Home Sweet Home

I have to say it's good to be home. I had a lot of fun on vacation, but it is good to sleeping in my own bed again. I spent some time with my mom, went to a wedding, and spent some quality time on the Oregon Coast in the pouring rain. I got some really great pictures between some monster storms, had some great cheese and ice cream in from Tillamook.

Upon arriving home I ran straight to my studio and created a new little folded photo album. I love the bright orange in this book, its a nice difference from the grey skies we have been having in Oregon. This new book has already been listed in my shop! In other exciting news I recently got a great deal on some larger paper to start making 6" square origami books with! I've had several requests so look for those coming soon!

VACATION!

I'll be off for vacation for the next week and a half. It starts with a wedding for a long time friend, and his amazing wedding album can be to the left. After going to the wedding I will be headed back to this side of the state to spend the rest of my vacation in Lincoln City watching the winter coastal storms with my families. I am looking forward to a great vacation but I will miss being away from all of my book binding tools when I have the free time to use them!

BEST Treasury!

The BEST team has an amazing treasury up for the next 17 hours or so. Please stop by and check me out along with some other amazing book binders!

Holiday Shipping!

Time is almost out to get items shipped in time for the holidays! Any items ordered over the weekend will be shipped out first thing Monday morning and *should* reach anyone in the US before Christmas! Lots of great items were added to my shop this week so stop by and take a book home!

BEST Sale!

The book binding Etsy street team is having a sale for the next week! My shop has 10% off your purchase, you must include the keyword "bestbooks" in the notes to seller to receive this discount.
For a list of other participating shops check out the team blog!

Craft Show!

I have a show coming up this weekend and I am getting very excited! I'll be in the studio all day working up new designs and a new show table design.
This was our last show and the table cloths were provided, I liked the red but I might move to something else as we are providing the table cloths for the show on Friday.

In other exciting news I finished my finals last week and have 4 whole weeks to enjoy in my studio without any homework or stress! I'll hopefully be spending some more quality time on the blog as well as the studio.

Loving it!

I had a great weekend, I got to spend most of my time in my studio creating more wonderful items. I created this beauty over the weekend. It was a custom order and a blast to create- it is a heavy sketch weight paper that was cut with a dull paper knife so the edges are rough and not every page is the same size.

I have a local show coming up next week and after that I will be listing several new origami books, a new style of brag book, and some larger books if they don't sell. Of course I would be delighted if they sold, then I would just have to make more for my non local customers!

More Custom Orders!

This is another custom order I had the pleasure of creating this week! It is another Celtic Weave stitching, but this time I alternated the colors on the stitching and I'm very happy with the results. I also added another Celtic Weave to my store last night, it has red and black stitching with a great retro 1950's pattern on it.

Custom Order Finished!

I finished the custom order I had hinted at earlier this week, it is a stunning 11x14 photo album with a custom celtic weave stitching on it. Due to it's size and the fact that it is going to Canada I also had to construct a clamshell to mail it in! It was a very exciting project, you can see more of it here.

I have another custom order on deck for this week and hopefully a few other books for the store over the long weekend.

America Recycles Day- November 15th

November 15th is America Recycles day! Pictured to the right is one of my upcycled (or recycled) Kimono remnant books that will soon be on Etsy for your purchasing pleasure. Myself and several members of the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team (BEST) offer great books made with recycled materials. Find our books with the tag "bestbooks" to find recycled books use "bestbooks recycled".

The EPA has some simple suggestions on how everyone can make a difference!
1. Buy recycled products. When we buy recycled products, we create an economic incentive for recyclable materials to be collected, manufactured, and marketed as new products.

2. Purchase durable, long lasting goods.

3. Re-use items by repairing them, donating them to charity and community groups, or selling them also reduces waste.

4. Use a product more than once, either for the same purpose or for a different purpose. Reusing, when possible, is preferable to recycling because the item does not need to be reprocessed before it can be used again.

5. Reduce your packaging: buy bulk or concentrated products when you can.

6. Another form of recycling is composting. Composting is the controlled biological decomposition of organic matter, such as food and yard wastes, into humus, a soil-like material. Composting is nature's way of recycling organic wastes into new soil used in vegetable and flower gardens, landscaping, and many other applications.

Custom Orders!

I love custom orders! I got one last week that I've been working on. We've picked the front covers, now I need to work on what color the inside pages will be! That is where you my dear readers come in handy! As you can see the paper is a lovely tan with a great gold circle leave flower pattern- Any suggestions for an inside color would be great!

Little Update

My shop and blog banners got a little blog update today! Stop by the shop to see the full new banner and my newest origami book! Magyar Posta is my newest addition to the shop and features two stunning stamps from Cuba.

Finally!

I've only been talking about this book for 2 months- but the Celtic Weave book is finally for sale in my etsy store! It took me a long time and several tries to get picture that I was happy with, but I think it was well worth the effort!

I also have 2 more origami books and a new kimono book shot that I will hopefully have time to edit over the weekend!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! While I don't have any plans to get dressed up and go out we did carve pumpkins this weekend. My husband and I had a few friends over and our kitchen was turned into a pumpkin factory. We cleaned & carved 3 pumpkins and roasted the seeds in two different flavors. They turned out really really good and I've been eating them up! I'm almost tempted to go get a few more pumpkins just to roast the seeds. I hope whatever your plans are that you have a safe and happy evening!

Shop Love!

My Etsy shop got some much needed love today! This lovely photo album was added. I also got two other books photographed and will be photoshopping them after dinner tonight. Look for the celtic weave book and a new origami book to show up over the weekend!
You can find this amazing album here!

Sweet Relief

I just spent the last 40 minutes doing what I love... I cut up some paper, folded it up, stabbed it, and sewed up a delightful text block. I'm working on a custom Kimono book and I'll be honest I'm slightly behind schedule on it but it's gonna be great. She picked the pinky/brown fabric and I couldn't be more excited about it. I'm gonna finish it up tomorrow morning, and send it on it's happy little way.
In other news the show is over, I'm alive, and all my school work is caught up for the next day or so. Hopefully I'll find time to squeeze another book in before I get burried in my homework.

Jitters

I have another show tomorrow, sitting at our street team meeting on Wednesday showed me just how green I am at all of this. Everyone was talking propay, knuckle busters, and a million other terms I had never heard before....
I am starting to get nervous and if this goes well for me I guess I'll have to learn what all of those mean. I don't really want to get heavily into shows but if I do well I might reconsider that stance. This has been nothing but lots of stress on top of school, the deadline was just too much for me. I like that Etsy is done on my own time, when I have the time or want to make the time.

That being said everyone cross your fingers and wish me luck!

School & Colds

I've been so busy with school and trying to beat a cold that I really haven't been up to too much, and therefore haven't had anything to post about!
I got my first "midterm" back today and I got 87% on it, which was a good 10% above the average. With that, my lab scores, and homework schools I have an A and I couldn't be more excited!

So while I still feel terrible from this cold I'm feeling pretty good about my decision to go back to school. I was really worried for a week or so! Now I just need to find a balance between, school, work, keeping a clean house, and time to make books!

The rain is here....

Welcome to life in the Pacific Northwest, it started raining last week and it is here to stay. The rain put a damper on our trunk show and we had a weak turn out but I still sold two of my books. Which I was very excited about. We are doing a show in two weeks in a better location and I am hoping it goes better.

I've got a few new books that I will be slowly adding new items to the store this week as homework allows. The first of those books is this new Kimono remnant book, its a soft cover with a decorative spine, you can check it out in my etsy store.

Trunk Show!

The Eugene Etsy street team is having our second trunk show this weekend! I am showing in this one and am very nervous about it! I have so much to do today and so little time!
Everyone wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes!


This lovely picture is a new style of binding that will be making it's way into my store (if it doesn't sell this weekend) called a Celtic weave. I love it as it is sturdier than a coptic bind, and it still opens flat- plus it just looks awesome!

New Street Team!

I joined a new street team last week and it's been very exciting so far! We have had two treasuries and for the next 2 days you can see one of my works featured in this one!
I am organizing our business card swap, we have an exciting book swap in the works, and other projects coming down the pipes!
We are the BEST- Bookbinding Etsy Street team- pretty clever eh? I didn't come up with the name but I love it! We are moving our team blog to be more informational for the public so please stop by and check us out!

The lovely book abovet is Eugene, a waterproof vinyl book!

Hair Cut!

I did this today ----> (well a professional did it, but I was there)
Very exciting, I took off at least a good 8 or 9 inches, and I cut in these crazy bangs. I haven't had bangs since I was in 2nd grade so this is going to be a crazy experiment. Hopefully it works because I'm stuck with it.
It looks cute today when she did it, hopefully I can do the same when I try on my own. Thats always the part I am the worst at so wish luck tomorrow morning!
The good news is that we cut so much that it is going to locks of love, hopefully they use it!

Books, Books, Books!

I've just added 3 new books to my flickr page, 2 of which will be going into my shop and the third will be a gift for my friend.

This book was the long fabled exposed spine I've been rambling about for 2 weeks. I'm really proud of how it came out and can't wait to try some of the more advanced sewings. I got the first three of Keith Smith's books for my birthday so I think I'll be making more of this style in the weeks to come.

This next book was going to go into my store, but the exposed spine is going instead. This book will be a birthday present for my friend and it's wrapped in a lovely Italian paper with gold accents and has a delicious chocolate book cloth along the spine.

Happy Birthday To Me!

It's my birthday! I haven't opened any presents yet (aka slept in too late) but I am excited about getting to them tonight. I'm in the birthdays page on Etsy, but it hasn't brought me any views or new hearts (yet) like I was hoping it would. I've been looking through there from time to time and I've found some neat sellers that way.
I'm looking forward to a scrumptious dinner later tonight at a to be decided location- I can't decide what sounds best right now- a great steak or a good plate of noodles. We have some really great places for both, and I'm so stuffed from the lunch my boss bought me I might not be ready for dinner for sometime!

The long fabled decorative exposed spine book is done, but I need a birthday present for a friend so she gets the first one! I'll get some pictures of it up to share later this weekend. While that is very exciting news I am still in a binders block about what to do for my large photo album. I have the pages cut and folded, I just can't decide on a binding style or paper to use for it. It's really starting to bum me out. I've also got two new books coming with the same great decorative paper from Italy that are drying in my press as I type. One will be a traditional case bound while the other will be a double needle coptic book. I'm excited about getting them both done and hopefully they will be done and in the store by the 18th.

New Idea!

I recently came into ownership of a book on exposed spine sewings that I have been pouring over it all weekend. I have the first signature on a book and I can't decide to leave it as is or to add more signatures. The stitching is stunning loop pattern and I have it on the same fabric as the as the sold book to the right. I'm very excited about this book and it has me back to binding again.

I'm not sure about the photo album that I have cut but not bound yet. This is a strange thing for me, I've been staring at this for 2 months now and haven't been able to finish it. I just can't seem to find the right paper for it. I went to a paper source this weekend as well and I still couldn't find anything I liked for it. Hopefully this binders block will be over soon and I'll be back to binding beautiful books for you soon. In other news I have 4 new origami books half done, look for them coming soon!

Oh and I went to Ikea again this weekend, I bought a new table and chairs :)
They aren't online or I would show you but I'm really excited about them. I need to craigslist my old set before I can construct this set. Once I get it set up I'll share a picture!

Back to the grind stone

Vacation was awesome! I had a blast, we had a few schedule changes too! We didn't make it to the Chinese gardens or Saturday market, we went to the Zoo instead and saw the live butterfly exhibit!
My mom spent a major part of a day in Ikea, she's remodeling and was in heaven with all the options. We found all kinds of neat treasures, but all I walked away with was a new clothes rack, tea pot, shoe rack, & super awesome print. The print I got was in the "half price" area but it was discount much beyond 50%. It has a tiny defect in the finish but it looks awesome above my bed. The pic to the side is my $10 score from Ikea.
I could go on for ages, but I won't bore you all. I'm home and will be back to work soon!

VACATION!

I am taking a much needed vacation this week/weekend and I can't wait! I'll be two hours north of home in Portland hanging out with my Mom. I haven't taken a real vacation in almost 2 years so this is a well deserved break! We will be going to OMSI to see Body Worlds, visiting the Chinese Garden and enjoying a pot of tea, going to the antique stores in Sellwood, enjoying all the great crafts at Saturday Market, and take a trip to the very crazy, newly opened Ikea.

All and all it should prove to be a great weekend. It's my Mom's birthday and the book included on this post is her birthday present. She asked for a photo album filled with pictures from my wedding earlier this summer. This book was a lot of fun to bind as it had been awhile since I had done an old fashion case bound book. I love the way it looks & am glad to know it's going to a loving home.

Graduation Weekend!

Busy weekend for me! My husband is graduating with his Masters in Education! Hopefully I'll have some pictures and a new book to share soon!

Treasury Love!

I got some great treasury love today, my stamped and stabbed journal is featured until Wednesday morning! Hop over and have a look at at great treasury!

More Fun With Stamps

I got hit with a stroke of inspiration the other day after finding this stamp in my mess of a studio. This is one of my origami books that I wrapped in a simple cream paper and stuck this fantastic humming bird stamp on.
I love the way this came out, and you can find more information and pictures about this book here.

Trunk Show!

The good people of the Eugene Etsy Street Team have put together our first trunk show!
We will be hosting our first party at a members house and 3 of us (not myself) will be showing. While I am not showing at this show I've gotten 14 little packets ready to go into the goody bags and I'm hoping they will bring some sales my way! Each packet has a mini book, an "informational postcard" aka just a bit about me, and 2 business cards. Each of the mini books has my shop name/address on them. The green ones have my stamp on them while I had to write it on the white ones- you can't see the detail but it's from the same paper as my wedding album and there wasn't going to be any stamping on it!
Wish Eugene luck as we start this exciting new project!

New in the Etsy Shop!

My store front is expanding from books to other paper crafts as well. Most book binders also make boxes, usually to house and protect their books. These however came from my wedding and my going totally overboard in production for favors.
They have an introductory price as I'm not sure they are something I am going to continue to carry. If you are interested they can be found here.

In other news I almost have my studio ready for work, I seem to have misplaced my box knife and without that I can't finish a book but I've been playing in my paper looking for the perfect cover for my newest creation. It will be a 9"x9" photo album to hold 28 pictures.... if I could only find that box knife.....

Out Of The Ether

I'm back!

The dust is settling and I'm working on get back into the swing of things. I've almost got my studio completely unpacked and I got to take this great listing out of edit mode last night!

I promise to have some wedding pictures up as soon as I get them! There are all my husbands computer and we have been on totally different time schedules this week.

Hope to see you all around soon!

Wedding Madness!

Wedding Guest Book Both Covers
Originally uploaded by Kiley's Handmade Books

It's getting closer! AHAHAHA

That being said I finally finished my guest book, with a week to spare :D
Next up on the list is the millions of boxes I am making for wedding favors. They are going to be stuffed with salt water taffy as it's a coast wedding and all.
You can see more pictures of the album by clicking on the links under the photo. I'll also be adding more pictures as the week goes on of the boxes.

Moving & Wedding Madness

As some of you know I'll be getting married soon. Turns out I'll also be moving... in a week. Next Friday the 22nd is the big day where I double my square footage from 550 to 1100! I get upgraded to a washer and drier & a dishwasher too!

I am very excited to set up my new "studio" area and get back to work. My first order of business after the move is our wedding guest book, then I'll be back to work on things for my etsy shop.
Thanks for all your support and understanding! I'll see you back in a few weeks!

My how time flies!

I had planned to have the rest of the series up yet but then life took over and my allergies have had me in bed and miserable and not in my studio.
While I haven't been working on my books today I did some work on this blog!
I have added some great shops to the links on the right, take some time to check them out!

To answer sheknits questions this is my awl it pokes the holes in the paper before the needle goes through the holes. As you can see it tip is very small and it gets thicker, you push the awl in to certain points for different books. Coptic books need the awl pushed to the thickest point as the thread goes through each hole several times. A case bound book only needs a small hole as the thread on goes through once.
There are many different styles of Awls and I have several but I always come back to this one. It's my favorite awl, I'll dig around for 20 minutes to find it rather than use my other ones. Not sure why but I love this one and will be sad when it breaks.

Sewing the sections

This picture shows all the sections of a book neatly folded and ready to be sewn. It also shows my linen thread and my hunk of natural bee's wax used to wax my thread with. You wax the thread to keep it from knotting up on you. There are many different stitches that can be used when making a book, this book was sewn with linked stitches and kettle stitches on the ends.

How a book is born!

This is the first post in a series to come showing how I construct a book. Today's post shows the first steps of starting with a larger sheet of paper and either folding or cutting it down to the correct size. The two tools shown are my bone folder and my paper knife, very important items to every book binder. The bone folder gets used on almost every step of the process, I have 3 different folders but thats another post.
The pages shown here were used to create the blue kimono book below.

Another Great Kimono Book

This is my newest addition to my Etsy shop! It is another book made from kimono remnants, this one is a "rougher" silk but i love the texture it has and the understated beauty. It sports a black silky ribbon for a book mark. This is one you just need to have in your hands to understand how great this book is! If you want to take this book home you can find it here!

New Favorite!

I'm just so fickle! I try to love all my books equally but it's just so hard! This is my new fav! My Aunt's books are out the door and out of the top spot!
This is my new beauty! It is a 6" square book that is wrapped in a gorgeous kimono fabric remnant! It has a gold organza ribbon for a bookmark with a red bamboo coral bead at the end. This fabric has a great red sheen to it that can be seen in the other pictures listed here! Go check out this great book and give it a great home!

Just for Mom!

This is an oldie but a goodie from my shop! I love this book, it is wrapped in a great chocolate chip paper with an equally great purple spine. The book cloth on the spine is iridescent and really makes the book pop! This would be great for Mom or yourself! If you would like to see more pictures of this book or take it home you can find it here! Act fast it's on sale for Mom this week!

Busy Busy Me

Phew I've just been so busy I forgot all about the fact that I had started a blog! I'm terribly sorry for the lack of updates these past few weeks. I've been working on some very cool items that are not going to be for sale that I would still love to share with you. My Aunt is getting married in two weeks and I have been making several books for her wedding and bridal shower. I know I say this everytime... but I think these are my favorite books and I had a very hard time putting them in the mail this week.
They are a Japanese stab binding technique covered in a Japanese Chiogami paper to match her peach theme. I love the gold ribbon as the paper has gold accents all over it. The larger book has peach paper in it as is a photo album while the smaller one has white paper for a guest book. I also sent an Origami book for everyone at the shower to sign! They are great for showers and parties of all types, last week I made one for a first birthday party too.

I also managed to get a treasury yesterday that has 1 day left on it, you can view it here for another 24 hours!

This is a new listing that just went live! I was going to upload this last night but due to some rushing around the day before I forgot to cap my glue and I had to run to the store tonight to finish this great little book.

This is my favorite of my origami books that I have made! Take a look and let me know what you think!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! Check back often as I will be adding new content on both my items for sale on etsy and items from other great sellers too!