Project Calm 4 sampler

WELLBEING

PAPER ARTS

Listen to the sea …and be calmed by its powers Keep bees and cook with honey Fall in love with weaving Capture your holiday in collage Heal yourself with easy yoga Discover everyday micro making Chill out in silence

EXTRAS SILENCE STICKERS SURFER POSTER SEASIDE ART PRINTS MAKE YOUR OWN MERMAID PAPERCUTTING TEMPLATE

G E T I N TO C R A F T GIC15 CALM#4 2017 PRINTED IN THE UK £9.99

W E AV I N G

COLLAGE

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EXT RAS I N THIS I SSU E Make all these projects using o u r exc l u s i ve p r i n ts, pa p e rs, templates and stickers.

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Beautiful prints for you to frame

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High five papercut project

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Pretty bee tags to give today

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Create your own mermaid picture

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A seaside poster for your home

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Get creative with fab papers

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Chill out with silence stickers

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CON TEN TS 06 NATURE 08 Nature news and ideas 10 Respect the humble bee 12 Meet the beekeepers 14 Know your bees 16 Honey recipes to try 20 River of Flowers project 22 Inspired by ees 24 Bee picture to colour in 25 Cut-out bee gift tags 28 The magic of the sea

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34 Seaside poster and prints

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36 The Shipping Forecast 40 Sea Change: flash fiction 43 Cut-out seaside papers 45 The draw of sea swimming 49 Beach scene to colour in 50 Make a mermaid picture

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52 HOME 54 Inspiration for interiors 58 The rise of weaving 60 Meet the weavers 63 Make a woven necklace 66 Weave a wishbone stick 68 Inspired by weaving 70 Weaving with paper 76 Make hanging paper fans 78 Beach treasures at home

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86 MIND & BODY 88 Wellbeing news 91 Touch: a remedy 92 Creative hands 96 Profile: Poppy Chancellor 98 Papercutting template 100 Inspired by hands 102 The yoga healer 105 Daily yoga sequence 108 TRAVEL 110 Ideas for travellers 112 Make your own silence 114 Silence stickers 116 Inspired by collage 118 Profile: Clover Robin 120 Create a holiday collage 045

122 Visit a silent retreat 128 Susannah Conway column

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The time is quarter to one in the morning. While most of us sleep, there is a secret world awake, ready with radios tuned to Radio 4 for one reason alone.

“And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at 00:15 today.”

Aside from the thousands of legitimate naval listeners who tune in to keep their vessel and crew safe, there are hundreds of thousands of listeners on dry land for whom the Shipping Forecast offers a different kind of security. We all find ourselves at sea from time to time.

“Humber, Thames. Southeast veering southwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6 later. Thundery showers. Moderate or good, occasionally poor…”

The mother of a four-week-old baby sits in an armchair, nursing her son. The low hum of the radio, the familiar tones of the paternal announcer’s voice soothe them both.

“Southeast Iceland. North 7 to severe gale 9. Heavy snow showers. Good, becoming poor in showers. Moderate icing…”

A chronic insomniac stirs his mug of chamomile tea, willing his brain to switch off. The impenetrable yet familiar words of the forecast act as an incantation, a lullaby, distracting and comforting in equal measure.

“Tyne, Dogger. Northeast 3 or 4. Occasional rain. Moderate or poor…” A student returns from a night out to a cold and unfamiliar bedroom. Lonely, missing her childhood she’s just abandoned, she switches on the radio and is transported home.

Illustration: © Ursula Hitz, ursulahitz.com

The iconic weather reports guide sailors but also provide comfort on land. Lottie Storey explores the appeal of this radio institution.

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H O M E N E W S Rejuvenate your living space with gorgeous homewares and design inspiration in a fresh summer palette.

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G IVE YOU R P LAN TS A H OM E The Forest & Co is an online company, based in Devon, sourcing beautiful clothes, homeware and gifts for children. Items have that perfect mix of a vintage feel while maintaining a contemporary edge. These little ceramic wall-hanging house plant holders and tealight holders will make a quirky addition to your kitchen windowsill or wall.

They’d be ideal for growing your favourite herbs to have close at hand while you’re cooking, or holding small house plants or tea lights, or for growing seeds. To see the full range, pay a visit to theforestandco.com

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IT ’S T H E B EES ’ K N EES There’s a real buzz in the air surrounding the charming new homewares collection from Sophie Allport, inspired by the bees in her garden.

The Bees range features a stylish design of our busy honey-making friends on a pale green or white background which will subtly tone with any interiors colour scheme. From oven gloves, tea towels, hob covers and picnic blankets and chair pads, to fine bone china plates, mugs and jugs, why not give your kitchen a bee-utiful makeover? The white china plates have matching cereal bowls and pasta bowls, all featuring six bees around the rim. To see the full collection, and the ‘Busy Bees’ range which features a splendid plump yellow bee, buzz along to sophieallport.com

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WH IM S ICAL 3 TOUC H ES Taking inspiration from nature and the animal kingdom, Fawn & Thistle create a range of products featuring their

intricately drawn illustrations and designs. Aiming to carry on the British tradition of eccentricity, they like to add a dose of whimsy and humour to the designs, creating beautiful and unique imagery. Intending to be as environmentally friendly as possible, products include greeting cards, giclee prints and screen prints, homewares and accessories. Bring a little sense of adventure to your home with their print for explorers or new beginnings. All products can be found on their online shop fawnandthistle.com COLOU RFU L M EM ORIES Taking a special trip?

Record your journey will personalised travel journals from Chroma Stationery.

Chroma Stationery is all about colour. Colour triggers emotions – it can remind you of people, places and moments in life.

The colours that people surround themselves with are very personal and reflect personality, mood and individuality. That’s why the Chroma ranges are available in a combination of 20 different colours, each with its own name and personality. Every colour is named after an important person or figure in founder Gabi’s life, from her Nanny Doris (lilac) to her Dachshund, Toby (orange).

Every Chroma item can then be fully personalised to create a completely unique product. For more information, visit Chroma at chromastationery.co.uk

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T RY T H E P OWER OF S ILEN C E Bring a little silence into your daily practice by adding A Book of Silence to your reading list. After a noisy upbringing as one of six

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children, and adulthood as a vocal feminist and mother, author Sara Maitland began to crave silence. Over the past five years she’s spent periods of silence in the Sinai desert, the Australian bush and the Isle of Skye. In her book, Sara interweaves these experiences with the history of silence through fairytale and myth, Western and Eastern religious traditions, the Enlightenment and psychoanalysis, up to the ambivalence towards silence in contemporary society. Maitland has built a hermitage on an isolated Scottish moor, and the book culminates with her experiences of silence in this new home. For more information, visit Sara’s website at saramaitland.com MIND YOUR OWN B E ESWAX Cambridge Traditional Products bring a little eco polish to your home with natural beeswax cleaning products. Making beeswax furniture polish to an original Victorian recipe, they use the best quality beeswax and pure gum turpentine.

The results is a cream polish that’s easy to use, natural and one of the best ways to care for treasured antiques and wooden furniture. For stockists and further details visit cambridgetraditional products.co.uk

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PAP E RCUT WRITE R Introduce a little whimsy into your home with beautiful papercuts from Sarah Dennis.

Sarah’s work combines traditional papercutting with collage. Her pieces celebrate the beauty of nature in fairytales and whimsical childhood dreams, telling classic poems and folk tales through the medium of paper. Each piece is

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W E A V I N G W I T H P A P E R

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T h e r e ’s m o r e t o w e a v i n g t h a n w o o l ! Tr a n s f o r m strips of coloured paper into intricate designs to create showstopping wall art.

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With paper so readily available in a huge variety of colours and textures, it’s so easy to get creative with different effects. From the brightly coloured crafting paper, to gorgeous handmade papers, to recycling magazine pages or newsprint, the only limit is your imagination. You can shape your woven paper into cute hearts, or keep the ribbons raw as in our tutorials.

When it comes to patterns, start with some bold, simple up and over designs, then start looking for inspiration. Eye-catching geometric designs look fantastic and you can create suprisingly striking patterns. In

fact, in Asia, paper weaving is a revered, traditional handicraft with artists creating the most intricate designs of beautiful landscapes, flowers, animals and birds.

You can also put your new weaving skills to practical use and whip up pretty items for the home such as placemats or a set of coasters, plus you can find tutorials online on how to use rolled tubes of newspaper to create suprisingly sturdy baskets in all shapes and sizes. Need a new pen holder?

Get paper weaving!

And of course, if you make a mistake, just scrumple it up and start again!

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Clockwise from top left: Erin Wetzel, ekwetzel.com; Rebecca Hector Clarke, nookofthenorth.etsy.com; Sian Kellaway, sianuska.etsy.com; Flora Jamieson, florajamieson.co.uk; Diane Higgins-Lee, myjewellerydesigner.co.uk; Kara Leigh Ford, karaleighfordceramics.com; Biches & Bรปches, bichesetbuches.com; Emma Garner, emmagarner.co.uk, photograph: Oliver Edwards. Centre: Helen Hallows, helenhallows.com

T H E M A K E R’S H A N D S Le t yo u r h a n d s t a ke t h e l ea d a n d t r y so m e of t h ese s i m p l e c rea t i ve ideas. See if some mindful making helps you feel more connected and improves your wellbeing, suggests Melanie Barnes.

In our technologically advanced world, when we seem busier than ever before, where everything can be done with a tap or a swipe of a fnger, making things with our hands is more important than ever. We all know the simple joy that crafting something can bring, but does our desire to create stem from a deeper, primal need to make things? And why is using our hands so good for our wellbeing?

Our hands are really clever when you think about it. Whether knitting, sketching or shaping clay, our hands quickly and instinctively learn how to perform lots of intricate movements.

By letting our hands be active, we can slow our minds down and become absorbed in the creative task.

In fact, making with our hands encourages mindfulness. Our minds are often full of thoughts, and so busy switching from one task to another, that a moment in our day where we are solely focusing on one activity is vital for our mental health.

We can all agree that taking a break from our routines and slowing down is good for us, so what specifcally is so benefcial about making and creating?

It’s the creative process that’s really key for our psychological wellbeing. The chance to explore and play, and the freedom

that comes with that is unlike anything else we do. Being deeply involved in a creative task allows us to lose not only ourselves but also the sense of time, which is so important when most of our days are scheduled down to the minute.

Our self-esteem is greatly improved through making.

Creating something, whether from scratch or upcyling or repairing an item, gives us a purpose, which helps us feel happy and productive. Making tangible things with our hands gives us a specifc sense of pride and satisfaction, which can be hard to replicate at a desk job dealing with abstract digital documents.

Many fnd creating and expressing to be a cathartic process. It can be a great way to get any stress and worries out. The very act of ‘doing’ helps us fgure stuf out – we can order things in our mind and make sense of situations in our own way.

Mindfulness is an increasingly popular practice, and since making and being mindful seem to go hand in hand, why is this combination so important for our health?

We get a sense of peace from practising mindfulness, and it helps us learn detachment from our emotions so we’re less bothered by the little things. It becomes easier to disregard negative thoughts and act from a neutral mind. And although

M I C RO M A K I N G : E ASY E X E RC I S ES TO F I T I N TO YOU R DAY

MANDALA

PA I N T A P E B B L E

ORIGAMI

Take a plain piece of paper and a pencil and draw your own mandala. Mandalas are circular figures made up of geometric patterns that represent the universe and unity in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism.

Once you have your mandala shape, take some time to colour it in.

Collect a pebble and paint your own design on it. From simple stripes or detailed mandala patterns, to writing a positive affirmation, anything goes.

Experiment with marker pens and acrylic or craft paints and finish with a glossy acrylic spray or a sealant.

Decorate your home or garden with your pebbles.

The great thing about origami is that you only need a piece of paper and you can pretty much do it anywhere. There are hundreds of origami tutorials online, from paper cranes to origami stars.

Just pick something simple to start with and get folding.

• Plain, coloured and patterned papers

• Plain paper • Coloured pencils • Pebble • Paint • Paintbrush

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Photograph: Jamie Diersing

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I N S P I R E D B Y T R A V E L

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1. Try some scary stuff with your holiday photos, yousentimentalidiot, Etsy.com. 2. Collect a little sand from every beach you visit, Egg2Cake, Etsy.com. 3. Make time to play around with nature on your summer holiday.

4. Record the view with speedy embroidery, teeteeheehee.com. 5. Go retro and learn to use a vintage camera on your next adventure.

6. Take a different view with a photo within a photo. 7. Document your travels so you can recall every moment, Instagram @mydocumentedlife. 8. Make faces at the camera! Line up a little something to represent each member of the family.

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Make beach finds more memorable by displaying them with photos.

Macrina Busato, completely-coastal.com

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G E T YO U R S U M M E R E D I T I O N WELLBEING

PAPER ARTS

W E AVIN G

COLLAGE

T R AV EL

Welcome to our summer edition packed with creative projects & ideas, beautiful photography and insightful features.

Discover new ways to bring the joys of mindfulness & making into your life.

EXTRAS

PAPERCUT HIGH FIVE TEMPLATE SEASIDE ART PRINTS & SILENCE STICKERS BEE-HAPPY GIFT TAGS MAKE A PAPER ART MERMAID

EXTRAS IN THIS ISSUE INCLUDE...

High five papercut template – to keep or gift!

Instant art!

Beautiful surfer poster on quality card

Six glorious bee-print gift tags to use now

Create a colourful mermaid picture for your home

Chill out with our pretty silence-themed stickers

£9.99*

SUMMER

2017

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