Outodbox Quiz #6

What two days you should not worry in order for you to live happily ever after? You can only answer one time. The first one to give the correct answer will get Sky Blue, an A5 journal that I made. Brown paper, 208 pages, print of my doodles on cardboard for its front and back cover, side stitch binding, and an elastic band with a blue button. Send to you wherever you are. Free of charge.  

A Kid At Heart

I was in a toy store looking for a gift for my niece when I spotted something interesting. I just had to buy it. Not for my niece but for me. One part of the instruction says you can use parts and create anything you like from any kind of material. Big grin. I checked out their website. Bigger grin. Open ended play, allowing imagination run free. Love it!

Recyclepedia

When I was small encyclopedia was the google of the old days. My first encyclopedia set was Childcraft from World Book, 1973 edition. My favorite was #11: Make and Do. Then I graduated to Grolier's The American Peoples Encyclopedia. I wonder who still read encyclopedia these days? I still have them even though I never read them anymore. I keep Childcraft because I adore its illustrations and drawings. I use The American Peoples Encyclopedia to keep all my glued prints, paper or banner for my journal covers so they will be flat and straight when the glue dries. They make great paper weight. :-)

Childcraft Volume 11: Make And Do

Childcraft Volume 11: Make And Do

Book #1: IES Divers

I'm glad I am a visual learner so I don't have to read the instruction on page 92 of Making Handmade Book. I can just look at the picture and figure things out. A Sidebound binding or also known as Japanese Side stitch is easy. It takes less time to make than a Coptic binding. I love it! If you are not a visual learner and learn better by reading text click here.

Diagram from Making Handmade Book by Alisa Golden

2012

It has been an interesting year. So many changes, so many opportunities to grow into a better person. The year my mom survived a stroke, the year my dad passed away, the year love found me, the year of moving forward, the year I fell madly in love with running, the year Dena moved 8,289 miles away from home, the year of energizing empty nest, the year I wrote 100 posts for my blog. Four more days to go. Curious to know what Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday have in store for me. Hope curiosity doesn't kill the cat.

Color My World

My first color pencil set had only six colors: red, orange, yellow, blue, green and purple. Dena's first color pencil set had sixty four colors: vermillion, ocher, emerald, azure, magenta, lilac and more. I remember she loved playing with the pencils when she was small. She would take out all pencils from the box, mixed them all up, and sorted them by colors. She would be absorbed in the hues of the colors and forgot the rest of the world. 
I'm naming my handmade journals after those beautiful colors.

Cadmium Orange

Red Blue

Sea Green

Baby Pink

See You Letter

My friend lent me her precious letter paper & envelope so I can up-cycle them into a journal. Last month when I had a once in a life time chance to write a letter, I couldn't find any letter paper in any book store. The sale girls looked at me with a puzzled look like I'm some kind of a weirdo from another planet when I asked for letter paper. Who has the time to write letter in an e-world these days? In a fast world patience is such a lonely word.

One

One friend with amazing collection of cute & whimsical letter paper/stationary + One artbin full of art tools + One cassette = One sunny afternoon filled with cutting, gluing, measuring, binding, sewing & giggling. I love letter paper. I used to collect them when I was small.  I love getting letters; they always put a smile on my face and brighten any day. I'm such an old soul lost in the e-world and i-world :-)

The Apple Tree & The Apple #2

My daughter Dena used my stuff to create a presentation for her IT class; my used cardboard, my buttons, my ribbons, my old cassette, my label maker. The brown tape is all hers though. This time the apple fall pretty close to the tree.

Easy Does It

Two Sundays ago I had the privilege to volunteer for Kelas Belajar Oky, a  volunteer based activities which teach children in slum areas around Jakarta. The narrow road to the place was being repaired so I had to take an ojek. No big deal, even though I'm scared to death of riding a motor cycle! I think the ojek guy kind of sensed my fear, because he engaged in a nice conversation with me. I admired the way he maneuvered a wooden plank over big ditch and narrow pathway of someone's backyard. I felt like I was part of a great circus act. I guess I haven't really overcome my motorcylophobia because the motor cycle only went about 15-20km/hr, I was not on a real street with thousands of other motorcycles and there was no traffic at all. *sigh* But I had really a great time making recycled frame with the children! 

Outodbox Equation

2 large cardboard boxes + strips of old magazines, brochures, wrapping paper = 18 awesome photo frames + 18 happy kids @Pintu Elok Orphanage. We made quite a mess with the glue and it took quite some time to clean up but we had tons of fun!

Journal Tag

I love vintage. Library books used to come with a pocket and a stock card on the inside of the front cover or the back cover. The librarian would write on the stock card the borrower's name and the due date. I imagine the librarian and the borrower would engage in small talk about the weather or something because it probably would take about 15-20 seconds to take out the stock card from the pocket, fill it in properly and store the stock card for each book. Now it takes less than 5 seconds to scan the bar code of library books.

To pay homage to the extinct library card I adopt the idea as the tag for my journal. The tag become part of the journal; which means my friends don't have to throw away the tag, which means I know my tag has longer living expectations than most tags. Double yay! 

Tribute to the 80's

I grew up as teenager in the 80s. I shiver in horror when I think of hideous shoulder pad, big hair, high waist pants, stretch pants, ridiculous leg warmer. But I do cherish the analog world of the 80's. To preserve the memory I turned my cassette collections into mini notebooks. Great for to-do-list, doodle, ideas, poem, & bragging that you experienced the good ol' 80's!

Re- Project #4: Portfolio Scrapbook

In the school where I teach all students from grade 1-6 get a portfolio every semester. This portfolio showcase their academic progress in every subject in school. An average portfolio has about 40 pages of worksheets, reviews, artworks, photos. So by the end of primary years a child will end up with 12 portfolios or 480 pages. 

Parents what do you do with this portfolio? Do you have them somewhere collecting dust somewhere on a book shelve? Do you throw them away after you run out of shelves?

If you love scrapbook but don't have a budget for fancy paper, pages of portfolio are excellent for scrapbook pages for your child.  It's personal, it's one of a kind, and it's earth-friendly. If  your child doesn't have a portfolio save worksheets, drawings, doodles, artworks, pages from notebooks, letters from school etc. 

You need:
Pages from portfolio
An Awl
A piece of cardboard
Needle craft
Wax/craft Thread
Graph paper
Pencil

Steps:

1. Fold a group of papers in half. In bookbinding terms this is called signature. 
2. Continue folding until you have some signatures.
3. For the cover choose your favorite page, cut in half & have them laminated.
4. Mark 6 points on a graph paper about 3 cm apart. Open a signature, place the graph paper in the middle. Put a cardboard underneath. Use an awl to punch a hole through the signature on each point on the graph paper. Repeat for all signatures. For the cover leave a space about 1cm from the edge.
5. Use coptic stitch technique to bind the book. Click here to watch a tutorial from Jim Escalante

Re- Project #3: Scrap Ribbon

Have you ever get a feeling that you have to do something but can't figure out what it is until you see something that somehow trigger your brain to suddenly remember about it? The left over chocolate cake in my fridge last nite reminded me that I forgot to buy gift wrap paper and ribbons for a gift that I was suppose to give to a friend in the next morning. Shelves after shelves of scrap papers but no ribbon or gift wrap. I thought I have left overs ribbons from the Yearbook project but no such luck. What to do? What to do? Use whatever you have and turn something from scrap!

Re- Project #2: Petal Envelope

Petal Envelope takes more time to make than the Not-so-Plain Envelope. Cutting curves is not as easy as cutting straight lines, it requires patience and fine motor skills. Don't be discouraged, be challenged! 

You need:

Step: 

1. Get the template here. Re-size it to fit your magazine pages.  
2. Select pages from the magazines; use the template to trace the outline on the magazine page with a pencil or a black marker. Cut.
3. To make sure the envelope is folded straight use a ruler to connect the dotted line and make a crease against the straight edge of the ruler. Do the same with the remaining petals. Fold in all sides. 
4. Use a round sticker to hold the petals. Use a rectangle sticker for address. 
5. If you want to make the envelope size bigger but don't have a wide format magazine find the template & instruction here.

Re- Project #1: Not So Plain Envelope

In the digital era sending/receiving letter is a lost art. Apart from my monthly bills & junk mails, last time I received a letter was back in 1985 from my friend in DeKalb, Illinois. Even though the chance of me sending or receiving  a letter via postal service these days is slim to nothing, I occasionally send personal notes to friends (mostly with gifts). What better ways to appreciate friends than to make a special envelope for them.

You need:

  

Step:

1. Download the envelop template here. Re-size it to fir your magazine page. Cut.
2. Select pages from magazines, use the template to trace the outline of the envelope on the magazine page. Cut.
3. Use the edge of a ruler to fold along the dotted lines. Fold in all sides. Glue side flaps to the back of the envelope.
4. Cut a small piece of double tape and stick it on the back of the opening flap. Use rectangle label stickers for address.