Here’s a pop of colour to cheer this time of year. How to: Make a rainbow petal book. Simple, quick and easy to modify or develop. Happy making!

You’ll need:

• A sheet of paper, not too thick, not too thin (I’ve used 120gsm cartridge – long grain) A4 or US letter size
• Coloured inks/pencils/crayons – a rainbow of seven or eight colours
• A needle
• Thread
• Scissors

Step by step:

Add bands of colour across the page – you can see that I’m going for a jaunty rough ‘n’ ready approach. You could use delicious inks in jewel-like tones, but they’ll take longer to be ready to use. Estimate the width of each band, so that they all get equal coverage.

I swear that colours organised into a rainbow gives a dopamine hit – can anyone corroborate that with science?!

Then fold the sheet in half length ways, with the colour on the outside.

Using a contrasting colour, loosely outline a petal shape, starting and finishing at the folded edge. Make this part relatively wide, for ease of binding. You could make a template if it’s important for all your petals to be the same size, or perhaps you’d like them to get smaller and smaller…. Maybe try some variations later.

With the sheet still folded, cut around the petal line.

Each petal leaves its negative space in the page.

All the petals cut.

Re-fold each petal.

Thread your needle (you won’t need very much thread….)

Make a small hole with the needle in the centre of the crease line of each petal.

One by one, take the thread through each petal.

Leave a tail at the end (be sure not to pull it all the way through!)

Love how this stage looks like a fish bone.

Once you’re through every petal-page, squoosh (technical term) them all close together.

Holding on to the tail, wrap the thread around one edge of the book, up the middle, then turn over.

Here, you’re ready to take the needle over the top and back through the hole to the inside.

…where you’ll be reunited with your tail. Make sure that your needle and thread is on one side of the long stitch, and that the tail is on the other. Tie a double knot to secure. Keep the tails long, or trim.

This little book is perfect for sweet messages, or simply as a sculptural form. Either way, may it bring some joy.