Coptic

Hey y'all! I know it's been a while, but check it out! I made a couple new books! They were made with the coptic stitch method, which is definitely a new thing for me. Of course, they are still made with the same recycled materials; vintage record covers and rescued papers. They are a bit larger than my normal notebooks, 8.5" by 5.5" instead of 5.5" by 4.25" I think they're really cool and I'm excited to update my shop with them over the next few days. I hope you'll check it out! And I really appreciate you still stopping by, even with the dead air over the last couple weeks, look for more frequent posts like in the old days from now on.
mel

Sorry

Yes, there are loads of new books in the shop.

Sorry I fell off the face of the blogging earth. I haven't been feeling very well this week, but I feel like I'm snapping out of it a bit today. I have a big project to work on that is due on Saturday, but as soon as that is out of the way I will have lots of new exciting products to offer you. But until then, things may continue to be pretty quiet around here. Just a heads up. I hope your week has been great!

mel

All Thumbs

New book in the shop, what's up! This is Thumbs Tubby, an old time honky tonk piano player from the 1950s. This is one of those notebooks I made thinking it probably will not be especially popular, but maybe someone would see it and love like I do, be beguiled by the name Thumbs Tubby and his grinning cigar smoking ways. And if not, hey, maybe I'll just keep it for myself!
I'm a little bummed on business this week, even though it's been pretty brisk, because I've had my first experience with cancelling a sale. In fact, I had to cancel two sales this week! It makes me feel bad for a couple reasons, obviously the first being that, boo, I thought made a sale but now it turns out I didn't. That sucks. But also it makes me feel bad because I realize how soft spined I am; it took me longer than it should have to decide to cancel these sales, I wanted to give the non-payers the benefit of the doubt, "maybe they just don't understand the checkout process...maybe the MO got lost in the mail..." When what I should be doing is sticking to my shop policies. I'm just trying to be a nice person, but the business world is no place to be nice. I guess. I'm hoping in the future I'll do better. How was your first time cancelling a sale?
mel

Night Moves

New notebook for sale!

Oy, I am sleepy today. I've been sleepy pretty much all week, but today especially because last night I stayed up too late watching the Olympics. I couldn't help it though, it was gymnastics! It's like reliving my childhood when my sisters and I would skate around our driveways, pretending we were Kristy Yamaguchi. I know, that's ice skating, but I just mean that I when I was little the Olympics were a big thing for me, my whole family would sit together and watch every and any event. But I haven't watched an Olympic event since I moved out of my parents' house in 2002, so last night was oddly nostalgic. Even though scoring in some events may have changed and I don't remember feeling quite so cynical about the commentators when I was 9, I found comfort in the fact that swimming and gymnastics look the same as they did 16 years ago. Maybe that sounds weird, I don't know. I just know that it's still exciting and thrilling to watch these amazing feats of athleticism, and to know that millions (billions?) of people are watching and thrilling right along with you.

mel

The Plans Laid Bestly

So, nothing went according to plan last night. It's ok though, because that meant that I was able to take pictures of the books I've made. Finally! They'd really started to pile up. I haven't had a chance to list any in the shop yet, but I did manage to post the photos on flickr. Unfortunately, I uploaded the wrong folder, so ALL of the photos I took are up there, instead of just the ones I edited. Oops. I'll have to take care of that later today. Also, another plan undone, I did not start weaving last night, but I did read up on it and am still really really excited! I will definitely post pictures of my attempts when they occur.

mel

Globe Thistle

, originally uploaded by gregw.

Let me tell you, last night I was a crazy book making machine. I have a bunch of totally awesome new books now, I am so excited and I can't wait to share them. It's strange when inspiration strikes, I don't know what causes me to be stuck in a not caring rut all weekend then suddenly be unable to stop creating on a monday night. And now I am super bummed to have to be at work because I want to be at Goodwill scouting out more awesome records and looking for supplies for a new project I came up with last night (which will be a secret for now because I am not sure that it will happen). Such is life I guess. Well, my life anyway.

Oh, and about the globe thistle, one of my awesome birthday presents from Steve is a gocco (!) which hasn't arrived yet, but I am trying to be prepared for when it does so I am thinking about what I want to print with this amazing machine. I was reminded of a drawing I did some time ago of a flower I thought was a globe thistle, but google and flickr searches are turning up images which, while very lovely, are not the flower I drew. I'll try to get a scan of the drawing to post, then maybe y'all can help me identify it. Thanks!

mel

Things Are Happening (have happened)

I am sorry for the lack of posts in the last week. I don't exactly know what happened, I think it was a combination of being in Sacramento over the weekend, a broken alarm on my phone, and, y'know, being old now. But posts will start occuring at their regular frequency again. I'll give you a quick recap of things I've been thinking about this week.

*I am going to go to my coworker's daughter's Girl Scout meeting next weekend and teach the troupe how to make perfect bound books. This is exciting and a little scary.

*Steve and I will be hitting up the Mission Indie Mart this Sunday. Woo hoo craft shows!

*I am excited about the new record cover notebooks I've made that I'm slowly listing in the shop.

*KK of Lulaboutique wrote a really nice post about roska handmade on her blog. What a sweetie!

*I am on the lookout for art! I need things to hang on the wall, things that Steve and I will both like. Please share any suggestions you may have, either particular prints or places to buy. I'd sure appreciate it!

mel

Sale - Last Days!

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the last day of the Birthday Sale at roska handmade. That means you can still get free shipping on the great notebooks you see above, as well as many others in the shop. Check them out here.
Also, a sneak peek at a new bird notebook that I'll be listing in just a moment.

Pretty green and pink.

mel

Oh No

I'm getting a little scared. For the last couple days I've been feeling a little bit under the weather, just a little sore throat and stuffy nose, but nothing a good dose of ibuprofen couldn't fix. Then today I woke up feeling kind of like I had a cut in the back of my throat. Now, before this year that wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest, it happens to me sometimes and it goes away at the end of the day (or I end up with a little cold, no big deal). But a couple months ago I had strep throat, and it started with me feeling like I had a little cut in the back of my throat. So now I'm a little freaked out. I really don't want to get strep throat right now. I mean, Renegade is tomorrow, and my birthday is on Tuesday! Getting a bacterial infection doesn't really jive with my plans, y'know? I'm trying to just relax, I know stress doesn't help these things, and drink tons of fluids and use the power of positive thinking to keep sickness away. If anyone has any suggestions to keep me healthy, I would be really grateful to have them, thanks in advance!
For some positivity, I have a couple new books in the shop, the one pictured above with the great rabbit painting, as well as one made from an album of the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. It's really cool, check out a detail

I think the costumes are so gorgeous. Okay, keep your fingers crossed for me everyone, I DO NOT have strep throat!

mel

Just A Reminder

Hey, I just wanted to remind everyone that tons of notebooks, like the ones below, are on a free shipping sale in my etsy shop! And I hope to have more items soon! I'd love it if you'd stop by and check it out. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

mel

Flower Girl Notebook - Made From a Percy Faith Album

Judy Garland Live at Carnegie Hall

John Travolta Urban Cowboy Soundtrack

I am Yart

So, the amazing craftspeople of etsy, in their infinite wisdom, have put their heads together and come up with one great concept: the summer Yart sale. Yart = Yard + Art. It's like a yard sale for art...on the internet...anyway, I had been planning a sale for later this summer to "celebrate my birthday" (July 15th, ugh....) so I've decided to combine the two. I am, starting today, offering free shipping on all my renewed album cover notebooks until July 15th!! Also, there will be other special deals on other special items. So, if you've had you eye on any of these beauties, now is the time my friends.

Wings - At the Speed of Sound

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Miami Vice Soundtrack

Flashdance Soundtrack

And...if you'd like to see who else is participating in the Yart sale, you can go to Etsy and search for yart or you can click here and see some examples and click on some links. Happy shopping!

mel

P.S. - btw, there are waaaay more books on sale in my shop right here.

Soft Rock

Ooh, I am so excited! One of my books made it into the Etsy Gift Guide!Yep, that one. Made from the cover of the Wings album "At the Speed of Sound." This is, I think, even more exciting for me than making the front page. Well, maybe. Ask me that again if I ever make the front page again.
mel

New Listings!

All right, I have been super motivated lately; I don't know what it is, but I've been making books like crazy! The proof? Two new listings today! First, this Barbara Streisand Renewed Album Cover Notebook:

And second, this cute little owl notebook:

I'm excited to finally be putting new stuff in the old shop. I guess I was just in a big rut after the holidays, but I'm starting to snap out of it. Don't you just love the owl notebook? It's really different from the notebooks I usually make; for starters, it's much smaller, only 3.5" by 4.25" and it only has 46 pages. Also, the cover is just a page from a book, it doesn't have any sort of hard backing. I'm interested to see if/how people respond to it.

I'm trying to make myself do more with flickr these days, everyone always talks about what a great tool flickr is, and I really haven't done all I can to take advantage of it. Maybe it's just me, but I don't find it to be the easiest site to navigate, and my computer at work is very slow at opening it for some reason. But I will give it a chance. I've been uploading pictures to it almost everyday, so if you'd like to see what I'm working on, that's a good place to look.

One last thing; look out for upcoming interviews! I have a couple done that I'm really excited about. They're all ready to post, so look for them in the next day or two!

mel

I Heart You, Porkins

Sigh. Ok, geeking out alert! I don't know why, but I am having some nostalgic Star Wars withdrawals. I guess watching Star Wars used to be a pretty common occurrence for me; my roommate and I both loved it, she had it on DVD and I had it on VHS. You know what though? My roommate moved to Sacramento and took her DVDs with her, and we got rid of our VCR and all our (my) VHS tapes when we moved. For the first time in probably 10 years or more, I do not own the original Star Wars trilogy! I can't just watch it whenever I want, which is pretty sad. Something must be done, or my once formidable store of Star Wars trivia will dwindle out of existence. I'll have to check out netflix and see if Star Wars is one of those movies you can watch on their website. Probably not I guess.

Anyway, enough of that geekery! Sorry for that. So, oh my gosh you guys, we have so much catching up to do! Obviously, I failed at NaBloPoMo, but that's ok, because while I was doing it I had so much fun. I have total faith that next year I will succeed! I'll be training all year. The awesomeness of the Jens Lekman show was enough to make up for my failure. It was sooooo good. I am so glad that I was able to go, and that I got my tickets early because it totally sold out! I recommend to all of you, if you get a chance, go see his show! He sounds awesome live, the energy is so high, and you can tell that he loves music, and the joy is infectious. I don't want to go on too long, especially since I don't have any pictures to share, but I will post this link to a song from his new album, and I hope you'll all click and listen to it. Click Here Y'all.

In more "music" "news", I am seeing two more shows next month! Both are at The Great American Music Hall, which is a super awesome venue that is only a few blocks from my house! First is Jonathan Richman (love love love) and second is Stephen Malkmus. I am a little leery about the SM show. Pavement is my all time favorite band, and I have been known to embarrassingly, drunkenly call Stephen Malkmus a genius, and I love the first SM solo album to DEATH....but I kind of hated the last two albums. So...it's kind of a shaky proposition. I hope it doesn't suck. And Steve is going to go with me! Even though he never goes to shows! I'm going to be keeping my fingers crossed. I know Jonathan Richman will be awesome, I saw him once before, actually twice, and I'm sure this show will be even better because it's not at some douchey bar in the Mission.

Let's get to the crafting, shall we? After all, this isn't a music blog, dude! There is some exciting crafting stuff to discuss, first, I made a sale! Very surprising, because I hadn't listed since the beginning of October and I was sure no one was even looking at my shop. I guess I was wrong. People are looking at my shop a bit now, because I finally posted new items! Two new notebooks, take a looksie:

Well, people aren't really looking that much. I have a bunch of new notebooks just waiting to be listed though! I'm really excited because I haven't had new stuff in so long, and I'm really proud of these notebooks, I think they're really cool and well made.
In case you were wondering, things are coming along very well with my homework. I'll post a picture when it's done, so y'all can let me know if you think it sucks.
love ya!

mel

countdown - 2 days

Ok, I'm real tired, but I just wanted to let y'all know: I am so excited for Jens Lekman! The show is day after tomorrow! I'm so so psyched.

It's going to be so awesome! In the meantime, check out these pretty flowers my boyfriend sent me at work.

Aren't they so pretty? I hope they're still ok, I was homesick from work today and I think they probably really needed their water changed. I love looking at them, they're so vibrant and so unlike the rest of my office, I find myself just staring at them for really long stretches. I'm thinking I should always have flowers on my desk.


I'm off to bed, but I'll leave you with a pretty crappy picture of the last book I made. I know, I finally made another book!

Nighty night!

mel

Lithium: The Lightest of All Metals

So, hooray, the lithium solution worked! I popped those babies in the digicam and; presto! Worked like a charm. And here is the evidence: two new listings on my etsy page! A cute lil' Kris Kristofferson notebook and a larger than normal Jane Fonda Workout notebook. How do the pictures look? With the Jane Fonda book, I used this lightbox that Steve made for me. I think they turned out pretty well. Oh, also, I have to give credit to Steve for the lithium idea, he is the author. Sorry for being misleading in my last post.

I can't remember if I mentioned this, but I joined a bookbinders' street team on Etsy! It's called BEST for short, and it is awesome! Here is a link to the blog. I am psyched to be in the company of so many awesome etsy sellers like myhandbound books, comfortableshoes, operationpapercut, and lots and lots more. There is a list on the blog, and I highly recommend taking a look at all the shops. You should also take a look at the BEST treasury on etsy...because I'm in it! Yay, I love being in treasuries.
I'm hoping to make this a big crafting weekend; I have a few plans, like going to see Lawrence of Arabia. It's playing at the Castro Theater (which is pretty much the most awesome theater in San Francisco) as part of their 70mm series they do every so often. L o A is one of the films they show all the time, they also always show Ghostbusters in 70mm, which is SO awesome, but I've never seen L o A before. I was going to rent it through netflix, but Steve told me to wait. We'll see if it's worth it, because I think I'm even going to have to pay for it! Also, I think we might go bowling, which would be awesome, and I am supposed to go to a game night. Sounds pretty action packed, huh?

mel

Craft is Back, Baby!

All right, so the general consensus seems to be that readers of this blog (all one of you) have had enough of my spotty fashion week coverage. Well, that is fine with me because I am kind of tired of it as well. I enjoyed writing about it, don't get me wrong, it's just that deciding which pictures to post and then actually posting them and getting them positioned right; what a pain that was. I guess at the current time I'm just not cut out to be a big time web editor. If you want to see/read more about fashion, I definitely recommend checking out the Show & Talk blog from New York magazine, I think it is the most fun and comprehensive coverage of fashion week on the interwebs. And, of course, it is the fashion week home of the Fug Girls.

On with the Craft! I have been lagging a bit on my crafting lately, it's been tough with my evening class two nights a week and an obligation on tuesday night (pub quiz is very important to me, ok?) to find time when I'm not exhausted. And my crafting area (our coffee table in our tiny living room) is super super messy right now. I did manage to crank out two really cute notebooks last night though, because on Wednesday night I cut paper for a couple hours. It really helped! It was so nice to have all my paper ready to go. I think this will have to become a regular thing. Anyway, like I said, the notebooks are super cool. One is made from a Supremes album cover and I used insert as the inside cover lining. The other is made from a New York subway system map from the seventies. I'll post pictures and have those up in my shop later this afternoon (I hope).

The other thing I'm excited about is this awesome roving I bought yesterday! I've been thinking about making felt beads for a while now, I love how they look, so yesterday I bought this:

Isn't it pretty! It's merino wool and the name is orange creamsicle...yummy, no? I bought it from etsy seller alittlequacky's shop, A Knitting Duck (ha ha). She has so much pretty roving, it was hard to choose, but I like this to start. If all goes well with the felting, I will definitely be buying from her again. I'm tempted to already because it looks like she posted a bunch of awesome new lots today! Look at this one:

I really love this, it's called duck pond. How cute! It reminded me right away of Duck Hunt on NES. Heh.

Just a quick note, I hope to get started soon on a weekly post featuring etsy sellers, sometimes with interviews. So, be on the lookout for that.

mel

Adventures in Knitting

Oof, it was really hot the last few days. It's been making me super sleepy. Too sleepy to work on books and too sleepy to blog. I've taken up a bit of knitting again, because it is a more lying down friendly activity. I'm making someone a birthday present! and it is coming along much more quickly than I had expected. I always forget how much fun knitting is when I don't do it for a while.

Yesterday I was in the Etsy forums looking for some advice on how to better my cruddy pictures. As expected, everyone was super helpful. But I tried a makeshift light tent, and I tried natural light, but still nothing was really working out for me. I think I need to get some of those clip on lamps. I did get a few that I think turned out ok:

This is a book I made out of a Bay City Rollers record cover that Steve got for me at Goodwill. These guys really liked plaid, they were fully decked out in it, and, guess what? turns out they're from Scotland! Unfortunately, they were not that cute so I had to feature their awesome kicks instead of them.

These are some buttons I made out of an old First Aid book, also purchased at Goodwill. Graphic, aren't they? I made nine buttons like these, all from the wounds section of the book. There are so many more awesome illustrations, just waiting to be made into buttons. I really like the colors. I think I'm going to sell these in sets of three.

I'm very excited about these pictures because these are going to be the first two items I'm going to list in my Etsy shop! Steve is helping me figure out what I want to do about pricing and shipping and all that stuff, and then I'm doing it! So please check it out and let me know what you think. Here is a link: roska.etsy.com

Tomorrow I'm driving to Sactown to visit with my mom and sisters, because it is just not hot enough here. I need it about 20 degrees warmer. Ugh. I always forget when I plan to go there just how damn hot it is. Hope you stay a little cooler than I will be.

mel

SCRAP

If you'll recall, I mentioned SCRAP a while ago. SCRAP is pretty much my very favorite place in the city at this time. From their website:
SCRAP is a creative reuse center, store and workshop space founded in 1976 in San Francisco, California. Donations of re-usable materials such as textiles, paper, jewelry findings, wood, buttons and plastics are collected from businesses, institutions and individuals and distributed to art and educational groups.
By breathing new life into old objects, SCRAP reduces the amount of waste going to crowded landfills. By offering low cost art and re-use workshops and providing schools and organizations with badly needed art supplies, SCRAP stimulates creativity and environmental awareness.

What that means is, you go to SCRAP, which is a giant warehouse in an industrial area, and there is aisle after aisle of stuff. Pretty much anything you could dream of in your wildest crafting dreams. The other day when I was there they had about 20 bowling balls (unfortunately, none of them fit my big fingers.). They have a whole aisle devoted to papers; colored paper, lined paper, letterhead, weird cloth paper, rice paper, vellum, carbon paper...the list goes on. I spend most of my time in the paper area when I'm there. Last time, I picked up some letterhead for the San Francisco Chinese Bowling League! They also have tons of fabric, found photos, rubber stamps, National Geographics, wooden dowels, art supplies, greeting cards; I could go on and on. I just think it is the most amazing place, and I am really in awe of the people who run it. While SCRAP is a really awesome place for me to go for my bookmaking supplies, I think it is way cooler that it is an awesome resource for teachers. Hey though, keep it hush hush. I don't want too many people to know about SCRAP!

Anyway, here are some pictures from my walk last week from my sewing class to SCRAP:

It's pretty, right? I know, I was surprised. It actually kind of reminded me of Sacramento; flat, dusty and dry. It was much more pleasant than I had expected. I love discovering new areas in San Francisco, I'm always coming upon some neighborhood I never knew existed.

Oh, and here are a few really crappy photos of the album cover notebook I made for my friend's birthday:

Really, it looked way cooler in real life. The middle picture is the inside cover.

Finally, here are some elephants that Sarah and I drew:

And for those of you waiting on this with bated breath (oh, I know you're out there) the new digital camera is scheduled to arrive fedex on the 30th of this month. Until then, I am busily churning out the crafty goodness, so expect my etsy shops grand opening to follow soon after.
mel