Tutorial: Tissue Paper Flower

Here's a little tutorial on how to create your own tissue paper flowers! This method of making them is low in cost and is easy for beginners. The only equipment you will need is a pair of scissors, a couple of toothpicks and a glue stick.

You can use any colour tissue paper, but I would suggest using green for the stem, to make your flower look realistic. We went with white for the petals and black for the middle of the flower.

Be careful when wrapping the green tissue around the toothpick, as it tends to rip if you're not delicate enough with it. You only need one toothpick per flower.

Cut a thin strip of the black tissue paper, approximately 25cm in length and fray one side of it using scissors like shown. This next bit can be a bit tricky, so be careful not to rip the tissue paper and you glue and wrap the the frayed strip around the top of the stem.

The flower petals don't have to be of equal size, as you'll be spreading them out when they are attached to the stem. If you want your flowers to look more bright and bold, then maybe try a yellow tissues paper or purple. When all the petal shapes are cut out, cut a small cross in the centre of each one, this will help you thread them on easily.

These are the final steps... When threading the petals on, make sure you don't go off the other end of the stem!

Your flower should now look similar to this! We added a little black leaf onto our stem to match the flowers centre. You can easily thread one on just like you did with the petals.

Now In Stock: Kate Broughton

We now have in store a variety of little goodies from the lovely Kate Broughton. Kate is a designer based in Nottingham, UK. From her own studio at home, she makes an abundance of decorative novelties ranging from transferable nail art to illustrated fridge magnets. Below is a small collection of her work that we've got for sale...

1. Owl Nail Transfers   2. Set of four Owl Badges   3. Craft Nail Transfers   4. Mixed Bird Nail Transfers   5. Deer Nail Transfers   6. Set of four Craft Badges   7. Set or four Vegetable Fridge Magnets   8. Four Whale Badges   9. Set of seven Autumn Temporary Tattoo's.

With Kate's eye for illustration and expertise in printed textiles, she is able to create fun, quirky merchandise, which make for great gifts or a little something even to treat yourself!

Tutorial: Origami Cat

We were so inspired by the origami animals, that we decided to create our own little friend! Want to create one just like ours? Below is a step-by-step guide to show you how, it should only take about five minutes.

Origami is a great way to have fun at a low cost, all you need is origami paper (a perfect square) and a crafty pair of hands. Why not get a few people involved and create a cat army!

Draw a face on and add bits of paper to give your cat some characteristics!

Get Real With Dee Beale

Got a love for hand printed textiles? Then you'll be glad to hear that Nook & Cranny will soon be stocking up on some of Dee Beale's adorable designs. I'm really excited! Are you?

Dee Beale is a print maker/designer based in the Peak District. She has a passion for producing hand printed fabrics and paper goods in patterns mainly consisting of various wildlife animals and flora. The colours which she prints with have a wonderful rich feel to them. She hand pulls all the prints in her own little print making studio, using a Japanese Print Gocco, which is very similar to the screen printing technique.