Bird serie - 1

Last weekend I decided to tidy up my (craft)room cause lately I’ve been putting my crafty bits (especially my stack of papers and my hand-designed templates) all together in one big pile. It was at a stage I couldn’t see what I have. And of course it doesn’t make me want to start crafting as I first have to dig ;-)

So I gave a big clean up and while organising my blank cardboards and patterned papers, I came across a booklet of free patterned papers (that I got from Papercrafter ) (*).

What a shame I haven’t used them yet. Let’s change that right away. And… why not using them or at least some of them to design a serie of frames with…hummmm….birds (let’s celebrate spring). That's a deal! 

Let's start with drawing a bird on cardboard so it can be used as template and let’s pick some papers.

The idea is to make a serie of frames with a big bird in the center.  The bird will be decorated with all sorts of embellishments (flowers, buttons, doodles…) assorted to the background paper. And then it'll be framed.

Let’s see the results in a next post…

(*) Papercrafter is the renewed version of Let’s make cards.

Event

Great news for all papercrafters and scrapbookers!

This Saturday the Meadowbank Sports Stadium (London Road, Edinburgh) will be hosting the RossPaper Craft show for the first time. The entrance is only £2 and there will be many exhibitors proposing a great choice of cardmaking and scrapbooking supplies and a lot of demonstrations. Definitely the place to go this Saturday for all crafters. At least where I will be!

More Info:

The show takes place on Saturday 01 june 2013 from 10am to 3pm. You can buy your ticket at the door or beforehand at Stampers Grove if you’d like to avoid queuing.

Crafts and New Blog

As I mentioned it in my last message, this post is dedicated to share a few recent papercraft projects I've been working on.

Last month I attended a paper sculpture demonstration in the Central library.

Paper sculpture ? What is it all about ?

Well it’s creating shapes, objects, scenery  and so on from books, magazine, newspapers…  

A perfect way to give a new life to old books (happy recycling J).  I stayed 1.5 hour and realised two basic pieces:

1)      I re-used a hardcover book to make a letter holder.  It is really easy to make and very quick.  You just have to fold the pages in a certain way to create it.

2)      I also made an angel.  There again I re-used a book but this time one with a soft cover. I folded the pages to obtain the body/robe and  I cut the cover into the shape of angel wings. To realise the head, I cut a few pages in a rounded shape and I glued them together; starting with the top edge and the next one with the bottom edge and repeating it until I obtained a ball.

It could easily be used as table decoration for Christmas or any other occasion. And you can add some colour by painting the pages or by using a coloured comic/manga book.

I really like this one and my friend as well :-)

During the past weeks I also explored the art of Doodling and Zentangle.  

Originally, doodling is making some scribbles or drawings that could be either abstract or actually representing something concrete. 

I remember doodling or doing some random scribbles on a piece of paper when I was bored or when I needed to occupy myself while my attention was drawn elsewhere or just to do something with my hands while daydreaming J.  And we all doodle.  Yes, we DO! It can be simply by doing some sketches in a notebook, drawing some shapes in the margin of a schoolbook and so on.  

This form of creativity as since a few years found a new dimension in Zentangle.

Zentangle is a slightly more organised way of doodling, using patterns to form a drawing (or not)… It is also a very relaxing activity (Zentangle) and it can give such great (art) results. More info about zentangle here: http://www.zentangle.com

I was already using doodles in my crafts as additional touch (borders, stitches, flowers…) 

but now I’ve tried to create a finished piece from doodles:

and Zentangles:

New Blog

As I’m developing my craft activities, I’ve decided to set up a new blog that will be dedicated to crafts: www.akhatanpaper.blogspot.com

I will keep this one and post new messages on a regular base with general info, venues,  readings…

Feel free to leave a comment and/or send a message.  Any feedback is welcome J

New Blog

What is this blog about ?

As I’ve been developing my craft activities, I’ve decided to set up a blog to share my passion for paper and other crafts. 

I've been crafting since childhood. I started making doodles on walls until I discovered fabric and paper.  And I've been (paper)crafting ever since.

I do mainly paper crafts; from making cards to flowers, hangers and other objects. I also enjoy exploring other materials such as fabric, felt...  Giving a new life or new look to existing objects (customisation) is also part of my activities. And I reveal my favourite pictures through scrapbooking.

This blog will grow over time. In its current version ,I am sharing my creations through pictures (also available on Flickr ).

I will extend it to share links to other blogs, websites, events, suppliers…

I will share tutorials and how-to explaining techniques or simply showing how I created a piece. And many more…

I hope you'll enjoy watching as much as I do creating.

Feel free to leave a comment or send a message. Any feedback is welcome.

I have another blog www.akhatan.blogspot.com where you can find all sorts of writings: general info, venues, readings and many more.

I'm still there

It’s been more than 3 months since I’ve posted a note in here. 

How come? 

Am I that busy not being able to find a moment to put some words down ?  Could it be I had no inspiration the past 3 months ? Or wasn’t I feeling good enough to share my thoughts and crafts ? 

Well, it’s probably a mix of it all.

I should probably clarify this to avoid you thinking I'm in a depressive mood or anything close to it... Yet the ones who know me well should remember that it always looks worse than what it actually is... 

Anyway, I’m still doing a non-rewarding and not well paid job and it doesn't bring any good or food to my bulimic brain... But I sure can't complain. On the contrary, I even consider myself pretty lucky as I work in a great environment surrounded by great people -and a few have become really dear to my heart (a special thought to Lolo, Dédé and Flavia). 

It's been 13 months I left my family and friends to try a new adventure in Scotland, a country I fell connected to when I was a child. I still have the same feeling inside with a few ups and downs, especially when it comes to work and administration (so different from what I'm used to). But these material aspects cannot take over what I feel for Scotland. My love for the Land of Oats (yes, I'm a porridge and oatcake lover) started when I was a child. In August last year I even wrote a text about it for the Scottish Book Trust. And on days like today when I question myself on being here I just need to read a few lines of this text to make the doubts disappear.  

I still miss my family and friends though - some days more than others. And today probably more than any other day as it is mothers day. I join my thoughts to my sisters and brother's as we all miss our mum who passed away 40 days ago. But I am not alone. I have a few precious friends here and I even found LOVE six months ago. And NO, he is not a scottish red-haired rugbyman... He is French with dark hair...

I must confess I have not been productive in my writings lately but I have in my craftings.  

I will dedicate the next post to share my latest creations.

Nash