10 Year Etsyversary

Last fall I shared a post about Etsy over the last 10 years, but today (May First, 2016) is my shop’s actual 10 year anniversary. It has been 10 years since robayre.etsy.com was born! It’s almost impossible for me to fathom that my shop has been open that long. There have been ups and downs, droughts and floods of sales. It has not always been easy, but I can easily say that I am SO PROUD of myself for having opened the shop and sticking with it. In celebration of my shop turning 10, I am doing a giveaway! First a little back story. Last fall, via a facebook Midori Traveler’s Notebook group, I discovered that, in addition to other leatherbound fauxdoris, people make their own covers from fabrics as well. I come from a long family history of quilters, raised by a quilter, have made my own quilt as well and own an ever growing fabric hoard. I liked the idea of sewing my own fabric collection into book covers, as I am OBSESSED with always carrying the little books around with me everywhere, and piecing fabric together this size is SO do-able.

Looking through my collection of fabrics, I was immediately inspired to make one for my friend Courtney. She loves yellow, and is working on her very own quilt made from vintage yellow fabrics. When I finally saw the quilt she was making, it was like this book couldn’t have been more perfect for her. I was so pumped at the result, that I started making more.

I’ve been calling them fauxdori, as they are somewhat modeled after my leatherbound faudori, but actually they are 4.25×5.5″, rather than the standard passport size. I’ve always wondered why all these products, and even the moleskine cahiers that also fit inside standard midoris, are an odd size. Odd size meaning, you can’t replicate them easily without trimming away excess and wasting paper. I speculate that it is because they are based on (1/4) European letterhead size? I use 8.5×11″ and so these covers fit books that are 1/4 of that. These covers I made come with books inside, but once those are filled, it is just as easy as cutting letter sized paper in half, then folding the pages in half and stapling it together. Replacements fillers are easy peasy, and don’t rely on you purchasing from other people or businesses, and you can use the kind of paper you like, whether it is ruled writing paper or watercolor paper. Essentially, it is about the same height as a passport sized midori, but wider. You could still use the small moleskine cahiers inside, but the cover would just be wider. The inside has two elastics, that can hold one or two quarter sized books (it will come with two ruled and blank alternating paged books), a string that you can attach a bead, for a bookmark, and another elastic on the outside to keep the book shut.

With my 10 year Etsy anniversary on the horizon, I had the idea to finish the ones I started, make some more, and offer one as a giveaway.

From my instagram post:

Today is the day!! Robayre.etsy.com is TEN YEARS OLD today. I can’t believe it has been 10 years already. I will forever be grateful to the @etsy platform, for introducing me and allowing me to sell the precious things I make and love. I’m going to kick off the celebration by giving away this quilted fauxdori.

For a chance at winning, please feel free to leave a comment on this post, and then visit the instagram post for more chances there.

International entries are welcome.

On Friday, May 6th, 2016 at 3 pm CST, I will pick one winning entry at random and announce it on isntagram and then here on the blog. I will contact the winner, and request a mailing address at that point. If I do not hear back from the winner within 24 hours a new winner will be chosen

The remaining quilted faux-fauxdoris will be listed in my shop (hopefully) before the end of the day today.