★ NEW ★ Pretty Collage Collection

I have had fun designing this new range, it's very pretty, girly with a vintage edge. 

I have digitally collaged pattern, kraft paper and vintage fabric along with naive style illustrations, I hope you likey...

A spotty bike for the adventurer!(personalised)...

A Yummy Birthday Cake (personalised)...

A New Home card featuring a pretty cottage...

 

A jar with hand drawn and collaged flowers...

This card is also available as "So sorry", "Get well soon" and "with sympathy".

 

A Church card for Weddings, this can be personalised too.

 

ALL cards (and more) are available here in my Etsy shop.

★ ETSY FRIDAY ★

#ZINES

Instead of featuring single shops each week on Etsy Friday I may also feature different product catagories or a particular trend or theme.

I am going to share with you my NEW obsession with ZINES!  A zine (pronounced "zeen") is a small circulation self published magazine usually reproduced via photocopier.  Zine content is very varied and can range from art and photography to fiction and poetry.  

As these zines are self published anything is possible!

Here are a few of my faves currently on sale on etsy...

A crafty collage zine from Kelly Zarb.

This little zine is jam packed full of great little crafty projects you can make including collaged gift tags, cards and much more.

A funny illustrated zine from willyoumarryme

A lovely vintage photography zine from paper boy press.  

This is a collection of 9 house fictions. It took over two years to write.

Beautifully illustrated travel zines from hello jenuine

Check out Small ghosts for lots of great zines including this book guide...

I fancy having a go at this zine making myself but what to do???

Here is a little fun video showing how to make your very own...

★ ETSY FRIDAY ★

Quill & Fox is based in Oregon, USA.   They specialize in finely crafted paper goods and invitations.

I really love the handpainted and quirky illustration style they use on their cards and stationery products.

You can see more of their work (including some stunning wedding stationery) here and read their blog here

★ Etsy Friday ★

Three Red Apples is a lovely shop on Etsy.  

Annabelle from Plymouth, England sells Contemporary embroidered textile art & illustrations, handmade home accessories, made using a mix of vintage, recycled and new materials combined with freehand machine embroidery and appliqué.

I love how the images look framed in the sewing hoops, they would make lovely gifts and are a bargain at between £17 - £30! 

You can read more about Annabelle here and follow her on her blog here

Ahoy There!

Living by the seaside I am still loving the nautical theme that has been around in fashion for a few years.  Here are some lovely images I have been collecting on my pinterest page...

All these nautical images and more can be found here on my "Ahoy There" board on Pinterest.

Gemma Correll

I have recently discovered the talented and hilarious artist Gemma Correll.  She draws really cute and quirky illustrations of herself, animals, food and everyday objects. Each drawing has a funny slogan or story, here are some of my faves...

I LOVE this next picture, it breaks my heart!!!...

Here she is at work on a mural...

On Gemmas website there is also a daily diaries section which is "a chronicle of a (mostly) boring life" which is sooo funny, take a look...

ou can visit Gemmas website here, her flickr page here and to follow her on instagram her username is Gemma Correll (obviously).

★ Canvas competition ★

I recently visited the Year nine GCSE Textiles pupils of Walkden High School in Salford, Manchester to give a careers talk.  I showcased my University Textiles work, images and samples of my greetings cards from Hallmark cards and some imagery and produced canvas designs from my current job as a Wall art designer.  I hope they found it inspiring, I tried to make the talk as inspiring and visually stimulating as possible with plenty of work to look at and pass around alongside an indepth powerpoint presentation...

I also set a Canvas design competition.  The pupils had to design and create a canvas which included a word, a pattern, a stitch and an object.  The winners would then receive their design printed on to a canvas to keep (3rd - 20x20cm, 2nd - 30x30cm & 1st - 40x40cm)

After working on the canvasses for a couple of months it came to judging time for me and Miss Quinlan (the Textiles teacher).  We were both very impressed with the standard and variety of designs, soooo here goes...

THIRD PLACE...

Georgia

SECOND PLACE...

Grace

AND THE WINNER IS...

Lauren

As I didn't have my blog this time last year I thought I would also show you the canvas competition winners from last year.  The competition was held for three classes so there was a first prize for each class...

Georgia

Holly

Nicole