Adventures in Making a Secret E-Reader Case Part 2

As you all may remember, I left off my harrowing tale of craftiness last week in my Adventure of the Great Kindle Case.  Not exactly what I called it, but you know what I mean.  Anyhow, I'd had an idea to turn an old book into a new Kindle case.  With some gluing and cutting I at last had a hollow book.  And then I took the weekend off.  So, Monday morning I had a sudden thought:  how in the world am I going to turn the thing on?  Because you see, my friends, the sad thing about technology is that it requires power and stuff, and the switch for my Kindle is on the bottom, which meant that I'd have to remove the Kindle from the book every time I wanted to switch it on.  I couldn't have that.

So, I decided I'd chop a hole in the bottom of the book where the power button is, so I could just poke the button through the opening.  Sounds like a good idea, but let me tell you, Elmer's Glue is a beast.  I don't know much about slang talk, and I'm not sure I used the word "beast" correctly, but seriously, that stuff works.  So I had to spend quite some time sawing before I got the hole the way I wanted it to be.  Exhibit A below shows my serrated kitchen knife standing of its own accord in the book.  Allow me to say: not the most fun part of this project.  I kept on stabbing the wrong part of the page, and it was just really inconvenient.  But anyhow, finally, I finished.

 So at this point I had a hole cut out for the Kindle, a hole cut out for easy access to the power button, and... not much else.  This was when I started to realize that, since the hole fit the Kindle and the Kindle Only, there would be no easy way for me to remove the Kindle once it was in.

I really think things through.

After some careful thought, and much pacing around the house, seeking out clever ideas, I finally decided that I would have to put something in the book

In our hallway with many bookcases my eyes lighted upon the sewing cabinet (yes, it makes SO much sense) and I thought that I could use a ribbon to put under the Kindle and thereby use it as leverage to get the Kindle out.  Much chopping later, both with my box cutter and kitchen knife, I had two cutsey holes in the which I was able to string the ribbon, as you can see below.
 

 

This was when I decided that much wear and tear would not be good for my Kindle if I were to keep taking it in and out with such alarming regularity, so I found an old t-shirt I was giving away and cut the back out, in order to use as lining.  No worries, it was a shirt I was never going to use anyhow.  I got it during my hooligan stage, and it said, "Smile.  It confuses people."  Obviously I have since repented of my ways and would no longer wear a shirt suggestion that smiling should only be done to confuse people.  My shirt of choice these days says "Rejoice.  Joy is a choice."  Ah, youth.  How I did you wrong.

Look!  I'm a shirt all cut up!  I feel so rejected.

 As you can see, I carefully made sure the shirt fit into the hole.  It did.

From there it was fairly simple.  I glued my shirt into the space, glued some more pages on top of what I'd been working on so as to make it look neat and fresh, let it dry, and then put the ribbon through my carefully cut holes.  As you can see, my work space just kept getting messier and messier.

When all was said and done I realized that not only does it look sweetly awesome, but, thanks to the hole in the bottom, I can plug in headphones (pictured here) or plug in the charger (not pictured here, but it's HILARIOUS to see a book "plugged in," let me say).  So actually, that worked out remarkably well.

Ooh, another cool thing was that the book came with a bookmark, which I preserved from being glued, and so now the first few pages (which I kept in the book un-glued, just for good measure) have a book mark.  It honestly looks just like a regular book, only, well, you know, there are headphones coming out of it in this picture!

 

And here I am, turning the page in my book-within-a-book.

Anyhow, I hope this didn't bore you guys, but I was so excited that it worked out, I just had to share.  It's always exciting to do projects that actually turn out.  Maybe you folks do better than I, but honestly, I usually have these dreams (I'm making a purse!  I'm fixing my quilt!) and then they sort of just... flop.  So it was very exciting to have this work.

So.  That's all.

Adventures in Making a Secret E-Reader Case Part 1

Some days ago, I got it into my head that I needed to make a really cool cover for my new Kindle.  I have a friend who makes purses out of old books, and I'm pretty much her dealer (I tend to find many free books), so I figured that I'd just find an old book I was going to give away anyhow, and use that for my Kindle cover. I looked up online for one of those tutorials, but it seemed pretty simple, so I just grabbed a book and started!

I picked this book because a) the cover was cool, b) it was free, and c) upon opening it I saw some naughty language, so I figured that if I was killing a book it might as well be this one.

I then got some glue (Elmer's!  I love the stuff!  How awesome is it that Elmer's Glue is so multi-purpose!) and mixed a little in a bowl with some water, just to thin it a bit, and then prepared the book.  That just meant tying plastic bags on the front and back covers so as to not glue the whole book together.

The stuff I had looked up online suggested using a glue brush, but that seemed like extra work, so I just used my finger to smear glue on, which worked perfectly.  Also, my fingers are easy to wash off.  Also, it didn't take much glue.  I was surprised at how little it took.

Next I brought it to the basement and clamped it for several hours.  Basically until I remembered about it and had time.  That made it dry without warping the pages, which was handy.

We had some issues with water coming in the basement, so all of our fans in storage for the winter ended up next to our work bench.  Since I didn't need to actually be there, except for the obvious tightening of the clamp thing, it didn't bother me.  But that's why there are two fans visible in this photo!

Once it was dry I measured the kindle on the book, only to discover that they were pretty much the same size.  Oops.  I figured, whatever, I'll just have skinny walls and no extra space.  As you can see, I was working on newspaper, because I was afraid that I'd cut our granite counter tops or something.  Spill glue.  Something to mess them up.  So I had newspaper-covered work area for myself.

Then I used a straight blade tool thing to cut out the innards.  It took... a lot of time.  I listened to much Adventures in Odyssey, and it passed rather enjoyably, but because I had to make sure that there would be enough space for my Kindle, it took a long time. Much chaotic cutting, then some measurements.  Well, not so much measurements as just taking my Kindle and sort of dropping it in the hole every once in a while.  It worked.

And then it was Saturday night and I had to go and I sort of left the project over the weekend.  But... tune in next time for the exciting second part.  Did I finish it?  Did I stop to think that the power button is on the bottom of the Kindle, thereby not exactly easy to turn on when the Kindle is tucked away in the book?  Did I stop to realize that if the Kindle was tightly in there it might be impossible to take out?

Seriously, tune in next time.  You don't want to miss the drama, my friends.  

Kindling a little fire

I am super blessed.  Which we already knew.  But a kindly gift for my birthday caused me to be the happy recipient of a Kindle Fire, which, may I dare say, is swell.  Turning pages in it is so fun... Is that a nerdy thing to say?  Yes, yes it is.  But anyhow, it does all sorts of fun things, and has many apps, and no, no, I have not downloaded Angry Birds onto it.  I find that game irksome.  I do have Bejeweled.  I could waste hours on that game.  Sometimes I do.

But that is all besides the point.  My real point is that it is lovely and wonderful and pretty. 

Dear Amazon,
Thou art brill.
The End.

Give thanks!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, ever. As much as I love National Grammar Day and Guy Fawkes Day, Thanksgiving tops the list, every time. First of all, it's a cozy holiday, secondly, it usually involves much family, and thirdly, it reminds me how much for which I have to be thankful. Dear prepositions, I wish I could use you at the end of sentences. Things would sound ever so much better.

Anyhow, we all know I'm thankful for my family, and my friends, but there's so much else! I'm thankful for the hope of the Lord's coming. May that hope never grow dim in my heart, may I never stop jumping! I'm thankful for the colors of creation, and for snow, and for purple flowers. I'm thankful for road trips, and speed limits that are 65 and above. I'm thankful for music, and singing, and friends with iPods. I'm thankful for the ability to travel, and for travel-sized bottles of shampoo, and for my Kindle. I'm thankful for regular-type books, and words, and the power to imagine. I'm thankful for sunshine, and the Hey Cow game, and for the Game of Three. I'm thankful for new friendships, and old ones, and ones that I don't even know about yet. I'm thankful for my Sunday School class, and for sleep, and for sleepovers on the roof. I'm thankful for the possibility of GFD11, and for Friendly Vacation, and for family meal times. I'm thankful for prayer, and for family Bible readings, and for the fact that my parents pray for me every single night. I'm thankful for my mom, who waves me off to work in the morning, and for my dad, who lets me be as strange as I need to be, and for my brother, who is one of my best friends, and for my younger sister, now my sister in two ways. I'm thankful for my 11 nieces and nephews, and the three wonderful sisters and three wonderful brothers-in-law whom I never see enough but love anyway. I'm thankful for the years I had with my older brother, and the relationship we had. I'm thankful for laughter that makes my side hurt and tears stream down my face, and for sorrow so sharp I can do nothing but cling to my Saviour. I'm thankful for the human ability to love, and hope, and keep believing. I'm thankful that my sins are washed by the precious blood of Christ, and that through Him I am a treasure, a child of worth. I'm thankful for health, and happiness, and comfort.

There's more. But... it's not even Thanksgiving yet. I'll save something for later.

PS I LOVE this holiday!

Oh Kindle within us

Guess what I'm a pleased possessor of? Other than that prepositiony-type sentence I used, I also have in my possession--a Kindle!

I got it used (and as a present, what a swell deal!) but in brand-new packaging, and I love it. Very, very much. What else I love? That Amazon offers free books. And that many Christian publishers take advantage of that and post free books. I haven't had to pay for a single book on my Kindle thus far (well, except my Bible, but that's only because I wanted a KJV and they didn't seem to have any free KJVs, silly Amazon), and I've gotten a pretty good collection.

Mostly I'm excited because now on trips I'll be able to pack one Kindle as opposed to eleven or fourteen books. I mean, I love books, and paper, and all of those fun parts, but mostly it's about the words, I guess, and when I can get all my books (plus that dictionary!) on the plane with me in one small package, I'll take it.

Bless my aunt for gifting it to me.

It has some built-in games, by the way, but I always forget how to get to them. Never mind, Alt and M is the magic key. Keys. Whatever.

It's got a zillion features that I don't even understand... I can get screen shots, hear background music (that's one that's worth looking into, but I haven't had time to yet), and make notations in books. All in all, swell. If you're a lover of books who isn't quite sure if you're ready for the switch to digital, take it from me--it's worth it. I still read "real" books all the time, I'm forever at the library and bookstore, but this is handy for travel situations and when you just need something to throw in your purse in case you have a long wait at the bank. I love it!