's the fine line between having too much stuff and not having enough.

I try to make as many books as I can until I can't make any more. 

I will have a lot of books left over, and that's okay.

It's nice to have a healthy stock of books as a base going into the next show.

What I'm really looking forward to...

December 13th! That's when all my holiday show are over!!!! 

Then it's party time! 

And by Party time, I mean I'll be working on personal projects...

and finishing the top for this quilt: