Now I Understand Why Men Love Power Tools

I've been away from crafting and my blog for far too long. Maybe life got more busy than usual. Maybe I was travelling too much. Maybe my focus was on other ways of filling my "spare" time (what precious little of it exists). Maybe I just wasn't feeling inspired. But I still love the process of bookbinding and I renewed my interest in it recently when I stumbled upon a new material to use for covers.

My newest journal was inspired by a find in the trading zone in my building. Many of you will know that all sorts of gems can be found there if you visit it regularly and are quick to pounce on the good stuff. Lucky for me, I pass it everyday on my way out of the building and, since I often leave before 7am, I'm one of the first to pass it in the morning (which seems to be prime picking time). Now, I don't often take items from there (though I love decluttering and leaving stuff there), but once in a while something catches my eye and is worthy of being brought upstairs. I've happily claimed office supplies, labels, a few 1L Mason jars, some Christmas ornaments, and two juicers (I kept one and gave one to a friend who has been wanting one for a long time). On rare occasions, I've also found craft supplies there.

The craft supplies I found recently were thin, pre-cut pieces of wood from Michaels. Ok. Confession time. When I say "recently," I actually mean that I found them sometime in the past two years. I rediscovered them in February of this year while doing some organizing in my office. Among the pieces were two small plaques and three door hangers. I took them initially thinking that I would use them to practice wood burning. That never happened. And when I did see them again in February, I thought that the two plaques would make a nice set of covers for a notebook -- something a little more rustic, perhaps for a cottage. Instead of burning an image on one of them, I decided to pick up a wooden cutout from Michaels to give the cover some dimension. The anchor, purchased back in March or April, sat on my sideboard for a few months before I was so motivated to finish the intended project.

Now, back when I first got into wood burning (during the mono period), I decided that I needed a dremel-type tool for drilling small holes in the pieces of wood I was using. My parents gave me one for Christmas that year and I put it with my craft supplies, but a project for which it was needed never really materialized -- until about three weeks ago. I decided it was time to finish the anchor notebook and, of course, I would need to drill holes in the wooden covers to be able to stitch them onto the notebook. I unboxed the dremel-style tool and was thrilled to find that it had held its charge after more than a year (amazing, no?). I quickly marked off where the holes would go, clipped the two pieces together using binder clips, and drilled the holes.

What. A. Feeling. I now understand why men love power tools. The sound. The rpm. The power. This was far more satisfying than punching a hole through a piece of heavy cardboard using an awl and brute force. The bit passed through the two pieces of wood like they were butter. In the blink of an eye, I had perfect little holes through which to pass my binding needle. I felt triumphant as I lightly sanded the cover.

Next, I glued the anchor to the centre of one of the covers. I pressed it under heavy books for several hours before proceeding to be sure of a solid bond. Then, out on my balcony, I sprayed both covers with a matte clear coat. While that was drying, I prepared my paper.

I had seen a tutorial recently (again, a relative term -- sometime in the past six months) where the individual making a notebook put a different colour of paper on the outside of each signature and I decided this would work for the anchor notebook. I chose a seafoam green and prepared my folios and signatures. And then I sat down to stitch it together.

I have to say that it was much easier to stitch this notebook because the cover was so rigid. And I'm incredibly happy with the way that it turned out. I think there may be more in my future! Especially since it means using my dremel tool again!

Random Acts of Craftiness 1

On New Year's Eve, as I thought about what I wanted 2016 to be, I decided I wanted to devote more time to crafting. To ensure that I would actually meet that goal, I posted on my facebook timeline that I would make something for the first 6 people who responded to the post. At some point during the year, without any notice, they would receive the handmade item. I referred to this as Random Acts of Craftiness (RAC) -- although, it admittedly isn't all that random since the individuals signed up for it (the random part is what they receive and when they receive it).

It's now the end of February and I'm one-third of the way through the 2016 edition of RAC. In January, using my Silhouette Cameo and some leftover paper, I made a set of bookmarks for Cindy, who I met through A Seasonal Bookclub. I combined a few different cutting designs and layered them for the final result. I will admit I sort of didn't want to give these away -- they totally are my colours -- but I can always make more. 

During January and into February, it seemed to me that a lot of people had taken up painting as a hobby. An individual in my office was registered in a class at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design, a friend in Alberta was attending classes, a friend in PEI posted a photo from a class that she'd taken. Clearly I had missed the memo! I've always wanted to paint, but admit that my art classes as a child tended to focus on drawing. The only time I had actually painted something was back when I did the first RAC in 2009. One of the recipients was my friend Amanda who had told me once that she gave her friends canvases and invited them to paint art for her apartment. As a result, I bought a small canvas and painted her a dark, moody piece.

Anyway, around the time that everyone was painting, I stumbled upon a painting video on YouTube in which a gal painted a sunset. It reminded me of the great artwork that a friend in St. John's creates -- sunsets with inukshuks in silhouette. The combination of video and memory inspired me to go out to Michaels and buy a few canvases and some acrylic paint. As much as I wanted to paint an inukshuk, I felt like that would be cultural appropriation, so I went with a tree. The result, a small 5x7 painting, was mailed to Sarah in February.

Again, it was a little hard to let this go. Not because I think it's a fantastic work of art -- it clearly isn't -- but because I really liked the colours. I decided to paint a similar one for myself a few nights ago (but the one Sarah received is way better).

So, those are the first 2 of 6 Random Acts of Craftiness. And plans are in the works for the next two. But there's also a bonus! A few individuals were "late" to the RAC sign-up and wanted to be part of it, but weren't among the first 6 to comment. I decided to add these individuals to RAC  Bonus. Consequently, Carla was selected to sample a Pinterest experiment -- homemade candy "mints."

I had seen these on Pinterest for the past few months and was curious about how they would turn out. I had all the supplies, so one evening I sat down and tried it out, making two batches -- one cherry, one orange. Verdict? Not worth the time, energy, or investment. I really don't like them. They are hard, crunchy candies, but there's something missing (maybe they aren't sweet enough?). I think the orange tasted better than the cherry, but I wouldn't make them again. Carla: sorry you got stuck with what I consider to be a fail, but thanks for playing!

So that's the first RAC update. I'm starting to think I should make this an annual event.

Scrabble Score Book

This Christmas, I've been searching for a present for my father. Somehow he is always the most difficult person to find a gift for. Initially I planned to get him a new wallet -- but my mother bought one for him a few years ago that he still hasn't taken out of the box. I also found a gadget for canning that I thought he'd like, but then wasn't sure one would be enough considering how large his batches of jam are (it separated the lids while they are are being prepared in water -- but it only held 12 at a time). My mother suggested socks and t-shirts, but I've given him those gifts so many times that I just couldn't do it again. Eventually, I decided on a custom t-shirt (fingers crossed that it'll turn out).

Despite ordering a custom t-shirt, I still wanted to find something special. I thought about a new Scrabble board, since we usually play that together at our cottage in the summer when I'm home. But there's also nothing really wrong with the board we have (although I do sometimes suspect that there are tiles missing...). Then I hit on an idea -- a Scrabble score pad, since we usually find ourselves searching for a scrap of paper to write on. Well, I found them online at a popular retailer, but they were insanely overpriced. When I found them for a reasonable price at another site, the shipping was three times the cost of the pad of 80 sheets!

So next I started googling to see whether score sheets were available online. I found several options made by individuals, some offered for free, others for a small fee. And then I clicked on a link and discovered that Hasbro provides a PDF score sheet online! Awesome! If they're providing it free of charge, then they surely can't be concerned about me printing a few, right? (Obviously, there is no re-selling going to occur).

I printed several copies using a booklet approach. I must admit, I was wishing I had a colour printer for this -- and there may be one in my future depending on how the sales go after Christmas. Then I trimmed the paper and prepared the booklet for saddle stitch binding. Next, I used some card stock to make a cover. With my Silhouette Cameo, I cut a letter and number to mimic a Scrabble tile (I found font suggestions here -- and I may have to make one of these giant tiles in the future!). When I was finished, I popped the booklet into my book press (made by my dad!) for 16 hours. And... Voila!

I'm very happy with how it turned out. It'll make a great addition to the custom t-shirt I ordered and it will be fun in the future to have a record of our Scrabble games.

Rolo Snowmen

Recently, I was asked to teach a course on Pinterest in Seniors College at Cape Breton University. As a result, I found myself spending more time on the social bookmarking site, often reviewing and organizing my boards and pins. In the process, I stumbled upon one from a few years ago that I thought was cute -- Rolo Snowmen.

Like the Hand Santatizer of a few weeks ago, I thought these would be fun to have on hand to give to friends, neighbours, and coworkers during the holiday season. I had the paper and the paper cutter, so there was no reason not to have some fun.

Here's the result:

I'm still hoping to find some little black top hats to put on them in a jaunty fashion!

What do you make for friends during the holiday season?

Santa Soldiers for Flu Season

Several years ago, I pinned a creative gift idea to one of my Pinterest boards. It was hand "Santa-tizer." I thought it was particularly cute and it made me chuckle when I saw it, but I didn't make any plans to craft my own version.

Last week, it occurred to me that this might be a fun, simple, festive item to have on hand during the holiday season if friends popped by. So, I made a shopping list and this morning I took a quick trip to Michaels for paper and Dollarama for hand sanitizer.

Here are the results:

I chose the aloe scented hand sanitizer because I thought the green colour of the bottle was appropriate to the season. I'm happy with the way they turned out. My little Santa Soldiers are lined up and ready to combat flu season!

Next up: Rolo Snowmen! Stay tuned!