Old Pretty Stuff

After carting around a bunch of bookbinding supplies from college—I have finally gotten around to using some of the old, pretty stuff. And although I must admit, I've ruined several "experimental" books, it's been fun to get my hands (and the floor and the desk) messy again.
Above: The perfect guest book for weddings—or because it has blank pages, use it for sketching or whatever else you can imagine. Find it on Minelolly.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My hubby and I had family over last night for a small Valentine celebration. Here is a look at some simple ideas for low stress party.

Take a photo of your decorations and use it to design a quick announcement which you can email to family.
As an activity, write a couple of Valentine cards (or letter of appreciation etc.) to friends,family, or someone who has made a positive impact. Purchase a pack of 40 plain cards and envelopes for $5.00 at Michael's. If you want, the photo below shows a very simple way to snaz up a plain card with colored lining and outline. (Works out great for the guys, they don't usually like "girly" stationary.)
While looking at blogs all over the internet, garlands seem to be the "it". So of course I tried one for this party. You can make a garland out of just about anything. The one below is fabric.
Bake and decorate sugar cookies the evening before. If they are kept air tight, they will be nice soft for your party. Yum, yum. Double the recipe and you have an instant party favor to send home with guests.

Flowers! Can't forget the flowers. One $10 bouquet works wonders. Find all your skinny vases and split up your flowers by type. I lined my vases up in a row on the bar . . . pretty, inexpensive, and makes a bigger impact than one bouquet which might not have enough "presence."
. . . plus, you get to enjoy them for another week!
Play games, like this one, called:
It is exacty like the hidden thimble game, only we used a little heart instead. It's a great game for ALL ages. Rules: While everyone closes their eyes and plugs their ears, someone hides the heart—in plain sight. Yes, plain site. They can't move anything to do the hiding.

When the heart is hidden all players begin to search for the heart. If the heart has been hidden correctly, the players won't need to touch or move anything to find the heart. When a player sees it, they quietly sit back down and get to watch the other players with a grin, as they now "know the secret." The last person to see the heart gets to hide it for the next round. (Kids have a great time playing right along with the adults.) Try it, you'll like it.

And lastly, what to do with the fabric from the garland? You probably guessed, make a quilt! Before I began cutting out my flags I made a rough layout of what I wanted the quilt to look like so I knew exactly what shapes to cut:

So now you know what the next project will be! (Don't you just love double dipping?) I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines and a lovely day!

Adding

I'm adding a new blog to my food section, Eat Make Read. If you like pictures of food, making food, eating food . . . you'll probably like it.

Do it With Style

I couldn't resist showing just one more fabulous find (originally posted on Maquette.) These images are from Luke Stephenson on Flickr. Go have a look, there's lots more.

Art Deco

For those of you who love the Jazz age (20's-30's) go visit Art Deco Blog. It's a fantastic resource with photography and illustration/advertising from that time period.
(Link originally found at Maquette )

Want of the Week . . .

a functional office! I can't stand it anymore. I've got all my stuff shoved into not-so-functional spaces and it's so cluttered I can't work. Everything is on the floor. So to begin, I would like some wall storage like this Akurum cabinet from Ikea.


Next on the list is a unit to hold all my larger cuts of paper—something like this Alex cabinet from Ikea—only a little more sturdy.

What have you done to make your office more functional? Tips?

Guest Book

As promised, here is a look at the guest book I made to match the most recent set of wedding announcements I worked on. It's a simple book, but it works, my bride and groom don't like fru-fru.




I chose sage as the inlay because it is one of the bride's colors. We're also getting a branch-like pen to go with the book. (Click images to view larger.)

International Blog In

Today is International Blog In day for those of us who want to get the word out about the CPSIA. It is something that has me upset and a lot of people worried.

What is the CPSIA?
In short, after a spate of imported children's products were found to contain lead, the United States Congress quickly drafted and passed the CPSIA, or the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in August 2008. This law is slated to go into implementation on February 10, 2009.

Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in childrens products (ages 12 and under) mandates third party testing and certification (of EACH product part) and requires that each item be permanently labeled with a date and batch number.

Now, under the very important auspices of child safety, the CPSIA may have grave, unintended consequences.

What's the big deal?
1. It will become unlawful to make or sell anything intended for use by children 12 or under without a program to test goods for lead. Even if no items of their kind have EVER posed a lead risk. Even if the materials were sourced from the most conscientious supplier (one who already tests for lead and phthalates) and even if they're items toddlers will never put in their mouth such as dartboards or bicycle tires.

2. Testing is so costly thousands of small businesses will be forced to close. For example, I use five different materials to make my dolls. Each part will cost around $300 to test. That means one doll will cost me $1,500+ to produce. And when I need to buy more materials, I will have to test again—even if it comes from the exact same roll of fabric I used before. Can you afford a $1,500 doll?

3. The law is so poorly written it doesn't carefully define which items are to be tested. Anything a 12 year old or under might use? So . . . towels, light switches, books, quilts, chairs . . .?
And the disclaimer, "not for children under 12", doesn't hold legal ground.

So what's going to happen February 10th?
Will the shelves in the stores be empty? Will the children's sections be taped off?
I know a lot of handmade items and small shops will quietly disappear. And it will become illegal to custom create anything that a child 12 and under might use.

So we are calling for an amendment to the CPSIA. Please tell everyone about it. Blog about it. Email the information. Get the word out. And send a letter to those who can make a difference, the news, congress etc.

How do I get started?
Etsy has provided and action kit, full of detailed information, pre-written letters for your congressmen, and links.

Click here to download the Action Kit provided by Etsy. (After clicking, scroll down a bit for the PDF kit.)

Want of The Week

I used to think chandeliers were old fashioned and ugly—what was wrong with me!? Isn't this pretty? Now I want one, or two, or three. . . . Click here to visit Great Chandeliers. (Some are even under $100!)

Digging

I'm about to make a guest book to match the wedding announcements I just finished. It's been a couple of years since I bound a book so I went digging through my boxes to remind myself how to get started. Here are a couple of fun examples I found from my bookbinding class.

Made from Japanese paper (found at Kate's Paperie in New York) the journal below is bound using a coptic stitch.

Somehow I messed it up a little and I actually doubled the loops. The correct stitch is the one on the far right. See how the two on the left are a little thicker? Although incorrect, I think I like them better.

Inside front cover.

Below are some papers I dug out of my stash from Kate's. So pretty. How can I cut them up?

Below was my final project the bookbinding class. Our teacher told us we had to learn a new binding technique on our own and somehow incorporate a box into our project. (She'd taught us how to make simple boxes.)

I made an album using a Japanese Stab stitch. The book comes encased in a green box of my own design. It turned out great for never having made anything like it before.

I am officially excited . . .

I've been trying to find (PVA) book binding glue and discovered that Paper Source carries it! And then I discovered we actually live CLOSE to a Paper Source. As I have never been, I am officially excited to go visit this evening. *sigh* I have a weakness for paper. . . . Here are some of my faves from their online store.

Want of the Week

For sale at Somethings Hiding in Here—these mustaches are my faves. I'd throw a "masquerade" party . . . only, using mustaches and beards! I even think the girls would get a kick out of it.