My first French Stitch hand-bound book

HBB007

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!!! ;)

Elephant and Horse theme birthday card

HB116

I've said it before.....I'm not good at making cards for men. But I wanted to challenge myself when asked for the second time around from my customer to make a birthday card for her hubby that has an elephant and a horse in it. 

The elephant represents my customer and the horse represents her hubby. I was given full freedom to design the card. The time given to complete it was more than enough..... in fact, she gave me ample time to think it over and get it done. I took such a long long time to do it because the idea did not appear when it should have....if you know what I mean! hehe! 

At last I finally got it done. A lot of technique came to mind when thinking of how to do the animals.....but in the end I decided to go with felt as it is easy to draw on and form the shape of the animals.

I loved using distress ink to enhance the look of the card. It makes such a huge difference if the distress ink is used compared to when it's not. It's something that I can seem to let go of when making cards nowadays. I also fancy the designer papers that I chose for this card. I'll bet my friend Sandi Staley would recognize the papers since she was the one who gave them to me to play with! ehehe!

All in all I'm glad that my customer is so very patient with me.....I wish I am much more creative in thinking of new ideas for custom orders in future so that my customers wouldn't have to wait such a long time for me to get a card done. I'm so relieved that she loved the card so much. That really made my day! ;)

A gift for an old friend

HBB003

My Mom requested me to make a special birthday card for her friend who will be celebrating her birthday today. But I decided not to make her a card, I made her a Japanese hand-bound book instead! hehe! Since I'm really into it right now, so I thought it would be nice to make one for her since I know how much she appreciates craft work so much.

I used another one of the Japanese pattern paper that I got from Wholeport.  I love the colours and the design of the paper a lot. I didn't want to keep the cover empty, so I decorated it with a simple quilling flower design on it with a die-cut pattern design on the background. I like the colour of the flower because it's a combination of two different colours, which is red and maroon.

I used to love making beaded bookmarks a lot.....I got so many beads in my collection, so I'm glad I can use them when making this hand-bound book. It's nice to get to do it again even though it's just a simple one for this book compared to the more complicated ones I've done before.

I'm so glad my my Mom's friend loves the book so much. She already has plans on what to use it for. And I'm so happy to know that it's for something good. Alhamdulillah. I managed to make one more person very happy today. ;)

Gifts for winners of year end blog giveaway

HBB004

HBB005

I've been wanting to make these hand-bound books for the giveaway for the longest time and today I managed to do just that! Yes! I made very simple Japanese hand-bound books since I didn't really have the time to make them (but I still wanted to make them hehehe), so in the end this is what I came up with. It's one of those times when I want to give something but timing was a problem. 

I used Japanese pattern paper that I got from Wholeport. They are so nice....I just love the motifs and the gold lines on it. It makes the books look so fancy even without a lot of decorations on them. Another purpose of keeping them blank is so that the receiver can decorate the book any way they like! ;)

I love using beads and sequins as decorations on the cards. It just makes them look fancier. I have a lot of them at home coz I used to love using them to decorate my beaded bookmarks. This would be my 2nd and 3rd time making the books using 1/8 inch ribbons. They are great!! :) I hope the winners will be very happy with their gifts ;).

November & December 2013 Blog Giveaway

It's blog giveaway time again! It's a little special this time because I am combining both the month of November and December in one giveaway. I didn't have the time to do November's giveaway early this month due to my work load that is way up to my neck till now hehehe....so I decided to just combine the two months together and still have 2 winners after the giveaway is over.

Yes......two winners will be chosen during the first week of January 2014. I guess this will be my last year holding giveaways back to back. For next year, I'll only do giveaways whenever I have the time to spare. Next year is going to be a very very busy year for me. So I'll have to manage my time better so that I can have more time for myself to relax a bit. As of now....I barely have the time to rest.

As you can see at the photo above, for the end of the year giveaway, I'll be giving away two Japanese hand-bound books that I made recently. It's a very simple design, no heavy decorations....just keeping it simple and nice. Focusing more on the decoration at the sides of the book and also on the pattern paper itself that has Japanese motifs.

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is follow the following rules below:
1. Everyone is eligible to enter. I accept local and international entries.
2. You have to promote this giveaway at your site, either at your blog or at your Facebook profile. Please make sure that you copy and paste the giveaway link at your site.
3. Copy the link of where you promoted the giveaway and paste it at Mr Linky below. Do write your real name there too.
4. Please click "LIKE" at my Facebook page link HERE and Follow my blog here too.

Alright! That's all that you have to do to enter my humble giveaway. The giveaway starts today and ends at 12.00 AM on 1st of January 2014.

BLOG GIVEAWAY CLOSED.

 

Small photo frame on hand-bound book

HBB002

A sweet little girl named Jaja got very good results for her UPSR recently, yes you've guessed it, she got 5As... and she's the one who is getting this Japanese hand-bound book from me. I didn't know what to give her as a gift and suddenly I thought of making this book for her. I'm sure she has never seen a hand-bound book before. I hope she will like my surprise gift! hehe!

I made it so fast since I didn't have a lot of time to spend on the book....so it's not as neat as I wanted it to be. I also added too many paper for the book and it looks so thick. On the bright side, there's plenty of paper for her to write on! hehe! I love the idea of mixing different colour paper in one book but for this one I only used soft pink and white to suit the wrapping paper that I used for the cover.

I gotta admit, I just love sewing the book with the ribbons and decorating it with those white pearls. It's so much fun.....but decorating it more on such a small space is kinda difficult......I had a hard time figuring out what to put on the book....until I came up with the idea of putting a photo frame on it. She can put a photo of herself there. I'm sure she would love that.

I have hand-book fever now....made two of them yesterday in a rush....and quickly had to continue with my other work at hand. Making books can only be a part time thingy for now....hopefully I can make more in future if I can find the time to do so.......will blog about the other hand-bound books I made soon. One of them will be given as a gift in my next blog giveaway ;).

Purple and black combination

HB115

When it comes to designing a card for a guy, I would be soooooo worried that I won't be able to design something that a guy would like. Because most of my designs are so girlish...so I just might somehow make it look girlish in the end but I think for this card, it's a combination of both. 

I was given permission by my customer to design it any way I like although the choice for the main colour is fixed which is purple and black. I think this is the first time I'm using this combination. Tough!! I was also given the permission to put hearts here and there to show some love to the receiver. I didn't have any pattern paper in purple and black so I designed the patterns myself by using stripe black and white ribbons and some tight coils (been a while since I did any quilling by the way hehehe) and some strips of thick black and white paper. What I love most is the background paper I used to decorate the card with...which is three types of purple colour paper. Only added white colour paper as a supporting colour for the purple and black paper. I thought that it was suitable. What do you think? ;)

One thing new with this card is that I added some distress ink for all the paper I used to decorate the card with. Luckily the brownish distress ink match perfectly with purple! Lucky me since I don't have a lot of choice of distress ink available in my collection to play with. I loved how the effect of the distress ink makes such a huge difference in the whole look of the card. Another new thing is that I used glittered foams to make wordings for the card. The black glittered foam alphabets really stands out and so does the purple foam glittered lace heart. I really love the effect! 

Oh! And yes, I love love love the new type of thread I used for sewing on the paper for the card. It's an embroidery thread I got from Wholeport. I received lots of different colours of embroidery thread from them and I just love how shiny the thread is and how easy it is to sew on paper with it. I would definitely use more of it for my cardmaking projects :).