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.

Don't think there'll be another of this

This is something strange, no? I took 2 green book rings, 2 anodized aluminium jump rings and a barrel weave chain and made this. Wanted to see what it would look like. DD says it's nice, DS says 'no' but DS says 'no' to so many of my stuff anyway. I find it odd. I think I'd rather have just the book rings. :-)

On another note, I tied to bundles of notebooks with twine and ribbon. Can't decide which looks nicer. I think it depends on the print though twine is more versatile. This is in preparation for the 'Cutting Corners Sale'. Rather corny, no? 'Cause I cut/rounded the corners of the notebooks.

I have lots of cardstock left and papers as well. I just don't have the time and focus to finish them at the rate I want to. I've been adding more holes to the saddle-stitch. I think it's a different look from the usual 5 holes. I'll have more pics soon. 

Have a blessed Sunday!

More and more books

 More paper-folding. Hopefully the stacks of paper I still have at home grow smaller. The top 2 book-blocks-to-be are in various shades of blue and peach. The white ones I might just cover with coordinated patterned paper, like the bottom two. You can't see it clearly but the fabric right at the bottom is actually a drawstring bag. The book materials are inside but I don't have the string to bind them :-( 

These are just two bundles of 4 saddle-stitch books. I'm packaging them in bundles for the next sale. It's a preview of sorts 'cos I can't decide what to use to bundle them with - twine or ribbon? Or perhaps, depending on the print? 

I'll need to clear (read: sell all) of these books. I found some just now that I made a year ago. Colours are still good 'cos all the papers are acid free. I have a couple hundred more to go just for plain ones but lesser for patterned cardstock :-)

Have a blessed evening!

Sewing books

First I made the books.

These are saddle-stitched books with cardstock and unlined paper. I have so many shades of green, blue and pink left and even more cardstock.

Then I made the drawstring bag to put the books in. 

Then I made a larger book with a fabric over the cardboard and decided that it'll have it's own drawstring bag. 

What a lot of fun :-)

Have a blessed day!

Something old, something new

Made this fruit sticker book a while back. The cover is the cover of a stack of cardstock that I have. It was too pretty to throw away so I kept it. The plastic pages inside were part remnant, part new stock from what I use to wrap DS' and DD's books.

This fruit sticker collection started 'cos DD's friend stopped collecting stickers. We used to contribute to her collection and when she stopped, we decided to start our own. We even had a fun time at the supermarket picking those 'discarded' stickers, to the dismay of DS. LOL!

This was supposed to be a milk carton wallet. We don't have any milk cartons at home. There's a granola carton but I made the flap too thick that the resin snap's prong was too short to secure it. This was made from the annual report of CapitalMall Trust. It has 4 slots and a resin snap. 

DS' using this! Yippee!

Have a blessed day!

Giveaway : Handmade notebooks with the Lorax theme

I received this set of stickers of Dr Seuss' The Lorax and decided to affix them onto some notebooks for giveaway. Dimensions 14.5cm x 10cm with 24 pages of white unlined pages inside, made from sustainable forests, saddle-stitched onto textured cardstock covers. There are 12 different books and I'll give away 4 books (my choice) per 10 participants.

Either

leave a comment here

LIKE the facebook page/post

email me

Draw will be at noon on Friday, 23 March 2012.
ps: Free local shipping only

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!

Make a note of this

Christmas notebook sale!

Each set is going at a fantastic price of S$10! This includes gift wrapping and local shipping.

Usual price is $11.50 if you buy each separately, without gift wrapping nor local shipping.

These are single signature handbound notebooks using premium cardstock covers that are either embossed, has glitter/foil or textured, or all of the above. 80gsm paper inside is either white (from sustainable forests) or in coordinating pastels. All are handbound using saddle-stitched. Patterned ones have 60 pages while coloured ones have 48 pages.

Sale ends 17 Dec 2011 or while stocks last.

Have a blessed day!

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!

Finally some pics

Sorry for the delay. I only just realised that I didn’t post any pics of what we’ve been selling to raise funds for the Red Cross – SEA Floods fund.

I also didn’t take any pics of the earlier batch. Normally I take pics, just for sentimental reasons, but we’ve been rushing and rushing to get as many items ready as possible. I must have broken my all-time record of number of items made in 1 day, last week.

Thanks also to all supporters who bought and who helped me sell. God bless you!

Oh, I forgot to tell you what we sold and are still selling.

S$2 – single signature notebooks with acid free cardstock covers that you can decorate yourself. Pages inside are mostly pastel-coloured. Few are white.

S$4 – tissue cases made from quilting-weight cotton from Japan, Korea, US and Australia, lined with coordinating fabric. Yes, it comes with an unopened pack of tissue :-)

S$12 – quilted cover notebooks with six signatures hand-bound to the spine using criss-cross longstitch. Each have metal snap closures and a ribbon page marker.

Shipping’s extra and I’ll use Singpost rates for small packets. Click here for details.

These pics were taken before this weekend’s sales and I’ll take pics of what’re still available and post the up on facebook.

Thanks for your support and have a blessed day!

ps: I apologise for late responses to emails and orders. These were parked one side to prepare fundraising items. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

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!

Blitz

Some days are productive days, some days are quieter. Some days just have accumulated stuff that I didn't take pics of and I just want to put them all in 1 post :-)

First up, these are 2 handbound notebooks. Made them for the fun of it 'cos I like the Mickey Musical Festival brochure. It's so colourful and cheerful that I saved it for this purpose rather than throw it into the paper recycling pile. The Citibank brochure was chosen 'cos it's the season for mooncakes and there is an accordion fold at the back of the book that will open up and show the myriad of mooncake deals. Both have paper from sustainable forests and are bound using the saddle stitch.  

 Two zipper pouches here. I still have a number to go. No complaints 'cos it's getting more fun as I sew. Now that DD's CA2 is over, she can help me with the pairing of lining and zips :-)
These 2 made from fabric from Korea, Japan and Australia. Fully lined with coordinating fabric and interfaced.

Yuwa fabric from Japan. Cute patterns printed in rectangles all over the fabric. Wonder if it'll look nice as zipper pouches? Oxford cotton exterior lined with calico. Fully lined and interfaced with panel of pockets inside, 5 in total of which 2 are for pens. A4 landscape orientation with chocolate brown heavyweight cotton webbing straps.
Have a blessed evening!

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!

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!

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!

On a roll

DD and I have been busy over the past week making these. We split the 'work' and she likes the sewing part the most while I like sticking the Handmade sticker the most. LOL! We both enjoy attaching the bands which give the books a bit of colour before the new owner decorates them. These are dual purpose bands in that you slide them off, punch a hole and attach yarn and voila! You get a bookmark for your book.
Suggestions what you could do with your book

• draw on the cover - this is acid-free cardstock so I suppose it can take all sorts of ink and won't bleed through.
• stick a pic / photo - I used to cut out nice pics from old magazines before discarding them. DD even passed me the paper lining the Lock & Lock container 'cos it has a very nice pic of capsicums. Stick a photo if you can find any nice pics.
• collage it scrapbook style

I've started selling these but most have not been bought (yet!). Well, they almost were but that's another story for another time. LOL! *wink*
Have a blessed day!

Obi sashes

Back to the bookbinding bug again :-)
I've been on a spree and made a number of This is me! notebooks. These are really fun to make that you should try them at home too. Make them for friends or family or for giving away. Best of all, make it for yourself, pop it into your bag and journal on the go.

Propped up using DS' bookends and not arranged by colour. Those with obi sashes (or at least that's what it reminds me of) will be going out the door soon :-)
Can you see that in the bottom right pic there are empty shells waiting to be filled? Or that there are some with colour pages rather than white?
I've started using the linen thread that I have . It's super sturdy and anything book bound with it will stay bound for a long long time. It's so strong and thick that it's hard to pull thru the small holes I make :-( Compared to flipping the reversible tote proper way out, this is easier though.
Have a happy weekend!

This is me!

I've decided to call these the This is me! notebooks. Each This is me! notebook has a cardstock cover that I bought in bulk at a sale and that's why there are limited colours. and that's why I can offer them at a very special price :-) Inside pages are from sustainable forests and everything's sewn together with saddle stitch using colour-coordinated thread so that the book can open flat.
The cover has been deliberately left blank so that you can decorate it anyway you like. Stick a picture cut out from a magazine, a photo, scrapbook it or just use a felt tip pen to doodle till you're happy with the result. The flap at the back can either be used as a page marker or be slit off. I prefer to stick double-side tape so that it becomes a pocket but since the book will be yours, it'll be up to you to show your This is me! profile :-)

Have a blessed day!
ps: DD says I should sell my readymade items 'cos they're accumulating. These are the items that I make on the sidelines in between orders or whenever my hand itches to sew or bind. Stay tuned :-)

Tutorial: ‎7-hole saddle stitched notebook with tie inside

1. cut pages and cover to desired size
2. poke 7 holes (doesn't need to be uniform distance apart)
3. thread needle as follows: in/out d, out/in c, in/out b, out/in a, in/out b, out/in c, IN/OUT e, out/in f, in/out g, out/in f, in/out e, out/in d where in/out means from inside to out
4. tie and trim .... and you're done :-)

Bitten by the bookbinding bug

I bought a huge stack of cardstock recently 'cos it was on sale. I think there are more than 30 shades of green, blue, purples and browns with textures that are acid-free and meant for scrapbooking. I'm not into scrapbooking (as yet) so I was wondering what to with these cards till I came up with this.

Single signature saddle-stitched onto half a cardstock using coordinating thread. The white papers are from sustainable forests but I'm not sure about the green.
DD sewed the 2 darker ones together. She likes to come watch me bind and sometimes folds the papers. I don't let her handle the penknife though 'cos I keep it really sharp to be able to cut straight edges.
Have a blessed day!
ps: Yup, I did say I would go sew and I was yesterday...more pics on sewn stuff soon :-)