Crafting for the Festive Season

Crafting for the Festive Season

This festive season more than ever before people will be looking for cost-effective ways of preparing for their celebrations. Below are three delightful books each designed to not only

The Innovative Artist: Capturing Light – Catherine Beale

Capturing Light is a must for artists who wish to investigate the subtle qualities of light with an emphasis on creating dramatic, imaginative landscapes. Loving the fluidity of watercolours, Catherine has developed a painting technique by experimenting with, and exploring, modern watercolour pigments and the boundaries of the medium. The method uses lots of water on a sloping board which Catherine calls gravity painting, which creates a natural way of working, keeping colours luminous and mobile without any ‘muddying’.

Watercolour Nature Unleashed – Jane Betteridge

Bursting with exciting and innovative techniques, best-selling author Jane Betteridge pushes watercolour to new heights, bringing nature to life with vibrancy, texture and dynamism. In this reissue of her best-selling book Dynamic Watercolours, Jane demonstrates an effective and vibrant use of a huge range of exciting ways of working, including the use of crackle paste, modelling pastes, metallic leaf, gilding flakes, print and much more.

Easy Knitting for Beginners: Learn to Knit with Over 35 Simple Projects – Fiona Goble

Over 35 gorgeous knitting projects that you'll love to make for the home, as gifts, and for yourself. Learn how to knit by working through these adorable projects by experienced knitter and author, Fiona Goble.

Fold It Calm – Li Kim Goh

Simple origami to quieten your mind. Find mindfulness and calm through origami. Includes 50 sheets of origami paper included at the back so you can get started right away.

Cosy Throws and Blankets: 100 Blanket Squares to Knit from Easy to Expert Debbie Abrahams

Cosy Throws and Blankets: 100 Blanket Squares to Knit from Easy to Expert by Debbie Abrahams

Description: Originally a follow-up to the outstandingly successful Blankets and Throws, the newly reformatted Cosy Throws & Blankets (previously published as More Blankets and Throws) has over

Finding Time to be Creative

Being creative is a wonderful way of de-stressing and relaxing and the bonus is that you can end up with something useful, a sense of personal achievement, a gift for friends and family, and in some cases, it even starts a passion that you turn into a business, but most importantly it should be something you just enjoy doing with no expectations or criticism. Building up a library of books that you can dip into for inspiration is a wonderful way of involving all the family. Here are three of the latest inspirational books that we have discovered.

Furoshiki – The Japanese art of wrapping with fabric by Aurélie Le Marec

Description Furoshiki is a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth, and is used to wrap gifts and create bags for carrying things more easily. Once you have learned the

Draw 100: Flowers: From Basic Shapes to Amazing Drawings in Super-Easy Steps – Draw 100 – Janet Whittle & Penny Brown

Everybody loves flowers, and here are 100 beautiful blooms for you to draw! Whether you prefer the understated beauty of a simple daisy or the garish good looks of a flamingo lily, you're bound to discover a flower in this book that you will find irresistible - and you will just want to pick up your pencil and start drawing!

Beautiful Botanical Embroidery: 30 Exquisite Nature-Inspired Designs for Stitching onto Bags, Buttons, Cushions and More – Alice Makable

Celebrate the beauty of botanical embroidery with this collection of 30 stunning projects designed by renowned Japanese embroidery artist, Alice Makable. As embroidery continues to grow as a contemporary craft of choice, discover the beauty of botanical embroidery with this collection of 30 exquisite motifs and projects inspired by flowers, fruit, foliage and other natural forms.

The Innovative Artist: Abstracts and Mixed Media

The Innovative Artist series provides a unique insight into the methods and materials used by leading contemporary artists who are pushing the boundaries of their art. Through numerous examples of the author’s work alongside practical demonstrations, each book provides a fascinating exploration of the artist’s creative process that will inspire the reader to move forward on their own artistic journey.

Escape to a Creative Place

Now that the wetter and colder days are arriving it’s the perfect time to snuggle up and start creating!There are so many creative activities that all the family can take part in, many of which require very little investment. e.g. drawing, watercolour painting, air-dried clay, embroidery, making friendship bracelets, sewing projects, not to mention being creative with cooking, gardening, or re-designing our home.

Colour Demystified - Complete Guide To Mixing And Using Watercolours - Julie Collins

Colour Demystified – A Complete Guide To Mixing And Using Watercolours – Julie Collins

Colour Demystified will banish the all-too-common confusion over the watercolour palette and give painters the confidence to experiment with colour mixing.

Creating a Seascape in Cross Stitch Embroidery

Now that we are moving into the autumn months it is a perfect time to take those wonderful summer memories and create pieces of art from them. One of my favourite activities is embroidery. First, I must admit that my style is freer than most, I love the freedom of creating my own patterns, so if you like free-styling, this project could be for you.

Is it the camera, or is it the eye?

Many people are nervous of photography, doubting their own creativity, or believing they need special equipment; but the technology within many smart phones is such that you can take some really brilliant shots just because you are in the right place and you have the right way of setting up the shot so that you capture a fleeting moment in time.

STITCHED MEMORIES – TELLING A STORY THROUGH CLOTH AND THREAD – TILLY ROSE

Stitched Memories – Tilly Rose

We were really excited to receive this book, we have been waiting for its publication and we were not disappointed, the exquisite content really lives up to its title...