Dos-A-Dos: Pink & Purple

Pink and blue back to back book 

One day a friend and I were talking, her mother in law birthday was coming up and she was trying to figure out what to get for her MIL who has absolutely everything. She was telling me how her in laws are really into books, as from her description, the house was packed with books as they love books. She mentioned how her MIL also kept journals, and she would use the old school text books for that.

'Ah hah!' moment.

Why not get a hand made journal? And there were other parts in the conversation that lead up to using images of the grandchildren as end sheets.

End sheet with grandchild no.1

Chose the pictures, fiddle around with Photoshop, and there you have it! A completely original personalised journal for the intended recipient.

Quite sweet isn't it.

More pictures of the book can be seen here.  

Dos-a-dos Embossed Green

This one is nice, used art paper for the single sections, so the individual pages are quite thick. I think this was made right after the blue snake skin, used the same binding method for the spine and added on some more on the cover to emphasize the flowers. I love embossed paper. I love embossed anything. I love embossing!


The end paper in the cover have that chain stitching detail on it. It's really nice when it's a large sheet. I think I'm down to the last sheet now. No, wait, just had a look, to the last half sheet. It's spread out on the table at the moment. Dos-a-dos books are always fun to make. They never stay long with me, someone always seems to want them. So, who's after this one?

Dos-a-dos Black & White

A dos-a-dos structure, made the cover months ago. Finally got around to finishing it with the cream pages like Astrid suggested. Figured it needed an accent so I used the red with gold threads to bind it together, and it also ties in with the end paper I used on the inside of the covers.


The book belongs to my yoga instructor now. I gifted it to her as a thank you. And then she booked two of my paintings for her new studio! So cool.

The Princess

Like I said, I'm so loving this look at the moment such that I have already made another. This book is the first of the Princess series. Delivered today! It was an order with a request which when discussed further with the client the project was dubbed 'love book'. With that in mind, I was wondering how to interpret it. I sketched out various concepts and I over thought it again and I in a way I already knew what I was going to do in the first place anyway. Well... what was suppose to happen didn't happen and what happened are wonderful accidents. Isn't that great! My initial idea have grown by the time it manifested physically and it's always better than expected. So if I give you a proposal, it's just to reassure you ;-p


Don't you just love the colour combination. Beautiful white paper with blind embossed butterflies and ribbons I picked up while in Singapore... damn, two years ago! I kept it all these while waiting for the perfect project. And the pink paper is blind embossed as well. The ribbons I used three different width in five different colours. And on the ends I stuck on hearts in complimentary colours. And of course, pearlescent(?) pink end paper.

Darn, couldn't seem to get the colours right in this shot, nevermind. I just wanted to show the top view. Either way, I'm loving the look.

Love it love it love it!

What Colour To Use...

I made this cover for a long stitch dos-a-dos. Unfortunately I can't seem to work out what would be a nice corresponding colour for the inner sections to bind the cover to... One side of the cover is black with gold and the other is white with gold, the paper came from India. The end sheet I used inside is red with embossed gold specks which I found. I want a colour that complements the whole thing. Any suggestions?

The Golden Shell

This was a challenge to make because of the material, it frays so easily and trying to make it look neat at the corners and turn ins. And then I had a challenge with attaching the shells. They came off a charm bracelet I took apart.

Current favourite binding method and structure *grin*

Story here on how it was only a day old before it was bought.

Books Abroad!

The first pioneer of my books that crossed the Atlantic! More pictures here and detailed story here.