Paper Bag Book

A day or two before the Bookbinding 101 Zoom session was to begin, I poked around the Vintage Page Designs website and found some free instructions for making hand-made books.

The book I decided to make was called a Paper Bag Book because it used a brown paper bag

as the pages of the book. I like these kinds of projects because no special materials are needed. Just stuff you have around the house and in the recycle bin.

The paper bag was cut to a standard size sheet of paper 8.5 in. x 11 in. Cuts were made so the bag could be accordion folded.

I've made this type of book many times, but I learned it as a Meander Book. The only difference being that the loose pages/flaps were glued together in this book and left to change the direction of the fold in the Meander Book (hence the name)

I raided the recycle bin to make the cover from a cookie box. I had every intention of covering the cardboard with paper, but looking at the Windmill cookie box reminded me of my Auntie.

Auntie was Ma's younger sister and a second mother to us. Since Ma worked, we spent a lot of school vacations at Auntie's until we were old enough to stay at home by ourselves.

Auntie had a white cookie jar embossed with cookies. The cookie jar had a lid with a red knob. The cookie jar was always filled. Auntie would sometimes by the spiced cookies shaped like a windmill, and a Dutch boy and girl. 

I decided to leave the cardboard as is. Glued to the front and back of the paper bag pages. I made a button and string closure to hold the book shut.

Monet and Me

 

took a week-long, online class Bookbinding 101 sponsored by Ali Manning of Vintage Page Designs and the Handmade Book Club.

Topics for the course included paper, adhesives, covers, and stitching. We made one small book that didn't require sewing, and 3 small books using 3 different stitches to bind the book.

I've made small books before so some of the techniques I knew, but I didn't know about some tools. One of the tools talked about was a book binding cover tool guide which is what Monet is holding. The tool is a 5 in one. You can square your book covers and pages, you can round corners, you can easily create neatly mitered corners, you can use the guide to make small measurements, and the narrow metal bit allows you to evenly space book covers and spine. Like this:

The tool that was featured in class was from We R Memory Keepers, but I found the same tool for a lower price at Amazon. 

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away. I work on single sheets, and I thought I'd put them together to make a simple book.

I'm trying not to stress over the title page. 😸

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I had a fun chat with the Young One.

2. For 5 minutes, I was caught up in my journal

3. Grandmaster E introduced me to The Resident on Netflix. It's reminds me of the show ER and is very addictive.

4. I made pork spare ribs in the crock pot. Messy eating, but so delicious.

5. Another chat with the Young One about various materials to make a coptic stitch journal.

How was your week?

Whatcha Doin?

Front

I made the accordion fold book to participate in the September ABC book project with the Creative Hand Lettering & Doodling with Lindsay group on Facebook

Back

The book measures 4.5 in. x 3 .75 in. Each day during the month of September, a letter and a page is completed. There were prompts to follow, but I'm doing my own thing.

Whatcha doin?

Whatcha Doin?

 

I'm assembling the pieces parts necessary to make an accordion-fold, alphabet book. It's the September project for the Creative Hand Lettering & Doodling with Lindsay group on Facebook.

Whatcha doin?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Making A Medieval Book

Accordion Fold Book with Pockets, "Moi" - Days 28 - 31

Days 28 and 29

What household job do you hate the most?

I hate cleaning the toilet.

What is your profession?

I wear many hats

On any given day I am, the Artist in Residence, Wife, Social Secretary, Chargé D'Affair (the person in charge of an embassy), Doctor, She Who Must Be Obeyed, Mama, The IT Department, Cat Whisperer, a Cheerleader, the CFO, and the Chief Cook, Cleaner, and Bottle Washer.

Days 30 and 31

What is your favorite month?

My favorite month of the year is July. Besides being a Summer month, the girlies and I celebrate our birthdays during the month of July.

What state do you live in?

I live in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Finis

T Stands For A Well-Deserved Prosecco

Thursday last, I taught two classes at WAM to 5 to 7 year olds, a group of 16 children. In the morning, we made A Book of Beasts with a variation of Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord's Stick and Elastic Book. 

Before going into the studio to work, we went to the gallery to see the painting, The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks (ca. 1838)

I took pictures of a sampling of the books the children made. The children were loud and spirited, but were engaged in making their books. Below some of the books the children made.

I don't know what the children were fed a lunch time, but when they came back to the studio for the second class Crowns, Scepters, and Capes, they were hopping off the walls. They were so loud, my ears were bleeding from the cacophony. They did seem to enjoy making and decorating paper crowns. We were so busy measuring and fitting crowns, there wasn't any time to take photos of the children's creations.

After Himself was finished teaching his class at WPI, he picked me up at the museum and we went out to dinner at Mare E Monti

After dealing with the children all day, I started with a well-deserved glass of Prosecco.

We ordered antipasto as our appetizer

I had my favorite linguini alle vongola (whole clams in a white wine sauce.) Beautifully plated.

Himself had Veal Marsala. I had a taste, too.

For dessert, I had an Almond Torte with a cup of tea. Himself had a brownie with ice cream. We also brought home leftovers so no cooking the following day!

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Accordion Fold Book with Pockets, "Moi" - Days 22 - 27

Days 22 - 25

Beach or Mountain?

The beach photo is from Ogunquit Beach, Maine. The mountain photo is from the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

I think if you've come this far with me, you know...

What's Your Astrological Sign?

I'm a Leo

July 23 to August 22.

What was your favorite age?

There are several favorite ages so I chose three. 

When I was 7 years old, I won (my Dad actually won) an Honorable Mention in the Science Fair. Our experiment was materials that would conduct electricity and would light a light bulb. 

When I turned 17, several friends gave me birthday parties. Lots of cake was involved. We drove through the center of town with me in the back seat sticking my head out the open window and yelling to all the passersby, "Anybody want a piece of cake?" Yup, I thought I was hot stuff. 

At the age of 29, I finally got a really good job. I was a computer consultant to banks. The company I worked for sold back office accounting programs. My job was to customize the programs for the customers.  This was in the early days of business having mini-computer systems. My favorite road warrior outfit was a navy blue, pinstripe skirt and blazer with a red and blue "power tie". When I visited my banks, people would stick their head out of their offices and whisper, the programmer is here. the programmer is here. I always thought I should have had my own theme song to announce my arrival or presence. Something like Darth Vader's theme. I would be shown to a terminal where I could work. The rule was I was there to fix a specific problem. So no one could sneak in a while you are here could you fix this? There would be hisses, Don't bother the programmer. The boss's secretary would timidly approach and ask, Can I get you a coffee, tea, anything? Those were the days when programmers were gods and not just code monkeys.

Himself and I were dating at this time, too.

Are you a day or a night person?

I'm a day person. My day begins at 5 am when I have to get up to feed the kitties. Sometimes, I go back to bed until 7 am. Then it's go, go, go, with an occasional nap, and going again. I go to bed between 9:30 or 10 pm unless I'm at Camp Ogunquit.

Days 26 and 27

Are you a cat or dog person? 

I have been owned by 5 cats.

Ginette, a male tuxedo cat with an unfortunate name. The Brother was dating a girl whose cat had kittens. She asked my brother to watch the kitten for a week. They broke up and she never came back to get the kitten. I was 12 years old. I called him Kitty. He would wait on the front steps for me every afternoon as I came home from school. When he saw me walking up the street, he would run to meet me and walk me home.

Mitty was the cat we had before Ink. Mitty was a diluted tuxedo. He was grey and not black. We adopted him from a shelter. He was a very loving cat. I think he was so happy to be out of the shelter. Every morning at 4:30 am, he would let me know he wanted to go outside. At 6:30 am, he would bring me a decapitated mole. Every. single, morning. Sometimes, he would jump up on the kitchen table while the Young One was dawdling over her breakfast. He would finish it for her.

Ink was my beloved, black cat familiar. He was all black except for 6 white hairs on his chest.He owned me for 19 years, and has now been beatified as a saint.

My two, new furry overlords, are Calli. She stretches her back legs like she's a ballerina. She does not stretch the way normal cats do. Quill is a chill, big boy. He does not like to be held, but likes to be where the people are. He is dog software running on cat hardware.

Coffee or Tea?

A cup (of tea) a day keeps the bear at bay.