I just finished listing a big lot of new books to my shop - fancy hardcover journals with handsewn silk endbands and rounded spines, some little less fancy (but still pretty great) basic case bound journals with and without vintage lace, and loads of long-stitch notebooks, both small and large, with watercolor paper covers you can paint yourself. For the pages of the larger long-stitch notebooks I used paper suitable for mixed media and allowed enough room at the spine for a collage option, too, so they're perfect for creative journaling (I'm thinking travel journal here, myself...) or just for basic always-with-you notebook needs.

I've been quietly building an actual website for Paperiaarre, and boy does that make me feel old. The last time I built a website was in 2003 and things have changed a bit since. Basic knowledge of html doesn't get you very far these days. Still, it's been fun (and very time consuming), very educating and character building. I seriously have to give up the idea of building my dream website; a website would be a good enough start. I won't be making any promises about when I'm launching the site, and I won't promise anything spectacular, but I promise a few galleries worth of photos and basic stuff like that I feel this blog is currently lacking. Related to the new site I've been taking hundreds and hundreds of photos of my books (older leather bindings and things currently for sale), and decided to try out a new background made of old book pages. What do you think? I know not everyone will be a big fan, but I like how it brings a little more interestingness to the photos without being too distracting (not all shots work great, I still need to learn how to take better photos ).

This year I'm trying to have enough stock in my shop throughout the holiday season (I sincerely apologize for mentioning the holidays in September, but that's when the things meant for holidays need to be planned and made - non-makers, feel free to not think about Christmas gifts until November), so there's maybe thirty books on my work desk in one stage or another, and I feel more needs to be made. There's also a familiar, terrifying feeling in my wrists letting me know I've been typing and folding and cutting and punching holes too much. I'm hoping a weekend away from home only reading or looking at books will put things on the mend. There's an annual book fair in Turku I haven't visited in years, so I'm planning to go there, visit my old hometown and meet some very dear girls.