A little book 2

This morning, I finished the little book I started yesterday.


i decided to stamp some leaves on the front of the pockets.


Here are the six pages stamped.


Next, I needed to put the holes in the pockets for binding.  I cut a piece of card the same length as the height of the pages

I used this cardboard jig to punch oles in each card with my japanese screw punch.


Here is the first one done


and here all of them are done.


Next, I chose some eyelets to add.  I used the black ones at bottom second to left.


here is the first one done.


And here are the front and back of the eyelets.


Next I wanted to make the tags to go in the pockets.  Above I have traced my tags onto a laminating sleeve.


Here I have placed some pressed leaves in the traced shapes.


Now, whilst my laminator is heating up and laminating the leaves, I am playing with some bits and bobs to add to the binding.  I have some leaf charms and ribbon and perle thread.


I have added the charms to the perle thread and cut them all to a size for adding to the binding.


As you can see here I have chosen to use hinged rings to bind my little book.  I chose these because I wanted the pages to turn easily.  If I had simply used the ribbon, the pages would catch and I want it to open easily.


Here are my dangly things added.


And this is what it looks like so far.


Next I cut out my laminated leaf tags


I put eyelets in the tags, added some ribbon or thread and ran a gold leaf pen around the edges.


And here is the final book, which I am quite happy with.  I hope you can see how each little transparent leaf has it's own little pocket in the book.  Oh, and I also added the gold leaf pen to the edges of the pockets.

Happy creating!

Memory book

Thursday is for Things to do.  Small projects which tend to serve as little breaks from work and keep the muse fresh.
If you know me, you know I am into just about everything. 
Toiday's project is a tiny memory book.

to begin with, here are a couple of little books I made recently.

As you can see, I do tend to use green a lot.
Both of the books are constructed using instructions from the new Cloth Paper Scissors Pages magazine.  This is so full of great stuff!  The one on the left (in the first picture, top in the second) uses a coptic binding to bind together acetate pages, into which I have placed pressed leaves.  There is an extra, white card attached with a ribbon to put under the page you are looking at since all the pages are transparent.
The other book (right in the first book and bottom in the second) is a paino hinge binding, which I find fascinating since all its needs is scissors and some bamboo skewers.  It is also flexible, because you can easily add more pages, so great for journals.
Of course, I can't show you these techniques, because they are published, but I put together a tiny memory book using acetate pages which is very cute.

I used acetate sheets which come in  A4/Letter size at office supplies.  For this book,  I cut the sheets into eight pieces, which I then folded into little leaflets.
One of the things that is neccesary in this book, is to secure the top and bottom of the leaflet so your memories don't fall out!

My first idea was to use double sided tape, but it shows a lot (top) even though it is supposed to be clear.  On the bottom, and this is what I did in my dried leaf book, I used clear tacky craft glue and pressed the pages until it was dry.  It worked quite well.
Here is what I used for this book.

Some covers cut from fabric paper and the acetate leaflets, and some ribbon for a tied binding.

First, I punched holes in the pages and the covers.

Next I used an awl to put sewing holes in the top and bottom of the leaflets.

I used some pearl cotton to sew the page edges.  In this book, I am leaving to tops open to allow addition of items as I wish.
I used pearl cotton, you can used stranded embroidery cotton, however it tends to be a bit less durable after a few pulls through paper or acetate.

Then I simply tied the book together loosely with the ribbon.

And your little book is ready to add memories or trinkets to.
As you can see, I have not finished the sewing.  This is an in front of TV job for tonight, lol.
For more ideas for dolling your book up with beads, ribbons, floss, etc, look at altered and fabric book sites and books, or just use your imagination!

today's inspiration

A couple of orchids which have just come out. I must remember next time to turn out the light in my studio.
Behind the top orchid, you can see some very old windows.  These are antique casement windows with cute little latch windows and they cover the outside wall and look out on all my special potted plants, like these orchids.

Be creatice
Vicki