Steampunk Lapbook and Other Stuff

Here we are, 4 months on from the last post. Doesn't time fly when your frozen!
It was a cold winter, and with no heating this year, all my plans for winter activities - including posting a winter garden walk-thru - went out the window. Or more appropriately, they sat huddled under a big furry blanket with a hot water bottle, watching TV and refusing to move unless absolutely necessary.

Now that it has started warming up, I have been getting into the craft room.
I have managed to get hold of a good number of old books and several sets of old encyclopedias, and promptly spent two weeks dissecting all the books and some of the encyclopedias. That means there are now book page paper packs, and hardcovers up in the Etsy shop.

And the making has begun. I have just finished a Steampunk lapbook, and a mini journal, as well as completing an altered planner. These I will actually keep for myself. People keep asking me about what I do and can I show them some of the stuff I make, and my answer is always "Ummm... well... I've never kept any of the stuff I make, so I don't have anything I can show you". Well, now I will have. And now I will start making things to put in the Etsy shop.
I had already started, with making the first in a set of pretty little envelopes made from book pages, but a number of people had been thru the house dropping off books, and the envelope walked off with one of them. The first naked journal for the shop has been completed though.

So lets start with the mini journal. This will become my Little Book of Information, where I can collate all those bits of information written on little bits of paper and sticky notes - what size is an A4 page in inches? Centimeters? Pixels (because the software I use for image manipulation works in pixels)? What about A5? What were the dimensions for the dividers for the larger planner? What ink does my printer take, again?

This pretty little journal consists of 4 signatures, each with 6 sheets. That means a nice 96 pages for info. All the sheets used to make the signatures were first tea dyed, giving them a wonderful look, feel, and sound.

At this point, I would like to introduce some book terminology.

Like so many other crafting areas, we have brought the skills and techniques from what was once a professional occupation into the general crafting masses, but never bothered to bring the proper terminologies with those skills. This has led to a lot of confusion about what constitutes a "page".

I read listings that say they have used 6 pages to make a signature, to give 12 pages, with 24 pages - or worse, 'writing surfaces'. I don't know about you, but when I'm discussing a book with someone I don't ask "what writing surface was that on", I ask "what page was that on". And when people are referring to the sheets used to make a signature as pages, then each side of the fold line also as pages, and then each side of those also as pages, or out of desperation to find a different word, refer to the actual pages as 'writing surfaces', it gets very confusing. 

So here is the basic terminology for SHEET – A sheet of paper

LEAF – Half of a sheet. Each sheet when folded in half, produces two leaves, one on each side of the fold line.

PAGE – One side of a leaf. Each leaf has two sides or pages

SIGNATURE – A group of sheets folded in half and stacked together

BOOK – A collection of signatures bound together

Each sheet produces 2 leaves, or 4 pages, so to determine the number of pages in a signature, multiply the number of sheets used by 4.

i.e. a 10 sheet signature has 40 pages.

And there you have it.
books:

Now onto the altered planner. All the laces on this are antique.

The lapbook was so much fun to do, but very labour-intensive and time consuming.

On the front, I put two bronze latches to keep it closed, which should prove very useful once it starts getting full.

The first journal for the Etsy shop is a naked journal. "Naked" means that it doesn't have any ephemera or embellishments inside, and "journal" - as opposed to "junk journal" means it doesn't have all the pockets and tuck spots that you find in junk journals. The only concession to those that I made was to put Venetian lace pockets on the inside of the front and back covers, and to include two naked tags in each pocket. Otherwise, the journal consist solely of pages.

The cover of this journal is an upcycled hardback book cover, covered with a soft cotton fabric from a piece of upcycled vintage clothing, and decorated with a beautiful shabby chic print collage.
The Journal itself consists of 4 signatures, each containing 9 sheets, which makes a total of 144 pages for journalling on.
Each signature is a mix of shabby chic printed sheets, and hand tea dyed papers. The paper used for both the printed sheets and tea dyed papers is an Eco product made from recycled paper. I do all the printing and hand tea dying myself.
In the center of each signature is a beautiful shabby chic printed envelop, for keeping small items, photos, etc.
The signatures are all hand sewn into the cover.

Well, that's it for this time. Cheers, all.

Of Neighbors, Skunk Cats, and Junk Journals

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly there was a loud "BANG!"
Ooo... good start to a story!
A little background now...

So last night, I sat down to binge watch the just-released, much anticipated, 6 part series "Good Omens" on Amazon Prime. The series is based on Terry Pratchett (of Discworld fame) and Neil Gamin's book. It is hilarious, and I can TOTALLY recommend it! The hallway walls of Hell have signs that say "Please don't lick the walls". Hmmm....

Halfway thru the bingeing around 8.30 pm, suddenly there was a loud banging on the back door. I NEVER get late visitors. Let's face it, I don't really get many visitors at any time of the day, but definitely not after dark!

Standing at the back door was a neighbour, proffering a head of broccoli. Apparently they were in the middle of making a fancy pasta dish from scratch, and suddenly realized that they didn't have any garlic in any form in the house, and could I please spare a clove of garlic, because all the shops were shut. Lol. Yeah... we've all been there! Just last week I was getting everything out to make cornbread, and discovered I didn't have any cornmeal. Oops! Fortunately I hadn't actually started it.

Well, it looks like winter has finally arrived (hence the dark and stormy night last night) - and right on time too. Yesterday was the first "official" day of winter here, and today it is cold, grey, wet, and VERY windy!

Definitely a good morning for a hot cup of coffee first thing. So I'm pattering out to the kitchen in my jammies, wrapped up in a long cardigan I use as a bathrobe, and POW! OMG, it smelled like a small skunk had gone off in the kitchen! Except we don't have skunks in New Zealand. 
OK, more backround...

About two months ago, the big tabby from down the back decided he didn't want to live there anymore, and he moved into my place. The owner was fine with that, as she was thinking of re-homing him anyway. His name is Frankie, and yeah, he's a bit of a mobster, but a really good mouser! Important, because I have been inundated with mice since the people in the flat next door - who did most of their cooking and had all their food storage in the garage - moved, leaving hordes of starving mice looking for a new food source. 

Frankie isn't too fond of Molly, the dog, and doesn't really like Sheba, my other cat. Sheba isn't too keen on the dog either, and really really dislikes Frankie. Molly doesn't like either of the cats, because they get attention she thinks should be going to her. So now I have three kiddies, all of them wanting to be only children. *Eyeroll*.

Anyway, it appears that Frankie, at some point in the middle of the night in his infinite cat wisdom, decided that the best way to prove once and for all that this was HIS house, was to spray the hutch and the big bag of potatoes in the kitchen. Pee-ewwww! And yes, he is neutered. Good thing I don't get a lot of visitors! Don't need a crystal ball to tell me that there is a big day of scrubbing ahead!

Sheba

Frankie

Molly

The Spirit Cloth is progressing nicely. Currently, I am doing the Boro stitching on a corner section. I love the way the Boro makes several disconnected layers of fabric look like a single piece of fabric, and I just adore the feel of it.

Boro stitching on Spirit Cloth Cover

With life getting back on track, I am looking at re-opening my Etsy shop, getting back into making my Fabric Books and Fabric Journals, and adding Art Journals, Junk Journals, and Junk Journal Planners to the inventory. Fingers crossed, I should have the first items in store in about 6 weeks. Next year, I hope to add online classes on making Fabric Books and Fabric Journals.

To whet my whistle in anticipation of getting into things, I made a toilet roll pocket book. Yup, it is exactly what it sounds like - a book of pockets made from toilet rolls (the cardboard rolls in middle of toilet paper), with tags in the pockets. 

There is an excellent video tutorial on how to make these by the wonderful LorriMarie Jenkins, a fabulous mixed-media artist. If you are interested in mixed media, her YouTube channel is really worth subscribing to.

Toilet Paper Roll Circus Pocket Book.

Mine is Teapot themed. I love teapots, and if I had the room I would collect them. It has all sorts of antique teapots - like the handmade silver camel from Morocco, and novelty teapots - like the octopus one from China. I have a bit of a Minion fetish, so the cover is a Minion tea set. My favorite teapot is the tiny toilet teapot (yes, a teapot in the shape of a toilet! Funky!)

Teapot Themed Toilet Roll Pocket Book

Camel Teapot and Octopus Teapot tags

Tiny Toilet Teapot tag

Hasta la vista - until we meet again. Cheers.

All Things Coffee - The making of a Treasury

Cathy is working hard trying to get all us CQIers who have Etsy shops organized to help promote our shops thru Treasuries - member-curated shopping galleries comprised of lists of up to 16 items. With Treasuries, the items are not supposed to be your own items. It is considered crass and the height of bad manners to use the Treasuries for self-promotion (there are plenty of other ways to do that). Hence, the getting together of a group of us to promote each other. It's a lovely, community-spirited idea.
I don't know how much my own shop will get promoted, as this is really a CQ thing, and I don't stock any CQ supplies (sheesh! I have a hard enough time getting them in the first place over here in NZ - I'm not gonna go selling them!), and I only have a couple of CQ finished items. My shop is more general handcrafts. But I like the idea, and am still more than happy to promote the shops of the other ladies in my CQ group. They all have such wonderful stuff.
Since I "signed up" to take part, I figured ... I had better figure out how this whole 'Treasury' thing works. So I created my first treasury. A themed one wrapped around my most favourite thing ever - the first thing I would horde in a Zombie Apocalypse, would gladly trade all my soap and toilet paper for, and would guard zealously wearing jackboots and toting a sawn off shotgun - coffee. Mmmmmm...... coffeeeeee!

 

 

"All Things Coffee" Treasury

 

I had lots of fun doing it, since it is one of those activities that caters to my obsessive need to organize and group things. I can see doing more in the future. Click on the photo, it will take you to the Treasury - there is more to coffee than just coffee.