Fantastic Plastic

I am obsessed with shrink plastic at the moment and hve been experimenting with buttons and charms etc - I need to perfect it and try clear plastic and other colors too, but I'm really enjoying making these, especially the girl charms at the top. 

These are now on sale at my etsy shop

Pattern paper mache

I've gone a bit (experi) mental this week and started papier macheing old pattern paper to make it stiffer and made these oddball things! 

Mermag - my new favorite blog

I cant believe I only just found Mermag blog - its so inspiring, Merrilee is a real talented lady, a designer, illustrator and painter, who makes so many wonderful things and paints lovely pictures too! and she has made the most fantastic octopus costume for her son - you have to see it! Go check her blog and be inspired.

Competition time .....

This isn't one I'm running as I haven't got myself organised enough yet to start running competitions but if you fancy a bash at designing a Christmas card, wedding invitation, business cards or an invitation card you could be in with a chance of winning an i-pod touch and other goodies!! Woo Hoo!!  The competition is run by Optimalprint.  You have til 24 Nov to submit your entries - time to get your thinking caps on and get designing!! For submission and contest details visit: http://www.optimalprint.co.uk/en-GB/design-contest 

Halloween Spooktacular ....

Have lots of fun this Halloween. I made these last year, they are pretty rubbish but I like the shape of the ghosts - got to work on much better version for next year.

Home Sweet Home

Lovely images from Home Sweet Home- hundreds of great images to inspire you with links to where the images came from originally - loads of inspiration to get your mitts on!

Rosie James aka Stitchdraw

Rosie James aka Stitchdraw is the talented illustrator who 'drew' these images of her workspace/shed and commuters waiting for the train with her sewing machine.  You can also see her work on Etsy. (via Poppytalk)

Don Shank

Love this cover from Don Shank for the Yuki 7 character created by Kevin Dart which contains contributions from many artists.  Love the style!  He's got plenty of other fab paintings you can see on his blog too and he has recently opened his online store where you can purchase some of his prints, including the one above.

Mystery in the moonlight

I should have saved these 'til Halloween but couldn't wait to share ( and I will probably forget!) Found these lovely images via ffffound and Haute Macabre. They feature Claudia Schiffer and were shot for a Harpers Bazaar magazine shoot - I love this old style which I think has been recreated so well here.

Been busy....

... making bunting/mobiles using scraps of paper and lace etc, got carried away with with a few old wooly jumpers and a bit of old vintage clothkits fabric and made cushions and the blanket/throw - perfect for winter.(The cute little nelly I got from Kiss Prudence at one of our Craft Candy fairs). Also found this desk in a skip, me and my boyfriend went out under the cover of darkness to 'steal' it and then I sanded it down and then rubbed emulsion into it, to try and achieve the shabby beach feel (is that even a description??).

Workshops

Just some shots I took today for future workshops I hope to do - paper jewellery, more big brooch workshops and new shoe customisation workshops.

Blissful Blankets

I have become a bit obsessed with making blankets and quilts at the moment using old wooly jumpers and vintage fabric and I decided to look on the web for inspiration.  Here are a couple of quick faves.

Turkish Bath - Peshtemalis, a type of turkish bath towel, but I think it'd make a cute light blanket

Snitch Snotch - detailed quilts with stitched vintage doilies and images

Helmouse - a nellyphant made from vintage blankets

Parasol Mag

Alert: Cute new mag in town!! Parasol Mag. Go and get yer mitts on it!  Created by the talented lady behind the Print a Day Blog - Last year she diligently designed a lovely print a day for a whole year which she showcased on her blog - It was a totally more successful project than my new years resolution for 2009 which was to do the same, but I seem to end up doing lots in one go then no patterns for a month and by the time I get back to the computer I've forgotten how to use illustrator again, so most of mine have been relegated to the waste paper bin!

Swarm

I adore this furniture made using old tapestries and paintings.  The furniture is made using reclaimed items found in old antique stores and dutch markets.   Swarm, aka Leslie Oschmann, used to be the Visual Director for Anthropologie and you can see the great and unique design which is often seen in Anthropologie's amaaazing goods.  I found Swarm's work on a blog, and I'm sorry but I can't remember whose, where it was included in a short film which was part of a series of films by the current visual director(??) for Anthropologie who spends 6 months of the year travelling round the world in search of great finds for Anthropologie - they are interesting videos to watch, except I can't find the link for it anymore, which is fairly useless.  If anyone knows what I'm talking about(!!) and has a link, please do leave a comment and I can add it to the post.

Update: I found the link to the short films from Effortless Anthropologie, a great blog dedicated to all things flowy and Anthropologie, the series of films is called Man Shops Globe - I want this dude's job - it is, quite possibly, one of the best jobs in the world!!!!!  But as my parents say, 'I want never gets'!....Oh well...........

...even more

of my patterns.  I promise that's all for now:) I'm hoping to be able to take on freelance surface  pattern work and provide work for licencing soon - just need to make the patterns look a bit better and master illustrator a bit better! More prints below.

...some more

... of my recent patterns.

I've been working on some patterns ....

I've been trying working on some patterns for surface design recently.  Its something I love doing and I'm going to be trying to post more in the near future.  Unfortunately when i upload the images, the color tends to dull a bit for some reason - If anyone has any suggestions as to how to overcome this, please do let me know:)

Craft Candy Mini Fair

As a member of Craft Candy,I organised a mini fair at Bungalows and Bears, a lovely bar on Saturday and despite my anxieties that it would not be busy, the weather was fab and we had about 400 people to the fair on the day!  It was a great success with 10 stalls of lots of gorgeous goodies.  Here are some of the photos that Sarah took on the day. See more pics here.

A day in the life of the cutest micropiglet ever!

Kingsford: A Day

OK, i think this is one of my favorite prints...ever!

I love Gemma Correll's work and have blogged about her before on Bettyjoy. I was looking at my Craft Candy friend, Sarah's blog today, she had done an 'all things pug-related' post, and this print, Pugs not Drugs, was featured!  A steal at only $10 and you could purchase the cute Boston Terrier print too.

Mokkatanten

Lovely little lights from Mokkatanten (via Bloesem).

Come down and see us....

I'm arranging a mini fair happening next weekend at Bungalows and Bears, please come down if you are in the area and see the lovely wares on offer.

Fox & Clover

Lovely jewellery and bowls by Fox and Clover via Etsy made using recycled glass and handpainted doily inspired details to create lovely pieces.

To Grace

To Grace were featured on Print Pattern blog today having exhibited at 100% Design.  I love the idea of pretty screens, especially in cities where people's flats are often overlooked by busy roads with lots of nosey passer's by!

Abigail Brown's butterflys

Just came across these lovely offerings from Abigail Brown, who I posted about a while back.  These beautiful brooches are available from Abigail's Etsy store.

Photo shoot for Sheffield Institute of Art and Design

New pics from the work my boyfriend, Chris Wilkinson has been working on for the new Sheffield Institute of Art and Design brochure. Its worth checking out his flickr site as the colors seem to go rather dull when I uploaded these.  He created the concept, design, styling and objects for the photoshoot (the workshop and light components were made by the art technician at SHU).   The photographer is the up and coming Tom Jackson, who has worked on some fantastic projects. Other images from an earlier shoot for the brochure are a bit further down this page.

La Selva

 

via etsy

Wow!  Now Im not really one for communal living but this place is so beautiful, think I could get past sharing a bathroom and kitchen to live here!  Check out Julia Potts' illustrations on the video too (I blogged about Julia here). We were on holiday last year right close to here at Big Sur.

Ed Emberley's Picture Pie Products

While I was looking at Print Pattern today, I came across the exciting new lines from Japanese brand, High Tide, using Ed Emberley's lovely picture pie illustrations.  I'm so excited I love his designs so much, I better start saving my pennies!  You can see the bedlinens here.

Sam's Notebook

I came across a lovely blog today, Sam's Notebook, written by an Australian living in Sweden. She has a wonderful collection of inspiring interiors images on her blog.  Check it out here.

My workshops with the WI

(pics courtesy of Seven Hills W.I and Little Castle Designs

The past few weeks have been so busy, one of the things I did last week was a workshop for the new Sheffield W.I group called Seven Hills.  Its a younger, more current version of the traditional W.I and I did the workshop for 50 people!  I was soooo nervous beforehand - I had only only done one workshop before and that was only for 7 people. When I turned up with Sarah, they told us that a guy was gonna film it (eek!) and that the Sheffield Star where there too (arggh!).  Anyhow, I think it went OK!  I was so relieved once I'd got my demonstration bit over and done with!  Anyway, heres a couple of pics of the night!

Photoshoot

The colour has gone really dull for some reason when I uploaded these - check out much better versions of the images here.

Sorry, for the lack of posts recently, I have been so busy with my new job, preparing for a huge workshop which I did on Thursday (more on that later) and have recently come down with a very nasty lurgie - so I'm feeling pretty sorry for myself today!  Apart from being busy and ill recently I have been helping out with a project my boyfriend has been been working for the Sheffield Iinstitute of Art and design's prospectus for Sheffield Hallam University.  He came up with the concept and designed and made the objects for the photoshoot - I made the fabric words and helped with that shoot and I helped him make the cardboard letters which took us about 20 hours to do - gluing 80 layers of card for each letter!  Tom Jackson, a young and talented photographer who has set up in the last year and already worked with the likes of Tado and Peter & Paul, was the photographer on the shoot.

David Fullarton - What I Do at Work When I'm Supposed to be Working

I found David Fullarton's work via ffffound and I love it!  Reminds me of some of the desk jobs I've had! Was anyone lucky enough to see his exhibition in Houston this summer? 

Craft Candy - Call for crafters

Craft Candy has been offered the opportunity to hold a craft fair (Craft Candy Minis) at Bungalows and Bears on Saturday 10 October.  Bungalows and Bears is a bar located on the bustling Division street in Sheffield City Centre and the fair will run from 2 to 6pm.

We have 10 stalls and are looking for a mix of crafts/upcycled goodies to feature at this fair.  If you are interested please send a couple of images of your work or a link to your website/blog to minis @craft-candy.org by Weds 16th Sept and we will contact successful applicants by Sunday 20th.

The tables will be free to stall holders and the event will also be free to the public.  The event will be publicised via B&B’s flyers, posters, website and facebook group and also via craft candy’s blog, website and face book group too.

Shepherd Hut Holidays

I don't know about you, but I am desperate for a holiday having not been away at all this summer and, when I came across these shepherd huts by the Original Hut Company which are located in the tiny village of Bodiam in East Sussex, I knew I had found a great excuse to get away.  These shepherd huts are decorated in a fresh contemporary style and are available from £70 per night.  I'm off to dust off my old suitcase!

Pimpelwit Styling

Pom-pomtastic from Pimpelwit Styling.

Elizabeth Demos - @ home

During my regular read of Decor8 blog I came across this absolutely wonderful moodboard creation by Elizabeth Demos. I was struck by the wonderful color combinations and use of the rustic old frame.  Elizabeth has recently opened an event planning business on top of an already very successful and wonderful looking looking vintage home store in Savannah.  Shops like @home make me wish I lived in America!  When I went to America last year I visited a few thrift stores and antiques/vintage places in Texas and they are well and truly heads and shoulders above our UK shops - there just seems to be so much quality vintage homewares/fashions etc on offer over there. (moodboard pic via Decor8 others via Dear Daisy Cottage)

Crazy Cake Off

Threadless, the t-shirt design submission site has hosted a cake design competition, Threadcakes.  The designs are based on existing T-shirt designs.  Here are couple of the best ones!  How amazing are these!

Jack Bresnahan

Came across Jack Bresnahan's eco designs via ffffound (via Dezeen) this morning.  I love the simplicity of these designs which give the humble tin can a new lease of life.  I use old tin cans to store pens etc but they would look a bit more chic with the addition of one of these designs.  These designs were Jack's final year project at Northumbria University and were exhibited recently at New Designers in London.  I've noticed a lot of good work recently coming out of Northumbria University and Cumbria University, up near where I grew up - must be all the fresh air up there.

Lyndie Dourthe - Les Fleurs

I originally posted about Lyndie Dourthe over a year ago here to rave about her wonderful creations.  The other day I was looking at Oh Happy Day, when I came across a post about some new work she has created in a botanical theme which is just fantastic - not that I would expect anything less of Lyndie.  I just love the colors and the fact that I haven't seen anything like it before.  From what I can tell of the work, she has created all the 'flowers' herself using other materials such as paper to create these bright floral pieces.

The Crockery Cupboard

The previous post led me to this fantastic venture, The Crockery Cupboard.  Trying to collect together plenty of cute crocks for your wedding or party can be hard work as the quality of the teacups and china in your local charity shop can be a bit hit and miss, so here you can hire the crockery and they have a great selection to choose from.  What a great idea for a business venture.