Book Review and Giveaway! Origami Flowers

Vertical Inc. is one of my favorite publishers around because they translate Japanese books to English- include a growing number of craft and cookbooks. To make things even better- they sent me an extra copy of this book to giveaway! The giveaway is for US residents only. I'm sorry about that. Whoever wins will also get some Alaskan postcards- mostly because I love picking them out to put into packages that I'm sending down south! The winner will get the English version shown above. The version shown below is to show the original book that was translated!

Origami Flowers is an English translation of Hana No Origami. It features a lovely collection of blossoms. Some of them are abstract and stylized and some are very realistic. Like a lot of Japanese books- there are scissors used in some of the models. Mostly they are to create decorative edges that further define a type of flower.

The diagrams are traditional style, but this is a good book for beginners. It features a full guide to reading traditional diagrams and each of the models is marked for difficulty level.

Beginners will get comfortable fast, folding the simpler models, and building up to the trickier models. A lot of the models use several sheets of paper. The gorgeous rose in the center of the book cover reminds me quite a bit of stained glass roses. It's sculptural and it's one of the simplest models in the book, it gets it's many petaled look by using several sheets of paper. This could become one of my all time favorite models pretty easily.

Card makers will enjoy the elegance of several of the flat flowers, and jewelry paper crafters will also see a good use for a lot of these pretty flowers.

More practical models include a couple decorated envelopes, and there is a whole section dedicated to "Practical Flowers". I'm wild for practical origami, in fact one of my favorite origami books ever is Practical Origami (also published by Vertical Inc), so this is one of my favorite sections of the book. Pretty bowls that look like sculptured flowers that are made using paper napkins, decorated chopstick cases and dishes. These are very pretty models that would work very well for entertaining.

Want your own copy? You can get it on Amazon and help out this page, or you might be able to win a copy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway U.S.A. U.K.
I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, I received no other compensation, and my review is my honest opinion of the book. You can read more about my review policy here.

Rubber Duck Mandala

Rubber ducks mandala! If you get the song stuck in your head it's not my fault.

I hope you enjoy this mandala to color. Click on the image to make it larger, print and color!

Small JPG version:

Large transparent PNG version:

To help pay for the mini greenhouse that I'd really like to have, maybe you'd like to buy something using one of my Amazon affiliate links?

The greenhouse is on this wishlist if you're curious. It's small, portable and will fit between my rhubarb and strawberries in one of the sunniest spots against the house.

Easy Duck® Brand Craft Tape Frame

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Duck Brand for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Duck Brand Craft Tapes are just a wonderful creative tool. They have created all these neat tapes like Duck Prism®, fabric tape, washi tape and glitter tape. My picture frame is made using Duck® Fabric Tape, but any of the craft tapes will work just great to make it.

Duck® Brand Fabric tape is easy to use. It comes with a liner on the back so the fabric doesn't get tacky, and the backing has a pattern that makes it easy to cut neatly.

To make this frame you'll need:
Duck Brand Craft Tapes, paper frame template, non-stick scissors, narrow ribbon

Download and print the template on card stock. Pick your size- at 100% it makes a 5 inch frame with 2.5 inch opening. Making it smaller would make a cute gift tag or small gift. Cut out the template, and the inner window. Score and fold in side tabs and main fold. Crease well.

Now start covering the outside with tape. Using the Duck® Brand Fabric Tape, you can cut length to the right size and take your time to get them placed, until you burnish it down, it's pretty positionable. Cut slits to fold over the edges in the inner edge of the window. Get the whole outside neatly covered.
Now it's time for the ribbon. The ribbon holds the frame closed. You'll put a small open loop on the inside of the back of the frame and a longer closed loop on the inside of the front of the frame.


So to put the picture in, you'll put it behind the window, then fold the side flaps over, then fold up the back flap. Slip the long ribbon loop through the small ribbon loop to close.
I follow @TheDuckBrand on Twitter- do you? If you do, and you make things with Duck Brand® Craft Tapes- share it and hash tag it #DuckCraftTape, and don't forget to Pin it too!
Now I need the Glitter Duck Brand® tape. Because everything is better with glitter.

Little shamrocks and braids printable box

  

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

-C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland. Since I've been putting quotes on some of my thumbnails, using Irish authors for the designs with shamrocks or knotwork seems appropriate. Plus I really love this quote. As usual, if you'd like to share it, you can find it on my Facebook page! Like Don't Eat the Paste on FB for the fastest way to find out about new posts, and to see occasional photographs that I take. Currently there is a picture of a moose with it's tongue stuck out on there that I took yesterday!

The printable gift box is inspired by Brigitte in Austria who seems to really like shamrock designs! I hope you enjoy it too. Click on the image for a larger version, print on card stock, cut out, score fold lines, fold, glue!