doodle stitching + leather

I've been wanting to do a stitched leather journal ever since. over the years, i collected various colors of embroidery thread, hoping to finally do a piece. One of the main concerns in stitching leather is how to drill holes on your leather. a leather punch is okey if you have 1mm cord, that way the thread fits well but the thing with using thick cords is that you cant really do a more delicate effect. I bought cheap handdrill to do the trick, i grew tired of it coz its quite underpowered and it gave the holes a distressed bruised look... i finally discovered my dad's DREMEL drill. combined it with the tiny drill bits i bought... and i was drilling holes for hours. =)

Last sunday, someone in the office made me a really really strong barako coffee--- i got restless and couldnt seem to focus... i resorted to crafting to calm me down. i drew doodles on a paper, scanned and printed them as patterns... and this is what i got after 5 hours of drilling, stitching, punching...

The book inside this pocket journal is refillable and is attached to the cover through a round elastic band. A pocket moleskine cahier can easily fit my stitched leather journal...

the coffee finally wore off, at about 10 pm.

the photos here are the effect of strong caffeine on a boring sunday afternoon.