Merry Christmas!

For Any Bookbinders

So is anyone else addicted to these blog giveaways? this one is super cool so I'm going to link it. If anyone is a bookbinder you will appreciate this japanese paper giveaway. I just started working on making myself another sketchbook using a new method I found of making bookcloth. This method uses heat n' bond and tissue paper. I'll post a picture when I finish which might be a while.I usually just glue my fabric straight to the chipboard because bookcloth is so pricey but you have to be careful what fabric you use. Rice paper is really nice because it is a) beautiful, b) flexible and c) strong.

I'm also learning to make cloth diapers and use a sewing machine again. Life is very interesting.

Some Great Books

Here are some great books (which, by the way, you can order from The Silver Chair and get 20% off cover price and free shipping for locals):

1.Billy Collin's Ballistics -this is poetry but your will love it. Everyone has to love Billy Collins' poems. They are cheerful (usually), understandable and brilliant all at the same time.

2. See and Sew or Sow and Grow by Tina Davis- These are learn to hand sew and how to grow plants for children. They are so great. highly recommend. Renata is getting See and Sew for Christmas because she has been asking to learn to sew forever. (We have these at the store and the Zwerger book below.)

3. Quentin Blake's Tell Me A Picture- this is a great kids book about how to enjoy paintings. He goes through a bunch of illustrative paintings and has drawings of children making reactionary comments about each work on the next page. In the back are short synopsis of each work too but the point of the book is to let kids enjoy artwork for what it is not giving them facts and history till they are interested. great book for before you go to a gallery.

4. Lisbeth Zwerger's Hans Christian's Fairy Tales. She's such a great illustrator that this is a beautiful book.

Christmas Presents

These are the cool wooden swords I got from the etsy seller Smile Moon Woodworks. They are only $12 + shipping and he personalizes them by wood burning their names in them for free. He was really nice so I highly recommend him.

I also made these shaped crayons by melting down bits of crayons into cookie cutter shapes for the kid's stockings. This was a bit tricky. I highly recommend using a mold like a candy mold. I took cookie cutters and molded foil to the bottoms (after trying just laying them flat and having the crayon melt under them into one big sheet). I stuck them on a foil lined cookie sheet (they will leak).Put a bunch of crayon bits in each mold and I did like colors because the ones I tried with all different colors became an ugly brown color when they melted together.I melted the bits into two layers because them weren't fat enough at first. You just melt them in the oven at 200-250 degrees for about 10 minutes, let them cool and pop them out. You will get residue on your cutters so I recommend getting cheap ones at the dollar store or thrift store. It washes off but still feels a bit waxy.

The Little Swaits

Here are pictures of the brood. The kids are showing their superhero figures they just got for the first week of Advent.
Here is my butterball. Look at that belly! I can't get a good picture of him smiling. When he is smiling I get the wrong angle. So you get the wide eyed look. He is about 18lbs (I think) and almost 3 months.He lifts his head and pushes up on his hands to look around but hasn't rolled over yet.
Here are the boys in their footy PJs.They were such a novelty for me as a kid because you could only wear them a couple of days of the year in Florida without sweating to death. I love them.

Temari

Aren't these amazing. They are an old craft from Japan called temari. These are from Julie and Co.'s shop on Etsy.

Crochet

I've been enjoying Christmas shopping and "window" shopping . Here is some crochet stuff I thought was cute from Two Seaside Babes . I have a hard time buying stuff for the boys, but love finding stuff for Renata. I did get these wooden swords for the boys and the seller, Smile Moon, woodburns their names for free.