In the last year I designed a new box for Windy Weather Bindery that looks so simple, but can do so much. It is a top loading box that snaps snugly shut, is designed to fit 4″ x 6″ photographs or recipe cards, and is an affordable alternative to a clamshell box.

If you are anything like me, you have great intentions of making beautiful albums to showcase life’s big moments, but end up with piles of photos in a cardboard box in the closet.  With this box, you can slide in a stack of photos with little effort (at 4″ deep it will hold quite a lot) and your organization is complete!  A ribbon allows for easy removal of the photos when you want to pull them out and show them off.

Photographers will find these a lovely solution to presenting proofs to clients.  I am happy to work with you to find a fabrics and ribbons in the right colors and textures to fit your business.  Want your logo on the box?  No problem.  I can work with you to create a die of your logo that I can foil emboss stamp in a variety of colors.

Alternatively, covered with a different cloth or paper, the same box form becomes a recipe box.  The fabulous fabric on this recipe box was designed by Yardwork. Fun, decorative spoons, knives, and forks line up in lovely greens, yellows, and grays. It’s modern design is timeless enough to fit perfectly with your grandmother’s favorite dishes.  Find this box and others on my Etsy store.

Recently I undertook a book project of large proportions. Not only was the book quite large, roughly 22″ tall by 18″ wide and 4.5″ deep, designing the structure of it was also a real challenge.

The project came to me from Matt Aaron Templeton, an artist working in Boston.  He sent me 28 drawings on an extremely thick watercolor paper, almost more like board, that he wanted bound together into a book.

I decided to use a screw post binding to join the individual drawings together.  You can see the head of the posts along the spine of the book.  The benefit of this is that he can disassemble the book if he ever decides he wants to show the drawings on the wall, and of course put it back together again in book form when the show is over.

Because I hinged each of the drawings to a stub of thicker board, the pages are able to turn quite easily, despite the extremely thick paper.  When I ran out of the board I needed for these stubs, Monica Holtsclaw of Boom Box Bindery came to the rescue by cutting all 28 stubs and mailing them to me practically overnight.

It is interesting to see how binding the drawings together in this manner changes the experience of looking at them.  As you turn the pages you see two drawings together in a spread, rather than each drawing individually.  Turning the pages is quite a physical experience, given the weight and size of the book, which also significantly alters the way in which you interact with them.

I made a lot of mistakes along the way to completing the book, but I also learned a whole lot about the how books function, how to work more productively and efficiently on a large scale project, and how to manipulate large materials.  Despite the physical and structural challenges of working on this book, it was enormously satisfying to see it finished.

Better late than never… here are some of my favorite vendors from the Indie Wed Show in late January:

This amazing dress made of letterpress cards was made by Paper Stories, the folks who were responsible for putting the Indie Wed show together in Chicago at the end of January.  Their cards and stationery are really lovely and also ecologically and socially responsible.  They print on recycled, tree-free paper with vegetable-based inks and donate a portion of their profits to charity.

I had the great pleasure of being next to Brooklyn chocolatier, Daniel, of Fine and Raw Chocolate.  In addition to being the nicest guy, his chocolate was amazing!  So good that I could hardly believe it was all free of sugar and dairy.  His packaging was lovely as well.  I highly recommend the bonbons in particular.

One of my favorite vendors was Sarah Neuburger, of The Small Object.  Her wedding toppers, made out of clothespins, are so nicely made.  What fun to replace the traditional toppers with a handmade, custom topper of the bride and groom!

Finally, Magnolia Photo Booth Company had one of their booths on location to try out.   I love the idea of having a photo booth like this at a wedding.  Beyond being a great way to collect photos of your friends and family, the booth itself lends such character and design to the reception.

There were so many other vendors that I could gush about. Read more about all of them here.

On a similar note, if you are from Michigan, check out GRunveiled, an upcoming show in Grand Rapids.  Bringing together a great group of independent and contemporary local vendors, it is sure to be a really fabulous event.

Windy Weather Bindery is one of the featured presenters at the winter social of the West Michigan Wedding & Event Professionals (MWEP).  I’ll be setting up some of my albums, guest books, jewelry boxes, photo boxes, favors, and more, as well as briefly talking about the work I do.

MWEP events are a great opportunity to connect with colleagues and professionals related to the wedding and event industry in West Michigan.  The events are always wonderfully organized by event planner extraordinaire, Aletha VanderMaas, of Pearls Events.  This month’s social is at Reds on the River in Rockford on Monday, February 22nd, at 7pm.  I hope to see you there!

A couple of weekends ago I was in Chicago for Indie Wed, a unique wedding show for those who don’t quite fit into the traditional mold. I LOVED this show! I arrived at the venue to set up my table, and I knew right away that this show fit me perfectly.

The venue, at the Ravenswood Event Center, was a fabulous space and set the perfect tone for the show.  The entire perimeter of the room was filled with rare, vintage cars in mint condition.  Above the cars were mid-century neon signs that added a wonderful glow and mood to the room.

Here are two of my favorite signs:

This was the first show in which I have not shared a table with my husband, of Matthew Reidsma Draws, although he came along and was a HUGE help.  I really had fun making a new sign for the table and figuring out how to organize my wares.  In the end, I thought everything came off quite nicely.

My ring boxes and favors took front and center stage.  Around them I placed a variety of photo albums and guest books as samples of the kind of custom work I can provide, including ideas for custom foil embossed stamping on the covers.

It was fun to talk with the guests about their weddings and their ideas for personalizing my albums.  So many of the people I talked to had creative ideas that had never occurred to me.  The excitement of wedding planning added a noticeable buzz in the room.  It inspired me and made me want to get back into the studio and make more stuff!

Next week I will feature a few of the amazing vendors that I met.  Stay tuned!