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Giving Thanks becomes part of your Fall decor as the folk art by Neeley Spotts conjures up all kinds of Thanksgiving Day memories and the carefully selected bookcloth is in harvest colors.

Giving Thanks becomes part of your Thanksgiving Day tradition as folks love to read about what they were doing on those milestone days in their life’s journey.

The 5 inch X 7 inch journals are handbound at the bindery at Pixel Point in Anderson, South Carolina using the techniques described on the bookbinding information page. The covers are Italian bookcloth with an inlaid title graphic.  The bookblock is printed on TreeFree paper made from sugarcane and hand stitched with linen thread.

Please click on the gallery images to see more information about the pages in the Giving Thanks journal.

Giving Thanks 50 years of Thanksgiving Days.$35

The featured journal was created to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of a special couple. The guests of honor prefer an organic look so the book was crafted with papers from the earth. The cover is a dark sepia book cloth from Italy. The cover is a faded blue lokta paper from Nepal. The endpaper is a golden lokta fiber that has a fern pattern “sun etched” into it. The book block uses an alternative fiber from Costa Rica that is made from sugar cane left in the fields after the harvest.

A small wedding day picture is inlaid into the cover.

This journal includes a sentiment from the givers as well a carefully selected poem. The remainder of the journal contains pages for friends and family to enter their special memories and thoughts – so much more than just a signature in a guest book!

The journal is 96 pages -5/8 X 5 X 7 inches and constructed using the techniques described on our bookbinding information page.

Contact Pixel Point to arrange for your custom journal to celebrate the anniversary of a special couple!

Here are the prompts that make each entry unique:

Name

Signature

How did you meet the couple?

What is a favorite memory of the couple?

What have you learned from the couple?

This journal is for a graduate heading off to Elon University in North Carolina.  The spine is Italian bookcloth.  The cover is lokta fiber from Nepal. The adornment is an etched copper plate with the school’s acorn and oak leaf, academic, logo.  The plate has been heat fired to create a coordinating patina.  The endpapers are a kozo fiber paper from Thailand with raintree leaf embedments also matching the schools’ colors.

This journal has a sentiment from the givers as well as some appropriate quotes.  The balance of the journal is lined with a faint watermark on each page of the same design etched into the cover.

The journal is 144 pages – 3/4 X 5 X 7 inches and constructed using the techniques described on our bookbinding information page.

Contact Pixel Point to arrange for your custom journal for the graduate to chronicle the next big journey in their lives!

Here is some sample text to show how easy it is to customize your journal with a sentiment.

June, 2011

Jane,

You are starting on a great adventure in your life’s journey!  You are off to a new place and will meet new people and get to enjoy new experiences.

As with any trip, you will reflect on your past, embrace the present, and anticipate the future.

We hope that you will use this journal to capture your thoughts, your hopes and your dreams as you engage Elon University and all that it will offer you!

Uncle Jack and Aunt Jill

As a result of our collaboration, this very pretty journal came into existence.

The cover paper is repurposed wallpaper from an out-of-date sample book from Sherwin-Williams. The color complements the colors in the print and also has a very nice texture. The spine is Italian bookcloth in a shade of green that compliments the colors in the print.

The print is actually a reproduction of a vintage postcard of the Statue of Liberty.  The original print was done by the Illinois Vintage Postcard Company and the reproduction is part of the Cavallini Vintage New York Postcard series packaged in an attractive tin box.

The book block is made from alternative fiber paper. The paper is made form fiber waste from the sugar cane harvests in Costa Rica.

You can read about our bookbinding techniques on the Bookbinding Page of our WEBsite.

Pixel Point will be glad to work with you on YOUR special project.  Please get in touch with us!

This Journal uses a ribbon motif in the knot.  Besides the cover, the design is also used on the title page and is “ghost printed” on each of the entry pages.

This journal has a very tailored look as the copper adornment is complimented with a black Italian bookcloth and a rich, leather finished lokta fiber paper from Nepal. Other journals in the edition feature different Celtic Knot patterns and different color spine and lokta fiber cover paper.

The book block is made from alternative fiber paper. The paper is made from fiber waste from the sugar cane harvests in Costa Rica.

You can read about our bookbinding techniques on the Bookbinding Page of our WEBsite.

If you like special edition journals, please consider Pixel Point when it comes time to make your purchase!

The South Carolina state flag reminds us of its role in the American Revolution.  The flag also reflects elements of the state’s Civil War heritage drawing from a design that was formulated for a national banner when the state seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860. Components of the current state flag were first seen in 1765 on a banner carried by South Carolina protesters of the Stamp Act. The banner that the protesters hoisted displayed three white crescents on a blue background. Ten years later, in 1775, Colonel William Moultrie was asked by the South Carolina Revolutionary Council of Safety to design a banner for the use of South Carolina troops. Colonel Moultrie chose a simple design that displayed the crescent (new moon) on a blue field. The new flag was the same blue as that of the soldiers’ uniforms, and the silver crescent echoed the symbol that the soldiers wore on the front of their caps.

Almost 100 years later, South Carolina seceded from the Union it had fought to create. A new banner was needed to fly above the newly formed nation. Many designs were reviewed, but the General Assembly settled on one, simple change to Moultrie’s Revolutionary War design. A Palmetto tree was added and centered on the blue field. The Palmetto, the state tree of South Carolina , played a key role in Colonel Moultrie’s defense of Sullivan’s Island against an attack by British warships in June, 1776. Cannonballs fired at the fort from the British ships could not destroy the walls of the fort which were built of Palmetto logs. Instead, the cannonballs simply sank into the soft, tough Palmetto wood.

The flag that flies over the state of South Carolina today is of the same design that flew over independent South Carolina during the Civil War. [thanks to netstate, llc for information on the SC flag.]

In 1989, Nancy Basket began experimenting with the “notorious” kudzu vine after moving to the Carolinas to be close to the Cherokee Reservation. Nancy shares her Native American heritage through her art and by the retelling of ancient legends. She says of her work,” I feel the Old Ones guiding my fingers and I am proud to be making something beautiful.” A contemporary basket maker and fiber artist, Nancy takes her name from the work she does and from her Cherokee grandmother, Margaret Basket. Nancy is an artist-in-education in basketry, papermaking, and storytelling in the Carolinas.

Native to the Orient, kudzu vine grows 12 inches daily. Asians use every part of the plant. Kudzu roots, weighing up to 400 pounds, are ground into powder and used as a thickener in cooking. Vines are processed and exported as grass-cloth wallpaper and are woven into expensive clothing, once used as gifts for emperors. Leaves have been used for hundreds of years in medicinal teas and a wide variety of foods. The purple flowers smell like grape bubble gum and are used in jelly-making. In the 1920’s, kudzu was imported to the southern U.S. as a ground cover for erosion control. Today, because of its prodigious, unchecked growth, it is considered a menace.

Nancy hopes to change folks’ opinions about kudzu from that of a maligned and laughed at weed into that of a new and inexhaustible source of tree-free paper.

Journals  with this design will soon be for sale at our Etsy Store, our Journal Store and always at Pixel Point in downtown Anderson, South Carolina.

Rainbow Row takes its name from a series of colorful historic homes in Charleston, South Carolina. These houses, located north of Tradd and south of Elliot on East Bay Street, are referred to as Rainbow Row for the pastel colors used to paint them. Rainbow Row is a common tourist attraction and is one of the most photographed areas of Charleston.

After the Civil War, this area of Charleston devolved into near slum conditions. In the early 1900’s, Dorothy Porcher Legge purchased a section of these houses numbering 99 through 101 East Bay and began to renovate them. She chose to paint these houses pink based on a colonial Caribbean color scheme. Other owners and future owners followed suit, creating the “rainbow” of pastel colors present today. The coloring of the houses helped keep the houses cool inside as well as give the area its name.

Common myths concerning Charleston include variants on the reasons for the paint colors. According to some tales, the houses were painted in the various colors such that the intoxicated sailors coming in from port could remember which houses they were to bunk in. In other versions, the colors of the buildings date from their use as stores; the colors were used so that owners could tell illiterate shoppers which building to go to for certain goods.

In 1989, Nancy Basket began experimenting with the “notorious” kudzu vine after moving to the Carolinas to be close to the Cherokee Reservation. Nancy shares her Native American heritage by re-telling ancient legends orally and through her art. She says of her work,” I feel the old ones guiding my fingers and I am proud to be making something beautiful.” A contemporary basket maker and fiber artist, Nancy takes her name from the work she does and from her Cherokee grandmother, Margaret Basket. She is an artist-in-education in basketry, papermaking and storytelling in the Carolinas.

Native to the Orient, kudzu vine grows 12 inches daily. Asians use every part of the plant. Kudzu roots, weighing up to 400 pounds, are ground into powder and used as a thickener in cooking. Vines are processed and exported as grass-cloth wallpaper and are woven into expensive clothing, once used as gifts for emperors. Leaves have been used for hundreds of years in medicinal teas and a wide variety of foods. The purple flowers smell like grape bubble gum and are used in jelly-making. In the 1920’s, kudzu was imported to the southern U.S. as a ground cover and erosion control. Today, because of its prodigious, unchecked growth, it is considered a menace.

Nancy hopes to change folks’ opinions about kudzu from that of a maligned and laughed at weed into that of a new and inexhaustible source of tree-free paper.

The complete set of journals will soon be for sale at our Etsy Store, our Journal Store and always at Pixel Point in downtown Anderson, South Carolina.

The papers are collages of various travel ephemera such as postmarks, stamps, addresses and content from letters and postcards.

The classic size journals can be viewed in our Bookstore and the petite size journals can be viewed at our Etsy store.

The Petite Journals are terrific for conveniently jotting down notes on excursions as they easily fit into a pocket or purse. On return to your “base”, the notes can be expanded and transferred to your Classic size journal.   A Petite Journals and a matching Classic Journal make the ideal gift for a traveller!

Please visit our Bookstore online, our Etsy Store online and certainly visit our Brick-and-Mortar Store in Anderson, South Carolina!

I was particularly out to find any vintage treasures from the back room. Well, I was rewarded by finding a cache of 1940′s era seed packet blanks. These seed packages fit perfectly with the line of Petite Journals that Pixel Point now offers that are made from either the “remainders” from our shop or from materials that we can re-purpose after being discarded by someone else. The journal that is pictured is an example from our line of Petite Journals that are made from these re-purposed seed packets.

These seed package were produced in the 40′s by Stecher-Traung Lithography from art work instead of photographs. The packages were sold to seed stores who would hand-stamp their store information on the blank packages. These journals are perfect for recording gardening information while “in the field.”

The Petite Journals are 2 3/4 inches X 3 1/2 inches and are just the right size to fit in a pocket or a purse. The book-blocks have 100 pages and are made from either alternative fiber or tree-free paper. These journals are perfect for recording thoughts that pop in our heads when our “big” journals are at home. The Petite Journals are made exactly like our 5 inch X 7 inch case bound journals – they are just, well, petite!

Even the price is petite – $7.50

Please visit our Etsy Store to see all the Petite Journals.

Pixel Point now offers a line of Petite Journals that are made from either the scraps from our shop or from materials that we can re-purpose after being thrown away by someone else. The journal that is pictured is an example from our line of Petite Journals that are made from paper taken from  the wallpaper sample books that have been thrown out by the decorating center down the street.

The Petite Journals are 2 1/2 inches X 3 1/2 inches and are just the right size to fit in a pocket or a purse. They have 100 pages. These journals are perfect for recording thoughts that pop in our heads when our “big” journals are at home. The Petite Journals are made exactly like our 5 inch X 7 inch case bound journals – they are just, well, petite!

Even the price is petite – $7.50. Find Pixel Point’s Petite Journals at our Etsy Store!