New Printed Book Designs, and a SALE!

Whoo-ee, this pregnancy thing is no walk in the park the third time around!  Summer is almost over and I had such big plans for getting the shop updated and ready to take on the holiday season with a wee lass or lad in tow.  I didn't get quite as much done as I had wanted but there's still a bit of time (I'm due in November) and I'm starting to perk up a bit.  One thing I did manage to do was finally print up a few new 100% organic cloth book designs I've had waiting in the wings!

First up, an Edward Gorey book!

You may recognize this one from my Kickstarter campaign video; I've finally gotten around to editing and printing it: an Animals book!

And lastly this silly little winter-themed book, perfect for holiday gifts and stocking stuffers: the Winter Animals book!

I've been sitting on these designs for a while and still have a few more up my sleeve, plus a million more ideas.  I hope to get a few more made up before the holiday season begins.

Speaking of the holidays, now is a great time to stock up on some baby gifts for the little ones in your life by taking advantage of the sale I'm holding in my shop.  Now through September 30 enjoy 10% of purchases over $40, 15% off purchases over $70, and 20% off purchases over $100.  Just use the following Coupon Codes at checkout:

10OFF40

15OFF70

20OFF100

:All items in the shop are eligible, including custom!  I'm still accepting a few custom orders before the baby comes so get in touch if you'd like a special banner or book for a special baby you know :)

Another Giveaway Day!

Comments are now closed.  And the winner is....#14, Georgia!  Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by, and for all of the great name suggestions!!

It's time for another Giveaway Day, thanks to the amazing gals at Sew, Mama, Sew!

Once again I'm giving away one of my 100% organic cotton printed cloth books.  The winner can choose from one of the eight 6-page designs pictured here.  (You can check them out, and a few more designs as well, in more detail here.)

Just leave a comment on this post for your chance to win. As I'm having my third baby in November and am totally stumped for boy names, especially very unique ones (my two older kids are named Tigerlily and Lyric so I can't very well follow those up with Bob ;), if you have a good one you'd like to share please do!  Otherwise you can just say hi :)  International readers are welcome too!  I'll close comments on May 10 at 8pm EST and announce a randomly chosen winner the following morning.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of Giveaway Day! 

Giveaway Day!

 **And the winner is . . . #31, Amber!  Thanks everyone for your comments and great ideas!

It's time for another Giveaway Day, thanks to the amazing gals at Sew, Mama, Sew!

This time around I'm giving away one of my 100% organic cotton printed cloth books.  The winner can choose from one of my thirteen 6-page designs.  (You can check them out in more detail here.)

Just leave a comment on this post with an topic that you'd like to see in a cloth book for your chance to win.  International readers are welcome too!  I'll close comments on December 7 at 8pm EST and announce a randomly chosen winner on December 8.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of Giveaway Day!

Printed Books

When I first launched my Cloth Book of the Month program (thanks to a super successful Kickstarter campaign) I was ahead of the game with designs ready to go for the coming months.  I intended to release a new printed book each month and stay at least 2 months ahead with design and production.  And then this summer, one of the busiest I can recall, happened and my plans of staying ahead of the game turned to hopes of at least not getting too far behind.  Technically I have released a new book monthly but it's been getting later and later each month.  I'm doing a bit better this month (ocean animals) and am track to also have October's book (horses) done and fabric ordered before we go to Maine at the end of this month.  I'm planning on a constellations book for November and am not yet sure about December.  Any suggestions?

The latest printed cloth book in the shop (technically August's book but listed on September 2...) is Insects!  I love making detailed creatures and had a blast with these.  Available here.

 Here's a little preview of September's and October's books too...

 September: Ocean Animals, special 10-page edition

 October: Horses

What should December's book be?

Giveaway Day!

 UPDATE: Hooray for the winner, Laurel09!  Thanks everyone for stopping by and for all of your great alphabet ideas!

Until just now I wasn't sure I was going to participate in Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day this year.  I am ridiculously busy trying to finish up a bunch of orders before we take a little trip to Nickerson State Park on the Cape next week, not to mention running a household and trying to keep the kids happy and clothed and fed.  But heck, I couldn't resist!!

So if I'm going to do it might as well make it super awesome, right?  This time around I'm going to give away a set of 3, yes THREE, of my 100% organic cotton printed cloth books to one lucky winner!  And of course if you win you get to choose which ones you'd like (check them all out here).

For your chance to win all you need to do is leave a comment here telling me one (or more, if you'd like!) thing that starts with the letter of your first name that you'd love to see in an alphabet book.  I'm working on a line of printed alphabet books and need ideas!  I'll start: V for Victrola :)

This giveaway is open to folks worldwide.  I'll close comments at 5 p.m. PST on May 25 and announce the winner the following morning.  I'll ship the books by June 1.  Please be sure that I have a way to get in touch with you if you win!

Thanks for looking, and GOOD LUCK!

Comments closed, I'll post the winner in the morning!

Cloth Book of the Month, officially launched!!

All of the details are finally in place and it's with enormous excitement that I announce the official commencement of the Cloth Book of the Month program!

January 2012 Book of the Month: BIRDS!

January's book is Birds, available as part of a subscription or on its own. Birds are one of my favorite things to make and for this first book I wanted to include a broad spectrum of types of birds. I will surely make lots more bird books with a more specific focus!


The subscriptions come in 3, 6, 9, and 12 month lengths and would make a wonderful gift for a baby shower or birth. Check out the options here.

I had a blast working on the details to make the subscriptions super-special, including these library card welcome letters!

Here's to many months of cloth books!!

The Best Giveaway Day Ever!

UPDATE: We have a winner: congratulations, Danny! Thanks to everyone for stopping by this week :)

I'm so excited for another Giveaway Day!!

2011 has been an incredible year for Ex Libris Handmade and this Giveaway Day is perfectly timed with the release of the first four of what will be many printed cloth book designs to come. What better way to celebrate than to give one of them away? ;)

One lucky winner will receive their choice of the following 100% organic cloth books:

1. Nature

2. Mustaches

3. Science

4. Woodland Creatures

To enter please leave a comment with a topic you'd like to see come to life in a cloth book.

♥ I'll gladly ship internationally so everyone is welcome to join in.
♥ Comments close this Friday, December 16 at 5:00pm PST.
♥ One winner will be chosen at random and announced on Saturday, December 17.
♥ Make sure to leave contact information.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the amazing giveaways at Sew, Mama, Sew this week!

Printed Books!

**UPDATE: These 4 designs are now for sale!! I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to get them all listed in the shop but they're available and can be shipped in time for holiday gifts. 2012 subscriptions to the Cloth Book of the Month Club are also available! If you're interested get in touch (exlibrishandmade@gmail.com or convo me at the shop) and I'll hook you up:)

I'm so excited to announce the launch of my line of 100% organic printed cloth books! The smashing success of my Kickstarter campaign has allowed me to design and print 8 books and I am releasing 4 of those designs next week! Here's a sneak peek:



The remaining 4 designs will be part of my Book of the Month line that will launch in January. Each month I'll release a new book design that can be purchased individually or as part of a subscription (3, 6, 9, or 12 month lengths will be available). I'm bursting with ideas for these books and am always open to more suggestions!

The last day

My Kickstarter campaign ends at 11pm today and I've officially tripled my initial goal (!!!). This means that not only will I be able to launch the printed cloth book of the month project but also create a full line of alphabet books with one book for each letter. I'm so excited and so, so grateful to everyone who has helped make this happen!

There's still time to get in on the action if you'd like a book (or more) of your own! Here's a list of the books that will be available for pledge rewards:


Mammals
Birds
Woodland Creatures
Science
Transportation
Musical Instruments
Mustaches
Nature

:I'm collecting ideas for books to make in the future, too. Suggestions welcome!!

It's an exciting day!

I've had a couple of big announcements to make for a while and I'm so excited to share the first of these with you today:

I've started a Kickstarter campaign to create a line of organic printed cloth books!!!



If you've never heard of Kickstarter, it's a site that hosts creative projects in need of funding. It's a really ingenious idea wherein folks can pledge any amount of money from $1 up to projects they are interested in and receive rewards for their support. These rewards reflect market value so if the project is funding the production of an item it is almost like pre-ordering that item which will then be created in the near future. My project has a range of rewards and they all reflect retail value, e.g. the reward for a pledge of $35 is one cloth book, which will retail for $35. It took me a while to get comfortable with the idea of asking folks for money for my business but this rewards system makes it feel like a worthwhile venture.

When the project is funded (I'm being optimistic here--the funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing so if I don't reach my goal the project won't be funded. But I will reach my goal!) I will create six books in broad topics like birds, transportation, and instruments and scan the pages to be printed on 100% organic cotton sateen by Spoonflower. I'll then make the fabric into cloth books for babies everywhere to enjoy!

Subsequently I will release a new printed cloth book design each month as the cloth book of the month and folks will be able to purchase these individually or subscribe to receive them as they are released.

This has been a dream of mine for some time now and the logical next step in making Ex Libris Handmade truly sustainable. I'm especially excited about being able to offer an affordable 100% organic product. I hope you will check out the project, watch the video and, if you're able, consider pledging.

Here's the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1421207180/cloth-book-of-the-month

Spread the word!

♥ V.