Kusadama origami flowers

I started browsing a lovely book called "Playing with books" by Jason Thompson with the idea of making a book but got intrigued by these Kusadama origami flowers. I have made a few which I will use as part of an altar decoration for a Sangha meeting tomorrow evening (will post a photo of that after tomorrow). The largest one made from pages of a book is the size suggested originally, 6x6" but I felt that was a bit big so played around with making smaller and smaller ones. The smallest (blue & white) is 6x6 cm.
I also experimented with the thickness and weight of paper. I love the idea of using decorated papers but the ones here (blue & pink and blue & white) were too heavy to hold together (using double-sided tape) and I had to sew them together! It's quite hard sewing through thick paper and I ended up bending the needle!
So the lighter paper the better! The last ones I made were from newspaper and they have worked really well.

Here's a collection of all of them.

And a couple of close-ups.

Book pages

newspaper.

A library of handmade books

Still having some time on my hands I have been very lucky to play around with making more handmade books. And here are the results.

Firstly here they all are. Five beautiful books mostly with ribbon closures. The one with feather prints is 8x8 cm, the next two down are both 12x16 cm and the square one on the bottom is 14x14 cm.

Next is the tiny little one I made just for fun. It has 2 very cute wooden birds adorning the front cover

and inside the pages are made from an old poetry book (sorry Wordsworth!) It has taken me a while to get used to chopping up old books and recycling them. Inside some of the bigger books are quirky pages including graph paper squares and old dictionary pages.

 Here is an inside view of the little bird book, a mere 3x4 cm.

 Next we have the paisley book, covered in gorgeous wrapping paper that I bought from a recent website find, Namaste http://www.namaste-uk.com/

Beautiful paper imported from Thailand. Below is the paper on the inside covers (also on the spine outside).

 Here is a close up of the patchwork book. A friend recently gave me a stash of little marbled squares of fabric (3x3 cm) and I have been pondering for a while what to do with them. Another friend had the idea of using them in a book cover and here is my version. A bit fiddly as you have to cut out each window separately but well worth the end result I think!

 And the button book! Buttons are a particular favourite of mine and I only recently discovered you can get paper punches that cut out buttons! (why did I not know this before?) So the buttons on the front cover are paper and the buttons down the spine a real, sewn-on buttons, one of which is used to wrap the thread around to close the book. I also added a page marker with this book and it has the heart button on the end of it.

 Here is a shot of the inside pages, some plain, some coloured, some graph paper and some and old dictionary. It all adds to the fun. 

 And finally the printed feather book, shown here with a printed leaf book with a bird button closure. This was a Christmas present. The printing is a bit experimental as I'm not sure how well it is going to stand up to wear and tear but I guess most things are experimental to begin with! Enjoy!

Present gift tags

I have even had time to make my own present gift tags this year.
Hand marbled paper with these cute ceramic looking hearts.

The hearts are so easy to make, using bicarb of soda, cornflour and water.
Here's the recipe I used -
2 cups bicarb
1 cup cornflour
1 1/4 cups water.
Mix it all together in a pan and heat it gently, stirring all the time until it comes together like porridge.
Now you can leave it on baking parchment to cool slightly.
Then I divided it into half to roll out and pressed a paper pattern (just something random I had from a wedding) gently into the dough before using cookie cutters for the heart shape.
I used a kebab stick to make the hole and tidied it up with a cocktail stick.
Then you leave them to air dry for at least 2 days on a baking tray.
Apparently if you bake them they can lose the whiteness, and that's what I loved about them.
These were the second lot I made, the first ones were too big, too thin and too fragile, this size it much better and really cute! The lovely thing about using the pattern is that each one is slightly different, so they are totally unique! Don't press the paper too hard into the dough as it needs to be able to peel off without disturbing the dough.

Book Christmas trees

Here is a FABULOUS idea I found on Pinterest which I love.
It's really simple to do and looks so effective, I made 2 to stand either side of the mantlepiece.

Here's the link for how to fold the book. http://www.readersdigest.com.au/make-a-christmas-tree/

This link uses a Reader's Digest but I didn't have one so I used an old book. Bit of trial and error as to how much to use, in the end I used 1/3 of the book, about 150 pages. The star on top is made with cocktail sticks snapped in half and held together with beads on wire. The ribbon and beautiful birds were from Hobbycraft, the stars and heart buttons I already had.

Enjoy!

Christmas tree

I have altered our driftwood Christmas tree so it now hangs on the wall with rope through the centre of each piece of wood. It looks rather magical as the lights bounce off the wall behind it. Here's some pics including close ups of the felt birds I made.

Christmas birds

I have decided to revamp the decorations for our Christmas tree and having been making new ones since the weekend.
We have a lovely unusual tree made out of driftwood, which spends most of the year on the landing (making no noise and pretending it doesn't exist!) and then in December gets its rightful place in the living room.
First off are little felt Christmas birds, in pairs.

So here they are, and will be hanging off the tree in a couple of weeks (we usually wait until after my son's birthday in December to put the tree up).

I'll post a picture of the tree when it is decorated.

Mandala

A mandala is a form of meditation, creating a beautiful picture from a mindful state. Last night my sangha (the group I practise meditation with) held a special evening contemplating death and continuation. This was very appropriate as our teacher Thich Nhat Hanh is currently seriously ill in hospital. We asked people to bring in photos of their ancestors and loved ones who had passed on and so it seemed fitting to create a beautiful setting around which the photos were placed.
Here is the mandala I created.

The leaves and flowers were all collected from my garden. The large leaves (Cotinus Grace) were still wet from the morning's frost. The white pebbles have all been collected over the years and some were polished many years ago by my Grandpa. I remember the odd noise coming from his cellar as his 'rumbler' tumbled and polished the stones.