Practice makes....

I'm very bad at this whole "posting-once-a-week" thing. I won't bother you with excuses.

So here's what's up with my crafts lately:

I'm halfway done with the binding of my first attempt at a journal with a sewn binding. It is my fourth journal total, but in the past I was using bindings with glued spines. This one uses no glue in the binding, and it turning out rather well. I do need to work on the width of my bindings however, because this one is too wide for how many signitures I have in it. It could have looked better if I'd had a thinner spine. Oh well. One thing I like about these journals is that each time I have learned something significant. I've gotten a new job at a local library, and after I've been there a while, I am hoping they will let me into the restoration department and there they will teach me how to bind books and make new covers for old books more professionally. At the moment my skills are self taught and based off what I've found on the internet. I'm really looking forward to learning something there.

Also, I've added international shipping to my etsy shop and as a result immediately recieved two requests for large custom orders of paper. This has taught me the need for keeping a stock of already made paper, so I don't have to make two orders, totalling over 80 sheets of paper, at the same time. Lesson learned.

I'm seeing Halloween decorations on the street now, and as a result, am beginning to worry about Christmas. It's my understanding that ALL stores pick up at Christmas, so after these two custom orders are filled, I am going to start stocking up in anticipation of the Christmas rush.

I also need to work on some card designs. When my favorite art supply store went out of business, I bought several large sheets of paper in different colors and patterns, and two of them are red and green. One is red on one side and green on the other, the second sheet is the same way, except the red side has green Christmas trees on it and the green side has red Christmas trees on it. It would make wonderful cards if I could just figure out an appealing design.

BAD DRAGON!

Okay, so I didn't keep to my goal of posting every Sunday. I'll keep working on it.

In other news, I have been keeping up with my crafts. I recieved a special order from a coworker for a sheet of blue handmade paper, so that is finished and currently drying. Another half-baked project is a box covered in recycled magazine pages. So far I have one side done and lots of work ahead of me. Because of repeated requests, I have ordered some flat rate envelopes yesterday from the USPS so I can implement international shipping in my etsy shop. I also made a card from my handmade paper and some old magazines (I have far too many laying around, so I am using them whenever possible). You can see the card in my shop here.

I'll try to be better about keeping up on my posts.