Hello sunshine - Happy Edinburgh

I usually try to avoid reading newspaper on my way to work – mostly because I catch the 6:39 bus and I don’t want the rest of my day being spoiled by bad news. And let’s face it, newspapers are crammed with negativity; from poor economy to tragedies and murders, just to name a few.

But for some reason I decided to break the rule - even if I knew it was way too early for bad news on what was due to be a promising sunny day… So I picked up the Metro in the newspaper rack available on the bus and gave it a go. As I started turning the pages, I came across one bad news after the other (e.g. a baby wedged into the toilet and blocked in the pipes…). And while I was seriously considering leaving my reading aside,  the following header drew my attention: "It's capital: City's just full of shiny happy people".  What ? Shiny happy people... Gosh I love that song; a brilliant duet were the voices of Michael Stipe (REM) and  the flamboyant Kate Pierson (B-52's) blend perfectly well.  And could it be the article is talking about Edinburgh's people ?  Well that made me curious enough to want to read further.  And this is how it goes.  "Edinburgh is the happiest city in the UK, according to its civic leaders".  The article itself was not particularly interesting but you can find more info in the metro of May 29.

Anyway this was enough to start the day with a smile on my face and it is still there today... probably thanks to the lovely weather.  Yes, we are enjoying a lovely pre-summer time.   And in a city as green as Edinburgh, with its numerous parks, hills or the seaside… this weather enables us to enjoy the beauty of flowers in bloom and the melody of singing birds.

Arthur seat

Cramond

 But this is not a priviledge to Edinburgh only; Scotland is filled with beautiful spots. Last Saturday I enjoyed the beauty of the Scottish borders with a journey trip to Bowhill Estate, in Selkirk. I joined my dear friend Flavia for a walk in the forest and along the lake. A real enchantment.  And the place offers a variety of activities: a visit of the House and the gardens, marked trails, country ride, playground for kids, theatre…

If you want more info on the Scottish Borders, check on this website:  http://www.visitscottishborders.com/

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

Stamping and craft shops

I've been crafting since I can remember. As a child I was already using my little hands to create all sorts of things. I was always busy cutting, drawing, writing, sewing, putting things together. I enjoyed so much starting from zero or from spare bits and creating something (unexpected).

So when I decided to move to Scotland (Edinburgh), it was oh so natural to take a few of my craft materials with me.  I was unfortunately limited in the weight of my luggage, which means I could not take enough stuff to satisfy my crafty needs on a long term.  And as there's no way  I would stop crafting, it is vital for me to have a supplyer close at hand - just like any addict...
So I made a few research on the web and I located two interesting craft stores in Edinburgh:

• Hobbycraft.  It's a big chainstore (they have stores all over the UK) just outside Edinburgh, in Ford Kinnaird retail park. They sell supplies for all types of crafts: papercraft, sewing, knitting, crochet, cooking, painting… It’s a big supply store where you can find basic material to keep you (and your kids) busy. No excuse for not crafting.

• Stampers Grove. It's a family shop specialised in stamps and paper crafts (card making, scrapbooking...). The shop is on the corner of Grove street and Fountainbridge. They offer a large range of stamps and papers for all occasions. Emma and her husband James are very welcoming and full of good advice. Definitely the place to go. It's still one of the few shops left (comparing to online stores) where you can look at and touch the products, ask for info, get a demonstration... And they do run workshops.
  I attended a workshop on Stamping and Masking techniques. As I've been crafting for more than 20 years and I have gained a lot of knowledge in stamping and other paper craft techniques, I must confess that I did not learn a lot on a technical point of view. But as it comes to creativity and art, technique is a small part of the creative process.  The most important is to share and exchange ideas, visions...   It was a very enjoyable 2 hours workshop where I got the opportunity to meet some nice crafty ladies. I must also mention the lovely shop owner Emma who gently welcomed us in her craft room with a cup of coffee and a piece of homemade cake. I enjoyed it a lot.  Let's face it, I'm always happy when I keep my hands busy with papers, scissors, stamps and ink.  

I realised 2 cards for which I used a blank cardboard, 2 wooden stamps and a lot of inks and some doodles for the finishing touch.

I also realised an A4 page that will for sure end up in a frame. I used ink to create the background, I draw and stamped a few flowers to make a flowery scenery. I coloured the flowers with pen/markers and I added some doodles to finish up.

Random cards:

Feel free to contact me (akhatan@gmail.com) for any details, questions or further information.

Craft

Oei!  ‘t Is al een maand geleden sinds dat ik iets op de blog gepubliceerd heb.

Het is niet zo dat ik helemaal niets te vertellen heb.  Integendeel.  Ik ben zelfs vrij aktief geweest.  Misschien te veel om wat extra tijd te maken om iets op de blog te zetten.

Ik heb onlangs veel tijd besteden aan knutselen, wandelen, naar de bioscoop gaan, uitgaan, studeren ( opleiding  “Journalism Magazine “ is bijna af – ik heb meer moeilijkheden met mijn opleiding in aromatherapie:  ik zal die hoogstwaarschijnlijk naar volgend jaar verzetten).  Ik geef toe dat dit mij een beetje te veel wordt  en dat  mijn hersenen  niet meer kunnen volgen. 

Hieronder een paar kaarten en andere knutsel projecten die ik onlangs gemaakt heb.

Kerstkaarten

Kerstkadootjes

Herinnering dat alle vorm van creatie KUNST is (ART in het Frans en in het Engels).

EN version

Oops! I just realised it’s been a month since I had something published on the blog.

I can’t say that it is because I did not have anything to write about. On the contrary I think I’ve been pretty much busy and I could not find the time or maybe the words to feed the blog. I’ve been busy crafting, walking,  seeing people, going to the cinema , studying (Magazine Journalism course is almost done.  I neglected a bit my course in aromatherapy; I will probably postpone it to next year) .  I  have to confess that I am keeping myself maybe too busy and my brain is not always working as I wish it would….

Anyway...

You can have a look at a few Christmas cards and other crafty projects  I realised lately in the dutch version up above.

Version FR

Comme le temps passe vite!  Cela fait déjà un mois que je n’ai rien publié sur le blog.

Ce n’est pas que je n’ai rien à écrire.  Au contraire.  Je crois plutôt que je suis tellement occupée ces derniers temps que je ne trouve pas le temps d’alimenter le blog.  Je passe beaucoup de temps entre les bricolages, les balades, les sorties, le cinéma, les études (j’ai presque fini ma formation “ Magazine Journalism”; par contre je néglige un peu ma formation en aromathérapie – je crois que je vais la postposer d’un an). Je me rends compte que je me suis attelée à trop d’activités et que mon cerveau court-circuite un peu….

Bref, ce poste-ci  est dédié à partager avec vous quelques-unes de mes récentes réalisations (cartes de Noël et autres créations manuelles).  Les photos sont visibles plus haut; dans la version en Néerlandais.