On Saturday I had a book binding class booked at the studios of
Hope & Elvis. The class was taken by the wonderful and very patient
Cath Ray - she made it look sooooooo easy.
I had a wonderful surprise as I walked into the studios as my bloggy buddy
Lyn from Everyday Life had booked too . She knew I was attending and thought she would shock me!
I had booked the course for part of my daughter's Christmas present. She loves notebooks and has a huge collection - all with the first 3 pages filled in then sadly neglected! She's never been a "maker" but she got really into the bookbinding and proved herself a natural at it!
She must have taken these photo's of Lyn and I using the pressing contraption, but we were so engrossed in trying to work it, I never saw her!
Cath had to step in to lend a helping hand,
and of course there was a lot of hilarity throughout the day!
Believe me, it is much harder than it looks, but by the end of the morning, we had produced our first book each.
And after lunch, we went on to complete our 2nd !
We got to use some fantastic materials both new and vintage, and we were all thrilled with our books - but my plans to make a load of these for Christmas might have been a little ambitious!
I loved the 2 that my daughter made - she chose lovely materials for these.
And no visit to Louise's studio would be complete without a good nosey around. I love this shelf in the loo.
Her kitchen cupboards....
And amazing stash of vintage fabrics...
,,, and stuff!!!.....
But my heart beat a little faster when I saw this wonderful nurses uniform. When I was a girl, I dreamed of being a nurse (after reading the Sue Barton books). I particularly wanted to join the Queen Alexandra's Naval Nursing Corps (I'd seen the advert every week in "Jackie" magazine and the thought of just me and my pick of a thousand young sailors might have crossed my mind!). The QA's had uniforms very similar to these in those days!
When I told Louise that if this was mine, I would wear it at home and pretend to be a nurse - my daughter dryly commented that she would not be surprised by this at all!
Thank you Louise, Cath, Becky and Lyn for a wonderful creative day of fun, friendship and magical makery. Just what rainy blustery days in February were made for.
19 comments:
I'm glad that you enjoyed yourselves and had so much fun, and how nice to meet a friend unexpectedly, that is always nice isn't it! xx
Fabulous - what a great day spent learning a new skill and enjoying it with your daughter and friends.
Sounds like my cup of tea :0)
xx
It was a lovely day wasn't it? It was great to meet Becky and I hope she didn't mind me hijacking her day! You have some lovely photos Diane, I didn't take as many as usual...so I might of borrowed one or too of yours!
Xxxxx
Ps. Thanks for lunch!
What a fascinating new skill to learn.
Ohhh, this looks fabulous Diane. I love the books you all made and how lovely to share it with friends and family.
Jacquie x
It looks as though you had a lot of fun and the finished books are lovely. That bookcase looks as though it's full of the sort of books I love - might have to book onto one of these courses just so I can have a closer look at it:)
You obviously had a thoroughly enjoyable day - and produced some lovely notebooks too! Clever you! And the nurses uniform is great - I wanted to be a nurse too - all those medical students too!!!
Looks like a great place and that you all had a super time. The books you all made look wonderful - not like beginners at all:)
Hi there - have recently found your blog and enjoyed reading through your posts. What a fab day this sounds like, and such an interesting thing to learn. I love me a notebook or two as well! And I loved all the pictures of all the vintage bits and bobs as well - super.
Look as though you had a really good day - making, chatting and laughing, brilliant! And the notebooks you made are beautiful.
Ha, I remember reading the Sue Barton books too, and desperately wanted a nurse's uniform to play dressing up in when I was a kid (never had one though...I was deprived!) xxx
So lovely from Lyn to make you such a big surprise :)
I really like your new hairstyle! :)
xxxxx
What a great class. All the books look fabulous.
It looks like it was a successful day in more ways than one
I never had success in book making but looks like you and Lyn both had. lovely photos Diane. x
Those notebooks would make wonderful gifts. I love my notebook but have great difficulty actually getting myself to use them, they are far too nice for my scrawly writing.
Crikey, bookbinding looks too difficult for me to try, as I had planned to do next month. Perhaps I shall leave it.
Great notebooks!
What a fab pressie you gave DQ and what a great surprise you got to share it with Lyn too. The photo of you laughing is great!
Love the books you made.
Louise's studio looks like a real Aladdin's cave of kitsch.
Lisa x
that looks so much fun and rewarding! A feast for the eyes post. Thanks. lovely to visit you again, Helen, Darcy and Bingley xxx
Post a Comment