Yesterday, I published my Top 18 favourite bloggers.
In fun exchanges with Robin Coyle, the ‘Strong vs Weak Words’ martyr, I was stunned to discover I could insert IMAGES in the comment box, like this: Continue reading
In my last post, 5 Easy Steps to Create Stunning Word Clouds, I recommended using the web tool Tagxedo to create your stunning Word Cloud.
You can create a personalised stunning Word Cloud in just 5 minutes.
I hope you have some success with your creation. If you haven’t tried it yet, why not try it today?
Today I created 3 word clouds with 3 favourite WordPress blog posts.
1) The creative and warm-hearted Tilly Bud, creator of The Laughing Housewife. Blog Post: Let the Games Begin.
Tilly Bud’s The Laughing Housewife: Let the Games Begin
What’s a Word Cloud?
Word Cloud is an image with words. You turn words into stunning images, like this:
Beautiful Word Cloud on Tagxedo
I use Word Clouds regularly for teaching and learning new vocabulary. If you’re a visual learner like me, Word Cloud is a powerful tool. Recently, I’ve learnt some new words about tea tasting and tea culture, so I’ve turned some tasters’ jargon into images.
Today, I’m going to show you 5 easy steps to create your own stunning Word Cloud with a magnificent web tool called Tagxedo. Tagxedo is my favourite as it supports European languages and exotic languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Arabic.
1) Go to Tagxedo, click on the word Create – You’ll find ‘Create’ is on the left and on the top of the page.
1) Click on the word ‘Create’
Have you ever dreamt of becoming a tea taster?
Tasting 600 cups of tea per day. How does it sound to you?
Strong fragrance of tea permeated this large, clinically clean tea-testing room. 100 cups of tea were ready to be tested (some by me! I’m not kidding.) I was quite excited.
Tea Tasting
Yesterday I showed you how to make elegant origami cubes, like these:
6 square papers make 1 cube.
12 square papers make 2 cubes.
Today, you can brutally dismantle the 2 cubes that you’ve just made, and turn the same 12 units into an origami stellated octahedron, like this:
Beautiful stellated octahedron: made with 12 square papers
Stellated octahedron – this is just a fancy name for a star shape.
This decorative modular star has a total of 24 faces.
There are 8 triangular pyramids. Continue reading
I made some origami with William Morris prints a few days ago: Origami joy with William Morris prints
Today I made 2 beautiful and sturdy colour cubes with the same William Morris theme.
In this post, I’ll teach you how to turn 6 square pieces of paper into a WOW origami cube.
Use 6 units to make a multi-functional cube.
(* Link to free download on Chinese characters near the end of this post.)
I’ve written 5 posts recently about bookbinding. This one is my last post in the bookbinding series.
Today I’m going to show you how to make a book with an oriental touch in just 10 minutes (or less).
I call it a Chinese Takeaway Book.
You don’t need glue, needles and scissors.
Apart from a card and some papers, you’ll only need 3 other things: a bamboo stick (chopstick or a skewer), an elastic band and a hole puncher.
You can make an elegant book with an oriental flavour.
This book is particularly suitable for children to make. I normally get my students to make one before the Chinese New Year and I get them to add a few Chinese words on the cover.
This book is oriental as I normally use a bamboo stick or a chopstick to support it. You can of course use a strong skewer, but make sure you cut off the sharp end of a skewer, as you don’t want blood in your classroom or lounge.
I’ve found disposable chopsticks that you get from Japanese restaurants are the best for this book as their length is just perfect. Most Chinese chopsticks are slightly too long.
Now you know why I sometimes help myself with extra pairs of chopsticks when I’m at a Japanese restaurant just before the Chinese New Year.
Today I’m going to show you how to make a book in 2 minutes (or less).
You don’t need any glue or needle. You may need to use a pair of scissors, but you don’t have to.
You can turn a rectangular paper (e.g., A4) into an 8 page book. Brilliant, isn’t it?
If you work with school children, you know that kids forget to bring their books all the time. When kids don’t have their homework diary, they tend to write on their arms and hands, or on a scrap paper that they would never find later.
I don’t like that. I like words written down in a proper book.
Therefore, I often provide my pupils with an emergency ‘book’, when they begin to write on their arms or on the back of their hands.
You can make this book in 2 minutes.
The instructions for the 2 minute book are:
Yesterday I showed you how to make this gorgeous Origami Accordion Book.
Beautiful origami accordion book
Today I’m going to show you some simple steps to turn it into another accordion book that expands like a Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Beautiful Accordion book like a Caterpillar
There’s a step-by-step slideshow for this easy-to-make book, but here’s a quick summary: Continue reading
My passion for bookbinding has run wild since my last 2 posts about bookbinding.
I’m going to write more about hand-made books in the next few posts.
Today I’m going to show you how to make this sweet little accordion book.
Beautiful origami accordion book
There’s a step-by-step slideshow for this easy-to-make book, but here’s a quick summary:
1) Square origami paper (15cm x 15cm). I used 5, you can use as many as you wish.
2) Fold all 5 papers into Preliminary base , like this:
In Origami, it’s called a Preliminary Base
3) Glue all 5 units together (making sure they all face the same way).
4) Add 2 covers (slightly bigger than the 5 units). Add ribbons inside if you wish.
5) Done!
