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!

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

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

Triangle of Life

I once read an article on the triangle of life applied during an earthquake. The theory is to look for these triangles or voids and take shelter there instead. For example, if there's a sturdy cupboard against a wall, there would be a triangle of life right in front of the cupboard should the ceiling collapse as a single piece. Then, the ceiling would be propped up at one end and on the floor at the other, leaving that void. One of the examples they gave, other than sturdy large furniture, was to look for stacks of paper. Paper cannot be crushed and can withstand a lot of weight. So, it seems, a stack of newspaper would do at such times.

Thank God we don't have earthquakes here.

One other thing I know about paper is that it's heavy. Very. Especially when I have to lug it around.

I brought these to the NUS bazaar. There were a few queries but no one bought them so I'm listing them in Tiffany's Shoppe. Other than these 4, there were many other books so it was really heavy yesterday. Today, I'll just bring a fraction.

Just a bit of update about yesterday. I couldn't decide whether it was a non-event or eventful day, LOL! While there were very few customers, quite a number of people walked over and did a double-take at my stall then proceeded to walk past till I realized that the toilet was behind me. On my left was clothes. In front of me was clothes and on my right was, clothes. I had a quick glance around and it seemed like out of about 15 stalls, about half sold clothes. There was a stall that intrigued me 'cos it sold something that sure looked like bubble gum. I like bubble gum though the constant chewing would result in aching jaws.

But I get ahead of myself so let me do this chronologically. I arrived too early 'cos I went out with DS and DD. I tarried at the bus-stop doing my crochet till it was about 30mins before the official start at 9am. My first impression when I arrived was, is it over? LOL!

There were quite a number of tables/stalls all over the Central Forum. Some had tarpaulin-covered items, some were bare tables. Bare as in bare wood top with collapsible frame. Some had chairs next to these tables, some had none. Also, other than me and a group of undergrads, there were no other vendors. Anyway, I stuck around till on of the students pointed out my stall to me. OK, so with my punctuality, I ended up with the dubious honour of being the kiasu one who set up shop so early. However, less than 30mins after I completed, the rain came. With the gusty winds sweeping through the void of the Central Forum, rain was flying in, stuff also took to the wind. I kept evertyhing but set up shop again about an hour later only to sit there and crochet and crochet and crochet. On the upside, I had an enjoyable time getting to know the other vendors. Perhaps this was my triangle of life yesterday, my breathing space. Well, one more day today. Hopefully it'll be better, yup? *grin*

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!

How green can you go?

I have this fondness for notebooks. Not that I journal a lot or doodle a lot but somehow the feel of the paper or a cute cover catch my eye and make me stop and have a look.

I buy less notebooks now. Just bought some recently, but not for myself…phew! Now we have fun creating our own, using materials we can find at home or those in the mail. Waiting for mail is different now…LOL!

These 2 are A5 notebooks. Five signatures of 7 white and 1 green cover sheets bound using the coptic stitch. This is for someone who likes green :-). Green fabric cover, green thread, green cover sheets, sustainable forest paper. Circus print is made from linen and floral one from oxford cotton. 220gsm endpapers are green too :-)

Have a blessed day!

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.

Green thumbs

More than a month ago, I chanced upon a very pretty garden at the foot of a HDB block in Choa Chu Kang. It was a public area but tended with TLC by a resident. It was evident that a lot of effort went into the maintenance of this place with the myriad of flowers and even a fruiting olive tree. After admiring and asking lots of questions, he let me pluck some seeds to bring back and told me to go back in a few months for the orange colour flowers that had yet to bloom.

DD planted them a few days after I came back with the seeds. We waited and waited. Nothing sprouted. We waited some more, nothing. One fine day, I decided to water more freuquently than usual and the seedlings came! This is the 9th and the latest.

 Made these 2 today, in between weeding the seedlings and other distractions.

This is all green. Green exterior, green lining, green stitching (well, at least the ones on the spine), green deliberately-mismatched metal snaps, green paper and green page marker. I machine quilted the cover for fun :-)

I think I have more than 4 colour combinations of this linen print. This is the pink version. An older post shows the green version. Maybe I'll make a series :-) Criss-cross longstitched six signatures of paper from sustainable forests.
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!

Two to go

I snack a lot. Sometimes too much. I like pearly soya from Selegie, doughnut holes (??) from Four Leaves, youtiao dipped in cold soya from Rochor, Ruffles and I think I'd better stop here, LOL!

Two coptic bound A6 notebooks with sweet treats hardcover. Seven folios in 4 signatures giving a total of 56 pages.
Have a blessed day!

Randomness

I'm wondering, if I Like my pic in this giveaway, do I get a chance to win this even if it's mine? Odd, right? The thing is, the randomness in the giveaway draws is done by http://www.random.org/. It's a really useful website that can randomnize (is there such a word?) lists or numbers and such.
What I do for each draw is build the list hours before the draw, taking from emails or facebook or from this blog, and build that list. I usually remove myself, DS and DD unless they specifically request to be in. With the list in the random.org site, I then click it a few times to see if it works. The nearest click to the agreed time will be the final one :-)
Anyway, on with the draw....this is a handbound A6 notebook. Fabric covered, hardcover, coptic-bound. Single needle over 7 holes. Some day I'll try the 4 needle method. Four signatures of paper from sustainable forests with coordinating fly leaves.
As usual, leave a comment here or Like the pic on facebook and wait till 30 July for the noon draw.
Have a blessed day!

Taking notes

I used to enjoy taking notes during lessons, writing in longhand with felt-tipped pens in various colours to highlight the different points. I doodled when I was distracted, or wrote almost verbatim when I wasn't. It was really fun then to fill up pages and pages of fullscap with notes. At that time, I drew more joy in having a stack of neatly written and colourful notes than having a complete set of notes for their contents. Of course, it helped during revision that I could read what I wrote.
If you're a student, I strongly encourage you to take notes. It helps with rentention of what the teacher has said and keeps you focused on the topic. You can even practice your handwriting, whether the speed or the neatness. You'll even get new friends who'll want to borrow your notes.

I've been busy the past week with these notebooks. All hardcover coptic bound notebooks with a mixture of white and coloured pages. You can't see it from this pic, but I like the book on top in bottom right pic. This group has pictures of patiserrie cakes that are so pretty, like a menu. Printed paper is from Tang's Art, if you're wondering.
Have a blessed day!

His Word is true

Cherish His promises to you as you jot your spiritual journey in this book. Adorned with biblical promises, it will remind you that, indeed, His faithfulness endures forever!

Single needle coptic stitch over 7 holes with 5 signatures of 7 folios each. Total 140 pages from sustainable forests.

Have a blessed day!

And it all comes together

I like sewing and I like bookbinding so what does that lead to? A fabric covered handbound notebook :-)

Korean import oxford cotton on the 900g cover and 80gsm paper inside. White unlined pages are from sustainable forests. Five signatures with seven folios sewn with single needle coptic stitch over 7 holes with coloured thread that matches the fly leaves.
Have a blessed day!

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!