The Wedding Collection...

Hello

Recently I was commissioned to work on a very special wedding stationery set.  It’s been a long time since I’ve done any wedding stationery.  Before launching Artwork By Angie, I was often commissioned to do portraits and maps as part of wedding stationery sets – mainly by word of mouth.  You know how it works, you do one, someone sees it and then you’re onto the next one....

It was such a long time since the last one I did, that I’d actually forgotten how much I enjoyed working on these types of commissions.  I can’t reveal any of the designs for this particular commission yet as I don’t want to spoil any surprises for the lovely couple I’ve been working with.  They get married at the end of this year, so I can show you all then....

What I can show you are these new wedding stationery template designs created straight after working on the wedding commission, and the wedding anniversary occasion cards I was commissioned to do earlier in the year.  I had both commissions running at the same time and felt like I was being given the strongest of hints as to the next new product I should develop!...

So here they are, my four spring summer options, I’m hoping to develop more and will add to the collection as the seasons change.  At the moment they are available as DIY printable stationery, which I will personalise to suit each couple.  Essentially, when an order is placed, I will change the skin tone, hair colour and styles of the bride and groom and set all the wording provided by the happy couple before emailing the final print ready artwork files to them...

If it’s something more bespoke that you’re looking for – there is a contact form on the wedding stationery page of my website, where you can contact me to talk it over and I’d be delighted to work out a plan to get your designs done...

These printable sets and occasion cards are now available in my Folksy and Etsy shops too.

It’s been wonderful to create pretty things for such special and important occasions again.

Have a lovely week.

Best wishes

 

I Made A Lampshade...

Hello

I am so happy with this I could burst!

On an earlier blog post, I showed you a little bit of trim that caught my eye on Felt Folk’s stand at The Contemporary CraftsFestival.  At the time I was in the good company of Helen Botrill from Kindred Rose – who not only makes gorgeous lampshades herself which she sells from her Folksy shop, but also runs lampshade making workshops and sells lampshade kits.  Well, I had a light bulb moment and could immediately see what that piece of trim was meant for.  It was meant to be part of a cheery lampshade for the lamp that sits on top of my granny’s half moon glass cabinet in our dining room.

So armed with my pretty trim and one of Helen’s kits I was all set to get to work. The kit I chose came with some vintage Laura Ashley fabric in a lovely sunny yellow and a nice length of pure white pom pom trim to add a finishing touch.  I also added some green ribbon I had in my stash from last year’s Christmas photo shoot as the embroidered trim I bought needed something to give it’s edges a nice finish and protect it from fraying as it’s quite delicate.

I’m very limited when it comes to my skills in the general textile area – I can sew a hem, darn a hole, sew a button back on and clap together some sort of fancy dress ‘tabard’ effort when my children announce that they have a themed fancy dress day at school... nothing that really demands close inspection of my stitching abilities! 

For this reason, I believed that making a lampshade may be beyond my level of abilities.  However, thanks to a set of very clear, hand holding, step by step with photos showing every stage instructions – I confidently took my time and this is what I produced...

TA DA!!

I am so proud and so delighted with it.  It was time very well spent and lots of fun too.

Thank you Kindered Rose!   And if you fancy having a go at making something like this, you’ll find the kits like the one I used, listed here on Folksy.

Have a lovely week

Best wishes

Fancy a Picnic?...

Hello,

It certainly feels like summer is here this week - the flowers are out, my strawberries have ripened, the World Cup has kicked off and the sun has been shining.  Perfect picnic weather.  Over the past couple of months I have been working on some designs for fundraising events organised by the national charity for brain injured children, Bibic and sponsored by one of my stockists Potter &Rest.  These have been projects which have a very summery, outdoors theme...

The first of these designs was an icon to use for their Sunflower competition – where if you grow a sunflower with the fattest face you could win a Potter and Rest voucher worth £50 – for full details click the link here: http://www.potterandrest.co.uk/collections/mother-s-day-gifts/products/sunflower-competition-seeds

All proceeds from the cost of the seeds needed to enter the competition will go to Bibic.

The other event I’ve been working on with them is a Teddy Bears picnic which takes place on the 9^thJuly across the UK. For more details here’s the link: 

http://www.bibic.org.uk/events/events/Teddy+Bears+Picnic/103/

For this event I was asked to design some printables that can be added to the ‘Bear Essentials’ pack that gets sent to everyone who signs up to take part in the picnics.

I had loads of fun creating the printable sets which include, cut out and make bear ears, cupcake wrappers, flags for cakes and sandwiches, labels for honey and drinks bottles and a couple of sheets to colour in with a bears picnic theme.  All of which I needed to mock up and test work.

It’s been refreshing to work on some more designs for children. Talking of designs for children and lunch outdoors - last summer I created some designs for The Beverage Bag Company to go on their lunch bags for girls containing their new and innovative product, the Bevgo Bag... 

  

A little bird told me that these bags are now stocked on Amazon and in some toy shops across the UK including Toymaster in Exeter and this lovely shop in Hertford – can you spot my designs in the window? It’s lovely to see the bags are getting around the country!

With all these designs for little people I've been doing lately, I've added a new section to my portfolio called...well, 'Designs for Little People'  - as that seems to cover it nicely.

Hope you all get a chance to get out and enjoy the good weather whilst it's here.

Best wishes

Road Trip to the Contemporary Crafts Festival 2014

Hello,

A couple of days ago, I was wandering around the marvelous marquees of the Contemporary Crafts Fair in Bovey Tracey, Devon.  I was lucky to travel there in the company of the very lovely Roslyn Mitchell and two of her good friends, who it was a pleasure to meet for the first time. 

It was a day filled with  much laughter, chatter and most of all - exquisite hand crafted art.  My head was filled with inspiration and admiration of all those who had worked tirelessly to put on such an impressive exhibition and had suffered the sweltering heat inside those tents during the days the fair ran for.  Good for us visitors that the sun was shining, but maybe not so comfortable for those on their feet all day manning the stands.

I hope all exhibitors know that for us visitors it really was an amazing show. I simply couldn't take it all in - far too many beautiful things to see....

The highlight for me and the main reason for the trip was to see three very special exhibitors, to show my support and most of all, get a rare chance to see their work up close in glorious 3D.  They are my friends Marna Lunt, Kirsty Elson and Claire Read of Little Burrow Designs.  

It was also a chance to meet up with some other fantastic friends from the design and craft community.  As you can see from the pictures, we had lots of fun together.  

Pictured in the photo above are, Left to Right: Claire Read from Little Burrow Designs, Helen Botrill from Kindred Rose, Roslyn Mitchell, Marna Lunt, Julia Crossland, Yours Truly and Andrea Berry from Polka.

..and here we all are again with Kirsty Elson on her stand, Kirsty is the third in from the right of this picture...

As well as enjoying the fabulous company, I also enjoyed shopping for a few little treats.

This is my favourite from the day - a little ceramic brooch made by Katie Almond.  If you are not familiar with Katie's work, do click the link and have a look.  This brooch is very 'me' and the themes she uses as inspiration feel very similar to the themes I draw on for inspiration for mine - tea, gardening, flowers, seasides, birds.  Her stand felt like coming home to me!...

http://katiealmond.co.uk/

Another artist who's stand I admired greatly was Katrin Moye.  Her ceramics are beautiful, but I was also very taken with her watercolour greetings cards, so much so, I bought some :)...

And then of course there was my good friend Marna's stand.  It was her first time at the Contemporary Crafts Festival and my first time getting a chance to see her work at a show.  I'm so delighted to have seen all her hard work in the flesh - especially the labour of love that is her Liberty lampshade, very inspiring - I love the way she effectively paints with fabrics.  Now I am the proud owner of a Marna Lunt, Liberty mug...

Whilst I was there, I made sure I got a selection of Kirsty Elson postcards to add to my workspace collection and bring a touch of the coast to my little corner....

And, I fell in love with this trim on Felt Folk's stand as I know just the project to use this for (more about that on a future blog post!)...

It's been hugely refreshing to get away from my usual work and see such creativity in all forms.  It certainly made me want to try new things enjoy playing with my art more.

I'd already started to feel a bit like this before I visited the show. The outing at the weekend has confirmed in my mind, that I must continue to make small chunks of time each week to simply play with inks and paints and whatever takes my fancy and see what comes out of it.

Which is what I've been doing and these inky drawings are all results of that time spent playing....

Some of these drawings are finding their way over to my Folksy shop, where you can buy the original pieces, fully mounted and backed.

The first listing is for the piece called 'Hello Peonies', which you can find listed here: 

http://folksy.com/items/6297781-Original-Ink-Watercolour-Drawing-Hello-Peonies-

I hope you have a lovely week

Best wishes

Playing with my new calligraphy pen and ink

Hello,

A couple of weeks ago I invested in a new calligraphy pen set complete with various nibs and some inks.  I wanted to get my hands on a set like this for a while as I've been longing to practice my drawing with this medium as I love the texture of line it lends to my doodles.  It's  been such a long time since I've drawn with a pen like this, so I set myself the little challenge of doing a 30 - 40 minute 'warm up' drawing before getting stuck into any commissioned work, or any other work related tasks...

The idea came about as I was starting to grow frustrated at the lack of creative time I get to spend on simply experimenting with new work, thanks to all the admin and general housekeeping stuff that comes with running a business from home around two very busy young girls...

So, I came to the conclusion that starting the working day with a set amount of time to practice or experiment with new ways of working was no bad thing. In fact I've found it's a very soothing way to focus my mind and leaves me better prepared to tackle other jobs as it makes me feel I've achieved something before I even take a look at my emails or my diary.  

It's been half term here this past week, so I've not done any of these drawings or much work for that matter, in the past week.  However, tomorrow is the start of a new working week, so I hope to continue with more of my morning 'warm ups' and see what comes out of those little drawing sessions.

I hope you all have a lovely week too.