Flowers and Books

I bought some EcoArtboard from here last week.....its actually for a project I'm doing for the Suzi Blu Piety and Passion class (but more of that another time). Anyway, its lovely stuff; I like using thick card for inchies, twinchies and ATCs and this is REALLY THICK! (Its like wood.)
You can buy them in packs of different sizes - this is an ATC size....

Above is my Paper Whimsy flower (downloadable sheet). I've added fabric, hand-made papers and machine-stitching.
In Greek, anemone means 'daughter of the wind'.

 More digital art....

I know you can't improve on the beauty of a flower, so I'm just presenting these (from my garden) in a different way. I've done loads of these but I won't bore you with them all in one go :-)

I've also been making lots of Lotus Flower Books this week as I think I may have an outlet for selling them.

(Update: forgot to mention......the trees and the Madonna are stamps on Shrink Plastic.)

It was great to see some different examples of these books on Sue's blog see here. Her fabric version is very special .......

And finally........

Sharne at Sharne's Bits 'n' Bobs is having a great give-away........ such a pretty journal with a wonderful embellished cover. Don't go and enter because I want to win it...... :-)

How to make Lotus Flower Books

Quite a few of you have asked if I would show a tutorial on making Lotus Flower Books. I'm not up to making videos yet so I hope step-by-step instructions are ok for you. (Thanks to Alysn at the Beetroot Tree for giving me the 'ok' to do this.)





You will need:   4 squares of paper 10cms x 10cms
                        2 squares of thick card 5.25cms x 5.25cms
                        2 squares of paper (for covers) 7cms x 7cms
                        fibre or ribbon, glue

1. Make a horizontal, vertical and one diagonal fold on each of the 4 larger squares of paper.

2. Push the diagonal folds in so that the paper folds into a smaller square.

3. With the folded corners in the same orientation, glue 2 squares together.

4. Continue with the remaining squares.

5. Cover each piece of thick card with the 7 cm square cover papers. Trim the corners.

6. Glue one cover onto the top of the folded papers.

7. Place the ribbon or fibre over the inside of the second cover, tape it down, then glue to the back of the folded pages.
This can be as long as you like, depending upon how many times you want to wrap it round the book!


Decorate your cover and tie the ribbon (or fibre).

I hope that explains it ok for you! If there are any parts that are confusing, please let me know so I can do some editing.

Please link back to me if you decide to have a go.....and show me what you come up with.
Of course you can adapt the sizes if you wish; I have made them in all different sizes but the one above is the cutest!

Using my digital art....

Just playing with my digital art today...have made a few mixed-media collages. This is the only one that's finished.....more to come! The background is waxed paper (kitchen towel and inks), the pink strip is made up of fabric, threads and Mistyfuse, the flowers are metal (cut with a punch) and I have sewn beads in the centre of my digital picture. Pink flower free, courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Still making Lotus Flower Books....this the 8th and its 2" square. I drew on a piece of metal (inside of tomato puree tube) for the embellishment, added alcohol ink and rubbed on treasure wax. The tiny word is from a Tim Holtz Distressables strip. Underneath is a layer of Angelina.Just made a few more papers for the class I'm taking! (I really must stop now - I don't think there's that many people attending :-)

Hope you're having a lovely day.....its gorgeous and sunny here in Derbyshire!

Lotus Flower Books

I'm teaching another class at The Beetroot Tree very soon....this time making Lotus Flower Books. I've been practising for the past week - they are rather sweet and open out in different ways.



I've had great fun making loads of papers to take along with me and have stamped them with my own hand-carved rubber stamps.


I was inspired a lot by my lovely new friend Maggi at To Dream To Stitch.
We arranged to meet each other last week (a blind date!) and we spent the day visiting Peartree Yard craft centre, Cachepot (coffee in the garden and beautiful shop) and Andersons (yet more coffee). She brought lots of gorgeous little books to show me and kindly gave me this one......

....its quite tiny and sits neatly in the palm of my hand. It has beautiful hand-made papers inside.
I hope we'll get to meet again very soon.; despite talking for 6 hours, I don't think we covered everything.........