bookmarks...made for me!

I received a lovely pair of handmade bookmarks from bionicrobyn this week. She sent me one with a Kate DiCamillo quote from The Tale of Desperaux with a lime-green ribbon, featuring an illustration with a spool of thread.

Since Robyn knows how much I like Mary Poppins, she also kindly drew Mary's parrot umbrella for me with the wonderful quote "Don't you know that everybody's got a Fairyland of their own?" Which, if I remember correctly, was said with a disdainful sniff. I like that she wrote the quote herself instead of printing it, and I like the little sprinkling of stardust on it, too. The umbrella is parted at the bottom so that the two sides of the spine slide right over the top of a page. Ingenious!

It's so fun to see what people do with the same idea and I especially like to receive things that are drawn or painted, since I can't do it myself. Those genes, sadly, skipped right over this particular bee.

free download: cassandra clare + madeleine l'engle bookmarks

I hosted a handmade bookmark swap for my children's lit group recently, in which you were to send one bookmark tailored to one of your partner's favorite books and one bookmark featuring something you liked. As it happened, my partner DeidreArt likes several of the same authors I do, so this one was a particular pleasure.

Deidre's a big fan of Madeleine L'Engle, so I chose two quotes and book covers for the bookmark, including my favorite L'Engle book, A Ring of Endless Light. I've always loved the Austins, and in this book Vicky meets Adam Eddington, a marine biology student who teaches her to swim--and communicate--with dolphins. Whenever I see a dolphin now, I think of how L'Engle described their skin as "resilient pewter."

Deidre also enjoys Cassandra Clare's books. It was the easiest thing in the world to find a number of great Jace quotes from The Mortal Instruments, but I particularly love this swoony one. Who could resist a boy who hunts demons and says stuff like that? I also made a bookmark for Clockwork Angel, too. This was my absolute favorite YA book from 2010, and it tells the story of Tessa, who crosses an ocean to to seek her brother in Victorian London...and who finds that she has a mysterious past and unbelievable powers she'd never dreamed of. I love how Tessa learns to use her gifts to overcome her enemies, and I love all the characters that populate this dark, enthralling world. I'm dying for the sequel to come out, but it's a long way until December 2011. *sigh*

I backed the Cassandra Clare bookmarks with fantastic thin metallic cardboard from an Entertainment Weekly ad that I'd been saving. Do you collect bits and pieces of interesting material for your crafting, too? My supplies closet is bursting to the gills with all kinds of things that I just know will come in handy someday.

Anyway, if you'd like to print out these bookmarks for yourself, feel free to download a copy here. Just remember that they're for personal use only, not commercial, so no funny business, please! Consider it my version of a fan tribute. ;) Hope you enjoy.

cross-stitched jane

One of the nice things about swapping is that occasionally you'll receive something made in a craft that you don't do. I haven't cross-stitched since I was a child, so it was a pleasure to receive this pretty cross-stitched bookmark from my partner booklover for the Jane Austen swap, quite painstakingly done with neat stitches and lace.

Chris didn't actually make the bookmark herself, so I rather wonder about the lady who did. I wish every handmade thing came with its own little story attached do you'd always know how it came to be.

I've been working on a few sewing projects that I can't share quite yet, but they've been keeping me pretty busy! Lots of photographs to take in the days to come.

jane bookmarks + download

If you can stand looking at a second set of bookmarks in one week, I have another download to share with you! I'm very fond of Jane Austen of course, so I made a set of these for a Jane bookmark swap during last week's paper crafting.

I decided to keep them pretty simple, since the quotes themselves are already so lovely.  The images are of a Jane silhouette, the covers to a couple of her books, and the picturesque logo for Houghton Cottage in Hampshire, England. If you'd like a set for yourself, you are welcome to download a copy here. Just print them onto cardstock, laminate and cut...and once again, these are for personal, not commercial use, please.

For a slightly different take on Jane, I bought a set of hilarious Pride and Prejudice and Zombies postcards a few months ago and used quite a few of them during the witching season. I never really finished the book itself, but these pictures are fantastic, and the postcards themselves are really well-designed and of great quality. Quirk did a really great job with these, and I hope they'll branch out with more interesting book projects in the future.

rose tree bookmarks + download

There are a few different versions of "The Rose Tree "fairy tale, but I think the one by Flora Steel is definitely the most beautiful. I read this version for the first time recently when a member of our Once Upon a Time group chose this tale as the focus for a "winner takes all" tag game we play, in which everyone who participates must send something related to the winner's chosen tale.

The imagery of the language in the Steel version is very beautiful, and although it's a dark story it's quite lovely as well. I made a set of bookmarks for the winner using vintage illustrations and quotes from the story, and attached dusky rose lace ribbon after laminating them.

If you'd like a set of your own, feel free to download the Rose Tree bookmarks here. (For personal, not commercial use, of course.) It's really a pleasure to make things for someone and have the results turn out to be something you can easily reproduce for yourself, too!

akin to anne

There are little gremlins at work, because I was "randomly" partnered up with my new bosom friend Naomi for two more children's lit swaps by the supposedly impartial Swap-Bot computer. And this is after we'd already plotted to do a 1:1 Christmas swap together--hmm! Curiouser and curiouser.

At any rate, one of the swaps was something I created for lovers of Anne Shirley. Everyone was to send a gift to her partner inspired by Anne of Green Gables, meaning something that might have actually belonged to Anne. I printed out a autumnal poem written by L.M. Montgomery--did you know she wrote poems? I didn't, but somehow I'm not surprised--with pretty graphics that I mounted in a vintage frame, along with a be-ribboned bookmark featuring a vintage image and one of my favorite Anne quotes. I also sent a pretty pearl necklace similar to the strand that Matthew Cuthbert gave Anne for the thrilling concert at White Sands.

As Anne says, "Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world," and I'm very glad I got to send these particular presents to someone who has become such a dear friend from afar.

Through this group, I'm actually learning quite a bit about my rather egocentric view on the world. I'd always assumed that books by L.M. Montgomery and Laura Ingalls Wilder were beloved the world over (I know Anne is especially popular in Japan, for example), but as it turns out they aren't quite as well known as I'd thought in some other countries. One of the things I hope we'll accomplish with The Hundred Acre Wood group is that our members will find new books to love, in addition to sharing their own favorites with others. I know my "to-read" list has grown since the group's inception, and I hope that this is true for everyone else as well.

bookmarks for soldiers + download

When I read about a Swap-Bot project that sent handmade bookmarks for soldiers, I thought it would be nice to join in.

Although the bookmarks didn't have to be specifically themed, I still wanted to do something that was a little tailored to the recipients.  I decided to put thoughtful quotes together with some favorite images from children's books illustrations, and I printed them out and stitched them onto cardstock for extra weight.

Click on the photo to see a larger image and to read the quotes. I like them all, but I think the Pooh one is my favorite!

This is an ongoing project, so if you'd like to send in some handmade bookmarks of your own, there's still plenty of time to participate. Send sturdy bookmarks (no glitter, please) to:

Handmade Bookmarks for Soldiers
c/o Misty Davis
8697 Infirmary Road
Ravenna, OH 44266

The bookmarks will be tucked into a big shipment of books going overseas. Because it's for our soldiers, I also included this little label on the back as well...I thought it was mightily appropriate.

And for you, lovely friends, I thought I'd share the bookmarks with you so you can make your own. You may download the bookmark pdf file and print them out to your heart's content, although of course they are for personal, not commercial use. Just mount them onto cardstock and laminate, or stitch them up if you like.

If you'd like a copy of the leaflet of Rossetti poems I made earlier this week, you may also download the files here and here. Just use spray adhesive to put the pages together, then trim the edges as needed. I hope you'll enjoy both projects!

fairy bookmarks, windy poem

I've always loved Australian artist Ida Rentoul Outhwaite's beautiful storybook illustrations, but it can be very difficult and expensive to find any of her vintage books or prints. So for a woodland-themed exchange I'm participating in, I thought I'd make a pretty set of fairy bookmarks paired with quotes about reading.

I printed the bookmarks and laminated them, but then thought that mounting them onto another piece of grey cardstock would be even better. So I stitched them up and they're on their way to Singapore at this very moment, which means they're traveling somewhere I've never even been. Lucky bookmarks!

I actually made four bookmarks (although the exchange only called for one), but one of the quotes was very short and I didn't like the way they appeared on the page once it was printed out. So they were ruthlessly cut and promptly turned into little gift tags, to which I've attached pink velvet ribbon; they'll be very nice for an upcoming gift I'll be wrapping up this weekend. I quite like the way they all turned out.

Also in the mail yesterday: a "discover a new poet" packet I made for Laura in Massachusetts.  Whenever it's windy, my husband will sometimes recite a poem to me called "Who Has Seen the Wind?" by Christina Rossetti, which is a poem his mother used to read to him as a child.

I decided to put together a little booklet of several of Christina's poems to send, which I paired with images of artwork by her brother, the artist Dante Rossetti. I like the vivid imagery in her poetry, as well as the melancholy that seems to run through all of it.

Who Has Seen the Wind?
by Christina Rossetti

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

If you'd like a copy of the poetry booklet I made, you can download a copy for yourself here and here. Enjoy!

I have to say, I really like having quick, focused projects to work on for Swap-Bot. It's almost like being in a writing group--the accountability forces you into action! But since I don't want you to think I'm completely insane, I won't share the paper Christmas envelope I also sent out today. At least, not yet.