Congratulations on your wedding

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I got butterflies in my stomach and somehow it got transferred on to the card ;). I rarely put butterflies on my cards but for this one it just seems so suitable and I couldn't help but adding them along side the focal point of the card which is the heart shape paper doily that I got from WholePort. 

I've been wanting to do this type of swing card for the longest time and I'm super excited about being able to get it done in the end. It's a see-through type of swing card! hehe! Peekaboo! :D

I used the Yellow quilling paper strips from WholePort to make the quilled heart. I'm getting used to using the 5mm quilling strips....it's not that bad after all. But of course the 3mm type is my personal favourite.

Ok! Sewing on paper like this is therapy for me lately. I just love doing this technique. Not sure if I'll ever get bored doing it one day though. For now it's just bliss!! Even better when using the embroidery thread :).

I also love the lace I used to decorate on the front part of the card. I got that one from WholePort too. I'm just using up all the products I got from them. Fun playing with all the goodies. ;)

Selamat Pengantin Baru

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I was requested to make this wedding card and I couldn't be happier about it because it's a little different from what I've done before. Every time I create a new card, I try to either implement something that I've tried before and make it better or I use a new technique or material.

For this card, it's a combination of all that and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. It's been a while since I last made those quilled love birds too. Every time I make them, they'll turn out a little different because it's handmade. So it's bound to have a character of it's own. First time ever to have them on a swing card too! Weeehooo!!

This is my first time trying out one of the packs of quilling paper that I got from WholePort. It's smooth on the sides and it's a bit wide, which is about 5mm in width and the length is about 54cm. It's called the Rose Red Quilling paper.  This is my first time using a 5mm quilling paper too. Usually I just use the shredded A4 paper for my quilling projects. And the width is usually about 3.5mm.

It's the first time for me to quill using my new beads slotted quilling tool too on my new card. It may not be the best quilling tool to use since it's handmade, but it does function as a quilling tool and I was able to make those quilling decorations on the card using it. So I'm quite satisfied with it so far:).

I managed to use a few of the brass charms that I got from WholePort too. The latest one I got is that love pendant. It's really pretty....love how it looks on the card. You can check out the pendants at the links here:

1. Believe in love charm
2. Live your dream charm
3. Love pendant

I gotta say that making swing cards nowadays is a must for me. I just love them so much. I do miss making pop up cards though. It's something I seriously have to think about doing in the next few months. I do hope that I'll have time to do all that I wish and miss so dearly.

Do check out my video here.....I took a video of the card so that you can view how the card swings in motion. ;)

Plain black sketch book

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I received some gorgeous black gold pearl shell wrapping papers from WholePort some time ago and was waiting for the right project to use them until one day I got an order from a customer who wanted to order a hand-bound book with a plain black covers. 

It suddenly hit me that I had this black gold pearl shell paper in my collection and it was perfect for this project because the gold shine on the paper really suits the colour of the thread that I was going to use for the book. Yes, coincidentally my customer wanted the thread to be gold in colour.  

I simply love the paper so much....it's quite thick....looks like leather but it's not.....it's just paper....really love it!

You can check out where to buy the the black wrapping paper for the covers at the link here : Black Gold Pearl Shell wrapping paper

This book I made does not have that many pages in it.....just about 50 pages of  acid free 165gsm drawing paper that would be suitable for sketching, colouring and etc. Which is exactly what my customer wanted. She adores it and so do I ;).

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. :)

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 :).

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 ;).

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!!! ;)