crafting with Kristen

Today I taught my niece how to do the coptic bookbinding that Amy H. taught me to do a couple of years ago. I hadn't done it for awhile, so I had to do a little decoding with the instructions, but it eventually came back to me.

As part of my Christmas gift to Kristen, I promised her a bookbinding lesson, and it coincided nicely with a school project she is doing on the Middle Ages (they had to learn an old trade).

Tools I had gathered, ready and waiting for her arrival. These things make my heart go pitter pat.

I had a selection of papers for her to choose from, and she went with these adorable green and blue prints -- LOVE. She has always had an eye for color and style.

nearing the end of the stitching

The finished book! It was fun and her book turned out so cute, it kind of makes me want to make more. If only I didn't have so many sedentary pursuits...

Grandma came along for the visit and Eva monopolized her the whole time they were here. Grandma didn't seem to mind too much, and she even treated us all to Cafe Rio for lunch!

I took this picture of the cool book cover bracelet that one of Michelle's friends gave her for her birthday. Some of the charms you can't see include To Kill a Mockingbird and one that says "I Read Banned Books." How cool is this? She found out that her friend bought it at the Salt Lake Library. I think it's a brilliant idea, and I'm thinking that surely some of you talented ladies could figure out how to make one.

Today's recap: deep cleaned a bathroom, bookbinding, Cafe Rio, baked bread, worked on my Primary lesson, took a cat nap, gave Eva a bath, tried a new recipe for dinner, watched 2 episodes of Project Runway with the boys. That's my kind of Saturday.

The only downside: Max is sick again. Fever and a cold, out of nowhere. Seriously.

recent projects

I am still thrilled about the new tidy, organized state of my studio. In celebration, I thought I'd share some of my recent projects:

Box of tins I made for my mom's birthday (Jill's original brilliant idea)

My mom commissioned Hannah and I to make 20 coptic-bound gratitude journals. We got together a couple of times to cut book board and paper, glue covers, assemble signatures and sew. Hannah made most of them! I'm sure glad I didn't have to make 20 of them, I'm still pretty much a newbie at bookbinding.

I must say it was a very pleasing sight to see them all finished.

I took Kristi's advice on getting to know my new Laurels. First I gave them all a little questionnaire so I could find out more about them. Then I assembled these bags of things that I like/things about me so that they can get to know me better. I am thinking of it as a friendship shortcut, sure hope it works! It took me longer to get this together than I planned, so I only just delivered them on Sunday.

I made each of them a small gratitude journal in their favorite colors, with quotes about gratitude tucked inside. Also a small sheet with some of my favorite scriptures on the front and things I like to do on the reverse. A small pack of m&ms and a little Reese's egg, and...
bookmarks for each of them, copied from the ones Jessie made at Christmastime, because I love them so much. That's it! I'm not sure why that took me two weeks to do, but there you have it.

But probably my favorite thing I have done in my studio is making the discovery that I really can work in there, spread out all my supplies, make a big mess:


and then restore it to its pristine state! I've done it 3 or 4 times now, woohoo!

Here's Marc's latest project:

He took the boys' scary room apart, systematically purging, organizing, and cleaning every little bit of it.


Not the best "after" pic, but you get the idea, right? Now let's hope this room has the same success rate of staying tidy!

favorite project

This ended up being my favorite project from Christmas 2007. Jessie had seen an altered book on Etsy during the summertime where the pages had been replaced with a hodge-podge of different patterned and colored papers. It was a darling book, but it was $50, and there was no way she was ever going to buy it.

I toyed with buying it, but when Amy H. started teaching us some rudimentary bookbinding skills, I started wondering if maybe I could make a similar book for Jessie for Christmas. I approached Amy about the idea and she confirmed that we could definitely do it. Best of all, she shared my excitement over the project!

She helped me for hours with planning, disassembling the dictionary (that I found at D.I.), cutting, folding, etc. She taught me how to sew the signatures together, and when I had finished that step, she came over and taught me how to attach the new book to the old cover. I never could have done it without her!

I was filled with anticipation as I made it, wrapped it, and sent it, because I just knew that Jessie would love it. Her reaction did not disappoint! She told me that she gasped when she opened it and then flipped through each and every page.




Now I want to make one of these for me!

play?

Eva and I went to Amy H.'s house today to play. We were both excited -- me, because Amy offered to help me with a book project; Eva, because I told her she could play with Kaitlin and Alex.

This shot accurately portrays the shyness and reticence they actually showed one another. After about an hour, they did start playing together, but they didn't always see eye to eye, and there were several crying/screaming incidents.

Amy, holding her head in frustration over cute little Alex (in the background), who has a shrill little shriek which seems specially designed to galvanize its hearers into action. Very effective!

So, conditions were not ideal. We were reminded of the bookbinding class Amy held for us, when the dads were taking care of all the children -- it was very different from today. But you know what? I still had fun! We did have some quiet time without requests for drinks, snacks, movies, etc. and we had some good conversation. Plus, we made some good progress on my book! Thanks, Amy, for giving up a good portion of your day to help me, and for allowing a little extra chaos into your world today.