Thursday, January 19, 2012

2012 The Year of Wide Open

Happy 2012!  I know I'm a couple weeks behind but the time has come to step fully into this new year and embrace all it's going to offer.  I've spent the last few weeks thinking, planning, strategizing, and thinking some more. I'm calling 2012 the "Year of Wide Open" because that's the feeling I want to keep with me for the next twelve months and beyond.

As you can see, I have quite an agenda.  I could have narrowed it down a little, but each of these possibilities holds so much promise for my business and family I couldn't bring myself to leave any of them out.
In 2012 I want to continue growing this business, but with more focus on what I believe in the most... Journals and Writing.  I've said many times before I believe in the power of writing things down.  Even with all the electronics we have at out fingertips, we still reach for pen and paper a lot.  You're going to see many more journals this year starting with these

I did a little digging through my files and one thing was abundantly clear.  Every 4 out of 5 messages I received asked if the pages of my journals could be replaced when they were filled up.  I started designing some leather journal covers for Moleskine and Field Notes journals during the holiday season.  They received a fantastic response!  So sketchbook and ruler in hand I created the Refillable Leather Journal covers you see above.  The designs will look familiar since these have historically been some of my most popular hand bound leather journals, but now they're refillable.   I have just as much fun making the journal inserts as I do the covers!  
And then I went one step further and designed this

A refillable journal and leather cover just for Left Handed folks like me!  I made one of these for myself to try it out and I LOVE it!  It doesn't have all that bulk on the left side, and is so easy to use.  If you know a "lefty" I'll bet they've been looking for something like this for a long time.  More colors and leathers are coming soon in all these designs.  I'll also have some hand bound journal coming in the next few weeks.  This is going to be a great year!
One quick note
I'm taking a break from making the iPad cases and Kindle cases.  I have a few left that I'll be listing in the next couple days and that will be all I'll have for the indefinite future.  I'll go into it a little more in a future post, and may resume making them at some future date.  But for now the focus of my work will be on journals and some new leather gift/home items