During a recession, fashion design is often one of the first visible elements of change. During the Depression, the hemlines of women’s skirts dropped from flapper to ankle length as bare legs (with a drawn on line) replaced stockings. While we’re not drawing imaginary stocking lines on our bags, we are making a adjustments to accommodate the economic atmosphere.

While these special edition bags will remain constructed of our same tried-and-true bombproof 2.2mm full grain leather, we aer slimming them down a bit.  We are taking our basic messenger bag style and paring it to its essentials: one main compartment and no extra pockets (except inside the flap).  Take your pick from three sizes: 8X10, 10X13 and 12X15.  If you have been needing a Renaissance Art bag but your wallet has not been compliant, these are priced to meet the demands of our recession at $125, 140 and 155 respectively.

Number 11, Ara, won the free giveaway last week. It was an erasure poem of the 9/11 Commission Report, The O Mission Repo. If you didn’t win and would like to pick up your own copy, click here.

When Julia Child was research assistant in the Secret Intelligence division of the Office of Strategic Services, she typed ten thousand names of officers on thousands of note cards in order to keep track of them. When Julia Child was a culinary deity, she created hundreds of recipes that would be printed on thousands of recipe cards.

For both of these jobs, Julia sure could have used one of our new versatile 3 x 5 one-inch ring binders ($20). Leather lined (no suede side showing), these hand-held helpers hold about 80 cards*, more with other company’s lighter card stock, and will come in every color we offer: rustic brown and black and all seven Rustic Elegance colors. And the exposed rings don’t just look good—they help the covers stay flat.

If you are like Julia and mix business with pleasure, you may want to two-tone your binder—one color for the inside and another for the outside. Mix and match black, molasses, rust, ocean, avocado, cranberry, and rustic brown and leave a comment about your favorite color combos.

Need a pen-loop? A diagonal inside pocket? Leave us a comment to let us know what you think about these features. Who knows. Your comment may be the one that wins this free giveaway.

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

As usual, click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway BUT do not comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS post.

Soon to come: ½ and ¾-inch ring binders and a Name the New Stuff contest (winner gets the stuff!)

*We use a super-sturdy acid-free100 brightness 100# cardstock. Check out our website for our card offerings.

Number 21, Jennifer, won the free giveaway last week. It was the leather cover for a discbound notebook with 3/4 inch discs.

This week we are switching things up a bit.  We have offered 26 Free Giveaways to date of anything from our leather journals to our rustic leather bags.  SO… we figured that we would start to giveaway stuff from featured artists, in this case a writer.  It is a 144 page poem… but not just any kind of poem.  It is an erasure poem.  Anybody know what that is?   I sure didn’t.  Well, just go HERE to read more about the book and see a preview.  It is pretty cool.  It is an erasure poem of the 9/11 commission report.  Basically it takes the entire report, erases out some of the lines and words and what is left is the poem… which is basically a commentary on itself.  Hard to explain.  You just need to go have a look.  And once you have, be sure to comment here to enter to win your free copy.

We will be featuring other artists here from time to time in the Free Giveaway section.

Below is a picture of the book’s cover.

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

As usual, click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway BUT do not comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS THIS post.

Last month we introduced these new covers for your pocket size Moleskine notebooks.  We are now introducing a new line of covers for your large size Moleskine notebooks.

All of these covers utilize the elastic band in the rear of the notebooks and come in 7 different leather colors.  There is a pen loop inside with 3 extra pockets for storage.  We are also offering 2 styles of non closure covers, our less expensive Traditional cover (not shown and not included in this offer) with no extra pockets or pen loop and our No Closure style (not shown and IS included in this offer) with those 3 storage pockets and pen loop. Below is a pic of the new designs (the traditional style has been available for over a month now and is not showing). All of these have pen loops and 3 extra pockets on the left side for extra paper storage.

Go HERE to pick the one you would like to read more about.
Enter coupon code MSRELGCVR for a 20% discount off the base price.
The discount is available thru Sunday, 14/June.

Number 82, Jason, won the free giveaway last week. It was the leather cover for a discbound notebook with 3/4 inch discs.

This week we have another discbound cover and once again for 3/4 inch rings.  Will probably have yet another different one next week too, so if you did not win last week or do not this week, don’t loose hope.  We are building the new prototype on the 1 inch disc notebook.

On previous designs we have done where the rings are hidden inside the notebook, we could only have the notebook attach with the rear cover.  This was for usability reasons.  Basically, if you attached your notebook using the front and rear cover, it would bind up and not close very well.

However, by creating a design with the rings showing on the outside, this issue no longer exists.  This is the first design we are working on in this open ring design.  The one we are working on for next week will have more of a medieval elegance to it.  So, this is design allows you to attach the notebook by sliding the front and rear covers into their respective interior pockets.  The final product will have 2 interior pockets for storage, similar to the post under this one, An Inside Look.  This one does not have any storage pockets.  It is just the initial prototype.  Also on the final version the ring slots will be 1/8 inch wider front and rear.

Just click this link discbound stuff to see what discbound stuff we currently make.  And, all of our stuff is tweak-able (customizable) to fit your own individual style because it is made right in our Santa Fe, NM studio to order.l

So, the item below will fit your 8.5 X 5.5, 3/4 inch disc discbound notebook. It has no extra interior pockets (which the final version will have) but does have a pen loop. Have fun commenting.

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

As usual, click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway BUT do not comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS THIS post.

Two posts down, on the Free Giveaway #25 post, one or some of you mentioned that you would like to see how the inside was going to look.  I am working on the product pages for the new covers for the large size Moleskine notebooks using our Rustic Elegance leathers and… well, the inside on the left is the same.  So, I just thot I would post a pic of it because it is the same as what the inside cover will look like for that coming discbound cover.  Just ignore the moleskine notebook refill on the right and pretend it is a discbound notebook.  Here it is.
Btw… new giveaway will be up tomorrow and it will be for a new and different discbound cover design.

Well, I guess the filming for The Rum Diary just finished and they are having a party in Puerto Rico on Monday.  We are making leather cases for the film manuscripts that will be given to the actors, including the stars.

Here is a pic of what they will be receiving.

Number 68, Ted won the free giveaway last week. It was the leather cover for the large size Moleskine notebook.

So… I am back now from a 2+ week, 6000 mile road trip.  While I was gone Jackie did some prototyping of some new discbound stuff we are creating.  You know… that Rollabind and Circa brand stuff with the discs and mushroom shaped punches in the paper which can be removed and reinserted.  Anyway, we already sell some discbound stuff like our heavier leather covers and modular systems but we are working on a line of covers using our rustic elegance leathers that come in 7 colors.  This one is shown in our cranberry red leather.  The interior of this one has 2 interior pockets.  Our final version will have more storage with three.

The item below is the prototype with a black quarter binding…. our first attempt.  We are also toying with reinforced corners.  It is a little disproportioned which means the winner gets it for free.  We have corrected that problem and these will be appearing on our virtual shelves some time soon with prices to rival… “he who cannot be named”.

The new line will be fun, innovative and while elegant, not the same ole corporate looking stuff everyone else is carrying.  PLUS… it is made right here in our Santa Fe, NM studios and not at some overseas factory in China.  So, you know the quality will be superior and… since we make everything to order you will be able to TWEAK it.

So, the item below will fit your 8.5 X 5.5, 3/4 inch disc discbound notebook.  It has 2 extra interior pockets and a pen loop.  Have fun commenting.

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

As usual, click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway BUT do not comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS THIS post.

Wondering why it has been a little quiet on this blog lately.  Well, that is because I, Artbeast, have been on a 2+ week road trip exploring the Sierras, Eastern Oregon and hanging out at the Folklife Festival in Seattle with some friends, family and then just me and Alexandra.  My camera gave up the spirit inside a volcano crater near Mono Lake so not so many pics.

I will be declaring the winner of the free giveaway tomorrow, posting a new prototype giveaway for a discbound book.  This is with the new leather and has a funky 1/4 binding on it…. two tone.  But for now, many of you have requested that we put the Medium 108 page journal on special again.  So that is what we are doing until Friday midnite it will be 15% off the base price of the book.  This is for blog readers only.  Well, you can tell your friends too

Go to the product page HERE
Enter this coupon code in the shopping cart: ARTBEASTRETURNS1

Here is a pic of it.

Finally finished putting up all the new covers for the Moleskine notebooks.  These covers are for the pocket size only at this point.  We are finishing up the templates for the large size notebooks.

All of these covers utilize the elastic band in the rear of the notebooks and come in 7 different leather colors.  Below is a pic of the 5 new designs (the traditional style has been available for a few weeks now and is not showing).  All of these have pen loops and 2 extra pockets on the left side for extra paper storage.

Go HERE to pick the one you would like to read more about.
Enter coupon code MSREPKTCVR for a 20% discount off the base price.
The discount is available thru Sunday, 17/May.

Number 9, Suzy won the free giveaway last week. It was the leather wine tasting journal.

We have not given away anything Moleskine related lately so how ’bout it.

This giveaway is for a Cover for the Large size Moleskine Notebook.  The cover has a snap closure.  It is personalized with “It’s All Good”  Click HERE to read more about the product.  Enjoy… and may the most random person win.

We will be posting all the new colored leather cover designs for the pocket size Moleskine refills shortly.  There will be a discount of 20% for all blog readers in the post.  It will be active thru Sunday.  Hope you all like the new cover designs.

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

As usual, click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway BUT do not comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS THIS post.

I just got the product pages done for the first of our new leather covers for your Moleskine Notebooks.  These are made with out new lighter weight leathers in 7 colors. This product is just the traditional cover.  We will have several others coming shortly and will discount them for a few days on their arrival.  The other cover styles are a buckle, wrap and tie, a strap with a new snap closure and a wrap with a new snap closure… and the BiPolar design.  All of these models will utilize the elastic band in the rear of the Moleskine Notebook refill.  And, for you music writers, the pocket size covers will also fit the Moleskine Music refill, which is available from us as an option on the product page.

20% discount now thru the weekend for our blog readers only.
Coupon Code: INTROMSTRADCVR
Pocket size covers, click HERE
Large size covers, click HERE

Here is a pic of the new cover with the different leather colors.

A couple days ago an order came in with the request to make the flap from the edge of the leather hide instead of it being rounded.

After laying out and holding the template to all the sides of a leather hide, well… being the perfectionists we are, it took scouting out the best spot on 3 different hides before finding the one that looked the best for this.  Below is what we came up with.
You can click HERE to see how the regular one looks.

Cost of this tweak was $10.  But after taking all that time to lay out 3 hides and find the perfect space I think we would charge $15 next time.

Number 42, Ms Ije O won the free giveaway last week. It was the paper journal from the start of Renaissance Art. Please email us with your name and address to get your free giveaway from last week

I wonder… are there any wine drinkers or wine bargain hunters or connoisseurs out there?

Friday evening I opened up a $28 bottle of wine that should have been at least $100.  Easily good enough, and IMHO, better than, the highly scored Opus.  I do not the score of this wine but I do know that I am into big fruity velvety smooth reds.  This one was truly amazing and at $28 for the bottle a deal.  What is it?  It is Estancia 2004 Meritage.  Huge black cherry taste… not the kind you have to think about either.  This is there, in your face, no doubt about it black cherries.  A liquid mouthful of the real thing.  Velvety smooth and sprinkled with many other complexities… like pepper that is not spicy but smooth.  The current vinatage is the 06.  Have not tried that one yet.  If you like big velvety smooth and complex reds… find the 04 and get some.

If you have a fav wine… no matter the cost, tell us about it cuz that is what our Free Giveaway is this week… NO… not a bottle of wine… our small Wine Tasting journal.

Go HERE to read all about it.

Here is a pic of the outside.  Good luck to all of you and… if you have a wine story or fav… let’s hear about it

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

As usual, click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway BUT do not comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS THIS post.

If you read the post below you will see that it is written for Miss Dockstader’s 7th grade poetry class to write poems on in order to win one of our journals.

That post is reserved for comments from the students of her poetry class BUT…. here is where you can comment on any of the poems you would like.  I am sure the kids would love to know that their creative works are being read.

So, let them know what you think.