Racecourse Rd Street Festival

Hello there!
I've been a little absent lately enjoying a bloggy break and also being very busy at work. Tomorrow is the Art Show at school so I have been crazy busy (and anxious!) getting it all together! Fingers' crossed for tomorrow.

Also taking up my time has been preparing for my next market. This Sunday I'll be at the Racecourse Rd Street Party sharing a stall with bella Bel from EmBelISH so have been having fun getting ready for this. A whole bunch of BrisStylettes will have stalls out the front of St Augustine's (where our last BiDM was). I can't wait - it's going to be huge! (drop by and say 'hi'!)

Here is a pile of my new recycled books that I've been making from cereal boxes and paper ephemera - the 'Mills and Boon' covers have been used too. They just need their threads snipped and they're ready to go!

Somewhere hidden in my 'to do' pile (well, one of them anyway!) is a bunch of Little Jellies waiting patiently for completion ...

I can't see me getting these babies finished in time for Sun (such a shame!). Some of them seem to be quite worried about this, but I told them that it's ok - they can come to the BrisStyle Christmas Market!

These are fun!

I've got into making a few things lately. As well as some more cute Little Loxies I've got on the go, I thought it was time for something new too (I get bored so easily - such a short attention span!).

We keep cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes at our place. When the pile gets too big, the boxes make their way to school with my boy and go into the big tubs full of exciting 'making things' materials. However, recently I have been keeping some of these boxes for my own 'making things'.


I have made four little moleskine-style notebooks using the cardboard from cereal boxes. They are fun to make because I then go through my stash of wonderful ephemera (and it is quite a sizable stash so it's nice to make use of it!) to find a suitable image to glue onto the card. So, the boring, printed side of the cereal box gets covered up with retro loveliness and you can still see the cardboard on the inside.


Two of these cover pictures are from illustrations in 1960s women's magazines - I love the daggy style of these so much !


The other two are from pages of a glossy (and large) Tasmania 1960s tourist book - flipping through the book is like a step back in time!


I've uploaded these for sale on my jellygnite etsy shop and today I found some 'Mills & Boon' books with wonderful old covers on them so I'm looking forward to using these to make some more!

'BiDM' books and lovely friends

BiDM = BrisStyle Indie Designers Markets (cool eh?!) and they are just around the corner!!! oh my, I think I'm starting to get a little stressed ... and super excited!! Oh, and I'm also on holidays for the next 2 and a half weeks ;)

Here are some lovely ladies ready for their big day at the BrisStyle Indie Designers Markets.

I really love making books and journals, and get so inspired by the fabulous things the BEST members make too. These journals have a stab-bound pad inside as well as a little pocket for goodies.


I think these little note-pads (below) are my favourites; they're nice and small, simple and have lovely images from old story-books on the cover. I'd like to make more of these!

My problem is I flit from thing to thing; while I was making some new brooches for the market today, I felt the sudden need to abandon them and go and make some more books! Oh dear, my attention span is on the small side, methinks!


In the past couple of years, I have gained many 'bloggy' friends and lovely, crafty BrisStyle friends too. I was so chuffed to receive the 'Love Ya' award recently from both Helen from Ruby2GoGo and Amanda from TwinkleStarArt - two very lovely BrisStylettes - thank you :)

This award is bestowed on the blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award. Then let everyone know seven things about you.

me:

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I don't get anywhere near enough sleep - too many things I want to squish into my days!
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I am currently in the 'twilight' zone - lost in the world of Edward and Bella (and I wish I was a vampire to solve my problem above!) After having countless students (10 -13 years of age) recommending the book for me, I was finally convinced when Helen raved about it ... I figured I was going to hold a lot more weight to a grown-up's view of the series, rather than a young girl's!!
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(I think I may have mentioned this one already...) I am on holidays at the moment!! :D
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I wish that there was one thing that I was really good at, instead of being ok at lots of little things
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This month, I taught myself to crochet and am making granny squares to make into a throw for our (electrifyingly) blue lounge; I calculated how many I'm going to need - I'm hoping to finish before next winter!
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Not a secret, but I really love making things - really love it. I guess I am lucky to be an Art teacher to small kids.
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I used to be a waitress for 7 years while at uni - I never want to do that ever again (this desire, therefore, prevents me from doing any further study!!), but I do still enjoy carrying dinner plates up my arm!

I am passing this on to the following friendly, funny, self-effacing, inspirational and fun blogs ... I know that this is a double-up of the award for some of them, but I think they deserve it! ;)

1. Hey Harriet: Tracy inspires so many people to chase shadows every week as well as sharing her own beautiful images and adventures. (and I always have a little chuckle at the random surreal generator too ... hee hee!)

2. HotFudge: I love hearing Robyn's adventures, listening to her sage advice, and of course, cracking up at her little jokes!

3. edward and lilly: Rebecca has so much style and grace in the beautiful things she makes. I enjoy her 'shopping lists'.

4. Lisa's RetroStyle: I love reading Lisa's blog and discovering (and getting mighty envious!) of her new vintage and retro finds!

5. littlechrissy: Chris is very good at reminding me to appreciate the little things in her 'grateful Monday' posts.

6. The Small Stuff: Bec's blog was one of the first ones I found in bloggy land - I love her writing style and enjoy her stories about her kids ;)

7. Ruby2GoGo: Helen is such a wonderful, thoughtful gem with an eye for glorious Brisbane retro! :D oh! and she's pretty good at organising the best markets too!;)

8. TwinkleStarArt: An amazing illustrator - I love peeking into Amanda's sketchbook on her blog and amazing that her stories about her 2 year-old sweetie are exactly the same as my stories about my 2 year old!! hee hee!

Back to my brooches for BiDM now!

Handmade Book Swap #6

Yesterday I received my book for the 6th BEST Book Swap. It was all the way from Bonn, via Canada to my door! My book, well, two books actually, were made by Hilke from Buechertiger . They are so stylish and lovely. The books are quite small (which I love!); the biggest one fits in the palm of my hand!


BEST is the etsy street team of book binders; we have been having swaps every three months and I've participated in every one of them. I love the idea of making a new book (usually something I haven't made before) and then packaging it up for it's journey! The book I made this time was Japanese stab- bound with the covers covered in 1940's wallpaper with a little peep-hole in the front. (I made one similar to this, but smaller for our recent BrisStyle 'lucky-dip')


You can see the rest of the lovely books from the 6th swap at the BEST bookbinders blog.

Happy Friday everyone!

Spoilt Rotten!

One of my simple pleasures in life is receiving mail (nice mail, not the 'bill' variety!) from the postie. I've been a 'mail-lover' since I was a little girl - as soon as I could write!
And, I have been such a lucky girl this week. Today, three packages arrived for me!!

The first was my gorgeous little book that I bought from Bexx. So tiny and perfectly made .. and my favourite colour too!
The next was a super-sweet surprise from lovely Helen from ruby2gogo. She sent me a gorgeous pouch (love the fabric!) for my newly bought bracelet (similar to this one) and a fantastic 'Wonderwoman' ring!! woo hoo :D All packaged up so nicely. Thank you Helen.

My third parcel was a great pack of goodies that I won from the lovely Jess at 'Button Beauty' (I thought I was one of those people who never wins anything!! so glad I was wrong!!) I am so lucky in winning her gorgeous pack of goodies. I was gob-smacked at Jess's generosity - she included vintage pillowcases, vintage tea-towel, op-shop Eskimo place-mats (so cool!), yarn, fabric pieces, vintage trim, seeds for our garden, fair trade chocolate and a great apron she made herself! Thanks again Jess!

Wow! Lucky me :) I'm so inspired to get into my sewing now with these beautiful fabrics and the ones I got from Bec too. I'm off to bury myself in my stash! ;)

How to ... a book tutorial

Here is the tutorial on how to make an ‘old book cover’ journal, it's my first tutorial, so I hope it’s ok and easy to follow. Any comments welcome! Also, if anyone actually makes one, I'd love to see it!

1. Find an old book with an interesting cover, a good size (I like small ones!), and one that has damaged, yellowed pages (it will make you feel better about taking it apart!)

2. Carefully cut the page block away from the cover. Decide first whether you’d like to keep the end papers (sometimes old books have gorgeously patterned endpapers … this one didn’t though)

3. To neaten the bare spine, measure and cut some paper to cover it. I used a page from the book, which is the perfect height, but it was very brittle so I had to be careful it didn’t rip. The size of the spine cover should be the height of the book page and about 25mm wider than the spine.

4. To make the pages for your book, measure one of the old book’s pages and take 5mm off the side and top measurements. Decide on the number of pages and the type of paper you want and cut your pages to size. (Don’t make your stack of pages too thick, otherwise it will be very difficult to sew up – mine was 4 – 5 mm thick)

5. Sew up your pages using the Japanese Stab Binding method. There’s a great little explanation of how to do it here. Bundle your pages with heavier paper on the top and bottom and attach with bulldog clips so they don’t move while you’re sewing it up. You can use an awl or a very strong needle to make your holes (and having an old phone book underneath will save the table from lots of little holes!). The thread I used was stranded cotton that I ran through a candle to wax it. Waxed thread works heaps better.

6. Glue your sewn book block to the book cover. Use PVA glue and weigh it down with a heavy book once you’ve attached it to the book cover.

7. If you’d like to, you can create a little pencil holder to run down the spine. I used a thick-ish piece of paper. The dimensions of the paper should be about 50mm wide and as long as it needs to be, mine was 115mm. Fold back about 15mm on each side, glue each surface and then glue to spine. I found it easier to have the pencil in while I was gluing so that it kept the right shape.

7a. Alternatively, you could make a little paper ‘tab’ to glue in the spine, and then attach a map etc. to it (like in my NZ travel journal).

8. Choose some paper to make your ‘ephemera pocket’ out of. Again, I used one of the old book’s pages, but glued it to another stronger piece of paper. (I loved the chapter title at the top of the page, "Seth Washes a Handkerchief" so I had to use it!!)

Cut your paper to size, mine was 100 x 110mm, so that it fits nicely in the cover. Fold under 10 – 15mm on the sides and bottom and snip out the corners. Glue to the cover. Squash this bit under a heavy book too.

9. Your book’s done! You might like to lacquer or wax the outside of the cover to protect it more. Now you’re ready to write your travel journal, jot down your thoughts, or place your book by the phone for those important phone doodles or messages!

Ticking Off

I am a bit of a listmaker / systems girl; I have 'to do' lists and little ideas notebooks strategically placed around the house. So I felt very happy when I was able to tick two things of my list last night - compiling my NZ travel journal and finishing my work table.

We went to NZ in April which was a very big adventure with two small kids but so fun. My travel journal has been piled up in bits and loose pages ever since we got back. I compiled it all last night; made a little envelope for the bits of ephemera, stitched the pages together, attached a map and enclosed them all within the covers of an old book. It didn't actually take that long and left me wondering why on earth I let it sit for so long without doing it!

My boy made one too which I sewed up a little while back. He had a 'diary entry' for each day and chose 2 postcards to be the cover (he chose cows?). He is very pleased with his little book and I love remembering our holiday through his eyes. (not such a good photo, sorry)

Next was my beautiful new work table. It's an old kitchen table that I scavenged from the council kerbside pickup in summer. We saw it driving home from dinner one night, I got so excited and demanded we pull over. I fell in love with the shape of the legs, the chrome tubing on the corners and the blue laminate panels. Unfortunately it wasn't going to fit in our car. Heartbroken we drove the rest of the way home, but when we arrived, and with the kids safely in bed, J said he would go back and get it for me (my hero!). So, armed with a drill and with the back seats down he went and rescued my lovely table.

The top was covered with faux woodgrain contact adhesive which was hiding the original laminate. When I pulled it off I discovered the lovely blue check laminate to be damaged, faded and discoloured. So I used a lovely piece of paper that I got in Thailand many years ago and some fibre paper at each side to top my table. It's lacquered a nice honey colour and you can see the pattern of the laminate underneath which I like. You can see the table top in the first photos.
My old work space, an old school desk, was very tiny and prone to giving splinters! A definite improvement and very conducive to work!

Now... back to my list!