About Ruth

Living in a tourist town means that the year is divided in to two seasons – “tourist season” and “the winter” – never mind that “the winter” lasts nearly nine months, from labor day to Memorial Day.

If you spend all 12 months on the Cape like I do, you get the honor of being a “year round resident”. You take the good – beautiful summers – with the bad – frosty desolate winters where everything is closed early, and darnit, that’s how you like it!

The winters are a great time for crafting though, and I spend a lot of my time binding books by hand when the days are short and selling at craft fairs during the summer time. I also teach bookbinding classes locally (sign up for my newsletter at the right over there if you’re interested in hearing about new classes!) especially during the winter months.

I create all of my work with my own hands – the book covers are hand cut, the pages hand folded and the books are sewn together with my own two hands! I enjoy breathing life into an ancient craft (going back thousands of years!) and putting my own colorful, whimsical spin on it.

In March of 2011 I started my own stationery line called Concertina Press – I design vintage style nautical invitations and stationery. Check out my Concertina Press Etsy Shop and my Concertina Press blog, too.

Want to contact me?

Ruth (at!) RuthBleakley (dot!) com