Saturday 26 December 2009

Secret Santa

Since this is scheduled to go up on Boxing Day, I can be pretty sure I'm not spoiling anyone's surprises! Here are the last few family bits and pieces I made just before Christmas (with two whole days to spare, it's a miracle):

Futurama Brain Slug for A, Reindeer & Scarf for K

The brain slug is made from this pattern at hookandneedles.com - of course I've just realised that in my hurry I forgot to put the antennae on, and I've already wrapped it - oops. Will have to complete that bit later. It was super-easy to make; I just adapted the eye a bit as I'm not fond of felt on amigurumi so I crocheted a circle and used a safety eye instead. The reindeer is from the same Lion Brand pattern as before, and the scarf is just simple trebles in Sirdar Hug.

So those were quickies for the family, but I also took part in a Secret Santa on a parenting forum. The ladies there are great cooks and there are always lots of recipes flying about, so I decided to collate them into a proper book. Those of you on Crafteroo will have already seen this, of course, as I couldn't resist showing it off!

Covers closed - the print is Cath Kidston on oilcloth, so it's wipe-clean.
I picked up a FQ on eBay which is the right size to do 2x A5 books.
Two long strips of sticky-backed velcro hold it shut.



Close-up of the longstitch binding


Front Page
Open to the front page. This is the only thing I'm unhappy with - I would have liked to have had a prettier inside cover but time was short and I couldn't figure out what I could use to glue oilcloth and paper together reliably to make the endpapers. The instructions I followed used scrap leather as the cover rather than fabric. Still, it has a nice wraparound feel to it.


Open to one of my recipes!


I'm pretty pleased, all told - it's sturdy and useful; and even though the typesetting was hell I now have a useful template to print any A5 book I like. I think I'll make myself a copy after Christmas. Fingers crossed my "Santee" likes it!


3 comments:

Craft Matters said...

I like! And of course I know that your recipient liked it too! Enjoy the rest of your Xmas festivities.

Caroline said...

Thank you :) You too!

Lisa said...

I LOVED it. Thank you so much Caroline, what a thoughtful and beautiful gift.