Find and Keep by Beci Orpin + GIVEAWAY!

Find and Keep by Beci Orpin!  Published by Hardie Grant, featuring photography by Chris Middleton.

Customised party utensils in Find and Keep by Beci Orpin!  Published by Hardie Grant, featuring photography by Chris Middleton.

My absolutely favourite photo from Find and Keep!  Published by Hardie Grant, featuring photography by Chris Middleton.

Crafty picnic in Find and Keep by Beci Orpin!  Published by Hardie Grant, featuring photography by Chris Middleton.

This week is a very important week for Australian writers and publishers.  It's basically the final week that most new BOOKS come out before Christmas.  As a result, we shall be featuring a bunch of ace books by local creative people this week, and we're kicking things off with Find and Keep by Beci Orpin! Find and Keep is Beci's first book of the DIY / crafty / handmadey persuasion, and includes 26 minimum effort, maximum impact creative projects to make at home.  The ideas she's come up with are so seriously cute, and very easy.  Lots would be great to do with kids, but many are just really simple, affordable ideas to inject a little colour and quirk at home, most of which can be completed in an afternoon.  Like putting giant paper polka dots all over your walls, for instance. But Find and Keep is more than just a craft / DIY book, it's also quite a personal memoir for Beci, encapsulating all which inspires her - inside you'll find lots of Beci's own photos of her home, her busy studio, her family and pets and daily adventures! We asked Beci a few questions about creating the book -

Beci Orpin congratulations of the launch of your new book Find and Keep! What can we expect to see inside?

Thank you!  I'm SO VERY excited!  Inside there are so many things – I would almost say it is like a much more extended version of my blog!  In a nutshell Find and Keep is about my working process – how I get ideas and inspiration, and then how I put those things into action. I show this through both commercial and personal projects that I have recently put together. The book also contains 26 DIY projects too, with the idea being that the reader can put some of their own inspiration/ideas into these projects as well. Find and Keep is also very personal to me, where inside you'll find that there are lots of my own photos of my messy studio and house, our family adventures, my cats etc.

You seem pretty famous to us, we can't believe you have written a book until now!  Have you been approached by publishers before and how did this particular book deal come about?

I would consider myself very far from famous! But that's nice of you to say. Actually I have never been approached by a mainstream publisher to do this kind of book before. I was always interested in doing a book, but was never sure what kind of book it would be. So when Hardie Grant approached me we developed the concept for Find and Keep together. It was a nice way to do it.

Crafty books of this nature are a huge undertaking, from brainstorming an original concept to penning a tutorial and then testing its workability. With this in mind how long has Find and Keep been in development?

This book was a HUGE undertaking for me, definitely my biggest project yet, but it all happened quite quickly. After a month or two developing the concept and putting together some mock-ups, the bulk of the work then happened within three months! It was quite an intense three months (to say the least!), but this is how I prefer to work. I had never  consciously designed many DIY projects before either, or written that much about my work, so the whole process was a big learning curve for me. Designing and developing the projects actually ended up being my favourite part of the book, it was so much more fun than I imagined! I also had the amazing skills of my book designer Michelle Mackintosh to help me along my way. She has so much great knowledge about every aspect of putting a book together: page layouts, helping style the photoshoot we did for the projects sections etc. She was also amazing at dealing with me freaking out on an almost daily basis! I couldn't have done it without her.

We are SUPER EXCITED we have TEN COPIES of Beci's book to giveaway to lucky TDF readers.  Thankyou Hardie Grant! But Beci has gone one step further.  She has rounded up an amazing prizepool of 22 prizes from her favourite local retailers and makers, especially for us!  The prizepool includes fab finds from the likes of Emily Green, P.A.M, Third Drawer Down, Mr Kitly, Ganim's Store and many more!   All are pictured below. To be in the running to win one of ten copies of Beci's Book, and one of 22 prizes outlined below, simple leave your comment on today's post before 10.00pm Melbourne time!  22 winners will be selected this evening and notified by email tomorrow! MASSIVE THANKYOUS to Beci for this seriously epic prize!  What a star!  Do share the love by hunting out Find and Keep in your local bookshop - it's $39.95, and will available from all good booksellers this Thursday November 1st 2012! (or, buy now online).

The EPIC Find and Keep prizepool from Beci! Photos - Chris Middleton, layout and Illustration by Beci Orpin.

BECI'S FIND AND KEEP GIVEAWAY LINE-UP

1. Diagonal cushions from Beci Orpin (RRP $60 each, total value $120) 2. One-off wooden mushroom sculpture from Beci Orpin for Ganim's Store (RRP $80). 'I made a few of these mushrooms about a year ago as co-lab with Ganim Store and they were a big hit, and also feature in my book' says Beci. 3. Fatsia Japonica indoor plant from Mr.Kitly (RRP $20) 4. Mexican plastic baskets from After (RRP $12 each, total value $36). 'After is another one of my favourite shops, I have a few of these mexican baskets - they make anything you put in them look better' says Beci. 5. Nathalie Du Pasquier compact shopping bag from Third Drawer Down (RRP $7). 'I love what Third Drawer Down do with their artist collaborations, and Nathalie du Pasquier is one of my favourite designers' says Beci. 6. Geodesic wooden blocks from After (RRP $32) 7. Xhosa river reed basket from Tractor Home (RRP $98). 'In my dream house pretty much everything would come from Tractor home!' says Beci. 'I cannot get enough of baskets at the moment too - this one is a perfect shape'. 8. At-Swim-Two-Birds potholder from Mr Kitly (RRP $35). 'Mr Kitly is local to me - I love that such a beautiful shop exists in my 'hood!  Bree has a great knack of finding hand crafted products I have never seen before' - Beci. 9. Pendelton rose valley towel from Third Drawer Down (RRP $85) 10. Nathalie Du Pasquier corkboard placemat set from Third Drawer Down (RRP $37.50) 11. Nutscene Coloured Twine from After (RRP $40) 12. Emmiline necklace from Emily Green (RRP $75).  'I have 3 of Emily's necklaces! her colour selection is just perfect' says Beci. 13. Nathalie Du Pasquier 2 piece napkin set from Third Drawer Down (RRP $14.95 each, total value $44.85) 14. Nathalie Du Pasquier Corkboard coaster set from Third Drawer Down (RRP $14.95) 15. Telephone wire bowls from Tractor Home (RRP $22 each, total value $66 value) 16. Washi tape from Mr. Kitly (RRP $5 each, total $20 value) 17. Claystone pottery beaker from Mr.Kitly (RRP $39) 18. Nathalie Du Pasquier Teatowels from Third Drawer Down (RRP $32 each, $64 value) 19. P.A.M. Bouillabaise Bag from Someday (RRP $168). 'My wardrobe contains a lot of P.A.M, Misha and Shauna are old friends and I love what they do' says Beci. 20. P.A.M Langosta socks from Someday (RRP $33) 21. 3 x Wade paintbrushes (RRP $18.5o) / 1 x scalpel (RRP $5) / 1 scissors (not shown, RRP $6.95) / 1 x Yamato glue (RRP $10) / 1 x set of acrylic paints (RRP $20) from Melbourne Artists Supplies. 'Yamato rice glue is the best paper adhesive ever, plus it comes in a super cute green tube! the other art supplies are all things I use on a daily basis, and I'm hoping will help the lucky winner of this prize to get started on some projects in my book!' - Beci 22. 1 x pad Arches watercolour paper (not shown, RRP $34.95) / 1 x set coloured origami paper and card offcuts (RRP $20) from Melbourne Artists Supplies.

Another pretty page from Find and Keep by Beci Orpin.  Photography by Chris Middleton.