December 16 - Something you made

Another shot of the handmade journals I'm giving to my five-year-old granddaughter.

I'm calling them done

As I began to assemble the journals I'm making for my granddaughter, I realized I screwed up the first signature again.

Carp, carp, carp.

The first two pages needed to be blank. The first one gets glued to the inside front cover and the second one gets glued to the end paper, which extends from the inside front cover and across the first leaf of the book.

The inside front cover should look just like this, the inside back cover. 

Instead, it looks like this:

I cut the end paper in half and glued it to the inside front cover.
Leaving the join rather messy and untidy and not very neat. 

But seriously? She's five. She's going to love them. And they're done. And next time (and there will be a next time, since my husband's grandchildren are younger and it's a pretty cool gift for beginning writers), I'm going to make a miniature dummy to work from so I know exactly how to print the signatures. In fact, I should probably make the dummy RIGHT NOW and tuck it in the box with the rest of the bookmaking supplies.

The journal-making instructions I used were for a blank book. I never even looked for bookmaking projects using printed pages. But back in the olden days, when I worked for a magazine, we would cut a piece of printer paper into eighths and fold each piece in half and make tiny little books, writing on each one what story or ad was supposed to go there. Dummies for dummies. But hey, they worked.

Ah, well, I'm being too perfectionistic about this. Because they really are pretty darned cute. Pink for spring, blue for winter, yellow for summer and orange for autumn. See?

And now that they're done, I have more time to knit.

First one done. The second one (green) is nearly done. I will also be
making a purple one. Pattern is here, and I am using Elann's Esprit,
which is a cotton/elastic blend – perfect for headbands. 

Shopping wipes me OUT

Armed with lists for three different stores, I set out yesterday morning around 10 to shop. And shop. And shop.

Six hours later I was unloading the car. And four hours after that I was sound asleep. Plum tuckered out, my dear ol' daddy used to say.

I ended up going to five different stores because I remembered when I was near Lowe's Hardware that I've pinned several ideas for coasters made of square ceramic tiles. (The link takes you to waaaay more ideas than what I've pinned so far.) I swear ceramic tiles must be the cheapest thing Lowe's sells: 16¢ each! I bought a dozen, and enough cork and glue for another couple dozen, should I decide to go into the ceramic tile coaster business. Heh.

And I went to two different Wal-Marts.

(Yes I know W-M is the evil empire but I'd have to drive twice as far and cross a state line to get to the nearest Target. What's a liberal to do? Waste all that fossil fuel by driving further or shop at Made in China? Besides, the people who work there need those jobs. W-M is the largest employer in the state of West Virginia. It's a dilemma, for sure.)

Anyway. Before I left the house I made the bookmarks, so I could find matching fabric for the journal covers. (If this is your first time visiting KRRE, I'm making four seasonal journals for my kindergartner granddaughter for Christmas. Previous posts offer more details.) I am so grateful for generous and talented folks like Jessica Stansberry, who shared a free download of a chevron Photoshop brush, which made the bookmark project go a lot faster.

Armed with the bookmarks, I headed to the first W-M for a couple things Sams doesn't carry. While there, I checked out their scrapbooking stickers and found a boatload of appropriate themes for just a buck each. The second W-M had even more, and I came away with 15 sheets. The only occasion I couldn't find stickers for was Thanksgiving.

The text on the bookmarks encourages the use of photos and drawings. The journals should have a nice variety of illustrations and stories of what happened between Christmases beginning when she was 5-1/2. I hope they will be treasured keepsakes.

Clearly, finding stickers was the highlight of the day. Choosing fabric was easy and I stuck to the list at Sams. NO DILLYDALLYING, because I was already, um, plum tuckered out when I got there.

Anyway. While I didn't actually work on any crafty stuff yesterday I gathered a lot of materials/ingredients and am ready, ready, ready to rock and roll.

Coasters – check.
Journals – check.
Edible gifts – check.
Knitting – always!

More crafty thoughts

So. My younger granddaughter's Christmas gift will be four handmade journals, with blank spaces for her to add drawings/photos/stickers and a written description. Frequently when I start a project like this, I end up thinking about it before I drift off to sleep, and sometimes even dreaming about it.

Since there are four books, instead of just adding random fabric covers, I'm going to make one blue (winter), one pink (spring), one yellow (summer) and one orange (autumn). One quilting fat quarter is enough to cover each journal. Since I'm heading to Sam's Club today anyway (SOB! No Costco here in the Middle of Nowhere, nor in the entire state of West Virginia), I can make a stop at JoAnn's for fabric.

Each of the four journals has four four-page signatures. This image shows
them after they've been sewn together and the glue (I use Mod Podge) has dried.

She might not pick up on the significance of the colors representing the seasons. I had originally intended to type up an instruction sheet to go with the books, but I think I'll make an instructional bookmark for each season. While I'm at JoAnn's I'll cruise through the scrapbooking stickers and pick up a few sheets – beach vacation, birthday, Christmas, Easter, school – to add to the package.

My son and his wife have read to their daughter every day of her life since she was born, and a car trip always includes an off-the-cuff story or two. This young lady is very verbal, and now that she knows how to read and write, I think her parents will appreciate the gift of seasonal journals. Each one has 31 pages – I don't expect a five-year-old to pull off a NaBloPoMo for a year! But something write-worthy happens every two or three days in a kindergartener's life.

I hope.

Last year it was doll clothes. This year it's journals. She doesn't watch television, and is thus not tempted by commercials for the latest new toy. I hope I can get away with giving her handmade gifts for many more Christmases.