Live - from the Middle East!

In April of 2009 I was contacted by the Alhurra Network about a piece on my bookbinding for their Almajalla show. Alhurra is an Arabic language T.V. station, funded by the U.S. Congress, that broadcasts to the Middle East. The all female crew descended upon my small basement studio and went into full production mode. It was amazing what they did in such a cramped space.

I am thrilled with the results. The how-to section is my personal favorite - watch me fast forward through the bookmaking process. I was particularly impressed with the Associate Producer of the piece, Nasreen Alkateeb. Her amazing artwork can be found on her website.

My part of the show starts at minute 13:00.

Vintage Green Road Plates

Thanks to the keen thrifting eye of my friend Katie, of See Katie Sew fame, I was able to make these large journals out of green LEGO® road plates. The plates are no longer available for sale so these will be available while supplies last!

All the journals in the road plate series come with a LEGO® car to add to the fun.

Yes, I will be bringing these to Crafty Bastards!

Summer Digressions

To me these buttons represent the fun and fascinating twists and turns I take as part of my creative process. I picked them up thrifting with my friend See Katie Sew. They sit on my workbench and tempt me to come up with a fun and creative way too incorporate them into my work. A Langstitch/Kettenstitch binding with a button accent on the spine? A book with a button closure?

Sometimes things that I purchase for inspiration sit for years before I actually put them to use. I usually come up with something eventually! Feel free to share any ideas you have for them....

Packaging with Purpose

I have long felt my packaging is functional but uninspiring. This was brought home to me when I recently received a pair of packages that were quite inspiring! The first one was from Scarlet Robin, a fellow etsy seller I met while vending at the Fenton Street Market.


The package is chock full of items: my gorgeous custom made ring in a box adorned with her terrific logo, a thank you card (on Crane paper!) , a discount coupon for my next purchase, a jewelry cleaning kit and a business card. The package showed me that she is thankful for my purchase, wants me to take good care of my ring and is interested in repeat customers.


This bountiful treasure came from the shop of crafter and blogger extrodinaire Meaghan. I purchased two pairs of earrings in her summer close-out sale. As you can see, I received so much more! There is the fabulous hand embroidered cubicle art and an extra pin - totally unexpected. The shipping envelope was also decorated adding to the fun.


This is what I have put together to try and spice up my own packaging. A few items from Paperwink like this custom made stamp and the fun Japanese colored masking tape. I also dug up and old thank you stamp and a fun green stamp pad. Next up eco-friendly packaging (when I get rid of the bulk order I placed when I started my business) and Gocco printed thank you notes. I'm getting there.

Ballston Arts & Crafts Market

I am very excited to participate in my first Ballston Arts & Crafts Market this Saturday, June 12th, from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. I will be in booth #11 next to Valerie of Holland-Cox fame. Here are some of her fun tissue holders. She has fabulous purses, clutches and other sewn wonders.

My friend Penelope of Penelope Designs will be in booth #34 with her button jewelry and knit creations. Stop by and have a look!

Art Star Craft Bazaar Wrap Up

Art Star Craft Bazaar was last weekend, May 15 & 16, on the beautiful Philadelphia waterfront at Penn's Landing. The weather was amazing and I enjoyed brining my family up for a fun weekend. Here are some highlights.

This is Declan. His Mother purchased a mini book made from LEGO® pieces from me and he came back the next day to show me what he did with it. His creation made my day - a car made from a book! His Dad wrote this post about it.

Philadelphia has some amazing tattoo studios. I had to take a picture of this LEGO® heart tattoo and yes, she bought a book! Some other tattoo favorites were a number 2 pencil, a dot-to-dot T-Rex and my favorite, a 16th century botanical print!

These were my neighbors Eleanor and Joanna. It was their first craft show and I was very impressed with their jewelry and booth set-up. They create amazing enamel pieces in fun designs colors. I had to get a piece from each of them!

My friend Valerie, of Holland-Cox, was my neighbor on the other side. Her beautiful fabrics are inspirational. Her bags, aprons, belts and clutches are meticulously crafted.

My booth was in the perfect location - right on the Delaware River near the Art Star booth. Mornings there was a rush of activity from the early birds there at opening to receive free tote bags and goodies.

Verkade Cards

I ran across these colorful cards in a local antiques store. I bought a pile and took them home to do research. In the early 1900s in Holland when you bought Verkade coffee or cookies (a company still in existence!) these chromo-lithograph printed cards came with your purchase. There werre different themes: shells, plants, animals, birds. People collected whole sets and kept them in albums.


I used the cards to enhance the covers of photo albums. A rectangle slightly larger than the cards is cut out of the book board to ensure that the cards are flush with the cover and won't fall off. Then I covered the boards in my all time favorite Japanese linen bookcloth. Finally, I inset the cards into the cover.

This periwinkle shell reminds me of the summers we spend in Maine. There are beaches filled with the colorful shells of these marnine animals. I personally like the bright yellow shells!


This is an angel wing shell. We find these in Maine too but they are so delicate to the touch that they often disintegrate before we can get them home.


The raw linen of the bookcloth compliments the earth tones on the cards.


This final beauty is the Sand Piper, a bird that lives in the dunes of coastal areas. I love the vivid colors of the chromo-lithograph prints.


I'm really happy with the way the albums turned out. Needless to say, they are a limited edition.

New Colors of LEGO® Baseplates

I am very excited to be branching out and making my Build Your Own Cover journals in fun new colors.



Next week I will finally be adding photo albums out of the LEGO® baseplates to my Etsy shop. I am starting with the large 10" square (or 32 x 32 dot) green plates. So stay tuned!

Snow Much Fun

February has been an interesting month here in the D.C. area. The record breaking blizzard dumped 26" of snow. It was beautiful and scary at the same time. We briefly lost power the first night of the storm but, thankfully, for only two and a half hours.

The kids loved it - the sledding, snow fort construction and icicle hunting were a blast. I was about my daughter's age when D.C. had a storm with 24" of snow and I still remember missing a week of school.

My Maine buoy collection added some color to the winter white color scheme of the backyard.

We lost a couple of tree branches but not too many. Snow clung to every branch - even the smallest.

The patio furniture looked great after the first snowfall. The snow looked like puffy white cushions - a comfy but cold seat.

Love is in the Air...

Yes, it is that time of year again. We are approaching Valentine's Day. In the spirit of the day Moonlight Bindery has added some new items:

The 5" square book made from LEGO® pieces with a red heart created from single dot pieces.


Same idea but in a smaller package. This is the 2 1/2" x 5" book made from LEGO® pieces. Included is, as always, a separator and additional pieces.

Of course, there are also Chalkboard journals where your love could be professed or a nice red felt photo album - be creative!