Hey look, it's a book!

I'm feeling rather accomplished this evening, as I've managed to complete a book up to my standards without using my left thumb! As I'm left handed this started out as quite a challenge but after the first signature or two I was almost sewing at normal speed.
I really like this sketchbook-It's 8.5"x10.5" which I think is the largest leather book I've made to date. Secondly I love the buttons! They came from the customer & are vintage WW2 buttons, they come down the page in a wave with the natural curve fo the edge of the hide. It looks fantastic and sadly I don't have a good picture of it. I lost the fantastic lighting in my old kitchen & had I haven't gotten a light box built yet...

Thanks for all the well wishes about my poor thumb! I'm a slow healer but so far I'm only about a day behind schedule on the after care sheet they gave me so hopefully I'll be able to get my stitches out next week and get started on the tutorial I keep promising!

In other news this weekend I'll be at Sushi! Sake! Sumo! in PDX serving Coconut Bliss. I'm really excited about going, because well I don't like cancer! It's a really run fundraiser for the American Cancer Society and hopefully I'll have time to slip into a sumo suit!

Also going on this weekend is the Bookbinding Team's summer BBQ!

Summer is winding down in some places and a distant hope in others, but members of the Etsy Bookbinding Street Team are ready to celebrate the hottest season by hosting a Virtual BBQ Scavenger Hunt. Next weekend starting Saturday, August 1, through Monday, August 3, browse participating shops and locate hidden photos of items associated with the venerable tradition of the summer backyard barbecue. Not sure what that means? No worries! We'll provide a list of items so you'll know exactly what you're looking for. Find them all and enter to win a $30 gift certificate good at any participating shop. AND win bonus chances to win with each item purchased from participating shops during the hunt!

Stop by the BEST Blog Friday, July 31, for a list of participating shops and complete details. Just follow the smoke!

Another Quick Update

I have internet at home now but won't be up to much for the next week or so as I had my first bookbinding accident yesterday. I was cutting board on my mat cutter yesterday and somehow left thumb got in the way.... I'm left handed....

I've got 4 stitches, a cut nerve, and a lot of choice words- but with my dominant hand out of the action I'm not up to much. Which is a large disappointment because I have a very large order folio order that needs to be worked on, which is what I was doing when I tried to take my thumb off. Maybe in a day or two I can get a teaser shot of the cloth swatches and paper together, I can't believe how perfect of a match I got and how well I think it suits the photographers personality. However that will have to wait until I've got at least a semi functioning second opposable thumb :)

Quick Update

I just wanted to let everyone know I officially survived the move yesterday! We now have a cute little duplex & a yard!

We won't have internet access at the house for another week so I'll probably be silent for another week or so. Hopefully the lack of internet will motivate me to go unpack my studio and get back to work!

Officially on hiatus

Well it's official, I'm on hiatus. The last of my studio went into boxes last night and of course right after wards we got news that the duplex is behind schedule to be ready for us to move into. I'll now be without my studio for over a week!
To top off the bad news I messed up my foot quite badly today at work- well on the way to finding lunch. I was walking with a co-worker (the awesome Chris G) down to Friendly Street Market to get some accouterments for lunch and walked right into a huge pothole and did something awful to my foot. At the time it was just a little twinge, but by the time I left work my foot was huge and I could barely walk on it.
My ankle oddly enough is perfect, I messed up something in my arch and I'm hoping it's not something that's going to require a cast. Just a light sprain rather than something torn or worse. Either way my long holiday weekend has been shot and I'm on the R.I.C.E (rest, ice, compression, & elevation) plan along with some Chinese herbs for injuries of this type.
I am hoping to be mobile enough for planned trip to Portland this Sunday, it's a $2 Sunday at OMSI and I want to be able to walk around and explore!

As it doesn't feel right to leave my blog with such a somber post let's look at something cute and fuzzy!

That my friends is a 3 week old lion cub from the West Coast Game Park in Bandon, OR. We took a road trip down last weekend and it was fantastic! I held both Bella pictured above and her brother Simba. I also got to hold a 4 week old spotted leopard cub Bentley, but he was squirmy and is pretty blurry in most of my pictures. They have many more of other fantastic animals for petting and viewing but the cubs are a pretty special thing. I also held two Opossoms, two farrets, and something else I can't remember or find in my photos... out for petting was a baby fox, baby wallaby, a baby black skunk, and an adult golden skunk (both de-skunked) and a few other animals- plus the heard of deer and goats that run over small children to obtain food.

I'll leave you with another picture my husband and I with Bella. I am going to make my way towards bed and contemplate unpacking some of my tools.

A different kind of book for a different kinda swap

In my slew of creative work last week I also finally completed my swap book for the Book Arts Forum swap! This book went to Billie and she kindly provided the pictures as I was so excited to get it in the mail across the pond I forgot all about taking pictures to share!
The cover is made from old x-rays, this one is of a chest. Kinda hard to tell from the pictures, but trust me it's a chest :) The theme of the swap was to use materials we had never used before. I received my book from Rhonda and I think it's already packed in a moving box but you can see pictures on her blog!
The x-rays of course came from MECCA my favorite craft reuse center, and in exciting news I'll be teaching classes there again in the fall. I'll be teaching an introduction class, probably a coptic class, and a class on ATC albums as they do a monthly swap. I also just signed up for their summer artist challenge and should be getting my materials next week. I'm a little frightened as I've never let someone pick my materials for me, but it should be a lot of fun.
I have enough x-ray left to make another book, maybe two. I haven't decided if they would be good for the shop or if they would be too strange...

I haven't made any new books yet this week, almost all of my creative energies have been going into my CSA box and finding wonderful new things to eat. While I haven't been taking pictures I think I'll put up a post later with all the tasty things I've been eatting and links to how to make them.

Hey look, crafty stuff!

After my last post I realized how much I missed working in my studio and how I needed to get back to work ASAP before I lost my sanity in this whole moving process. The good news is that I now have a cute little duplex to call home and I got some quality studio time in!

I had an extra white case left from the first order of folio's I made and I had found this awesome heart paper after I shipped Brie's order.

This was stop numero uno on studio time, I had been wanting to put the case and the paper together for a long time. Pockets were made, ribbon was attached and I am really happy with the results. This lovely little dvd folio can be found my shop!

This lovely star book is my first attempt at the structure, I asked Amanda to teach it at my local bookarts meeting this month!
I love the book and color combo's, but I'm not thrilled with the holes I punched in it... at this point I think I liked it better without the holes. However I also only own a star punch, a 4-leaf clover punch, and my screw punch so my punching was kind of limited....
I'm very excited about making a bunch of these to use a Christmas ornaments and maybe just some an ornaments to hang in my new studio space. I never decorated the current studio space I'm in and I really want to remedy that when we move this time.
I also got a fun blue flower celtic weave finished a few days ago, but don't have it photographed yet.. coming soon!
p.s. for those of you who visit the site I think I'll be playing with the set up over the next few days so don't be alarmed if things look different!

Yes, I'm still alive

Holy cow, life has been a crazy whirlwind around here and I think it's only going to get worse for a little while!
I found out the day our lease was up that it was up and we've been searching around for a new place to live. After two weeks of an exhausting & time consuming search we have an application in on a place and hopefully we will have a nice little duplex to call home soon.
Things you've missed due to my crazy life, I've created yet another style of wedding dvd folio like my fold up brag books, I was interviewed for Billie's Craft Room, and I bought an awesome seat bag for my husbands new bike!This awesome picture is the packaging for Dark Roast Photography who I made the chocolate and ivory folio's for. You can see one of the 3 dvd folio's unfolded up front and one folded up lurking with the boxes. I still love these folio's and I really love how great they look with the rest of her packaging!

Stay with me over the next month or so as we prepare to move and actually make the move, I promise to try to not fall off the map quite so badly!