printed material

I find that the winter solstice is the day when I start to really think about one year ending  and another one on the horizon. Christmas is nearly upon us but I've already taken stock and looked back on 2014 whilst planning ahead for 2015.
This is just a round up of some of the things that have meant something to us this year; visits to the beach for walking and beachcombing; the end of the beekeeping when my husband became allergic to the very thing he loved;  lots of rooting around in churchyards and exploring them; the making of many books and then teaching them in workshops;  birds, birds and more birds in our garden and further afield; enjoying our garden and encouraging wildlife into it; design and printing in all its forms.... the list goes on.
A major part of the year was spent working on the project at the local museum, researching the men who volunteered for the Great War. I found some wonderful stories but I never shared them here as I felt they were not mine to share. I became fond of men I could never know or have known and shed many tears when I found photographs to support my research. It has been an emotional year commemorating the start of the war but I think it has been fitting.
I have a plan for 2015 that might have also been an intention for 2014 too but this time I feel very positive about it. I intend to spend more time simply drawing. I want to sharpen my skills. I know I can draw already but I want to do it better and more spontaneously. I have an idea in mind and have set up another blog to go with it. If I get it off the ground I will let you know!


I hope everyone else has had a good year and wish you all a great Christmas and an exciting 2015.

 Ran a couple of workshops last week and wanted to share a sample idea from the first one, which was a day of paper pop-ups and paper engineering. Everyone made some ingenious cards once a few basic supports had been mastered; so many so, that I could not photograph them all and do justice to their work here,  so I want to share a free download with you or anyone else encouraged to pick up the scalpel....
 If you visit here, you will find some fantastic paper engineering with quite a few generous free downloads.Look in the 'Learn' folder and download the snowflake PDF.  I picked the snowflake for the obvious seasonal reasons and then realised that what went into one card could be expanded into an accordion book.

 So, I folded and cut my book, but not before I bought a jewellery gift box from Wilko's (the UK's new type of Woolworth's) and converted it to my needs.
 The box is only £1.50 and with a bit of luck, there will be a few discounted in the sale! I removed the satin liner and measured my paper to fit the box. After folding accordingly, I cut three snowflake templates and then popped them. The download site even has a video showing you how to do this. Once you get going they only take a few minutes to cut as they are all straight lines. The snowflake book is really effective and looks like a I spent a lot longer on the project than I actually did. The last page is blank and I've decorated it and used the whole project as a special card for my brother and sister in law. The box is well made for the money and I'm thinking that with a bit of collage on the cover etc etc, they can be used as a carrier for future accordion book ideas. I know it's a bit late to start giving out the festive ideas but it might spark the production line for next year!!