Craft/DIY

Tyler Bender is Back!!: The talented rebuilder of vintage books into blank journals. Plus, unimportant things that make me happy

After a year long hiatus, talented Tyler Bender is back just in time for holiday shopping. Who isn’t looking for environmentally friendly, hand-made, and affordable gifts? Everyone I know is and Tyler Bender’s work fits the bill and then some.

TYLER BENDER BOOK CO. is a one-person workshop specialized in rebuilding vintage books into blank journals. Additional precycled materials are always used whenever possible. Visit his shop soon. I know he sells out very quickly.

• Here’s an interview I did with Tyler when I first started blogging.

Since then readers have emailed me looking for him. It took him a little while to recoup after the massive demand for his creative journals, but thank goodness he’s back! Check out Tyler’s shop for some great gifts. My favorite are featured above!

Tyler says that he came back for the fans,  “I missed being a part of the craft community!  The whole process of making and selling stuff is very rewarding”. He told me that he knows he won’t make books forever, but it is the beginning of something much greater.  He plans to “keep moving in that direction to find out what that is”.  One day he envisions building recycled houses…I just can’t wait to live in one!!

*Hijiri of Heartfish just tagged me to list 6 unimportant things that make me happy and then tag 5 other bloggers to do the same.

1. When my husband and I get off the subway after work we call each other and whoever is at home first comes out and meets the other halfway down the block and we run to each other like movie people in a meadow but with our pitbull pulling us.
2. going out for dinner
3. checking email
4. Having free time to day dream and draw
5. Taking in my surroundings

I’m going to tag: Design is Mine, Treasuring, Treatzone, A Print a day, and Frolic

Festive necklace DIY

I thought it would be fun to fiddle around with soft materials to make some accessories. I came up with a few simple ways to make necklaces/headbands/belts. Here’s how I did it if you want to make one yourself. Maybe you can wear it to a holiday party or give it to a friend. Hey, you could even wrap a gift with one. I’ll just give you a few simple steps, the rest will require experimentation and trusting your own creative instincts.

• Step 1: wrap a wire with a ribbon. Start with one tip and fold the ribbon around it and tie into a bow then proceed to wrap the whole ribbon like a maypole and when you get to the other end repeat the first step.
• step 2: Cut felt shapes and sew them together in an interesting configuration. Periodically hold your shapes up to ribboned wire to make sure it’ll be able to be sewn on easily.
• step 3: Once your shapes are sewn together sew parts of them onto the ribbon, et voila

…if you want to do solely ribbons, no sewing, I just tied bows on to the ribboned wire in select places and on each end so a big bow will tie the ends together around your neck, waist, or head.

If you want to be a whack-ado like me, try to make this one that’s really bow heavy and festive. I went a little nuts with the ribbon but it was fun: