Preparing for holiday shopping

There are many things coming during November/December this year. This post is a head's up with details on what to expect, plus the days when each thing will become available. Make sure to ready to the end for a note on combining shipping.

Little Monsters are back

I haven't made one of these since 2019, and I'm so happy to finally bring back a new Little Monsters edition. These notebooks are the fuzziest Dapper Notes with faux fur covers and are so cute and insanely soft and one of my favorite things.

They're also really hard to make. Production takes longer, and the fuzz makes an enormous mess in my studio. But that's kind of the point as they've historically arrived as a Black Friday release that counters the sales and discounts, and instead introduces something pricier than my usual notebooks: something that took more effort, something that is special and supports the arts.

This year's Little Monster notebooks are actually not so little, and unlike their pocket-sized siblings were made in the larger 5.5x8-inch size. They're also packed inside a screen printed box, and come with an embossed and signed certificate of adoption.

They'll be available on Thursday evening, November 28th, at around 8pm Eastern. There is a very limited amount of them made, and will be strictly limited to one per person.

A cute notebook and updated accessories

While shopping at a fabric store for the faux fur that was used to make the new Little Monster, my daughter spotted a super cute fabric that I just had to turn into a notebook. It's a box thermal material with an imprint that lends a knitted look. I got a yard or so of said fabric and couldn't resist making a super small batch. I used to do this long ago with fun materials that were posted as "secret editions." This one's not so secret and will be made available on Friday noon, November 29th, along with the following two items:

I just ran out of the washi tape I've been using for packing orders for the past year or so, and now have new kind of masking tape with an updated design that works much better for wrapping things. I'll have them up for sale on Friday as well.

The fifth Bic Clic pen colorway is on hand, and I'll share it alongside the cute notebook and masking tape on the the day also known as black Friday.

Embroidery kits are on again!

Last year for Black Friday weekend I made my first collaboration with Vika called Back Mountain Stitch. Vika is an embroidery artist from the UK and together we created an embroidery kit for DIYing your notebook cover. We got overwhelming feedback asking to bring these back and make more again, and I'm so happy that we were able to have another go at it this year.

Last year's kit had large-sized notebooks with an embroidery pattern on the front. This year we're making pocket-sized notebooks with a nine-color embroidery pattern on each side. The smaller size allows for two smaller embroidery projects instead of one big project, which we hear is more fun to take on. And when there's fun, I am so in.

The kits will again come with all the quality DMC floss (threads) you'll need, a pack of excellent milliners needles, and all packed in a screen-printed pouch that can be used to store your project materials. They'll be available on Monday, December 2nd around noon time Eastern.

FYI: Take note and SAVE on shipping costs

To help those of you who might be interested in getting all of the special releases, I will wait till Monday evening to ship all orders. I will combine shipping for anyone who places multiple orders, and will refund the shipping difference.

This will be especially helpful for shoppers outside the U.S. who will be able to save on shipping. You'll still need to place both orders and pay for shipping on each, but I will manually refund extra shipping as I process everything on Monday evening.

In summary

Here's a handy table for my release plan. Everything is of course estimated and subject to change. But I will do my best to stick to what's listed below.

The next Bookhead Club edition

In addition to all of the above special releases, the next Bookhead Club edition will be arriving later in December as well. For a sneak peek and spoilers, see my latest Journey post.