Checkered books for good friends

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I love this checkered pattern paper.....seriously I really do. The minute I saw it at the bookstore I knew I had to buy it and use it as a cover for my hand-bound books for men. I think the special thing about it is the silver dots along the lines....how it shines when it hits the light...so fancy :)

Both the books at the top of the post were made for 2 guys who are good friends of my sister. One I've never met but been hearing a lot from her for quite some time now.....the other one is a good of mine too whom I've known since way back in the 90s and is also my neighbour :).

To be honest I was in a little hurry to get the books done at the time coz I was so busy with other orders and living my life hehehhee....so much so that I didn't have much time to think about how to decorate it. The pattern paper itself already looks good to me because of the design.....I just didn't know how else to make it look nice! LOL! So to personalise it a bit, I decided to use the same method I used on my earlier hand-bound book design which was decorating it with the wooden ring I got from Wholeport and put their names inside it. For one of them I used a short form of his name and the other one, just his initials because he didn't have a short form for his name....hehe....I've always called him by his first name...so, having his initials there was the best thing I could think of at the time.

At first I wondered if I  should make single colour pages or multicoloured ones. It seems like doing single coloured ones would be too plain so I opted to make them a little fancy by choosing a few coloured papers that would match the cover of the book. And I really like the outcome of it. :) I'm glad that both of them liked the books that I made for them too. Alhamdulillah. :)

Weaved heart card for swap

I'm thrilled about this card that I made after I came back from my holidays. The card was meant for a fellow crafter, Hambali Arifin, who swapped his card with me during the craft gathering that I attended in KL last February.

Actually I was out of ideas....was not in the mood and didn't feel too well to do anything much. But I had to do it quickly because I have so many other pending orders to settle and I couldn't waste time being such a baby....sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

I bought quite a lot of craft products when I was at Scrap-n-Crop (the location of the craft gathering), and I took the opportunity to try some of them out for this card design. I used some new distress inks that I bought.....a new die-cut leaves pattern....and also tried a new technique which I've been wanting to try for quite some time now which is mix media. But what I tried for this card is quite amateurish because it was my first time and I was a little afraid....but I did it anyways....just a simple one....if you can spot it, it is the brown polka dots in the background. I used molding paste and a polka dot stencil to create the effect....and then just blend it with Vintage Photo distress ink. I really like the effect :).

I also tried something new for myself which is making the weaved heart....it is actually a great way to recycle pattern papers. Since this swap theme was all about using scraps, so I took some scrap pattern paper that has double pattern on each side...and the colours were really matching so it was suitable to weaved them together. I had fun with it. Lots of new ideas came to mind when I made it. Which I will use for future projects ;).

I really had fun making it and would probably make more ready made ones for sale but with different colour combinations and captions ;).

Hand-bound book for swap

Here's a close up detail of the hand-bound book I made for the craft gathering swap I attended in February. It's a small book....A6 in size and I did a French stitch binding for it. My favourite type of binding method at the moment ;).

I didn't have enough time to decorate much for the cover. So I just used a simple way of embellishing it which was to use a pattern paper that has a crowded design and glued a piece of ribbon,  a piece of die-cut scallop felt and some embellishments that I got from Wholeport.

You can get the embellishments from Wholeport at the weblinks below:

1. Flower resin

http://www.wholeport.com/item/3zt_25mm-cake-flower-resin-beads-cabochons-5pcs.html

2. Decorative Wooden Ring

http://www.wholeport.com/item/cjl_5pcs-60mm-decorative-pattern-hollow-out-wooden-ring.html

I love making small notebooks like this. It's so cute and I love making them as gifts or for swaps. Because the receiver can use it instead of just admiring it. It's functional so to speak :).

Craft gathering at Scrap-N-Crop!

Gosh! A lot has happened since the last time I blogged here. February is coming to an end and I just had to blog about something for this month and what better story to tell than blogging about the craft gathering I attended last Saturday. It was held at a craft store called Scrap-n-Crop at Bandar Sg. Long, Kajang on the 22nd of February. We were there from 11.00AM till about 5.00PM. 6 hours of non stop awesomeness!!

I was such in a hurry to go, so excited....so much so that I forgot to bring my camera to the gathering! I left it at my hotel room.....luckily there were others who brought theirs and the photos above were taken by my fellow crafters, Hambali and also Hazira. Thank you to both of you for letting me use the photos for this post.

It was really memorable. It was a blast! I haven't had so much fun like that in a long time. I'm so happy that my friend Sazalina, invited me to join in the fun. I wasn't too sure if I could attend it in the beginning since I have problems traveling at the moment....especially if it's long distance. Getting something to eat is always an issue plus my feet is killing me....but I really was strict in taking care of my health before the trip so I was good to go!

I did prepared something to swap with another fellow crafter. Each one of us were asked to prepare one and I made an A6 size handbound book with French stitch binding. It looks like the photo below. The book went to Dayang Marina. I met her for the first time on that day. I hope she will take good care of my book hehehehe! ;) I met many new crafters that day. Really lovely!

In return I got a swap from Asma' Ahmad Bahari....who is one of my favourite Malaysian crafter....she made a Daisy stitch hand-bound book. It's so cute....and the best part is that she made it on the gathering day itself and I had the chance to look at how it was done. Below is the book she made.

Oh! By the way....I also got the chance to learn how to do the Daisy stitch hand-bound book from Asma'.....I thought it was going to be difficult to do but I was so happy that it wasn't as tough as I thought it would be. I didn't get to decorate it much....made a very simple one! Below is the book I made during the gathering....in fact it was the only thing I did...LOL!!! Because I spend a lot of my time teaching other crafters how to make the French stitch hand-bound book. It was a lot of fun! Although I got so nervous at one point, my hands were shaking. We had a good laugh about that. Perhaps it was also because I was hungry. Hahahaha!

I also had the chance to shop at the craft store after the gathering was over. The place is like heaven....I think I can spend hours there and not get bored at all. Seriously! There's still a lot of things there I didn't get the chance to explore. I hope to get to join more craft gatherings in future. It's so much fun to learn new things from other fellow crafters. ;)

Making books books and more books

This is what I've been up to for the past few weeks....aside from preparing stocks for my quilling supplies. It's quite evident that I'm really hooked on book binding. It has completely taken over the card making activities! Yikes!!!

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I think this multicoloured paper notebook is my favourite so far coz it's so colourful! So bright and cheerful to look at too. It would be nice to make the pages colourful by choosing the colours that would match the same colours available on the book cover.

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All the books above are A5 sized books and have 200 pages each. I used 80gsm paper as they are easy to work with and suitable to use for making notebooks. I used to have problems in choosing the right type of thread for sewing the books but now I don't have that issue anymore. I love the threads I'm using now and it's very smooth and does not get entangled as much as the other types I've used before.

I also started collecting a lot of wrapping paper for the book covers. It can get a little carried away coz there's just so many nice ones to choose from. ;)

I've managed to sell some of the books and given away some as gifts too. It's been a real joy to do it. I've even tried to make smaller hand-bound books that are A6 size and that's really fun too. It's takes less time to get done and is super cute to see and hold. Will blog about that soon. ;)

My first Kettle Stitch hand-bound book!

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This is my first creation for this year....and I'm super excited about it firstly because this is my first order of hand-bound book and it's from a customer all the way from USA ;). Secondly it's because it's my first try at Kettle Stitch binding. I didn't know how to do it at first so I experimented and to my surprise it worked! I couldn't find a tutorial online for this, so I just observed a lot of photos of Kettle stitch hand-bound books by other book binders via online and tried to figure out how the bow pattern or some call it the butterfly pattern is formed.

Perhaps if there are book binders out there who are experts on this Kettle Stitch binding can correct me if they see there's something wrong with the way I bind the book. But so far, I don't have problems with the book at all....it seems to be able to open up pretty well and are bound together nicely too. However I do appreciate constructive comments and criticism as I'm still a beginner in book binding :).

At first my customer ordered this -> Japanese hand-bound book from me but I had to make a decision to change the method of binding the book because of the type of paper used for making the book is a bit too thick for Japanese binding. She wanted a book for sketching and drawing so I used an acid free paper that is pretty heavy, about 165gsm for the pages. There's only 50 ++ pages for this book. Another reason why I changed the binding method is because the Kettle Stitch binding is perfect for people who want to use the book for sketching and drawing....coz the book can be opened flat like the photo you see above unlike the Japanese binding which is a bit difficult to do so especially if the paper is a heavy one or thick.

I made it very simple for her since that is the way she likes it especially since the pattern paper itself is already very pretty. It's the same Japanese pattern paper that I got from WholePort. I love it a lot too. :). The bookmark for the book is crocheted and beaded to suit the book. I also love the string or thread used for sewing/binding the book with. It's so easy to use and love the shiny effect of the material.

I am pretty happy with this new love....book binding I mean hehehehe....although I'm still learning, I do appreciate the support I'm getting from my customers, readers and followers. You guys are the best! I get motivated to try something new not only because I believe I can....but also because you believe in me too! And for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart ;).

Winners of November and December 2013 Blog Giveaway

2013 was a good year indeed! So many many good memories of crafting and creating here at my humble abode. I'm hoping to create many more good memories for the new year. Been very busy with orders starting from 1st of January till now. It's like a roller-coaster ride than never ends. I almost forgot about the last blog giveaway I did last year. So without further delay, I'll announce who are the winners who will be receiving each a Japanese hand-bound book.

I am pleased to announce that Safiya and Mastura Aziz are the lucky winners of the November and December 2013 blog giveaway!!!! One winner from Dubai and one from Malaysia. Congratulations to both of you! I do hope both of you can contact me soon with your full mailing details so that I can post the books to you this month.

This year, my blog giveaways won't be done on monthly basis anymore. I plan to do it a little differently this time around. I plan to give more but will be holding it lesser than usual. So that I have more time to do other activities. I also hope that the gifts will be better and more fabulous as well hehehe! ;)

Thank you again everyone for making 2013 a great year for me and let's make more wonderful memories for 2014! Have a great year everyone! 

 

My first French Stitch hand-bound book

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As you can see, I'm a little....just a little addicted to making hand-bound books lately ehehehehe :D. This time around I tried making the French Stitch hand-bound book. It may look a little complicated to make....but in reality, it's actually a lot easier than the Coptic Stitch! Seriously! And the best part of it all, I didn't even need to use a wax thread for it. The thread just slide easily in and out the signatures. Yay!

In the beginning I did have some problem doing the French Stitch because I couldn't find a tutorial on it on Youtube. The stitch is similar like a Long Stitch except that the difference is I only had to hook each thread from each signature together so that it looks like it's connected from the first signature to the last one. Very complicated to explain it here. I just did it based on observation from photos I found in Google Images and tried it out. I tried doing it 3 times and the third time's the charm! ;)

This book is actually made for my Mom....she requested me to make one for her friend's birthday. I didn't want to do the Japanese Stitch or the Coptic Stitch, since I preferred to use the French Stitch now. And that's how it came about. 

As usual, I tried to use whatever materials I had in my studio to create this hand-bound book. Since I'm still a beginner, I rather not spend too much buying new materials, instead I just improvised and make the best of it. Luckily for me, I have some stock from WholePort that are suitable for making hand-bound books. For example, the thread for sewing the signatures, the pattern paper for the book cover and the lace for embellishing the cover.

I used smaller sized ribbons since I didn't have larger ones that would match the cover of the book or the thread. It was kinda tricky to do it like this but I liked the challenge....it's nice to experiment once in a while with whatever I can find in my studio. I love the red thread that I used for sewing the signatures. I got this one from WholePort too......you can get it at the link HERE.

I gotta say I love this lace! I don't have a lot of it since I only got just a little sample of it from WholePort. I would have to get more of it in future. I love it coz I can add 1/8 inch ribbon to it. You can get it too at the link HERE.

It's been a while since I last made these paper roses. It was fun to do them again for this little project! ;). I think this is the 3rd time I'm using this pink polka dot pattern paper. It's simple and sweet. You can get it at the link HERE.  

I can't wait to make more hand-bound books using the French Stitch binding technique. Because with this technique, I can get a book that can open up just like the Coptic Stitch hand-bound book and yet so much easier to sew. Plus it doesn't involve any punching of holes either on the cover of the book! Ain't it great!?? It is to me!!! hahah! :D

My first Coptic Stitch hand-bound book!

I'm super excited today because I finally get to blog about my experience in making another type of hand-bound book. The technique used for making this hand-bound book is called the Coptic Stitch book binding technique. I was very skeptical about making it at first because it looks so difficult to do and requires some special thread for sewing the papers together. I didn't have any at first.

Luckily for me, I found out that WholePort has some really nice threads in their collection and I immediately requested for some from them for me to use in making my Coptic Stitch hand-bound books. Below are some of the threads I received from them and one of it I used for sewing this hand-bound book. It's not a wax thread but it's quite strong enough for sewing small hand-bound books. I waxed it with some candle to make sure that the thread won't get entangled when sewing. You get the same thread at the link here: Brown yarn.

I also used some of the brass charms that I received from WholePort to decorate the cover of the hand-bound book. I love them so much!!! They are so pretty!!! You can check out the brass charms products at the links below:

1. live your dream brass charms
2.  never never give up brass charms
3. believe in love brass charms

I only used wrapping paper from WholePort for the base of the cover. It's really nice, an old newspaper type of wrapping paper. You can check it at the link here: Old newspaper wrapper.

The wooden ring that I used to put my name on it is really something! I was wondering how to use it and suddenly thought of that idea. I love the wooden alphabets too! I wish I have more of that. You can check it out at the link here: Wooden ring and Wooden alphabets.

If you ask me, I would have to say that I prefer this type of book compared to the Japanese hand-bound book because, it is easy to open and use this book because when opened, it opens up completely like the photo I showed above. So it's very suitable for those who loves to sketch or even for writing. Plus another good thing about it is that I can add a lot of pages in the book and it won't be a problem to open it up at all. That's the beauty about the Coptic Stitch book binding technique. :)

Hope to make more of this in future!!! ;)