Designer Thursday... the notebook

A friend of mine forwarded me this video on 'The Death of Paper' (below)

Which got me thinking about how I record things. My ideas, designs, business tips, quotes even my shopping lists. You see I love technology, I use it constantly but I still use a day by day Diary to plan meetings and I am never without a notebook of some form.

 My collection of notebooks.

While I can see myself going more online from a practical point of view, being able to access my Diary from anywhere would be a good idea. I can never see myself without my trusty notebook. 

Which brings me to this weeks Designer Thursday. The notebook! 

My go to for years was always the Moleskine. Interestingly the company have recently teamed up with Evernote to offer a range of Smart Notebooks.  I am not sure if I am entirely on board with what they are trying to sell (it seems to rely heavily on 'smart' stickers) but I think the idea of cross collaboration has potential. 

Below is a Moleskine notebook that I covered in the cut off part of an pair of tweed trousers!

Each notebook is dated on the outside cover 

If I am feeling a blocked or in a design rut I often flip back through my old notebooks. Below you can see the initial design sketched for my Egg. 

 

 Or the very first idea sketch I did for my hand covered pencils

My notebooks are a a vital tool, a recording device that I don't think I could translate into a digital medium. 

I sometimes make my own notebooks. The one you see below is a small pocket notebook, the binding is sewn using an old Singer sewing machine.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my love affair with paper and my obsession with notebooks!

Until tomorrow. 

xx V

The Craft Corner: What we did at camp today

I brought some of my sketchbooks into the summer camp today for the kids to look at.

Thought I'd show you all too. I was teaching the kids how to do marbling with shaving cream and food dye 

and they made some very cool concertina style notebooks. 

More about the camps here

Craft Tutorial 3: How to make Crayon Pendants

Materials: Old Crayons, knife (implement to cut up crayons very finely), old chopping board, silicone baking trays, toothpick, length of cord

              

Step 1-4

Peel all the wrappers off the old crayons, sort the crayons into colour groupings. 

Chop them all nice and small. I used a knife, you could also use a chees grater. Remember whatever you are using cannot be used for food afterwards so make sure it is old. 

Step 5

I recommend using silicone baking trays.

I got mine when I was in France (€3 each) Ikea do a range of trays too or just keep an eye out in your local pound shops or charity shops. I experimented with using ice cube trays and while it did technically work the result with the silicone trays was much better (in my opinion).

Fill the baking tray in vertical layers. This is important as the front of your 'pendant' will be whatever is at the bottom of the tray. So if you want variations of colours you must put the crayon shavings in in vertical layers.

Step 6

Leave the moulds slightly raised as when it bakes it will sink quite a lot. 

Store excess shavings in tins. When I was cutting all the crayons up, I did a big amount all at once, that way it's all ready to go next time I want to make some pendants in a rush.

Step 7

Place the moulds in a baking tray. Lay tin foil underneath in case of spilling. Put in a cold oven and set temperature to 100 degrees Celcius. Set timer for 16 minutes or until all melted. 

When done they should look like this. The surface you are seeing is the underside so don't worry that it looks a bit drab, this is all the wax that has risen to the top.

Step 8

This is the most important step is you want to turn your crayons into fabulous pendants.

Leave to cool slightly, but before they are fully set and still slightly warm to the touch you must pierce the crayons with a toothpick. You want to make sure that they are set enough that the hole shape remains after you remove the crayon. 

Then leave to fully harden. 

Step 9

 Remove from moulds carefully. 

You can see here the difference between the bottom (on your left) and the top. 

Step 10

The hole may not have gone fully through so just get the toothpick and twist it till it pierces underside. Then thread the cord of your choice through the hole and there you have it. Your very own Crayon Pendants. 

Now go on and get crafting. If you have any questions just leave them in the comments below. 

xx Vanessa


FOLLOW UP: I just wanted to add a little about what I use the pendants for. These are not meant to be adult jewellery or permanent pieces of jewellery. I use them as party favours when doing up the party bags at the end of my Children's Crafty Parties. They make very cool bookmarks in colouring books. Or they can be used simply as fabulously shaped crayons. They are slightly whimsical and they will wear away with time but that is part of their character. They have the same properties as the crayons they are made from so they may mark clothing or melt is left in extreme heat. ( We don't suffer from heat in Ireland so I can't really give any feedback on their performance on hot summer days!)

I hope this answers some questions that people may have had.

New growth in an old frame...

I think this vertical planter is just so clever.

  Here is the 'How to' from Better Homes and Gardens

It was featured in this great post on vertical planters by Poppytalk here

Is it raining with you too? Fingers crossed for sunshine tomorrow. 

xx V

This week I learned...

...what to do with all those pretty bags that I can't throw away 

Frame them 

Found via Caitlin on Pinterest. Originally from mothdaydesigns blog.

For a uniform look, shown here, buy the frames from Ikea. I'm a big fan of the Ribba collection in Oak that they have. Spray paint them different colours if you don't like what they've got and mount your treasures. For a more eclectic look scavenge charity shops and car boot sales.