MARILYN'S ALBUM

All photographs copyright Marilyn Saunders

Marilyn Saunders (another of the ladies who took my Gerrards Cross Japanese Stab-bound albums class several weeks ago) has just sent me photos of a new album she's just made.

Beading detail on binding - beautifully matched and sized!

Closeup of beading detail on spine

Detail of clasp

I have to say that I'm wildly impressed! 

Hand-stamped cover paper, satin ribbon binding over-bound with beads... wow and double wow! (wish I'd thought of the beads....)

MARGARET'S ALBUM

Margaret (one of the ladies on my Gerrards Cross Summer School course) sent me a pic of her finished album.

Done in the class - photos copyright Margaret Isaacs

All finished with embellishments. The perfect Golden Wedding album!

Thanks so much for the photos, Margaret - this album is lovely, and I'm sure was the perfect present for a perfect day!

I particularly like the little bows you inserted along the binding - an idea I'm definitely going to pinch! Why didn't I think of that?

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME & 2 GIVEAWAYS

Strictly speaking, it's my birthday Friday 31st, but as I'm writing my Pink Saturday post as we speak, it's my birthday post as well.


Peter didn't make a cake, but he did do a fruit jelly! With real strawberries!


It's funny - I have never been a lover of the colour pink, but since I started posting on Pink Saturdays I'm looking at the colour in a whole new light. And guess what - every single one of my cards were pink! Spooky...





Therefore, in honour of the day, I am giving away TWO books - a coptic book and one of my Japanese stab-bound albums. All you have to do is leave a comment, and I'll use the Random Number thingie to pick two winners. I will do the draw on Sunday, so if your time line is different from mine, it still gives you a chance to enter.

So good luck everyone - I'll announce the winners and email them for their addresses so I can send their books in the week.

Make sure there's an email address or blog address along with your comment, so that I can contact you!




Go here to visit Beverly at How Sweet The Sound and to see all the other Pink Saturday posts!

100th FOLLOWER!

Terry of Lady Liberty Patriot has signed up to be my 100th Follower - what a milestone!

I am stunned 100 people publicly admit to reading my blog - you mad fools, you. But thank you, very much. I promise to try not to bore you all.

Terry gets one of my little handmade photo albums as a thankyou and celebration prezzie - so that'll be a total surprise! Terry - I need to know what your favourite colour is, so please leave a comment or email me (I'll need your address too). I'm guessing you'd like a cowgirl theme?

Love you all!

PINK SATURDAY - ALBUM WITH ROSES

Here's my Pink Saturday offering this week - The Fairy Album - a Japanese Stab-bound album with pink vintage silk roses.


All pix copyright Susie Jefferson







I am so pleased I finally finished this. I started making it last year, and got as far as covering the boards - then ran out of ideas as to decoration.


Closeup of cover detail with fairy picture (I think it might be by Burne-Jones).










Then, as luck would have it, I was going through my collage materials looking for something else (a bone folder of all things) and found two art cards someone had sent me ages ago.

Angled view, showing dimension








Closeup view








So the lightbulb in my head went "PING" - and I had the album finished in one (very long) session. I didn't stop till it was completely finished... and here you are.


Extreme closeup view of silk roses & pearls






It's a bit of a departure for me in that I don't do cute - but as these are Old Master paintings (well, Art Nouveau if you're being picky) I guess that's OK... The album is A3 size, a monster!


Cross-laced binding with layered ribbons




Much embellished with vintage silk flowers, feather butterflies, Swarovski crystals, artificial pearls and two whole reels of ribbons for the cross lacing and ties. (Nothing exceeds like excess, lol).


Closeup of the cross-lacing detail. The spine is also covered with the specialty paper.



The handmade gold paper is machine embroidered with scrolls - expensive, but so worth it! Never skimp on nice paper when bookbinding: it shows, and it's a waste of your hard work. The pages are heavyweight smooth cream cardstock - very pliable, and perfect for adding artwork or journalling.


The inside cover & 1st page





Stamped scrolls and another Burne-Jones fairy. "Welcome to Fairy Land" embellished with glitter and little Swarovski diamante stones.

I have to say I really enjoyed myself in the making of it. Now it's done, though...

I'm toying with the idea of opening up an Etsy shop. I am getting knee deep in books and albums - it's the process I enjoy. Once they are done, on to the next, so I feel (as long as I have lots of pix) that I can let them go.


Go here to visit Beverly at How Sweet The Sound and to see all the other Pink Saturday posts!

101 POSTS & A GIVEAWAY

I've just realised I have written 100 posts on this blog!

Considering I never kept up a diary in my life beyond the first week, this calls for a big celebration - I have had over 9200 visitors which is totally incredible. I can't believe it - thank you all so much.












So I have decided to put up one of my handmade Japanese stab-bound albums as a giveaway.










This is a little A5 sized album and the front and back covers are decorated inside and out: also the page edges have just a little decoration and distressing. So it should be a quick one to fill up!

Some of you may have seen it before (published in Simply Stamping issue 6) so you know this book was built from the raw cardboard out! The ruler is a piece of real vintage school ruler (about 1960s) and the windows on the front cover all open to show the 30s movie stars underneath.

Just leave me a comment about why you want it, and I'll announce the lucky winner next Sunday (19th April).

VALENTINE'S DAY COUNTDOWNS

I can't believe I have posted nearly a full month of Valentine's Day projects on the Blade Rubber Blog!

I put up these two Japanese stab-bound albums, as everyone seemed to like the last one, so rather than repeat all the general instructions here, perhaps you'd like to check them out via this link.


Joyous
copyright Susie Jefferson










All photos shown from Joanna Sheen

This is one of my favourite book forms - hard or easy, depending on what effect you want to achieve.


Baby Brag Book
copyright Susie Jefferson







Originally published in Simply Stamping magazine, 2007.
"Say It With Flair" UM plate by Stampsmith.
"Mainly Babies" UM plate by Joanna Sheen

Easiest is to paint, gesso or swipe inkpads onto mountboard or greyboard (chipboard, Daveyboard) , then go ahead and collage/stamp over the top, as with the Ruler Book, below.


Ruler Book
by Susie Jefferson








Originally published in Simply Stamping magazine, 2007


Inside of Ruler Book







Stamps by PaperArtsy & Elusive Images
"Say It With Flair" UM plate by Stampsmith

Harder is to cover with paper, as you need to create a separate spine. The results are so worth it!


Oh Happy Day
by Susie Jefferson








Originally published in Simply Stamping magazine, 2007

"Say It With Flair" UM plate by Stampsmith
German scrap from PaperArtsy

BLADE RUBBER BLOG LINK

OOPS!

Album copyright Susie Jefferson






I put the wrong link on my groups email re the Valentine's Countdown project for a Japanese stab-bound album: you need to go to the BLADE RUBBER BLOG.

You'll see the full project details there.

Sorry about that - it's what happens when you cut&paste in a hurry! Then you hit the Send button and it's gone before you can do anything about it.

RECIPE SWAP COOKBOOK

I got an email today which really cheered me up - years ago (at least 6 years ago) I hosted a recipe swap on the Stampsmith and UKPaperArts Yahoo groups - and Linda still had the recipe book!

This was a Japanese Stab-bound book that I made: a copy for everybody, to bind the recipes that were sent in. The rules were easy: send a postcard with your fave recipe on it, printed or written any way you liked, and another postcard to illustrate it in the same way. They had to be separate so I could mount them on facing pages. So I got a couple of odd ones, and solved the problem by putting a couple of collage pages in to fill any spaces.

So here it is in all its glory - maybe not the best scans in the world (I have improved a bit since then) a little blurry, but you can make out most of the recipes clearly enough. If you are a chocolate lover, check out my recipe for Helga's Chocolate Truffles...

It was a lot of fun, and I think I really must do this one again sometime! BTW, if anyone is desperate for any of the recipes, email me and I'll send it on.

I hope you all enjoy this little trip down Memory Lane.