Do you make things but deep down think ‘this is not going to work’ ‘I won’t make it the way they do’ ‘this is going to fall apart’? I sometimes do and I did when I embarked on this book.  I was feeling the pressure from the lovely paper I had chosen which I didn’t even want to chop up!

I picked up the book called ‘Make your own Ideabook’  by Arne and Carlos from the library and they make bookmaking look so easy.  This is a book with many signatures (books within the book) all sewn together which is something I wanted to have a go at.

I have made simple books before which I have hand sewn, but Arne and Carlos use a sewing machine to fasten the pages in each signature.  I was convinced that I would end up perforating the pages and they would pull apart like toilet paper once I had sewn them.

Never fear, all went well with the sewing, in fact I also did some random stitching on some pages before I stitched each signature which was great fun!

But I was still a little worried that once I used hand stitching to sew the signatures together along the spine it would not hold.

I know, I need to look on the bright side!!

Well, you should have seen the beaming smile I wore when I finished my sewing and the book looks great and holds together, just like the ones in Arne and Carlos’s book.  Now I just need to persuade myself to journal in my new book which I just like to to look at right now.  I need to grab some paints and make a few marks I think!

In the Get Messy Art Journaling community, we are in the Season of Gifts and I bought the paper for my journal using money which my Aunt and Uncle gave me for my birthday.  A gift to start the season.  I have been art journaling on a regular basis for a year now and it is purely because of the Get Messy community, so thanks to everyone who is a part of Get Messy, what a gift.

Happy Friday x