72 Booklets and Counting

In my rash of booklet making, I was able to almost completely use up a small stash of 8 1/2" x 11" art papers I had been saving for....who knows what.  The magazine Somerset Studios publishes several free pages of art paper in each issue and of course, I have saved them all.  Because I needed to cut around the credit printed on the back of each sheet, I wound up making a pair from each paper - one 5" tall and one 4" tall.  I finished them with beads and my regular postage stamp on the back.

As an added bonus, by the time I had used up all the pages that worked for me, I was able to let go of the remaining 8-10 pages and that is one little stash gone.  And just in case anybody is interested, you can easily make 45 booklets in the time it takes to watch four Premier League Soccer (football) games.

Although I have already moved on to my May books, there are about 3 weeks left in the Premier League season, so I will be making a few more booklets, including a couple of variations.

More April Booklets

After I made the small blank booklets it was time to make some larger ones.  These were to be single signature using 8 pieces of 8x11 1/2 paper.  Given that one of my goals is to use up materials I already have stashed, I have made it a general practice to use a decorative text weight or lighter page inside the cover paper.  I am also putting a subject or color matched (hopefully both) postage stamp on the back of each booklet. For these four booklets I also dipped into my stash of paper bits, which included a couple of 'Cinderellas' - stamps that are not actual postage stamps but were made as advertising, or to commemorate something.  I used the five hole booklet binding and waxed linen thread where the thread is tied on the outside and cut to about 1".

These went together very nicely and quite quickly so I plan on making quite a few more.

April Booklets

On my 2007 trip to England, in Winchester,  I bought a pad of paper placemats with maps of London, Paris, New York and Tokyo - lovely paper with pleasant green, blue and tan colors.  I have used a couple sheets in the last four years, but going along with the goal of 'using up' I started this month with five booklets using the sheets as covers.  I used blank white paper for a single signature pamplet with a three-hole binding.  These were made for my book group, inveterate travelers all, just the right size for dropping in your purse and taking notes while traveling or dreaming about traveling.  In keeping with what seems to be becoming a theme with me, I used postage stamps on the inside front page and low on the back cover.

Of course, I kept the one showing the Tower Bridge for myself.