( CNN ) -- On paper , Katie Pietrak was a success story throughout her 20s . She had her own home , a new car , a large , beloved collection of vinyl records and a six-figure salary from her job in the pharmaceutical industry . But she did n't love what she was doing . `` I bought my first house when I was 21 but I was n't happy . I kind of knew that all along but I did it because of financial stability , '' Pietrak said . `` I was afraid to think outside of the box because of money . '' It took losing her job in 2010 for her to change her tune and launch a business doing something she enjoyed . Since 2011 , Pietrak has been combining her enthusiasm for vintage records and bookbinding through her small business , Vintage Vinyl Journals . She finds old records , repurposes them into book covers and makes them into journals for music lovers . `` Everyone knows I was always making trinkets , '' Pietrak says . `` It was n't too hard of a transition for me since I had both the craft and business side . '' To make it happen , she had to leave corporate America behind and downsize from her three-bedroom home to a one-bedroom apartment . Now , she lives in a barn on her parents ' property in a small town in Pennsylvania , dividing her time between raising an infant and building a business . It 's worth the sacrifice to have control over her work and her life , said Pietrak , 34 . Besides , now she has an entire studio where she gives old records a second life . `` I 'm such a different person now , '' she said . Pietrak always has been interested in vintage items and antiques . As a teen , when her friends were buying CDs and cassettes , she was sifting through boxes of 15-cent records at yard sales and flea markets . When she left her parents ' home , she took her large collection with her . She pursued a bachelor 's degree from La Salle University in Philadelphia and later earned her MBA from St. Joseph 's University in Philadelphia . She continued to collect vinyl as her career took off . When the records became too scratched for listening , she did n't want to get rid of them , but how could she use them ? While she was looking for a journal to jot down ideas , `` something clicked '' and she was inspired to find a way to incorporate her languishing records into a notebook . `` I got in my car , drove to Barnes and Noble and sat in the aisle reading almost everything I found about bookbinding , '' she said . She began crafting journals for friends and family and giving them as gifts to loved ones . After Pietrak was laid off , she decided to turn her journal-making hobby into a career . To fund start-up costs , she did temporary contract work and drew from her savings so she could eventually devote all her efforts to Vintage Vinyl Journals . She crops the album covers herself and contracts out the laser-cutting of the vinyl . She sews the journal pages together and attaches them to the cover using an acid-free adhesive . The average price of one of Pietrak 's journals is $ 35 , depending on the price of the vinyl . Custom designs requiring records that are hard to obtain cost a bit more . She used to think of them as simply journals , but over time she 's seen people use them for a variety of purposes . `` People use them for wedding guest sign-in books , scrapbooks , drawing , books to store concert ticket stubs and photos -- stuff I never thought of , '' Pietrak says . After being in business for six months , she realized she would have to scale back living expenses to get the business off the ground . She and her boyfriend ( now her husband ) moved into an apartment and she sold many of her belongings . After two years in the apartment , they moved into her parents ' barn to accommodate their growing family . Her life is much simpler now than when she was a `` corporate , hungry , heel-wearing person , '' she said . She can work and focus on her daughter while tending to new passions , like gardening and beekeeping . Running her business is a full-time job , even if it does n't provide enough income to support her family ; her husband has an outside job . There have been the typical ups and downs of being a small-business owner and entrepreneur , especially in learning how to market her products , she said . But `` not a day goes by '' when she regrets her decision . Her vinyl journals are sold in stores across the United States and Canada . She used to attend craft shows to sell her product and find retailers , but as sales have grown through her website , she has been able to travel less . Her success has led her to pursue new business ventures , too , including an apparel line , Lucky Penny , named for her daughter , that will launch next month . Her dream now is to see her product on the shelves of larger retailers , like Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie . `` Either way , '' she says , `` it 's exciting finally having my own business . ''
Through Vintage Vinyl Journals , Katie Pietrak transforms old records into notebooks . She uses vintage vinyl to create a journal that is both personal and historical at the same time. To get business off the ground , she moved to scale back on living expenses .