All That White and Red II

This was a commission from a dear lady, who asked me to make a book from her son's wedding pictures. It was a mixture of portrait and landscape shots which she had selected and had printed out. I didn't want to do just a regular book and the pictures were beautiful and I felt it would be a shame to just keep it in a book only to open when you want to see it. Since the pictures were about 8 by 12 inches, I told her that I would make the book into a concertina so that not only can they keep it as a book but also able to pull it out as a display.

In theory it was a good idea.

I just had to find the courage to make it.

I'm glad I went with my gut instincts. Here's one of the two books I made.

The book when closed

I kept the front simple, with details coming from the sash of satin organza ribbon across with the bow and little red roses hanging from skinny white satin ribbons with silver details on the side. I used chiffon with silver dots throughout the book to add sparkle and glitter.

Book partially opened

As you can see, it opens up like a regular book with pictures of a beautiful wedding couple. The bride was so pretty and her dress was beautiful, I used her as the inspiration for the books.

Book/Album when opened and displayed

I used the red roses on ribbons at the side as accents and they add colour as well as pick out the bouquet of red roses the bride has. Took me several hours just to put those roses on. In total for the three books I used almost 80 roses.

The pictures are recessed so even when shut they do not touch each other and are not glued down. The only thing that's holding them in place are the ribbons at the corners. That way they can choose to move the pictures around or change it for a different set of images.

The landscape version is the same as well, only when you stretch it all out, they better have enough table space for it.

All in all, the client and husband was blown away when I presented the books. She was so happy I got an extra tight hug from her when she was saying thank you. The books have flown off to Europe as Christmas presents for the wedding couple, and I hope that they feel the same way as their parents did when I presented them the books.

At Work & All That White and Red

This is me, at god knows what time in the morning. There I am trying to figure out a placement for all those red roses and ribbons. I moved into the living room and took over the dining table. I needed alot of space for this. I lost sleep doing this order but well worth it.

And after no sleep and working straight into the night and back into day, I came out with two 16 inches by 12 inches album books and I made the smaller book as a present for the client.

To be continued in the next post...

Books from the 2nd Bookmaking Class

Don't they look great? Totally different from what the first group did. Not going to do night classes again unless it starts at 6 in the evening because we ended quite late. It was a good night none the less.

Wearing black helped, I'm my own background when I was explaining a couple of things to them. You can see Jacq industriously taking down notes in the notebooks I provided for them.

This was the spread for the night, simple but yummy...

Fresh strawberries, Cherries and Clementines with Vanilla Creme

Ferreo Roche Chocolates

Three Cheese Platter with crackers

(Almond & Apricot Cream Cheese, Tasty Chedder, Blue Cheese)

Smoked salmon with olives

Two types of Malay Desserts

Tea, Coffee, Hot Chocolate & Water

For more pictures of the class, click here.

Someone Is Lucky & The Class Last Night

The contest was narrowed down to two, Lubna from Singapore, or Doda in UK. After much deliberation and consulting with the various panel of judges, it came out that DODA IS THE LUCKY ONE with her entry...

I so covet this notebook most fair.
I would fill up it's pages with flair.
How I'd love this most gorgeous creation.
For I know it would bring inspiration.

The poetry did it.

Since Lubna came a close second, she's getting something too... as soon as I get around to making that something.

The class last night... I had a last minute cancellation so there was only four. Only had an hour to prepare before the class started (was attending an early Christmas gathering in the afternoon) but my cousin and I had already done the set up and all that was left was the refreshments. We just finished when the students started arriving. One of them brought her daughter so my significant other was doing the babysitting while the mommy was busy making her book.

The class went well and everyone couldn't believe how time just flew by because they were having such a good time. The books produced were beautifully decorated. I would show you pictures but they're all with Jacq since we were using her camera. When I get them from her I'll post them up. Everyone was so into making the books, that they bought extra kits to try at home. I need to make more kits now.

Thank you Kay, Pek Ching, May and Jacq for coming last night and hope to see you all again. My wonderful other half for the impromptu baby sitting service and my cousin Wina for assisting me.

There are two spots for the class on the 21st December since I had two cancellations. If anybody is interested, just drop me a line.

In A Rush... There's A Class!

I didn't know I was going to have a class today. It started off when Jacq asked if there is one anytime soon because her friend who came down from KL is in town and would love to do it too after she saw the book Jacq made and Jacq wanted to make another book as well. So I kind of said" ...Well, I guess we could an informal one just for you guys keeping it casual, and how about on so and so date?". I got a 'possibly' as an answer. It wasn't a definite yes so I didn't think much of it and went off hashing (long hash, knee deep in mud, up and down hills, some people got lost, it was dark by the time we got out of the jungle)

Anyway, the next day I got a text saying they just met Jacq that morning and learned there will be a class tomorrow (ie today) and asked if she could join in. That caught me by surprise, well, long story short, I have a full class tonight and been preparing for it since yesterday. I got a function to attend to this afternoon and so hopefully the only thing I need to do is prepare the refreshments when we get back. 

I've put together a lot of kits last night and made two small books for last minute gifts I need for this afternoon, and I now have to make a bunch of small notebooks for the workshop tonight.

I wonder what the energy of this class is going to be like...

Today is the last day to enter the book giveaway contest!

The First Bookbinding Class

It was a great session, a small and intimate group. Everything was prepared and provided including refreshments (yummy food) and all they had to do was bring themselves. By the end of the session, everybody left feeling satisfied, happy and very pleased. Not to mention the other freebies I threw in as well. Best of all, they asked when the next class is going to be, so I'm planning the next stage to continue the particular binding method they had learned.

Another beginners stab binding class will be held on the 21st December, for the moment all the spots are already taken. I'll keep you posted if a space opens up. If there is enough of you interested, I can do another class on the 25th December as well, providing you're not too occupied with it being Christmas and all, for me it's a public holiday that I get to rest from work. Just email me and let me know and I'll send you the details.

In the mean time, enjoy the pictures! Link is on the left bar up top.

There are 3 days left before the book giveaway contest ends on Sunday...

Proud Students

(L to R: Jaq, Alina, Intan & Zana)

Everyone's proudly holding their masterpiece.

More pictures soon.

Pop Up Hearts On Black

We (My H and I) just had our anniversary and to commemorate, I made this for him. The idea has been playing in my head for ages, and finally broke free of its chains and controlled the hands to make 'the book'... weelll... it's the prototype really... and it worked!

With the help of this book...

I knew of this book when I used to work with Ron King when I was a student in uni, and I love love love pop ups. But back then being a student, money was a bit tight and I only managed to get my hands on this book several years ago, it cost a pretty penny (in this part of the world) but it was worth it.

Gotta plan a book for Valentine's next....

Class Is Full!

Oh fantastic, my stab bound book making workshop is all filled up! It will be a fun weekend. I've just planned the menu for afternoon tea, and it will be nice and cosy. I just need to double check on the tools and equipments, prep the space, and pack the kits. I have to prepare some books to show and pony up on the history behind the particular binding we're going to be doing.

I'm going to be so busy between now and Sunday...

PS, there is 10 days left to enter the book giveaway contest...

Are You Feeling Lucky?

It just so happen, there is this little blue and orange book, that requires a good home to go to because all of it's other cohort has gone off to various places after their graduation. One of it's member had gone off to become a poet, where in its life time will be filled with original poems. Another had gone to become an artist, it will be filled with sketches it's owner would have decided is worth putting on paper. Another fellow member has become a personal diary, where it lives a double life and the twin is filled with words of inspirations and thoughts and dreams.

What does fate have in store for this blue and orange book? Ready with the matching orange glitter pen attached on its spine, slightly different from the crowd it hoped to be. Little windows to peek into its soul mayhaps? Proudly displaying the exposed binding that holds the content of its inside, showing it's vulnurability yet strength to face the world.

An opportunity has risen! Lo, and make haste, write in what dreams and aspirations the book can turn into in your posession in the comment box. This book will travel over land and water just to be by your side.

Two weeks this will last, and at the end of two weeks it will be decided to whom the book will go to... The contest is closed! And winner is announced!

Pictures From The BCL Festive Fayre

Actually just one, the rest of the pictures are up in my FB, click here.

You know what's cool, out of all the books I had during the fair, I only have five left. I love this time of year when everybody is looking for presents *grin*.

I just recieved a major order yesterday, met up with the client briefly, I have two weeks to get it done because she's bringing it over to the other side of the world in time for Christmas. Fingers crossed.

The Head Model

Here's staring at you kid ;-P

I was helping out a friend to be her head model, she was doing a one-on-one with a Singapore based make up artist, Fatimah Mohsin. Needless to say it was an experience and to be honest I'm too embarrassed to show you the rest of the face, but here's my eyes! Camera wasn't so good so... and I was told to smile a certain way as well so I ended up looking not friendly :-( But Fatimah Mohsin was fantastic, I was well impressed with her skills and with what they do at her wedding gallery. That's the kind of set up I'd like for my wedding. I would definitely drop by her place when I'm in Singapore next.

Justifying Paper Bought

Isn't this sweet? I thought so. I used scented card stock for the pages, just like the stab bound albums I did, only this one is half the size, it can fit 3R pictures. I had to make it to justify the reason why I bought the paper which I used for the cover. I just fell in love with the colour. The off white with the pale purple of the petals (I don't even know what flower it came from) And the muted olive green from the sprigs of... whatever the green stuff was. I just loved the paper. I not only bought one sheet, I bought four! *Sigh* I know, I know, no buying more stuff until I used up the stuff in the studio, I caved in. But I was very good while in Singapore two weeks ago, I didn't buy any art stuff at all! And they didn't have any bone folders!! Dammit.... Anyway...

The paper was quite translucent so I had to double up, used twice the amount for the cover for that size. A matching purply red satin ribbon to hold the whole it all together and roses at the end of the mini bow just to complete it.

The book went on sale at the BCL Festive Fayre, and was bought a few days later... yay! Paper bought, justified! ;-D

Oh, there is a workshop on how to make this type of book tentively scheduled on the 7th December. Spaces are very limited, email me if you're interested and I'll get back to you as soon as I work out the kinks.

For Chui Hime

Happy Birthday Choo!!

You ooh-ed and aah-ed over the paper when you were over at the studio the other time...

I used the gold thread to bind it to match the gold Sanskrit writing on the paper and long stitch binding method to sew the cover and sections together. Made it all pretty like. Reminded me of the CNY mouse I gave you that you got hanging in your car.

Have a great birthday, this year is a lot of changes for you. I still think you should just become an apprentice of a dojo in the mountains so you get to sit and meditate in your gi every morning as the sun rises before your daily aikido practice ;-)

Wishing you all the best in life my dear friend.

All pictures courtesy of Chui Hime

My New Name Card

Picture courtesy of Chui Hime

After months of having run out of name cards, and all of the sudden I needed to have a supply of them, here it is! I normally make my own, but I just hadn't had the time, and having friends and family who are talented as well, I asked Lin if she could design my cards for me, and she did good. I now have a whole supply to last me for... I don't know. Lin, how many did you make again? The size is pretty cute too.

Now I gotta finish making her sketch books...

I Survived!

I was feeling so anxious about doing the fayre today that I couldn't sleep until 5.30 this morning. And I woke up 2 hours later to get ready. To cut things short, my anxiety fell away when I made my first sale, it was a white butterfly embossed mini album. It was pretty good that a third of the books I made were snatched up. The last book that was bought were a mini long stab book with oversized wings. Very fitting since it was the last book I made last night.

I met Pg from Pusat Eshan, she and I exchanged tips on where to shop for materials because SC was just shock horror. I haven't had a material discussion like that with anyone where we shared the same view, it was a great talk  :-)  I met Maya with her friend Liza, it was nice to have met them, we spent a long time talking as well. Maya was so happy she could see the actual books after looking at them on the blog. She even knew who made the name cards. That's a blog follower or what  ;-)  I felt like a celebrity  ;-P  My fiance even thrilled them by showing them pictures of the Valentines book I made for him. Talked to a lot of nice people today. 

I didn't have time to take pictures of the books I've sold off, so... there are no records of them. I'm trying to remember what books they were and sketch them down at least. We only took pictures in the afternoon, will post up eventually. My friend Elaine who shared the table with me had great business with her numerology reading. She had fun with those.

I only had time to walk around the hall to check out the rest of the sellers once, there were lots of lovely things. I love the Nappy Cake, I would love to give that for a baby shower. The dips I tried were yummy. Talked with the lady who did applique and her workmanship towards details were fantastic. I can relate the amount of care that goes into it. There were some really adorable pasta angels, paintings, hand made bags by friends were selling where 50% of the sales goes off to the Animal Shelter. There were lots of people selling crystals and semi precious stones. There were people selling Christmas cakes and goodies on the table next and opposite mine alone not to mention spread out throughout the hall. It was a good fair and considering it was a week day there was a good turn out. Imagine if it was a weekend, we'd probably be swamped.

I'm already planning on the next fayre only this time I must start stocking up early. It'll be very different, more structures, more fun! 

Aah, sleep is finally catching up, the body is shutting down, plus, I have an early flight to catch tomorrow, yay! Finally, holiday with Sweetie  :-D

Currently Busy

Been in book making mode, I'm trying to build up on the numbers because on the last minute I found out there will be a fair and I just managed to book a table. I shall try to take some pictures of what I've made if I have the time. On average I'm doing three books a day, so far. It takes a bloody long time just to make a book, but it's well worth it to have the complete book in your hands.

Tried out doing some pen holders attached to book, not bad for a trial run. Shall have to improve on it, i.e accommodate for bigger pens. Made more blue books because people have been asking for blue and a couple of non girly books. I got three more books left to be made and then I'll start on making some stab books or albums. If I have time, I'll make some small christmas books. I can do all this providing I'm in my studio from now until wednesday, which is not very likely.

So for you curious folks, I'll be here:

BCL Festive Fayre

5th November 2008

Orchid Garden Hotel, Cesar Grand Hall

From 10am to 4pm

(Update: I just read in the papers it's $5 entrance fee, but it all goes to charity)

You might have seen the posters around Supasave, I haven't because I don't have the need to go anywhere near it.

I'm glad I'm sharing the table with a friend, she's going to be selling her crystals, so good vibes coming from that. I hope to have a good time, chat with the other sellers and customers, get good sales and generate interests in my books et al.

I need to get name cards done.

Oh, my engagement folder will be on display too as a sample, complete with list :-p

Buku Hantaran: Brown & Gold

Sigh... Card... sheesh.... Anyway!

The golden brown buku permintaan. A colour which I have never used before and not in my stock so it was an interesting challenge. I told the client we're going for elegant and classic. It was a last minute order and fortunately I did not have anything on my plate and I was able to do it. Call came in Tuesday morning and it was for the Sunday. That left me with not alot of days to come up with this, especially when I aimed for a Friday delivery.

Thankfully, when I was putting this together, it was like as if I was meant to. There was no hitch, no frustrating moments, everything was cooperating, from having to shop for the stuff right after receiving the order, to cutting up the hard boards down to the sizes required, gluing the different types of delicate materials (no glue marks, yay!) the embellishments, and it was almost too good to be true until the finishing touch, I needed to get the right ribbons and I couldn't find the right shade of gold any where! But, it was a good thing because the one I chose in the end pulled the whole thing together and finished the ends off with more gold. The folder can accommodate her A4 'permintaan' list with room to spare.

It came out perfect. It also reminded me of old world India, where everything was rich, luxurious and decadent. Well, that was the feel I got when I stepped back to admire it after getting its final quality check.


The client wasn't able to pick up the folder any earlier and was only able to do it on Saturday evening, a relief for both of us that she loved it. One less she'd have to worry about for her engagement day, and I have another happy customer. I can understand her being busy during that time with her engagement preparation, because I'm experiencing the same thing now.


I need to start making my buku permintaan :-p


More pictures of the folder can be found here.

Happy Birthday To ME

Great birthday this year, this evening was all about good food, good company, good times, good bash, unexpected cakes (yes, plural) and the largest bouquet of roses I ever got, all these arranged by my wonderful significant other. Brilliant surprise by him. 

I can start taking stock how the year went, but I'll leave that rambling on my other blog.

Life can only get better :-)

Another Award!

Long over due...

This came from Hazel and Reona, they had kindly bestowed upon me this:

Thanks you guys. Gimme a while before I get together a list of who to pass the award to because I haven't been checking out alot of blogs lately, been super busy and I hardly had time to even update mine! But anyhoo, I'll get around to it eventually and thank you again.

Teddy Sneak Revealed

Remember this post, here's the rest of it.

I was asked by Lin to make this for her friend who gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. I kept the colours light and sweet and in order for the pink to stand out from the green out came my glitter pens and hand drew all the swirls, blue and pink naturally. I don't know how long that took me. Lin asked for teddy bears, I used a teddy bear punch on origami paper to decorate around the edges and dug through my stash of stuff found these brown furry teddies, only it had black beady eyes and tartan bows which I removed. Faceless teddies and matching bows looked more sweeter, it's definitely a marked inprovement to what it was before.

A sweet keepsake for Lin's friend in rememberence for the birth of her twins.

More pictures here from various angles and what nots.

Ketupat Manggis

For this year Raya I ODed the house with ketupat manggis (mangosteen in english). I learned this from my grand aunt when I was in my teens and I have taught this to several people over the years but I don't know if they practiced making it. The only other person apart from me who makes this now is my cousin Wina whom I taught the ketupat manggis and several others. I am slowly adding on the many different shapes for her to learn. Do you know, ketupat making is a Malay heritage? According to what little information I can get on it. Apparently it's on wiki. It's a dying art and I'm trying to keep it alive in my own way. I have plans, but I need an illustrator!

Anyhoo, this is the traditional ketupat manggis, it's has the flower part at the bottom, the 'fruit' and the 'stalk'. I just curled the ends of the ribbons to make it look 'prettier'.

Then, people would comment on how pretty the bottom is, I turned it around, removing the stalk to give a flat bottom and I added the pointy bits around the flowers (inspired from one of my many origami books) and ta-da!


So I got these spread all over the house, on table tops and hanging from the chandeliers. Got big ones and mini ones. When my brother was having his Raya open house, I packed a boxful of them and passed them over to him and he had them spread around his house too.

Traditionally, the ketupat manggis according to my grand aunt, were used for 'barang hantaran' (dowry?) it sits alongside with ketupat payau, panyu and ayam (uuhhh... deer, sea turtle and hen). I labelled them under decorative ketupats. I'm trying to remember how to make the payau, I managed to make the panyu and I can only make ayam biasa, I never mastered the ayam mengaram (brooding hen... I think...) so I'm in trouble and my grand aunt isn't exactly getting any younger.

My Preoccupation

Goodness, it's been weeks since I last posted.

Several images on backlog, just been preoccupied of late. Not to mention the two weeks of festive Hari Raya or Eid celebration, the best movers during the open house, mini mince pies.

I finally decided to take out my MacBook out of its box after it's been sitting there for several months and currently its an elaborate browser until I get my Adobe Creative Suite installed. And its also currently my gaming platform after my wonderful other half bought me Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate I've been hankering, finished it already, replaying it again. Really good stuff.

And several net sites been keeping me occupied, I can't seem to get enough of them...

• The Consumerist - money stories.


• Zen Habits - inner peace...


• Lifehackers, tips and downloads for getting things done - 'nuff said.


• Apartment Therapy - lovely lovely living spaces.


• Unclutterer, daily tips on how to organize your home and office, - ditto.


• Typies - have I ever mention about my interest in type?

I just received an order for an engagement book yesterday and the client wanted it for this Sunday... I'm not big on rush jobs, it's draining but I'll do my best at it.

Just finished the layout for the programme book for the convocation that was suppose to be for the end of this month but because the university decided to have theirs on the same day ours got postponed to the middle of next month. I need to get it out of the way anyway because not only it need to be sent for printing, next week I'm on a course at the civil service institute, won't be in at work at all, and right after that I'm on leave for two weeks! I'm hoping to be able to head down to Singapore to pick up some supplies and visit a couple of friends.

Yesterday I walked into that scrap shop at the mall and had a heart attack when I saw how much a bone folder cost. Mental! It can't cost that much... I was fortunate a friend in Greece sent me a real bone folder, what bone I don't know, and I have picked up several on my trips to Singapore and they cost way cheaper. Bone folders are one of my indispensable tools. 

Got a new pack of needles for book binding, now book production can start again.

There's a fair I'd like to participate in only I don't know if I'm going to be around for it... I don't know if I'm going to have stuff for it!

Irony...

Just a short post amonst the chaos of life, especially the past week being Hari Raya or Eid celebration, there's a post I wanted to do but that'll be another time. Anyway, I was just reading an article about organization and my mind wandered to the current state of the studio which is pretty much a mess 90% of the time, (hence the studio was closed during the celebration because it wasn't tidy-ed up, yet during the open house I still had people who insisted on seeing it with the response of "It's a studio, of course it'll be messy"). As I said, I was gonna sort out, organize, what have yous and I still haven't. Thought I was going to do it during the fasting month since I get to go home early but this year I was just drained and end up crashing out and my productivity level was zilch for the month... Oh wait, that can't be, I made those other stuff... Hmmmmm...



I was also suppose to do the inventory for the studio and that didn't happen. I asked a friend who just did the inventory for her shop if she'd do mine and I'll pay her to do it, it was a flat out no. It was worth a shot.



I remembered buying a book something to do with decluttering and feng shui, only I don't remember where the book is (lost somewhere in studio). Another reason why I need to sort out the studio was that I'm looking for a book a friend lent and she wanted it back, it's called 'The Power Of Now'.



I got a cynical smile on my face at the moment...

BAG Networks Raya Packaging

Remember all that red and cream weaving...

Here's what they're for. I had an order to supply and bag 200 containers of cookies for the company for the Hari Raya celebration. Spent four days weaving the 200 ketupats. Several hours making the 200 tags with logo, cutting it up and putting in the slits. Several hours punching out 400 mini tags, cutting up strings and tying them up, then sticking in random quotes. More hours cutting up the skinny ribbons, 400 of those. Oh, also the stamping on the bags... aaahhh, time out to go pick up the the 200 containers of yummy cookies and bagging them. Then several long hours putting them all together. I'm just eyeballing on the time, I didn't log the hours, must do time sheet next time...

200 bags, all completed!

The back of the bag...
I made four different ketupats, from the top left going clockwise, ketupat satay (because it always accompanies the satay every time you order it - grilled meat on skewers), ketupat raya (you used to see this shape when they serve ketupat during Raya celebration, aka anak bunut), ketupat kikik (because it looks like a kite, aka kapas - I don't know why) and ketupat bawang (because it looked like an onion, aka anak temanggong)

I do get bored making just one kind over and over, plus it's nice to have that bit of variety. And I chucked in one or two odd shaped one as well somewhere into the mix.

When I sent in my samples of package presentation, the presentation was for a cross between traditional, clean and modern. For us Raya celebration is synonymous with ketupats I figured that's a pretty good way of representing the occasion. Using the colour scheme of the company logo and added in a couple of the tags to make it 'personalisable'. All against a background of brown to make the whole thing pop. The person who approved it loved the fact I used a brown bag as it was a concept of the company and wanted to add on the what-the-brown-bag-meant for them and inspirational quotes. Ok, client wishes...

(Oh gosh, I just had an idea how I could change this to a christmas themed version! Whoo hoo! Anyway...)

I'm pretty proud the idea came together and the physical manifestation. I quite enjoy the challenge doing a corporate job. I don't know if they are to go to the staff and clients, or just clients... I hope it goes to the staff too, it would be really nice for them to recieve a present from the company you're working for.

And lastly, I would like to thank all the people who volunteered their time to help me with the repetitive work, ie cutting tags, slits, ribbons, strings, sticky tapes, labels, quotes... punching tags, holes and sticking in quotes and stringing them up... and putting the bags together... you know who you are :-)

Oh, and the cookies were yummilicious! Peanut butter cookies you just pop into your mouth. You just can't stop eating them, will be serving them for Hari Raya open house :-D Good thing the containers were sealed when they were being bagged and that it's fasting month, hehe...

Teddy Sneak...

I promise not to post any incriminating pictures up until the recipient received it, so I figured this picture is vague enough to not give any ideas :-p plus it's my favourite bit of all. It was no joke hand drawing all those curls...

Work In Progress

One of my painting moments, can't seem to get the colours right... Maybe it's to do with the fact that I'm only using 4 different tubes of paints. Still working on the values of the light and dark. But that's on hold cos I got this to work on...

Mini ketupats! They're about an inch wide each using the 1/4 inch satin cloth ribbons. Need about 200 of them, almost there, other components prepared already, just waiting for the stamp, quotes and cookies left. Big assembly this weekend. More later on what they're for...

Big Bow Stab Bound Albums

My sister asked for a wedding present to give to a friend of hers, and the friend likes the colours dark green and dark red. I took on dark red and ran away with it and came up with this, dark red thai silk and gold organza ribbons with flower details at the ends.

I liked the design so much I decided to come up with a silver version and paired it up with a really pale purple silk I got in my stash and I got this.

The inside of the albums, rose patterned pages! Perfumed scented too. Roses on the cover, the ribbons and the pages! I love it when things match.

The pages are tabbed too so plenty of space to stick pictures and whatnots in without the covers going all gappy.

Also I was trying to use up the scented papers because I bought a stack of it...

The albums are 8 by 9 inches, it's really 10 but 1 inch is the spine where the stabbing part is that holds the book together, it's that part at the end with the 'V' pattern. That's what nice about this particular binding, it's practical and decorative. The sewing goes from the front and all the way to the back of the album. Another thing I like about the albums, the big organza ribbons are not only decorative, but also practical, you need to untie it in order to access the inside.

The covers are padded so it has a nice soft give when you're holding it. And I couldn't help but add the little flower detail in the corner. Imagine how it'll look lying on your living room coffee table, how pretty it must be...

More pictures of the albums here and a third version I made as well.

Award!

I got an award from Astrid. Thank you, thank you! To quote Astrid, this premio was initiated by Eseya from Uruguay with the aim of honouring arts and creativity in the internet world. As always, these awards come with certain rules, as there are:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogger community, no matter of language.



2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.



3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award.



4. Please include a link to the “Arte Y Pico” blog so that everyone will know where the award came from.

Astrid awarded me this back in July, it took a while to decide who will be the five (five?? Doubt it...) I'm passing it on to... So in honour of passing this award along, the people I like to give them to locally and afar:

Sinah of Sinah Bakery at Home

This confectionary lady makes decorating desert an art form, I'd love to see the tools she uses, which I will, plan on dropping over to her magical kitchen soon.

Jasmin of Moments To Cherish

Brilliant how as soon as you walk through her front door all you see is scrapbooking stuff. I love the tools, just haven't used up all mine yet.

Lera of The Sky Is Pink

A mom of six beautiful kids, she makes, she bakes, she crafts, all for the family, the kind of mom I'd like to be.

Patricia of A Little Hut

I love the magic she does with paper and an exacto knife. The kind of style I like, simple and clean.

Jessica of Zakka Life

This is another mom I like to be. Only her's are all japanese related.

Cathe of Just Something I Made

Stumbled on one of my blog hops. Love what she makes. Can't wait to see what else she's gonna come up with...

Flag Book Farewell

This is my version of a 'Happy Retirement' card. Criteria was classy and can fit about 70 signatures. I've used the flag book concept. You're looking at a 12 by 6 inches blue silver vietnamese silk bound book with light blue satin ribbon tie. I put in a floating label so it could be personalised to the recipient.

Flip the pages like a regular book with ample space to write the greetings in. Added in a bit of detailing at the corners to tie the insides and covers, isn't it pretty?

And you can stretch the whole thing out to 3 feet long and the pages stand to attention like flags!

More pictures of the flag book can be found here.

Work In Progress

Looks cool ain't it... Wait til you see how it turns out...

7 Flowers Pop Up Thank You Card

A pop up thank you card with a difference I was asked to do. Thanks to a blog site that taught me how to make the flowers (I blog hop a lot) I decided to give it a go.

I don't know if it classify as 'card' or 'book' because the base of the flower is a hardback book cover style and the 'pages' are the flowers...

The end result is the best I could make considering the trouble I encountered while making it. What's important at the end of the day, the client is satisfied and happy. Came with matching envelope too, used up all that green embossed paper...

And the 'Thank You' on the tag, all hand cut. Will not do that again :-s

More pictures of the 'card' here.

If you like to know how to make the flowers, type in '7 flowers pop up' in the serch engine and it'll take you to links and videos that teaches how. Neat huh, tutorials everywhere!