Monday 21 July 2008

A little bit of gingham love

A weekend of sunshine....blue skies, wisps of cloud, warmth from the sun, a gentle breeze. I'm lapping this up, it feels like we've waited so long. Is summer really here? I like to think so. I'm making the most of it, because it's never quite guaranteed.


As a consequence, not much is happening in the crafting department. I've been turning out some drawers, trying to re-organize my paper scraps, card and tissue paper stash. The reality is the drawers are empty and my dining room table is piled high (actually, that's a fairly normal state of affairs, this table's always accumulating one thing or another). In the meantime, I keep getting distracted by all the goodies that have long been forgotten. Order out of chaos? Forget it...I'm just creating more chaos! I did find some blue gingham tissue paper, and this inspired me to make a new little notebook. I love gingham - it feels very summery, but not too twee (I don't really do twee) and this one's a lovely cobalt blue.


I used an envelope for the cover, glueing the tissue paper in place and trimming...then I lined the envelope flaps on both sides, and cut the flap in the middle so you get a little pocket front and back.


The paper is scrap letterhead from a previous life, cut to fit, and sewn in place with pamphlet stitch. Now it's resting under a heavy pile of books, to encourage all the papers to lie flat. I need to start checking the grain of the papers I'm using if I'm going to do this properly.


I'm rather pleased with this, it all came together just as I imagined, and that always feels good. It doesn't usually happen like that!

10 comments:

Lindsay said...

I love gingham - especially tablecloths and Husband's two shirts!

kristina said...

I love gingham, too. It's such a summery fabric.

And I know what you mean about having something turn out just as you'd envisioned it. It's such a wonderful feeling when it happens! K x

ginny said...

beautifully fresh and summery and not at all twee. Loving that envelope pocket at the back...great recycling.
Glad the sun is shining on you in Cornwall finally... us too!
ginny x
ps. fairy wand not made yet but starting to formulate some ideas for it.

Gill - That British Woman said...

I had a quick question, what is a pamphlet stich?

Gill from Canada

Pipany said...

Oh isn't it just wonderful now the sun is out Diana? Cornwall is shining again! Beautiful notbooks with that fab gingham; how come I can only ever find plain tissue paper? My notebook is getting used almost daily now, thank you.
Still think you should be selling the3se xx

Lindsey said...

I'm with Gill. Have you ever thought about a pamphlet stitch tutorial?
The notebook is lovely. :o)

dottycookie said...

Lovely lovely book! I could do with making one of those ...

Anonymous said...

I really love this little book - and in gingham it looks very classy! cx

this is my patch said...

I'd love to have a go at these, thanks for the tutorial Diana. Blue gingham really is a favourite of mine. Such a lovely notebook. x

Gina said...

I love your little book. The ginham is beautiful and using envelopes for the cover like that is inspired... makes me want to try one!