Book Riot Feature

via Book Riot

As I was perusing my Etsy Stats yesterday, I noticed that my Literary Tall, Dark, and Brooding Card had received 20+ clicks.  Weird, I thought, because it was unusually high traffic for one little hand-stamped card.  Then I saw bookriot.com under my traffic sources.  A-ha! I said.  Visiting their site, I scrolled down the homepage and saw my simple card as an article's main image (see above).  What a nice surprise!

Clicking on the link, curiously titled "Book Fetish: Romance Edition," my interest was piqued.  Scrolling down the page, I find it.  There among other tongue-in-cheek book-inspired goods is my card, smack dab in the middle of it all:

via Book Riot

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This is an exciting event because it's the first time my work has been an article's main image.  It's also my second Book Riot feature--nearly two years ago, my origami hearts were included in a BR Valentine's Day article, which I documented here.  Thank you, Book Riot!  

Literature Scarfs

ThornfieldHallDesign Jane Eyre quote, raw-edged scarf
listing seen here. 

Storiarts' Jane Eyre quote infiniti scarf,
listing seen here.

Did an Etsy search for scarves with Jane Eyre quotations, and found two amazing shops in the process: Storiarts and Thornfield Hall Design.  Although both are heavily influenced by classic literature, their shop aesthetics differ greatly.  With their creamy-white coloration and classic font style, Storiarts' products strongly resemble pages directly from an old and worn, beloved novel.  Thornfield Hall Designs', on the other hand, reveal a tangibly more modern feel, with raw-edged scarves--and other articles of clothing--in earth-toned colors that feature an old-times cursive font.

I especially love how a quote from a favorite novel, in my case/this blog entry's example, Jane Eyre, is creatively incorporated into two very different and intriguingly beautiful scarf designs in these shops.  Such great ideas for autumn!  Especially for a bookish soul.

Quote: Contemplation

 Remember my post from a few months ago that included thoughts on Virginia Woolf's novel, To the Lighthouse?  Well, I'm still currently reading the book, for its complexity of thought--as well as its glorious sentence structure--have me not quite spellbound, but nevertheless intrigued.  (Plus, I am a very slow reader.)  I have found myself rereading paragraphs twice, and then one more time, in order to grasp their entirety: It's almost as if each sentence comprises multiple sentences, such that each sentence serves a deeper, analytical purpose.  Furthermore, the poignant intimacy and painful vulnerability that is woven into certain relationships and/or characters in the novel is pure brilliance--the depths of loneliness and the difficulty of true interaction are heavily explored, built on the stream-of-consciousness perspective.  But I need not say this about V. Woolf, one of the most celebrated literary figures of all time, correct?

A quote from To the Lighthouse:

"All was silence.  Nobody seemed yet to be stirring in the house.  She looked at it there sleeping in the early sunlight with its windows green and blue with the reflected leaves.  The faint thought she was thinking of Mrs. Ramsay seemed in consonance with this quiet house; this smoke; this fine early morning air.  Faint and unreal, it was amazingly pure and exciting.  She hoped nobody would open the window or come out of the house, but that she might be left alone to go on thinking, to go on painting.  She turned to her canvas."

 In my opinion, being lost in early morning thought is a privilege, one that is oftentimes overlooked and taken for granted.  It is a sane act in this increasingly crazy, go-go-go world.  What an indelible treat it is to be able to sit still for even fifteen minutes a day, just observing and thinking--hushing the constant stream of thoughts rushing through your mind like an endless river of anxiety.  To quell anxiety, even if just for a little while, is a day well spent.

This, to me, is unfiltered, unobtrusive beauty in its truest form.

The Narrative

This office space, via linen & lavender is an absolute dream, from the earthy, muted colors, to the disorderly collection of books, down to the eclectic desk arrangement, itself.  I originally came across this image in my Pinterest searches.  From these searches, I have come to a realization that I have a penchant for images of light-filled rooms, which comprise a common theme/aesthetic in my pins.  So, the above space definitely takes the dream space cake for me; it's the stuff that great novels are made of, the true narrator disguised as simply the setting.

***

I've been posting more lately in high anticipation of the changing of seasons: an ode to an abundance of colorful leaves, hot, spiced coffee-based drinks, and crisp sweater-and-boots weather.  An autumn-themed coupon code (and a surprise) for my shop will be posted soon; please check back in the next few days. 

Have a relaxing weekend!

Books

Came across the shop, theartofobservation, via the Etsy front page today--this print spoke to me, since I treasure old books, particularly ex-library copies and textbooks of the hardcover variety, and enjoy a meaningful quote: 

Shop Item Featured on Blog

And it's already Saturday.  I wasn't planning on posting today (it's a designated "quiet day" for me), but I logged into Etsy a little while ago and read a convo from funretro, letting me know that an EmeraldCut item has been featured on her blog, Vintage. Discovered and Rediscovered.  How insanely exciting is that?

The blog post's theme: unique book page finds from selected online sellers.  The entry's opening lines truly resonate with me on this cozy day, filled with reading actual books (including a textbook from the 1960s, for fun).  Here it is, copied and pasted--  

Vintage Saturdays: Book Pages

I'm a modern girl in virtually every way.  But there are a few things I need to hold on to.  Things like old books.  While I appreciate the ease and simplicity of new e-readers, I will take a book anytime.  Nothing can replace the look, feel and smell of a nice big book and if it a bit older, smellier and yellowed? Even better.

So to me nothing is more tragic than seeing an old book ruined and in the trash.  Certainly they can't all survive time, but what can be done with some of those older books that are in a state of disrepair and beyond the point of being able to be fixed?  These artists have found some ingenious ways to reuse books pages.  Even old paper can seem fresh and new when reused.

I love it; I'm secretly even more glad that people are "getting" my shop concept.  Literacy, folks--by the way of adornment and book page goods; photography.  Thanks again for featuring my shop item on your blog, funretro!  View the entire blog entry, here.

Insight is Golden

I feel like society has become linguistically lazy.  Today, I heard the word, "Awesome," uttered three times by a news reporter in a five-minute-long segment.  Nope, I do not care, news reporter, if you are using the word contextually.  Your lackadaisical, rote response does not impress me.  Rather, my first instinct is to pound my fists against the table in frustration; instinct no. 2 is to smack my palm in sheer linguistic agony against my forehead.  Then, I yawn out of boredom.  "Awesome" is not as shudder worthy as the usage of the filler word, "like," interspersed between every two words (or so) in a sentence...but still.  Linguistic laziness--"a lazy descriptor," as my husband says--bites.  Like, big time.  Yes, I am being ironically sarcastic.

Is the use of filler words in a sentence a societal marker of non-individuality and non-uniqueness?  A blunder to the carefully-wrought syntax of the American English language, both verbal and written?  Unfortunately, I truly believe so.

We, who take note of linguistic variances, are strange birds who derive pleasure (or pain) in observing how our language evolves--or stalls.  This gives us reason to think critically about how the world goes 'round, with language as a gauge.  Everything seems to be a trend in this land of old; and trends come and go.

So, this begs me to say...
You know, insight is forevermore golden for those who seek it--
here's (raises a mug) to a vocabulary consisting of words that actually mean something.

Ramblings of a Seeker

I am in the last one-third of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a personal, non-fiction narrative by Annie Dillard.  Broadly-speaking, the text intricately captures the overlapping limitations of our worldly, moral explanations--and juxtaposes it with life's experiences within nature as the connecting fiber between human and the larger world.  Dillard herself describes Pilgrim at Tinker Creek as a "book of theology."  However, the atheist in me sees beyond her inclusion of religion, seeks the meanings in-between the words: the rich subtext, ripe with intuitive leaps and bounds.

A seeker, I have always been.  So, I was happy (to say the least) to have come across this particular book of Dillard's in a second-hand shop.  It is one of the many in her prolific career: her Pulitzer Prize-winning piece on seeking within nature.  Admittedly, I find an unnerving amount of (sometimes cruel) beauty in a leaf; a dying grasshopper; the wind.  Nature amuses me for hours, days, years--an endless game of hide-and-seek. Dillard's work attests to this attractive element of nature, amid the specific backdrop of the seemingly-tranquil Tinker Creek in Virginia.   She stalks, she sees, and she unties: in a eloquent, dry humor/witty, and contextual way.  So witty--and sometimes so abstract--that I am at times lost on the analogies.  And in them. 

Seeking, rather than hiding, is a common theme in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.  Each chapter is titled according to an act of such made by nature or by a human.  My personal favorites are: "Winter" and "The Present."  The weather and being present.  More importantly, the best part the work itself is Dillard's uncannily-precise gift of connecting chapter-to-chapter, theme-to-theme.  It is in these connections that the reader finds what is (sometimes) unknowingly sought after in the act of seeking-while-reading: some darn good writing.  Dillard has a seemingly innate ability to connect the dots, and to connect the nearly invisible dots, in a clearly-articulated manner that makes sense.  A difficult task. 

(And let's face it: things that make sense are the best things in the world because we have to put less concerted effort into making sense of them.)

So, to Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a pleasurable read for a seeker of sorts: thank you.  After reading the first few chapters, I thought that I'd donate you--but you have proven me wrong.  I shall keep you.

The Nature of a Bookish Individual

It took me nearly a month to sift through my collection of odds and ends, and in particular, the eclectic assortment of magazine that I've amassed through the years.  However, when I was a young adult, I was not so discriminating when it came to the written word: I saved each magazine I came to own in hopes of its future creative purposes, i.e.: as collage material.  Since then, I've learned about space--as in: the space in a home is not infinite, even if creativity calls for the sky to be the limit.

So, in moderation, I must.

Through each magazine page I diligently went, organically tearing out pages--or portions of pages--that contained colors and words that caught my lilting eye.  Most of the images that I tore out were abstract, blurry backgrounds, ripe with neutral and/or earthy colors.  These were bits and pieces that would seem to also feel like nesting material: visually warm, cozy, and slightly tactile.

In one of the magazines, I found an informative article on how to care for musty, antique books.  So, if you--like me--are a semi-hoarder of paper material, this article may be helpful on the preservation front.  I assume that although this how-to article is for books, it can be extended to magazines, old journals/diaries, etc., as well.  Well, as long as you can prop them up.

Entire article:

The care instructions:

To view the article online, click here.
Much easier to read.

Bad lighting + nighttime = hard to read/see the writing in the photos. 

The assortment of ripped out images is now happily contained within a box that would have fit maybe three or four magazines rolled up into one.  Mission accomplished.  Thank goodness because the magazines were driving me crazy.  Well, as crazy as a book lover can get: the process was actually quite calming.

Rebirth

"The life inherent in all forms is always life; but life, because it is ceaselessly changing, inevitably outgrows every form, which in turn must die so that life can be released into a new birth, and into a new form."

"There is always rebirth after death, and the new form is always greater than the old; but when put to the test, the majority of individuals do not believe this, and feel they have irretrievably lost something.  Usually it is some thing (or someone) to whom there is an intense emotional bond, and through which, in some way, the individual is living a part of his life--a part that should be retrieved so that he can live it out for himself.  In some way the bond is lost, the relationship changed, and there is the experience of a death.  And if one seeks, among these ashes he will find a new perspective and a new birth."

- Relating: An Astrological Guide to Living with Others on a Small Planet, by Liz Greene (p. 48; 49)

Book (Page)-inspired Treasury

'Vintage Book Art' by AccentsandPetals2

Vintage Book Page B... OTMHandcrafted $1.50	Alice in Wonderland... calicocollage $3.75	Artichoke Mixed Boo... Zipper8Lightin... $65.00	As You Like It Play... JezebelCharms $40.00
Bookworm Linked Bra... TheUnwrittenWo... $29.00	m brooch made with ... houseofismay $7.50	Harry Potter 'M... PrettyLittleCh... $20.00	Twilight Saga inspi... THEFAMILYJEWLZ $10.00
Desk Caddy- Medium:... PegandAwl $50.00	Tissue Tape 20 mm F... leboxboutique $5.50	Webster Pendant Lig... glasslionhome $99.99	1 Vintage Book Page... theepapergirl $12.00
Foldable Purse Bag ... TUDEUX $12.00	Vintage foreign col... ephemeramania $4.00	Book Page Ballet Fl... frenchonion $80.00	50 Recycled MLA Boo... EmeraldCut $7.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

A Literary Treasury Part II

I an enamored with Etsy Treasuries that embody a literary theme--all the better when the theme involves Victorian English literature, coupled with solitary spaces, and moody, haunting prints.  I'm not a big fan of the holiday, Halloween itself, but I love its elusive muses.

'Whatever Our Souls Are Made Of' by Lollydollops

Inspired by EmeraldTownRaven's The Reading Tree and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.For the Nonteam Challenge #49:http://treasurychallengenonteam.blogspot.com/

The Reading Tree EmeraldTownRav... $120.00	Catherines Ghost nettie71 $25.00	Darkly Romantic--Garnet... EmeraldCut $13.50	Abstract ghostly portra... BadMojoPhoto $25.00
Haunted House ghostly 8... sonnyspics $25.00	Wuthering Heights &quot... BookishCharm $14.50	Hooded Coat Black - 204... 2040fashion $249.00	Skeleton Key Extra Wide... Serrelynda $48.00
Love is Patient ... Hea... AUNALIArtisanM... $65.00	Miniature Halloween hau... NixxiRose $34.95	Sunset over the moor. 1... AlBrydonPhotog... $80.00	English Moors Aged Bras... HarlequinRoman... $18.00
I Love You to Death-Bla... LondonsGate $30.00	Darkness Falls, 5x7 inc... ThisYearsGirl $10.00	Wuthering Heights Roman... emjoie $14.00	Creepy Gothic Black and... PixeyMeat $16.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Click here to view Part I of "A Literary Treasury."

Ode to August

Oh August,

As the heat of summer reaches its crescendo,

I whisper to you

Meaningful articulations of the self.

I raise my glass to you,

Hold you up to high esteem--

As I humbly raise my chin to the sky.

 

Gothic Victorian/Literary Treasury

I LOVE this Treasury--my new favorite!

 

'Diary of Jane' by leahmarjorie

a teamLOVE treasury

Illuminate - 8 x 10 Fin... jessicatorres $30.00	Black Leather Journal E... julieboyles $48.00	Fancy Caged RAVEN Skele... ash2ash $35.00	Silver wildflower earri... Olympias $75.00
Black flower choker nec... masibill $35.00	Jane Eyre - Original 8&... frenchlanguage $50.00	Mystic Black Spinel Sil... WrennJewelry $22.00	Custom Letter Tile Wall... SDGARTISTRY $16.00
Vintage Clear Crystal F... swakdesigns $16.00	Gothic Drop Brass Penda... EmeraldCut $9.75	Black Rose Sterling Sil... Beeskers $12.00	Let Me In At Your Windo... missquitecontr... $25.00
Wuthering Heights Black... Catalina23 $6.00	Fascinator, Purple, Lac... fancifulfascin... $22.00	Jane Eyre Bookmark mashalaurence $4.50	A Mobile Bay Tree -- 8x... ElizabethanStu... $20.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.