Some Embroidery & One Year Down!

I started this blog a year ago yesterday, and I'm pleased as punch to say that I stuck with my 2009 resolution of posting at least once a month! Almost fifty posts later, dare I resolve to post at least twice month next year? Seems to be a safe plan... we'll see! I have a couple weeks to decide!

It has been a very busy month. I'm working hard to finish up projects for clients, as well as my own holiday projects. The photo above shows two embroidery projects that I finished a couple months ago. One was a gift for my mom's birthday, and the other was a "congrats on your engagement" present for my brother and his fabulous fiance. It was my first try with embroidery and it was so much fun! My friend Lisa and I had seen the lovely embroidery by Jessica of MiniatureRhino on Etsy, and thought we'd like to give it a try. Lisa has embroidering in her blood, and takes part in her family tradition of embroidering quilt squares for the family quilt each year. She kindly taught me a couple stitches, after which I had a hard time putting my needle down! I even embroidered a book cover for the BEST Halloween Challenge!

The BEST Holiday Book Event, Ending Soon

It's just a giving couple of weeks here in Blogland! There is one whole day left to enter the BEST Holiday Book Event. Chances are earned with every ten dollars spent in participating shops. If you do make a purchase, add "BEST Holiday" in the note to seller box, for one extra entry. The prizes are incredible! There are three separate gift baskets full of books and related goods, as well as two gift certificates to spend in any participating shop. A person could have all of their holiday "shopping" done in one fell swoop!

I've updated some of my listings this week and plan to add some stocking stuffers to my shop today, little books that would be great for stockings as well as last minute entries!

And the winner is...

A big thanks to those participated in our giveaway! We sure got a nice warm fuzzy feeling hearing about all of the things you're thankful for! (Especially if you're thankful for Ginger Ale - fuzzy & fizzy)

The winners have been chosen! The random number generator came up with a number 3 to determine that the winner of this handmade stationery set is Matthew Reidsma!

Congratulations and Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a Thanksgive-away!

Boombox Bindery is teaming up with Orange Blossom Ink to give a big thanks to all of our friendly readers. It sure means a whole lot to us when you stop by!

As our way of thanking you for your bloggy friendship and support, we’d like to give you the chance to enter to win one of our collaborative projects. You may remember the stationery boxes we made a number of months ago in preparation for a craft market. We happen to have two of those left and would just love to send them out to a pair of you! Each handmade box features a set of eight cards with four sweet patterns that compliment the boxes.

To embrace the spirit of the season, all you have to do is leave a comment on one of our Thanksgive-away posts and tell us about something you’re thankful for! Feel free to comment on both blogs to double your chances. While you're at it, click on over to follow Boombox Bindery on Twitter, Facebook, or Blogger!

We’ll use a random number generator to select a winning comment from each of our blogs and those winners will be announced on Thanksgiving Day! The winners will receive the stationery set pictured on the blog of their winning entries.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Flag Book Button Closure

When this flag book was posted on the Bookbinding Team blog, Olive Art commented with a question of how I attached the button and thread. I gave a short description; I attached the button and string by punching a hole through the cover board and the valley of my first accordion fold. I used one length of string, with the ends knotted underneath the button.
But after writing that, I thought it might be nice to offer a visual description.

Click on the diagram above for a larger view. If you start with the red arrow, you should be able to follow the path my thread took.

Fishy Flag Book

Here are some photos of the flag book I made for the Bookbinding Team Swap in September. Here's a link for the entry about it over on the team blog, and here's a link for all of the books involved.

I've been working on a diagram to illustrate how I attached my button and closure thread, and will post it later this week.

I loved setting this little book in the sunlight and observing all of the shadows that danced around it.

San Francisco Treats: GBW Standards Underway

Josh and I are in San Francisco for the GBW meeting, and it is glorious! We arrived on Wednesday and hit the ground running. Checked in at our hotel, figured out the public transport & found Ike's Place for lunch. Ever since seeing Ike's on Man vs. Food, we knew we had to try those delicious sammies, and goodness gracious! they were as good as they looked on tv! After lunch we walked and walked and.... eventually wound up at the Tonga Room another planned destination where we got our tiki fix!

Thursday was another wonderful and full day complete with a bookbinding tour of San Fran, and the opening reception where we got to browse through the Marking Time Exhibit at the SFPL. I'll post more details about my trip in the coming weeks, but now I'm off to an NBSS reunion breakfast where I'm excited to do some more catching up with classmates and meet other fellow grads.

Rosewood Folder & Walnut Box

Today was an exceptional start to the week! I'm having fun getting prepared for our trip to San Francisco for the Guild of Book Workers Seminar. It was a productive day in the bindery. My friend Glenn brought some pumpkin bread over, which made for a wonderful fall feeling that is otherwise amiss here in warm Orlando. And now I get to watch the top 20 on So You Think You Can Dance!

All of the above are so wonderful, but the very best thing was something special that came in the mail. On Friday I got a notice that I had a package to pick up at the office which wouldn't be open again until Monday. I had all weekend to wonder what sort of mail was in store for me.

Last month, when I called Randy Arnold for his interview, I got more than than I requested and made a new friend! In these photos you can see the beautiful folder that I received from my friend. It was a delight to see that the package was from him, and a thrill to see what was inside. First of all, look at that great packaging! The earth tones compliment his work perfectly. Pictures don't quite capture how nice it is to hold this rosewood folder, and how perfectly it fits into its handsome walnut box. You can see more photos of this folder on Randy's blog, and visit his shop to add some tools to your wish list!

Thanks a million, Randy, for my new prized possession! If any of you happen to be headed to the Guild meeting this week, I'll plan to bring my new folder along. Let me know if you'd like to get your hands on it, and I will have a show & tell!

Fourth Handmade Winner: Custom Wedding Card Box

Number 4 on the list was a certain Kate Jones, who is now officially Kate Lynch! Kate is a friend of mine from college who got married in Maryland this past Saturday. I knew she was getting married, so I decided her winnings would be part wedding gift & part giveaway gift!

I thought about what I could make that would have added a little extra to my own wedding and quickly found inspiration in a shoe box full of cards. I won't be able to part with our wedding cards anytime in the foreseeable future, so it sure would be nice to have a pretty box in which to store them! (Happily, I will have my own version of this box soon, because I cut out two sets of boards while I was working on Kate's!)

The dimensions are based on the measurements of our stack of cards. It's a little wider than the tallest card and a little taller than the widest card! I decided on a landscape box rather than a portrait, simply because I thought it would be the most elegant.

The Lynchs had a color scheme of truffle brown and cornflower blue, so I tried to stay in that color ballpark while picking my materials. The white decorative paper that is inset on the cover of the box is a strip of vintage Royledge shelf paper.

Congrats & Best Wishes, Mr. & Mrs. Lynch!

Third Handmade Winner: Holiday Book

The third winner of my handmade giveaway was Christina, who has a blog called Hall Family Happenings, and a wonderful Etsy shop called Nina Bo Bina. Josh & I purchased a sweet burp cloth set from her earlier in the year when we found out that our cousins would be having a little girl! Check out the shop for all sorts of fun handcrafted fabric items.

This holiday book should arrive in Christina's mailbox today! It is a softback book, measuring 5.25 x 6 inches, full of 24 perforated pages. I thought the Hall family could use this to make a few holiday lists for the upcoming season!

Hope you enjoy it Christina! Thanks for entering my giveaway!