Latest Smash Book Page: A Tea Party

P.S: I realised last night that I have now been blogging a year! Talk about an eleventh hour realisation there. Thank you to all readers, followers, penpals, fellow bloggers, retweeters and commenters for all of your support over the past year, it's been an amazing journey so far, and I have learned so much about myself, creativity and the world of blogging. Long may it continue! x

Nautical Series Part 2: Smash Book

Arrrr, me hearties, I am back with the second in my Nautical Series. (First post here). 

I decided to gather all sorts of seaworthy ideas and pop them into my smash book to make a themed page. Smash booking is already becoming an exciting new craft for me because I have come to realise lately that every craft or art I do is pretty precise, whether it be working with miniatures, embroidery, knitting or sewing. One slipped stitch or lapse in concentration and it's often all over! Even when writing - although writing can be a very free artform - I tend to spend a long time choosing that perfect phrase to describe that situation.

So my smash book allows me to just get my ideas on a page, to stick them in haphazardly without worrying about doing it wrong, or being neat, and to just enjoy the process. It feels like getting back to the rawness of creativity.  

I'm sure this page will help spawn ideas for the rest of my nautical series too!

Have you tried smash booking yet? This video explains things pretty well if you're wondering exactly what it is:

                          

I'm off to drink copious amounts of rum walk the plank,

Ta ta!

Pressed Flowers: Reminders of Summer

As a child I remember my nan showing me how to press flowers. We would carefully place them between sheets of newspaper then stack a huge pile of books on top before I had to practice that quality which children find so difficult: patience.

After two weeks I would be able to go and unveil the final result; papery, delicate works of art, nature preserved for ever more. 

I've been doing a lot of walking in overgrown woodland this summer on my adventures with Beatrix, and it occurred to me that perhaps it was time to have another go at flower pressing. I really love the idea of being able to pick a piece of summer 2012, preserve it, and then keep it forever, and it will never wilt and die. 

I used the same heavy stack of encyclopedias as all those years ago, made my makeshift flower press, and attempted to get on with other creative projects for the next fortnight while I waited.

One of the flowers emerged looking like a miniature bent blossom tree, so I popped it inside my sketch book ready to make it into just that. The rest I used to make my first ever smash book page. (More on this new pursuit soon!)

Sticking such precise and perfect specimens of nature in a haphazard way somehow seemed really satisfying,  and helps to give the overall impression of a chaotic bouquet on the page. I haven't finished the page yet, but I'm already enjoying being able to look at and touch a piece of the summer, created in the summer, and caught in a single moment in time for ever more. 

(My new washi tape was great fun too!)

Do you have any childhood crafts or hobbies you'd like to revisit now? I'm considering starting a ladybird farm next!