Journals - Revisited

While working on some new journals I got to thinking about the ones I've made in the past. There are so many different types of bookbinding and journaling out there. So I thought I'd just share some of my previous makes. I went through a wrapped journal phase.

Here are some of the inner pages:

And then a "save the bees" phase.

And then a "house book - bird" phase.

But before all those, I went through a miniature "domino" book phase:

I'm sure I've posted these before on my previous blog called Bookittie. I spent all of 2020 making journals and crochet trims until I finally decided to get more into crochet. I like to do both actually and I have many hobbies. Sometimes I just like to look at them and be reminded of how pretty they are.

I've learned so much making each type of journal. Mostly I've learned what I like and don't like in making them. My favorite journals are the lacey house ones because they have lots of fibers and fabric sewn in. I'm a doll house enthusiast anyway but there is something about them that I just love!

I'm currently in a ribbon bound die cut phase with a big Anna Griffin influence on the design. I love the lacey die cuts and the beautiful vintage graphics that go with them.         

  

Assorted Bee Books

It took a while but I'm back from crochet land... lol. I've made a bunch of birds and crocheted a bunch of trims, took some time off and now I'm ready to do something else for a while. I have an assortment of Bee themed journals done. Here they are:

The outsides are a little different but the insides carry the theme through out. The pages are a little different but similar using the same graphics and keeping with the theme. They are hardback journals with a fabric wrap and handmade beads and ribbon tassels. 

Plenty of room to journal. Lots of pockets, cards, flowers and bee imagery. Each book has a yellow, pink or purple pop-up flower. And the pages have a mix of fabric swatches sewn in. 

I used up a lot of supplies on these and I just love the way they all turned out. I think my next set will be birds... or maybe fashion. It's hard to decide. They will have more crocheted accents than usual. I love to combine my different hobbies together to make these books unique and pretty.

More Lacy Trims

Still making trims with a floral theme but ran across a couple of lace patterns. This little pattern was so demure with little hearts encircled into a lacey edge, they almost look like flowers in a basket. Cute, cute, cute.

And this one caught my eye because of the feminine lacey look. It's little fans!

My favorites are the plain trims and the florals but I also like the motifs. I guess they're all my favorites. All of them can be made into string crochet or you can use a larger hook and heavier yarn for bigger projects. Use them any way you can think of. That's the beauty of crochet, it is so adaptable and versatile for any project you can imagine.

Teddy Bears on Swings

I've been wanting to make these for a while but didn't have the right colors of string to make them the way I wanted to. So I made the first ones tan and pink instead of brown and red. I had so much trouble finding red crochet cotton #10 around here and they were all out online too. What's up with that? Does everyone sit at home and crochet red things all at the same time??? So I made the first set with the colors I had.

I eventually did find a darker red at Walmart so I just got that but I wanted a lighter, brighter red so I got some embroidery thread to use for the swings. The good thing about using embroidery thread is that you can take off one or two ply of it to make it the thickness you need to match the crochet cotton. I've got to have the right shade when I want to make something. That explains the zillion balls of thread I've collected. LOL

So the first thing you do with this pattern is make the bears. It's about one bear for every inch and a half that you want to make of trim. Then you just crochet the swings around them and add the seats to finish them off.

I love these little guys! You really need to stiffen them with stiffener or white glue to make them lay flat and you can slide them around a little on the swings to position them better than I did. They look great anchored to a baby blanket instead of dangling where they would get all twisted up though. You could use a strip of them close to the edge of a towel just for baby and they would be adorable.

Dreaming of Summer

I've done skipped right over Spring! I ran into a few YouTube videos of string crochet. I discovered that I absolutely love this work, but I prefer diagrams or written instructions over videos. Everybody is a YouTube star these days so.... anyway - I had to make this little mermaid! She's pretty big. Too big for a border on the stuff I work on but she does fill a page. Just one finished mermaid done in number 10 cotton string is 5" by 7" so she will fit into my books. She's a beautiful decoration!

Actually, if you are an advanced crocheter, you don't really have to anchor her at all. You can modify the pattern to leave off the rock and the base and just make her free standing so you can position her vertically for the front of a book. Hmmm.... that's an idea. How would you love to open up a handmade book with crochet trimmed pages and find her in it? I can think of a few different ways to use her besides trim work, can't you?

I really like the motifs you can make with string. They are a little too big for a border I think but they are so cute I can't resist making a few. I crocheted the blue base onto a chain made into card stock so I can remove it from the paper if I want to attach it to fabric later.

I love the work that goes on with the YouTube channel by "lace star" named Puntillas Estrella". So go look for her channel. Even if you don't speak Spanish you can follow along. She does a lot of colorful and exciting shapes into her border work and you can follow along by starting and stopping the video as needed.

I'm also still using patterns from books and I've discovered more trims and border patterns from out of print Japanese books (from 2003) whose last printing was in Chinese. It really doesn't matter what language they are written in as long as they have diagrams you can read. Crochet is pretty universal like that.

The main difference in crochet is between the instructions printed in the US and the ones printed in the UK. The UK uses different terminology for the same stitches.

Beautiful Trims for Pages

So this is what I've been working on. I got hooked (no pun intended) on crocheting these string trims while I was working on my books. I thought I would decorate the fronts and maybe down some pages with these trims made of string. I really like the way they look. I crochet them on paper or card stock, block them for stiffness to give them body and then attach the trim to card with washi tape to keep them nice and flat until I'm ready to use them.

I love to crochet so it was an easy jump for me to go smaller with string instead of yarn. I don't think I have the patience to sit and do a bunch of doilies, but I love working these edges in small sections. I can get one or two done in a day if I'm not too busy with other things. It's instant gratification where crochet is concerned.

I started to work out a few patterns and I haven't crocheted in so long that I did not know they use diagrams now a lot. So I had to learn how to read the diagrams and I like them too because I don't have to mark up my pages while I work, I can just look at the diagram and tell where I'm at.

I'm making some little 7 inch sample runs of these patterns. I got these patterns out of a book by Caitlin Sainio called "75 Exquisite Trims in Thread Crochet".

Some of the patterns are absolutely adorable like the dolphins jumping in waves and the teddy bears on swings. I'll get around to a lot of them before I'm done. This is how my projects get sidetracked. Can't say when I'll get back to my handmade journals now but these trims are perfect for sewing down the edge of a few pages in them for a wow factor.

Five by seven inches is the standard book page size for most of the books I make. I know some people decorate pillow cases with these edgings but I get to use all my stuff in my handmade books and if you just want to do a smaller project like a page edge, it's perfect beginner stuff to practice. T

The cotton string comes in a wide variety of colors. I use Artiste from Hobby Lobby. They have so many colors to choose from, probably around 50 or more. I wish I had gotten red and a few browns but it will have to wait until next trip because I'm wanting to make some teddy bears on swings so bad. I guess there's nothing keeping me from making them bigger out of yarn for practice... hmmm.

Some of the patterns are complicated so you really have to watch the instructions close to get them right. But once you make a trim, you got it. It's much easier to make these on a stiff edge like a piece of card and then tear them off the paper to sew them in place. Or if you want you can just glue the paper to the edge of your page.

I've figured out a way to chain through a line of holes in card and then crochet on that, so when I remove the paper, my edge will hold its shape. It's hard to crochet in an ungrounded string chain that twists and turns every which way. But you can crochet an edge on anything you can poke a hole into.

I'm in love with those little elephants. I want to make some pink ones!

All The Pretty Birds

This has absolutely nothing to do with journal making but once I got sidetracked off to crochet, I had to do a few patterns and other little things. I love these birds so much I bought a pattern for them but then I didn't like the pattern so much so I completely rewrote it to work with #10 crochet thread after I made 2 or 3 of them. I could not find the suggested size yarn in the instructions.

And I have to tell you, they look like real birds from a distance just for the shape and colors of them. The original pattern was used for the green bird on the right and then I started nitpicking it to pieces into something I liked much better. My pattern is the blue one on the left. Similar but very different to crochet. I like my wings much better and they take a lot less time to make. I trimmed down the bird and made him longer because I thought it was a little too plump and I made other changes too.

I also changed the size of the thread and needle to give me a smaller bird. I found some very colorful egyptian cotton crochet thread to work with - that I absolutely love at Hobby Lobby. It's their brand called Artiste 100% egyptian cotton size #10 and they have a wider color selection than any other brand I've found. It was on sale for 30% off making it 2 bucks a ball of 400 yds.

I'm working on sculpting a nose and beak out of polymer clay that can be attached with just two knots. I used to raise parakeets aka budgies. I love them so much but I can't have any birds because I have cats. These are about the same size as the real ones.

I changed the feet, the wings, the body, the tail. OK, so I completely rewrote my own pattern. The almost all white ones with light shading on the wings are called lacewings. I've still got some sewing to do on this one to blend the light green into white with crewel embroidery thread.

It's starting to look like a bird factory around here! There are so many different color combinations of yellow, green and blue you can make. I've made about ten of them and I haven't made two birds exactly alike yet. These last ones are waiting for me to get the nose piece sculpted and molded. I have all the feet done. Pretty soon I'm going to have to go outside and cut me a branch for them to perch on.

I can work the pattern and make a complete crocheted bird in under three hours but it takes a little longer to embellish it. Those wire feet have to be wrapped with thread. I used to sculpt dolls with a needle and thread and you really want to know how to hide the knots when you decorate these with thread. The eyes are glass beads. I don't know how many more of them I will make but I do enjoy seeing them come to life!

Why does it feel like somebody is staring at me...