Love, marriage ... and handcuffs: a 'snipped tales' collage.

Hello hello. 

Before I begin properly I'm totally taking the opportunity to suggest my book of Snipped Tales as an alternative Valentine's Day gift.

If you order a copy soon, and you're in the UK or Europe, then it should reach you in time for the 14th. (UK 1-2 days / Europe 3-5 and US 5-7 working days. Each copy comes gift-wrapped with a one-of-a-kind gift tag. For the full book details visit here, and for images of the book scroll to the bottom of this post.) 

And I'm not bragging when I say:

•  giving the gift of a book of thoughtful, funny and sometimes (almost) rude word collages certainly beats flammable red nylon underwear. 

(Now there's a quote for the back of the book.)

I made this collage (which is not from the book) a while ago ... I think it was in response to a Philip Larkin poetry collection I'd read when I used to go to a book club (if I remember rightly it wasn't particularly favourable to marriage/women). And I just wanted to tilt the balance against the old fashioned 'ball and chain' notion: 

And a closer look:

I'm planning to put together paper packs of graph / square / ledger backgrounds (I'll add them to my Etsy shop once they're ready) as they're one of my favourite backdrops to work on for collage.  :

 And - I'm pretty sure that the 'handcuffed' snippet originally came from the same children's story as the one I cut up for 'Ties that Bind' - one of the stories in my Snipped Tales book; the story which led to Kirsty Neale illustrating a pair of handcuffs for me:

Which I assume was the first time she'd ever been asked to do that. But, hey, what do I know ...

And here's a closer look at names of the other stories which focus on love/romance and slightly seductive sauciness ...

To read more about, and to buy, the book visit here.

Right then, I'll see you back here soon and every day over on Instagram @withjuliekirk 

Julie 

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