Hello Wisconsin!

 

We have had a busy year creating our handmade bookish goodies of all sorts. As usual, we have particularly enjoyed our Saturdays selling them at the Dane County Farmers’ Market. Autumn is around the corner, and with it comes our last couple of months of farmers’ markets. I can hardly believe how quickly this season has passed!

We hope you are enjoying the last gasp of summer and cherish the beautiful fall days ahead. As we look forward to fall craft shows and the busy holiday season, we would like to take a moment to thank all of our amazing local customers who visit us year after year and make this job so great. Your kind words, encouragement and repeat business is appreciated more than we can express!

We will be down at the market Saturdays through early November and hope you will stop by to visit our booth whether it’s for the first time or the tenth time.

For our bookish friends who are not in the Madison area, please feel free to visit our etsy shop or check our event schedule for more upcoming shows!

 

Madison Fall Gallery Night

Tonight is Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s Fall Gallery night! Artists throughout the city will be showcasing their work, and we are excited to be participating.

Chad will be at the Goodman Community Center showing some of his newest artwork inspired by literature along with some of my bookish jewelry. There will be several other artists at the Goodman Center along with live music and complimentary refreshments. Stop by to visit if you’re in the Madison area!

Book page illustrations

My husband has created some really beautiful artwork this summer! These are a few of my recent favorites. All of these are originals drawn on actual book pages.

Sherlock Holmes, John Watson – on pages from The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Detail of Hunter S. Thompson, drawn on a page from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Hobbit couple, drawn on prologue page of The Hobbit.

The Knight from The Canterbury Tales.

Come visit us at the Dane County Farmers‘ market in Madison to see Chad’s literary inspired artwork along with our bookish jewelry and accessories! We’re located near the top of State Street in front on Teddywedgers, Saturdays through early November. If you’re not in Wisconsin, you can always check out what’s new online in our etsy shop!

We have lots of fall art shows in the works as well and will be posting soon to announce where you can find us through the rest of the year!

xo Andrea

Road Trip: Literary New Orleans

We just returned home after an amazing whirlwind summer road trip. We stayed in at least 5 different states and passed through lots more.

One of my favorite stops was New Orleans. I was not even sure what I wanted to see or do there. I was just excited to see a new city and finally visit my brother and his wife who have lived in central city, New Orleans for several years now. The only things on my to-do list were: beignets, bookstores and William Faulkner things. We got to see way more than that, but for now I am going to share my literary New Orleans experience.

Spotted in the French Quarter, early on a Sunday morning.

The first bookstore we stopped at was a small shop called Maple Street Book Shop. It apparently used to be separated into two shops next door to each other, one with new books and one with used books. It is now one shop with new & used books.The shop was charming and the owner was friendly. They had a little bit of everything. I especially liked their great selection of books about Louisiana and New Orleans. I picked up a new printing of a Creole cookbook that was first published in 1885.

I didn’t snap a photo at the shop, but I did pick up a postcard that gives you a glimpse of it back when it opened (1964 according to the postcard.) I look forward to visiting again!

Maple Street Book Shop, 7523 Maple St, New Orleans

I was looking forward to checking out The Faulkner House where William Faulkner lived and wrote his first novel in 1925. The first time I stopped by it was closed. I wasn’t the only one who was disappointed!

Faulkner House Books, Pirates Alley.

Outside Faulkner House Books, July 5, 2015.

 

When I stopped back through on our road trip back home, they were open!

Faulkner House Books

We arrived close to closing time, so we didn’t spend a lot of time in the shop. I did buy an interesting looking book by Louisiana author Robert Tallant. The woman working was kind and put up with our last minute visit. She even gave my kids a book and tolerated our questions about the building’s history. It is a nice, cozy shop

Faulkner House Books!

Bookstore scores!

We stopped in the lobby at Hotel Monteleone on our first day in the city. This historic hotel was where many famous authors including Tennessee Williams, William Faulker and Truman Capote stayed at. On our second stop through the city, we decided to stay at the hotel. We got a room on the supposedly haunted 14th (13th) floor. No ghost sightings, but we sure did enjoy our stay at this beautiful gem of a hotel!

Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans.

Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone

And finally, a couple of photos I snapped at La Divina Gelateria in the French quarter. I didn’t know the poet of the day. Do you?

La Divina Cafe & Gelateria, New Orleans.

La Divina Cafe & Gelateria, New Orleans.

I can’t wait to go back and explore this city! I know that I barely scratched the surface of all of the literary goodness New Orleans has to offer. If you have suggestions for our next trip, please leave a comment! We would especially love to hear about your favorite New Orleans book stores!

xo

Andrea & Chad

Book Plaques

Although I have been taking my sweet time, I really have been creating some fun new things over the long winter. Here are a few little collages that I finished recently. These wooden wall plaques combine pieces of book covers combined with snippets of book text. I made a few with hooks this year in case you need a special place to hang your book bag!  

I made a some of these last year just before the farmers’ market started and didn’t have time to make more through the season. These are all one of a kind! The pictured plaques along with several others will be available at our farmers’ market booth beginning April 18. Hope to see you there!

Happy Everything!

Happy 2015! It’s just a little more than a week into the new year, and already I have made some lasting memories, survived the flu, and read two great books. But before I start rambling on about the new year, I want to tell you about a few highlights of our 2014 holiday season.

First, thank you so much to all of our wonderful customers, friends and family who were supportive of our small business over the past year! You helped to make 2014 the best year yet for The Bookish Life, and we cannot thank you enough. We are sincerely grateful to every person who helped spread the word about our little etsy shop or our stand at the farmers’ market, and each of you who chose to buy a piece of artwork, a necklace or other handmade trinket to give as a gift. We were grateful to participate in 3 successful holiday shows in the month of November and to have a busy holiday season in our online shop. Here are a few shots from our holiday shows, one with my 10 year old helper!

After the holiday rush slowed down, our family enjoyed some downtime and a little holiday magic. We took our kids on a Polar Express train ride just before Christmas. The train was decorated like the train from the book and went to the “North Pole.” We got cookies and hot chocolate, and the kids got a special bell from Santa. My favorite thing about the experience was when our kiddos danced up and down the aisles with the chef. It was just so sweet to see my 8 and 10 year olds full of holiday spirit.

We enjoyed a day at our local library sipping hot chocolate, listening to a local musician and seeing real live reindeer. We also visited a train and lego show at Olbrich Gardens, and of course we did our fair share of holiday crafting and baking.

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And just like that, 2014 is gone. We hope that you had a beautiful year and that 2015 brings you happy days, good books and rays of sunshine when you need it most.

10th Annual Holiday Craftacular

It’s hard to believe it, but our final show of 2014 is coming up this weekend! Please stop out for this wonderful show at the Masonic Center in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, Nov. 29th. If you’re looking for unique, handmade gifts made by artists and crafters in your community and beyond, this is the place to visit. There will also be free goody bags for the first 50 shoppers! Hope to see you this weekend. Have a lovely holiday season, friends!

Next up: Handmade for the Holidays

We are very happy to be traveling back to Oshkosh this year for Handmade for the Holidays Urban Craft Fair. We’ll be there with our usual bookish goodies and lots fun recycled book ornaments for the holidays as well! If you’re in the area, please stop by to check out a fabulous selection of handmade everything you can think of on Saturday, November 22. Hope to see you there!

The Crafty Fair

We are done vending at the farmers’ market for the year. There is technically one date left, but friends, it is just too darn cold to be peddling necklaces and artwork on the street. We are taking it inside! You can find The Bookish Life at a few area shows through November. Our first holiday show will be The Crafty Fair on Sunday, November 16 at the Goodman Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

This event is organized by Rosy Hawbaker, AKA Rosymade Designs. She does an amazing job making this a super fun event full of the best assortment of handmade gifts around!

Check out our events page to see where you can find us the rest of the year. Hope to see you at a show! If you can’t make it to one of our events but want to see what fun new things we’ve been making,  you can always visit our etsy shop. We will be adding lots of new items as the holidays approach.

Summertime & New Bookish Things

Summer is here! Our family has been keeping busy with long walks, drive-in movies, s’mores, the beach, reading new books and of course the Dane County Farmers’ Market on Saturdays! We hope that you are enjoying the nicer weather and all of the good things that summer brings.

We’ve also been keeping busy with making lots of new goodies for The Bookish Life. Here are a few of the newest creations you can find at the market on Saturdays (downtown Madison, on State St. in front of the bus shelter near Teddy Wedgers.) We also started vending at the Verona, WI farmers’ market on Tuesdays from 4-7 p.m. We will not be there every week, but plan to vend at least a couple of times each month. You can follow our facebook page to get the most up-to-date information!

O Captain! My Captain! Pinback button or magnet. This comes in a bold 3″ size or the smaller 1″ size pictured. A great way to declare your love for Whitman, Lincoln, or Dead Poet’s Society!

Heart Shaped Atlas Necklaces. Each is made with an actual snippet from an old atlas page. These can be customized to feature any city you are looking for (as long as we can find it on a map!)
“Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost” quote shirt. This is a limited run! We have sizes small through XL in ladies and unisex sizes on light and dark brown. We also printed a handful of kids sizes in various colors. 

Book Quote Necklaces. I have been making more of these this season, with some of my favorite book quotes (saved from the actual book pages!) Here are some from the last couple of weeks I am trying to keep up on making some new ones each week. If you are looking for something special, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Book Page Collage Plaques. These are made with a combination of book covers and snippets of book page text on a painted wooden plaque that is ready to hang. I am having so much fun making these! Here is a sampling of some that I have made recently.

These are just a few of the newest goodies we have been working on. If you are in the Madison area, drop by the market to see all of the fun things we have to offer! And if you are interested in purchasing any of these items online and having them shipped, we can do that! You can visit our etsy store or email us at thebookishlife@gmail.com. We truly have so much fun creating every piece and are so happy to share them with you!