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!

Moving on

No need to dwell on the several months this blog has been neglected, right?  It's just a testament to how busy I've been!


I have tons and tons and TONS of work to share, but also tons and tons of photo editing before that happens.  For now I'll share a little home improvement we finished recently: a new room for my newly-turned-nine-year-old girl!

 I had such a great time creating this room for my girl and fulfilling my preteen dream of being an interior decorator! Almost everything in the room is handmade or secondhand.  I only bought the duvet cover and the lamp on the dresser retail, plus a few prints from Etsy--the bike and two others yet to come.  The chandelier was bought at our local Habitat Re-Store and painted green, the bed was free from a neighbor, the dresser was found on Craigslist, the little red doll dresser and the record player were thrifted, and I bought the rug at a church rummage sale for $1.50 (!).  The desk was mine at Tigerlily's age and my Father's before me.  I made all of the pillows, the curtain and the name banner on the door. 

 

Success ;) 

 We also had a nature themed birthday party for Tigerlily at a favorite local park, complete with a short hike and lots of stream exploring.  I was far too caught up in the festivities to really get any good shots but I can show you the invitations!

Add party planning to my list of missed callings!

The Annual Birthday Mix

Can't believe my girl is NINE!

366 Photos: Week Three

Time just keeps flying by...
This week I (finally!) finished and mailed out all of my Kickstarter rewards, launched the Cloth Book of the Month program, started work on a series of printed alphabet books, gave my girl bangs (adorable), relived my 80's summer vacations with some spirographing, fell in love with my new Silhouette Cameo, and chilled with my favorite people.

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!!

366 Photos: Week Two

It's the second week of the year and halfway through January and it looks like winter may have finally arrived, but still no snow. Boo.This week was filled with lots of sewing, a new haircut for the girl, painting rocks with friends, lots of hot beverages, kids crafting, and weekend shopping (tractor not included). Living the life!

366 Photos: Week One

The days, weeks and months seem to go by so fast I can hardly remember what filled all of the moments that constitute a year. I'm hoping to capture one of those moments each day this year, 366 (a leap year!) little moments to make up a picture of 2012. Here we go, week one!

This week we found a live dandelion, reorganized and restocked for the work ahead, convalesced after a bout of pneumonia, cultivated a family-wide obsession with Tintin, resumed our homeschooling with some research into ocean animals, made and gifted some things for the cousins and visited with the extended family. A good start to the best year ever!

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!!

Happy Halloween!

♥ Alice & Harry

Boo!

It's Halloween! I've miraculously finished both my kids' costumes (photos of Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter tomorrow) and am feeling pretty optimistic about my ability to get things done.


That said, I just want to remind everyone that tomorrow, November 1, is the last day to place a custom book order before the new year (check out the options here). I'm not exactly sure when I'll resume custom orders in 2012 so if you have a holiday or winter book order in mind now's the time to act! Even if you're not quite ready to order I'm happy to reserve a place for you, just let me know and we can work something out. I am going to be strict about this deadline, though; I have a ton of stuff coming up and really need to be able to schedule it all. Exciting times!!

p.s. My Kickstarter campaign is going great! We're almost at the halfway mark and I've more than doubled my goal, but no need to stop there! I've raised enough to develop and print 12 book designs and would love to add a line of alphabet books to that--one book for each letter of the alphabet. If you'd like to get in on the action and receive one (or more!) of these awesome, 100% organic books I'd be ever so grateful!

The plan to manage it all

Happy Friday! And for me it really is--I feel happier than I have in a long time.

Not that I've been miserable or anything but with the success of my Kickstarter I'm waking up to the fact of just how much and how hard I've been working, and at times it's felt like I've been spinning my wheels. I love the custom work I do and will be continuing with it regardless of the success of the printed books but there's really only so much of it I can do and it was limiting the growth of my business. Now, with the boost from Kickstarter, I'll be diversifying into the less labor-intensive printed books and I really believe that the balance between some custom work and some readymade work is the key to my continued success without killing myself to get it all done. It's really quite exciting!


Of course, the vast majority of my work thus far has been custom and with the addition of another line of books something will have to give. I will need to limit the number of custom projects I take on and right now I'm not really sure what that will look like. I'm thinking I'll be able to manage 3-4 custom book orders per month, though it may be more or less and it will likely vary with the month. As much as it pains me to do this I will also need to increase the cost a bit, looking objectively at the amount of time it takes me to complete a custom book (at least 6 hours, often more like 10). It won't be an insane increase, but it's something I need to do in order to make it sustainable.


That said, I have a couple announcements to make:

1. In order to fulfill my Kickstarter rewards (and not go completely insane this holiday season) I will stop accepting custom orders on November 1. Any orders placed before then (and those already placed) will be guaranteed for delivery before the end of November (or at least in time for the holiday, in case I get a mad rush ;).

2. I will resume accepting custom book orders in January at the new rates and will be limiting the number I accept.
So, if you've been thinking of ordering a custom book, either for the holidays or just because, now is the time!

Less than 3 days!!?!

Today, less than 3 days from launching my Cloth Book of the Month Kickstarter campaign, I not only reached my goal but surpassed it! I am so completely amazed by the overwhelming support I've received, and much of it from folks who have never met me or seen my work before!! My deepest gratitude to everyone who took the time to watch my video, perhaps pledge something, and spread the word. From the bottom of my heart...


Of course, there are still 27 days left in my campaign! There's no reason for the momentum to stop here; with every additional $450 my project receives I can create another book design! I have so many more ideas for books and suggestions are always 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.