Crafty Creatives Box #3 Kit- Japanese stab book binding

Before I continue with the tutorial from my previous post, I just wanted to make a quick post about something fun that came yesterday! Last month after seeing a few tweets here and there about a subscription box from Crafty Creatives, I signed up, curiosity piqued. Their third box shipped earlier this week and I was not disappointed!  Each box has a theme and this month's was a good one. And, every month, along with a variety of crafty supplies related to that theme, you get a kit for a complete project! So as I was in the blogging mood yesterday, I thought you might like to see the kit in progress.

The kit contents looked underwhelming at first, but once I realised what it was, I was so excited! I took a book binding course in my youth and loved it, but haven't done it since, and had never done this style of binding- Japanese stab binding. This uses the standard simple method, but is effective and looks great.

My cuts weren't as exact as I'd hoped, so after I cut the pages to size I shuffled them- it gave a good effect to the pages and didn't look quite as uneven. Oh for a guillotine! 

I stabbed my pages on a piece of foam (to save my table from even further crafting damage), first with a pin and then with the bamboo skewer to make the holes large enough.

I then sewed the book up using a packing needle (included in the box!). The instructions that came with the kit were very clear for me, and I usually have trouble with instructions of that sort (I am hopeless at teaching myself to crochet/knit for that reason). They used the standard method which I was able to find outlined on this website in case you want to try it. Crafty Creatives will also have a video up on their YouTube page later this week. You can see their previous kits there, as well!

Here's my finished book! I'm really happy with it and need to find a use for it. When my daughter came home from school, we put some of the themed stickers included in the box on the front, as well.

Here's the rest of the box, if you're curious! Right now I'm thinking I may use some of my binding experience to create a bigger stab-bound book, maybe even with the brocade fabric on the covers. I'll keep you updated with anything I do make, of course! There's lots of fun things here and I think it was definitely good value.

For a full list of everything in box #3, visit the Crafty Creatives website. Boxes are £10 a month, plus shipping, and are sent in the middle of the month. Already excited for box #4!