I did it – I opened my book shop! Well, not the kind where you can buy books to read, but the kind where you can buy books to fill with your own poetry, scribbles, thoughts, secrets, etc.
Introducing, Bookgirl’s Studio!
My little shop will have my beaded journals for now but I plan to fill it up with journals in different sizes and with different bindings in weeks/months to come so I hope you’ll visit often. I will let you know when a new batch of journals shows up and I plan to have a newsletter and other kinds of things but again, I’ll keep you posted on all of that.
All of this feels a bit scary, thrilling and fun. I want to say a special thank you to Christine (she’s already even written about me!) and Shadan. These wonderful girlfriends have given me so much encouragement in my new venture. I also want to thank all of you readers who’ve read my posts on my projects and my bookbinding adventures. I enjoy sharing those stories.
I know I’m joining a lot of other wonderful bookbinders on Etsy. There is some amazing talent on that site but I believe that will also inspire me to continue to hone my craft.
Finally, a big thank you to my wonderful husband who took pictures, encouraged me and inspires me.
So off I go to spend the evening with some good books and maybe I’ll even dream up some new journals for the shop.
Congrats on your Etsy store! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it. I love the polkadot journal and if I hadn’t just bought two journals in Italy I would totally be buying it… 🙂
good job! They are so pretty! You are so talented.
Huge congrats, Iliana! That’s so exciting! I’ll check out your shop in a moment. 🙂
Yay! Congrats! I’ll be sure to post about this on my blog as well. God get ’em, Iliana!
Now that is too neat~!
Very cool store, Iliana!! I wish you lots of success. (Great pictures on the site, by the way. Very professional-looking!)
Congratulations, Iliana! That is so cool. You make such gorgeous journals…your store will be a great success for sure!
Fantastic Iliana!!! I’m adding you as a favorite shop right now! I’m so glad you’re doing this, congratulations!
I’m so happy you’ve done this!! I have been thinking all along what a great idea it would be and you shouldn’t capitalize (in a good way of course) on your talent. I can’t wait to get my hands on one of them….I am due for a new reading journal to keep track of the books I’ve read!
Wow. Wow! Congratulations on your new venture, your books are beautiful.
Congratulations! This is so fantastic. You know I was thinking just the other day that I would send you an email and ask you about making a journal I could give as a gift to a friend. Now you have a store! Yippy!
Congrats on your online store. Will keep checking back as I have a particular obsession with journals.
How wonderful, Iliana! You should be very proud. I wish you luck in your new business venture. I will definitely be stopping in now and then!
I was wondering when you were going to do this! 🙂
Good luck with it, and I look forward to seeing your new journals as you make them. I’ve already bookmarked your shop!
YAY – you are officially announced. I am so happy for you and I, of course, love the journal I purchased !! Looking forward to seeing more and more in your new shop!
Hooray and congratulations! I’ll definitely be stopping by as often as my librarian’s salary allows. 🙂
Beautiful Witch – Ah well, journals from Italy are quite special 🙂 When you use those up come on over… I do love to use Italian papers!
Jessica – Thank you for checking them out!
Melody – I am quite excited. I can’t stop thinking of what to make next 🙂
aka Nik – You are a sweetie – thank you bunches!
J.Kaye – Thank you!!
Les in NE – Didn’t my husband do a good job? Hope he won’t mind that he’s become my official photographer – ha,ha.
Nymeth – Aw, thanks for the vote of confidence 🙂
Heather – Ooh, hearts! I definitely need more of those on Etsy 🙂
Danielle – I’ve been thinking of doing this for months and really with the help of my friend Shadan who put in a big order for me back in April I thought you know, why not! So here it goes!
Tara – Thank you so much!!
Stefanie – Books as gifts are the best aren’t they? Well, stay tuned because I will have more books in bigger sizes and bindings! 🙂
Rhiona – So glad you stopped by. I have an obsession with journals too. Even though I can make my own I’m still always buying new journals! ha,ha..
Literary Feline – I’m feeling happy but it’s a bit surreal too! I never thought I’d be doing something like this back when I first started bookbinding but let’s see where this goes!
tanabata – I think my husband was too! ha,ha… Now one of these days I will do some bookbinding with Japanese papers. Gorgeous stuff but a bit pricey!
Christine – It’s official now girl. Thank you for everything – I miss you bunches but I’ll be seeing you soon so we can catch up 🙂
Tiffany – I hear you… It’s tough to spend especially with this economy. I am always on Etsy and always tempted by so many pretty things. I’ll keep you posted on when I have sales & stuff 🙂
As soon as it gets cooler, I am going to a couple of stores in New Orleans to ask the owners to buy your journals. Very cool! Congrats.
What a great site. I don’t have a PayPal account so I’ll have to wait awhile, but I will be purchasing one of journals. They are beautiful. Good luck.
Congrats! I’ve got you bookmarked and will definitely be picking a few journals up as Christmas gifts!
Hey — that’s awesome! Congrats on the new store; it looks great. Best of luck with it — it sounds like a lot of fun.
Congratulations on the grand opening!!! A toast to you. 🙂
I’m very proud of your taking on this enterprise. I like the Starry Night journal, looking forward to see more. I’ll get a couple for gifts! 🙂
Beautiful work, and I’ve been wanting to buy more via Etsy, so I’m glad you have joined. Wishing you great success and lots of FUN!
Way to go girl!! That is awesome! I’m so proud of you for all your unique journals and all the hard work you’ve been putting into this new venture. I know you will have much success and you know that you can count on me when it comes to the business side of things. I’ll also be one of your good bulk customers as I’ll be able to use many of your journals in my gift sets. So congratulations to you for joining the ranks of small business owners! 🙂
Isabel – You rock girl! 🙂
Jennifer – I love Etsy… I try to do all my shopping for accessories and fun stuff there. That’s the only bad part about having the PayPal account – temptation to buy lots of things 🙂
Ruth – Aw, thank you! Hopefully I’ll have some more cool new journals just in time for holiday shopping!
Dorothy W. – Thank you so much. I’ve been toying with this for several months now and finally taking the big plunge!
Matt – I’ll drink up – I think I need it now after all that bookbinding! ha,ha.. Thank you for checking them out 🙂
Mindy Withrow – Isn’t Etsy great? I love it. Thanks so much for visiting! 🙂
I’m behind here and catching up but congratulations, iliana!! That’s just wonderful news and so very enterprising of you! You make truly beautiful things and I wish you every possible success.
Hiya I popped over to favourite you straight away (blinkingmouse) – 5 sales already wow! I’ll be popping up a little bit about you in the near future at my blog 🙂
Oh btw who made your fabulous banner?
Shadan – We must have been typing at the same time! Thank you for everything girl. I’m already coming up with ideas for you 🙂
Litlove – Thanks so much! It took me a while to decide if I really wanted to do this but I figured I could keep on thinking about it forever so might as well 🙂
Jodie – Oh you are so sweet. I definitely need Hearts over on Etsy! You know I’ll be marking you as a favorite right back too. And, the banner design is my husband’s creation. Thank goodness I have a graphic designer on hand 🙂
I already have my eye on some things!
I’m sorry I’m so late in seeing this and congratulating you!! These are so cute, I just have to decide which one I want!!
Good luck to you.