My Blogging Friends

I've recently found myself getting tagged and awarded by some fellow bloggers. Sarah, of the littlepaperbird blog has passed along the "you make my day award"! That just made my day :-)

The award rules:

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs (i'm only doing 4!) that make your day
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver
3. Tell the award winners that they've won by commenting on their blogs

Diane, Much of a Muchness
Diane makes books too and I love checking her blog to see what she is doing. Her books always look wonderful and pretty and so well done! She also tends toward humour in her posts so reading her blog can be very entertaining and often makes my day :-)

Nat, WireBeadsCreations
Nat is a jewelry designer who has just starting making some pieces using scrap leather (leftover from my books!) and she recently posted on her blog about this and included a super nice bit about me and my books. That really made my day!

Kiley, Kiley's Handmade Books
Kiley is a bookbinder and does a fabulous array of book structures. She made my day recently too when I was reading an interview with her where she mentioned how much she liked my work! How nice, thanks Kiley =D

Pegg, Five Forty at Home
Pegg is a weaver and a jewlery designer and a great cook. She posts fabulous recipes on her blog - like the sweet and spicy chicken recently, that made my day too!

And I've been tagged...

Carol, of Barnacle Goose paperworks recently tagged me and i am supposed to post here seven things about me. These are the rules:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Post 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

So let's see if I can come up with seven interesting things to tell you.

1. I'm a stay-at-home mommy; I have a little boy who is 3.
2. My favorite colour is...um, actually I don't have a favorite colour.
3. I have a masters degree in library and information science but haven't worked in a library since I graduated.
4. I grew up on a Dairy farm.
5. I like cooking, but I don't really like baking.
6. I've had grey hair since high school!
7. My bookbinding studio has wood paneling on the walls.

I'm going to tag the following bloggers to keep this going:

1. Carol, String me along
2. Eva, Lady Artisan
3. Guylaine & Isabelle, tomate d'epingles
4. Cathy, 4Paws & tangente
5. Maiko, Flurrsprite's Nook
6. Dre, Willow Cat Studio
7. Jay, Loopy 4 Ewe

WHAT Feature

The WHAT Media blog people contacted me today to tell me they had one of my books featured on there. A nice little post about getting your new journal for the upcoming new year. Some of the other members of the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team are also there. Fun fun. As it says... "2007 is coming to an end and 2008 awaits like the blank pages of these journals....ah quit the soliloquy already...." Heehe!

Ethiopian Chain Stitch

A green and silver chain stitch binding that I did recently. I have done a bunch of non-leather books recently, mainly because I had someone ask me to make something that their vegan friend might like. Obviously, the leather books that I make would not be suitable gifts for vegans. This is one of the books I made after getting that request. She didn't buy this particular book for her friend, though, so I still have this one.


Covered with pale green handmade paper that has silver star-bursts on it. The spine edge of each section is also reinforced with some light green handmade paper. I decided to use silver and green metallic embroidery thread for sewing. Generally that made everything really difficult and I don't recommend it. This is sewn with four needles using an Ethiopian chain stitch binding.

I summarized some historical information about chain stitch bindings like Coptic and Ethiopian bindings, for the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team blog.

A Blog Award

Diane recently awarded me an award, posted on her blog, Much of a Muchness. She passed along the Shibumi award to me.

Shibumi is a Japanese term which used in the following context is a noun. Its meaning refers to a particular aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty which can be applied to almost anything.

Thank you, Diane. I would like to pass on this award to the following bloggers: Paperiaare and Enthral

Pay It Forward

I recently started reading Kaija's blog, Paperiaarre, where she has posted photos of some amazing handmade books. A few days ago I joined her PIF exchange and now it is my turn to share this with my blog readers.One of Kaija's books
Pay It Forward (via Kaija, Denna, Sia and so on) - here are the rules:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

- - -

For anyone who is interested, Wikipedia has an interesting entry for the concept of paying it forward including some history as to the origin of the concept. The main definition given is an expression "used by a creditor who offers the debtor the option of paying a debt forward to a third person instead of paying it back. Debt and payments can be monetary or by good deeds."

My first blog award

Some time ago, I was awarded a blog award and I need to follow up with that since it is my responsibility to pass it along to another blogger. I received this award from Tulibri. Thank you so much!
The Rockin Girl Blogger award was originally started over at robertaferguson's blog in June 2007. She passed on the award to some of her favorites and then it has been passed along continually since then.

I am passing this award on to these bloggers:
SixthandElm
Flurrsprite's Nook
Uli's Needlework World

Bookbinding Etsy Street Team

A brilliant idea spearheaded by Flurrsprite. She has initiated an Etsy Street Team for the bookbinders and book artists (B.E.S.T.), with a new EtsyBooks blog and everything. Thanks maiko!

Blog Roll

Blogs about bookbinding, or blogs by bookbinders, or blogs that feature books, etc...

• CaiLun.info
• shackled in bookspace
• Rag & Bone Blog
• Lasqueti Press
• Painting Speech
• TJ Bookarts
• Riverlark
• BookGirl
• Comfortable Shoes Studio
• Pistoles Press
• Bookbinding Etsy Street Team
• Making Books With Children
• Ekthesis
• Tulibri: Handgemachte Bucher und mehr
• Paperiaarre
• MatchBoxBook
• Green Chair Press
• Jeff Peachey's Book Conservation Blog
• Barnacle Goose Paperworks
• Sue Bleiweiss
• Anagram for Ink

Bloggers blogging about my books

One thing that I've noticed about Etsy, is that all the sellers have their own blog! Or it seems that way. And Etsy sellers are super nice and try to promote Etsy and their fellow sellers whenever they can. Three times now, other Etsy sellers have promoted me in their blogs so I wanted to include them here.

Etsy shop, SeeJayneKnitYarns, sells some fabulous dyed yarns on Etsy. When she received the journal that I made, she wrote about it in her blog.

Enthral is another Nova Scotian Etsy seller and she decided to do a series of blog entries about all the Nova Scotian Etsians that she could find. She prepared a little overview of me and my shop on her blog too.

And most recently, Etsy seller Loomingduo prepared a spotlight on my Etsy shop too. Loomingduo is another Canadian shop that sells jewelery and knitted items on Etsy. They have purchased two of my books and asked me if they could do this little spotlight in their blog.

Thank you SeeJayneKnitYarns, Enthral, and Loomingduo!