Handmade Books

I love reading books and now I love making books. I am still a beginner but here are a few pictures of what I've made recently:

I just love this material and it made a perfect book. A few years ago I went on a course to learn how to make Japanese stab bound books and have made several since. This is one of the latest ones. The technique is fairly simple once you get the hang of it, however it does involve some precise measuring and for this one I had to make sure I didn't put the material on upside down!

Here is the back:

The cord used for binding is made form a few different coloured lengths of embroidery silks twisted together and sewed on the sewing machine in a zig-zag stitch. The stitching on this book uses the simple 4 hole design.

For a more professional look I wrapped a small strip of cream material around the pages of the book at the spine so that the rough edges are not visible.

This book is designed to that it will fit 6x6" scrapbook pages. I like it so much I may have to keep it and make another one to sell!

The next book is made in exactly the same way and exactly the same size as the one above, with another of my favourite materials:

This one has a black edging along the spine which was made by sewing a length of black material to the patterned material. This makes sure that the binding stands out more.

I have then started making cardboard books and this one is my first attempt:

The covers were made from an old box and covered with brown paper. I then heat embossed the bird image and the letters and decorated the front. The holes have flowered black eyelets for a neat finish and some brown ribbon has been added for decoration. I decorated the back cover as well:

This book will fit normal size photos with room for a few captions or dates to accompany each picture.

I've got lots more ideas and if you fancy having a personalised book made for you then please leave a comment below.

Mothers Day Crafting

Mothers day posed me with several problems, the main one being that I had lost my craftiness and wasn't sure what to make. I had decided on a design for a card:

I heat embossed the flowers at the bottom with white powder on brown kraft card and painted with vintage mica powders. The strip on the left is a swirly embossing folder brushed with distress ink and mounted onto a scallop border. The butterflies were heat embossed with white powder onto vellum and used as an overlay to purple butterflies to make them 3D.

Once I had the card I thought I would keep the butterfly/flowers theme. I had been meaning to try stamping on candles for a while so, after a few attempts, I managed two different candles in co-ordinating designs:

Once I had got the hang of it, it's quite an easy technique, but if you are doing it for the first time then make sure you have a spare candle to practise on first.

Then I thought of making a plaque. I wanted to include a quote but couldn't find anything appropriate and along with my craft inspiration, my writing inspiration had disappeared too. I also wanted to try the letters with some ultra thick embossing powder but that idea fell through so they stayed matt with just the patterned papers for decoration.

However, with my love for embossing powders I couldn't create something for Mum without embossing it, so I used my new purple pearlescent powder for the tag and that turned out brilliantly. Sometimes the powders aren't thick enough to cover the colour underneath so I did colour the tag in purple with my pro markers first. But I needn't have bothered because the powder covered it perfectly.

Mum loved all her presents, especially the candles. I think I am going to make more of these now I know how it's done and plan on selling them at a craft fair I've got planned for the end of the year. Some Christmas themed ones I think!