“At birth we are red-faced, round, intense, pure. The crimson fire of universal consciousness burns in us. Gradually, however, we are devoured by our parents, gulped by schools, chewed up by peers, swallowed by social institutions, wolfed by bad habits, and gnawed by age; and by that time we have been digested, cow style, in those six stomachs, we emerge a single disgusting shade of brown. The lesson of the beet, then, is this: hold on to your divine blush, your innate rosy magic, or end up brown. Once you’re brown, you’ll find that you’re blue. As blue as indigo. And you know what that means, Indigo. Indigoing. Indigone.”

-Tom Robbins

These two new closures are available on the medium and large sizes.  There is the hook clasp (pictured above and at the very bottom) and the turn lock (pictured directly below).  They add to the Old World feel of the journals.

Here is the newest community journal/sketchbook at Coffee Times Coffee House! You can find it on one of the tables.  Feel free to share your thoughts, a favorite quote, or create some sketches. It's 8.5 x 11 with 450 recycled pages and was created from a coffee bag from Coffee Times. Please enjoy when stopping by for a cup of java!

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs.  Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that.  Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.
–Howard Thurman.

Ah, it's been a good four-week-run of festivals every weekend.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the bit of traveling and meeting and spending time with so many wonderful people.  

I participated in St. James Art Show a couple weeks ago in Old Town Louisville.  Here is a peek at the fountain on St. James court in the wee hours of the morning.  I found out when I was setting up that I was scheduled for a t.v. interview on Friday morning at 6am.  I had planned to drive to Louisville on Friday from Lexington.  This means et up really early.  There was something nice about being at the show while it was dark and still, before all the bustling began.  You can check out the t.v. interview here.  The rest of the weekend was pretty constant.  I got to see and meet some amazing customers and friends.  Plus, my friends, Amanda and George, made me Vegan lasagna, which was quite tasty!

Last weekend, I was at the KY Guild's Fall Fair.  It took place at the Indian Fort Theater, which has to be one of my favorite venues ever.  All of the artists are literally in the woods along a trail.  And with it being Fall, it couldn't have been prettier.  Some of the leaves had changed, and the weather was sunny and fabulous.  We could not have asked for a better weekend!

Oh, fun!  One of my journals made it into the Weekender and get a brief mention in regards to The Bazaar's grand opening tomorrow.  Read more here.

As an English major and avid book lover, I have an affinity for old books.  One of the first types of journals I began making were out of used book covers.  Here's what I found out that made me even more adamant about re-using old book covers:  all book covers get thrown away!  That's right, only the inside of books can be recycled.  The insides getting recycled is the best case scenario (and even in this case think of all the lovely, awesome book covers that are getting tossed).  If you take your old books to a recycling center that cannot afford a book cutter (ie cannot pay someone to cut out the insides so those can be recycled), the whole book gets thrown away.  Bam.  Just like that, tons of books are finding themselves in landfills.  And have you ever peeked into the dumpster of a bookstore used or otherwise?  It's quite unbelievable all the books that are in them.  I find book covers many places, often with the pages still at least somewhat in them.  I look for books that are stacked in corners and overlooked or that are literally about to be thrown away.  They come from individuals, garage sales, antique stores, outlets, etc.  Its rare that I use books that I think should still be being read.  This mostly happens when the books are falling apart.  Thus, the books I generally have are a bit obscure with varying fun titles and/or fabulous covers.  I recycled their insides and...voila!  A super cool, unique journal or sketchbook.

lots of books easily fill up the back of jessica's mini!

 

voila!