Last of the current run

Here are the last two journals of the current run of hand-bound leather journals that I am making.



They are both 120-page slim journals with smooth cartridge paper. Both have pen holder closures. Here's the Turquoise suede one.



The 'locking' tab which the pen holder slides under is normally made by sticking two strips of leather together. Since the leather I use is thin, sticking two strips together gives the tab a little more rigidity. However, in one of the earlier models, after a week of use, the two strips started to become unstuck from each other. I tried a couple of solutions like sewing along the edge of the tab (see a previous lime green journal with black stitching around the tab) and putting some eyelets along the middle of the tab. I like the way the eyelets look.



My hand-riveting skills are slowly getting better - the resulting rivets stay reasonably unwarped. My problem is that I tend to be too impatient and whack them a bit too hard with the mallet. If I remember to take it slow and steady, the rivets go on better.



Here's the one in the grey embossed leather.





I've been trying to find less 'girlie' cards or decorative papers for my inner cover supports. This one is a lot less girlie - no flowers or butterflies or birdies. I might do a few journals with more neutral / masculine colours for the guys.

The sewing machine was switched on last night for the first time in ages. I am working on a totebag of sorts made from a lovely linen teatowel I bought a couple of weeks ago and I also need to work on some knit / jersey summer wear for the kids. I'll hopefully be able to share something with you soon.

Have a great day, friends.

Jubilee journals and a giveaway!!

It's the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend! Woohoo!! Here in the UK, we get both Monday and Tuesday as Bank Holidays to celebrate the Jubilee occasion. The kids have had Jubilee parties at school and folk are putting up cheerful Union Jack flags and bunting all over the place. As promised, I'm back with my two Jubilee themed hand-bound leather journals. Here they are.



The first of the two journals is this one with a gorgeous turquoise suede cover.



If you saw my last post, you'd have already seen the inside which features this fabulous crown and Union Jack postcard.



The journal has 200 pages of smooth cartridge paper. Perfect to doodle, sketch or write in.



Here is the other one. This time, the cover is made from cerise coloured suede.



Both journals have exposed long-stitch on the spines and are held close by means of a long black leather lace / thong and a silver Celtic concho.



Like the turquoise one, this cerise one has 200 pages too.



And like the turquoise one, this one has the crown and Union Jack cards on the inside covers for support.



Both journals measure 5 inches wide, just over 6 inches tall and 1.5 inches deep.

OK, here's the fun bit. In honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and in the spirit of Jubilee fun, I would like to give one of these journals away to one of you! I am happy to open this giveaway to my international readers too.

To take part in this giveaway, please do just one of the following:
1) Follow my blog or
2) Like or share this post on Facebook or
3) Follow me on Pinterest or
4) If you blog too, mention this giveaway on your blog.
Then leave me a comment at the end of this post telling me what you've done. Don't forget to tell me which colour journal you would like if Mr Random Number Generator was to pick you as the lucky recipient. Blogger does not always share your email address with me so if you like, you can leave me your email address in your comment but write it like this ... name at such&such dot whatever etc. If not, don't worry, just check back on Wednesday morning.

I will pick the lucky winner of the Jubilee journal giveaway after midnight on Tuesday 5 June.

This giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced in the next post.

Thanks for taking part and have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are, friends.

Two more journals with pen holder closures

I briefly showed you these journals in a previous post recently. Here are a few more photos of the two journals with the pen holder closures. Both are slim 120-page journals bound in fine leather with a 'pebble grain'. I bought the two hides - one in black and one in a vibrant lime / apple green - from Ebay. I especially love the green.

Here's the first of the two journals. The anchor strap for the pen holder was cut from a grey pebbled leather. So in case you think your eyes deceive you - they don't! It is a different colour.



Here is the back of the journal and the spine.



I used manila card postcards with a campervan print to support the leather cover. These two new hides are a little on the thin side - roughly 1mm thick. So they do need a bit of extra support - otherwise they'd be flopping all over the place. Can't have that now, can we?



Here is the green one. I incorporated star-shaped shell buttons into the stitching on the spine. Aren't they sweet?



Here is what it looks like from the front.



I found these great flora and fauna (and cat) postcards in Paperchase last weekend and thought they would go really well with the green leather. These postcards are a little thinner than the manila card one so I glued them onto some textured cardstock for additional support.



The black journal has joined the others in my stash awaiting new owners. The green one is mine (*strokes it gently whispering in a super creepy voice "My Preciousssss"*) ... all mine!! I actually thought it might be a good idea to test-drive one. I think when I get to the end, I can simply cut the stitching, remove the old (filled) pages and insert new blank signatures. No reason why it can't be done.

I've just finished one of the two journals I am making as my little nod to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee next week. The other one is in the early 'fabrication' stage ... ie cutting, folding and sticking ... and hopefully will be finished by the weekend. I will then post them up and will give one away to a lucky blog reader. Stay tuned for the giveaway at the weekend.

Playing around with closures - the magnetic closure

I like having closures on my journals. I normally have cavernous 'mummy' bags and if I have notebooks or something like a journal in my bag, they try to 'eat' the other stuff in my bag! I already showed you the pen holder closure which I really really like. This one uses a magnetic snap like the ones you find in purses and handbags. I added a couple of rivets to the front.



I used botanical themed postcards glued into the inside of the front and back covers to provide additional support to the soft leather. I secured the magnetic snap to the postcard on the front cover. The rivets on the front serve a second purpose which is to ensure that when one opens and closes (particularly opens) the magnetic closure, the postcard isn't pulled free from the leather.



Using my fancy little punch, I punched out some holes in a pattern on the corners of the back cover. The back cover extends out a little and folds over the paper signatures.



Here's the exposed longstitch spine and I incorporated a few teeny buttons to add some interest.



The magnetic snap is quite discreet actually and does the job of holding the journal closed very neatly.



I think I still much prefer the pen holder closure. What do you think?

Are you up to much this weekend? I'm hoping the weather here holds up and it stays nice, warm, dry and more importantly, sunny! Wherever you are, friends, have a great weekend. I will be back soon with the other two journals.

Playing around with closures - the pen holder closure

Here is the finished hand-bound leather journal from my previous MCS post. I wanted to play around with some closure ideas. I've seen some journals where they use pen holders as closures. This is my attempt at utilising a pen holder as a closure for a journal.



I found some teeny little buttons in my button box and decided to sew them into the spine. I think they work well with the exposed long-stitch.



I used rivets to secure the pen holder strip to the back cover of the journal.



Here is the inside front with the pink textured cardstock title page and the multicoloured butterfly manila card postcard. I might just go get my butterfly punch and punch a little butterfly into that title page after this.



To open the journal, one would slide the pen out of the pen holder loop and pull pen holder strap out from under the tab. I played about with different widths for the securing tab but finally settled for this one which is three quarters of an inch and attached it to the front cover with 4 rivets. To close, the strap would be slipped back under the tab, pulled in until the pen holder loop is visible, then the pen is slid back into the loop.



I think this closure works quite well. What do you think? I am always hunting around in my bag for pens. With this journal, the pen is always there. Pretty nifty, huh?

Have a lovely day, friends.

A new book

Here is my latest hand-bound leather journal. This one is covered in a beautiful soft and buttery lavender coloured leather. I have used this leather before. My first hand-bound journal was made using this leather. It wasn’t a huge piece of leather to start with but I have managed to cut covers for 3 thick journals and 2 thin journals.



The book is held closed by means of a black leather lace. The metal celtic concho secures the lace to the cover.



Here’s the exposed long-stitch spine – this book was stitched together with 18/3 black linen thread.



This journal has eleven signatures in total. That’s 220 pages in all.



Since the leather is a little floppy, I glued in this pretty butterfly print manila postcard to stiffen it a bit. The pink page you see there is like a title page. It wraps around all the signatures. It’s a canvas textured cardstock. I used one of my punches to punch the butterfly shape onto the card.



I really like this journal. It’s very pretty and I think the black leather lace tie works well with the lavender cover.

If you fancy having a go at bookbinding, you'll find the tutorial which inspired me here. You don't need leather for the cover if you haven't got any. I'm thinking of trying to put together a fabric cover with some interfacing to make it stiff.

Have a great day, friends.

The adventure continues ... with blue suede

Here is my latest hand-bound leather journal. I finished it at the weekend. This one is covered in totally luscious teal blue suede leather.



Here’s the exposed long-stitch spine.



Originally the plan was to have ten signatures of cartridge paper. But when I’d stitched in the tenth signature, there was space left for one more. So I added another signature which means that this journal has eleven signatures in total.



That’s 220 pages in all.



Since the suede was a bit floppy, I glued in this cute vintage VW campervan postcard to stiffen it a bit.



That screw head you see there is the back of this lovely nickel Celtic knot concho. I added a tab with a slot so the concho acts like a button.



The journal is held close like this.



I am seriously getting into this bookbinding stuff. It's so much fun and the leather smells sooo nice.

Have a wonderful week ahead, friends.

A new book finished

Remember that journal I was showing you a couple of days ago? The one which was in progress in my creative space? Well, it's finished and I love it! Don't you think it looks like a really cute clutch?





I had some bits of the vintage world map and the airmail poster left from the last book so I added them to the signatures of paper just to add a bit of interest.





The bag clasp worked beautifully. It's fixed to the cover with rivets. When I was punching out the holes for the rivets, I punched few more decorative holes in the cover.



As I mentioned previously, I've used 140 gsm cartridge paper - cut into A5 sheets and folded in half to form the groups of pages. This one has 10 groupings (signatures) of pages and each grouping has 20 sides of paper to write or draw on. This journal has a total of 200 pages.



I do like the exposed long-stitches on the spine.



I love the way the clasp works on this book. I might just have to order a few more! I have three other leather covers cut and ready to be used. Just have to spend a couple of hours tonight cutting and folding the paper signatures and deciding which cover to use. I have a couple of silver conchos somewhere in my button tub which I think might have to be incorporated into the next book.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends.

The nice thing about being a crafty person ...

... is that you are able to change something you don't like about the original design if you want to.

You might recall my first ever handbound leather journal which I shared here. It had a strap which wrapped around the journal and tucked into itself. I used it for a couple of weeks and found that the strap kept working itself off in my bag - which got really annoying after a while.

So after I had finished the second leather journal project here where I used a securing tab to hold the strap in, I decided to change the strap on my original journal. I took the original strap off, cut it down a little and fixed it with some rivets to the overlapping flap. I used the bit I cut off to make the securing tab and riveted that to the front cover.



It's working well for me and now the strap stays put no matter how badly it gets jiggled around in my bag.



Despite the label on the packet saying "Easy Rivet kit", my riveting skills are seriously lacking and I managed to bash my thumb with the mallet a few times! Still they look OK from the top - just don't ask to see the state of the back.