Our #BookOfTheWeek is Creative Polymer Clay by Heidi Helyard. Read our interview with Heidi, make a pair of Drilling Shavings Earrings and win a copy of the book from David & Charles.

I am a self-employed graphic designer living on the beautiful Central Coast, in NSW, North of Sydney. As a creative artist, I have worked with embroidery, weaving, and other fibre art for years. In 2017, as part of my quest for texture, I started incorporating polymer clay into my fibre art pieces. This evolved into incorporating fibre into my polymer clay pieces! Small wall hangings morphed into wearable pendants, then came earrings and other jewellery-related objects. The progression was very organic. I consider my jewellery collections to be small-scaled, one-off pieces of wearable art. The fact that each piece is unduplicated and unique is really important to me. Each pendant, earring or bowl is a limited edition - collectable and precious, completely individual piece, and the polar opposite of the mass produced fashion jewellery flooding the market. It is important to me that my pieces be instantly recognisable as a "Heidi Helyard" piece. For me, it’s all about colour and texture! The beauty of polymer clay is that it presents me so much opportunity to explore endless colour combinations, patterns and textures.

Our #BookofTheWeek is Empowered Embroidery by Amy L. Frazer. Read our interview with Amy, stitch a flower crown and win the book from Walter Foster.

Hello everyone at Cut Out and Keep! My name is Amy L. Frazer and I’m an illustrator and embroiderer living and working in beautiful Portland, Oregon. I’m originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and moved to Portland in 2004 from NYC. I was trained as an illustrator at the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) but didn’t really start embroidering until much later when I moved to Portland. For many years I worked for different companies like Nike, Old Navy and Galerie Au Chocolat designing products and graphics, candy and gift packaging and accessories. I always worked on my own artwork and ideas in the evenings and on weekends, continuing to take workshops and classes to learn Photoshop, embroidery, screen-printing and more skills. At the end of 2015 I started my own company freelancing and licensing my artwork. As I got more into embroidery, I started teaching workshops in Portland and selling embroidery kits based on my illustrations. I absolutely love hiking and being in nature (forest bathing!) and am happiest when I’m at the beach, or the coast in Oregon! It feels calming to me and somehow comforting to know something bigger than myself is out there and Mother Nature is a definite source of endless inspiration.