Announcing my Craft Book, Party Origami

I've been keeping a secret for quite sometime now and I'm so glad I can finally share it with all of you.  I created a craft book with Chronicle Books called Party Origami!  The book includes 14 origami ideas specifically created to use for parties.  What sets this book apart from other origami books is that the pieces are designed to serve a function, such as hold a place card or rest a pair of chopsticks. Included with the book are 75 sheets of origami paper. Party Origami will be available March 26, 2013.  You can currently pre-order it on Amazon.  I'm also told it will be carried everywhere books are sold in April.  

If you're curious, here's a little background about the making of the book:

A little over a year ago I was contacted by Laura Lee Mattingly (Chronicle Books Editor) about creating a party themed origami book.  Of course, I was over the moon about it, Chronicle Books creates some of the most beautiful craft books around.  Plus, a lot of their books are Japanese related which appeals to me.  I've always enjoyed origami since I was a small child and you know I like planning parties so it was a perfect fit.

The first step in the process was creating some thumbnails (tiny sketches) of my ideas for the book.   Pictured above are the first sketches I created, some ideas made it into the book, others didn't. 

After the list of projects were finalized, I had to create the instructions and illustrations for all the steps.  This was by far the most challenging part of the book process for me.  Thankfully I had two things going for me.  One I have a graphic design background and was formally trained in Adobe Illustrator.  Two, I've been writing craft directions for the past five years.  Without these key skills, I'm not sure if I could have pulled it off. 

The book comes in a cute little package that unfolds revealing the origami booklet with the origami paper sitting behind it.  Here's something you may or may not know.  Before a book is created, a prototype of the outside cover is created (imagine a book without the pages).  It's a blank white cover and it's designed to give you an idea of what the book will look like. 

Hillary Caudle designed the book layout and the origami paper.  Pictured above is a sample of some of the origami paper you will find in the book. Isn't it gorgeous?!  What's unique about this paper is that it's double sided; there's a print on one side and a solid on the other.  One of my favorite prints are the sprinkles which unfortunately I didn't get a picture of. 

If you would like to see a sneak peek of one of the projects, the Chronicle Books blog shared a post about it earlier this month, click here.