Some time back I signed up for a blog meetup – ‘Mixtogether’ – held by Nichola & Justine (aka the crafty girls behind Mixtape Zine). Sounded good – come up with a crafty gift (the theme this time being Creative Journals), turn up, meet & greet other crafty-bloggy girls, eat & drink yummy stuff. Yay. Only we know how good I am with deadlines, so it’s probably not terribly surprising to you that – with the Mixtogether on today – I was just starting my gift two days ago!
Anyway, long story short (too late!). I got it all done in time with only a few moments of panicky stress and swap anxiety (would it be good enough? would I be laughed out of Amitie in shame?) I’ve been meaning to have a go at some bookbinding for ages (Dermot gave me this book for Christmas – it came in handy). This binding is a Japanese stab binding, with a hinged front cover. I’m pretty happy with the outcome, and I’m pretty sure Nichola liked it too 🙂
Here’s the inside of the journal so you can see the funky end papers (it’s difficult to photograph a book that by design does not lay flat):
And to go with this, I whipped up a pencil roll which is a slightly more grown up version of the crayon and pencil rolls I’ve made before. This kind of just evolved from fabrics I had in stash. It’s a little bit reminiscent of the aesthetic of two of my very favourite bloggers, I think (Tree Fall and Soulemama).
Here’s the inside – Finn helped me to pick out floss colours to match all the coloured pencils (they’re watercolour pencils, in case you’re wondering about the paint brush there in the middle):
And a close up, coz I just can’t get over those little circles! They were fun to stitch while we were watching the Olympic opening ceremony last night:
Despite me feeling less than perfect (random virus #27 (or so) for the year is still hanging about, and I have an ongoing headachy thing), the mixtogether afternoon was lovely. I received a beautifully made portfolio from Jane, but that will have to wait for some morning light before I get photographs. I’m dragging me and my sore head off to bed.