Working with paper

I am rediscovering that I love to work with my hands. That's probably why I'm taking a floral design class, a woodworking class, and teaching myself how to do handmade bookbinding. You'd think this would be a "no brainer" for me that I wouldn't have to rediscover, but for some reason I've forgotten this over time.

So yesterday, I decided to tackle the construction of a handmade booklet style portfolio to hold a set of 12 cards. All I had was something similar I'd picked up at the store. I pulled it apart to make a template, and then dove in to construct my own. It took me three tries, but I finally mastered it so that I like the result.

Now I can feature my notecards (like the Vintage Botanicals Collection) in nice neat little box that is pretty in its own right.

When I listed this on the Etsy store I decided to include a free set of 12 sheets of hand-cut and hand-embossed writing paper that are cut to fit into the notecards.

The story behind this paper is pretty cool. When we moved into Rosehaven Cottage, the previous owner had left reams of vintage paper, tablets, ledgers, and such in the attic. When I opened up the unopened reams of paper, I found a very high quality off-white paper that had a wonderful feel to it. But the size was an odd one that didn't fit current U.S. or European standards so it has sat without being used much except for the occasional visual aid in Sunday School class. Recently, I found some wonderful corner embossing tools and had the idea that I should cut down the vintage paper and make it into writing paper. Voila!

I told you I'm enjoying working with the my hands.