Book Pendants

Bitty Binding

When I'm working on a project, usually I'm up and down, cut this here, press this there, rounding, backing, stamping, and various other -ings! It's not necessarily strenuous, but sometimes it's a nice treat to sit down and be able to make something from start to finish with all of the tools and materials at your fingertips! That's just what I got to do yesterday with this little Sweetheart book charm.

Wounded Dove Pendant by Roxanna Bikadoroff

 photo courtesy of ABC
Josh and I have been big LOST fans since the beginning and we just finished the finale. Phew! It was hard to wait a whole day for it to become available to us in France, but somehow we made it through! I'm still reflecting on the series, so I'm not planning on discussing the show here... About halfway through the finale, as we somewhat patiently waited for the remaining minutes to buffer, I checked my email and got a fun surprise.

The surprise was an email from talented illustrator, Roxanna Bikadoroff. I first made contact with Roxanna after I was approached about creating some custom miniature book earrings using her cover illustration for Flannery O'Connor's Everything That Rises Must Converge. She kindly gave me permission to reproduce her covers for that purpose.

I can't speak to my client's interest, but much of the recent popularity of the book is due to the sight of it in Jacob's hands during the season five finale of LOST. Some fan I am, I missed it first time around but the Loophole LOST Forum called my attention to the matter after they somehow found an image of the earrings I made and posted about them.

So, back to that email...Last year, Roxanna had mentioned that she was working on getting silver pendants made based on the wounded dove of her cover design. Her work payed off and now there is a limited number of her lovely silver pendants available! So, whether you're a fan of LOST, Flannery O'Connor, Roxanna Bikadoroff, or all three, it's definitely worth a look! To learn more about the wounded dove or purchase your own pendant, visit her blog or Etsy shop. To see more great work, follow this link to visit Roxanna's website.

Miniature Book Pendants: Small Things, Great Love

As the school year drew to a close, my mom, a kindergarten teacher, began to think about how she might show her appreciation for all of her wonderful classroom volunteers. I may have had a part in helping her think of her final plan! She teaches in a Catholic parish where she and my dad also attend mass (It is also the church where Josh and I were married). Mother Teresa's quote, as seen in the photo above, is one that the parish priest quotes from time to time, and one that my mom has taken to heart.

There was another solution for the men who volunteered, but for the ladies, I made these miniature book pendants to be used on a chain or charm bracelet. I printed the quote, "Do small things with great love," on vellum paper. Each book has a few extra vellum pages and colored endsheets to complement the pattern on its cover. I made a total of fifteen, twelve of which are pictured above. These books are the same size as the miniature book earrings I make, 3/4"x 1/2".


A gift isn't complete without some sort of packaging, so I made envelopes out of a sheet of decorative paper that goes with the school colors. The envelopes are just big enough to fit a business card and one of the pendants. I left them open when I sent them off to my mom, so she could decide who got which pattern and seal them herself. All she had to do was peel off the backing of the double stick tape that I had adhered to the envelope flap. Once sealed she wrote a tiny note or a to/from on the little tab of paper that I secured to the front side.



Talk about small and great! Aside from describing my mom very accurately, that also describes this photo of the two of us. It was taken a year ago with her stellar camera timer skills. We were having fun in the lovely and grand Worcester Train Station in Massachusetts.