Two New Handbound Books

I’m feeling rather proud of myself this week.  I have completed two new handmade book projects, both of which turned out really well:

Planner Diary in Wrap-round Case


A Planner / Diary, covered in black silk, with pink leather-covered diary and notebook and hand-painted decorations.


There are two pockets on the left-hand panel, lined with bright pink fabric, and a small frame to hold a photo.

The diary is in the centre, so it can be opened for use without blocking the notebook.

The notebook is inside a leather cover, made to hold a standard-sized shop-bought notepad.

Both the diary and notebook cover are slid inside pockets, lined with pink fabric, so that they can be removed and used separately. 

 
The pen-holder is made of leather, to match the diary and notebook, but there are elastic straps to stop it slipping out.

The case fastens on the right side, with magnetic strips.

This was a commission piece for a friend.  She asked for decoration on the diary and notebook, with matching decoration on the cover, so I made a painted design of flowers and a butterfly, with her initials stamped underneath.

I sent this off on Friday and my friend is delighted with it (so am I). I hope it behaves itself and will hold up to a year of regular use!

* * *

Diary in Dark Green Leather Cover


This is a Christmas present for my best friend (she doesn’t read my blog, so you can look in advance!).

I wanted to give her a really special present, as she’s had a horrible time over the past 18 months and has been quite unhappy.  I thought of a nice bottle of Single Malt (whisky guys!), but it’s very expensive and we’re a bit skint this Christmas. 
I spent lots of energy on trying to think of a good present – then had one of those four-in-the-morning Epiphanies; I make books, don’t I? Why don’t I make her a really nice, leather-covered diary?  (Duh…. seems so obvious now!).

So I did.

 
The leather strap wraps right round the soft leather cover, which has a flap.


It fastens with a sweet red flower bead, that I found the other day in my favourite fabric shop in the village.  I stitched the leather strip to the hole through one side of the bead, then fixed it to the flap and added stitching at stress-points, to help the two strips stay together.

 
The endpapers are Basic Grey scrapbooking paper. They look fab and are absolutely the sort of pattern that she likes (so glad I thought to look in my BG paper box!)

 
The diary inside is also hand-made. I designed the layout myself and printed it off in sections, then hand-stitched the binding and attached it to the leather cover.


The binding is red linen thread. I think it looks more interesting than white or natural linen.


I am So Pleased with the result! It has worked out amazingly well and I’m glad I took my time over it yesterday and today. 
The time and effort have really paid off.  I think she’ll be so pleased with her present and I now feel I have something special to give her. 

So I’m signing off now, full of smiles and with a shiny sort-of aura glowing all around…

Better go and do the laundry and make the dinner!