angry chicken

a long stitch book and some links

Delia and I started this long stitch leather book almost a year ago. We saw one for sale at a bookshop on Orcas Island and later watched this excellent tutorial by Sea Lemon on how to make it. We made the signatures, punched the holes, and then took a break. A long break. And I'm glad we did because when she revisited it just this last month, she wanted it a different size. So, she torn down the signatures and felt 100% better about moving forward. She said the first one was too big for her hands, and for her bag. She worried that it would be a pain for me if she wanted to take the time to make it smaller. No way. I'm so happy she wanted it right for her, no matter how long it takes.

I helped start the sewing, but after that it was all her. She must have watched the video 20 times and although I could have taught her without it, it was so great to have her see what were were going to do from beginning to end before we started. Oh the internet!

Unrelated:

• I was marveling at how many independent sewing pattern designers there are now and this handy list was a great place to get up to speed.

• If you live here in Portland and have been bitten by the Korean make-up/skincare bug like I have, Pretty and Cute carries hard to find brands in their adorable shop. They have skincare samples and let you try on make-up, which is key because it's so hard to know what the heck it really looks like in real life.

• I'm looking at Raspberry Pi projects for the girls and the middle child scanned a list and quickly called dibs on the Fart Detector. So, it begins.

 

macaron day was celebrated

Macaron Day was celebrated last week at our house. I had only heard of there being such a day about 24 hours before, but we were up for the celebration. These were from Nuvrei, here in Portland. They were very good. We have not been to the amazing looking Farina Bakery, but we need to try it soon. 

I feel very behind on my fish taco research.

Unrelated:

I have been making more fauxdoris and loving every step of the process, especially making my own inserts. I use high quality sketching paper that I already have. It's so pleasing to be making these without having to buy anything.

I can't stop watching the make-up video tutorials by Lisa Eldridge. I guess I am late to the game here—it seems she's very big news and has been forever, so now I am making up for lost time. I have been going through some skin changes (the changes are called aging, my oils have been really helping) and it's making me re-evaluate my foundation. Light and luminous, that's what I want. Inner glow! But it's kind of fake because it comes from a product! I need to drink more water.

mini leather book necklace

Delia and I were out shopping at the amazing Portland shop Oblation Papers and Press which sells letter press cards, ribbons, paper, fountain pens, vintage typewriters, and all sorts of goodness, and she fell in love with a very small leather book on a necklace. It was about $50, and I told her we could make one. And we did. It was really important to her that it was a real book—with signatures and everything (she has started more complex bookbinding on her own) and I assured her we could do it.

This is just one sheet of 9" x 12" newsprint folded and cut until it made 4 signatures. 

I pinched them together and marked where to pierce the holes.

This newsprint is so thin the holes were easily made with a push-pin.

Then I started sewing. I didn't really worry about a formal stitch, it's neither a long-stitch, nor a coptic, kind of a made-up hybrid of the two.

Then I clamped it together and glued the spine with PVA. This is showing two books, one not glued and one glued.

I used thin scrap leather to make the case. I was making two books here.

To case it it after the spine dried, I used a permanent bond glue stick on the first and last page—gluing it straight to the leather. Using parchment paper in between kept the excess glue away from the rest of the pages. This is a super important step. That's it for gluing. You don't glue the spine of signatures to the leather, just the front and back papers.

After the leather case was on and dry, I pierced the top with an awl to attach a jump ring.

I found these great brass jump rings that look a bit distressed. I closed it up and then I slid it on a chain.

She loves it! I made two more for her sisters. They are surprisingly fast to make, I think because the glue dries fast and there is no pressing, so I could make these in about an hour. I know I could have made these much more simply with an accordion folded paper inside, and not bother with the whole sewing, but I loved the idea of making the mini book just as I would a normal sized one (pretty much) and they loved seeing it come together. I didn't look for any tutorials for this. I felt comfortable just making it, but I suspect if these directions are too vague there are probably clearer tutorials out there that would show a more detailed step-by-step.

I don't measure or plan all that much when I make books this way. I let the folded paper dictate the finished size and then make the case slightly bigger. It all comes to life on its own. It's so magical—and all from just one sheet of paper and a little scrap of leather!

 

paper wallets

We spent a good part of a day this week making paper wallets. A short and sweet how-to video is here, presented by a kid. It kills me when he says you will need "a fake or real credit card." I love this one because it doesn't use glue or tape and it fits cards perfectly. It's not so good for cash, which isn't really an issue for me.

We used newsprint for our walltes, which is thin and easy to work with. We stamped it first, with adorable stamps designed by ashely g for AHA. I don't see the exact set we have in the link, but they are all cute.

This cash and credit card wallet was made using this video. We didn't use two sheets of paper, but only one, covering it with packing tape before we folded it. Covering newsprint with packing tape caused some frustration, but it was worth it.

We are studying architecture right now and paper folding, book binding, and sculpture are so intertwined with the study of space— this was a natural fit. Also, the girls have all loved watching this short design video showing simple design projects using everyday objects.

roasted brussels sprouts with chickpeas

I roasted a bunch of brussels sprouts the other night. I coated them with salt, pepper, and olive oil and roasted them at 425° for about 25 minutes. Then I tossed them with:

• a can of drained chickpeas
• 2 TBL soy sauce
• 2 TBL rice vinegar
• a splash of maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sambal oelek

Delicious! And very stinky. The kids were having none of it. I had leftovers the next day with a fried egg on top. That was very good, too.

Unrelated:

• We are super excited to be participating in the homeschooling science fair this week. We do every year and this site, Science Buddies, was a great resource for ideas.

• I'm still having a pens, pencils, paper, and notebooks moment—here's a guide to buying pencils from My Pencils Draw Worlds.

Confirmation Code: GFBXHFFD41094112

the legend of korra

My brother and I continued our conversation about growing up with Star Wars and he said he never realized how different it was for me watching them as a little girl. I was always looking for female characters to relate to and to identifiy with. After thinkg about this and my girls, he asked if I had seen the Legend of Korra. He was sure I already knew about it (I didn't) and pretty sure I had had already watched it with the girls (nope.) We don't have a t.v., so shows have to really bust into our lives for us to become aware of them. I am so happy he mentioned this series becasue it is so incredible. We are watching it as a family in the evenings (amazon prime instant video) and we just can't get over how good it is.

A little internet research told me this series is beloved and highly regarded. I was worried my expectations would be too high, but they weren't. Many articles have been written about this series, and how unusual it is. The writing, animation, and humor are so well crafted— there are so many different types characters to relate to, it really is impressive. We will be sad when we finish the series. We are almost done with Book 2.

We haven't had our Star Wars viewing yet, and now I am a little worried it won't really hold up for them compared to The Legend of Korra, but that's fine. It can't go as bad as when I tried to show them The Goonies.

I made some fauxdoris

It all started right around the new year, I needed a small 2015 calendar, visited the online world of planners (filofax, etc.) and went down that rabbit hole. I came up with a lovely planner that I love. It opens completely flat (!) and is a pleasure to use and write in every day.

In the mean time, I was reading a lot of pen, paper, and pencil blogs. I upgraded my everyday pens. This is my current fave, the Pentel Hybrid Technica Gel Ink Pen - 0.4 mm - Black. I feel like a found a new best friend. And it's refillable. And I would have never thought to try a .4, but it's PERFECT.

Then I went down a fountain pen spiral, but I haven't bought one yet. I watch videos about fountains pens. I still have the Scheaffer my brother gave me when I was 20.

During all this, I kept seeing the Midori Traveler's Notebook around the interwebs. They look lovely. They are elegantly simple and straight forward and totally customizable. As a bookbinder, I wanted to not buy one, but to make one. Then I found the world of Fauxdoris, homemade versions people have crafted to better fit their needs and budget. Here's a great guide on the original Midori Traveler's Notebook, over at Jet Pens.

The standard Traveler's Notebook sizes are limiting. They don't fit Moleskines or Field Notes, which I like to use, so I made my own fauxdori with some leather I got here locally (tandy leather) and found a great short video on how to make one. There are many videos out there, but they are long, and this is short and easy. I had a lot of supplies on hand from bookbinding and sewing, so all I needed was the leather. The design with the elastic bands is so fun to execute, I wanted to stand up and start clapping after I made these.

I made these four for gifts and and am now kind of obsessed. I would like to make one that fits Scout Books, which I think is almost the exact size of the Midori Passport, which would then allow me to use the Midori inserts as well, which have really nice paper options. This is important for using fountains pens, or inky pens because of the potential bleed-through factor.  Homemade inserts for the Traveler's Notebook are a thing, too. So many people are making their own. Etsy is full of this stuff. The whole Traveler's Notebook world is a such a huge trend with so many off-shoots. But it's about writing stuff down on real paper. It's tangible and real, you hold it in your hands, and I find this very exciting. It's not a phone app for keeping notes!

sewing leotards

I have been sewing more dancewear lately for the girls and it's been so fun. I sewed two leotards for my youngest for gymnastics (I will show these soon) and then started some ballet leotards for the older girls. They wear uniforms for their classes, but for rehearsals and some modern classes they can wear whatever they want. This is terribly exciting for them. After sewing a few, I realized best way to make these is to use a purchased leotard that fits them as a base for a pattern, making sure the fabrics are similar so the stretch will be the same.

This one I sewed (shown in photo) is patterned from Delia's beloved Yumiko. I used swimsuit Lyrca, (matte-side out) bought from the Mill End Store here in Portland. The front is fully lined. I used 1/4" elastic encased in the contrasting binding on the neck and legs. (Delia preferred to not show her booty here, more power to her) The arms are just hemmed, no elastic. The binding is tricky to get right without a cover stitch machine. Close-up, it's not perfect, but when it's on her and you aren't 2 inches away, it's pretty dang good. The nice thing is the one she bought is slightly too big and is only half lined. Sewing this one slightly smaller and fully lined are nice improvements.

I was dreaming about sewing these and how to attach the contrasting binding and all that—I went kind of crazy about it for a few weeks, but I am able to talk and think about other things now. These are easy to make. In theory. There is a learning curve. There is some swearing, and a range of emotions felt, including sad and thrilling. A stretch needle is necessary (a serger is not, but helpful) and extra fabric is a very handy. They are inexpensive to make. I plan on 1/2 yard per leotard plus some lining, so these come in at under $12 each.

botanical letters

We are loving the tutorials over at The Postman Knocks. This one, The Botanical Letter Tutorial, was the one we tried last week. The girls were so excited by the results!

They traced big letters in pencil, drew all sorts of flora, inked them with a waterproof fine-tip pen (micron pigma is what we usually have on hand) and then used watercolor pencils, or just watercolor to fill in. Beautiful!

These took a bit of time. They did them in one sitting, but I did read to them while they were inking and painting because I could tell they were feeling a little restless. Also, all three of them, when they started, said they weren't liking how they looked. I told them to just keep going—most art projects look so much better as you work on them, but in the beginning, they often look not so great. They couldn't believe how pretty they turned out when they finished. The girls are now 7, 10 and 12 and the 7 year-old was digging it just as much as the big girls. Look at her L!