Etsy Storque Spotlight

The NovelNovel was featured on today's Etsy Finds!  What a fun surprise to find an inbox stuffed with orders this afternoon!  

We recently bought a huge new crop of vintage book delights and I've been working like a busy, busy bee, so it's fun to see them get featured by Etsy.  And I've expanded the binding process, so I'm able to use a larger variety of books now.  Such fun!

Well, I'm off to the post office.  Hope you're having a fabulous week!

PS I know I fell off the radar for a bit, but (for now) I've overcome my little motivation problem.  So, I'll post the rest of my "Beautiful Things" project over the next few days.  

New NovelNovels

Matt posted a new batch of NovelNovels to the shop this evening. There are some really awesome ones!

I've been experiementing with different types of binding and so far my attempts have been successful. I need to do a few more tests, but if they work, then it seems that a whole new world of books will open up to us and I won't be limited to just kids books with library-binding. Look out world, The NovelNovel is about to explode!

Zip Zip's Doodles

For my next "Beautiful Thing" I present another silly doodle. This one was done on a page from the book ZipZip Goes to Venus. That title alone is inspiration enough!

Without further ado, I present "Beautiful Thing #6":

Question & Answer

This weekend my "Beautiful Thing #4" was a collaboration with my lovely husband. For some time now he's been working on a visual Exploration of the Western Shorter Catechism. A mighty undertaking, I assure you. So this weekend he asked for my assistance and I was happy to oblige--I love working on projects with him!

We spent much of Saturday afternoon holed up next-to and inside-of a culvert in a local canyon, wiring twigs and branches, scouring for plant debris, getting funny looks from passerbys, and generally having an all-around good time. For as often as we talk about creating potential works of "installation art," it was nice to actually get out and do it! It was a small project in scope, but very satisfying none-the-less.

Some photos of our work in progress:


And the final result (with Matt's graphic finessing):


To see more of Matt's Catechism Project, click here.

Yellow Confusion

Today's "Beautiful Thing" is not something that I created in a single day, but rather a project that I was inspired to finally complete. I've had this vision in my head for awhile, but wasn't sure how to execute it. I stumbled on this photo several weeks ago [via OutsaPop] and was so taken in by it. Such loveliness...So inspiring...

I'd envisioned a necklace featuring those same twists and turns. I painstakingly made several tubes of fabric stuffed with poly-fil a few weeks ago, but I wasn't sure how to finish the look.

Then last night I was getting ready to go hear John Meeks in concert and got a hare-brained idea that I had to finish this project immediately and incorporate it into my outfit. Surely you creative types know what I'm talking about. That sudden and undeniable urge to create that blind-sides you and leaves you helpless to do anything but tackle your idea right then and there. I find this happens often with jewelry. If I don't have just the right pair of earrings to wear, I decide that the only solution is to sit down immediately and make a pair to match my outfit. Of course this always makes me late to wherever I'm going, but I get such a high from having made something that I find it's worth it. (Open apology to all my friends and family--Sorry I'm always late.)

So that's how "Beautiful Thing #3" came to be:




It's just a proto-type and still a work-in-progress, but I'm quite happy with the result. I'd like to make them using white and gray jersey fabric, and wearing them with a simple t-shirt. A nice excuse to visit the fabric store anyway. If I get really ambitious (which is my goal these days!), I'll make some to sell in my handmade etsy shop. I think they'd be a nice compliment to my fabric earrings. We'll just have to wait and see what happens...

It Grows More Than Six Feet in Height

I am by no means an "artist" in the proper sense of the word. I prefer to lable myself as a "crafty dabbler" flitting to and fro among the crafty-arts, occasionally hitting upon something that suits my fancy. I've never been good at drawing, but I've happily doodled my way through many a lecture in college. All that to say that today's "Beautiful Thing" is not actually all that beautiful, but it was a labor of love and spontanaeity. I've seen so many people use pages from old books as drawing paper, so I thought I'd give it a try. I've got loads of it laying about from making Novel Novels, so here's what I came up with. It's mostly just scribbles, but it was fun to make.

Beautiful Thing #2:

Freshly Tilted

New in the shop today:




Happy Shopping!