Black and White and Red all over!

I'm not talkin' newspapers! Nice thick business cards - white on one side, black on the other, with red printing and red edges. Pretty sharp. Printed by Mama's Sauce and edge colored by me, 500 down and a mere 1,250 to go!

Cleaning off all of the dark gray dust from the white sides, after sanding the edges smooth, really made me appreciate the last edges I colored (red on pure white cards).

It's official, I've been back home for two weeks, and I'm back in the swing of things. Josh and I are still updating our other blog because there are plenty of adventures that we still have to share. Last week I posted a summary of the people and places we got to see.

Congratulations Erin & Frank!

My friends, Erin and Frank, are getting married today!  I really wish that Josh and I could fly over from France for the weekend to celebrate with them. They came all the way from Florida to our Seattle wedding and we loved having them there. I know theirs will be a perfect and festive wedding! The couple and many of their good friends are avid swing dancers so there's sure to be lots of dancing. Also, the Scrabble theme as seen in the guest book will be present in other ways today, for example the place cards are letter trays with each of the guests' names spelled out! I can't wait to see all of the pictures. Speaking of pictures, here is a link to their lovely engagement photo session taken by Photonotions Photography.

It was a fun book to make. At first I tried to saw through the Scrabble pieces to make them thinner, but I soon realized that wasn't my most brilliant idea! To save my fingers I decided to work around the full thickness of the pieces. Above you can see my solution - the covers are made using two layers of laminated .98 board. The Kutrimmer couldn't quite handle that thickness, so I cut them by hand. Phew! It was a great workout!

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.

Inspired by Ironwork

This is a collection of ironwork balconies I couldn't resist photographing as our Les Cars Rouges open top tour of Paris sped by (hence all the funky angles!). According to my scholarly Wikipedia research, wrought ironwork was popular in France from the 1600s. I'm not sure, but since these were on buildings with many repeats of the same style of balcony, I'd guess that they are cast ironwork, which would have been popular around the 18th century.

I think I'll return to these images when it's time to get my gouges out and do some gold tooling. I saved the image at a rather large size, so you can click on it to see the details up close!

Bonjour Paris!


This long-stitch book is what I've brought along with me as my journal-sketchbook. I've just been carrying it around in my jacket pocket today! For a look at what is inside, feel free to visit Josh and my new blog: adventuringholtsclaws.blogspot.com.

The cover is quilted, using my go-to sturdy pink fabric (remainders from extremely long Ikea curtains that I hemmed), leftover batting, and binding with a print that I couldn't resist when I was last at the quilt shop.

I've already started using it and I'm crossing my fingers that I keep it up! I love the color combo, so I'm betting I'll keep it nice and close!

Bon Voyage Sale!

12 days left until I leave the country! On Monday the 12th I'll be closing up shop until I return to the bindery in July. In honor of our upcoming adventures I'm having a 30% off Sale in my Etsy Shop.

 If you'd like to make a purchase, add an item to your cart and click the check out button. In the "notes to seller" portion, be sure to let me know your email address. Click to complete your order, but refrain from going to Paypal to pay. and I'll email you a revised invoice that will include a link to complete your payment.

Back to the bindery for now! I'm sewing a HUGE book today! I'm a busy bee with the sunshine streaming in. I'm taking pictures of everything I'm finishing up, so I'll be able to share everything with you when I have the time. :) Cheers!

New in the Shop

In preparation to leave the country, I've been catching up on emails, making my to-do lists, and crossing things off bit by bit! Meanwhile, these photos are of two books that are new in the shop this week. The photo above is of a single needle coptic stitch cover with paper from Chena River Marblers, with a closure using twine and buttons from my vintage button jar.

This coptic uses the four needle stitch and is covered with some of Claire Maziarczyk's beautiful paste paper and a vintage transfer of three happy radishes! Aren't those little veggies darling?

The marbled coptic would be good for drawing or journaling, and the radish coptic would be good for writing in metallic pen or using photo corners to make it a miniature photo album.

Mission Accomplished: Guest Books & Exciting News

Voila! Three earth friendly looking guest books! I've obscured the logos on the front covers, but otherwise, that's just what they look like. I finished them on Friday morning, so I had plenty of time to turn them in before their afternoon deadline.

Ollie kept me company, and thankfully a squirrel kept him entertained, so he wasn't chasing paper around the bindery!

Here is a shot of what I use for my job backer (the contraption that holds the text block in place while the shoulders are formed). Gilding boards with binders board support strips are set securely into a lying press. I use a jewelers hammer and a fender hammer for rounding.

It had been a while since I'd sewn an endband, and it was fun to get to do six of them!

 Now for the biggest news of all! On Wednesday Josh and I found out that we'll be relocating to Paris for 3 months! He leaves on Friday and I'll join him the first week of April after I finish up projects in the bindery. It's just now sinking in that this is really happening. I didn't have time to think about it while I was working on the guest books, so it's been a great weekend just daydreaming about all of the things we'll get to see and do in the next couple of months. Me-oh-my!

Calm before the Quiet Storm

I have a big day ahead of me! Within the hour, printed pages for three textblocks will be delivered to my door and I'll spring into action so they can be bound and sent to California on Friday. Mind you, springing into action means doing various quiet activities like folding, sewing, gluing, and only a bit louder - cutting.

So before my flurry of binderly activity begins, here's a tranquil photo of a tiny, fully resolved book that is happily resting in the sun in the bindery. And with that, I can start my day with an accomplishment! Blog post: check!