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 This book is similar to the exposed paper stitch book, but this one is covered in upholstery weight fabric and has beads.  This is the last of a series on simple bookmaking. {I apologize for this being 2 days late! I've been super duper busy.} If you missed the other series you can find them here , here , here , here and here For complete instructions please click here {right click to download}. SuppliesPVA Upholstery Fabric Bone Folder 42 sheets 8.5"x11" paper Fabric Scissors Ruler Large Eyelet Elastic Thread Beads Time30-45 minutes  Cover1. Cut a piece of upholstery weight fabric that is 10”x17” 2. Trim off edges at a 45˚ angle and glue down Prepare Signatures 3. Fold an 8.5” x 11“ sheet of paper in half {hamburger} 4. Nest six sheets of paper inside of each other 5. Punch holes at 1”, 2.5”, 6” and 7.5” through your signatures. Measure & Sew6. Lay your signatures on top of each other and fold the fabric over the group. Draw a line on the fabric at the spine of your papers and where your holes will go.  7. Sew signatures and tie off ends {for complete instructions, download the tutorial}. Put beads on outside of fabric during signature 4. Finish12. Cut elastic to wrap around the book. Finish by putting a large eyelet in middle of fabric flap. Make sure to put elastic inside of eyelet before punching closed. 
 I have to apologize to any of you who were expecting the final series on bookmaking this past Wednesday. I am so sorry. Between putting an offer on a house and freelance design, I just haven't had any time for my blog. So apologies...plus I have some more sad news...I will be too busy next week as well to post anything...so till then. I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day and remember all of those who have served our country.
  Have you ever wanted to make your own rub-on transfers? Well, now is your chance. I found this super easy tutorial online and I tried it out. And it works. You only need a few supplies to make it work. Here's what you'll need1 Copier Transparency Fine Mist Hair Gel Hairspray Hair Dryer Ink Jet Printer Instructions:Step 1: Spray the fine mist hair gel onto the transparency {I used an aerosol gel + hairspray, and it worked great}. Put the film on a towel, which will allow you to see if you're getting even coverage. Spray about 8-12" away from the film. Don't allow the gel to run down the page, by spraying too much. You want just enough to cover the entire film. Step 2: Blow dry the gel onto the transparency. It won't take very long, maybe 30 seconds or so. Step 3: Reverse your image. You can either do this in the printer setting before printing, or in the program that you created the document in. {I used Adobe Illustrator. But any type of design program will work. I hate to admit it, but even Word will work for this}
Step 4: Print out your design using a regular ink jet printer. {But make sure to print it out reversed}. Print out your image using a normal print setting. You don't want the ink to run. If you're afraid of any other images transferring onto what you are putting the rub-on onto, do not print any excess images on a single transfer. Only print what you'd like to rub-on. {I printed multiple images, because I wanted to do this quicker. Plus, I was careful not to touch any of the other images, so that they wouldn't transfer onto something I didn't want them to}. Note: Use black ink! This will work the best for what you're doing. I tried other colors, and it didn't work out as well. Step 5: Take your film with your printed image on it, and put it back on the towel. Blow dry. Make sure that the ink is completely dry. Step 6: Spray hairspray over the top of the image. And blow dry. {I used the same gel + hairspray over the top of mine and it worked. The product I used was called Samy Fast Style, Styling Mist, gel & hairspray all in one! Wow, that's a long name!}  Step 7: Place your film over the desired area to transfer the image onto and rub it off! You can use a bone folder, Popsicle stick or spoon to rub it off. It's that simple. Just make sure to rub the entire area to get the whole image off onto your page. Vwala! You have your very own handmade rub-on transfer. I used these rub-on transfers to make my "babies first book" series, pictured above and here , as well as below on these Mother's Day cards.  {The bird was a hand cut stamp, but the words "MOM" was a rub-on transfer}
     This is a baby book that I designed, hand printed and then bound with a coptic stitch for my good friend, Julia Warren . She wanted something personal and hand made for her friend who recently had a baby boy. I decided to use a coptic stitch, because it will lay flat when opened. If you would like a custom made baby journal, please visit my shop or email me here and I will work with you to get exactly what you want.
  This notepad is a great way to keep track of your daily lists. Put it in your purse and write down the essentials, or list your "to do's" on it daily and update it often to meet your goals. Plus, the inside pages can easily be restocked for additional note taking. This is the fifth of a series on simple bookmaking. If you missed the other series you can find them here , here , here and here . For complete instructions please click here {right click to download}. SuppliesPVA Bookboard Patterned Paper Solid Color Paper Bone Folder Scalpel Ruler Cutting Mat Clamps Grommet Elastic Stamp Ink Time30-45 minutes Prepare PaperCut paper to be 3” x 6.75” {or whatever size you like} Stamp image on top of each piece of paper. I used a "to do list" stamp and a swirly scroll stamp. You can use whatever stamp you want, or skip this whole step. Next, clamp together your stack of papers and put 2-4 coats of PVA on the top. Wait to dry after each coat. CoverCut three pieces of book cover. Two will be 7.25” x 3.25“, and one will be .5" x 3.25 {the first two will be your front and back cover and the third one is your hinge}. Cover the back and front cover with your patterned papers. Glue on book cloth to both sides of cover with hinge piece in the middle. Glue down. Place a solid colored paper on the inside of your covers. This piece will need to fit inside about 1/8". So this piece will be 3" x 12".  FinishGlue down your pad of paper. OptionalAdd a grommet and elastic to the back cover, if wanted.
 This is the final assignment from Blogging Your Way {BYW} e-course that I took with Holly Becker over at decor8 . She is an amazing person and I thoroughly enjoyed the class. On the journey, I met lots of wonderful people who have some amazing blogs. These are a few that really stood out to me.  Gathering Spriggs Author of Gathering Spriggs is Heather Thompson, an artist and designer based out of Nashville, Tennessee. This lovely blog features trends in interior design and green living. Heather has such beautiful taste for design. I love the simplicity of her designs. You can also check out her Etsy shop here .  Ink on my Fingers Susannah Conway is author of this blog. She is an amazing photographer and also has an e-course titled Unravelling . I've been considering taking this class, especially after finishing BYW. But, I'm afraid right now in my life, I don't have time...  brönette According to Brent and Shelby, "the pages of brönette are about bringing you closer to current creative forces in music, art+design and style from around the world. With daily looks at eye-catching trends, you might be introduced to new ideas and / or reminded why you love certain things as much as you do." I love their fresh sense of design! Whoo hoo for beautiful things!  a creative mint Leslie's designs are so fresh. She was part of my BYW team and was one of the few that actually gave me some constructive criticism that I could use.  Simply Hue I just recently came across this Vicki Dvorak's blog and found the design so beautiful, I just had to list it as one of my Top 5. I hope that you find some of these links inspiring. Enjoy the fresh ideas!
 These are the delightfully beautiful flowers my husband surprised me with yesterday. Aren't they beautiful? I hope all of you Mother's and Women out there are celebrating the whole month. You are so important and no one can take your place. Wishing you all a happy month of May!
    These corky little objects sit outside a house that I run by frequently. Aren't these cute? She has probably 50-75 different toys in one of her flower beds. It's the cutest thing. She even has a mailbox that says Hubbard. I've seen her once, she's this short old lady with the sweetest smile. It's great to have some character in the neighborhood. Most of the homes in Utah look alike. We call them cookie cutter homes. Most people decorate the same way too. It's so refreshing to look at homes that have character. We're looking at buying a home some time this year and have been looking around. It's so hard to find that "perfect" home. I realize that we're going to have to compromise on a few things, but character is not one of them. I'll keep you posted when we find our first home and I'll make sure to post some before and after pictures, because in our price range, it's going to need some work. Do any of you have tips for buying a home? Especially first time home buyers?
This book is a simple japanese stab bound style book, but it is bound with special binding screws instead of being sewn. This makes it extremely easy.  This is the fourth of a series on simple bookmaking. If you missed the other series you can find them here , here and here . For complete instructions please click here {right click to download}. SuppliesPVA Bookboard Patterned Paper Bone Folder 2 Binding Screws Scalpel Ruler Cutting Mat Time30-45 minutes Prepare PaperCut paper to be 5.5” x 6.5” {or whatever size you like} CoverCut three pieces of book cover. One will be 5.625” x 5.5“, 1”x 5.5“ and 6.875” x 5.5“ {the first two will be your front cover with a hinge and the last is the back cover} Cover book board with patterned paper. Glue on book cloth onto hinge and wrap around back. Glue on a piece of paper to the inside of your covers. FinishTo finish the book, simply punch holes in two places of the center of your hinge piece of your book board. Punch holes through all pages, as well as back cover.  Poke binding screws through back cover first and then slide on each of your pages in sections. Put front cover on and screw down.  {Note: For a picture of what binding screws look like, you can see them
here . I purchased mine at a local hardware store.}
I must apologize for not posting much these past few weeks. I've been super busy working on a project for Target {something like 75 hours in the last two weeks. That's almost a full time job!}. That's right, I said Tar-get! I know, rather exciting huh? I was hired out by *Berwick Offray to design some gift bags and gift wraps. Berwick is the company that bought out my old company Seastone . I was laid off from Seastone in January, due to the economic down fall. Now, I'm doing freelance for them. Well, to get back to Target, some of the designs I did, I had my husband Chris help on. He illustrated some fairy princesses as well as some robots and monsters. Here are a few sneak peaks of his stuff. You can also visit his portfolio here . I consider my husband to do some amazing work! He's so talented. I'm sure I'll be talking about him much, much more....   While I was scanning the web for inspiration, I came across Jon Cannel ,an illustrator, over at Lilla Rogers. He dose some really cool stuff. I especially like his robots. Lilla Rogers is an illustration agency that licenses work to the world to use on just about anything, from salad dressing labels to water towers. Let me know what you think of Chris' illustration style. I think it is very unique and that he is very talented!  *Craft, floral, and industrial distribution channels are the primary markets serviced by Offray
  These are new cards now up in my etsy store . Show mom how much you love her with these hand made cards. Some have hand cut stamped birds on them, while others feature burlap and eyelets. Completely original and 100 percent hand crafted!
 I grew up on a dairy farm in the middle of nowhere, as most people would tell me. But, looking back, I now consider it to be a place where I learned how to work, and it made me who I am today. I thought it would be fun to tell some stories of life on the farm. Some of them will be funny and others will be kind of gross. Things on the farm weren't always hunky dory, but I believe that farm life can teach a great many things to a child, that the city can not. Of course, I didn't have the privileges of going to the Mall whenever I liked, or going to a friends house down the street, just to hang out, but I knew no different. I'd like to start out by telling a rather funny story.When I was in kindergarten, the whole class took a field trip to my dairy farm. And, they put me in charge of making sure that the whole class ended up at my farm. I remember being very excited and trying to pay attention as best I could to help the bus driver get to the farm. But, before I knew it, we were somewhere that I didn't recognize. We had missed a turn. So, we had to turn around and when we came over the top of this hill, I could see my mom waving her hands, standing next to the little red pickup, flagging the school bus down to turn there. Lucky she was there, or I probably would have missed it again. That's what they get for putting a 5 year old in charge!!!Well, the whole class got to tour the dairy farm and then we went to the pig pens. My cousin, Becky, and I decided to show off. We got inside the pig pens and started chasing the pigs to see if we could catch one. I mean, they weren't very big and we considered ourselves FAST enough to catch a little piggie. We ran as fast as we could, but both of us ended up on our butts right in the poop. Yuck! I remember having to go home and change. Afterwords, we went back to my cousins house and had home made ice cream. Of course, with the cream from our cows. Lesson learned: Don't chase pigs!
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