March Craft Calendar for Folksy

Hello March!

Spring has arrived and not a moment too soon for my liking!

I adore spring, it's all ahead of us - the beautiful blooms, the sound of birds returning to gardens, the promise of summer, the smell of freshly cut grass, blossom falling like confetti - it's all good!

Imagine my delight when I was asked by the lovely folk at Folksy to create the image to go on their March craft calendar, which is available as a free download from their blog!  All I can say is I 'sprung' into action that day and was in my element playing with pretty spring flowers and birds...

These craft calendars are mighty handy.  I downloaded last month's one, designed by Christ Hagan and found it an extremely useful and beautiful prompt to see me through the month...and all for free, what's not to love about that ?! thank you Folksy!

To download yours, here's a link to the Folksy blog:

http://blog.folksy.com/2016/02/29/march-2016-calendar-free-download

My Design for March is made up of a combination of designs -  mainly the two pictured here.  'Hello Mum' which is available as a card and illustration print, and also features as the image for March on my 2016 calendar (above).  'Little Jenny Wrens' (below) is available as an illustration print and also features in my 2016 desktop calendar.

The cards and prints can be found over at my Folksy shop here:

https://folksy.com/shops/artworkbyangie

With it being Mother's Day this weekend, I just want to mention that my cut off for mother's day orders is this Thursday 3rd March, any orders placed after Thursday I can not guarantee they will arrive in time for Mother's Day.

I hope you all have a lovely week and if you are a mum, that you are treated like a queen this weekend.

Best wishes

A Fresh Look for a New Year...

Hello!

Hope you've had a good first week of a New Year.  

I've been getting back in the swing of work.  

The dark early mornings have been a bit of shocker at first, but it all feels like routine again now....

One of the things I had on my wish list for 2016 was to sort my website out and make it much more smartphone and tablet friendly. 

Let's face it, that's how a lot of people view websites these days.  This became a bit of a priority for me after I realised how much internet surfing I do on my phone these days, especially over recent weeks with Christmas & January sale shopping....

So, after a fair bit of faffing about for a few hours under the bonnet of my website (and maybe a few naughty words uttered under my breath as I tried to get my head around it all) I think it's finally how I envisaged it and am delighted to say...

Ta Da!  

Here is my new look website, which should now be much easier to read and navigate from your phone or tablet: 

www.artworkbyangie.com

What a relief and such a good feeling to finally cross that task off my list. 

I hope you have a very productive week too.

Best wishes

Showcasing This Year's Collection of Christmas Cards...

Hello,

Today's post is a quick round up of my current collection of Christmas Cards.

This year I am mainly offering three main multipacks.

The first of those is pictured above and is part of my 'Tis The Season' range.  

It features six merry and bright designs based on the titles of popular Christmas songs. All created with a cheery, playfulness in my winter wonderland!....

The second multipack is a sweet collection featuring festive puddings and desserts for those who love to indulge in all the treats of the season, or simply enjoy baking such delights for their loved ones...

The third pack is a pack of six from my original 'Tis The Season' range which is more pattern focused. 

The image below is a store shot from last year from a local stockist.  It's a very handy image as it nicely shows most of the designs in all of these packs in one place!... 

You can find all the cards featured on this post listed in my online shops here:

website: http://www.artworkbyangie.com/product-catalog.html#category=christmas&search=

Folksy: https://folksy.com/shops/artworkbyangie/collections/248155

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ArtworkByAngie?section_id=17912928&ref=shopsection_leftnav_6

Each pack is £10 plus P&P for six cards.

I'll be back tomorrow with the next part of my 'This Much I know' series, which will be on the topic of branding, I hope you can join me then.

Best wishes

A New Cornish Stockist & A Feature on Print & Pattern...

Rush Hour in Polperro!

Hello!

School's out for summer here today and we've been looking at places to go and visit in the holidays.  Cornwall is high on the list - especially since my lovely new stockist, Seahorse in Polperro sent me these pics of their shiny new shop.  I love the image above which I have named 'Rush Hour in Polperro!'...I especially love the outfits the gents are wearing!...

Seahorse is stocking lots of my gift wraps and cards at the moment.  They also stock lots of other lovely gifts and crafts.  Best of all, at the back of the shop is a great gallery space and I know from good authority that the owners of Seahorse are always keen to hear from artists and crafters who would like to be considered to exhibit their work in the gallery section of the shop...just saying ;)...

Seeing those lovely photos of the little gallery shop by the sea has made me even more excited at the prospect of having some fun family camping trips and days out over the next few weeks - these are precious times ripe for making happy memories, bring it on!...

 In other news - a little dream I've had for a while came true last week.

My designs were featured on Bowie Style's Print & Pattern blog.  I've been following the blog for a very long time now (it's one of my faves).  I also have the books which are a feast for the eyes and handy for a quick blast of colour on a dreary grey day!

To say I was a little bit excited to see my designs posted on Print & Pattern is a massive understatement.  I feel like I have come a very long way since my first steps with my business and it's given me a real boost to press on with everything...

I'm not sure how much blogging and social media stuff I'll manage to keep on top of in the coming few weeks.  I'll try and keep my hand in, but don't be surprised if things go a little bit quiet as I want to get as much out of the family time we have together before school starts up again.

However you're planning to spend the next few weeks, I hope you all have a very lovely summer!

Best wishes

Signs of Spring Makes My Heart Sing...

Hello,

I'm so pleased that February is nearly over, I'm not a great fan of winter and I can't wait to get out and about and see all the colours that spring brings - it's my favourite time of year.  

My kitchen windowsill becomes a conveyor belt of splendid loveliness at this time of year as I fill it with daffodils, tulips and bring on bulbs and seeds ready to plant out later in the spring for the summer...

I love seeing bright daffodils everywhere, trumpeting in spring with a golden blast of 'Ta Da!'.  

I know it's still early days, but there is yellow dotted around our garden and I am very pleased to see it!

As all thoughts are turning to spring and summer now, I'm pleased to say I've been very organised this year and put together a little Spring Summer Look Book.  You can take a peep at the online version of it here:

http://issuu.com/artworkbyangie/docs/angie_spurgeon_ss14_look_book_pgs_1

There are even smooth, colourful printed copies of the book ready and waiting to send to new stockists or pop in press packs .  I'm very pleased with how these have printed up and...

whilst I was ordering Look Books, I simply had to take the opportunity to add some spring themed business cards into the order too....

 With the days beginning to get noticeably longer, I've even reached for the paints.  I used to watercolour all the time, but hardly touch them now - it's a real treat to get the paints out again.  These little flowers were for a specific commission which will be the start of a new product line I'm planning to launch later in the Spring.

In other news, I've had one of my prints appear in Somerset Life Magazine this month.

One of the online shops I sell with is a new online boutique called  Elsie & Fleur, which sells all things handmade with love in the Westcountry. Elsie and Fleur sell food, garden, home and lifestyle gifts and have managed to get a few of their items featured in a mother's day spread in the March Issue of Somerset Life, including my 'Home is Where Mum is' print - which I am very happy about!... 

I hope you have a lovely week and enjoy seeing the signs of spring too.

Best wishes

Spring Fair International and My Interviews with Folksy

Hello,

What an extraordinary week this week has been.

Everything has been done and all my new designs are with ArtEco Designs and on their way to the NEC today.  If you are planning to visit Spring Fair International in the next few days, pop and say hello to my friends on stand 4F75 where they are showcasing some of my designs.

Also, this happened this week...

I'm really delighted to be the featured seller on Folksy this week and have done two interviews with them for their blogs.  Here are the links to those interviews:

Folksy Meet The Maker Interview

Folksy Shop Talk Interview

So it's a big THANK YOU to Folksy for the feature and also thank you to all of you that have come and followed me on facebook, twitter and on my Folksy shop and for saying nice things to me - I'm truly grateful for the support and kind words.

With all the prep for Spring Fair, I was a little bit behind on getting my newsletter out this month, so as a thank you to my lovely subscribers and to celebrate finishing my new greeting card collection, 'Bloomin' Lovely' - I'm running a giveaway over on my newsletter.  All newsletter subscribers will automatically be entered into a prize draw which will take place on the 28th Feb (so there's still time to sign up for the newsletter to enter).  The prize is any 4 unframed prints from my new Bloomin' Lovely range.

Here's the link to click and subscribe to my newsletter.  If you do sign up - good luck for the giveaway!

I'm off to Spring Fair on Tuesday and am very excited because I'll not only be catching up with my publisher friends, but will also be meeting up with some of my artist friends that I've met through social networking for the very first time.  I'll make sure I make lots of notes and give you a full review of the Fair next week.

Until then, have a lovely weekend,

Best wishes

Yay Retro are just my cup of tea!..

Hello!

What a lovely start to the week, to find that my work has been featured on the blog of one of my favourite online shops.  Yay Retro is a bright and colourful wonderland of vintage china, glassware and kitchenalia from the 1940s to 1970s.  

Being such a child of the 70s, I adore the nostalia each set of china stirs inside me. The memories of tea at my granny's house and the casserole dishes from which my mum served hearty meals to warm us after a busy day at school.  Many of those Scandinavian 70s patterns are etched deep in my mind and certainly influence a lot of my design work.

To read Yay Retro's blog feature about my work please click here: https://www.yayretro.co.uk/blog/777/yay-retro-loves-Artwork-by-Angie

Meanwhile, let me share a taste of why I love Yay Retro.  Here are my top picks from their current stock...

70s Orange Daisy Teaset - I love the bright zesty colour of these which say 'wakey, wakey, rise and shine!'

https://www.yayretro.co.uk/shop/12865/70s-orange-daisy-teaset/

Filigree Trios and bowl (J&G Meakin Studio) - Such a beautiful and fanciful pattern, I particularly love the line drawn style. 

https://www.yayretro.co.uk/shop/12811/filigree-trios-and-bowl/

Enamel Floral Pan Set (Taunton Vale) -  Look at these delicious floral pans worthy of  Beverly from Abigail's party's kitchen - I can almost taste my childhood!

 https://www.yayretro.co.uk/shop/12646/enamel-floral-pan-set/

I hope you enjoyed my top picks, there's plenty more to discover over on their site and items change daily so there's always something new to delight in.

Have a lovely day!

Best wishes

Getting Out, About and Stuck Into New Designs...

Hello!

Hope you are all well.  I'm just about coping with working through the school summer hols, though it is always challenging.  

It's lovely having our girls around all day and at least we've been making the most of being based in the Westcountry by getting out and about with short camping trips and days out around Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.  My favourite day out so far has to be the one to the Eden project a week ago.  I've always wanted to visit it but it's taken us until now to have the chance, so we seized it and had the most fantastic day out together.   The kids were very impressed, had loads of fun making and doing things there..plus they learned loads of important stuff about the environment, food production and our planet which impressed me more! All I can say is  Eden Project - we will be back soon! 

As well as getting out and about, I've also been getting stuck into some new designs.  I posted some new gift wrap and notecard designs on here a couple of weeks ago - they were the beginnings of a new collection about the glories, inspirations and joys to be found in gardening.  I've given this collection the working title of 'Bloom and Grow' or 'Bloom' for short ...but I'm not sure yet.  I'm currently developing 12 greetings cards on this theme, some of which will start emerging as illustration prints in my Folksy and Etsy shops soon, like the two designs here.... 

You can now find 'Perch Long' and 'Bloom Where You Are Planted'  listed as:

Framed prints on Folksy: http://folksy.com/items/4432247-Bloom-Where-You-Are-Planted-10x8-Framed-Print

And Unframed Prints on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/159397168/a4-unframed-illustration-print-perch?ref=shop_home_active

As well as the new 'Bloom' range I've been having a bit of a sort out behind the scenes on my website to get things more streamlined and ready for autumn.  The thing about the website is you learn as you go and start to see ways of improving things and how to make life easier for yourself - but in order to make those improvements it often requires a good stint of concentrated, uninterrupted effort, so this is as good a time to do it as any.

And finally...

My other news is, I've been in the Western Morning News last week.  This little article about my Living The Dream range appeared on 8th August in the business section and if you want to read the piece you can view the online feature here: 

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Greetings-card-range-nostalgic-reminder-halcyon/story-19630651-detail/story.html

Have a great week!

Best wishes