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Monday, March 26, 2012

Binding the Butterfly Book

My oldest grandson *LOVES* butterflies.  He has spent hours with a butterfly net running after butterflies and moths to put into his cage, similar to these items shown here. 

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(Obviously these kids are super excited about having GIANT butterflies so close to them! Haha!)

He's such a good guy.  He puts the butterflies in his nets, he observes them, then before the day is done he lets them go.  He doesn't want them to die, he just wants to observe them.  

I decided on a whim the other day to print up a book about butterflies for my boy.





I seriously thought after I printed it, "Now What?"  LOL  "What am I going to do to put this 22 page book together?   I can't staple it."  I thought about it for a couple of days.  So I'm going to show you what I came up with.

Several years ago my husband and I ordered some bamboo fencing and it came with this spool of black waxed thread.  It's VERY similar to the thread used in making pine needle baskets. I pulled it out of my stash and I went into my scrap booking supplies and I pulled out one of my punches.  This punch makes to holes right next to each other.  I punched holes in this black colored piece of paper so you could see. 



I made holes all along the edge of the 22 pages about 1/4" (give or take) away from the edge. I printed on card stock and could only punch through 2 pages at a time.  I took the top punched page and used it as a guide as to where to punch the holes on the next two pages.  The top page was laid aside and the two pages that were punched were put on the bottom of the punched stack.  I then grabbed the first page on the top of the punched page stack, and used it as a guide to punch the next two pages.  Those two pages were put on the bottom of the punched stack, while the guide page was set in the 'guide' page stack.  I did this until I had punched through all 22 pages.  My hand is sore now I must say... even a couple of days later!

I then threaded a needle with a length of the waxed thread (I opted for 2 1/2 times as long as the book - it worked well) and simply went up one hole and down the other hole. I tried to punch the holes straight, but as you can see, this grandma didn't do a perfect job... but I have NO DOUBTS that my boy will enjoy his book!


I secured the ends on the back



While I was looking for the top pictures for this post look what I found!

source
Guess what I ordered for my grandson!!!  I'm so EXCITED for HIM!

UPDATE:
The butterflies have arrived!!  Check it out here!




Linking up to Skip To My Lou








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6 comments:

  1. It may not be perfect (as YOU say) but that is exactly what makes it perfect! Lucky boy!

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  2. He's gonna have so much FUN! Thanks for linking up to the Spring Fling over at I Gotta Create!

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  3. I used to do some book binding projects with (well, actually *for) my daughter, when she was little.
    I'm pretty sure your grandson will be very excited with the Live Butterfly Garden -- hey, I would be excited too, and I'm forty!
    Seeing you around at Inspire Me Mondays :)

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  4. Eleni,
    Thank you. I wish I was closer so I could watch right along with my grandson. It would be so fun!
    I appreciate your stopping by.

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  5. Thank you for participating in Show Your Stuff Blog Hop, You are invited to come back:
    http://juliejewels1.blogspot.com/2012/03/seafood-crab-salad-show-your-stuff-17.html

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  6. Oh wow...MY GRANDSON...is going to love this! :) Wish I had known you needed some help with the binding...I have a machine that does it for me! hope you are having a wonderful spring! And....something may be coming your way!

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