wedding set

this wonderful couple contacted a few months ago for their wedding guest book...and then ended up ordering a ton of other things too! i just finished up the whole set over the weekend. here's the final pieces:

the guest book is about 12"x9.5" inches - probably the biggest one i've made! they chose a sturdy belgian binding, giving their guests plenty of room to doodle.

they also purchased a cake cutting utensil set from a local artist in town that does amazing work with polymer clay - and they wanted a box to display the utensils at the wedding.

here's the outside:

and the inside:

they asked me to print recipe cards, which they mailed with their invitations and asked their guests to bring them to the wedding filled out with their favorite recipes. so, i made a box to house their recipe cards and a matching box for their wedding photos:

here's the whole set:

i love how everything turned out! it was such a pleasure to work with them :)

so much to do...

last weekend before the museum show and have a ton to do!

i printed the first round of recipe cards & will print the backs of the cards tomorrow (since they have to dry in between runs) - they look SO great!

also made a couple of photo album box sets that turned out quite beautifully!

i have many more boxes & books to make before the big show next weekend...wish me luck!

show countdown!

source

i've been up late the past few nights, pushing to get everything done in time for the show. there is never enough time in the day! most of the books are packaged...i couldn't keep my eyes open to finish up the last few. i worked my buns off and made three new jewelry boxes, which i'm pretty happy with! i will take some pictures later & hopefully will post them tonight or tomorrow.

here's my list of what i have left to do:
- cut & package kitchen cards
- package snowman card singles
- finish 4 photo albums
- bind a couple more blanket stitch books
- package rest of the books
- gather supplies for the show
- get rid of this annoyingly persistent headache i have

and if i'm really ambitious....i'll make a photo album box set. but we'll see. perhaps i'll save that for the next show. wish me luck - it's crunch time!

custom photo box

here it is! the custom photo box i've been working on, in all of its finished glory!

here's the story - my client went on an incredible trip to japan and had a ton of pictures that she wanted to store. rather than sticking them in albums, she preferred to store them in a photo box.


she brought back the luxurious red & black cherry blossom paper from japan for me to use for the outer sides of the box & the photo separators.


i used black (with mohair for texture) japanese book cloth to cover & line the lid and the inside of the box.

i had to hand cut the file separator tabs

so who else wants a photo box? anyone? i was really happy with how this project turned out - i love how dramatic the paper is. next projects: rebinding a giant, ancient shakespeare book and prepping for art shows...have a great weekend!

my MOH gift

so i need to talk about my maid of honor jamie...she was AMAZING. seriously, she kept me sane and was SO organized and on top of every little detail. i have a hard time not worrying about...well, everything...so having someone i could depend on was such a relief. and she did so many things to make me feel special throughout the engagement and our wedding trip...i can't thank her enough for everything she's done.

i wanted to design something special for her...so i bounced some ideas off of her husband and decided to make her a jewelry box (for him to fill..heh heh). its the most complicated box i've made yet.

i used teal lokta paper with gold chrysanthemums to cover the box and a butter gold japanese bookcloth for the box hinge as well as lining the lid sides & the monogrammed "J".

the lid opens to a six sectioned, removable tray lined with teal paper, for smaller items like earrings & bracelets.

with the tray removed, the base of the box has four equal sections that are also lined in teal paper. the sides of the box and the walls separating the sections are covered with the teal lokta with gold mums.

i used the butter bookcloth to hand cut a monogram for jamie...i wanted to personalize her jewelry box without overdoing it.

so what do you think? i also tried something new with the photos (the idea inspired from pobke photography). have a wonderful weekend!

gift set!

we had so many people to thank for helping with our wedding and we wanted to give gifts that were personal & heartfelt. and me being so picky probably didn't help the gift choosing process...so, naturally, i decided to make the gifts.

for our parents, i made photo album box sets in our wedding colors - red & aqua! my parents set had aqua bookcloth & blue unryu paper inside the box. the unryu paper was SO amazing to work with - has lots of inclusions of threads & felt like fabric! hubby's parents set had fire engine red bookcloth & tomato red unryu paper inside the box. we gave hubby's parents their set during the rehearsal dinner, so i unfortunately didn't get pictures of it...

box cover

inside of box

box with album inside

box & album covers

the sets turned out beautifully - probably the most difficult sets i've done yet because they were so large (9" x 12") and the materials were much more challenging than past projects. hope you enjoyed the photos!

box sets

back in february, i had a meeting with a nice couple who was getting married, the mother of the bride, & a friend of their family. they wanted to photo album & box sets for the wedding photos. the bride & groom picked out paper & materials based on their wedding colors and the mother of the bride chose drastically different, but complimentary colors for her set. here are the results....enjoy!

bride & groom's set

box and matching photo album

gold inside of box

inside of box with photo album

mother of the bride's set

tangerine & gray bookcloth box & photo album

dark orange inside of box covered in gray lace

inside of box with album

website update!

i finally got around to updating the Tama Press website! i had oodles of pictures that i'm still working through - a lot of work cropping and adjusting some lighting in photoshop. i would love to learn to take pictures that need NO EDITING WHATSOEVER. that would be rad.

there are lots of new books - all different kinds - japanese stab, secret belgian, address, blanket stitch, and more! in addition, i also posted pics of some small boxes i made here. they have a lid that flips open with partitions on the inside for your treasures.



the traditional photo album section is up here. these were matching sets of an album & box i made for shows.


please visit the website and look for the little "new!" signs under the photos.

custom DVD holder

here are the long anticipated pictures of the custom DVD holder! this was such a fun and challenging project for me. and so different from anything i've done in the past. i worked with a palette of greens and added some fun patterns to mix things up. i also included some buttons since the person receiving this LOVES buttons.

DVD holder cover - with fun button closures!

inside of the holder - the pockets were cut & hand sewn. i added some paper "buttons" in the corners to spruce things up a bit

here's the side of the DVD holder - full with 13 DVDs & booklets

the cover of the box - to match the holder. i couldn't decide on one button!

the side of the box - it's a little hard to see, but i used 3 different closures that come from one central hole in the bottom of the box

the inside of the box - SO much fun. i fell in love with this paper & couldn't wait to use it.

the box set covers

the box set - inside

i am so pleased with the final results! handstitching the inside pockets was a little crazy on my part, but i just don't trust my abilities with a sewing machine. what do you think?

custom orders

just the other day, i was contacted for a couple of custom orders! i'm so pleased that people are looking me up after the craft show season.

the first order will be to repair a beloved cookbook. i've never done any repairs on books before (and i told the customer this) and she sweetly told me that she knew i didn't have experience in this type of work but she has faith in my abilities after seeing my books at the shows. how awesome is that?? so i'll be picking up the book at the end of the week to take a look at it and get a handle on what exactly the project entails. maybe i'll do a before & after photo shoot for it!

the second order will be a custom made dvd holder. i've only done a similar project once for a cd holder, but this will be quite a bit more intense. i had a zillion questions for the customer and now have some more details & direction for the project. oooo i can't wait to get started on this!

this weekend i'll get to work on finishing a photo album & box set order, get my studio cleaned up, and dive into a whole new round of orders...not to mention attempt to get my etsy store up and running. wish me luck!

custom orders

finished my second round of custom orders yesterday! two small address books & one large address book, plus a photo album with a box, which is still in process. the box set is my last custom order of the year and it's turning out quite nice so far. i'm using a japanese paper with hues of green & gold, for the covers of the box and the album:

thanks to papermojo for the pic

then the inside will have two different neutral colors of mulberry paper with a tissue lace layer flecked with silver & gold over that. it'll be gorgeous!

i'm looking forward to get this last order done so i can do some serious cleaning. my studio looks like a bomb of paper exploded inside of it. and the mess has flooded into my office (aka storage room of random boxes). one of my goals is to have the studio & office organized and in working order by the new year. which includes moving the art stuff that has also invaded the living room. and kitchen table.

wish me luck! i'm going to need it.

crafts weekend at the museum, part 2

for once, i actually remembered to bring bff's real camera to the show (with a full battery). here are some photos of my space:

from left to right...all 14 feet of table

from right to left (there was a wall a few yards in front of the tables so i couldn't get a straight on shot)

card stand (thanks to mom's garden) and linoleum block printed card sets - created from my drawings

2 box sets with matching photo albums, lined journals, small handmade boxes

guest books, address books, secret belgian binding books

secret belgian binding books, post bound photo albums, blanket stitch books

japanese stab binding books in 3 different sizes

it's pleasant to look back at these show pictures & realize "WOW i made a lot of stuff!" the two big treasures from this show were the box sets i made. i honestly thought that people would look at them and go "ooooh" and then i'd take them home at the end of the show. to my surprise & delight, they both sold! in addition to that, i had a custom order for another set! i'll post some photos of those sets soon.

boxes

as the time crunch shrinks before this next big show, i find that i am thinking "oh if this doesn't get done, it won't be the end of the world." i am in pretty decent shape - which is good since show set-up is one day away. i have all of my cards packaged and ready to go. books are coming along...and boxes are too. here's a peek at the set of small boxes i made :

lids closed

lids open!

i'm testing a small number of boxes to see if customers like them. i really enjoy making them - much like books, i get a lot of satisfaction from making these boxes from book board & paper. and with the number of jewelry artists at these shows, they would be great for jewelry boxes. i think i mentioned this before, but the idea for paper/book board jewelry boxes came from a winnie-the-pooh jewelry box (that i still use to this day) that my mom gave me. i thought it was the COOLEST thing to have a box that wasn't made from plastic or wood, but was still sturdy.

will probably be burning the midnight oil again tonight. wish me luck!

custom gift box & album

i just finished up a custom photo album & matching monogrammed box and it turned out great! it is a 30 page photo album (landscape orientation) that will be given as a baby gift. the majority of the paper and book cloth had one of my favorite shades of blue. here are the results:

box cover with hand carved linoleum block printed "C"

photo album (pool bookcloth & plum blossom chiyogami)

inside of photo album - glassine cover pages so photos don't stick

box & album together

photo album & inside of box

time is really flying by and i've been busy working away on the inventory for the upcoming bad girls of the north show, november 6 & 7. 18 days left and 45 books to go, along with about 300 cards to print. whew.

here's the puppy, talking back as usual :) i didn't teach him that.