Heartfelt Projects is a collection of handmade goods, inspired by beloved classic pieces of the past. Heartfelt seeks to inspire the creative-minded with familiar objects, and is designed to feel like your other half. Made whole-heartedly and humbly by hand.
What started as a Saturday afternoon craft run with 2 long-time college besties, Abby and Holland, quickly turned into much more than that. Inspired by the beautiful leather-bound journals from Paris, we decided to try our hand at it. After finishing our first few journals, we decided to sell the rest to friends and family in a small market hosted in Abby’s backyard. We quickly realized that creating something so unique and meaningful was a dream we didn’t know we needed. We fell in love with every step of the process of making a custom journal, and seeing all the ways that the journals are used brings us so much joy. As avid journalers and newbie junk-journalers ourselves, we are constantly inspired by the creativity and beauty that we see our Heartfelt community share with us. We see church notes, book reviews, photo booth strips, and special days remembered with a journal entry. We are so grateful to share this love for the handmade and time-taking process of journaling with you.
Holland is a lover of the craft - handmade jewelry, sourdough, ceramics, junk journaling, the list goes on. A full time marketing manager, and most would call her a total girlboss. Holland has an eye for design and has had a vision for Heartfelt from the start.
Abby loves to learn new things and is a bit hobby-obsessed. Find her playing chess, crocheting, sewing, painting … and recently learning how to play piano. With a full time job as a nurse, hobbies are the perfect remedy for an overactive mind. Heartfelt has become a source of inspiration and a creative outlet that uses her love for handmade, time-taking processes that force one to slow down and be still. And getting to work on something so special with a best friend, what a dream!
FAQs
Journal Care 101
Full hide cow leather is one of the most beautifully durable materials out there - it is designed to be loved, used, and forms uniquely to you over time. That being said, it may stain and scratch over time with daily use. While we love the beautiful patina that comes with daily use, here are some tips to keep your journal looking new:
Leather Sourcing
We primarily source our leather from a local distributer in Santa Ana, California. As a company that values tangible quality and handmade work, we put this into practice by sourcing high quality and ethically produced leather from a family-owned farm and tannery in Turkey.
Leather Processing
Over the course of growing Heartfelt Projects, we’ve had some fun experimenting with different forms of leather when creating our journals. We can confidently say that veg-tanned leather is now a favorite of ours. Vegetable tanning is a natural method used to process the leather with organic tannins from tree bark, leaves, and fruit. This process can take weeks to months to complete, but it is known to be an ideal form of leather processing because of the richness and durability that the veg-tan produces.
Sometimes, a chrome-tan leather catches our eye as well. Chrome tan leather can produce a variety of colors, and it’s actually the most common form of leather processing. Chrome tan leather is a process that uses chromium salts to process the leather in a reduced period of time.
upcoming events
Our next journal drop is June 1st at 7pm PST ✨ Up for grabs: our beloved butter yellow journals, prestyled with a ceramic charm + paracord.
Next market at our local music festival Songs in the Canyon in Costa Mesa, CA on June 14th from 1–7pm — come find us under the trees! We're bringing custom leather journals + accessories!
