A coptic bound book.

I officially have a new crafty pursuit.

I know what you're thinking. But crafting is sort of an addiction. You start with one hobby, and things quickly progress as you always think these infamous words:

"I can make that myself."

I started out with sewing. Then I got involved in scrapbooking/paper crafts, then embroidery, and now...bookbinding.

This all came about when I realized that soon I would need a new journal. So I started looking around on Etsy, where there are some gorgeous handbound journals. But they're all very tiny and expensive...a smaller book for a higher price than I want to pay. So I said, "I can make that myself." I started looking around for instructions and pictures and tutorials. Once I find the perfect piece of leather, I'm going to make myself a new journal (my old one's not filled quite yet), something like this (only a little more rugged and natural looking-see that beautiful exposed stitching on the spine?). Seriously, how amazing is it that you can sew a book together without using any glue?

This is my new planner for school. I was going to buy one at Target, but it was $10. I made this one for less than $5, probably. The covers are cardboard recycled from the box that my sewing machine came in. They're covered in scrapbook paper, which was on sale for 25 cents a sheet. I had to buy the paper, which is cream cardstock, and the waxed thread used to bind it.

It's bound using the coptic stitch. I measured, marked, and poked the holes, using an awl my dad gave me (he used to do some leather and beadwork). Then I made it completely using this video tutorial. And I checked off another goal on my bucket list. :)

I messed up on one part and had to take out a lot of stitches and start over. The stitches are far from perfect, but it turned out pretty good for my first book. Here are the two that look the prettiest. :)

This is the first page. I used scraps from the cover, an old hymnal page, my flowery stamp, purple ink, and my alphabet stamp set to do my name (last name blocked).

I already filled in the dates from August 23rd (first day of school) to the end of January. I'll do the rest later. My pen was going bad and smearing everywhere.

Blank pages for more dates:

Back inside cover:

Back outer cover:

Until next time,