printed material

The Man Who Planted Trees from MrGreatShortFilms on Vimeo.

I came across this beautiful version of the Jean Giono story only a few months ago and decided to save it as a special post one day. Even though it is not seasonal it is a wonderful story and a perfect gift. Enjoy everyone. See you in 2014!

 My books workshop was good fun last week and I did take some photos but when I looked at them they were pretty blurred and useless. I need to take them through the day rather than run round like a mad thing at the end of the workshop I think. There is another in two weeks time and THIS TIME I will do better. I think it has a lot to do with this time of year. All of a sudden everything cranks up a gear and I seem to be in headless chicken mode.... or maybe it's more about my inability to say no to something or restrain myself from starting one thing before finishing another?

Firstly, I agreed to co-ordinate a project for my old employers, the National Trust, just on a voluntary basis, but the time commitment and workload is more detailed than expected and I'm not so great at detail any more. Plus I also joined the hundred or so people who took a piece of barkcloth to decorate for the charity Hands Up for Uganda. Run with passion and commitment by textile artist Bobby Britnell, the charity is being partnered by Star- Child Shoes to turn this barkcloth from Uganda into baby boots ready for exhibition next year. I gave a piece each to my two friends Vickie and Joan as a sort of mini autumn challenge. They've delivered theirs back to me so guess who was dragging her feet? On Monday I finally bit the bullet and printed on mine before stitching on it yesterday. After lots of ideas I used two hand carved eraser stamps for the hands and painted on the stripes before machine stitching the circular motifs.  I have limited ability in machine embroidery but what I do know has been learned from a dvd by the lovely Gina. I did the stitching in ordinary cotton  and the back looks much worse than the front. It really does not bear close scrutiny but at least I have finished.... I think ..... (Please Gina, do not enlarge this photo for a closer look....I beg you...)
 I also promised my friend's daughter that I'd do a craft fair with her next week. The idea was to sell some of my books but then I saw all these origami ideas on different blogs and thought I'd make some Christmas decorations. That was a mistake. Not only was it time consuming, it was obsessive! I couldn't stop folding and creasing, using up mountains of old music. I found the tutorial for these here if you want to have a go.

 I also made these five pointed origami stars using some free gift wrap from a magazine but it's only patterned on one side so the reverse is white in the centre and I wasn't happy with that until I realised they'd make a quick Christmas card, something I've not given any thought to this year unusually. Finally, I've been playing around in Photoshop to make some tags for the craft event and the demented dogs and cats below are what I am printing out later. I'm not sure whether they're the product of an overactive imagination or a sign that I'm running close to the edge..... I think it could be the latter......