Dandi Blog

Our clever Manny has put together some instructions for this super easy weekend craft idea. Using alphabet stamps to create cute notebooks for sketching or gifts. With no fancy materials in this craft you are bound to have everything at home (no pun intended!)

To make this a 'green' project use recycled paper if you want to!

• 20 sheets of regular paper for your internal pages

• Heavy cover paper

• A bookbinding or heavy needle

• A Bookbinding Awl or a small nail

• Scoring bone or butter knife

• Wax thread

• Glue

• 20 sheets of regular paper for your internal pages

• Heavy cover paper

• A bookbinding or heavy needle

• A Bookbinding Awl or a small nail

• Scoring bone or butter knife

• Wax thread

• Glue

• 20 sheets of regular paper for your internal pages

• Heavy cover paper

• A bookbinding or heavy needle

• A Bookbinding Awl or a small nail

• Scoring bone or butter knife

• Wax thread

• Glue

• 20 sheets of regular paper for your internal pages

• Heavy cover paper

• A bookbinding or heavy needle

• A Bookbinding Awl or a small nail

• Scoring bone or butter knife

• Wax thread

• Glue

You Will Need:

• 20 sheets of regular paper for your internal pages

• Heavy cover paper

• A bookbinding or heavy needle

• A Bookbinding Awl or a small nail

• Scoring bone or butter knife

• Wax thread

• Glue

• 20 sheets of regular paper for your internal pages

• Heavy cover paper

• A bookbinding or heavy needle

• A Bookbinding Awl or a small nail

• Scoring bone or butter knife

• Wax thread

• Glue

20 Sheets of regular A4 paper for your internal pages
1 Sheet Heavy A4 paper for cover
A bookbinding or heavy needle
A bookbinding awl or a small nail
Scoring bone or butter knife
Wax thread
Craft Glue (liquid)

Download the full step by step instruction sheet here

We recently decided to have a DIY challenge amongst the four Dandi ladies, and wanted the challenge to be one that was environmentally friendly, fun and useful!After throwing around a couple of ideas it was decided that each of us would go home and find a pair of old shoes that we no longer wear (everyone has some of those right?), and do them up to make them super cute and irresistible! Today we'll show you the before and afters created by Manny and Mindi.



Manny Started with a pair of very worn but comfortable red leather peep toe wedges.By adding wide stripey ribbon to the front and small ribbon to the heel the shoes have a new nautical lease on life! Manny also put new red lining on the interior and gave these a good polish. Ahoy there, these be treasure!



Mindi started with a pair of black round toe suede pumps. To these she added some felt and beaded flowers and tweed leaves. The pop of purple makes these otherwise boring shoes into a statement piece with a bit of vintage appeal. Mindi can't wait to take these out dancing!
 

The Aeolian Islands are a group of stunning volcanic islands off the coast of Sicily. Manny and her family went for a day trip to two of the islands, Vulcano and Lipari. The stunning cerulean blue water against the ashen black rocks made for gorgeous and inspiring photos. 


On Volcano they went to the natural Sulphur springs which is great for the skin but takes a while to get use to the smell!



After soaking in smelly sulphur they took a boat across to Lipari, where a local guide drove them around and showed them all the best parts, as well as the right direction to get a tasty and fresh seafood lunch.

Here are some pictures from the very cool exhibition Once Upon, which Manny was invited to be a part of. The exhibition was put on by the online community Leeloo, who support emerging designers and artists.

Once Upon featured the work of 40 Artists who were each given a fairytale to interprete in their style. Manny was given Rapunzel and the above image is her interpretation of this wonderful story.

Manny standing next to her precious illustration, we are so proud!

It was great to see how all the artists conveyed their particular tale, and for us to feel a bit childlike again and reminisce some forgotton stories. Manny's work is on the bottom row, second from the right.

The crowd at the opening night. It was a really good turn out, it got very hot it there!

The Dandi chicks, we are uber avant garde!

Manny was thrilled and excited to secure a spot in the up coming Sydney exhibition, 'Once Upon'. The exhibition, which has been put together by Leeloo for their 2nd birthday, is a collaboration of over 30 artists, each of whom have been allocated a fairytale and will produce several artworks about their particular story.

Opening night is just over a week away, Thursday 19th November 6-9pm at aMBUSH Gallery in Waterloo. We can't wait!

Images via Manny's Flickr Stream