Handmade Notebooks - Christmas Gifts

I have been making notebooks with my designs on to give as Christmas presents this year. I only planned to make a few but then I got a really positive response from people who I had shown them to so I continued to make more. 

The first books I made were a set of three, I had made the plain notebooks and then just started to doodle on them. This set was themed around feathers. The exercise was quite mindless and I did it to relax but I thought the outcome was quite neat and I felt that I would be happy to buy them or receive them as a gift so other people might do as well. Since making this set, I have moved away from drawing directly onto the cover and I am not digitally printing onto the covers to make multiples. 

I have been using some thick handmade paper that I was given ages ago as my covers which I am printing onto with my home printer. Because of the size of the sheets of paper, I am restricted to only producing little notebooks. I like them and they are perfect as a little gift but I think once I run out of this paper I will buy some larger sheets and make some books in more formal sizes like A6 or A5. 

The designs I have produced or selected from old work have been based on what my individual family members and friends would like. Thats why it might seem like the designs don't really connect. 

• Original hand drawn feather designs - set of three. 
• Beach hut and seaside pattern - set of two. 
• Pug drawing - individual. 
• Ram skulls - set of three. 

I have been using a range of coloured threads to bind my books with the saddle stitching technique. I have been tying the books together with plain string, even if there is just one on its own I will tie it with string to keep it flat and make it look presentable when it is opened. On the back I have the words ' Handmade by Naomi Smith' and I chose only to include these words because I am giving them to people who already know me. 

My intentions with this are to make more and potentially set up an Etsy shop to start selling them. For this I would need to change what I have on the back of the book and include some sort of contact detail, maybe my Instagram name, email address or link to Etsy shop, just so there is a clear point of contact. I enjoy making these books and find the process of making them relaxing and satisfying. It would be really handy to make a bit of money through this as well. I would need to look into pricing, I don't want to rip people off but I feel like so far when I have sold things I have often undercharged which is not how I want my work to be sold.