WOYWW #504: A handmade, fabric covered book

Well, my desk is not exactly tidy (or clean) but at least it's now serviceable. I had a little tidy up, which involved sweeping everything off my desk onto the floor - in one elegant, swift movement. Job done - for now. Stage two will involve tidying the floor, but I haven't got to that point yet. Here's my newly reclaimed work surface with my latest project in progress:

Why am I showing you all this? Well, it's all for WOYWW, where we share our work surfaces, some tidy and neat and some shamelessly messy. Mine usually falls in the latter category. 

So what's on my desk today? I bought some cheap foolscap size file folders on Amazon, cut them down to size and stuck the pages together along the folds back-to-back with some masking tape to form a flipable booklet. You can see it lying on my desk on the left. I gessoed the pages to make them withstand wet media. Then I made a cover for it using the Tim Holtz fabric I'd bought recently. 

(If anyone needs a tutorial on this binding method, I keep going back to this blog post by Wendy Burgess. This is the same method I used to bind my 2016 Life Book as well.) 

This is how my book turned out in the end. The pages lie completely flat when it's open. 

The next step will be to fill the pages but I haven't decided what to do with the book yet. I'll put it aside for now, waiting for inspiration. Perhaps I'll turn it into a photo album.

How's that for short 'n sweet today? I'll be over catching up soon with everyone! Happy #504!

WOYWW #502: My word for the year

Hello peeps - I'm here again to link up with WOYWW, the longest running blog hop in history (and I think that's a pretty safe assumption!) I was going to tidy up my desk today - but something stopped me. I could make excuses but the truth is it was plain laziness that prevented my plans. I had a go at it this morning so that I could show you a 'before' and 'after' shot but I gave up after just a few minutes so I only have the 'before' shot for now. Here it is (eeeks!):

It's getting to the point where the mess is no longer manageable so I will have to tidy up - just not now. I haven't done much in the past two weeks in the way of crafting. I've made a new tag though, that you can see on the mini easel. It was for a monthly challenge in the Tim Holtz Addicts Facebook group. The January challenge is to use tissue paper (either TH or any other) and the majority of the supplies including the focus point has to be TH. Here's a closer look at my tag:

It features my word for the year, which is GRATITUDE. This is the word that resonates with me the most right now. After years of limbo when I chose words like 'progress' and 'evolve' yearning for something more, something different, I think I am now content and happy enough to appreciate what I have instead of wanting change. 

This tag features several TH supplies: the butterfly was cut from TH tissue wrap and mounted on textured watercolour paper to give it some weight, the tag itself and the bookplate were cut with a TH die, as was the vintage lace at the bottom, the book plate was coloured with distress oxides, the numbers came from a TH embossing folder, and most importantly the ribbon was torn from a piece of TH fabric. I've bough a whole bunch of 1/4 metre strips from Cotton Patch (in the UK). Here's my stash:

I can also use these to make journal covers, tag pouches or just cut them into collage elements. I was very happy to receive these pieces of fabric - they're a great addition to my growing TH collection! 

I'm also entering this project in the Craft Stamper Magazine Anything Goes January Challenge. I made sure there was something stamped on my project, i.e. the script stamp in the background. 

Happy Wednesday to my WOYWW friends and anyone else who's visiting! xx

WOYWW #500!!!: Completed Advent Journal (Part 4)

Well, the time has come! A brand new year and #500 of the weekly blog fest What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, commonly known as WOYWW. To coincide with this milestone, I managed to complete my Advent Journal - a little later than anticipated, but I'm quite pleased that I was able to create 24 spreads over the holiday period.

Here's a photo of my desk working on one of the last pages with a special visitor present. My desk is an absolute tip and I was going to tidy it up in honour of the new year, but it never happened. I might do it later today. Then again, knowing myself, I might not.

Here are the remaining pages in order of appearance in the journal with the corresponding prompts. 

Christmas Baubles (I used the mini cards from my Christmas cracker to represent my family!)

What makes a house a home

Christmas memories (I recycled a Christmas page from an old journal)

A telephone call

Christmas wishes

I also made a spread for the inside cover with a photo of our holiday decorations to remind me of this year's Christmas atmosphere.  

I decorated the cover with some ribbon and added a bookplate to complete the look. I had to expand the spine so that the journal can be closed flat. There are plenty of videos on YT to show you how to do this - you just need some book binding tape. 

If you missed the previous posts about my advent journal, they can all be found under the 'advent' tag HERE. I've also made a quick video flipthrough: 

I'll leave you with another photo of Oreo. We were playing the Sherlock Holmes game on New Year's Eve and it didn't take long for Oreo to discover that he fits perfectly in the box! He slept there for a few hours - in fact he's in it again right now - so it must be more comfortable than it looks!

I wish everyone a very happy 2019!