Envelope Books 197-201

In preparation for my end-of-summer shows, I made five more envelope books to go with the couple I already had on hand.  These books are fun because I get to play with different colors of cardstock and ribbon to match each decorative paper.  I think I'll need to make more soon because they sold like hotcakes at Berea Arts Fest!

I also had DIY kits available with instructions and all the materials needed to make an envelope book at home.  After having them all summer with no interest, I sold all but one kit!  More kits and an instructional PDF will be available soon on Etsy and at my winter shows.

This brings me up to 201 out of 365 for the year.  I'm actually up to 220, but those blog posts are yet to come!  I think 145 books over the next 3 1/2 months is reasonable... I just need to keep chugging along and making books for my fall/winter shows.

Envelope Book Workshop- Books 58-60

Over the weekend I taught a workshop about Envelope Books.  During the course of the day we made 2 types of envelope books.  One with a collapsible spine and 6x9 inch envelopes, and the second with a closed spine and 5x7 inch envelopes.  I demonstrated the books along the way, and ended up with 3 completed books by the end of the day (books 58-60 of my 365 challenge.)  Instead of describing the whole day, I'll leave you with photos from the workshop and of my sample books.

Book 007

Behold, book 7 of 365!  This is another envelope book with a flexible enclosed spine.  I made this book as a sample for a workshop proposal I am developing.  I might be teaching how to make this and something like book 001 as a workshop in the Cleveland area.  Stay tuned for more details!

I worked on 5 more smaller books this weekend.  They are nearly finished, I just need to use the large paper cutter and corner rounder at work tomorrow.  So hopefully pictures of books 8-12 are coming soon.

Book 001

**UPDATE, 9/30/13, Instructions for making this book are now available on Etsy.  Thanks to everyone for the support and interest in this book structure!**

Yesterday I made my first book of 2013!  The spine is a narrow accordion made from green cardstock, the pages are yellow 9x6 inch envelopes, and the covers have an air mail theme with a ribbon closure.

 I made this book specifically to store all of the bills I get in the mail.  Before I had a drawer stuffed with a year's worth of gas, electric, and insurance bills because I had no other place to put them.  Now I have an envelope for each type of bill/statement, and I can clean out that drawer.  I ended up with a bag of envelopes and other unnecessary papers that can be recycled.  And the accordion spine means the book can expand as I add this year's bills to it.

Mission Organization

This weekend my mission was to organize the heck out of my living room.  All of my paper crafting supplies were a mess, mostly because nothing had a place to go.  If nothing has a "spot" then nothing can get put away!  The first step to organizing the living room was hanging all my artwork.  Instead of being displayed, all my paintings and framed pieces were leaning against the wall in a stack and taking up valuable space.

My next step was to get some stacked drawers so paper and supplies could have a home.  It just so happens that my neighbors in the other half of the house were getting rid of a rolling box with wide drawers.  It got a little banged up when they moved, and he just couldn't use it anymore.  These drawers are the perfect size for what I need, and with the placement next to the table you can't even see the damaged parts.

The last step was to make a standing rack for my large decorative papers.  My idea was to create something like the paper stores have.  Basically, wooden dowels maybe an inch in diameter that connect two upright pieces, sort of like a wide ladder.  I went into Home Depot with a drawing of what I intended to make and showed it to one of the helpful people in orange aprons.  She thought it looked exactly like a porch railing turned sideways.  They don't have the wooden railings like that anymore, but she showed me a metal one that is 4 feet long with bars about 36 inches across.  It was perfect!  Then she helped me find something to stabilize the base.  I ended up with 4 shelf brackets that could be screwed onto the base.  And the best part is, they assembled it for me at Home Depot because I don't have a power drill at home!  I am thrilled with my new paper display and my nice clean work area.