Discovering Roben-Marie Smith

Hi, Everyone,

I've been sick lately and have had to rest in bed.  This has given me time to surf the internet on my iPad.  I came upon a talented artist named Roben-Marie Smith.   She has online classes as well as free YouTube Videos, so you may want to check her out.

I usually create in a vintage style, but decided to give Roben-Marie's brighter style a try.  I started with a couple sheets of smooth cardstock and painted the sheets like her bright doodles.  I cut out circles, rectangles and tags from the painted sheets and sewed them randomly on different pages.  The pages sure are cheerful.  Have a look below.

I started off with an old French Dictionary and cut out all the glued pages inside.

On the outside of the book cover I glued down an altered Anthropology gift bag. 

On the inside I glued down some old ledger paper and part of the gift bag handles on the top of the inner spine.  I planned to have 3 signatures so poked 3 sets of holes in the spine with my awl.

In one of her videos, Roben-Marie Smith designed a page with a front flap and hinges, sewing the two pages together.  I love how my version turned out.  I will be using this design quite a bit.

Here is a back view of the page.

I've created many books with hinges before, but I never covered the hinges with book text.

Love that idea.

I also love stitching on the pages.

In this book, three pages grouped together make one signature.

The book is so pretty as is, I don't want to create in it.

This is the outside of the book for now.  It will be decorated more if I actually create in it.

I use the Long Stitch binding method a lot because it is fast and easy.

I hope this inspires you to create your own book, and don't forget to check out Roben-Marie Smith's blog.

Have fun creating creating!