Sticky News

I've always admired origami; never been very good at it but always marvelled at what people can do with small pieces of paper and very nimble fingers. After creating the raindrop printables and in keeping with the rain theme, I decided to make some paper umbrellas with a few of the brighter colours of the winter raindrops set. 

First up I needed a good origami tutorial; something simple and easy to follow. What better place to go to than origamitutorials.com. Judith's umbrella tutorial was very straightforward. Thanks Judith!  I only followed the first part of the demonstration, which described how to make the larger umbrella, and have to confess that I cheated a little. The smaller umbrellas, which look so cute, are now on my to-do list, along with the nanocrane. How amazing is that tiny crane?!

So, about the cheating bit: for the umbrellas' handles I decided to use plastic straws instead of folding paper. Sorry Judith. (I feel like I've let down a good teacher.) I cut the straws to size, just below the bendy bit, otherwise they were a bit too long and then wrapped some blue washi tape around the handles to give them more of a paper look. For the top of the umbrella I fished out some confetti from the hole punch and stuck them to the centre of the umbrella, getting a lot of glue on my fingers in the process! I glued the straw handles to the inside of the umbrella and voila! A very quick and simple origami umbrella!  

These would look lovely decorating a children's party table or simply propped up in a bowl on a window sill. I think that's where I'm going to put these: on the window sill in front of my desk. 

With three blogposts about rain, I'm starting to sound a little obsessed. I promise the next post won't be about rain or anything rain-related!

There's something about rain that makes me want to be all creative and start designing and writing. Maybe it's the fact that the temptation to be outdoors is not there. I love spending time in the sunshine and when you live in New Zealand and there's a beautiful sandy beach not too far away (and you have an active toddler who wants to be out and about all the time!) it's hard not to go out searching for sea shells or climbing up sand dunes.

So it's a good thing it rains a lot here as that means we get to spend some time indoors doing creative things. The rain may scupper outdoor plans but it's a chance to get cosy and appreciate doing more sedate activities together. The sound of rain is especially soothing and hearing it beat against the window when you are nice and dry inside is quite satisfying.

To celebrate rain and the beauty and value of a wet soggy day, I've created a set of printables with a palette of winter colours and pattern of big round raindrops. You can download the free printables by right-clicking the images below, selecting "Save link as" or "Save target as" and then saving the JPG files to your computer. All images are 300dpi and 12x12 inches.

Please note that by downloading these printables you agree to StickyBird's Terms and Conditions.

Any questions, please email me and I'd be glad to help. Don't forget, you can also sign up to the StickyBird newsletter to receive news about new products, sales and more freebies. 

Enjoy these images and enjoy the rain!

It sure is wet out there today! A day for gum boots and rain jackets. Also the perfect day for some online shopping curled up with a hot chocolate and a thick fleece blanket. All you need now is a sale with some great savings and you're sorted!

Well it's a good thing you're here as StickyBird's super sticker sale has just started. We've been talking about setting up a sale for a while now and it's finally up and running. Choose from fun animal stickers, vintage-style stamp stickers, retro stickers and diary stickers. 

My favourites are these quirky owl stickers which will certainly add some fun and humour to handmade cards, diaries, notebooks, planners and office accessories. 

If you like the style of these stickers, we also have a set of wild animal stickers in a similar design, also on sale. Ever imagined a snake with a hat or a grinning hedgehog? I haven't but they look adorable and they all come together in this colourful and quirky sticker set. 

Our brightly-coloured diary sticker set which includes 9 unique sheets of stickers is also part of the sale and so are the sticker stamp sets inspired by European vintage posters. So have a look and grab a saving. A sure way to let some sunshine in on a soggy day!

News is instant, accessible and dynamic  It's at the end of your finger tips on your phone, not sitting in a postal bag for days. In our fast-paced, goal-orientated, digital society there is no time to take out some paper and write. By the time you've written to the end of a paragraph, the world has changed; 350,000 tweets have been posted, over 31 million messages on Facebook have been sent and nearly 50,000 photos have been uploaded to Instagram. So why would you send your news in a letter? It takes so much time and is it worth it when there are so many other more 'sensible' ways to communicate?

I know one very important reason why. It is one of the most meaningful ways to communicate. I've never forgotten any of the news my friend has sent me in her letters. I've kept every single one of those letters in a special box. I love the fact that the paper I'm holding was sitting in a room in her flat in London not so long ago. I love the fact that she took the time to sit and write to me. I love the fact that she made that little extra effort. Simply put, the letter means something very special to me.

For my daughter's birthday she knitted her a beautiful blue and pink cardigan and tied a little kraft tag to it and wrote, "Made with lots of love". It's a stunning cardigan and one I'll never give away (I've kept the kraft tag too, of course) and perhaps one day  my daughter will give the cardigan to her daughter. You never know! All I know is I love handmade gifts and handwritten letters. I love making gifts and cards for others and I love receiving them. More words are spoken, more feelings conveyed and more love expressed in a handmade gift than in any other gift.

Next time you're thinking of sending an email or buying a present, why not write a letter or make a card instead? It might take that little bit longer but will certainly be worth every minute!