Number 15, Kevin, won Giveaway #35, our Medium 108-Page Journal. Please send us your address so we may send your gift!

One of my very favorite gems of advice came from my 7th grade teacher, Mrs. Radke. She said “The dullest pencil is sharper than the sharpest memory.” Ever since, I’ve always kept 3 x 5 cards and a pen with me, just in case. With this primitive method, I’ve been able to avoid the disappointment of being unable to retrieve the exact phrasing of a pretty good idea from my memory bank (most of the time). My problem then transfers from one of recollection to one of organization and storage: where do I put all these cards?

Please welcome our new giveaway…

Our Traditional Closure 3 x 5 Binder is perfect for organizing 3 x 5 cards, recipe cards, wine logs, etc. The one we have up for grabs handcrafted from Flight Jacket (exterior) and Avocado (interior) Rustic Elegance leathers.

What kinds of notes do you you keep? Tell us in your comment for a chance to win: 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.

One forecaster called for an inch of snow…we got eight : )

LaShanda, JenMarie and Ariel be in a little later today…or maybe tomorrow…

(p.s. for those who like songs with harp, Joanna Newsom has a new album out today from Drag City Records. Catch the free stream of the entire album on NPR…good in the sun or the snow)

And one more thing…for those of you in the Tucson-area, there will be great poetry readings this Friday and Saturday at Casa Libre en la Solana. Camille Dungy will be leading a workshop there and reading with Niki Herd Saturday night. Our very own JenMarie and a slew of others will be reading Friday night.

What does a gorgeous, 100-year-old red leather bound book with ornate colored drawings have to do with Carl Jung and a Swiss bank vault? Check out this article we found in the New York Times archive for the answer: The Holy Grail of the Unconscious

Just imagine what you can do with a leather journal and some imagination…If you’ve done anything similar with your Renaissance Art leather journal, we want to see it! Send an email with an image of your pages attached. Place “Holy Grail” in the subject line.

…to email us your Horrible Love Poem* for a chance to win a His or Her Limited Edition Valentine’s Day Journal (with your poem in it, of course!)

*We want the cheesiest, stinkiest, most horrible love poem you can think to write. Send it in the body of an email with the subject line “Horrible Love Poem”

Number 42, Penny, won Giveaway #34, our Pocket Moleskine Cover with Snap Closure. Please send us your address so we may send your gift!

Facebook and Twitter are easily two of the most popular websites on the internet today. In the Renaissance Art catalogue, our Medium-108-Page Journal is easily one of our most popular items. And as Renaissance Art celebrates its Facebook and Twitter launch, we think that a Medium-108 Giveaway is in order.

While you can use this journal keep a hard copy record of your status updates and tweets, post a comment telling us what else you can record in the crowd pleaser: 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.

And remember to become our Fan on Facebook and follow our Twitter (You never know when we’ll have a spontaneous sale or Fan’s only Giveaway).

This is Artbeast, Arthur, and…. one of my great passions is Chinese Tea, specifically gung fu tea, tea served with great care.  This is not at all like the more formal and lengthy Japanese Tea Ceremony.  Gung Fu tea is informal and centering and with a group quite social.  I practice it daily.  Anyway… this being one of my passions, I am working on a new venture, finding local potters to develop with me a unique line of handcrafted teaware to bridge the Chinese and American/European tea cultures.  I am calling this new company Tea Hardware.  One of the potters I am working with is Ray Morales.  He sent me 19 sample cups the other day and I have been sitting with them, drinking tea in the dawn hours in my tea room.  I thot I would share a picture of what he sent me and see what other people’s life passions are.  This pic is taken on the table in my tea room.

So….. What are some of your great passions in life… those things you love to do by yourself or with a group? Another one of mine is playing the Shakuhachi flute… maybe a future post on that one.

Ray also has a Facebook Fan page HERE
As does Renaissance Art HERE
As does Artbeast HERE

If you haven’t heard yet, it’s February. V-Day. You either love it or hate it and whether you celebrate pro or anti-Valentine’s Day, Renaissance Art has got a gift for you (and it’s not a box o’ chocolates). We’ve got new Limited Edition 2010 His-n-Hers Valentine’s Day Journals.

Both are lined in black leather with Cranberry covering Hers and Flight Jacket covering His. A snap closure keeps all the Frankfurt Creme pages (our premium paper) safe, and a three-letter personalization comes free with the purchase of the book. Also printed within each book are four love poems. See the first of the four below:

Dream Girl

by Carl Sandburg

You will come one day in a waver of love,
Tender as dew, impetuous as rain,
The tan of the sun will be on your skin,
The purr of the breeze in your murmuring speech,
You will pose with a hill-flower grace.

You will come, with your slim, expressive arms,
A poise of the head no sculptor has caught
And nuances spoken with shoulder and neck,
Your face in a pass-and-repass of moods
As many as skies in delicate change
Of cloud and blue and flimmering sun.

Yet,
You may not come, O girl of a dream,
We may but pass as the world goes by
And take from a look of eyes into eyes,
A film of hope and a memoried day.

So, what’s in it for the Valentine’s Hater? A Horrible Love Poem Contest*.

The world is filled with love poems. We want the cheesiest, stinkiest, most horrible love poem you can think to write. Send it in the body of an email with the subject line “Horrible Love Poems” to service@renaissance-art.com by February 14. Winner will receive their choice of a His or Hers Valentine Journal with his or her poem printed on the front page.

*Yes, I know that we have not yet announced the results of the Jingle Bag Rock Contest yet (you guys sent us a ton of GOOD CDs. Needless to say, we’re still fist-fighting over the winner).

For those of you who think that Santa Fe never sees snow:

Santa Fe is actually located about 2,000 feet ABOVE Denver. And we are over 1,000 feet higher in the city than in the Pojoaque Valley where the Renaissance Art studio is. So the three artisans that live in Santa Fe proper and carpool the 25-minute commute to work together have a delay!

While we enjoy our fair share of Pandora radio here in the studio (send us an email for a link to our station!), we’re itching for some new tunes. So we thought we would call on YOU to help us out.

Send a CD with your favorite playlist saved on it (and a catchy title that hints at the contents) to our studio during the month of December. Our panel of five judges (aka, the artisans making your stuff) will listen to them all and pick our favorite mix. The winner will receive a FREE LARGE RECESSION BAG.

Seriously.

There are some rules, tips, and tricks.
Your CD must be postmarked by December 24, 2009. Please send it to:

Renaissance Art
Jingle Bag Rock Contest
16A Bouquet Lane
Santa Fe, NM 87506

And just because it is the season, every song need not remind us (and easy on the classical music, too).

Happy mixing and good luck!

Number 91, Mitchell, won Giveaway #31, our Giant Small. Please send us your address so we may send your gift!

This giveaway is for all you DIYers: a Classic Size Modular Cover. The DIY catch–we’re supplying the cover, you supply the strap. Fitting one-inch discs, this cover comes with a pen-loop and flap (for protection, place-keeping, etc.). Read more about the cover and our other Modular Systems HERE.

You know the drill: 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. Tell us your planned DIY strap material: use leather, twine, guitar strings, your imagination…

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

We are introducing our Renaissance Art Recession Refillable line with a 20% weekend discount

What Jen writes in the category description about sums it up except to say that these are less expensive than the hand stitched covers of our original refillable journal line and the larger 9X12 has 1/3 more pages.  All of the Recession Refillable Journals are less expensive than their original line counterparts.

If nothing else, the economic downturn has taught us to live by necessity instead of desire. And there are many of us that outward expression—writing, sketching, watercolors—is as necessary as breathing, eating and sleeping.

For those with which this resonates, we’ve designed a modestly-priced line from our high-caliber leather and same superlative craftsmanship in order to allow you to save without sacrificing your necessities.
Machine-sewn. Available in our rustic brown and black leathers with W&T/Flap w/ Snap/Single Strap/Double Strap (9×12, 8.5×11) closures.

Here is a picture of the different styles available.

Click HERE to see the new line.
Discount Code:  RARRINTRO10022009

The discount applies to the base price of the journal only and not the options.  The journal includes one refill with Arches Text Wove paper, a fine art, paper.

Next week we plan to introduce a new line of Refillable Journals.  Our current line is all hand-stitched around the cover, some with inside pockets, making them more expensive.  Our Recession line of things is targeted at being every bit as functional and durable but with a basic and less expensive design.  In this line we machine stitch the covers which reduces the time it takes to make them and will reduce your cost by about 1/3.

Here is our 9X12 version with a double strap closure.  Other closure options will be a traditional style, wrap and tie, a single strap and a flap with a snap closure instead of the tie.  This 9X12 size will have 128 pages vs the 96 in our current 9X12 refillable and will be about 2/3 the cost although pricing at this point is not set.  Our US size refillable journals will be compatible with most mainstream brand refills of the same size in case you would rather use their less expensive refills.

The available sizes will be 4X6, 5.5X8.5, A5, 8.5X11 and 9X12.  I have considered making an A6 and A4 size for our European customers and those who prefer the European sizes.

Let us know what you think.  If you are planning on getting one, watch for the intro discount we have on most of our new products.  They are typically introduced on a Thursday or Friday with a 20% discount available thru the weekend.

Everyone seems to really like our new 3X5 card binders so… we are going to offer them on Special thru this weekend.  We will probably not be doing this again so get them at 20% off while you can.

Go HERE to see them all.
Coupon code: NP3X5BINDER