Trying to make more time for the crafty things in life, I am a touch, ah, obsessed with making books at the moment. Still struggling to find a balance, to be able to accomodate all of the things I love, to have a little bit of it all in most days, and make sure that absolutely no-one or nothing ends the day feeling unloved. Hmmm, that's a tough one, but not impossible I have to believe ; )

I guess that can explain why the blog sits silently so often, and why I am only just posting this book which was made, probably about a month ago now. As much as I love to be creative sometimes it all just has to be put on hold. Sometimes family and friends just need a little bit of extra attention, a little bit of extra time. To make it all work. To make sure everyone is ok. There are so many pieces to the puzzle (our lives), I really don't know how some of you do it........ those who blog regularly, beautifully, and keep your whole life running, just so. I'm a little intrigued.......how DO you do it?

Anyway, on with the post : )

I made this journally scrapbook with a little boy in mind......a potential treasure chest in the shape of a book.

I sewed pockets from cardstock and paper, added a bit of tape here and there. I can't believe I don't have a picture of the tags I put in that pocket, really??! Perhaps I can add a picture later if anyone is interested, it's not really mind-blowingly exciting I guess ; )

Simple shipping tags, covered with book pages, some decorated with old stamps, or other paper things. You know.......paper things.

A pocket made with a piece of map (foreign, didn't pay much attention to where the map is from, let me know if you know where it is)

The map pocket holds a mini World map.

Here, a mini book within the book, decorated with tape and more stamps. I bought a couple of little ziplock bags full of stamps at an op shop once.........brilliant purchase at 20 cents a bag! Next time I add a little mini book like this, I would do that hole with an eyelet, I think.

I filled yet more pockets with little envelopes I had made from saved book pages. Perfect for holding little notes written for friends, or perhaps a leaf, a feather found on a backyard adventure.

I included, in this pocket, some larger envelopes. I really am happy with the way this book turned out and I'm working on some more. I do plan to get some stock in my Etsy shop one of these days.

Just want to give a little share on this, although I shouldn't because it's just a practice book and I have a lot to learn here. I wanted to have a go at  a little journal with an exposed spine, pages held together with a simple running stitch. I really enjoyed doing this, loved the process, loved the end result.

I didn't put a whole lot of effort into choosing the absolute-just-right cover pages, spine ribbons or anything else because the purpose of this exercise was really just to have a go at it. It's filled with a mix of hodge-podged together paper scraps and this 'n' that.

Could there be a more perfect hobby for a paper/book/upcycling/diy obsessed person than bookbinding?

Book Binding

I have long been fascinated by the art of book binding, and while this is primitive (very, very primitive) it is my first attempt at handbinding. As in the signatures (pages) are hand sewn to the cover. This was an experiment so it's small and not at all heavy duty. I just wanted to get a bit of a feel for the process.

It's also bound with dental floss, and not waxed binding thread as, like I said, it was an experiment, I didn't want to be spending any money on this one.

While it's primitive by necessity, it's also primitive by design. A project to just let go of perfectionist habits.

The trim I used to hold it closed is elasticised. It's been sitting in my stash for years. Finally a use for it!!

I have written in this since I took the pictures, this was made for Ruby, it's her "Dad" book. My husband works away from home and is gone for nine days at a time. Up until recently it's just been what we've always done, we're used to it.

He came home. He went back to work. The kids didn't know any different.

As they're getting older, it's getting harder for them when he goes off to work again. Ruby, especially, gets very upset the day he leaves. So I made this little book for her. It's small enough that she can stick it in her bag and take it to school with her each day.

I've put in plenty of Dad pictures, and made little spaces where she can write or doodle and the Mister himself can write in there too. (don't ask me why I put the lipsticked Mama above in the 'Dad' book, I've only just noticed it myself and I have no idea why)

It's rough, but I like it.

Most definitely makes me want to make more.

You can see in the picture above the space between the two seperated signatures. I could have had them closer together. It will be a real trial and error process to learn more.

I enjoyed this project more than anything I've done for a while. I love paper, and I love tape!

Normally if I were sewing on to a page I would cover up the 'back' side, probably with another piece of decorative paper. In this one though I left some of those spots uncovered (picture above) to be used as little journaling spots. Although if I stare at that picture for long enough the 'unfinished side' part of it will freak me out and I'll probably have nightmares about it tonight.

Just making this scruffy little book..............I learnt stuff. I looked at You Tube videos of people binding (binding beautifully) and I've learnt the names and uses of tools (none of which I had or used, primitive remember) which I knew nothing of before.

I'm keen for more.

Posting to the blog live from my rather old and weary, almost forgotten laptop. Make that very sadly posting to you from this faithful old thing. Faithful because somehow, after you wind her over and crank her up she's still got a bit of go in her. Unlike my usual computer which I haven't seen for weeks, since she suffered a massive hard drive failure :(

Aside from losing all that was not backed up (which I'm glossing over, yes, because I've spent enough days crying over it, lots gone, I'm moving on), I'm without Photoshop, more importantly I'm without the ACR(Adobe Camera Raw) component of CS5. Boo hoo. So, for now, my real camera is having a rest, and my apologies in the pictures in the post make your eyes bleed. Truly, I am sorry. But this show is going on, any which way it can at the moment.

I have a sweet, sweet treat to share with you, it's not healthy but it tastes good :) Of course, as always, it's simple, simple, simple. You really only need four things. Marshmallows. Custard. Ice block thingys (mine are ancient and from Tupperware). You need a freezer.

 I put two marshmallows in to each one. Each marshmallow is cut in half, so that's four pieces per ice block. I just cut them in half with my kitchen scissors. I drop the first one directly in to the mould and then stick the others (that's the beauty of it all once they're cut, their stickiness is exposed) to the 'walls' of the mould.

 All you've got to do then is pour in that yummy custard. I do it in two stages. First I put in probably three quarters of what I'm going to use before tapping out the airbubbles. You want to get that custard in to all the nooks and crannys or your kids are going to give you the evil eye when they get the iceblock with 'holes' in it. Trust me. After I've done that and saved myself from the nasty wrath of my children I top them up with a little more custard.

 Don't go filling them to the absolute brim though or it's going to get messy when you put the lids on. Pop them in the freezer overnight and enjoy!

 Of course, if putting sugar into your kids is a huge no-no, then you cannot beat frozen grapes. We have gone through massive amounts of these this summer. If you haven't tried it before then get out there and put some grapes in your freezer. They'll be ready tomorrow.

 I mentioned knitting in my last post (as in, I just said the word) and you may be surprised to learn that I'm sticking with it still. I am still trying. I've started and quickly discarded quite a few projects. Turns out I have a really short attention span. Who knew? Anyway I decided to give cabling a go when I saw a cute pattern for some wrist warmers and you could have knocked me down with a feather when it turned out to be much easier than I was expecting (usually with knitting it turns out to be much harder than I anticipate). I didn't have an actual cabling needle but very conveniently I sat on one of my double pointed needles and broke it in half and that seems to be doing the job of hanging on to my cabling stitches pretty well for me at the moment.

 I'll try and keep you up to date on how that project pans out.
Last night I was up late putting together one of my, ah, I'm-not-sure-what-to-call-them books? When I first started making them I called them journals as I filled them only with blank pages. Then when I made a couple, filled with bits and pieces to amuse my kids I called them 'Holiday Books'. Because they were made for the school holidays. Just in case that wasn't obvious. Sometimes I called them their 'Adventure Books'. It was all good when it was just between us. Now I'm selling a few to other people. What am I going to call them?

 I could call them the 'Mess Making Books' I suppose. Because I really do make quite a mess when I'm constructing them.

 But it is fun, if a bit fiddly (and imcredibly frustrating if I make a mistake in the process).

 I love picking out papers, envelopes and other bits, bobs and surprises to fill them with.

Speaking of books, I have started reading this 'Milly-Molly-Mandy' book to the kids. Up until now I have only ever read the books with plenty of pictures, most definitely a picture on every page. This book has each page full of text with just a handfull of pictures scattered through it. I wasn't sure if they would be interested but they are, and we're reading one chapter a night. I don't want to get too exited because we've only been going for five nights BUT there is a little part of me that is really hoping we can move on from this to Pippi LongStocking and Anne of Green Gables.