Feeling a Little More Optimistic?

I see that Karen at Emerging Earth Angels has updated her Blog. I haven't read it yet, but I hazard a guess that waaayyy too many things will make sense when I do!
I'll blog more about this later. In the meantime go to http://www.emergingearthangels.com/latest.html
to read the article.

Keep strong peeps, and don't sweat the small stuff.....it's all small stuff anyway in the grand scheme of life!

If You're Having A Tough time Right Now...

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions.
All life is an experiment.
The more experiments you make the better.
What if they are a little coarse,
and you may get your coat soiled or torn?
What if you do fail,
and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice.
Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Telling It Like It Is

It's been a tough week! Well to be fair it's been a tough year, very up and down roller coaster, highs and lows kind of year. One minute I know exactly where I'm going, the next minute I'm not going anywhere! Great love of life and enthusiasm then down in the dump....so low that I think I will never claw my way back up again....EVER.
Virgo's in particular have been dealing with the dreadful Saturn return in their sign for the last 2 and a half years! It's almost at an end and although in many ways it's been a hum dinger, many inner, emotional cr@p has been looked at. Delving into the soul, that deep dark place that you would rather keep the door firmly closed on is not a nice place or feeling.....but going inside and being brave enough to confront your fears is the only way out.

Many of my spiritual friends have had the most awful week to. Very low, flat, depressed and fearful of what are we doing, where are we going, why are we going and when are we going....many thoughts feeling and fears combined together, and ironically we seem to be all feeling the same.
I feel that I want to reach out, connect and comfort people, give them hope and show them I care. I want to tell them that whatever their worries and fear, it's not worth the time and effort spent dwelling on things....but then I get stopped in my tracks. I feel a fake and a fraud, because while sometimes I'm strong and get my bug-rit head on, other times I can't even help myself!
I want to connect with others in Blog Land and the 'spiritual' land because I am so close to so many people and read so many blogs by people who are going through the same right now.
We need to learn and share and dare I say it, be much more HONEST on our blogs! If I'm down I tend not to blog. I'm not sure that I want anyone to know that I have deep fears and insecurities, that sometimes I feel powerless over my life and other times lack so much direction and confidence I want to hide away not only from blogland, but from the outside world. So easily you can think you are going mad or we will somehow be perceived as a bad and miserable person with nothing to give and nothing to offer. Nightmares have predominated my night sleeps for the past 3 months or so...weird in itself because I've never had nightmares in my life! and others have expressed that they are having them too. I don't watch the new or read newspapers if I can help it so it's not like I'm being drip fed this cr@p either and its playing on my mind.

I'm calling on everyone out there who can identify and wants to share their thoughts to lets get together. The time for love and support has come. Stop hiding behind a fake facade and have no fear of being the real you. Without these experiences being brought out in the open the support will not come. Spill out, scream, rant and rave if you want, people who judge don't matter and those that matter don't judge. Just don't feel alone. This week has been particularly bad for folk and only when I read this did I have someone or something to blame...those darn planets!

Autumn Equinox passed this week, a time to acknowledge that the wheel has turned and we are heading towards the Winter once more. Like it or not we are needing to accept the the dark is returning and natures is once again winding down.

So the point of this post is that I have been promising to write this for so long now.

Honest bloggers....keep on doing what you are doing. Writing the stuff spilled right from the very core of your being, those who spill the bad times as well as the good and say it like it is. We are all of us unhappy, upset, down, depressed, anxious, fearful and in our dark selves every now and again....YES each and every one of us! Many have expressed that they want to scrub their blogs and start over again, feeling that they are being too negative and no-one will visit or followers will be driven away and yes I've felt like this too, but to be fair, I would be faking it, pretending that life was oh so wonderful and a bed or roses.
I intend to make an Honest Blogger Award, for those who tell it as it is! I hope you will not desert me?

For me....next week I have yet another funeral to go to. One of a very dear calligraphy friend of mine for over 20 years. Her husband is devastated....as we all are. Her work was magical, but more than anything else she was a truly wonderful Lancashire lass who would do anything for anyone and seemed to worry for the whole of humanity. Sadly, what ultimately lead up to her death was the fact that people were suffering around her and she felt powerless to help. She was there for everyone at a moments notice and yet when she needed it most, could not ask for help herself.
I really hope she knew how valued she was and what a joyful spirit she brought to the world.
Goodnight Baaaarbaaara. Rest from your pain.

Here's the link again if you've had a crappy week
http://www.emergingearthangels.com/latest.html
It may just put things in perspective

Inktense Idea

Have you ever tried Dewent Inktense Crayons? They're better than the usual Watercolour crayons as the colours are very vibrant.

They're not cheap but come in a large colour range

try some skeleton letters with them then simply wash through with water

WONDERFUL! and so much fun!

This is just an experimental piece to see how the colours act and react. It's not meant to be a serious piece.

For the Love of LeTTeRing ArT

I've been busy playing with those letter! I seem to have got an idea and I'm doing it to death. So often creativity dries up, the fear that you will never make anything or create anything ever again swirls around your head. Then it's time to rest, relax, let ideas gestate.... and eventually something emerges.

I have written out a series of 'positive' words and small quotations, scanned them and wondering if there is a market out there for mixed media artists or creative folk (perhaps card makers or collage) to use these on their own art work. Perhaps printed out on canvas, acetate, cards, paper, transtrace, rubber stamps? Such words as Dream, laugh, clarity, humor, love, pleasure, fulfil.....

A play with letterforms and different pen, both fine line and broad edged, can lead to finished pieces. I think I need to reconnect with the freedom I felt when I first saw Lettering Art as opposed to Formal Calligraphy for the first time. Ahhh the wonder of those letters which come alive on the page.....

Where this will lead and for what reason is a mystery, and I'll post regular updates on my blog.

Have You LinkWithin? Handy Widget for Bloggers

Have you noticed that wonderful little Widget that hangs on the bottom of each and everyone of my posts? It's called LinkWithin. The idea is that it links each of your posts with others that your readers may like. Basically it's a 'related post widget with linked thumbnails'. If you would like to add one too go to http://www.linkwithin.com/learn?ref=widget for your FREE download.

It stops your past posts going to waste, it takes under a minute to download and it completely ad free and no signup is necessary.

A Royal Appointment

The Queen was in North Yorkshire last weekend, meeting the soldiers from The Queens Royal Lancers based in Catrick near Northallerton.

I was asked to write a page for her to sign in their visitors book..... it would only take me five minutes! Yeah right! Gothic script...like the previous half a dozen calligraphers had attempted. NOT my favourite hand and not one I use very much at all these days. The style is dated, structured and VERY formal. Along with this I feel it's downright ugly and should be banned. I don't usually need to practice letterform these days, but like I said, it's not one I use unless I absolutely have to and then it's under duress.

5 sheets later and not sure I've done better than the last load of calligraphers (one used a biro!)

The final page...not perfect, not wonderful, not very impressive.

But it DID take me quite a bit longer than 5 minutes.

I think the lads realised when they came to pick it up the next day...it was a job well done...and they tipped me £5 too! How very nice to be appreciated.

Lively Lettering Art and Creative Calligraphy

Generally most calligraphy tutors start to teach calligraphy using skeleton letters. These letters are useful for starting beginners off to show them the underlying structure and path that their pens will eventually travel. It also takes the pressure off beginners having to tackle not only a broad edged nib, bottles of ink, unpredictable reservoirs and a multitude of other things that can affect their beautiful letter forms. Once mastered, using a broad edged nib becomes a pushover.

Formal styles of lettering are one thing, but there comes a time when the calligraphy with it’s tight structure and letterform needs to break free.

I started to mess about with first a fine line pen, making the letters quirky, but still with some underlying structure to them…’Playful Pen Letters’

A few days later I built them up slightly using a broad edge pen. I’ve done this with capitals and with lowercase letters and Oh what FUN I’m having!
As with most things that I get my teeth into I want to do this idea to death and will build up on these letters, see what works, discard what doesn’t and see where it takes me. I’ll keep you posted.

Rainbow Concertina Book

I love, love, love working to commission, especially when the client trust you implicitly to produce something special with only a small, brief, outline of what is required.

This was a first birthday card for a treasured Grand-daughter Eden. Her name means Perfect, pleasure and delight.

The only real requirement was that she wanted 'Rainbows'....fantastic...because I love them.... and I don't know many adults that are still not fascinated by them and who look on them with child like wonder.

The covers both front and back were also Rainbows and a small charm just finishes it off. Delightful indeed.

Wedding Concertina Card

Beltane Man and the Purple Pixie are heading down to Oxford tomorrow to a friends daughters wedding. Here's the card I created for them Simple colours of gold and pale beige, with a white ribbon tie...

Inside Detail

Wedding Album

In an attempt to play catch up, I'm posting a series of smaller post instead of posting them all at once and in one post. The studio has been busy and somehow there never seems to be enough hours in the say. Beltane Man is wonderful and keeps me fed and watered, as well as creating his own work. What a gem!
Anyway....the first post....

I was asked to make a 30 page Wedding Album for a girl who's husband is in the RAF. The colours for the front and the writing are Air Force Blue.
The front is a hand made petal paper and sewn with silver beads, from which hand 4 droplets of faux crystals.

How To Make A Concertina Book or Accordion Style Book

I've been commissioned or had to make quite a few Concertina Books (also known as Accordion Style Books) lately and thought it was about time I shared with others how easy and effective these books can be made. Their uses are wide and varied and are a useful addition to your crafting repertoire.

So here goes.......

Firstly create your art on a long, thin strip of paper

Then fold the strip in half and then each half in half again.

You will need a minimum of 4 pages...ie - In half and half again.

This book is actually 8 pages, but you can make it as long as you want with as many equal pages as you want, as long as the number is an EVEN one.

Face on, your concertina will look like this

Fold the concertina and measure the size of the pages. You will then need to cut 2 pieces of card (cereal box or similar is good) and make the boards 1cm higher and 1cm wider than the folded book.

Then you need to cut your cover paper

about 1.5cm larger all round and a long piece of ribbon.

Stick the card to the cover paper and then cut the corners at a 45 degree angle, then glue each long edge to the board first

and then the glue the short edges.

Fold the length of ribbon in half and glue it to the middle of one of your boards (this is the BACK)

You can decorate the front board either now or later....

Then glue the last page of the concertina book to the back cover leaving a 0.5cm border all round and press heavily.

Then glue the top cover onto the front page lining up

with the back cover underneath.
And there you have it.....far simpler than the instructions seem

Here are 2 Astrology Concertinas made as Baby Birth Celebrations....


And a Birthday Concertina

If you have any questions or are not sure about something please leave a comment and I'll answer ASAP.

Hand Made Wedding Card - Concertina Wedding Card Gift Idea

This is a simple Wedding Card for Nathan and Alexis. The brief was Sage Greens and Silver.

Left Side ease Click To Enlarge
Right Side Detail: Click To Enlarge

Of all the jobs I get at the studio, concertina or accordian style card/Books are the most common. Possibly becasue of their novel construction. The long thin horizontal construction make for an interesting layout.

Making A Multi Sectioned Book - It's trials and tribulations

The request was simple enough, “Will you make our coven a Book of Shadows?”
The problem with questions like this is that the answer can be only one of two things….Either “Yes” or “No”. I already make small, A5 Books for this particular clients shop anyway, so she knew I made books….but what she didn’t know is that I had never made an 800 page book before! I am not a formally trained Bookbinder and never profess to be. I have however made a multi section book before. In actual fact I’ve made a few, but never one of these proportions and with this material.

The brief was: To make a 1.000 page book, A4 size, Parchment effect paper, leather bound and with a pewter Vesica Piscis on the front.

To be honest, I answered Yes before I really had time to think about it. Once the reality dawned I was overcome with doubt and fear.
I have 2 ‘Formal’ and ‘Traditional’ Bookbinding books, one of which takes about 250 pages to explain the process! GULP!

I decided that the worst thing that could happen is that it would go badly wrong and I would have to admit it was impossible. So I took it one step at a time.

FIRST OFF…..I folded all the A3 sheets, and pricked through the sections.

THEN….bit by bit, section by section I sewed up and down each section catching each end to the section before and sewn over tapes attached to a frame. The frame I use is a home made one that my husband made me when he was alive. Nowhere near the all singing all dancing type you can buy, very basic and very crudely put together, but it functions perfectly. I had a serious problem with the thread knotting and twisting and there were more than a few choice swear words thrown around the studio I can tell you….This Pixie can swear like a trooper when she wants to!

After the book was put together, the end papers are tipped in and the tapes cut and stuck down.

Then came the grinding halt….The problem came because I have always made flat backed books with a ridged spine, but 800 pages was far too thick for this to work without bursting the spine and leather being pliable needed to flex. The idea is that once the book is open, the book will lie flat and the book will pop upwards and the outer cover spine will follow suit! Also to make this happen the book sections had to curve gently at the fore edge and not be flat…..Well so the book said anyway!....Phew, from there I was even more terrified….. a case of feel the fear and do it anyway springs to mind. Well after a few anxiety attacks, rock bottom self esteem issues, fear, panic and a fit of uncontrollable giggles to deal with I glued the cover boards onto the tapes. Then apparently the mull is glued around the spine before the cover is glued down.
There are many ways to so this and in the past I’ve used a self invented way of doing it but not this time…. Well not if it was to work. Perhaps the worst thing to get over is the not knowing how the leather would glue, and while gluing how to stop the other bits flying up in the air…I must admit being born a spider and having the advantage of 8 limbs may have been a huge advantage here….but I wasn’t so used any part of me that could be manipulated into action. One thing about bookbinding that I know to be true is that you need just the right amount of delicacy with sheer brute force and just at the right time depending on the stage you are at. Fear, timidity and caution will not make a book!
Well the deed was done. I put it in the drying press and resisted the temptation to open it and look at it till the next morning. While the glue is drying it’s always a recipe for disaster anyway, so I made myself leave it well alone.

The next morning….I gingerly opened it up…..an it was perfect! It opened just as it should, the pages pay flat when opened, and the spine sprung up and popped down just when it should…Much to my relief and even more amazement! Happy, relieved, amused, elated and down right proud as punch are words to describe how I felt. Then looking at it and realising what a work of art I had created thought I should have charged at least twice the price. Lol. Sheesh, anyone looking would think it had been done by someone who knew what they were doing.

This is the detail of the spine popping up

The Vesica Piscis was glued to the front

I had one more hurdle to cross. My printed who trimmed the sides for me asked to see it when it was finished. I had told him what I was doing with the paper, and very blasé about the job in hand…THEN he told me he had trained as a Professional Bookbinder as part of his Printing Training many years ago.
Despite the odd looks from passers by, probably assuming that I was some nutter carrying round the family Bible (YES it’s that big!) I took it to him while he tugged, pulled and pushed it and cast over a critical eye.
I waiting for his advice on where I went wrong. There were none. He smiled and looked at me and said….”Nowt wrong with that is there? If I were you I would make another, and soon!”.
So if anyone wants an 800 page, leather bound Book of Shadows making…..just get in touch…. I’m up for making more.

And you’re probably asking, 800 pages, I thought she wanted 1.000?
Well, totally impractical, it would have been a massive 6” deep and impossible to lift never mind open.

Other lessons learnt? The client sent me the leather, next time I will buy my own bookbinding leather….not ‘shoe’ leather which is crazily thick! DUH! Thought it was giving me some grief.
Also the most valuable lesson?
There are many occasions in life where we are taken well out of our comfort zone. We feel that we are incapable of things we are asked to do, challenges that need to be met and fears to overcome, but take that risk, loose that fear and be brave. The reward of succeeding is immeasurable.
I can assure you the benefits far outweigh the anxiety and once the fear is dealt with first hand it will never return.

Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain.
Adventure is an attitude that we must apply
to the day-to-day obstacles of life:
facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities
,testing our resources against the unknown and,
in the process,discovering our own unique potential.
John Amatt

Hand Made Wedding Card - Concertina Wedding Card Gift Idea

This is a simple Wedding Card for Nathan and Alexis. The brief was Sage Greens and Silver.

Left Side ease Click To Enlarge

Right Side Detail: Click To Enlarge
Of all the jobs I get at the studio, concertina or accordian style card/Books are the most common. Possibly becasue of their novel construction. The long thin horizontal construction make for an interesting layout.

Hand Made Baby Birth Card - Concertinba Book Gift For Baby Boy

A simple Baby Birth Congratulations Concertina

Gorgeous baby blue's and the covers have an overlay of very thin Japanese Tissue paper with silver and gold threads
Simple, subtle and cute

Hand Made Baby Birth Card - Concertinba Book Gift For Baby Boy

A simple Baby Birth Congratulations Concertina

Gorgeous baby blue's and the covers have an overlay of very thin Japanese Tissue paper with silver and gold threads
Simple, subtle and cute

Hand Made Books and Journals

As I was in between jobs and waiting for a paper delivery so I could start with a commission...I made 3 more 'Inspiration Books'.
The idea of these is that they will appeal to the person of which the quotation 'Speaks'.

First off is this gorgeous Blue and Turquoise one with the wording: Be Still, And Listen to the truth

Then this one:

Let the Beauty of what we love,

Be what we do. Inspirational for any artist or creative person

And the last one:

Blend with the tune of nature, it's magic is everywhere!

All books are:

A5 sized,

Quality Cream Laid Paper,

Hand Bound 200 Pages

and have a beaded decoration to the spine and a lucky charm.

Hand Made Books and Journals

As I was in between jobs and waiting for a paper delivery so I could start with a commission...I made 3 more 'Inspiration Books'.
The idea of these is that they will appeal to the person of which the quotation 'Speaks'.

First off is this gorgeous Blue and Turquoise one with the wording:
Be Still,
And Listen to the truth

Then this one:
Let the Beauty of what we love,
Be what we do.
Inspirational for any artist or creative person
And the last one:
Blend with the tune of nature,
it's magic is everywhere!

All books are:
A5 sized,
Quality Cream Laid Paper,
Hand Bound
200 Pages
and have a beaded decoration to the spine and a lucky charm.