I don’t pass the time, the time passes me. Every day I watch it go, picking up speed as it hurtles further away.
March 2025
There were daffodils for St David’s Day, and a row of dancing women for International Women’s Day.
March 2025, detail
There was a bouquet for Mother’s Day (here in the UK it’s the fourth Sunday in Lent).
Mother’s Day flowers
There was equal day and night for the Spring Equinox.
March 2025, detail
Some of these days are tutorials on my YouTube channel here.
shamrocks for St Patrick’s Day
Today we have blue skies.
The other side is a reflection of sorts.
the other side of March
Three months gone. A quarter of the year behind us.
First quarter
A reminder that this is the last day for the Early Bird price on my Make a Simple Sketchbook course and my Painted Collage Papers course. Courses are pre-recorded; you get lifetime access; you can download lessons or watch online as often as you like; learn entirely at your own pace.
April is going to be very busy – there is a lot going on, which I will share when I can.
The keen-eyed among you will have spotted a slight error in the April page of the 2025 daily stitching template.
whoops
It looks like I’ve omitted to erase the vertical line that runs between 9 and 10 on the template, circled in red.
I hope the solution is fairly obvious, but you just need to choose either the vertical or the horizontal line that separates 9 and 10. From the positions of the numbers, it looks as if my intention was for the division to be horizontal.
I wouldn’t mind, but I (and another person) checked these templates about a hundred times before publishing them.
I guess this is proof, if it were needed, that (a) I’m human and therefore fallible, and (b) that everything I produce is hand-drawn.
My sincere apologies for the error and for any confusion caused. Easily remedied, I hope.
And I hope the rest of my week – and yours too – passes without further frustrating errors.
There’s lots to explore, from choosing, preparing and painting papers to making your own stamps and stencils, some simple hand-printing techniques, and lots of ideas for using your hand-painted papers.
all this and more
Special early bird price until the end of March, so be quick if you’re interested. You don’t need to enter a code, the special price of £30 is already set at the checkout.
simple mark-making
Classes are pre-recorded, so you can learn at your own pace. You can download the videos to watch later, and you get lifetime access – watch as many times as you like. Enrol before the end of March to take advantage of the Early Bird price.
The ornamental cherries are starting to flower here, so today’s daily stitching is a celebration. You can see it in progress, together with written instructions, on my YouTube channel here.
If you’d like to leave a comment at the end of the SoST article, please scroll down the page to the end of the interview and you should see the comments box.
stitched landscape
Comments are off for this blog post (busy day ahead) but just wanted to share the article here.
My new mini-course on Teachable is now available here
Make your own Sketchbook course
Three very simple sketchbooks to make, plus lots of ideas and techniques on preparing and filling the pages with paint, collage, and simple mark-making.
My preference is always for making my own sketchbook rather than simply buying one. I often think bought sketchbooks have more pages than I can comfortably fill, and they also tend to get too full once you start sticking extra papers or stitched samples in them. If you make your own book, you can limit the number of pages from the beginning so that it’s not completely bursting at the seams when you’ve filled it.
The first book, the basic concertina/accordion fold book, is very simple – some might think simplistic, or a bit too simple – but I think it’s one of the most versatile fun little things you can create.
sample of concertina books
The zine-fold book – also very simple – is equally versatile, and offers lots of possibilities for some quick explorations.
zine-fold sketchbook
The third book in this little mini-course is a single signature stitched book with a wrap-around cover with integral pockets.
single signature sketchbook with painted pages (step-by-step tutorials for this)
You get to see lots of pages from my own sketchbooks, and you get some collage paper to print and download, plus some tag templates and some poetry lines to cut up and re-assemble.
see lots of my sketchbook pages
Special Early Bird price of £25.00, which will rise to £30.00 from 1st April. You don’t need to enter a code; just buy before the end of March for the lower price. It’s all pre-recorded, so you can start any time, download the lessons, watch as many times as you want for as long as you want. No time limits, no deadlines, just learn at your own pace.
It’s primarily aimed at beginners, but I’d like to think there’s something for most mixed media enthusiasts here.
Tools and supplies
This is the first in a series of short mixed media courses. Up next (and still working on it – for which read, ‘haven’t really started it yet’) will be paint your own collage papers plus mark-making tools and techniques for mixed media sketchbooks. That title might need some work, but I’m having lots of fun here this week. I hope you are too.
