A Mini To-Do

My weekends a packed full of "To-Dos". There's the things I want to do (create journals, work in the yard, bake cookies), the things I must do (laundry, groceries) and the things I usually do (juggle all aspects of my life into two short weekend days).

Coffee is always on the top of my must-do-to-do list. Today, after coffee and muffins for breakfast, I donned the warmest fleece clothes and spent four hours in the side yard. I'm tired of growing weeds so this year, my newest outdoor project involves adding a mini golf course to this side of my house. Unfortunately, in those four hours it snowed two times, so the project is progressing very slow.  When my muscles couldn't move another mound of dirt, I took a long hot shower, ate some pizza for lunch and decided to work on making a few mini journals.



Side view--Coptic Stitch

I cut scrap pieces of book board in interesting shapes and covered the board with scrapes of paper. This is a very creative way to add character to the front of a book, without adding expense. 



Each book has six signatures with 16 sheets of writing surfaces. Each signature contains a sheet of handmade paper.

These twelve minis are slated to be a gift at a work meeting, later this week. I belong to a group of HR professionals who, like me, have worked very hard during this ski season. I thought a handmade, special gift in the form of a mini book would be the perfect way for a busy professional to keep track of their "to-do" lists.

I couldn't keep track of all I do if I didn't use my mini journal to keep me on track.

A Very Special Customer

I made two books this weekend for a very special customer; my husband, Wade. Wade is a very creative person who loves to dabble in all forms of art. Years ago, he thought he might be interested in the art of paper making so I purchased a paper making kit for him, as a gift. Unfortunately, his time wasn't his own and he didn't have the opportunity to use the kit. I look back at that memory fondly because my gift to him became my gift to me. The kit I bought Wade is the kit I still use, today.

One of the creative art forms Wade enjoys is calligraphy. He tried to teach me, but I have a heavy hand and little patience. So, I've left gave up calligraphy and stayed with paper making.

Wade asked me to make a Coptic Stitch book so that he could calligraphy favorite quotes in a  special book.

We went to JoAnn Fabrics today to select special paper. Once we arrived home, Wade selected his choice of the handmade paper that would bind the parchment signatures.

I just finished two books and couldn't wait to show them off.

A black and white daisy pattern is used for this cover, with a black rain drop for the inside cover. The black/gray handmade paper that I made a few weeks ago is used with each signature.

Close up of the black and white daisy paper.

The medallion used to close the booklet is actually from the jewelry making aisle from Michaels. It reminded us of a butterfly and we thought it would make an interesting accessory to hold the book closed.

Looking at the pages of parchment and handmade paper





Inside cover of the black and white daisy book.



This rose color paper is paired with the same rain drop black and a light pink handmade paper.

Inside cover

The back cover has a small envelop pocket that matches the cover paper.

There are five signatures of parchment and handmade paper. Wade is going to calligraphy only the front sheet and not double sided in case the calligraphy from the front shows through to the back side. There are 80 pages of writing surfaces, but using the front only will give him 40 writing surfaces.

 The finished book also uses a trinket used in jewelry making, along with fine white ribbon.

I can't wait for Wade to begin writing in his new books. You can bet that I will be posting these special books, again, to show off his creative talent, soon. 

When Work Gets In The Way

It's the weekend, my precious time to create journals and make handmade paper. Unfortunately, this weekend, I had to drive up the mountain to work. We're having an inspection this week and I had to prepare. The good news is that last weekend I made 60 sheets of handmade paper that I haven't yet posted for you to see.

Instead of making 60 sheets of one color, I made small batches of several different colors. We had some really nice, heavy black napkins left over from an event, so I brought six home and blended them into the white paper pulp. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

The heavier napkin gave a softer feel to the paper, once it was completely dried. I also had some very bright yellow cocktail napkins so the next batch consisted of 60% napkins and 40% paper pulp. Normally, I've only used napkins to add color, but I want my paper to have more fiber-texture, so I figured the addition of  additional napkins might give the paper a stronger feel. The following sheets were pulled so the sheets would be almost a card stock feel. They air dried for three days on my kitchen table. Needless to say, we ate dinner in the living room.

Once the sheets air dry at least 24 hours, I normally use a hot iron and press out the extra moisture. I read in a paper making book that if you force-dry your paper it will dry uneven. So, to avoid some of the unevenness that I've experienced in the past, I ironed the sheets until it was 80% dry. Then I stacked the sheets, placing a sheet of cotton in between each color and piled a heavy load of books on top, to keep the paper flat, while it finished drying.

Since work took my arts and craft weekend away from me, the paper is still under the pile of books. The sheets that were drying on the kitchen table are waiting for me, as well.

I'm always looking for new ideas and new procedures. A quick visit to Amazon.com resulted in the purchase of three new reference books. In addition to making the 60 sheets of paper, I also made an accordion book.

This is actually the second accordion book I made. The first one had a few measurement challenges. Imagine that!

I used brown paper for the accordion portion. Using acrylic paint, I painted each section a different style.

Using a template made it remarkably easy to place the holes for the sewing step.

The sewing step started by entering from the outside. It's a three step stitch. The final stitch (above) was the hardest stitch in finding the hole. I love the accordion book, but holding all the pages in my hand, while stitching seems awkward.

Each row is tied off separately.

The final book has seven signatures with over 100 writing surfaces.



 Work is never ending, yet my time making paper and journals is never work at all.