Crafty Loops

How to make a book - Kettle Stitch Bookbinding  A number of year ago......In fact.......over 9 years ago (SHOCK!!!) I made a series of bookbinding tutorials, showing how I make a book from start to finish.  I divided the videos up into different sections which meant the viewer had to click onto the next video.  I thought this would be a simpler way of doing the videos however, I have been asked over the years if I could make the series into one continuous video, so the viewer doesn't have to click out of the video onto the next one. So, it's only taken me almost a decade and quite a few hours of editing, but I edited the videos into one continuous format and deleted some of my waffling....boy I can talk.  It is almost 90 mins long, so please be aware of that.  I am making a book completely from scratch. I do realise that if you watched the initial series of tutorials, this video is just a repeat and not for you.  But this is for those people who prefer to have all the videos in

How to make a soft cover wrap around book Doth my eyes deceive me?  Is that a Crafty Loops blog post I see?  Yes, yes I can hear you all from here, lol.  But finally, my gas heating is now installed.  Yippeeeeee!  Which means my house was turned upside down and there was dust and dirt that would make the Sahara Desert blush!  Our attic had to be emptied because we needed new loft insulation, which meant the majority of my house sat in the back garden whilst the work was carried out.  Who knew we had so much crap up there!  Out of sight, out of mind definitely applies to my attic. As if having our house turned upside down and sitting in my back garden wasn't enough, there of course needed to be a little drama added to the mix - this is the Loops Household after all.   When the guys were installing the new gas pipes in the attic, one of them slipped and his leg came thundering through the roof!  Scrubby Loops said all he could see was a leg dangling from the hall ceiling.  Then a

Bookbinding tutorial - How to do a 4 hole pamphlet Stitch Nope this is not a moment of deja-vu.  This is in fact a new pamphlet stitch tutorial, the first being 3 holes and this being 4.  My reasoning for doing the 4 hole stitch is simply because I saw others making junk journals using my previous 3 hole stitch binding system.  And as they were junk journals, they obviously didn't have uniform and perfect sized signatures for the 3 holes.  Some had added small tags, envelopes, wee bits of scrap paper etc.  My concern was that these small pieces would maybe only get one stitch through them which would mean they may come apart and fall out of the journal.  So with the 4 holes, at least 2 stitches would be placed in smaller pieces of paper making this stitch perfect for junk journalling.  You can have the spacing of the sew holes as close or as far apart as you like.  Its up to you.  I wanted quite a large gap between the top stitches and the bottom stitches as I'm planning on add

Video Tutorial .....How to do a pamphlet stitch book Hello my lovelies.  Well........My birthday has been and gone.  I turned 33 this year and for some reason all I can think of is "All the three's.........33"!!  It keeps going around and around in my head.  You know.....that cheesy deep voice the Bingo callers use when they call out the numbers?  Yep........I think I'm going to be constantly hearing that in my noggin until I turn 34!  Nooooooo!  I don't know about you lot.......but I thought by this stage in my life that, somewhere along the way a switch would flick and I'd suddenly start thinking like an adult.  Is that gonna happen any time soon?  Because I've just turned 33 and I'm still waiting to be and act like an adult!!  Ask my husband and family.....they'll confirm my immaturity.  I have a 12 year old brother who has more sense than me!  It should have happened by now, right?  Was I over looked or something?  Maybe the "Adult Maker G

Tutorial -How to create a faux leather texture and look Hello, hello my crafty buds.  I know.......long time no see, eh?  I've been a bloomin' disaster lately!  Lol.  And I can't really think of any excuse other than........"Hi....I'm Mrs Disaster Pants, nice to meet you".  Time just seems to have disappeared of late! I haven't made much of anything lately.  My brother, Jay and his lovely Fiancée Karen have set a date to get married next June............WOOWHOOOOO!  Karen has said that she might like to make her own invitations.  So I have offered my crafty mitts to her.  As I pretty much have everything she needs here, I've said that we can have a play day with some designs.......Yippeee!  I can't wait.  I'm so excited for her, lol.  I pretty much made EVERYTHING for our wedding and I loved every minute of it.  And our day was perfect.....for us anyway, lol.  I can't believe we just celebrated 2 years of marriage this month.  Anyway, i

Hand Bound Journals with Flower Belly Band Hey folks, whatabout ye all?  I hear parts of England and Wales are getting some beautiful sunshine.  Any chance of you shoving some of it my Northern Ireland way then???  I swear it has rained constantly over my wee bit of Northern Ireland since June!!  Nimbus came in this morning looking 2 stone lighter and like a drowned rat!!  Now my cat is a long haired fuzz ball and isn't afraid of water or the rain really as it doesn't get in contact with her actual skin because she's so furry and her coat is extremely thick.......but this morning....Well, our poor wee baby was soaked through and her fur was drenched......BUT....the daft cow was sitting IN THE RAIN!!!!  She has a wee house that she can go in to when its pouring but oh no.....Nimbus wants to sit in the rain!  Lol.  Daft cat.  Then she came in and proceeded to try and dry herself off on Scrubby's leg!  He had to actually towel dry her she was so soaking.....she was dripp

Summer Expedition Journal - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder This is going to be a photo heavy post, lol So sorry for the glare on this photo.  I don't know whats up with my camera! I know, I know ............"Where have you been Loops" I can hear you all shout. Im sorry I have been such an awful blogger of late.  And its not as if I can even blame it on having glorious weather either because living in Northern Ireland, the very second the sun comes out and someone says "This is some weather we're having, isn't it?", they have pretty much scudded us all and we are guaranteed to have torrential rain, hail stones the size of golf balls and freezing temperatures!  So the weather hasn't been good at all in Northern Ireland except..... dare I say it?......the sun has been out yesterday and today.  Its ok though, normality will resume in a matter of hours, as we are to have rain again tomorrow.  So as I type this post, Scrubby is fr