Gocco box journals

I mentioned yesterday that I'd made a gift for someone from a used Gocco box and today I felt like showing it off.

The fact that Gocco supplies have gone out of production has led me to not just be a hoarder of supplies for future use but also a saver of spent ones. I love the bold yellow boxes that the Gocco bulbs come in and I've been flattening them out and holding on to them for a few months. I am so glad my pack-rat ways paid off when I had the idea to have them turned into spiral bound notebooks!

I think they look pretty slick and cost less than $4 each to bind at the nearby copy shop. I also used the sides of the boxes to make bookmarks and the tab ends as stickers,

Of course I definitely couldn't part with the burned out flashbulbs that die two by two with every edition either. Until I think of something else, I've been storing them in some glass jars on the shelf above my desk. Maybe if I run out of jars I'll string them up on our Christmas tree.

Spring cleaning for the ol' shop!

The weather today was sunny and almost warm. I am so glad that spring will be here soon. I kept the windows open for hours and my home now feels like it's just breathed a deep sigh of relief. I enjoyed the afternoon on my porch taking new photos of prints to make my Etsy shop look better. I am planning on having a big sale this coming week (stay tuned) to help clean out some items that I just don't want to look at anymore.

I have a few prints that have been in my shop for a long time collecting virtual dust. My "Fiesta Snakes" print is the most acute example of this unfortunate condition. I'm not all that surprised really, I think the majority of people would greatly prefer to have a print of a bunny or a whale over a trio of snakes and it really was not my cleverest design. So, I decided to make those thirty plus unsold prints useful. I cut out the snakes with my pinking shears, added a bit of ribbon and turned them into bookmarks. I'm really pleased with the way they turned out. I am confident that they are much better than their original incarnation. These special new snake bookmarks will be included with every order while they last!

Doily dilemma (my favorite post title yet)

My childhood basement is dark and spider-filled but full of beautiful old things so it is perfect for intense treasure hunting. It seems that whenever I visit my parents, I leave with something special. Awhile ago I found a box full of handmade doilies that were probably made by my father's first wife. My parents didn't want them so I brought them to my place and they have been collecting dust in my house now too. I really admire the detail and workmanship but I'm just stumped as to what to do to display them properly. I want to repurpose them somehow because doily's on sofas are really not my thing but I don't think I should destroy anything either.

I scanned them today and I think they look very nice. Perhaps I will make large prints of my scans to hang on the wall and keep the doilies safe in their box. I've seen lots of neat things done with doilies or inspired by them. I intended to showcase a few items that use the doily motif but I found that Holly from Decor8 already beat me to it and featured the designers I had in mind and more in her "Doily Love" post. She is good.

I'm going to leave the doilies out on my work table this week in hopes that a bolt of creativity will strike.