Cherishing Dedication: An Interview with Flyleaf Book Studio

Today's interview is with Kristen of Flyleaf Books. She shares with us her passion for making beautiful wedding albums which can be customized to fit each bride's personal tastes.

1. Where are you located?
Great Lakes, IL near Chicago

2. Tell us a little about yourself.
I recently graduated with my degree in Art Education – while in school I had taken several courses in Book Arts and had completely fallen in love with bookbinding. Since I was trained as an art teacher, I also do drawing, painting, ceramics and printmaking. I love color and modern design. Stores like IKEA are right up my alley. I'm also recently married, it's been a little over one year now and I'm a Navy wife soon to move to Norfolk, VA with my JRT Juniper who we love like our child.

3.What special things do you create for weddings?
I create DYO Wedding Albums made with Joel Dewberry fabrics that you can have personalized with a monogram of your choice as well on Luxe White paper.

4. Who or what sparked your interest in making wedding-related items?
I noticed that the Book and Zines were over-filled with journals and notepads and my listings were getting pushed back quickly. So I started to look for another niche on Etsy – in the Wedding section I was surprised to see only 2-3 wedding album makers, not a lot of variety. So I thought I could help add to the mix plus I had just finished my own wedding and loved working on things for my wedding. I also had worked at a bridal invitation store and felt confident in selling wedding albums.

5. What is a little known fact, or something unique about your work that is interesting?
The papers from my albums are from Italy. I use a Laguna binding not a normal library binding for my albums. Plus, most books and albums on Etsy are made with paper mine are made with fabric. The Luxe Whitepaper is made from 30% cotton rag, so it won't deteriorate as quickly.

6. If you are married, what's the one thing you wish you had for your wedding that you didn't?
Have someone else do my invites! Mine were okay, but if I had known about Etsy before my wedding, I would have ordered some Letterpress invitations. I love letterpress.

7. What is your favorite wedding song?
Kiss Me with the Kisses of Your Mouth – by Heather Clark on Dark Yet Lovely.

8. What is your favorite part of the wedding journey?
The invitations and photography. I'm a sucker for paper goods and photographs.

9. What advice can you share for all the brides getting married this year?
No matter what your budget, there is always a creative way of making things happen for your wedding day; I had a budget of only $3000 and was not able to pick anything out in person because I was student teaching and lived 2 hours away from the wedding site. I learned to let go and trust my mom and keep in mind that I had been waiting a long time for this day and I only cared about being with Corey, my new hubby. Plus, we had a lot of creative friends who did some things for us for free and we borrowed as many items as we could.

10. What is your perfect honeymoon spot?
Sapphire Valley, North Carolina. We loved the mountains in NC and want to go back again! Next time, we want to go white water rafting!

11. If you could pick anyone famous that would purchase your items for their wedding, who would they be?
The Dog Whisperer – he's already married but I love him, I like to DVR his show all the time. I not only love my dog, but I'm just a dog lover, period.

12. If you could choose 1 item from your shop that you wish every bride could have, what would it be?
One of the newer items that I've listed: Manzanita Linen 10x14 Album with the Damask or Lily fabrics, the Monogram in black ink, old script font. It was my first custom DYO Album order and I really fell in love with it. It screams wedding more than any other album fabric I have.

Links where we can find out more about your work:
http://flyleafbooks.blogspot.com
www.flickr.com/photos/flyleafbooks
http://reflectionsphotography.ifp3.com