MTO: Handmade Notebooks

I finally was able to try long-stitch binding or buttonhole binding and, lucky me, I got me a commission work, too, because somebody ordered a few pieces. Yay! I'm liking this process better than coptic binding but I also still need to work on it, of course. I was glad for the order because it made me practice and learn about long-stich binding.

What I like about long-stitch binding is the book lays flat when opened, just like in coptic binding, but the stitching part is less complicated and easier than that of coptic binding. But... preparing the cover is a longer process since the spine is included.

Below are photos of the notebooks together and some detailed shots. (Me thinks the picture of the all the notebooks is pretty...) Click the photos to see a larger view.

P.S. The watermark on the photos is that of my FB store... I just redid it using my own calligraphy. :)

Paper Toys: The Walkind Dead's Rick, Daryl & Michonne

I was preoccupied making paper toys before typhoon Glenda hit the Philippines and, yes, as the title says, I did The Walking Dead's Rick's, Daryl's and Michonne's. Thanks to Enrique for sharing his templates! (Although, I'd love it if he also shared his other TWD templates especially the zombies. :))

I was also able to take photos of the paper toys, complete with backdrop and all, before the series of rotating brownouts. Don't I have much free time on my hands, huh? Haha!

First, here are photos of the paper toys and the backdrop with my ever reliable P250 desk lamp.

Now, here's the staged photo of the toys with the backdrop and a little help from Photoshop...

I'm actually thinking of tackling Adobe Illustrator to learn how to make my own paper toys (and clip arts, too) but I'm still finding time to do it. I'm too lazy for it right now. Haha! But I can't wait for The Walking Dead Season 5! Haha!

My next paper toy project: The Simpsons. ^^

MTO: Superhero Invites

Just want to show you how the superhero invites I was working on looks like when finished. It took me several tries before I made one that works. Yeah, I know, I'm a paper killer. ㅠㅠ Anyway, I love, love, love how it turned out and I'm very glad that my client loves them, too.

Here are some photos of the invites shown in different angles, plus, the matching names and seals for the envelopes, and favor tags!

It's my first time doing such kind of invitation and I really had fun working on these... I kinda wish there were more to do. I felt sad when I finished. Haha.

If you want me to make something like this for your or your child's event, drop me a message here or shoot me an email asmachica at yahoo dot com. You can also message me on my Facebook page (link at the sidebar) or my FB Shop www.fb.com/StudioPixelDust.

Old School Friendship Bracelet

My niece saw me making an old school friendship bracelet one day (the one with different colors of threads and a LOT of knotting), she got curious and asked me to teach her. I did and now she's hooked. Imagine this, she promised about 18 of her classmates she'd make them one each this summer. I don't know where she gets her energy, really. My fault, I know. Haha! Now, a trip to Divisoria won't be complete without me buying her threads.Anyway, she asked me to help make her classmates' bracelets and now I'm hooked again, too. Haha!

Here's one that I just finished, take a look.

What do you think? It's a little hard to do because of the not so flexible thick natural thread. (I don't even know what it's called. Haha!) Despite the difficulties, I lurve how it turned out! But I did make a booboo... well, not exactly a booboo but a room for improvement.

Did you notice it? One end has a knot and the other one doesn't? I'd like both ends to be knot-free but I don't know to do the other one, yet. Haha! So, what do you think?

Happy Mail Week

Last week was a happy mail week for me. Not only did I receive a very nice package but my letter for a letter-writing campaign and my hand-bound books for an online craft swap already arrived their destinations. Wee!

First of all is the letter-writing campaign. I was following a blog about a calligraphy tutorial and I saw this post about a letter-writing campaign. I am into mail swaps, I am trying to learn calligraphy, and I love anything paper, so, I joined.

I used one of the stationery I received from the craft soirée that I joined last year. I didn't take a picture of my letter anymore because my handwriting that time was crappy. Haha! Instead, here's a picture of the stationery that I used which was made by my groupmate or swapmate, Mab.

Pretty, isn't it? And very creative, too! Here's her Instagram post... you an see my messy handwriting here. Haha!


My letter finally reached Sarah of The Paper Chronicles and you can read all about it here. Thanks again, Sarah, for the letter-writing campaign! I really love the idea and I wish there are more like this.

Next is my hand-bound books for the Online Craft Swap 2014, PH version. I mailed the notebooks on Friday and it arrived the next day. Louie posted about them on Instagram and I'm really glad she liked them. You can see photos of the notebooks on my previous post.


Last but definitely not the least is my package from my swap buddy from the same online craft swap. I received it on Friday but haven't got the time to post about it, yet. It's from from someone named Melza and I do hope I get to meet her personally one day.

I love everything that she sent me! Here they are...

The felt craft is so pretty! Like what I said on my IG post, I now have the sea, the moon, and the stars in my room with a bonus cityscape, too! The art knife and mat I already have but I still love them because one can never have too many craft supplies. Agree? Haha! I'm going to put these in my everyday carry. ;) The rubber stamps... I am actually pondering over buying one set like this. Now, I don't have to because I already have one. Yay! Thank you so much Melza! ETA: Just heard from Melza and she said that the felt craft was inspired by the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong and the craft materials were bought in Shanghai. Thanks again! :D

Hand-bound Books for My Swap Buddy

I joined an Online Craft Swap her in the Philippines and what we're going to swap are handmade items or craft materials. I think there are at least 10 participants in the swap, 2 of them I personally. Deadline of sending the goodies is tomorrow and I can't wait to find out who got my name and what I'll be receiving.

Right now, I just want to show you what I'll be sending my swap buddy. She mentioned that she likes little notebooks, so, notebooks it is. :D We were asked to post a sneak peek of what we're working on on Instagram a few days ago, so, my buddy already has an idea of what she'll be receiving. She's the swap organizer and she knows I'll be the one sending her some goodies. That's one less mystery for her. Haha. Anyway, here's the sneak peek that I posted:

I made her two personalized hand-bound notebooks, one with a basic Japanese stab binding and the other one with hardcover or case binding. I personalized them by putting her name on the covers. (Yay 'cause I was finally able to use my metal stamps for the first time! Haha!) Here are some photos of the notebooks...

The last photo is with my handwritten letter together with the books. I'm currently trying the Spencerian script and thought this is a great opportunity to practice it. :)

These notebooks are off to the owner tomorrow. I hope she'll like them!

Handmade Stationery Sets

I put to use one of the handmade stationery I received from the craft soirée I attended last year by joining a letter-writing campaign. I will tell you more about the campaign next time when my letter already reached its destination. Right now, I just want to show the handmade stationery sheets that I sent the website owner. My crafty hands were itching, I just had to do some crafting. Haha. Here's what I sent her...

Wish I could have done more but I was in a hurry to go to the post office and my hand already hurt from all the doodling. Yes, these are all hand-drawn. As much as I wanted to just digitize my doodle and print it, I couldn't because my printer is still not working. Do you think she'll like it?

I also made another set of handmade stationery, this time for my best friend who's in the country for a short vacation. This time it's not doodled but hand-stamped instead. I used stamps that I recently bought and again on kraft paper.

 

I told her I had something for her and handed the set in an envelope. She opened the envelope right away to take a peek and she liked it.

Bu the way, if you'd like these handmade stationery sets, I do accept orders for them. They're great for personal collection, teachers' gifts, bridesmaids gifts, bridal shower favors, baby shower favors, etc. Just give me a holler and we'll talk about it. :)

2nd Hand-bound Book

Here’s my second attempt at making a hand-bound book. So far, so good. Both first and second attempts were successful and just needed a little improvement (the second one much much better than the first, of course)… It’s a learning process, I'm slowly getting the hang of it and I'm loving it.
Here are some photos of my second handbound book.

 

I’m going to use this book (and the first one that I made) for the tangle patterns, another hobby I have yet to post about. (Now, you’re starting to see how craft-crazed I am! Haha!)

If I’m not mistaken, this one's called Case Binding. The size of the book is 4.5″ x 5.75″ and 0.5″ thick. The inside pages measure 4.25″ x 5.5″. I used kraft paper for the lining and jute for the cover, two of my favorite materials.

You might want to look at photos of my first hand-bound book… you can find them on my Facebook page (You might want to “Like” it, too… I don’t have many friends there, yet. Shameless plugging here. Haha!), link on the sidebar. :D

P.S. I followed the very detailed instructions by James Darrow which you can find here.

Air Mail, The Little Prince and a Basschshund

Here are my recently hand-carved rubber stamps... an airmall, the little prince, and a basschshund stamps.

The airmail is for my postcard and mail swaps.

The Little Prince, well, I love The Little Prince and I'm thinking of starting a TLP collection.

The basschshund I copied from the net. A basschshund is a dachshund and a basset hound hybrid which is exactly what my Bailey is. The rubber stamp that I copied it from is actually a dachshund but I think it perfectly resembles my camera-shy Bailey. Here, see for yourselves...

Don't you think so, too?

Hand-Carved Rubber Stamps

Here’s one addition to my hobbies and collections… hand-carved stamps. I started making hand-carved stamps sometime late last year. I was surfing the net for Project Life ideas and saw it on one blog (I can't even remember which one) and next thing I know I was already buying the materials needed.

Here are the stamps that I’ve made so far... all simple ones and mostly made with my Project Life in mind (the camera, days of the week, chevron).














What do you think? I still have a long way to go when it comes to hand-carving stamps. Most of these I just copied from the net. I want to try making intricate designs! And yeah, I need to buy ink pads in different shades, too or learn how to make improvised ink pads. The only one I have is a black one. I used my Prang watercolor for the colored ones. Unfortunately, ants loved my Prang watercolor so much, I had to throw it away.

Life After Breakfast Stationery Swap

Here’s a long overdue craft soirée post.

The event was a stationery swap hosted by Alessa of Life After Breakfast and it was held on August 10 at the Pipino/Pino Resto * Bar. There were 40 attendees in all and I met a bunch of crafty people who are incredibly talented, I actually felt sorry for the stationery sets that I made. Haha!

Let me show you first how my handmade stationery set looked like, else, you’ll be disappointed when you the see others first. Haha! The first photo is what’s included in my set plus plain colored envelopes (not in picture) and the second photo is how I packaged them using a brown paper bag, a paper doily, and baker's twine. I used rubber stamps to label them.





Now, onto the craft soirée… here are some photos from the event (sorry, I took very few shots).




Names of the participants in our group....


Stationery set from my groupmates...


Stationery sets of all the attendees...


Souvenirs from the event were a bag, temporary tattoo and a sticker sheet...


Robot of one of my groupmates...


Some of my groupmates and me...


The event started with an introduction by Alessa then we introduced ourselves one by one and said a little something about the stationery sets we made. After that, we distributed a set to each of our group mates, except for Alessa who has a set for everyone. So, we all gave away 10 sets and received 10 sets as well. Happy, happy me!

It was a really fun event and I’m looking forward to more craft soirées in the future. I promise to try to be more creative next time. I heard that the next one will be a jewelry swap… hmmm… will think hard about it as I don’t really make jewelries… but I can try… we’ll see.

You can read more about the swap here.

P.S. I've posted individual photos of the stationery set I received on my Facebook Page.