As promised, the valentine gift card holders are in the shop and ready to ship to you! There are two designs for Valentine’s Day.

First up is the Valentine’s Day Stripe. I don’t know about you, but my family is a house full of boys and none of them get real exited about pink things. [...]]]>

As promised, the valentine gift card holders are in the shop and ready to ship to you! There are two designs for Valentine’s Day.

First up is the Valentine’s Day Stripe. I don’t know about you, but my family is a house full of boys and none of them get real exited about pink things. So I designed this one with the boys in mind. The inside is bright yellow. As usual, my sister, Jes, helped me write the inside of this one. Awesome, right? It’s bright, fun, happy and the perfect way to give a gift card or movie tickets or special coupon or a love note or something. I know you have a good idea.

Second is the Valentine’s Day Pink. The inside is putty brown card stock with a coordinating cross hatch pocket. I have limited quantities of each of these so snatch yours up before it’s too late.

I’m getting Valentine’s gift card holders ready to stock in my shop (should be there before the weekend).

The weather has been perfect lately so most mornings have been spent at the park. Life couldn’t be better.

Filled a custom order for 45 bird and butterfly notebooks. Loved working [...]]]> Here are some things I’ve been doing instead of blogging:

I’m getting Valentine’s gift card holders ready to stock in my shop (should be there before the weekend).

The weather has been perfect lately so most mornings have been spent at the park. Life couldn’t be better.

Filled a custom order for 45 bird and butterfly notebooks. Loved working on this project. Pics soon. Promise.

Cub Scout Pinewood Derby is this weekend and I am on the decorations committee. I’ll post pics soon. Can’t wait for this!

I’m working on landscape sketches for our side and back yards. Now that the sprinkler system is complete, we can lay the rock path and get the bushes planted. Hooray!

My inspiration board for our master bath is almost complete. I’m itching to get that project finished.

I spent all morning cleaning the kitchen (the kind where I sent the boys outside and they were not invited back in until I was finished). The sparkling clean didn’t last long – we decorated sugar cookies for our Family Night treat. Icing and sprinkles everywhere. Oh well.

Discovered this little gem via whatever. Enjoy.

I have a new idea for you: Jenny ordered 7 dino notebooks to use as party favors for her son’s first birthday. How great is that!? The party colors are blue and green so I stuck [...]]]> Remember these notebooks I have for sale in my etsy shop? Have you ever wondered what you might use them for?

I have a new idea for you: Jenny ordered 7 dino notebooks to use as party favors for her son’s first birthday. How great is that!? The party colors are blue and green so I stuck to those colors for the notebooks. So these pics are a sneak peek for Jenny before the real ones arrive in her mailbox.

Thanks, Jenny! Enjoy the party!

…One of my journals is included in an Etsy treasury until Friday. Check it out!

…An online auction starts tomorrow over at Bloom to benefit Benson and Claire Skinner. Take a minute to read Benson and Claire’s story on their blog. All the proceeds will go directly to the [...]]]> Just a few things I think you should know…

…One of my journals is included in an Etsy treasury until Friday. Check it out!

…An online auction starts tomorrow over at Bloom to benefit Benson and Claire Skinner. Take a minute to read Benson and Claire’s story on their blog. All the proceeds will go directly to the Skinner family. Book Bound Bindery has donated 3 sets of products for the auction and I know there will be lots of other items up for bidding. What a great way to buy some Christmas presents this year – you get what you need to give as a gift at the same time you give a gift to the Skinners. Spread the word!

…Also over at Bloom, you can sneak a peek at my Christmas mantle in their Christmas Show and Tell (great idea, right?!). I love all the decorating ideas they posted.

…I’m planning out my Tutorial Tuesdays for 2010. If you have any special requests of things you’d like to learn from me, leave a comment or send me an email.

As promised, I have new photo gift tag designs in the [...]]]>

As promised, I have new photo gift tag designs in the shop. Enjoy!

Photo gift tags are back in the shop! Just in time for the holidays. These were inspired by my toddler last year – he couldn’t read at the time, but wanted to help pass out presents. So I created these photo gift tags. Cute, right? I’ve listed 3 designs in my shop (red, blue, and green) [...]]]>

Photo gift tags are back in the shop! Just in time for the holidays. These were inspired by my toddler last year – he couldn’t read at the time, but wanted to help pass out presents. So I created these photo gift tags. Cute, right? I’ve listed 3 designs in my shop (red, blue, and green) with 3 more designs on their way (next week, hopefully). Each template is 4″ by 6″ with 4-2″ by 3″ gift card designs on it.

Here’s how it works:

You purchase a design and email me the photos you want to use on the gift tags (up to 4 photos). I customize the gift tags for you within 48 hours of your purchase and email you a proof. Once everything looks ok, I will send you the hi-res digital photo file (.jpeg) and you can print it at your convenience.

Easy.

What you need:

+ A color printer or acces to a photofinsher online (Wal-Mart, Photoworks, Snapfish, Walgreens, etc)
+ Scissors or paper cutter
+ a gift to attach the tag to

I had two goals this week:

1. Relax and 2. List the left over items from the open house in my etsy shop.

I’ve done a really good job on the first one: read lots of stories with the kiddos, ate lunch on the deck every day, raked leaves in the back yard, wrote letters, made banana muffins.

And I [...]]]>

I had two goals this week:

1. Relax and
2. List the left over items from the open house in my etsy shop.

I’ve done a really good job on the first one: read lots of stories with the kiddos, ate lunch on the deck every day, raked leaves in the back yard, wrote letters, made banana muffins.

And I only did ok on the second. A few things are listed in the shop: here, here and here. All the photos are ready for the other stuff, I just need to list them in the shop. Before Monday, I promise! If you are dying to have something, email me.

So, on to the weekend! Here are a few things I have lined up:

+ Planning a romantic dinner date with Chris because it’s his BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday.
+ Entering this giveaway over at my friend’s blog. Katie makes darling and trendy headbands and accessories for babies and their mamas. Have you gone to her blog yet? Or are you still reading this? What if I tell you she worked at Anthropologie making their gigantic, amazing window displays? Go on. Enter her giveaway.
+ Raking more leaves.
+ Wanting this nativity advent puzzle. But probably making this one instead.
+ Eating these delicious apple pie bars. YUM.

Wondering about what the photos up there have to do with this post? Nothing, really. I just think he is hilarious! Two pairs of goggles?!?! Love it. Later that same day, he snuck in the pantry and got out a bag of popcorn. At least he took it to the table, right? Pretty good for an eighteen-month-old.

Enjoy your weekend!

Journals were on the kitchen table next to the dessert counter. My Mom made pumpkin cookies, oatmeal fudge bars, cream cheese brownies and a tasty hot [...]]]> Finally. Some pics from the open house. Next year I won’t wait until 6:59pm the night of the open house to take photos of everything. But you get the general idea.

Journals were on the kitchen table next to the dessert counter. My Mom made pumpkin cookies, oatmeal fudge bars, cream cheese brownies and a tasty hot holiday drink. (Let me know if you need the recipes!)

Sticker packs were hung on the mantle. Side note about the clothespins: I thought it would be a good idea to stain all of the clothespins… sort of a messy project and about half of them are glued shut. Oops. Probably won’t do that again. Anyway, don’t you love all that Amy Butler paper?

Notebooks were displayed on my $8 bookcase from Goodwill (I painted it and now it will be Chris’ bedside table, haha). The butterfly notebooks sold out at the open house but I have a few of the other kinds left for my etsy shop.

Printable stationery and project ideas had their own wall. Lucky for me, the guys who renovated our bathroom let me have the palette the tile came on. Woo-hoo!

Wish I had a better pic of the gift card holders table. Sigh. The Christmas-style gift card holders sold out but I’m planning to make some more for the shop. Email me if you need that style and I’ll hold them for you.

I’m in love with this desk. $5. At a garage sale. Seriously. I refinished it and I couldn’t be happier with the end result. So I had to include it somewhere – it held the mailing list, business cards, scratch cards, and receipts by the front door.

Can’t wait to do this again next year!

I should get some items listed in the shop tonight. If you need to order something and don’t want to wait around for my shop to be updated, email me and I can fill your order that way.

One of the new products I’ve designed is this little blank notebook. Each notebook is hand stitched with [...]]]> The Book Bound Bindery Open House is just around the corner (Thursday, November 5th). I have a handful of new products that will be available that night at the open house and in my Etsy shop the days after.

One of the new products I’ve designed is this little blank notebook. Each notebook is hand stitched with 30 blank pages, has pockets in the covers, and has one of the four designs on the cover (dino, butterfly, bird, or truck). The covers are hand pulled prints with paper collage – so each one is unique!

Each notebook comes packaged in a parchment paper envelope.

Just shy of 5″ square, it’s the perfect size for your purse or backpack.

Welcome back for another Tutorial Tuesday! The Pocket Accordion Book Tutorial builds off of the Accordion Book Tutorial I posted last week, but you can make this even if you didn’t make the accordion book. [Or you can skip the tutorial and head straight for my etsy shop... just kidding! You can do this! [...]]]>

Welcome back for another Tutorial Tuesday! The Pocket Accordion Book Tutorial builds off of the Accordion Book Tutorial I posted last week, but you can make this even if you didn’t make the accordion book. [Or you can skip the tutorial and head straight for my etsy shop... just kidding! You can do this! Go get your supplies.]

Supplies:

paper or bookcloth for the outside cover
paper for the inside
davey board (mat board or any other kind of board)
pva glue (elmer’s glue will work)
paintbrush
ruler
xacto knife
self healing mat
bone folder or old credit card
scissors

PART A: Decide on the dimensions of your accordion book and prepare the inside paper.

This tutorial is for a 4″ by 4″ book (same as last time). So the covers will be 4″ by 4″ (same as last time). Your inside paper (mine is white this time) needs to be 7″ by 24″. You can piece the paper together if you need to.

1: Using your ruler and bone folder (or credit card) score the inside paper lengthwise at the 4″ mark. Fold.

2: Lay the paper flat again. Make a second score mark 1.5″ along side the fold you made at the 4″ mark. Fold.

3: Flatten out your paper and make a score mark every 4″ parallel to the short side (this is the same thing you did last time only your paper is 7″ instead of 4″). Fold accordion style. Flatten back out.

4: Now fold your pockets. Fold up the paper along the long fold you made in step 1. Then fold up the fold you made in step 2. Last, fold the whole thing up accordion style like you did in step 3.

5: To secure the pockets’ edges, I hand stitched them with waxed linen thread. You can sew them, glue them or use double sided tape. If you choose to sew them, first poke holes along the edge (this will make the sewing easier).

6: Then go for it with your needle and thread. Do the same thing to the opposite end.

PART B: Make the front and back covers.

This part is identical to Step 3 from the Accordion Book Tutorial. I copied and pasted those directions here. (That’s why the paper is different)

Start with the front cover. Squeeze out some glue onto the davey board. Spread it out evenly with your paintbrush. Flip it over and center it on the wrong side of the paper for your cover. Smooth out any air bubbles.

Cut off the corners of the paper at an angle, making sure to leave about 3mm between the point of the board and the edge of the paper.

Next, spread glue on one of the sides of paper. Fold over and press.

Using your bone folder, smush down the extra paper against the board. (I’m doing all these steps on top of scratch paper to protect my desk from getting glue all over.) Do the same thing to the opposite side.

Then glue down the 2 remaining sides. Prepare the back cover in exactly the same way.

PART C: Glue the inside paper to the front and back covers.

This part is identical to Step 4 from the Accordion Book Tutorial. I copied and pasted those directions here.

Spread glue on the wrong side of the front cover. Line up the inside paper with the cover and press. Smooth out air bubbles.

Then spread glue on the back cover. With the front cover face down on your desk, fold up all the inside paper so that it’s flat. Attach the back cover to the last page of the inside paper. Press down and smooth out air bubbles. Admire what a good job you did! You made a book!

PART D: Press and personalize.

Get your pocket accordion book under something heavy and leave it there overnight (I used a stack of old textbooks from my college days). Now for the fun part – personalize it! I made little positive affirmation cards to stick in my little pocket book (can you ever have too many positive affirmations laying around?!). In the next day or so the book will most likely show up near my husband’s sink before he wakes up in the morning so he can start the day off with awesome-ness.

Do you have a friend or child or neighbor who could use a little positive reinforcement? Well, good thing, because here is the positive affirmations pdf! So get to work and brighten someone’s day.

As always, you can buy this pocket accordion book from my etsy shop for less than a Hallmark card.

Happy Tuesday!