Hello my lovelies! How are you doing? We are all good here in Two Crafty Brownieland. We have been making and creating, and generally feeling much happier with things this year. We have some new plans in the pipeline, read on till the end and you'll find out!
Lucy has been playing with leatherette, wasn't that pouch gorgeous!?! I'm so hoping I get to road test one, for research purposes of course!
If you follow us on social media, you may have noticed I have become a bit obsessed with book binding. I have been mulling over this and thinking back to how it all started.
I think it first began in this gorgeous little shop, Number Four, in our beloved Scottish Borders. This shop is near the little town of St Abbs and whenever we go to stay there we have a little visit. They sell lovely handmade things, and two little books (pic above) caught my eye. One was the little red notebook. It had obviously been made by hand, with a block printed cover, sewn in signatures and an elastic closure. As I examined this book, I began to wonder if it was as tricky as it looked to make. You know how it goes, darlings……..the Ideas Fairies start fluttering around in our heads…… then I saw the black sketch book, which has gorgeous Coptic binding (are you impressed?). This looked more tricky, but I had been toying with the idea of starting to draw and paint, so that one fell into my basket too.
Back home, I searched on the fabulous Creativebug site, which I subscribe to for the princely sum of $5.00 per month. They had several classes on bookbinding and making bookcloth and I was hooked. Things got a bit crazy in the run up to Christmas, but in those lazy days after, I decided to give it a go. I wanted to make a journal to round up Christmas and start off the new year. I dug out my favourite pointsettia fabric and started gluing and folding papers. The result was the book above, which I just love.
Quietly alongside this Lu and I have been dreaming of running some workshops. We love talking to people, and the markets we did, where people seem to be afraid to catch your eye in case they have to buy something just didn't do it for us. As you know, we are passionate about sharing what we have learnt. Coincidentally, our local garden centre, which is a beautiful little oasis in the city, approached us about running some workshops. We are so excited! I have been putting together a gardening journal to teach people to make.
I used an envelope and some gardening mags to make the collaged cover......
Pretty paper on the inside, and string to hold the pages in.....
The pages are from a selection of papers..... and slide under the string....
I have added some charms and a pretty ribbon.
I love the potential of these journals. They could be used for so much…..planning, organising, documenting, scrapbooking.
Meanwhile, Lu has been also working away, and on Monday I went over to hers to learn how to make this gorgeous wall art. Isn't she clever!!
So, darlings, that's it from me. If you are in or around London and want to be kept in the loop about upcoming workshops, let us know at [email protected], or send us your email via the contact tab at the top of the page.
Hugs and kisses!!
Jenny xxxxxxxxx
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