Friday, December 7, 2012

Sponsor Sugar – The Orange Windmill

photo of handmade journals by the orange windmill
It is time to spread a little sweetness and sprinkle some sugar on one of my lovely sponsors! Shirley, from The Orange Windmill and Trees. Hides., is the author of a pretty wonderful and crafty blog. By the way, isn't she too cute?! Love her little avatar! Someone I would love to have a cup of coffee with and craft together. Sorry, back to the feature...On her blog, Trees. Hides., she features many creative artists, does super cute DIY demos and has one of my favorite weekly link-ups where you can show off your latest craft creation. She also is the owner and creator of her own shop on Etsy called The Orange Windmill


photo of owner and creator of handmade leather journalsYou will quickly be able to see why someone like me would love her creations. She makes beautiful little leather journals just waiting to be filled with magical stories, whimsical thoughts and flowery aspirations! At least, that is what I would fill them with. You could just as easily use them to keep your treasure trove of goofy doodles of the neighborhood grump yelling at kids from his front porch. 

I'm going to let her to tell you a little about herself and how she came up with her shop name and how she creates her little literary treasure chests:

upcycled leather bound diaries and journals
gift wrap option to package holiday gift journals"Hi, I'm Shirley. The Orange Windmill is a place where I sell my hand-bound journals. I love journaling - I've been doing it since I was a young girl. The best part about Christmas for me was the excitement of receiving a new diary - fresh, blank pages ready to be filled with all my secrets!

I make all my journals from scratch. For my leather journals, I find the leather from a tiny local upholstery place, where they have leather remnants of leather in a bin. I take them and give them new life and purpose as a journal!

For my vintage hardcover journals, I use vintage books that are falling apart and breathe new life into them as journals - they are truly one of a kind! I tear each sheet individually to fit the journal cover, and then bind the pages to the cover.

This process is therapeutic and very rewarding for me, being able to create something new and beautiful from unwanted materials. I strive to be conscious about the amount of waste I create in making my journals. I have not thrown out a single piece of leather, as I'm sure I will be able to use it eventually.

I've named myself The Orange Windmill because I'm dutch (the windmill is iconically dutch), and my favourite color is orange. For all you windmill fans out there, sorry, I don't make windmills."


hand bound recycled leather notebook journal
Okay, did you all hear that? She is a local business supporter, handbinds these beauties, gives new life to vintage, AND tries to be eco conscious! I love this chick!

One of her newest ventures that she has recently embarked on is the creation of iPhone covers with the leather that she uses for journal binding. I actually find these quite charming. They have the same antique charm with the cute handmade quirkiness of asymmetry. Hand-stitched leather with adorable floral accents. I think pretty much everything in her little shop would make perfect gifts and stocking stuffers for the holidays. The journals are gender and age neutral so the whole family would love them. The same is true of the iPhone covers, so make sure to give her shop a good look over to see if any items would tic off a space on your gift lists.

To view her blog, Trees. Hides., click here.
To shop her store, The Orange Windmill, click here.


Banner photo from the journal shop
golden leather iPhone case with multi colored leather flowers
detail photo of metal and leather iPhone cover



***********Stay tuned, gorgeous followers!!!***********
Check back tomorrow for your chance to get your hands on a beautiful leather journal of your own for FREE! Shirley has very generously decided to hold a giveaway! YES!!

If you are interested in becoming one of my lovely sponsors, please click here for more details.




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83 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to the giveaway, yay!! xx Coco

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  2. Oh my goodness, please keep me updated on the giveaway! I love journals and stationery; I'm currently in love with moleskines but I could use a new journal. Lovely post! x


    d a n i e l l e | daniellewu.com
    enter my giveaway to win a $500 shopping spree to FirmooGlasses!

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  3. Awesome I love her stuff. Have to check back for the giveaway!!
    xo

    glamDevils

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  4. I love your blog, and i'm following you now ;)
    Check out my blog:
    http://jusufovicminela.blogspot.com/
    xoxo

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  5. shirley's journals are great ideas for gift this yuletide season.



    www.phioxee.com

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    Replies
    1. I agree, she has some really cute mini journals I would love (including a bright green one!).

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  6. those journals are so cute!

    Please vote for me at this
    link for the Grazia contest!You can vote every day…thanks!
    http://namelessfashionblog.blogspot.it/
    http://www.facebook.com/NamelessFashionBlog

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  7. Those are lovely!

    Bisous
    Suzanne
    http://bisous.typepad.com/bisous/

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  8. What a lovely post... it is so much fun to find out about artists who love what they do and take the time to do things right! Thanks for visiting my blog the other day, btw! Merry Christmas!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, I completely agree! Merry Christmas to you too!

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  9. I love the vintage look! I would actually love to wrap a few presents like that.

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    Replies
    1. Cute right?! She offers that gift wrapping on her shop too! Wouldn't it be so cute to give a mini leather journal in that cute packaging?!

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  10. Thanks for showing us these lovely journals--I would fill them with happy stories, too!

    Headed on over to her shop!

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  11. Thank you for the intro! Those journals look so beautiful. x

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  12. Thank you so much for your kind words - I would LOVE to get together to craft and chat! Too bad we're about a 16 hour drive apart... (I've driven to Raleigh before)
    -Shirley

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  13. Wow her work is awesome!! I'll definitely be back tomorrow to enter the giveaway!!

    -Kelly<3
    http://www.blartblog.com

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  14. Wow, these leather journal covers are gorgeous! I actually use a journal to compile all of my blog posts and ideas. Now following too :)

    http://cstyledesign.blogspot.com

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  15. what beautiful items! i love her craftsmanship!

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  16. ooh i love all these bound journals! theyre so much cuter and unique than moleskins, i totally want one! :D btw im following you back! :)

    katslovefashion.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Aren't they cute?! They would be so pretty on a shelf or coffee table instead of a factory notebook.

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  17. That is absolutely beautiful and very unique!

    Lanaya
    www.raising-reagan.com

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  18. i'm guessing our comments are going to your spam box...check that, and if you check them all as "not spam", hopefully in the future they will show up. hopefully that works!

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    Replies
    1. It totally worked! That was it, thank you for helping me! ;-)

      Delete
  19. As a friend of Shirley's (don't be jealous, but I see her everyday at work), you wrote such a beautiful post about a beautiful friend. I too, love her journals and enjoy crafting together. Perhaps you should venture up here for a girls weekend ... we know how to throw a party, and there's a local, fair-trade coffee shop on the coolest street in our city (which is also where Shirley lives), run by our friends. So come on up already! :)

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    Replies
    1. Aww, that would be soooo much fun! Crafting, party, and awesome coffee shop?! Sounds good to me. ;-)

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  20. Amazing creations! Yay, for giveaway!)
    http://beautyofheworld.blogspot.com/

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  21. Nice post:) Thanks for following!
    ~your three-hundredth member<3

    xoxo_Laila

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    Replies
    1. AAAAHHHHH!!! You ARE my 300th! Very cool! Thank you Laila! ;-)

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  22. You have a wonderful blog!! I'm your newest follower from the "Weekend Blog Walk" blog hop - this is my blog if you wanted to follow back: godsgrowinggarden.com
    Thanks
    Angie

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  23. What a great shop, Lovely post as well. I absolutely love those journals!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Mohala! I thought would might like these. ;-)

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  24. I love the journals, very pretty! There is something so calming about writing and those colors are great :)

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    Replies
    1. I agree. Sometimes just the fact that it is an charming journal makes me want to actually put my thoughts down in the blank pages.

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  25. Thank you for letting me know about this awesome giveaway! I have entered! :)

    -Logan
    www.southernsunflowersandcoffeebeans.com

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  26. I love how she uses the string in this image https://ny-image1.etsy.com/000/0/6443626/il_570xN.293803053.jpg

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    Replies
    1. Well that comment looks lovely I meant to link to the picture with the red and white wrapping. :D

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    2. Haha! Her gift wrap really is very pretty. ;-)

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  27. What beautiful journals.
    http://shannonhearts.blogspot.com/

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  28. How wonderfully lovely. I really like the cell phone cover idea, too - what a charmingly fun juxtaposition of old meets new.


    Wishing you a stellar Monday & week ahead, dear Jamie,
    ♥ Jessica

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I really like the look of the mustard and moss combo for leather on the iPhone covers.
      Thank you, Jessica. Enjoy your week as well!

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  29. Beautiful blog



    New post on :
    Http://Fashioneiric.blogspot.com

    Coline.

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  30. Helo dear!!
    I like your blog so much! I follow you now! ;)
    I invite you to see my blog! :)
    Kisses from Spain!

    http://eldiariodenuny.blogspot.com.es

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  31. Jamie these are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.
    Laurie

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  32. Orange is one of my favorite colors too! :-) Nice blog you have here.

    www.creativesideofme.com

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  33. OMG! Her work is divine!

    Arra
    http://arraabella.blogspot.com

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  34. they really are charming, love the idea behind it and all that.

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  35. NICE IDEE¡¡

    http://dolcevirginia.blogspot.com.es

    baci

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