I could not be happier that it’s Friday. I’m generally pretty susceptible to grey weather, in that it can pretty easily make me a little down and frustrated or just generally unmotivated. Unfortunately, pregnancy only seems to be amplifying that reaction (or at least I’m going to blame it on pregnancy, for now!).

While I was busy complaining about the weather this week, though, I managed to crank out some fun new things that had been on my list for a long time. Since no one has money to burn right now, I’ve wanted to have a few things that I could manage to price under $25…and I succeeded!

Using lots of fun, summery papers, I made up several accordion fold albums that I think are a lot of fun! Each of these holds 6 vertical 4×6 photos and I’ve included photo corners in the package with each album.

A few of these guys are up on Etsy already, and more are coming soon!

I also put together some really nice little journals/sketchbooks that I’ve made entirely with scraps. They don’t look like scraps, but I promise they are! Under my press, there is a large shelf full of page paper remnants. They are often of uniform size, but leftover from tearing down pages for albums or journals…and there is lotsa paper under there. I wanted to use some of those otherwise awkwardly sized scraps to make something nice, usable, and affordable. Presenting…perfect bound journals!

I’m just starting to get these up on Etsy!

Perfect binding is a simple glue binding along the spine of a book, which is very sturdy. Each journal is 5″ wide x 6.25″ high, which makes them great for carrying around with you (and using!) all the time. This first style uses maps from all over the world for the covers and each journal has 25 heavyweight pages of printmaking paper (50 pages, front & back).

The second style of perfect bound journals uses letterpress scraps. This one is from a print I made of a drawing I did of the Orion constellation rising. These are printed in a soft silvery blue ink, on a heavy, chocolate brown stock.

5″ x 6.25″ Orion journal. This one’s also up on Etsy!

I also put together a few new Coptic stitch garden journals, with that great 1930s vegetable seed packet paper - this is a favorite of mine!

5″ x 7″ Coptic stitch vegetable seed packet journal. Also up on Etsy - enjoy!

And, though the rain is still going right now, it’s supposed to disappear after tonight, and the weekend is supposed to be gorgeous! We have plans to make it up to the Renegade Craft Fair, plus a little park time is in order, and we may just try to get a little tiny way out of the city tomorrow…fingers crossed!