Christmas Giveaway Winners

It's been a rather hectic day. I achieved a lot, preparing for a last minute trip, but I also FORGOT about the giveaway. Sorry!

So, what I did was get all the names down and clicked ONCE. This is the list that resulted.

Congratulations to those who won and for those who didn't, please look out for the next giveaway soon, for the Chinese New Year.

Have a blessed evening.

Book sewing fun

Decided to experiment with different stitches today. Deviated from the usual Coptic stitch. I like Coptic but I thought, with the variegated threads that I have, I'd try something new. The stitching isn't as neat as I would've liked it to be but it's a start. I think I'll try different patterns from now.

Added pagemarker charms too, to both of these (top and bottom)

Ran out of thread for the pagemarker. I think I can attach it manually though :-) 

Have a blessed day!

New life

These notebooks have familiar covers, no?
I like the Prima Deli ones for their thickness and lamination, Kellog's for the colour and Redoxon for it's brightness. Internal pages are all acid-free and bound with antique brass Zutter O-wire.

What do you do with your boxes?

Have a blessed day!

Pretty in pink

What's your favourite colour? DS' red, DD's green. My three nieces like pink, purple and blue. I like yellow. I think I read somewhere that blue is the most liked colour.

Anyway, these 2 are pink. Bit of overload on pink, don't you think? I opted out of total pink pages. What you see are just the signature cover pages. It's white inside...*phew*, LOL! 7-hole coptic bound hardcover journals made from acid-free papers.

Have a blessed day!

Purple Pastels

DS thought I bought these *grin*!

I have this collection of papers of pinks and purples that are so pretty. Initially I thought the purple hearts in front would be too plain but it turned out just right. Paired with the flowers, the combination just looks so delicate. I don't have thick plain purple paper for the inside of the covers so I just decided to use the back paper for the front cover and vice versa. DD suggested rounding the corners which I think gives it a more brought-together look altogether. Also, this time, I thought I would take the easy way out and wire-bind them but I've yet to master the hole-punching and that's why, if you see closely, one book has 11 holes while the other has 10, LOL!

I can't decide what to do today....sew or bind. Maybe I'll do both :-)

Have a blessed day!
ps: I've not forgotten your orders, don't worry. I just like to optimize the inspiration and mood when it comes and do something different. Thanks for your patience!

First two

These are the first two books of this year, I think. It's been a long while since I've made a hardcover journal and this time I decided to have mismatched covers. Well, almost. I have another 3 on the way so you might see what I mean when I post the pics. I especially like the blue one. The blue sky contrasts with the dark blue denim print of the back cover. I thinking that I like the back cover more, LOL!

Made with acid free papers (except the ladybug paper). White papers are from sustainable forests. 192 pages, 6 signatures, 7-hole, coptic bound.

Have a blessed day!

I forgot about these...

These 6 A5 saddle-stitched notebooks are part of a collection that we started last year but I forgot about them. There are some more and I'll get around to listing them on Tiffany's Shoppe.

Each book is covered using textured cardstock and has patterned endpaper. Number of pages inside is at least 76, all white and unlined and from sustainable forests. Best thing about it, cover and pages are all acid-free :-)

Have a blessed evening!

Blessed Christmas!

My Christmas present arrived early and I couldn’t wait and opened it up and made these two! Do you like them? DS and DD have claimed these already though.

I’d cut the covers and inside pages of blue and white paper some time back but parked them aside. T’was fun punching the holes and inserting the O-wires. I think we’ll be having lots more fun with my new toy from now :-).

May your Christmas be filled with family, friends, fun and food. Also, remember,

Jesus is the reason for this season.

God bless!

ps: Do you like Fat Free or normal? I like mine with marshmallows, fat free or not…LOL!

Waste not, want not

Do you recognise the covers of these notebooks?

The X card is DS’ birthday card from church. Found it on his desk and took it to saddle-stitched a single signature of plain white pages.

The Christmas card is from Maybank. It’s actually a Christmas catalogue. I removed the internal pages and tore them in 2 for DD’s origami and kept the cover to also saddle-stitch a single signature of green and blue pages.

We look out for ‘condo cards’ now that arrive in the mail but there aren’t many launches it seems. You can use these as notebook covers too :-).

Have a blessed day!

Square dance

DD asked me the other day why I didn’t make any A5 notebooks or journals. I’ve been making a series of A6 ones in preparation for the KKH bazaar in October and got carried away. I’ve made A5 ones before but they were hardcover ones and I wasn’t in the hardcover kind of mood. Folding paper can be therapeutic but there’s a limit to that monotonous cut, fold, slot cycle. So I wondered about what DD said till I chanced upon a stack of used exercise books :-).

After ripping off the covers and collecting empty pages, I ended up with a sizeable stack of paper. Along with these, I kept some pages that had kiddy scibblings by both DS and DD. My memories!

The cover was pieced together using 8 5” charms from the Whirlwind Romance Blush collection and quilted. Another 4 were used for the pockets inside.

I pierced additional holes into the 8 signatures and sewed them unto the spine using the criss-cross longstitch with silver thread that matches the 2 silver ribbon page markers.

The salvaged square paper was arranged from largest to smallest, just like how DS and DD bought smaller and smaller sized square exercise books as they grew older.

 

BTW, It took me an hour just to sew these signatures. I knew ‘cos that was how long DD’s swiming lesson was. LOL! Final touch were the 2 deliberately mis-matched metal snaps placed just so, for effect.

This is definitely not for sale. Just thought I’d like to share with you. Do you have any memories you want to hold on to? *grin*

Have a blessed day!

ps:

charm = 5” square

layer cake = 10” square

fat quarter = quarter of a yard, about 18” x 25”

jelly roll = 2.5” strips, length is width of fabric

honeybun = 1” strips

Booked

I made these on a whim, inspired by fabrics that arrived recently from US and Korea. Brightly coloured and coordinating quilting fabric made from super combed cotton. Some of the Timeless Treasures prints are cute to boot. Alas, I’m running out the 7oz interfacing so I have limited quantities of these on hand. Until then, feast your eyes on these

Each of these have a machine-quilted cover and lined with coordinating or contrasting fabric. Some have page markers with beads attached. All have 6 signatures of 8 folios giving a total of 128 pages that are stitched to the spine using criss-cross longstitch. Some have coordinating coloured paper inside. Two metal snaps keep the flap closed and prevents dog ears. Can you spot the camouflaged snaps?
I didn’t take many pics of these ‘cos I intended to bring them to the KKH bazaar on 18 Oct. If you’d like to know more, just send me an email.
Have a blessed day!
ps: If you wish to learn how to replace the paper when you’ve filled all the pages with your writing or doodling, you can either purchase a PDF copy of the tutorial of how I made these and do it yourself, else we can arrange a class at the current going rate of S$10/hr for a maximum of 3 persons, materials excluded.

And the bunny hopped away

Well, not really. DD claimed it.

Remember this Wilmington print of Bunny's Day Out? I centred one of the uber-cute pics of the bunnies on the cover of this journal. This is the first one that has the front flap overlapping so that the pic will not be obscured. I quilted it a bit, partially to frame the bunnies, partially to add some texturing detail. (Hmm, at this moment I just realised that I forgot to take a pic of the spine, but you can imagine it, ya?) Bright lime green gingham on the inside with alternating signatures of green and blue paper stitched to the spine using criss-cross longstitch. This time, I added beads to the page marker. The metal snaps were chosen by DD to 'blend' in with the picture.
Have a blessed rainy morning!

Do you recognise this?

Last Sunday's newspapers came in a advertorial pocket showcasing LV's first floating store. Read more about it here. My first thought when I looked at it wasn't about how amazing this structure designed by award-winning architect Peter Marino (does this name sound familiar? Are you a Patricia Cornwell fan?) was. I was thinking, hey, I can make a notebook out of this. How should I place it. Should I have it landscape or portrait or ...?

This rainy morning, I finally had some time and decided I'd make 2 notebooks out of them. Single signature of paper from sustainable forests saddle-stitched with the knot on the inside. As I was deciding how to cut the covers, I decided to try something new this time and included pockets on the inside flaps.
I'm giving these away this Friday at noon. Either leave a comment here or in the chatbox or Like the pic on facebook.

Have a blessed day!

Go green!

I used to cut selvedge and throw them away. Then, I thought they interfered with the hand of the fabric. Hand, as in the floppiness. Selvedges are stiffer than the main body and have a different print or are white. I can't remember when I started collecting them. I have about 2 shoeboxes full now. Precious commodities, these are. A whole yard of fabric only yields 2 yards of selvedges and sometimes only 1 side has the colour windows. I think the most colour windows I have for a fabric is 21. Will show you someday, if I can find it. From Yuwa, I think?

That was the before. The selvedges that DD picked out. Green ones, of course. More than what I had in mind, but it's ok. Maybe one day I'll sort my selvedge stash. Not now.

 Sewed the strips onto calico based on DD's arrangement. Lining was chosen by her. Ditto the metal snaps. There are 6 signatures this time for 2 reasons; firstly 'cos this is a larger cover compared to the earlier notebook and 'cos DD journals a lot. Just checked that there isn't enough slack for 2 more signatures. These were sewn using criss-cross longstitch so the signatures must be paired.
DS says it's too thick. I don't think so. I like it like that. DD too. What about you?
Have a blessed day!
Afternote: 
Made another one in pink with four signatures.

After the afternote: Made yet another one.

Horizon at breakfast

Was packing up the living room this morning when I chanced upon this advertisement for a freehold condominium called Horizon. Nope, I'm not a property agent and not in any way associated with this project. Thing was, when I looked at the card, I noticed that while the picture was spread across the whole face of the card, the print was on the right half. The significance of this is that it can be a notebook cover! So I folded it and went to look for a signature to check if it fit and it did :-)

Single signature pamplet (saddle) stitch notebook. Made in less than 10mins 'cos I punched the holes free hand and just sewed.
Make your own today!
Afternote: found another card :-)

Have a blessed day!

Sore fingers

I made another notebook using the PP sheet as a cover. I like it that it's a nice translucent white which shows of the colours of the pages inside and that it's strong enough to protect the papers inside. No doggy ears here. However, due to it's thickness of 0.75mm, I have a hard time poking the needle through even after punching the holes with an awl. DS likes this notebook and says it's nicer than some that I've made, but I think I'll stop here for a while.

Six signatures of greens, blues and purple covers of plain 5mm grids. Each cross has 4 holes and there are a total of 18 crosses giving 72 holes. I like the effect on the spine :-)
Have a blessed day!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Jonathan's mummy decided on having zero-calorie treats for Jonathan's birthday party so this year the goody bag won't be filled with sweets but with these instead :-)

Single signature, saddle-stitched notebook made with acid-free cardstock and paper from sustainable forests.

Have a blessed birthday, Jonathan!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

After sewing for a few days I decided to take a break and make a book. This time, I thought I'd combine both sewing and bookbinding and voila!

I made the cover first, out of linen. Patterned patchwork and plain oatmeal. I machine-stitched some of the patterns and some hexagons to bring out the print. Interfaced with 7oz batting so that the cover is sturdy. As for stitching the paper to the cover, I decided to use the criss-cross longstitch, deliberately sewn using contrasting thread. This book can open flat and that's why I put the stud on the flap so that there won't be a bump when you're writing on even pages. I was deciding between a ribbon tie or metals snaps for closure and snaps won.
Have a blessed day!

Day of His power!

Will you be going later?
Day of His power (a lovesingapore concert prayer) will be at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, 7.30pm this evening.

Have a blessed evening!

2 Corinthians 5:7

We live by faith, not by sight.
It's not easy to do this, as most of the time I'm affected by the circumstances surrounding me. James 1:2 doesn't make me feel better either. Truths are there in black and white and yet sometimes difficult to accept. To live by faith, is easier said than done, when it's going against the tide. Like the salmon returning home but they make it, even if only to die but I digress.
So, I choose to live by faith, not by sight, and by His grace, I'll be alright :-)
Join me?

Saddle-stitched single signature cahier with a fold-out flap as page marker. Made from remnants of patterned paper, acid-free cardstock and 132-column printer paper. I left the holes intact for its uniqueness :-)
Have a blessed weekend!