Colourful, blooming and bright

I'm feeling the mothers day love this morning.

 A colourful, blooming and bright bunch of tulips from my girl.

And an exquisite bouquet of anemones and paper whites from my boy (which he picked himself on the way home from his Dads ;). 

And the beautiful words Ffion wrote in my card have made my heart even more bright and blooming than these flowers.

Oh my. x

Making it in design

We are lucky with this whole internet lark aren't we? I was chatting to a student recently who is close to graduating and it dawned on me that when I graduated twenty odd years ago there was no internet! Goodness me. How did anyone ever make it?

Nowadays we have access to so many resources and we can create a network to can help us get to where we want to go. What ever you want to learn there will be a course for you. One of those for me was The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design e-course. Right now they are running a series of interviews on alumni success stories and they asked me to make this video (oh my goodness it was hard). So here I am in real life. And here is my interview on the Make It In Design blog.

Paper Love - The E-course

I've been keeping a secret. For the last year my dear friend Rachel Hazell has been putting together an e-course all about paper. Now there couldn't be a better, more knowledgeable or more passionate person to do this. Rachel is a book binder and a paper artist. She has more books than anyone I know, she doesn't throw out a single piece of paper EVER because every scrap is full of potential and she is the only person from whom I receive beautiful hand written letters through my letterbox.

It's been a journey. There has been so much work to do. Months writing in her Iona writing retreat (looking out to sea...can't be bad), hours planning each and every paper project, days scouring her resource library for images and inspiration and many deadlines. 

Remember when I went up to Edinburgh to help her sort out her new studio (blog post here)? Well it was because the Do What You Love film crew were coming. The course has been facilitated by the amazing Beth of Do What You Love who is the most organised person we know AND shares the same love of paper as Rachel. Between them they have created something SO utterly irresistible to paper lovers and lots of them around the globe are signing up to join in.

So the secrets out now and I wanted to tell you about it because perhaps it is right up your street too and the course starts on March 31st so you wouldn't want to miss out. It's a 'Five week papery adventure' and you can find out all about it and sign up here.

Check out Rachel's new Paperphilia website and Facebook page for resources and inspiration and you can see the gorgeous Paper Love brochure right here. The photos are scrumptious.

Look out for the latest issue of Made in Paper magazine too because Rachel also has a project in there.

I'm proud of my papery friend Rachel. x

Euan's Sonata

For months Euan's sonata has been the soundtrack to our lives.  He has put it on his Soundcloud so now I can share it with you. 

The household chores take on a different mood with him playing in the background. There has been much waltzing in the living room. You may have even heard it drifting down into Radiance if you've been in while he's been playing.

I'm so proud of my boy.

Paper Grasses

I thought that the grass drawings that I made for my Paper Meadow wallpaper pattern would be just too fine for the laser cutter. But this week I have been happily proved wrong.

They are fine and delicate...

 but robust enough to work with

and they look so pretty with the light behind them. 

So......new lamps coming soon. In time for the British Craft Trade Fair in a few weeks.

I LOVE designing. It is so satisfying. I'm working on creating more and more time in my week for it. 

A love of paper & light

(paper cut lamp by Anne Groenn)

I've always liked paper. Me and my Mum used to make paper dollies and snowflakes at the kitchen table. We made papier mache, we decoupaged and kept scrapbooks. And my Dad handed down his love of stationary to me...and my daughter (who has a dream of opening a stationary shop...you know, once she has finished her computer science degree haha). So I discovered early on the tactile qualities of paper that beg to by drawn on, cut, stitched on or folded.

But one day I held my paper cuttings up to the LIGHT and that is when my love of paper began. Together in partnership paper and light make magic! Let's celebrate with some clever magic making people...

Sachie Muramatsu

Celine Wright

Jennifer Collier

Louise Traill

Andrew Ooi

Colin Chetwood

Studio Snowpuppe

Sophie Mouton-Perrat & Frédéric Guibrunet

Zipper 8

Helen Druvert

Umbu Lumiere

Tse & Tse 

A Northern Light

Kate Lycett

Are you inspired yet?  I'm sure you are but if you'd like to see more I have a Paper & Light Pinterest board with many more. 

SO many beautiful things can be created from a humble piece of paper and a bit of light.

The PaperLove Blog Hop is a celebration of all things paper! Follow the links to discover more bloggers who love paper and use it to inspire and delight. And if you want to explore a whole world of paper, and stretch your paper passion further with a host of creative projects, why not join the innovative new online course PaperLove (starts March 31). Led by book artist Rachel Hazell, PaperLove is a five week creative adventure for paper lovers. Find out more here.

Majo Bautista / Tona Bell / Louise Best / Cathy Bluteau / Jennifer Bomgardner / Giova Brusa / Lindsay Buck / Beka Buckley / Joanna Caskie / Jonathan Chapman (Mr Yen) / Halle Cisco / Sarah Clare / Cathryn Clarge / Dawn Clarkson / Rhiannon Connelly / Jenny D'Fuego / Molly Dhiman / Ian Dudley / Ayisatu Emore / Akmal Farid / Monika Forsberg / Claire Fritz-Domeney / Louise Gale / Chrissy Gaskell / Julie Hamilton / Emma Hawman / Rachel Hazell / Holly Helgeson / Claudine Hellmuth / Kim Henkel / Sarah Hoffman / Joanne Hus / Paula Joerling / Beth Kempton / Julie Kirk / Eos Koch / Katie LaClair / Kristy Lankford / Michelle Manolov / Doreen Marts / Rosie Martinez-Dekker / Tori Mears / Maria Mederios / Lise Meijer / Debbie Miller / MaryJane Mitchell / Suzy Naidoo / Grace Noel / Hannah Nunn / Camilla Olsson / Jo Packham / Rachelle Panagarry / Monette Pangan / Melanie Paul / Nicole Piar / Jen Pitta / Liz Plummer / Julie Reed / Michelle Reynolds / Lisa Rivas / Angee Robertson / Natalie Ryan / Aisling Ryan / Elisabet Sapena / Kyrrha Sevco / Jamie Sprague / Elizabeth Steele / Terri Stephens / Juniper Stokes / Mary Tanana / Maike Thoma / Linda Tieu / Gabrielle Treanor / Tammy Tutterow / Deborah Velasquez / Jordan Vinograd Kim / Cat Whipple / Brooke Witt / Katie Wood / Amelia Woodbridge

Woodland chimney

Once upon a time there were loads of textile mills in the woods around Hebden Bridge and now while you're out walking you will often come across their remains.

This chimney looks like it's trying to turn itself into one of the green moss covered trees that surround it.

The trees were such great colours.

Luminous moss.

Sarah Malone's wallpaper

Sarah Malone makes beautiful ceramics. I know her from doing the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair so I was most excited when her order for Paper Meadow wallpaper landed in my inbox.

She has been decorating her new kitchen (more photos when she's finished) and it would seem she has created the perfect backdrop for her ceramics. 

Such prettiness.

Thanks Sarah. x