I'm a big believer in gifting especially when someone does something really good for me, I like to give that back in some way or another. I received a not totally random gift in the mail after doing something really simple. In the package were some not agreed upon previously gifts- including some moo cards (too cool) and a photograph. Very cool, all stuff I love. So I decided to gift that person with a journal. Not only is this person a photographer but they subscribe to the tenets of Everyday Matters- in that everyday you pick up a pen or pencil and draw, no matter how bad it is, you get in there and draw. So I figured what would be better than to send them a cool journal.

I don't know if the person is vegetarian or would be offended by leather, so I decided to go with my current crazy and stitched up a bastiano inspired cover. I received some jewelry in the envelope a few months ago and since I hoard anything packing related- envelopes, bubble wrap tyvek mailers etc to reuse, I found the perfect envelop in my stash. A small 5×9 inch envelop with some handwriting, labels and stamps. I started stitching with black thread. The pattern is like a doodle with the thread. To give it some stiffness I used a miss cut jotter cover. the needle passed through it with flying colors. Inside I stuffed a small jotter block. I trimmed it and added an elastic to hold it all closed. I'm pretty happy with it, I really like the cover but see that it's still just a  riff on the elegant lines of bastiano's covers.

It's a gift and not for sale. If you would like your own check out Bastiano's flickr stream (link below) for some of his super cool books and for links to his etsy site.

Anyone know what the blue book on the back of the piano is? It's the complete works of a particular band….