In which I make a custom printed book

Well I finally did it.

After having the idea percolate for a looong time, I finally made a custom book. I had a lot of fun making it, and it was very well received so the effort was totally worth it.

The working title 'Thank you for the music' (ABBA riff-off) was for a book I imagined for my uncle & aunt who have hosted countless parties and family gatherings. My 21st disco party, I might add, was organized by them too, which probably tells you a lot about the fun-loving Party Central people that they are.

The book took about a week to put together. I spent a few nights organizing photos, letting themes emerge and organizing the pages.

Although I'd started off wanting to use blurb, the iPhoto software turned out to be pretty good too. Price-wise, the Apple option was a little cheaper too based on the size of the book I waned to make. I paid about $60 for printing & delivery. The quality was good, no complaints there. The iPhoto software lets you edit the photos on the spot, so that was very user-friendly.

Seeing as my 10+years worth of photos were largely centered on chinese new year, Christmas, new years and birthday parties, that's the main way I organized the photos. Some considerations: I wanted to make sure everyone was in the book (hurt feelings wouldn't do, oh no), and that included photos of loved ones far away. Inclusiveness - very important for this book.  And I was particularly pleased of this page where I squeezed in lots of photos using an old shot of my aunt's photo wall.

Since food is such an important part of our gatherings, I included a 2-page homage to the lovely food we'e enjoyed over the years.

It took a week for the book to be printed and delivered. And when it arrived, I engineered a dinner at my aunt's and presented it to them after dinner.

For posterity, here's a snippet of conversation:

Uncle: What's this? (Seeing the apple logo on the sleeve) An iPad?
Cousins: No lah!!
Uncle: (Removing the sleeve) A book!
Cousins: OMG you made a book...
Aunt: (After several stunned moments looking at the first few pages, and getting a bit teary) This is better than an iPad...

Awww! Like I said, totally worth it.

Marks & Spencer's Tea Boxes

Pretty!
(and a shout-out to occasional perusers of this blog who are tea fanatics... :)

Mini poster for a friend

So the story behind this is this:

This was for a friend who was very stressed. So I decided to focus my crafting activity for the week on making her a card.

I used a card from paper source ('Do something creative every day' is their motto), and started stamping. As I've mentioned, I've been doing craft stuff with my colleague who is also into it, and what a nice lunch time activity it makes! We're trying to get together once a week.

Open the pretty card and ta-da! A mini poster. I'm utilising my love, elsie stamps, still getting the hang of them but they work pretty well and the little ladybug stamp is a favourite. I was trying to keep the colour scheme pretty spare but anyway the letters can be coloured in and customised by the recipient, which I think is cool.

The Bible verse behind the text is from 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7.
"...casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."
Incidentally, is that a play on words?

A long time ago, when I was still in school, Calvin gave me a little decorative thing with that verse on it. I still have it on my desk. It reminds me of what it felt like to be a student and have piles of work to do. I am so glad those days are over and I thank God for bringing me through all those times!

Fashion and Art

I really wish Jacob had an online store.

Isaac for Liz

Oh wow. I like the grey-ness as backdrop to the perky pink, the little bit of graffiti on the wall, Isaac Mizrahi sitting unobtrusively to the side... but what I really like is how a box swivels around with a little story and even a videoclip when you click on the key people in the photo. It was so cool, I was blown away.

From Liz Claiborne.