As Jubilee and Olympic fever hits the country, what better way to celebrate than by building your own miniature version of the city at the centre of it all! You can build everything from Big Ben to the iconic red Telephone Box.

As an occasional crafter at best, I thought I’d give it a try to prove that from novice to expert Paper London can be enjoyed by everyone. Not to mention that having worked at Ivy for quite some time now, it seemed like I’d better test one of our craft books!

The book begins by explaining that ‘Making things in paper is a slow art, an anachronistic activity in an age dominated by distraction. Time, patience and attention to detail are prerequisites to making these models…You will need a straightedge and a scoring too such as a butter knife, white glue such as PVC, an uncluttered work space, good light and time’. I dutifully set myself up with all of these things and got started.

As the quote from the book requested ‘time, patience and attention to detail’, I feel I should point out that though I had plenty of the first and always pay attention when I’m doing things, I always struggle with the middle one (Patience!).

I set out to build Buckingham Palace and the Olympic Stadium and as you might be able to see from the pictures below (you can see the roof of the Palace slowly popping back up!), I lacked patience when it came to holding each glued piece in place. That’s my top tip from this exercise, patience really is required for this one, either that, or better glue!

Never the less I did have fun making them, particularly the Olympic Stadium which is far easier than Buckingham Palace let me tell you!  All the pieces are pre-cut, so just pop them out and get scoring, folding and glue.

Whether you want to build a replica London to further your paper crafting skills, or you want to try it for the first time, Paper London really is for everyone. My slightly wonky Buckingham Palace and Olympic Stadium are now sitting in pride of place on my shelves attesting to it.