The next chapter.

I should start this post by saying how deeply touched I was by all your lovely messages of support and kind comments following the death of our beloved dog.
I had not prepared myself for the feeling of loss and desolation his departure has caused. Those of you who have formed a bond with a pet will know how different life is without them.

Enough, or we shall all be in tears!

There is much to celebrate, Easter brought family visits made extra special this year by the addition of our darling grand-daughter Edie Rose.

Spring has sprung here in Cheshire and the garden is bursting with life and colour.



My journey into the world of hand made books continues, this time Secret Belgian Binding was the subject of our latest workshop with Alan Fitch from The Farthing Press. Alan also runs courses from his bindery in Powys with accommodation provided, a lovely way to combine a holiday with learning.



Last but not least, my book samples for “White is the Moon” finally arrived. I was so anxious about them but I am happy to say that they have surpassed my expectations. This is a title that I originally illustrated when our boys were little. It was published by Blackie and Son Ltd in the UK and by Macmillan in the USA. Gradually it went out of print and we decided to publish it ourselves as an Acornmoon Books edition. This may prove to be foolhardy given the lack of bookshops and the increased demand for e-books but we are being cautiously optimistic. I have been busy making an on-line shop, which you can see in my sidebar.

In addition to my latest book, I have found a few boxes of older out of print titles. All of these are in an unread, untouched condition. Some have become collectable and can be seen on other book sites for a vast array of prices, I am pleased to say that I have kept to their original price and can offer some real bargains until my stocks run out.

If anyone is interested in these children’s picture books or babies board books I am happy to sign them and add a dedication. You can see what is on offer by following this link. All of the books will be posted from the UK by Royal Airmail, and I am happy to post to any far-flung corner of the globe!

National Storytelling Week.

This week is National Storytelling Week here in the UK. To celebrate my book “Down the Lane” has been made one of the featured stories of the week within StoriesAlive. This is a free to download app, which enables you to try out several free stories for children. If you and your children like this way of reading and sharing you can choose to subscribe. I am told that “Down the Lane” will be available free for the month of February.



I wrote and illustrated this book many years ago. Happy Cat Books first published it as a hardback and a paperback here in the UK and I have plans to add it to my Acornmoon book list. Speaking of which, the files for “White is the Moon” have just gone off to the printers so we should be able to offer both print and digital forms of the book in the next couple of months.



The weather here in Cheshire has been very wet and windy but not nearly as bad as other parts of the country. Today has been bright and breezy; I decided to see if I could find any celandines in flower. My February illustration in “Down the Lane” features these delightful shiny yellow wild flowers with blackbirds and a sleeping dormouse. There are blackbirds a plenty in the fields and here in my garden, no flowers yet on the celandines but plenty of glossy green leaves. I also found a beautiful skeleton leaf, which has survived the winter intact.



I have spent the long winter evenings finishing my crochet baby blanket. The photograph makes it look very out of shape; I don’t think it was so out of kilter in reality. By the way, I found out how to make these crochet squares on Little Tin Bird.



My hyacinth finally flowered and its perfume is a welcome reminder of spring days to come.



Ted has been feeling the cold and has taken to wearing his coat on long wet and windy walks. Now he is getting older (fourteen this July) he enjoys finding a sunny spot, preferably with a view. Isn’t it strange the way Jack Russell’s like a window seat. I wonder what tales he would tell?

Logo and lunch.

It’s been an exciting week for many reasons, where do I start?

Well, for ages now I have been deliberating as to the wisdom of publishing my own books. I did have a foray down that path and tried out print on demand. It was an education if nothing else. I learned many new things but felt that the overall quality of the books fell short of expectation. I have been too worried about all the practicalities of warehousing, sales and distribution to go it entirely on my own but now, I see a way forward. Like everything in life, this new venture of mine will be a gamble but I feel confident enough to have taken the first steps. Not entirely alone, I will be guided by an old and trusted friend whose company will handle all the tricky bits like storage, distribution etc. more of this later…

For now, I am the proud owner of Acornmoon Books complete with ten ISBN’s, a new logo and, fingers crossed, will see the first children’s picture book in the spring next year. I am hoping that given the right conditions, this tiny acorn sized venture will grow and thrive and if it falls at the first hurdle, well at least I will have tried.

I have also started to illustrate another book for a well known publisher, this time for an established writer who I admire enormously who also sometimes publishes her own titles. I dare not say too much about this as so much is still to be sorted and as they say, “There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.” Hopefully I will be able to tell you more soon.



On the theme of acorns, I met up with two friends from the blog world -
Gretel from “Middle of Nowhere” and Frances from "City Views Country Dreams".
We met in Ludlow and had lunch and explored the town. Gretel, who makes the most wonderful needle felted creations gave me this exquisite acorn. The gorgeous stripy knitted gloves are the work of Frances from New York who was playing her very own version of “Miss Marple” whilst staying in a very old and quirky hotel in Ludlow. I have never met Frances before so it was an extra treat for me, and lovely to share some time with two very creative and interesting ladies.



Ludlow has much to offer, it has the most marvelous position but the inclement weather stopped us walking far. Amongst its many interesting shops we found a bindery shop and of course we had to venture inside for a spot of retail therapy. Well, could you resist hand-marbled paper? No, nor could I. We admired the many old black and white buildings, had a stroll around the castle, decided that the fallen leaves looked exactly like a Japanese Kimono pattern until all too soon, we had to say our goodbyes before heading home.

Artists' Books

When my last book publisher went out of business I looked into the possibility of publishing my own books. I own the rights to several titles, mainly children's picture books which I have written and illustrated myself and often get requests from customers who wish to purchase new copies of old favourites. I was cautioned against doing this by several people who told horror stories of people who had houses filled with unsold books! My house is very small and already over full and although it doesn't cost too much to print a book, warehousing and distribution costs can be high.

I had so much enjoyed the business of illustrating and designing books and was reluctant to give up on the idea altogether so I decided to learn as much as I could about desk top publishing and other related computer skills. As an author/illustrator of children's books and being married to a teacher, I was often invited into schools to give talks and run workshops. It soon became clear to me that I needed to know something about book binding in order assist children to make their own books. This led me onto a whole new adventure as I joined The Society of Bookbinders and was introduced to the world of artists' books and the private press. I am a great believer in the adage "as one door closes another opens" and now I look back I can see that I would never have found this new interest without the loss of my publisher - which leads me onto Zybooks and Gandha Key.

Gandha owns and curates a site dedicated to the book arts called Zybooks artists' books online. She showcases the work of artists' books from around the world as well as providing space for information about events. mail art projects, exhibitions etc. I have been very impressed with Gandha's work and asked her how she came to create her site, here is her reply;

"I studied art and design and printmaking many years ago in the UK and was fortunate to have found some great people at Farnham who taught us to make artist's books, so I developed an interest in them then. In 1999 I visited the London Artist's Book Fair and saw so many wonderful artists' books that I decided to promote them online. I had just got my first computer and had gone online so it was one of my first internet projects. I contacted people I met at the fair and asked them if they wanted to show their work online"

That was ten years ago and in that time the website has gone from strength to strength and is archived by The British Library. I think she deserves a special thank you for her services to the book arts as she showcases the books free of charge.

Gandha has very kindly agreed to show two of my miniature "Little Leperello" books and I have been delighted by the response as I recently sold a copy of an A-Z of Flora to a British University Library. If you are interested in artists' books I am sure you will love her site, it is well worth a visit.

My Herb Garden

Ever since I visited Erasmus Darwin House in Lichfield, I have been trying to grow herbs with varying degrees of success. The herb garden in Lichfield is exquisite, all the better for being enclosed, it reminds me of a secret garden.

My herb garden is tiny, I have mint, parsley, thyme, chives, basil (from the supermarket!) and sage. A campanula has crept in but I allow it to stay as it looks pretty. Chives do very well, they grow next to my Dublin Bay rose and I have just learnt a new saying; "chives next to roses create posies", it seems that they help prevent black spot. I planted sage last year and it survived the winter, it's now in flower, a lovely shade of purple.

Sometimes my garden, albeit very small, seems overwhelming, everything grows so fast and it is a constant battle to keep things in check. I do have one helper however, especially good at digging and that is my Jack Russell, Ted. I am not sure what he was looking for but he certainly enjoyed himself!

The nice thing about growing herbs apart from the fragrance and taste, is that they make very good subjects for my designs.

An A to Z of flora by Valerie Greeley

I have spent a great deal of time over the last few years, trying to learn many new skills and have turned into something of a course junky. So far I have had classes on Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Desk top publishing, not to mention the numerous classes and workshops on bookbinding. The grand plan behind all of this frenzied activity was enable me to produce my own books all be it in very small quantities. After many failed attempts I have finally produced one that I am pleased enough to offer for sale! This miniature book is printed on Bockingford paper and measures three inches by two inches. I have had great fun making it and hope to do more as time allows. You can read more about this book if you visit my Etsy shop.