Sunday 13 October 2013

The Guestbook



When my very crafty friend Becca asked me to make the guestbook for their wedding, I couldn’t be more thrilled!

I got to practising and made a photo book with compensation guards and getting the okay from the bride meant I could crack on with it. Their wedding had a blue and green theme and I know I wanted the guestbook to look quite vintage, and it wouldn’t matter if it looked too hand-made at all! 



 


I brought some pale green book cloth online and some blue for the endpapers. I know I wanted decoration on the cover. I don’t have the skill or equipment to do any tooling as a binder would so instead I used transfer images I found in a crafting shop.






 


As you can see in this photo I used a ‘B’ instead of an ‘R’ but managed to fix it, at the same time giving the book more of a vintage feel with the use of a new toy I had just brought at the Society of Bookbinder’s Education and Training Conference.







 

I am so proud of the book, and of the way it opens flat!


 
 It looked fantastic when people were writing in it and that made me unbelievably happy. Nothing makes me happier than to see people actually using the books I make them! As well as reading all the lovely notes I hope Becca and Francis also use it as a wedding scrap book.




I had loads of compliments throughout the evening and I was smiling from ear to ear!

It was a beautiful wedding, and I loved the ethos of it: the bride’s dress, decorations, cake and guestbook were all handmade!











Wednesday 7 August 2013

White Rose Books, Thirsk



In the small market town of Thirsk, not too far from where we were staying in Thirkleby, lies a bookshop. Author James Herriot called Thirsk home, so it seems fitting that there is an independent and quite brilliant bookshop there. 


It’s a nice and neat shop that seems to fit perfectly within the market town, and has also become one of the places the people of Thirsk can enjoy a coffee. 

 

  




White Rose Books is a colourful, bright independent that does a lot more than sell books. It provides readers with great recommendations, and encourages children to read by reaching out to local schools.


 


It opened as a family business in 1995 and looks to be  rather successful, keeping up with modern technology and utilising it to create speedy orders.



  
A very nice independent bookshop: a good sign of things to come in Yorkshire!



White Rose Books
79-81 Market Place
Thirsk
North Yorkshire
YO7 1ET