Book 360-363 - "Four Dangerous Women" - Pulp Fiction Pocket Notebooks - Running Stitch Binding

These little pocket-sized notebooks feature some pulp fiction heroines you Do. Not. Want. To. Mess. With. You're not going to win. That's what I love about them.

After choosing the dangerous women images from my collection, I sized them to fit on 1/4 of a normal sized page. I printed the covers out two to a page, let them sit a few minutes to dry, then sprayed them with a light coat of acrylic sealer to protect the image from scratching. The matte finish photo paper I used is heavy weight and didn't really need a backing to work for the covers.

I scored the spine fold, using three score lines with very small spaces between so I would get a slightly rounded spine to accommodate the thickness of the single signature. I folded the pages and trimmed the single signature to fit then rounded the corners at the fore edge. After nesting the pages inside the folded cover, I poked holes 1/2" apart the whole length of the notebook and sewed it in a running stitch, down the spine then back up again, with white waxed linen thread.

After boning the fold a bit more, I put the little notebook under weight so it would lay more or less flat and closed.

Done. I like these. I'm going to make more. They look good, they are fairly fast to make, the materials cost is low, and I'm certain they will sell.

Book 349 - "Rite of Passage" - AARP Membership Card Pocket Notebook/Jotter - Double-Needle Coptic Stitch Binding.

I'd thought a few times of making book covers from credit cards, but it didn't seem too smart to put them on the 'Net for all to see. So I chose these AARP membership solicitation cards instead.

I remember clearly the day I got my first piece of junk mail from AARP. I'd just turned 50 and the mail was an invitation to join the organization. I remember my then-husband saying it was a "Rite of Passage," right up there with a young man getting that "Greetings" letter from Selective Service on turning 18.

This little notebook is pretty straightforward. I just poked two holes along one edge of two cards, folded up some signatures and trimmed them to size, and bound the whole thing with a double-needle coptic stitch binding. The hardest part was remembering how to do the binding. Mostly, I do single-needle coptic and I think I made a mistake or two on this. I should have looked it up.

Oh well, I'll never sell this one so it will just end up in some personal "archives" somewhere.

Book 347 - "Mickey" Pocket Notebook - 2-Sewn-as-1-Binding

Here's a simple little two-sewn-as-one booklet/notebook that gets its charm from the paper. I found this red and black "Mickey" paper in the scrapbooking papers at JoAnns and grabbed it.

The two-sewn-as-one binding is really simple. I got it from Alisa Golden's book (you can see the book by clicking on the link in the right column). Basically, you fold up two signatures of text pages. You fold a cover with an extra "tab" folded inside the spine. Then you lay out both signatures, one with the valley fold on top of that little tab/flap, and the other with a mountain fold under the tab. Then you poke holes and stitch once through the whole sandwich. I used a simple 5-station pamphlet stitch.

Once you fold everything back into shape, you have a nice little book with two signatures. The hardest part is getting the spine fold to lie flat. I had to bone this down a lot then put it under some pretty heavy weights for awhile. I added a length of waxed linen thread stitched to the spine center to tie the book closed.

Handy little thing. Think I'll make one to carry around in my purse.

Books 337-339 - Six Pack Series - First Inning - "Blue Moon"

Beer books! Or at least, beer (and other) six-pack books. More of my infamous recycled packaging.

We recently started selling beer in our store. One day, while taking bottles out of six packs to put in the color for individual sale, I noticed how many of the six pack holders had really cool graphics. And in the final sprint to get the last of my 365 books finished and posted, I needed ideas quick. So I started cutting.

This is the first posting in a series of books with various types of bindings I've been making the last couple of weeks--all from six pack containers (well, one is from a 12-pack, but who's quibbling?).

Today's entries are all from a single six-pack of Blue Moon beer, a Belgian White Wheat Ale.

The first book used the large flat front and back of the six-pack. It's a blank journal bound with a single needle coptic stitch. I backed the covers with blue metallic-finish textured card stock. For the stitching, I used a double strand of waxed cotton threads in two shades of blue for extra interest at the spine.

The second book, a mini-jotter notebook, is the same structure as the first but much smaller. It's made from the two small panels that come together at the side of the six pack. It is stitched with dark blue waxed cotton thread in a single-needle coptic binding.

Finally, I used the two small panels from the other side of the six pack to make a French door book. It's actually two small coptic-bound books stitch to a single back made of chip board and lined with metallic card stock. The "French door" opens to reveal two little notebooks side by side, opening in opposite directions, one stitched on the left, the other on the right. Hard to explain, easy to see in the photos. The book closes at the front with a chain-stitch cord that wraps around a square opalescent bead.

This series makes me think of Victor Hugo. Whenever he started writing a new book, he always bought a new bottle of ink. When he finished writing "Les Miserables," the bottle of ink he'd bought at the beginning was empty. He told his wife he should name the book, "What There is in a Bottle of Ink."

So I guess today's post is "What There is in a Six-Pack of Beer."

Book 331 - "Rocky Road" - Recycled Candy Package Journal - Slit Spine Binding

Gee, what a surprise. Another recycled candy box journal!

So we got a new kind of candy for the store. But not NEW. Rocky Road used to be my favorite candy bar when I was a kid and I didn't even know they still made it until we saw it in Sam's the other day. Had to grab it. And of course, I had to grab the box for a book.

After I cut a single piece of the box big enough for a smallish journal, I lined the piece with heavy card stock. I creased it with my bone folder and folded it to create the spine. I folded the signatures and punched the sewing stations. Then I cut slits across the spine to correspond to the stations. I stitched it with a variation of the long stitch binding through the slits.

I don't quite have a handle yet on this stitch. I'm constantly having to stop and talk through the binding in my mind to get it right. And as you can probably see in he pix, it's still not exactly right. Need some work on this one.

But the graphics are fun. And I added a big square chocolate brown vintage button for a closure.

Book 322 - "Chinese Take-Out" - Coptic Bound Book/Jotter From a Recycled Chinese Food Container

Guess what we had for dinner last night? The moo-shu pork was delicious! Luckily, there was some popcorn-type shrimp in one container that were mostly dry. When we finished, I realized that one take-out container was pretty clean. So... a book!

I cut the front and back from the container and glued them to a couple of pieces of heavy card stock to make them nice and stiff. I poked a couple of holes at the top of the front cover and put the wire handle from the container through them.

I folded white paper in half lengthwise, then cut the pages for the signatures to shape. They had to be a bit trapezoidal to fit the shape of the cover.

I stitched the sigs to the covers with a single-needle coptic stitch with red waxed linen thread. Done! Kinda yummy, I think.

Book 309-314 - Pocket Notebook Collection - Moleskin Style - Running Stitch Single Signature Binding

Here's a collection - six neat little pocket notebooks. I got this idea when I noticed sellers on etsy were buying classic little Moleskin journals and simply decorating the covers with drawings or stamped art. I heard that voice in my head saying, "Those are pretty simple. I can make those in a jiff."

But of course, I don't do truly simple very well. So I spent a few hours trolling through my thousands of image files looking for what to put on the covers, sizing them, cropping them, playing with the colors and contrast. I think I came up with quite a range of styles.

I printed the images on letter-sized card stock, two images per page, so each notebook ends up 5 1/2"x4 1/4", more or less. I folded text-weight paper into a single thick signature, creasing it very well, then trimmed the fore-edge to get a clean edge. I punched holes 1/2" apart all down the spine and sewed the signature to the cover with a running stitch, down the length then back up again so that the stitch line is solid.

I creased the whole thing again very well, rounded the corners with an X-acto knife, then put them under heavy weights overnight to crease and flatten them even more.

These are actually pretty neat little notebooks. After showing them to Allen and a couple of other friends, the general consensus was that the pulp fiction cover ("Women in Crime - I had Nothing to Lose but my Virtue") was the best. I have lots more of these pulp images so I'll probably make a bunch of these to sell. They're fast and cheap to make so they should sell well.

Book - 306 - Blue Pyramid - Recycled Packaging Mini-Book/Notebook/Jotter - Long Stitch Binding

More upcycling, this time another little mini-notebook/jotter. I've been hanging onto this piece of a Pyramid Cigarettes carton for ages, knowing I'd use it sometime. I do like that silver and blue logo.

To make this little pocket notebook/jotter, I cut the carton up and backed the pieces with nice thick card stock for body. I creased the cover with my bone folder to make the spine and reinforced it further with a strip of bright blue duct tape. I sewed the signatures to the spine with a long stitch binding. Pretty simple. Another go-to book when I need to get something done.

I have a lot more of these Pyramid brand cartons (it's the cheapest cig we sell). I've got them in red, green and blue, so you'll probably see more of them before I'm done. I've been thinking about cutting the pyramids out and folding them up somehow into little pyramid-shaped books. Still working it out.

Book 305 - A Tiny Notebook/Jotter from Recycled Packaging - Top Tobacco Book - Ribbon side Binding

Recycling 'R' Us - Here's a piece cut from a box that held a dozen pouches of Top brand rolling tobacco.

I cut the pieces and backed them with some colored stiff black card stock. I scored the front cover well with the point of a bone folder to create a hinge for the Japanese stab binding/side binding. After cutting white text paper to size and punching the stitching station holes, I bound the little notebook/jotter in a cross stitch pattern with narrow red ribbon.

It's a silly little thing, but it would be a handy quick jotter to carry in a purse or pocket, good for jotting down shopping lists, phone numbers and random ideas you don't want to escape.

And it counts as a book for a day.

Book 296 - Fuji Book - A Recycled Camera Box Journal - Modified Buttonhole Stitch Binding

I suppose as long as I am co-owner of this store, I will forever be making books from recycled packaging. It's everywhere I look.

Today's book is a little blank book/journal made from the package for a Fuji one-time-use camera. We used to sell a lot of these. Of course, we also used to sell a lot of film, and now I can't remember the last time we sold a roll of film. Everyone s gone digital now--or they've got a phone with a camera. We only sell these disposable cameras when someone has forgotten their camera or phone or it's broken.


For this book, I cut the box down and glued the spine so it's double and very strong. I then cut out the center section of the spine. The binding is a modified buttonhole stitch, really easy to do once you get the concept. There are eight signatures of pale pea green text-weight paper stitched with white linen thread.

It's a pretty b sic little book, but I'll take it.

Book 294 - Keychain Notebook from Recycled Steel Color Samples

Here's a tiny keychain notebook/jotter. We've had these enameled steel color ships lying around for ages. We used to sell laser-cut southwest style ornaments made from this, and the company sent us a set of color samples to help with ordering. We haven't carried them for a few years, but still had the samples. I discovered them in a drawer the other day.

So, of course, I had to use them to make a book.

Since they were hanging on a keyring, they already had the single hole drilled at the top. All I really had to do was cut pages to shape, punch some holes in them, and make a ring from heavy nickel wire. The pages are a really  nice Strathmore text paper with a very faint stripe in it, called "Lines." I love this paper but unfortunately, they don't seem to make it anymore.

Anyway, this is just a silly little thing, but mine own. And today's book is done.