I love making presents for my friends' birthdays. It's just so much fun and much more personal than simply buying a gift! This present was for my friend Martine, who turns 25 today and celebrated it yesterday (Happy Birthday Martine!). I especially love making presents that you can use. For example, for Martine I have also made a pin-cushion snail once. For this present I actually combined a bought and a made gift. Martine, like me, absolutely loves to read and since were both train-travelling people, we carry books around A LOT (I always want to type ALOT). So we need a way of keeping them safe!
The idea actually came from my grandmother, who I remember always reading a book by the window while eating an orange. And she kept her book always in a beautiful green fabric slipcover, that she had made herself to keep the book safe. Although I strongly believe that books are meant to be read and that it is no problem AT ALL when there are scratches in the cover or creases in the paper, I do think that it would be nice to be able to throw your book into your bag without it getting dirty from any leftover fruit or food that have colonized the bottom of your bag. So, I decided to make Martine one!
I made the cover a bit bigger than the book that's now in it, so larger books can fit in there as well.
On the front I sewed a piece of fabric on which I had stamped Martine's name :) And in the middle I added a ribbon that can be used as a bookmark. I added an iron-on application to the ribbon, which I bought at Juffrouw Zonder Zorgen, one of my favorite stores!
I think it came out pretty nice! Besides the whole keeping-your-book-safe-thing, I think it also just looks pretty which makes you happy when you pick your book up :) And trying to make someone happy is what giving presents is all about!
By the way: the present inside is John Green's book The Fault in Our Stars, one of my favorite books I've recently read. But I will get back to that soon :)
I also love wrapping presents (L) (My biggest dream is to one day have a house with a gift-wrapping-room!)
♥ Mirjam
wat een leuk cadeau :D
ReplyDeleteen eigenlijk ook om zelf te hebben .. ik vis zovaak boeken uit mijn tas die beschadigd of vies zijn, niet wetend waarvan!
en bedankt voor de link van juffrouw zonder zorgen - toffe winkel!
Als je een keer in Haarlem bent moet je ook echt hun offline-winkel bezoeken, zo'n lieve winkel <3
DeleteEn als je zou willen wil ik er best één voor je maken hoor? :) Mail me als je dat wilt maar even op mirjam [a] ponypeople.nl!